Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Chapter 38 originally intended to show his face, but ended up showing his butt.

When the news of the defeated soldiers and the news of the defeat reached Wancheng, Yuan Yao's face immediately fell.

"Good grief, they wanted to show their face, but ended up showing their ass!"

Originally, the plan was for Chen Ce to make a token appearance, with support as a secondary measure and the main purpose being to boost the morale of the frontline soldiers. Unexpectedly, he directly became a stepping stone for Sun Ce, allowing the enemy to achieve an epic victory.

Losing is fine, but don't lose so badly.

Now, everyone's morale plummeted when they saw that Sun Ce had defeated Zhong Shi's army of a thousand with only twenty-odd men.

Yuan Yao wanted to curse Chen Ce to the bone, but he knew that this was a pointless and impotent rage.

On the contrary, in order to stabilize morale, he had to specifically commend Chen Ce, who had died in battle, during this time of defeat.

"Although Chen Ce was defeated, he sacrificed his life for his country, and his loyalty and bravery are commendable! I hereby order that Chen Ce be posthumously awarded the title of General Who Pacifies the East, and his family shall be taken in and cared for by me!"

This time, I will take care of your wife and children, so you don't need to worry.

However, the mess Chen Ce created had an extremely negative impact, and supporting his wife alone was far from enough.

Yuan Yao said that the plan was to use the strategy of arrogance to make Sun Ce careless, but they couldn't just give away the enemy. If they fought like this in every battle, Wancheng would really be in danger.

But now that things have come to this, what should we do next?

"It's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost, to admit mistakes and correct them, and to honestly stick to one's principles."

Or should we go down this path and continue the attack?

Enraged, Zhang Xun declared that the previous defeat was entirely Chen Ce's fault for being incompetent. He had long known that this bandit was useless and that a better general must be chosen to fight Sun Ce to the death.

Yuan Yao remained silent, bypassing Yang Hong who was pretending to look around at the scenery, and turned his gaze to Yan Xiang.

This time, Yan Xiang's attitude changed.

"Your Highness, this old minister believes we should fight."

The main reason was that Chen Ce lost so badly that it had a direct negative effect.

If the troops in Wancheng remain stationary, the soldiers at the front may easily assume that their superiors have been terrified by Sun Ce and dare not fight anymore. This could really shake morale and lead to a complete rout.

Therefore, even if the chances of winning the next battle are still slim, they have to grit their teeth and fight a few more times to demonstrate the determination of the Zhong clan's army.

Incidentally, Yan Xiang also advised Yuan Yao to stop thinking about his flexible defense, face reality, and honestly build a strong fortress and fight a protracted war.

In fact, Yuan Yaozhen had no interest in it.

But since Zhang Xun and Yan Xiang are of the same mind, there's nothing more to say. Let's continue to perform at the normal level of the Zhong family army.

The next day, Zhong's army launched another attack. Since no one was hindering General Zhang Xun this time, he decided to take charge himself and test his skills against Sun Ce.

The general leading the troops in this battle was Chen Jian, a cousin of Chen Lan. He was a promising young man, and Zhang Xun had high hopes for him.

That same evening, news of the defeat came back again.

The good news is that Chen Jian's attack was only a minor defeat. He led a thousand men to fight Sun Ce for most of the day, until nightfall when he was caught off guard and suffered a surprise attack, losing more than a hundred men on the spot.

Considering that Chen Jian successfully delayed Sun Ce's attack on the defensive line and also facilitated the smooth withdrawal of soldiers from several camps, it could even be said that he won strategically; in essence, it was a major victory.

There is only one small problem.

That is, Chen Jian was also on the list of the dead. He was spotted by Sun Ce while covering the rear and died heroically on the spot.

Zhang Xun's face turned ashen: "Chen Jian is too young and inexperienced, let's try again!"

On the third day, Zhang Xun, after much agonizing reflection, dispatched his only trump card, Ji Ling, the most formidable general of the Zhong clan.

Yuan Yao had personally witnessed Ji Ling's abilities in Xiapi. With Ji Ling personally leading the charge, he was naturally extraordinary, and his soldiers were absolutely capable of fighting. They fought a fierce battle with Sun Ce for a whole day, barely managing to secure a draw.

This achievement was remarkable, and the soldiers on the front lines were visibly encouraged, and the defense line, which had been showing signs of collapse, was stabilized once again.

But just as they were retreating, Ji Ling also encountered an accident.

Sun Ce used the same tactic again, taking advantage of the Zhong clan's retreat to lead a small elite force to attack. Although Ji Ling successfully repelled them, he was accidentally shot in the right arm by a stray arrow and could not even hold his weapon and dropped it.

Well, Ji Ling is alive or not, but he can't go into battle anytime soon.

Zhang Xun was furious: "Ji Ling was just unlucky, it wasn't a fault of his fighting skills. Let's try again!"

……

For several days afterward, the Zhong army suffered repeated defeats, losing so many times that everyone became numb to it.

Even Zhang Xun could no longer be stubborn. No matter how he deployed his troops, he could never win a single victory. His morale was almost completely shattered, and his voice became much softer.

Only one person felt very happy.

Yuan Yao was very happy, although he couldn't show it openly, but he was really satisfied with the situation.

Perhaps Sun Ce had come to enjoy the pleasure of crushing the weak, because he would fight the Zhong clan's army every day. Moreover, he was very principled in his military conduct, and no matter how many soldiers the Zhong clan's army sent, he would only send half of his own troops at most, and then return with a steady and great victory.

