Chapter 7

……

The Xiliang iron cavalry, under Hua Xiong’s leadership, continue to charge and kill for a while, and the camps of the various lords all suffer varying degrees of damage.

But the coalition of lords has many people and great strength after all.

Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, Cao Cao, and others gradually recover from the panic and reorganize their troops to come and support.

In order to avoid being surrounded by the coalition of lords using human-wave tactics, under Gu Yi’s suggestion, Hua Xiong finds the best opportunity to lead his army out.

Watching the Xiliang iron cavalry ride away toward Sishui Pass,

the various lords are so angry that they grit their teeth.

They wish they could eat Hua Xiong alive!

However, the broken walls and ruins all around are constantly reminding them that their own troops have suffered serious losses.

"Damn it!"

"What exactly is Sun Jian doing?"

"Why would he let Hua Xiong appear here?"

As the leader, Yuan Shao naturally needs to stand up immediately to soothe everyone’s morale.

Once these words are spoken, it can be said that he has spoken everyone’s inner thoughts.

Everyone, including Yuan Shao himself, feels incomparably confused about the sudden appearance of the Xiliang Army.

"I fear... there must have been a mishap on Sun Polu’s side; otherwise, he would not have left Hua Xiong alone."

Cao Cao frowns and analyzes.

(Sun Jian’s official title is General Who Breaks the Captives, and his peerage is Marquis of Wucheng, so he is also called Sun Polu.)

"But even if he suffered a defeat, he shouldn’t have failed to send any news over, right?"

Regarding what Cao Cao said, the lords also share the same view.

But they are filled with displeasure in their hearts right now.

They must pin this blame on Sun Jian!

Suddenly, Cao Cao realizes that something seems to be missing.

Usually at this time, a certain Young Master Yuan who loves to drink honey water would be jumping around more happily than anyone else.

But today, he could not hear his voice.

With doubt, Cao Cao looks up.

He sees that not far away, Ji Ling is treating Yuan Shu, whose left arm has been pierced and who is nearly fainting.

Good heavens.

Others only lost troops and generals.

When it comes to Yuan Shu, he almost lost his own life because of this!

Looking at Yuan Shu’s miserable state, the various lords have a feeling of "the rabbit dies and the fox grieves."

Although Yuan Shu is not dead yet,

in this state, he will at the very least lose an arm!

Everyone simply stops dwelling on shifting the responsibility to Sun Jian.

With the fierce posture shown by the Xiliang Army tonight,

it is possible that Sun Jian on the front line has already been completely wiped out.

"Sigh!"

"Truly, Heaven does not protect our Great Han!"

Yuan Shao hypocritically makes this exclamation.

He then leads everyone to Yuan Shu’s side.

Yuan Shu cannot die, at least not now!

As a core member of the Guandong coalition.

If Yuan Shu were to die here,

the coalition’s morale would drop directly to the bottom.

It is not impossible that they would disband on the spot!

One must know that the Guandong coalition was formed for the sake of profit and fame.

But if they had to pay with their lives for these worldly possessions, that would be too much of a loss.

Therefore, Yuan Shao, the leader, and Cao Cao, the advisor,

are destined to be exhausted for the sake of the coalition’s morale for some time to come.

…….

"Hahahaha, this group of Guandong petty people—after today’s events, it will be enough for them to suffer!"

On horseback, Hua Xiong laughs toward the sky.

The last time he had such a satisfying battle was three years ago when he followed Boss Dong to quell the rebellions of Bian Zhang, Han Sui, and Ma Teng.

That time, Bian Zhang, Han Sui, Ma Teng, and others raised a rebellion of one hundred thousand rebel troops in Liangzhou.

Besides that, they also called on the Qiang and Di tribes for support.

But this mighty force of over one hundred thousand rebels was beaten into wailing ghosts by the army led by Dong Zhuo.

Hua Xiong, as the vanguard, charged into the chaotic army as if entering an empty land.

This battle allowed Dong Zhuo to thoroughly establish his status as the strongest warlord of the Han Dynasty!

After that, the Guanxi lands were almost entirely under Dong Zhuo’s control.

As for now, the focus of the Xiliang Army has shifted to the capital.

They have no time to attend to the many affairs of Liangzhou.

Ma Teng, Han Sui, and others were thus able to continue to develop stealthily in Liangzhou.

Unlike that battle,

this raid on the coalition’s main camp was Hua Xiong’s solo operation!

The battle record is enough to make him famous throughout the world.

However, Hua Xiong is a man who values loyalty.

After returning to Sishui Pass, he immediately sent someone to write a battle report to Luoyang.

In the report, Hua Xiong did not claim the credit for himself.

Instead, he truthfully reported Gu Yi’s strategy to Dong Zhuo and strongly recommended that Dong Zhuo heavily employ Gu Yi!

And after this battle,

Hua Xiong and the generals of Sishui Pass also officially accepted Gu Yi, treating him as one of their own.

……

Sishui Pass.

Gu Yi and Hua Xiong stand together on the city tower.

Looking at the Jiangdong army camp not far away that had long since withdrawn, Hua Xiong cannot help but feel some regret.

Originally, after they returned from raiding the coalition’s main camp, they had intended to take the opportunity to finish off Sun Jian and the Jiangdong army that was cut off from grain.

But what they did not expect was

that this fellow Sun Jian is also a person of great courage.

Risking the possibility of his army collapsing due to lack of grain, Sun Jian withdrew from his original station before Hua Xiong and the Xiliang iron cavalry returned.

However, even if Sun Jian joins the other Guandong lords later, there will still be resentment between the two sides.

Gu Yi’s strategy of "abandoning Sun Jian and raiding the coalition’s main camp" caused great panic in the Guandong coalition.

More importantly, it planted the seeds of mutual distrust in their hearts.

The Guandong lords, who were already harboring evil intentions, would certainly uphold the beautiful tradition of "selling out teammates to save themselves" when encountering difficulties in order to preserve their strength.

Of course, if it were only to this extent, how would that be enough?

For Gu Yi, Sishui Pass was merely a small test of his skills.

The coalition of lords will not withdraw their troops in a short time.

Then, in order to boost their low morale,

they will most likely take Hulao Pass, which is mentioned alongside Sishui Pass, as their next target for attack!