Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

During the long standoff, with Yuan Shao's luxurious strategist group meticulously plugging every loophole, almost every choice Gongsun Zan could make had been predicted.

Cutting off the Qinghe River's water flow had also been anticipated long ago.

Yuan Shao constantly sent people to patrol the Qinghe River within thirty miles upstream of Jie Bridge, ostensibly to guard against Gongsun Zan, but in reality, it was to make Gongsun Zan believe that he had deceived Yuan Shao and could secretly cut off the Qinghe River's water flow from a more distant location.

Little did he know, in warfare, deception is paramount.

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

If it weren't for this, how could Gongsun Zan be so confident that his plan to cut off the Qinghe River's water would succeed?

To this end, Yuan Shao sent trusted aides to dig deep pits near Jie Bridge, half a mile from the bridgehead, secretly at night to hide troops.

As for the scene of the Yuan army retreating, it was merely a facade.

With a slight difference in terrain, only a small number of trusted aides needed to continue carrying the large banners and flags into the distance, and tie branches to the tails of warhorses to drag on the ground, stirring up a large amount of dust, enough to create a convincing illusion.

However, within all of this layout, there was still an extremely crucial link.

Given Gongsun Zan's experience in using troops, even if he personally witnessed Yuan Shao leading the Yuan army to retreat, he would definitely not rashly order the army to cross the Qinghe River before the water flow had completely stopped.

Attacking halfway across the river.

This was a method to achieve victory, but also a major taboo in military strategy.

Even if Gongsun Zan didn't harbor any suspicion, his years of military habits dictated that he would not directly force the entire army to cross the river to pursue.

Sending a select group of elites to try to break through Jie Bridge again, to hold onto the main force of the Yuan army, and confirm that there were no problems ahead, before the main army crossed the river to pursue, this was in line with the military habits of a skilled general.

Therefore, Qu Yi's vanguard of death was the key to the success or failure of this plan.

Whether Qu Yi could withstand the White Horse Volunteers sent by Gongsun Zan, ensure that this hidden troop pit was not discovered, and even provoke or force Gongsun Zan to order the main force to cross the Qinghe River, determined the subsequent success or failure.

Once Qu Yi's vanguard of death could not withstand the White Horse Volunteers, and Gongsun Zan discovered the Yuan army's hidden troop location, then this pit might become Yuan Shao's burial ground.

Digging one's own grave, or turning defeat into victory… everything depended on Qu Yi alone.

And after vaguely hearing the movement of Gongsun Zan's army beginning to force their way across the Qinghe River, Yuan Shao was so excited that the hand holding the sword hilt was trembling, and he said.

"Qu Yi has not let me down!"

At this moment, not only did Yuan Shao reveal excitement, but the group of strategists gathered around Yuan Shao also showed ecstatic joy.

After much planning, success or failure could be said to depend on this one move.

Gongsun Zan was arrogant and conceited, claiming that he could easily flatten Yuan Shao with his cavalry, intending to decide the victory in one battle, forcing Yuan Shao to engage in a decisive battle at Jie Bridge.

But this was also Yuan Shao's only opportunity.

Once the Youzhou cavalry was allowed to gallop freely on the plains of Ji Province, Yuan Shao, apart from holding the city and struggling to the death, would have few brilliant strategies to defeat Gongsun Zan.

And at this moment, Qu Yi, guarding the bridgehead of Jie Bridge, facing a full sixty thousand troops slowly advancing from Jie Bridge and the riverbed at the same time, still did not directly retreat, putting on a posture of fighting to the death to stop Gongsun Zan.

"Courting death!"

Gongsun Zan glared at Qu Yi from afar, his eyes burning with raging fire.

Soon, Qu Yi would witness the reputation of Youzhou's elite cavalry's archery skills.

Different from the longbows used by archers in the infantry, the bows carried by cavalry were often short bows.

Just as Gongsun Zan, advancing from Jie Bridge, was about to reach the killing range of the crossbows, short bows were drawn and aimed in Qu Yi's direction, and a large rain of arrows covered the direction of the vanguard of death.

The experienced Qu Yi knew that only a small portion of this rain of arrows could cover the vanguard of death, but this was enough to force Qu Yi to retreat.

Otherwise, the vanguard of death, with only eight hundred men, could not withstand this kind of exchange of fire.

"Retreat!"

At Qu Yi's command, the eight hundred vanguard of death retreated, but not completely.

They only retreated a distance of dozens of steps, retreating into a pre-arranged shelter made of wood and shields, hiding within it.

The trajectory of short bows could threaten the crossbow-wielding vanguard of death, but with cover, the flat shooting distance of the crossbows far exceeded that of the short bows used by ordinary Youzhou cavalry.

Gongsun Zan also understood this, which made Gongsun Zan even more angry, understanding that Qu Yi was preparing to block him to the death.

"Since you are determined to seek death, then I will grant you your wish!"

Gongsun Zan angrily ordered. "The entire army speeds up, the one who takes the enemy general's head will be rewarded with a thousand gold."

For a time, under Gongsun Zan's order, the cavalry in the riverbed constantly urged the warhorses under their crotches to speed up their march.

These eight hundred vanguard of death, relying on cover, might be able to guard the bridgehead of Jie Bridge for a while.

But with sixty thousand cavalry forcing their way through the Qinghe River, it was impossible for those less than a thousand crossbows to stop them.

As the first echelon of cavalry crossed the Qinghe River and began to land, the vanguard of death had no choice but to stop guarding the bridgehead and obstructing the White Horse Volunteers, and instead, under Qu Yi's command, they each sought out landing cavalry to shoot at.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Along with the sound of crossbows ringing out again, a portion of the cavalry that had just landed was instantly killed by the crossbows.

But this also made Gongsun Zan's face reveal a ferocious and cruel smile.

After the crossbows of the vanguard of death hurriedly fired a round, under Gongsun Zan's command, the White Horse Volunteers on Jie Bridge accelerated and rushed out of the narrow Jie Bridge one after another, heading straight for the vanguard of death dozens of steps away.

After leaving Jie Bridge or crossing the riverbed, the speed of the White Horse Volunteers and the rest of the Youzhou cavalry, who were once again standing on solid ground, increased almost visibly to the naked eye.

With a distance of only dozens of steps, it was unknown whether the vanguard of death could even successfully reload their crossbows again.

The Youzhou cavalry, filled with anger, couldn't wait to tear the vanguard of death dozens of steps away to pieces instantly.

However, just as a group of cavalry rapidly approached the vanguard of death at a distance of about thirty steps.

The fastest-charging cavalry lost their footing, and even a scalp-numbing sound of bone fractures rang out.

Horse traps?

Before Gongsun Zan, who had just rushed out of Jie Bridge, could think carefully, he suddenly saw a person wearing golden armor rushing out from a hundred steps behind the vanguard of death.

Yuan Shao?!

Gongsun Zan's outstanding eyesight allowed him to instantly recognize the identity of the person who came, which instead shocked Gongsun Zan.

Hadn't Yuan Shao already fled with the army?

Why would he appear here?

And at this moment, Yuan Shao, who led the charge out of the hidden troop pit, drew his sword and pointed it straight at the sky, looking back at the fifty thousand soldiers in the hidden troop pit, and shouted.

"I, Yuan Benchu, swear in the name of four generations and three dukes, that this battle may not have a large banner…"

"However, even if I die, I will never retreat half a step, only victory! Only the path of victory with all the soldiers!"

"All soldiers, follow me to charge! The one who takes the head of the traitor Gongsun will be rewarded with ten thousand gold and enfeoffed as a marquis of ten thousand households!"

(End of this chapter)