On the other hand, this also means that the Jiangdong army has objectively slowed down its speed of breaking through Zhongshi's defense line.

Even though the soldiers on the Zhongshi front were feeling ashamed seeing their own side losing every day, they got used to it after a while. And since the losses were all minor, with few casualties, their morale actually rebounded.

Yuan Yao secretly calculated that, as a lower-class horse, his biggest task on this route was to hold off Sun Ce. The current losses were completely acceptable, and there were still four layers of defense intact. He could hold out for another month.

Yuan Yao couldn't help but go to Yan Xiang to discuss how to encourage Zhang Xun to continue his battle of wits with Sun Ce.

Unexpectedly, Yan Xiang looked worried and did not think that dragging it out for so long was a good thing.

"Your Highness's words are not without merit, but..."

Yan Xiang pointed out two problems.

First, the battlefield of this battle is located in Huainan, where the Zhong clan is naturally at a disadvantage. Moreover, spring plowing is just around the corner, and if this fighting continues, Lujiang's harvest this year will definitely be a disaster.

Secondly, Yan Xiang felt that Sun Ce was not unaware that his progress had been slowed down. On the contrary, it seemed that the other party was deliberately toying with Zhong's army and was probably hiding some tricks that he was waiting for an opportunity.

Yan Xiang suspected that something might have gone wrong in Jiujiang, and that Sun Ce wanted to wait until that detachment achieved victory before launching a general offensive.

"Impossible!" Yuan Yao immediately denied. "Generals Guan Yu and Cao Cao are invincible, and with Liu Ye's strategic planning, they absolutely cannot fail!"

Those were top-quality horses that Yuan Yao had high hopes for. Yuan Yao firmly believed that they would win; otherwise, what would be the point of his bitter defense of Wancheng?

But Yan Xiang's concerns were not unfounded. Sun Ce could not possibly make such a basic mistake; he must have a backup plan.

Soon, Yuan Yao learned what Sun Ce's backup plan was.

At the end of February in the fifth year of Jian'an, two reinforcements suddenly joined Sun Ce's forces, bringing the total number of troops to over ten thousand.

Upon receiving this news, Yuan Yao slapped his thigh and, working backward from the result, finally understood Sun Ce's entire plan.

It turned out that these two reinforcements were none other than Zhang Duo and Xu Qian, local strongmen from Lujiang who had been entrenched in the Chaohu area!

It is said that there are probably nearly a hundred powerful families, large and small, in Lujiang. Among them, the largest ones are Zheng Bao, Zhang Duo, and Xu Qian near Chaohu Lake. They have more than 10,000 soldiers and have absorbed refugees, and have basically become a separatist force in the region.

Later, Zheng Bao was tricked to death by Liu Ye, who then took the opportunity to defect to Liu Xun. The remaining Zhang Duo and Xu Qian banded together for mutual support and continued to hold out in Chaohu.

When Yuan Yao came to power, he weighed the options and realized that a direct attack on Zhang Duo and Xu Qian might result in significant losses. So he decided to repeat his old trick and use the appeasement method of Lei Bo and Chen Lan to recruit them.

As a result, Zhang Duo and Xu Qian were terrified by Yuan Yao's massacre of powerful figures. Not only did the other party kill people, but he also wanted to hold a public trial to expose their wickedness. Who could stand that?

Thus, the attempt to recruit the enemy failed.

Before Sun Ce attacked Lujiang, Yuan Yao remembered Zhang Duo and Xu Qian, and once again made a solemn promise, hoping that they would join his forces to resist Sun Ce.

Although they were still rejected, Zhang Duo and Xu Qian said that Sun Ce was an outsider and they would not help outsiders; they would remain neutral in this battle.

To this day, they have transformed into Sun Ce's reinforcements.

Yuan Yao finally realized that Sun Ce's previous ease and composure were all an act. When he saw the densely packed camps and fortresses of all sizes set up by the Zhong clan's army, he knew that he had underestimated the enemy and was now in a dilemma.

If we launch a series of attacks one by one, it will inevitably be a protracted process, and sooner or later things will change.

If they divide their forces to defend, their already small troop strength will make it even more difficult to conquer Wancheng.

But Sun Ce quickly came up with a plan and set his sights on Zhang Duo and Xu Qian, local powerful figures in Lujiang.

Just as Yuan Yao was feeling smug, thinking that he had held back the Jiangdong army at a very low cost and had won a political victory despite a minor military defeat, he did not expect that the other side was also fighting a political battle. Sun Ce deliberately lured the Zhong clan's army into battle, and then used one victory after another to break the balance in Zhang Duo and Xu Qian's minds.

Seeing that Zhongshi's army was no match for Jiangdong's army despite their best efforts, Zhang and Xu felt that the overall situation was settled and placed their bets on Sun Ce, thus giving the enemy an additional 10,000 troops out of thin air.

Now Sun Ce had much more money on his hands. He only needed to use a small number of elite troops to hold the line, and then let Zhang Duo and Xu Qian's soldiers suppress the strongholds of the Zhong clan. He personally led 20,000 main force troops and rushed along the main road. In just half a day, he broke through more than 50 miles of defense lines and reached the city of Wancheng!

Looking at the city of Wan before him, Sun Ce sneered slightly: "What other options do you have this time?"

On the other side, Yuan Yao stood on the city wall, looking at the endless Jiangdong army outside the city, and sighed with heartfelt emotion.

Yuan Yao: "Hey, is it possible to reconcile?"