Chapter 499: The Last Strike

Xun You saw smoke and dust rising from the camp in the distance and the Youzhou army retreating in formation, and said to Cao Ren: "General, don't be impatient."

"General Cao Chun, please hold the enemy back, and then send someone to search the camp to make sure there are no ambushes before you can pursue them."

Cao Ren heard this and asked Cao Chun to go first, saying, "It's safer for me to go in person this time. There can't be so many people in the camp!"

Xun You thought for a moment and asked, "General, do you know what the bamboo tube that made the loud noise and injured the soldiers is?"

Cao Ren shook his head and said, "I don't know either. It is said that Miao Cai fell on this thing last night, and many soldiers were killed or injured!"

Xun You was full of doubts, but now the opportunity was fleeting, and he could not afford to think too much, so he said: "In this case, the general should be careful."

Cao Ren waved his hand and said, "There is no other way. We cannot let the Youzhou army escape. Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, we must go!"

However, he did not expect that his words would come true.

When Cao Ren led a large number of troops into the camp to search, he felt something was wrong after a while.

Inside the enemy's tent, there were not only a large amount of dry firewood and dead branches, but also tung oil poured everywhere!

Cao Ren reacted immediately, horrified, and shouted, "Get out now!"

However, at this time, the Youzhou soldiers, despite the harassment from Cao Chun's cavalry, returned again and threw a large number of torches and bamboo tubes into the camp from outside. There were instant explosions and a raging fire.

Cao Ren also knew that this was a life-and-death moment, so he urged his soldiers to break out desperately. Cao Chun and Le Jin outside also rushed to rescue him.

But the Youzhou army outside also knew that as long as they guarded the gates on all sides, the people inside would be burned to death, so they also shouted and fought to the death.

Both sides were killing each other. Yuan Xi saw that his side was suffering casualties too quickly, so he sighed and lit a rocket.

The rocket shot up into the sky and exploded into a firework, and an ambush unit of the Youzhou army that had been hidden before moved.

At first, the troops were divided into three groups: Yuan Xi went to rescue people, Lu Xun guarded the camp, and the army led by Ju Su was lying in ambush in the woods in the middle of the night. When they saw the signal, they rushed out immediately.

Ju Su's army had rested for half the night and their energy was at its peak. At this moment, they broke through Le Jin's formation. Cao's army died screaming, and their bodies piled up inside and outside the camp.

Cao Ren endured the burning heat on his back. Seeing the flames slowly approaching, his heart felt cold. Was he going to die here today?

Thinking that they had more troops than the enemy, they didn't expect that the enemy would turn around and want to annihilate them completely!

The other party has such a big appetite, and the key is that they are about to succeed!

As time passed, many Cao's soldiers were on fire and ran around screaming. Their morale had completely collapsed. Cao Ren wanted to commit suicide immediately. Cao Cao handed the central army to his hands. As a result, in less than an hour, Cao's army suffered heavy casualties!

He looked at the densely packed shields of the Youzhou army in front of the village gate and knew that he could not get out no matter what.

The village had turned into a living hell. When Cao Ren was about to order his soldiers to launch a final charge, the sound of war drums was heard in the distance!

Cao Ren was overjoyed when he heard the voice and shouted, "Reinforcements are coming!"

"The Envoy is here!"

Yuan Xi looked into the telescope and saw the dense figures on the horizon. He sighed to Lu Xun beside him, "This time we really have no trump cards at all."

"The other side is really amazing that they can send all the Qingzhou soldiers in."

When Lu Xun saw this, he also sighed, "Sir, let's go. It will be too late if we don't leave now."

"Even if we retreat now, the losses will be huge."

Yuan Xi frowned, but then raised his hand and asked someone to give the signal to retreat.

Cao Cao sat on his horse, looking at the rescued Cao Ren, whose hair and beard were all black, and sighed, "I didn't expect that Zixiao would suffer such a great loss."

Cao Ren knelt on the ground and cried, "I am incompetent and have exhausted the soldiers!"

"The central army suffered heavy losses. Please punish them!"

Cao Cao's heart was bleeding as he looked at the corpses all over the battlefield in the distance. Counting Xiahou Yuan's defeat last night, after two battles, Cao's army had suffered thousands of casualties, perhaps even close to ten thousand!

Although some of them were slightly injured, the total number of people Cao Cao brought this time was only more than 30,000!

If I go home now, I will lose even my pants!

Of course Cao Cao would not retreat. The casualties of the Youzhou army would definitely not be small. After a series of fierce battles, among the five or six thousand people who participated in the war, excluding the casualties and those who were exhausted, only about half of them were still capable of fighting!

On the Cao army's side, there are still dozens of generals and nearly 20,000 people, most of whom are the main force of the rear army that is unscathed!

Thinking of this, Cao Cao said: "Everyone, we can't turn back!"

"Follow me to chase the fierce tigers and kill them all!"

When the generals heard this, they all shouted angrily, "Yes!"

Yuan Xi looked at the Cao cavalry that was constantly harassing him from behind and felt so angry that his teeth were itching. Whenever his cavalry went to fight, the enemy would retreat. If he ignored them, they would swarm around him like flies.

Judging from the comparison of the number of casualties on both sides in this battle, our side should have gained a lot, but the casualties on our side are also living lives.

Both sides suffered heavy losses, and Yuan Xi couldn't withdraw from the fight at this point. Looking at the Cao army's behavior, it was obvious that they wanted to fight a bloody battle with him!

Only then did Yuan Xi feel the horror of people like Cao Cao in this chaotic world. In his eyes, soldiers were just numbers and any number could be sacrificed as long as the goal was achieved in the end.

