The Xiongnu chieftain's heart turned cold as he watched his hundred-odd light cavalry being ambushed by the enemy's hidden troops, with most of them killed or wounded in just a few exchanges. The remaining men could only flee back in disarray.
The enemy had come prepared!
He hurriedly ordered the front ranks to open up the center, allowing his light cavalry to escape back, while simultaneously ordering the soldiers at the rear to push all the carts to the front of the formation, blocking the mouth of the valley.
This was a chariot formation method used by the Han army that he had learned in the northern lands, using the carts to block the front of the formation and prevent the enemy cavalry from charging.
He also ordered the Xiongnu soldiers to drive the hundreds of captured women into the gaps between the carts, using them as another layer of buffer.
The hundreds of women cried and screamed, squatting on the ground, surrounded by menacing Xiongnu soldiers, preventing them from escaping.
Behind the carts, the Xiongnu chieftain ordered his men to continuously fire arrows, preventing the cavalry of Yuan Xi and Zhao Yun from approaching.
At this time, Qu Yi did not pursue the routed Xiongnu soldiers closely, rashly charging into the formation, but instead ordered his heavy cavalry to return to their own lines.
If his infantry did not keep up in time to provide support, the cavalry would be entangled by the enemy, losing their speed, and would eventually be surrounded and annihilated.
Qu Yi narrowed his eyes, seeing that the Xiongnu light cavalry had all escaped into the formation, pondering a plan to break the formation. At this moment, Yuan Xi rode over and said, "They have set up a formation, how should we respond?"
Qu Yi surveyed the mouth of the valley and said, "If we disregard the lives of those women, we can first suppress them with arrows, and I will lead the troops to force a breakthrough. You can then have the infantry follow behind."
At this time, Zhao Yun also did not pursue, and similarly called back his men. Qu Yi's words reached his ears, and Zhao Yun's expression changed slightly upon hearing them.
He stared intently at Yuan Xi, watching how Yuan Xi would respond.
Zhao Yun had his own standards in his heart. He was from Ji Province, but he abandoned Yuan Shao to join Gongsun Zan, and there was a reason for it.
When Zhao Yun joined Gongsun Zan, his reason was, "The people of my province are discussing where benevolent governance lies."
Gongsun Zan, upon hearing this, believed that Zhao Yun meant that he was better than Yuan Shao at implementing benevolent governance.
But in reality, Gongsun Zan had always been warlike, and for many years had consistently promoted a policy of slaughter in the border areas, advocating the use of force to solve problems, and even engaging in the act of looting the common people due to food shortages.
Yuan Shao's policies in Ji Province were much more moderate than Gongsun Zan's, mostly focusing on allowing the people to rest and recuperate, and could be said to be more popular.
Gongsun Zan probably thought Zhao Yun was lying when he said those words, and although he took him into his command, he still didn't trust Zhao Yun very much.
However, Zhao Yun had a secret in his heart.
When he initially went to You Province, he wasn't going for Gongsun Zan, but wanted to join Gongsun Zan's superior at the time, the Governor of You Province, Liu Yu!
Liu Yu was a genuine member of the Han imperial family, and had served as a clerk through the recommendation system of 'raising filial and incorrupt individuals' in his early years, and was later promoted to county clerk. Because of his outstanding political achievements, he was appointed as the Governor of You Province.
During this period, he widely implemented benevolent governance within You Province, encouraging the people to cultivate the land, opening up the market of Shanggu for trade with foreign tribes, and exploiting the salt and iron mines of Yuyang to obtain income, allowing over a million people from Qing and Xu Provinces who had fled to this place to live and work in peace, deeply winning the hearts of the people.
And Zhao Yun had the ambition to restore the Han Dynasty. From beginning to end, he was pursuing this goal.
In other words, the person he truly wanted to follow was Liu Yu.
However, a few months ago, something happened that made Zhao Yun extremely disheartened.
Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan attacked each other, and Liu Yu was defeated and killed.
At this time, Zhao Yun was serving as the Chief Cavalry Officer under Liu Bei, which could be considered a means for Gongsun Zan to win over Liu Bei, but Zhao Yun had already developed the intention to leave. Therefore, Zhao Yun prepared to use the excuse of his brother's death to leave Gongsun Zan and go to join a benevolent lord who could revive the Han Dynasty.
In fact, Liu Bei's attitude towards the restoration of the Han Dynasty was still very vague at this time. Cao Cao, who had joined the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition, was even ranked ahead of Liu Bei in the eyes of the Han loyalists at this time.
It wasn't until seven years later, when Cao Cao used the emperor to command the nobles and acted arbitrarily, that Zhao Yun joined Liu Bei and dedicated his life to the great cause of conquering Wei and restoring the Han Dynasty.
At this time, Liu Bei was looking for a territory of his own and had gone to Xu Province to assist Tao Qian. Gongsun Zan probably saw through Liu Bei's intention to become independent, but he let Zhao Yun lead troops to attack Beixin City, which was also a test of Zhao Yun.
