Chapter 493: Returning with a crushing defeat

Xiahou Yuan's eyes were cold and fierce. The sword quickly turned around, as fast as a meteor, and rushed to the left shoulder of the heavy cavalry. The heavy cavalry could not dodge at all. The sharp blade cut through the iron armor, sank into the flesh, and blood splashed everywhere.

You can die, but the charge cannot stop!

The heavy cavalry did not hum, and quickly hit Xiahou Yuan's sword from his left shoulder. A severe pain came, and blood suddenly surged from the wound. Under the iron mask, the heavy cavalry's face suddenly turned pale. Without Xiahou Yuan's obstacle, the heavy cavalry quickly flew past with his men and horses and continued to move forward.

Xiahou Yuan finally intercepted a heavy cavalry and killed him on the ground. When the man fell off his horse, the mask on his face also fell off, revealing his young and handsome face, but his expression was still firm, showing maturity beyond his age.

Even if Xiahou Yuan killed several more people, it would be useless to the overall situation. In less than half a moment, Zhao Yun led the eight hundred iron armored heavy cavalry to penetrate the Cao army's formation. Although dozens of cavalry were damaged and they were already covered in blood, they succeeded. The Cao army's formation was completely scattered, and there were no less than three thousand Cao soldiers under the iron hooves, "wings", and cavalry spears.

At this time, Xue Lan and Li Feng led three thousand light cavalry to sweep over again like a hurricane. After another round of gunfire, Xiahou Yuan found sadly that the 10,000 troops he led had been lost. In addition to the casualties lying on the ground, there were no more than 500 soldiers who could take up weapons to fight!

The charge just now consumed a lot of energy from Zhao Yun's iron armored heavy cavalry. After resting for a while, Zhao Yun raised his rifle again and whispered: "Don't leave Xiahou Yuan and capture him alive!"

The soldiers of the Hurricane Camp were in high spirits, shouting "Catch Xiahou Yuan alive", urging the war horses under their crotch, trying to surround Xiahou Yuan. Xiahou Yuan had enough strength, but he could not resist the siege of so many people. At this critical moment, smoke and dust rolled in the rear of Cao's army, and it turned out that Xiahou Dun led his army to aid.

Seeing that Cao's reinforcements had arrived, Zhao Yun had just fought fiercely, and his army was exhausted very much and was not suitable for fierce battles. He ordered the evacuation of the battlefield and left the rear of Xue Lan's tribe. Seeing that Xiahou Yuan was defeated, Xiahou Dun also saw that Zhao Yun's troops were advancing and retreating in moderation, he did not dare to pursue him rashly. After saving Xiahou Yuan, he ordered his troops to retreat for a mile to station, and then quickly sent someone to report the situation of the battle to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was shocked after receiving the war report. He never expected that Zhou Yu's army would rush to his front in time and station such elite troops on his withdrawal road. But on the surface, Cao Cao still comforted Xiahou Yuan and did not rule his crimes according to the military law.

At this time, it was already late, so Cao Cao had to order the entire army to camp.

Seeing that the road to retreat to the north was no longer feasible, even after rushing through Zhao Yun's block, Zhou Yu had arranged many troops to wait for them later. Just before dark, Cao Cao received a tip, and Zhou Yu mobilized at least 50,000 or 60,000 troops across the river and headed north, which aroused Cao Cao's alertness. After these months of confrontation with Zhou Yu, Cao Cao felt that Zhou Yu was the strongest opponent in his life. If he took a wrong step, he would be doomed.

After Cao Cao summoned his confidant personnel to discuss, he decided to immediately change the direction of the marching and turn westward to avoid Zhou Yu's army's pursuit and blockade. At the same time, Cao Cao ordered that except for Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun, the rest of the troops continued to advance northward. Cao Cao authorized the generals of each unit to decide how to fight based on the battlefield situation.

From Wulin to the west, there is the biggest obstacle, which is the boundless Yunmengze, with rivers, lakes, swamps, and wetlands everywhere. Cao Cao decided to avoid the main road and take the small path. This road to withdrawal was naturally rugged and difficult to walk. For this reason, Zhou Yu would not have thought that Cao Cao would suddenly retreat westward, and there would naturally be no more blocking forces on the road.

On the third day, when the rest of the troops arrived immediately, Cao Cao followed Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun's more than 10,000 troops to move westward. The rest of the troops of the Cao army continued to go north and retreated to Hanyang. Along the way, they encountered stubborn obstacles from Zhao Yun, Lu Su, Wang Yue, Zulang, and Xu Yi. After paying a significant price, only a few thousand people returned to Xiangyang. More than 100,000 soldiers and about half surrendered. The rest died on the battlefield of breaking through or on the road of lack of medical and food.

Cao Cao turned to retreat westward, which was indeed beyond Zhou Yu's expectations. He only arranged Zang Ba's scout camp to block the west of Wulin. Since Zang Ba's troops were all cavalry and could not march in the wetlands and swamps, he had to choose a dangerous place to build a fortress on the official road.

Zhou Yu kept getting the battle reports from Wulin North and learned that the Cao army's large troops were retreating towards Hanyang, but he never saw Cao Cao's central army's banner. He suspected that Cao Cao had taken a different approach and took a different withdrawal route. He ordered Zang Ba to disperse the scouts and detect everywhere.

After Zang Ba got the order, he hurriedly followed his order. However, it was too late. Cao Cao's central army followed Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun's men, braved the drizzle and stepped on the muddy path, and had already bypassed his interception fortress.

This road was a difficult road, and even Cao Cao suffered a lot. The rain continued and his clothes were wet. In order not to attract the attention of the Zhou army, the entire army basically fed dry food and did not dare to make fire to cook, which also made some soldiers complain.

However, Cao Cao never complained about being tired, and his face was still calm. While the army was resting, he personally inspected in the rain, comforted his subordinates from time to time, and encouraged everyone to unite. He would definitely retreat to Xiangyang as soon as possible to build confidence for them.

After camping, all the soldiers of the army fell asleep, and Cao Cao still couldn't sleep. This time, his defeat at Chibi was inexplicably defeated and confused, which made him feel angry. For this battle to fight south, Cao Cao gathered all his mobile troops, and with the surrendered troops in Jingzhou, a total of 400,000 troops were killed in a mighty manner, but he was defeated in a mess. If the 400,000 troops could save 100,000 people, it would be a great blessing for Cao Cao.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao's little eyes unknowingly had a layer of mist, and more than 300,000 creatures disappeared like this. Is this God's punishment for him?

However, Cao Cao's heart was very strong. How could he be so strong that he was knocked down so easily? After a moment of sadness, he began to plan his deployment after withdrawing from Xiangyang while summarizing his experience in this battle.
Chapter completed!