And Cao Cao's target was obviously Yuan Xi.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi also became angry. Do you really think of me as a soft persimmon?

But he is no longer the foolish young man he used to be. The more arrogant the enemy is, the more he needs to keep a clear head. Now, for him, the goal of bleeding Cao Cao has been achieved. His own soldiers are already very tired. There is no reason to continue to consume their strength. He just needs to find an opportunity to retreat safely.

Ju Shou rode over and said, "Something is not right."

"If Cao's army wants to catch up with us, they should speed up their march. But now the enemy's cavalry is constantly harassing us and tiring us out."

Yuan Xi nodded slightly. When he saw the people fleeing with him on the road, his brows frowned. What was the problem?

Mi Zhen was sitting on a simple cart, taking care of Mrs. Liu Bei. She found that Mrs. Liu Bei's breathing was getting weaker and weaker, and she was very anxious. But now she was surrounded by exhausted soldiers and civilians. Everyone lowered their heads and hurried on their way. She thought that she might have to return to the city to find someone to treat her.

Thinking of the scene of the soldiers on both sides fighting desperately, Mi Zhen's face turned pale. She had never imagined that the real battlefield was like this, everyone was like a beast, and the ground was covered with limbs and blood, like a bloody picture.

She spoke to comfort the anxious daughter of Liu Bei, but heard a commotion ahead. People began to run around in panic, shouting, "The enemy army is coming!"

When Yuan Xi heard the report from the spies ahead, he sighed and thought that things were not going so smoothly.

Cao Cao predicted his route back to Haixi and deployed thousands of soldiers in advance to take a detour and block his retreat.

It was also his fault that he had been fighting so many battles that he had no energy to take a detour, so the other party guessed his movements. The question now was, should he fight to break through, or retreat in another direction?

Cao Cao saw from afar that the Youzhou army had stopped and was stationed on the spot. He smiled and said, "It is really not easy to catch this fierce tiger."

"If this battle is successful, it will all be thanks to the planning of Zhongde and Gongda."

Cheng Yu and Xun You hurriedly said humbly, "Your Excellency is a master of foresight."

Cheng Yu looked at the neat formation of the Youzhou army and sighed, "This fierce tiger is good at commanding his troops. It is not easy to force him to this point."

"This man actually still has a lot of hidden cards, causing Generals Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren to suffer a great loss."

Xun You said, "What about the bamboo tube that can get angry and hurt people?"

"It is indeed very dangerous, but there shouldn't be many left, otherwise it would be hard to say whether this battle will end well."

Cao Cao nodded and said, "That thing is very troublesome, but it is not impossible to deal with it."

"Tell the soldiers to spread out as much as possible, and dodge when they see the bamboo tubes."

"Without this thing, Xionghu has no chance of turning the tables."

He paused and said, "What a pity. I can't keep this person no matter what."

"If only he were my son."

Cheng Yu and Xun You forced a smile and said, "Young Master has extraordinary abilities, and may not be worse than the fierce tiger."

The sound of fighting rang out again.

Compared with the past, the Youzhou army was obviously beginning to lose strength this time. They had been fighting for a day and a night and were already exhausted. They were just barely holding on.

Zhang Fang felt that his limbs were as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and he could not open his eyes. Seeing his companions in front of him holding shields being pushed back repeatedly by the enemy, he immediately took two steps forward, stuffed the short crossbow through the gap in the shield, aimed at the enemy's face and pulled the trigger.

The short arrow hit the enemy between the eyebrows, and the man fell to the ground with a scream. Zhang Fang wanted to retract his hand, but the opponent chopped his short crossbow with a knife, cutting it into two pieces.

Zhang Fang retracted his hand and cursed. If it weren't for the arm guard, his hand would have been chopped off by the knife.

The situation is now becoming increasingly difficult. The new soldiers from the other side are all elite soldiers who have rested well. The Youzhou soldiers can usually fight them back and forth, but now they are at the end of their strength!

The Youzhou army was forced to retreat continuously, and some people kept throwing out exploding bamboo tubes, but the Cao army was prepared. When they saw the bamboo tubes falling, they avoided them one after another, making it impossible for the bamboo tubes to cause effective casualties.

When Yuan Xi saw this, he thought that he had acted too hastily. If he wanted to escape, he would have to make some improvements next time. He could use thinner materials than the bamboo tube on the outside and put iron nail fragments inside to ensure the lethality.

But this is just thought. Right now, Cao's army is constantly encircling him. The 20,000 soldiers have completely surrounded his 4,000 tired soldiers. It won't be long before he dies!

Seeing that he had secured victory, Cheng Yu could not help but feel relieved. Turning his head, he saw that Xun You was still as if he was facing a formidable enemy, and could not help but smile and ask, "Gongda is worried that the other party still has a trump card?"

Xun You sighed: "Indeed, I have suffered losses several times."

"Every time I think we're about to win, the other side always comes up with an army."

Cheng Yu smiled and said, "Gongda is worrying too much. All possible reinforcements will not arrive in the next three to five days."

"Youzhou is too far away, Guangling is threatened by Yuan Shu, and Yuan Tan is sitting still, who else can come?"

"Unless in heaven."

Before he finished speaking, he heard the faint sound of countless horse hooves in the distance.

Soon, when the two saw the scene in the distance, their faces suddenly changed.

A cavalry unit came galloping, with the leading general wearing a white robe and silver armor, holding a steel spear in his hand, rushing towards the main camp of Cao's army.

"Zhao Zilong of Changshan is here!"