Chapter 272

In an instant,

the fifty thousand garrison troops erupted with earth-shaking shouts!

Not far away, the retreating Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan could not help but break out in a cold sweat.

They could only hope that the eight thousand rearguard troops could delay Hua Xiong for as long as possible.

Yu Jin and Wang Men looked at each other.

Immediately, the two led the rearguard troops to launch a surprise attack on Hua Xiong's fifty thousand soldiers!

However,

even if these eight thousand troops were foolish, they knew by now that they had been reduced to abandoned pawns.

How could they possibly erupt with sufficient combat power?

Thus, before Hua Xiong's fifty thousand troops, these eight thousand rearguard soldiers were like clay persimmons.

In less than a quarter of an hour, they were scattered in all directions.

Although Yu Jin and Wang Men tried their best to stabilize military discipline, it was to no avail.

In the end, the two simply threw down their weapons and waited quietly for death to arrive.

Suddenly,

Hua Xiong's deep, resonant voice traveled over.

He raised his weapon and shouted sternly,

"Abandon resistance, those who surrender will not be killed!"

Hearing this, more than half of the eight thousand rearguard troops instantly scattered.

Being able to survive was naturally better than dying.

Yu Jin and Wang Men had no intention of stopping the rearguard troops from surrendering.

Soon, including the two of them,

nearly three-quarters of the eight thousand rearguard troops were taken prisoner.

After capturing these rearguard troops, Hua Xiong's personal guards asked him,

"General, do we still need to continue the pursuit?"

"Do not pursue a desperate foe."

"Everything that follows has already been arranged by Linzhi."

Hua Xiong smiled.

If it were in the past, given his personality, he would definitely have charged forward to pursue them immediately.

But having Gu Yi, Hua Xiong was accustomed to listening to all of Gu Yi's arrangements.

In any case, he only needed to charge and fight.

Gu Yi would arrange everything in advance.

Up until now,

no enemy had ever been able to take advantage of Gu Yi.

In Hua Xiong's view,

since Gu Yi told him there was no need to rack his brains to pursue Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan, there was naturally a certain logic to it.

On the other side,

Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan led their main forces, rushing back to the supply depot with all their might.

But when the two returned to the supply depot,

the battle had long since ended.

All the grain and fodder had been burned to ashes by the fire.

Corpses were strewn about, blood flowed into rivers, and a tragic scene emerged.

Only a few wounded soldiers who had luckily survived were now leaning against the tents to rest.

But judging by their injuries, they were likely not long for this world.

In the supply camp, Shan Jing, Tian Kai, and Cao Chun, who had been stationed there, had all vanished.

According to the report of the few wounded survivors, all three generals had been captured by the Trapping Battalion.

The hot-tempered Gongsun Zan immediately threatened to carve up the Trapping Battalion alive.

But... he could only vent his impotent rage.

Under Gu Yi's requirements, the Trapping Battalion

had long since utilized the Qinling mountain range to train an excellent ability to traverse mountains!

They had bypassed the rear to raid Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan's supply camp by crossing the continuous small hills.

Don't look at how easily the Trapping Battalion crossed the mountains.

If it were any other infantry,

it would have been impossible for them to cross the mountains near Sishui Pass and Hulao Pass so easily.

"Miaocai, Zixiao, count the casualties."

Cao Cao suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered Xia Houyuan and Cao Ren beside him in a deep voice.

The two generals immediately went to carry out the order.

But in reality, apart from the few wounded soldiers leaning against the tents who had luckily escaped,

not a single living person could be found in the entire supply camp.

Cheng Yu and Xi Zhicai followed behind Cao Cao.

They were very worried that Cao Cao would be deeply devastated by this incident.

Cao Chun might not be famous in the *Romance*,

but in reality, he was the first commander of the Cao camp's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and also Cao Ren's younger brother.

They were cousins to Cao Cao.

He was considered one of the generals Cao Cao trusted most.

Although the Cao camp's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had not yet officially taken shape,

Cao Chun had a decent talent for commanding cavalry.

Cao Cao had been preparing to form an elite cavalry unit led by Cao Chun after returning.

But unexpectedly, he met with disaster before achieving his goal.

Before the shadow of the elite cavalry was even seen,

Cao Chun had already been abducted by the Trapping Battalion, his life or death unknown.

After pondering slightly,

Xi Zhicai decided to risk angering Cao Cao to offer advice:

"My lord, please prioritize the big picture."

"Our army's grain and fodder are all lost."

"And there are no farmlands or crops near Sishui Pass and Hulao Pass for us to harvest."

"For a hundred miles around, it is all scorched earth."

"Whether our army retreats or continues to fight, we must first solve the grain problem."

"Otherwise... the three armies are in danger!"

Cao Cao naturally understood what Xi Zhicai said.

When the Guandong warlords formed the coalition, they all brought their own grain.

Now,

Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan's grain had been burned clean by Gao Shun and the Trapping Battalion.

Their armies had almost no rations left at all.

What was even more treacherous was that

all the soldiers already knew the fact that the grain had been burned.

Even if Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan wanted to temporarily hide the news, they had no way to keep it secret now.

With a deep, long sigh,

at this moment, Cao Cao seemed to have aged more than five years.

He turned and said to Cheng Yu and Xi Zhicai: