Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

“Yuan Shu, don't even think about escaping!”

Zhang Fei, watching Yuan Shu retreat in his chariot, roared and disregarded the remaining cavalry.

His steed, the Snow-Treading Ebony, neighed loudly, its speed suddenly increasing, leaving the other riders behind as it pursued Yuan Shu.

A mere hundred paces was but a few breaths for the Snow-Treading Ebony.

Yuan Shu abruptly looked back and saw Zhang Fei closing in with alarming speed, causing his heart to chill.

He lashed his three chariot horses fiercely, pushing them to an even greater pace.

With his superb horsemanship, Yuan Shu managed to keep the chariot from overturning despite the speed.

“Faster! Faster! Faster!”

Yuan Shu relentlessly whipped the horses, trying to squeeze out even more speed.

“Don't escape! Don't escape!!!”

Zhang Fei, alone on his horse, roared at the top of his lungs as he gave chase.

The sight of the chariot fleeing and the rider pursuing left many Yuzhou soldiers bewildered.

Especially since the Yuzhou army's standard was fixed to Yuan Shu's chariot, countless soldiers watched from afar as the standard lurched left and right through the ranks.

Sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right…

Even though some Yuzhou soldiers tried to block Zhang Fei, Yuan Shu drove his chariot frantically for a long while, yet he couldn't completely shake off Zhang Fei, causing Yuan Shu's adrenaline to spike.

Wasn't Yuan Shu well aware of Zhang Fei's martial prowess?

If Zhang Fei got close, everything would be over.

Just as Yuan Shu saw Zhang Fei seemingly closing in, Ji Ling shook off Zhou Tai and led his troops from the flank, once again blocking Zhang Fei.

“Don't harm our lord!”

“Get out of the way!!!”

The fading sounds of clashing weapons behind him gave Yuan Shu a sense of escaping death.

Only then did Yuan Shu spare some attention to observe the overall situation.

The result undoubtedly filled Yuan Shu with despair.

While Zhang Fei chased Yuan Shu in a wretched escape, the Yang Province army had already torn three large gaps in the Yuzhou army's front lines.

Earlier, Ji Ling had to abandon stabilizing the front lines and retreat to protect Yuan Shu…

Furthermore, Yuan Shu's frantic flight with the standard had already caused the Yuzhou army, teetering on the brink of chaos, to suffer a massive drop in morale, and a widespread rout had begun.

Defeat was certain!

As this thought surfaced in Yuan Shu's mind, he couldn't help but feel mentally dazed.

How could a battle that had been so advantageous be completely reversed in less than half an hour?

Yuan Shu knew that with the front lines collapsing, the disorganized and leaderless center and rear armies could only follow suit.

“Li Zikun!!!”

Yuan Shu roared in resentment, then abruptly looked back and saw that Zhang Fei seemed to have shaken off Ji Ling and was once again giving chase.

In addition, on the periphery of the battlefield, the White Horse义从 led by Tian Yu also seemed to be trying to intercept Yuan Shu from the outside.

This jolted Yuan Shu awake, and he hurriedly drew his sword to cut down the standard fixed to the chariot, then kicked away any obstructive objects on the chariot.

On the one hand, he wanted to prevent the towering standard from continuing to attract pursuers, and on the other hand, Yuan Shu also wanted to lighten the chariot's load and increase its speed.

As for whether the fall of the standard would lead to the complete collapse of the already crumbling Yuzhou army, Yuan Shu could no longer afford to consider such things.

The next moment, Yuan Shu flicked his whip, steadily controlling the three frenzied horses, and drove the chariot away at an astonishing speed towards the rear.

Watching Yuan Shu's chariot from afar, it was like a fleeting shadow that vanished completely in the distance, causing Li Ji to sigh with emotion.

“I fear even Xiahou Ying, the imperial charioteer of the Gaozu Emperor, might not be able to surpass Yuan Shu in skill…”

Yuan Shu was unaware of Li Ji's praise.

However, this did not stop Yuan Shu from driving the chariot frantically, not daring to stop for even a moment.

After fleeing through Xiangyang, Yuan Shu didn't know how many more miles he ran, until all three horses were exhausted to death on the ground.

Yuan Shu estimated that he had probably traveled over a hundred miles, and only then did he feel slightly relieved.

Having fled for so long, Yuan Shu was already starving.

After slightly discerning his direction, Yuan Shu abandoned the chariot and continued north on foot.

The Battle of Jing Province had been lost, but Nanyang Commandery was still in Yuan Shu's hands.

Yuan Shu roughly guessed his location, feeling that he was probably not far from Xinye City.

Therefore, Yuan Shu planned to first enter Xinye, and then return to Yuzhou to plan his next move.

However, just as Yuan Shu groped his way to Xinye, he saw the city gates wide open from afar, and faint sounds of fighting could be heard from within.

This made Yuan Shu feel a chill run down his spine…

If the Yuzhou army hadn't been defeated so quickly, and if he hadn't seen that the situation was unfavorable and driven his chariot for over a hundred miles, he would have run right into this scene.

It was likely that with a normal retreat speed, the defeated soldiers of the Yuzhou army would have retreated back to Xinye City to rest and recuperate, only to fall into an ambush.

Even if Yuan Shu hadn't been defeated in the Battle of Jing Province, but had instead reached a stalemate with Li Ji, the difficulty of bypassing both Xinye City and Wancheng to maintain logistics and supplies would have increased severalfold.

Yuan Shu stood far away, watching the sounds of fighting within Xinye gradually weaken, and a banner with the character “Wei” was raised on the city walls.

His mind involuntarily replayed the entire battle.

“So, the defeat was determined long ago…”

Yuan Shu muttered to himself.

When Li Ji remained stationed in Yicheng, seemingly shrinking back and enticing the indecisive Yuan Shu to actively advance, the direction of the battle was almost certainly determined.

Operating beyond Xiangyang, the Yuzhou army's battle lines were further stretched, and the burden on logistics and supplies was further aggravated…

Once Xinye City was captured, then the Yuzhou army's supplies would become a major problem.

Unless the Yuzhou army won a decisive victory and completely crushed the Yang Province army, otherwise, whether the Yuzhou army won a small victory or drew, the only option in the end would be to retreat.

In fact, if Yuan Shu hadn't driven his chariot alone for over a hundred miles, but had instead unknowingly led the defeated troops back to Xinye City, Xinye City might have become Yuan Shu's burial ground.

“Li Zikun… so he has always been in an invincible position…”

Yuan Shu's heart was extremely complicated.

And how did this detachment of troops manage to deceive him and attack Xinye City, seizing it at such an opportune moment?

Yuan Shu vaguely guessed that it was his previous hesitant and slow marching speed that had given the enemy enough time to detour.

The cautious step-by-step approach, however, had led to him losing sight of one thing while focusing on another, and he had still fallen for Li Ji's trick!

“With this man helping Liu Da'er, how can I take Jing and Yang Provinces in the south?”

The usually confident Yuan Shu now felt a strong sense of self-doubt.

Soon after, watching the activity within Xinye City gradually subside, Yuan Shu dared not linger and quickly detoured east, even resolving to leave Nanyang as soon as possible and return to Yuzhou.

(End of chapter)