Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Facing the sudden ambush by the Yizhou army, Wei Yan immediately organized his troops to try to clear the boulders and open a path.

However, the dense rain of arrows, rolling logs, stones, and even fire oil falling from both sides…

This not only prevented Wei Yan from quickly opening a retreat but also caused countless casualties among the Jingzhou soldiers, with Wei Yan even suffering an arrow wound on his arm.

Fortunately, the arrival of Liu Biao brought a halt to the attacks that had left Wei Yan in despair.

Seeing a glimmer of hope, Wei Yan was overjoyed. He led his remaining hundred or so personal guards to join Liu Biao, and together they quickly cleared a path to escape the valley.

As soon as the opening appeared, Wei Yan was the first to rush out, completely forgetting about his nominal lord behind him.

Or perhaps, Wei Yan already harbored some resentment towards Liu Biao.

In the Battle of Wuxian, Wei Yan believed he had performed extraordinary feats, but Liu Biao had not only failed to fulfill his previous promises but had also occasionally shown signs of suppression in his words and actions.

Originally, when Liu Biao led the army to attack Yizhou, Wei Yan volunteered to be the vanguard, hoping to achieve further great merit.

However, Liu Biao ultimately gave the vanguard position to Cai Mao, instead dispatching Wei Yan to the rear army.

Wei Yan, who was already somewhat sensitive, immediately felt that Liu Biao was worried about his merits overshadowing him, making Wei Yan feel that serving under Liu Biao was a bleak prospect and causing great dissatisfaction.

Unexpectedly, the situation changed so quickly that Wei Yan, being in the rear army, had a greater chance of survival than the other Jingzhou soldiers.

And when Liu Biao also squeezed out of the opening, Wei Yan had already led a dozen trusted aides into the mountains, disappearing without a trace.

Liu Yan could imagine that Liu Biao would have difficulty escaping back to Jingzhou, and so could Wei Yan.

Wei Yan had no intention of being buried here with Liu Biao and understood that following Liu Biao would only lead to countless Yizhou soldiers chasing them. Therefore, Wei Yan directly led a dozen trusted aides into the mountains and slipped away.

“Wei Yan!!”

Seeing the disappearing Wei Yan, Liu Biao knew that this man had abandoned him, which filled Liu Biao with great hatred but also helplessness.

When the remaining personal guards emerged from the gap one after another, Liu Biao glanced and found that there were only about six hundred left, which made Liu Biao feel a sense of悲凉 (bēi liáng - misery/desolation), but he dared not linger for a moment and quickly fled towards the trestle road he had come from.

Due to the terrain, even though Liu Yan, situated on the mountain wall, had sent pursuers to the valley entrance in advance to intercept Liu Biao, it was not easy to go around the high mountain wall back to the valley entrance.

It wasn't until Liu Biao had fled for nearly half an hour that a pursuer returned to the valley entrance and chased after Liu Biao.

However, the continuous stream of Jingzhou soldiers escaping from the small opening that Liu Biao had created also caused considerable obstruction to the pursuers sent by Liu Yan.

As Liu Yan moved away, the wails echoing in the valley lasted for nearly half a day before the ambush was declared over.

Countless corpses lay across the valley…

Nearly ninety percent of the hundred thousand Jingzhou soldiers were killed or wounded.

To prevent the outbreak of a plague, the Yizhou army naturally needed to clean up the battlefield and even block the boulders at both ends of the valley to avoid obstructing this important trestle road in Ba Commandery.

However, with Yizhou's medical conditions, there was obviously no way to treat severely wounded prisoners. Most of the wounded prisoners were directly given a final blow.

Even though Liu Yan sent as many as twenty thousand Yizhou soldiers to clean up the battlefield, it took until the evening of the next day to initially complete the cleanup.

‘Turning a hundred thousand Jingzhou soldiers to ashes with a smile and a chat…’

This undoubtedly made Liu Yan very proud. Even though the news of capturing Liu Biao had not yet returned after a full day, it did not affect Liu Yan's good mood, who was confident of success. He simply sent some more manpower to encircle and block him.

In Liu Yan's view, Liu Biao was like a little bird trapped in a cage, still unwilling to accept his fate, with no possibility of flying out of Ba Commandery.

…

And in fact, it was just as Liu Yan had expected.

After Liu Biao escaped from the nightmare-like valley, he fled almost non-stop for a whole day and night, daring not to stop, fearing that the pursuers behind him would catch up.

The trestle road built along the mountains and undulating up and down had no space for cavalry to maneuver.

Whether it was Liu Biao or the pursuers behind him, they relied entirely on their feet to chase and flee.

Fortunately, Liu Biao had once been a Northern Army Colonel, and had also tempered his body. Even though he had been in charge of Jingzhou for several years, his foundation had not completely collapsed, and he had not been completely hollowed out by wine and women, so Liu Biao was not about to give up.

Now Liu Biao had fled back along the trestle road for hundreds of miles, not daring to enter Qu Ren City, which he had once controlled.

However, a day and a night of relentless fleeing had not only drained all of Liu Biao's physical strength, but also caused most of the personal guards escorting Liu Biao along the way to fall behind, leaving only about three hundred, and almost all of them had reached their physical limits.

As dusk approached, Liu Biao looked back at the trestle road behind him, confirmed that the pursuers would not catch up for a while, and then collapsed directly on the road.

“Rest, rest for a night.”

As soon as Liu Biao's order came out, many of the personal guards who were also gritting their teeth and holding on also collapsed to the ground.

It was because Liu Biao usually treated these humble personal guards with great kindness, and each personal guard was almost completely loyal to Liu Biao, willing to die, that they followed him here.

However, the sudden relaxation after a day and a night of fleeing made almost everyone, including Liu Biao, feel extremely sore legs, and also had a feeling of almost losing consciousness.

As darkness fell, Liu Biao, who had been slumped and resting for a while, took the water bag and dry food handed over by his personal guard, preparing to replenish some physical strength, and then arrange for sentries to stand guard and guard against pursuers from behind.

A voice suppressing anger and ecstasy suddenly sounded from the corner about a hundred paces ahead.

“As the teacher said, if Liu Biao suffers a major defeat, he must pass through here on his retreat.”

Hearing this, Liu Biao's face changed drastically, and he struggled to get up.

However, the other personal guards who had just relaxed were now finding it particularly difficult to stand up again.

At the corner where the voice sounded, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, showing their heroic spirit, walked out unhurriedly, and behind Sun Ce were also family generals such as Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Han Dang, as well as a group of soldiers with complete armor.

Liu Biao's expression tightened, and as despair arose in his heart, he said in a somewhat hoarse voice.

“Who are you?! Could it be someone sent by Liu Yan?”

Sun Ce, with a somber face, suppressed his emotions from erupting, walked to within thirty paces of Liu Biao before stopping, and said.

“You don’t recognize me, but I recognize you!”

“Sun Ce of Jiangdong has come to take your life to pay tribute to my late father!” (End of this chapter)