Chapter 1026: Reinforcements Are One Step Late
The tactics of the White Horse Yi Cong are completely different from the simple and rough tactics of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry. As a cavalry archer, the White Horse Yi Cong is more flexible. Facing twice as many cavalry as his own, the White Horse Yi Cong can still deal with it calmly, constantly dividing and annihilating them. In less than a quarter of an hour, Yuan Shaojun's 10,000 cavalry had lost nearly 20%, while Baima Yicong suffered less than 200 casualties.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Han couldn't help but be frightened to death. If this continues, all 10,000 of his cavalry will be annihilated by Baima Yicong here in less than an hour. So he decided not to quarrel with Baima Yicong, and directly led the cavalry to attack the rear formation of the Eastern Army's cavalry.
At this moment, Zhao Yun had discovered Zhu Han among the cavalry, and shouted: "Where can the thief escape!" Then he shook the reins, raised his gun, and killed Zhu Han in the direction of where he was. In a moment, he killed himself. Dozens of Yuan Shaojun cavalry in front of him dismounted from their flying horses.
Seeing Zhao Yun charging straight towards him, Zhu Han stopped to command the army. He pulled his horse's head and shouted: "Stop the enemy general!" while running towards the back of the cavalry formation.
Zhu Han's bodyguards immediately surrounded him and attacked Zhao Yun. With no choice, Zhao Yun had no choice but to kill these soldiers in one strike. When he looked up at Zhu Han again, he had already retreated eighty steps away.
Seeing this, Zhao Yun knew that he could no longer capture and kill the enemy general, so he hung his spear on the horse, copied the carved bow on the side of the horse with his left hand, and pulled out three long arrows from the quiver with his right hand. Shoot towards Zhu Han.
The bow was like a full moon, the arrows were like shooting stars, and the three long arrows were arranged in a Zigzag shape and headed straight towards Zhu Han's back.
"General, be careful!"
Zhu Han, who was pulling out his horse and running away, suddenly felt a chill on his back. Just when he was about to look back, he heard a shout from a soldier, and then a figure flew toward him. It was one of his soldiers. He noticed that Zhao Yun's arrow was shooting towards him, and after warning him loudly, he flew up and prepared to throw him off his horse.
Unfortunately, the soldier's speed was still a step slower. When he rushed behind Zhu Han, Zhao Yun's three arrows had already flown behind him. The top arrow directly penetrated the soldier's throat, and then another It shot into the right shoulder of Zhu Han who was pushed down by his own soldiers, nailing the two of them together, and then they rolled off the horse together.
It was precisely because of the pounce of the soldiers that Zhu Han's life was saved. After falling to the ground, Zhu Han quickly retreated 200 steps away under the protection of other soldiers. However, at this time, the 10,000 Yuan Shaojun cavalrymen were already in chaos because they lost the command of their general. After losing nearly 40% of the troops, the rest of the soldiers had fled in all directions and left the center of the battlefield far away, never to be seen again. Don't dare to get close to Baima Yicong.
Seeing Yuan Shaojun's cavalry fleeing in all directions, Zhao Yun ignored him and left hundreds of lightly wounded soldiers to clean up the battlefield. He led four thousand white horse rebels into two groups and chased after Hua Xiong who was fighting fiercely.
Jiang Yiqu was frightened by the rapid defeat of the cavalry. He was about to shrink his formation and try to contain the Zhengdong Army, but he found that Bai Mayi's main army was divided into two groups to outflank the two wings of his phalanx, and he secretly thought that something was wrong. If Baima Yicong were to threaten his own military formation from both wings, his 20,000 infantry would undoubtedly be defeated.
But now that Hua Xiong's Xiliang cavalry had reached the third line of defense, he could not stop the reinforcements from the Eastern Expeditionary Army anyway. Jiang Yiqu was in a dilemma whether to block it with all his strength or to let the Zhengdong Army pass. At this moment, a group of cavalry rushed from the north. They were the messengers sent by Yuan Shao.
After defeating Gongsunzan's army, Yuan Shao felt that he was in control of the overall situation, so he sent someone to notify Jiang Yiqu and the two generals to send troops north to prepare to besiege Gongsunzan's camp. Unexpectedly, when the messenger troops arrived, the reinforcements from the Eastern Conquest Army had already joined forces. Jiang Yiqu's army joined the battle.
After hearing the news of the defeat of Gongsun Zan's army, Jiang Yiqu was greatly relieved. So while sending people to warn Yuan Shao, he ordered the army to slowly retreat to both sides, let go of the interception, and allowed the Zhengdong Army to pass.
According to his idea, Yuan Shao only needs to send people to guard the boundary bridge to stop the reinforcements of the Eastern Expedition Army.
Then he would lead his troops and charge them from behind. Maybe he could also encircle and annihilate the reinforcements of the Eastern Expeditionary Army in the area south of the boundary bridge.
Seeing Yuan Shao's army retreating on his own initiative, Zhao Yun knew that he was probably too late and Gongsun Zan's army was likely to have failed. However, he did not see it with his own eyes. Zhao Yun was still unwilling to retreat. After breaking through Yuan Shao's interception, Zhao Yun ordered The army rested for a while, and then scattered the scouts far away.
As expected by Zhao Yun, the plains dozens of miles south of the boundary bridge were filled with soldiers and horses of Yuan Shao's army chasing the defeated troops of Gongsun Zan's army. In less than a quarter of an hour, the scouts sent by Zhao Yun collected dozens of Gongsun Zan's defeated troops. After confirming the news that Gongsun Zan had been defeated from the defeated soldiers, Zhao Yun had to stop and carefully consider the next arrangement of the army.
"General," just as Zhao Yun was deep in thought, a captain with a white horse stepped forward and begged: "General, please save the brothers who are scattered around."
Several soldiers nearby Gongsun Zan also made pleas. Hua Xiong also said: "General, since we have no time to save General Gongsun, let's save as many brothers as possible. Anyway, we have many war horses and can save them." No matter how much it is, it will be easy for the Lord to explain it when the time comes."
Zhao Yun thought, it was true. Although he had been running day and night, he still hadn't arrived. Since Gongsun Zan had been defeated, he must have found a way to escape back to Youzhou. If he could gather the scattered soldiers of Gongsun Zan's army south of Jie Bridge and bring them back to Wei County, it would be a good decision. At that time, he could send them back to Youzhou by boat.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yun looked up at the sky again and said, "General Hua, I still have to lead the White Horse Volunteers to the Jie Bridge battlefield to check it out. The matter of gathering the defeated soldiers will be left to the general. If I don't return here before midnight, please ask General Hua to lead them to retreat to Su Renting in the south of Xiangguo, and I will lead the troops to join them!"
Hua Xiong also knew that Zhao Yun would not be at ease if he didn't go to the battlefield in person to confirm it, so he took the order and said, "I will obey the order!"
Afterwards, Zhao Yun led 4,000 White Horse Volunteers, one man and two horses, towards the direction of the Jie Bridge battlefield.
After Zhao Yun led the White Horse Volunteers to leave, Hua Xiong ordered nearly 10,000 cavalrymen to search the surrounding area within 30 miles in units of 1,000, and to gather together the soldiers of Gongsun Zan's army who were scattered around.