However, a sentence from Yuan Xi on the city wall had touched Zhao Yun.
If Liu Yu knew in the afterlife, what would he think?
Was he helping a tyrant by assisting Gongsun Zan?
The Xiongnu were plundering and poisoning the Han people. Should he take action?
Therefore, Zhao Yun, risking being punished by military law, actually agreed to this rather absurd bet.
Now, hearing Qu Yi's words, Zhao Yun immediately turned his head. He wanted to see if this Yuan Xi was just trying to gain fame or if he was truly consistent in his words and actions!
If the other party really had the idea of implementing benevolence and righteousness, he would not let the cavalry charge at Han daughters.
But if he didn't do so, he would not only have to bear the risk of heavy casualties among his soldiers, but also the consequences of losing the bet with Zhao Yun.
What would he choose?
It should be known that when Liu Yu attacked Gongsun Zan, it was because he was too benevolent to the point of being pedantic, even saying, "Don't hurt too many people, just kill Gongsun Zan alone," and he also cherished the houses of the common people, ordering that the city not be burned, which led to his soldiers being constrained and Gongsun Zan finding an opportunity to counterattack, thus being defeated and killed.
In this chaotic world, being too benevolent or too cruel was not a way to protect oneself. The current situation at the mouth of the valley was a dilemma.
Even Zhao Yun himself didn't know how to decide!
Yuan Xi didn't know that Zhao Yun was paying attention to him. He stared at the distant mouth of the valley, pondered for a while, and said, "We can't just charge in like this."
Zhao Yun, hearing this from afar, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Yuan Xi's idea was very simple. If he really did this, his reputation would be ruined if word spread.
Reputation was extremely useful in this world. Even if he was just pretending, he had to act the part.
Besides, he really couldn't bring himself to have horses trample Han women.
But in that case, he had to think of a proper way to break the formation. He didn't want to send his hard-trained soldiers to their deaths for no reason.
Qu Yi, upon hearing this, said, "If that's the case, if the time is dragged out, I fear something unexpected will happen."
Yuan Xi said, "Let's retreat back to the woods first."
Qu Yi hesitated and said, "But if we do that, if Zhao Yun takes the opportunity to attack, we are very likely to lose the bet."
Yuan Xi, upon hearing this, said decisively, "He is not that kind of person."
He thought that if he wanted to win over Zhao Yun and gain his recognition and loyalty, it was not as simple as winning or losing on the battlefield.
Zhao Yun's body trembled upon hearing this. This Yuan Xi had never met him before, how could he understand him so well?
Yuan Xi saw that the other party was using Han women as meat shields, looking fearless, and a fire was burning in his heart. He roared, "Before we leave, cut off the heads of all the barbarian dogs!"
Qu Yi immediately directed the infantry under his command to carry their ring-pommel swords and cut off the heads of the Xiongnu cavalry corpses on the ground.
The Xiongnu soldiers, seeing this from afar, immediately let out angry roars, wanting to rush out and fight, but were stopped by the barbarian general.
The Xiongnu chieftain's face was gloomy as he watched the enemy take the heads and retreat into the woods, disappearing.
Now it was his turn to be in a dilemma.
To advance, he had to pass through the woods, making it difficult to maintain formation during the march, and it was very likely that they would be ambushed.
To retreat, he had to return to the valley, delaying his progress and preventing him from going to Bing Province.
If the enemy really was Gongsun Zan's army and Yuan Shao's army, this must only be the vanguard. What if reinforcements came and surrounded them?
This was originally a very smooth southward raid, but now nearly a hundred of his elite soldiers had already been lost. How could it have turned out like this?
The more he thought about it, the more suffocated he felt. He couldn't help but roar, and slashed down with the long knife in his hand, splitting the head of a Han woman beside him in half. Immediately, the cries of the women became even louder.
At this time, in the woods, Yuan Xi's army and Zhao Yun's army were counting the heads separately. The heavy cavalry under Qu Yi were surprised to find that Zhao Yun had killed more than a dozen more than their side!
Although this was related to Zhao Yun's charge into the enemy formation and killing the Xiongnu right army general, resulting in the enemy being leaderless, the result still made them feel frustrated.
They had just seen that in the previous battle, Zhao Yun's archery was amazingly accurate, his spear technique was terrifying, and his command of his men was effortless, obviously skilled in leading troops!
No wonder the Second Young Master Yuan was so wary of Zhao Yun on the city wall!
That was not timidity and caution, but seeing Zhao Yun's strength in advance!
Thinking of this, they felt ashamed of their misunderstanding of Yuan Xi.
At the same time, their confidence in Yuan Xi was greatly strengthened.
At this time, Yuan Xi understood that if he didn't do his best, he would not be able to win against Zhao Yun!
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