The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 161 Double the Counterattack

Xiahou Dun realized that his words were somewhat inappropriate at this time, so he quickly shifted the topic to the battle. Looking at the battlefield outside the city, Xiahou Dun said to Gao Shun, "According to the previous plan, the other two legions will outflank us tonight, and by daybreak tomorrow, their armies will have surrounded the 200,000 enemy troops outside the city. The outcome of this battle will then be practically decided."

"Yes, victory in the battle is beyond doubt. The most important thing is that we must capture Yuan Shu. He is the most crucial link. If we can't capture him, we must kill him rather than let Yuan Shu escape back to Shouchun," Gao Shun said.

Xiahou Dun nodded and said, "I will spread this order throughout the army. Tell the soldiers that whoever captures Yuan Shu will be richly rewarded!" Gao Shun said.

He didn't mention what reward would be given, because the matter of giving a reward was Chen Er's business and had little to do with him. He couldn't overstep his bounds. Moreover, it would be best to capture Yuan Shu alive and use him to appease the unjustly killed Chen Qun. These were Chen Er's original words.

"I understand, General."

Upon hearing Gao Shun's words, Xiahou Dun turned around to convey Gao Shun's order. No one among the autonomous region's generals was not heartbroken by the sacrifice of such an upright man as Chen Qun, and Xiahou Dun also held Chen Qun in high esteem.

That was his elder brother's personal guard, and he was highly skilled in martial arts. When Xiahou Dun first joined Chen Er, Chen Qun gave him a lot of guidance. Now, alas, Xiahou Dun's heart was filled with sorrow.

Outside the city, in the central camp of Chen Jun's army, Yuan Shu and Yang Hong were talking. The performance of the Pengcheng defenders today had surprised them both. Although Zhang Xun's attack was more intense, Pengcheng had suddenly doubled its counterattack firepower.

This left the people of Chen bewildered. After much thought, they still couldn't explain the actions of the Pengcheng garrison. In the end, they could only conclude that the Pengcheng garrison was probably trying to break through, and this was their counterattack before their breakout.

However, Yang Hong still offered some different opinions. He wondered if reinforcements might have arrived near Pengcheng. Yuan Shu had sent out a large number of spies within a radius of fifty miles, but they had not found any reinforcements. So Yang Hong quickly put this idea out of his mind.

However, the effects of the last battle were still present. Yang Hong advised Yuan Shu to strengthen the monitoring of Sishui, as the autonomous region's army was very likely to launch a surprise attack through the navy, since the Pengcheng battlefield was quite close to Sishui.

However, today's battle was full of strange occurrences, and Yuan Shu had to be careful. But by the time the battle ended in the afternoon, there was still no news of enemy reinforcements. Yang Hong and Yuan Shu became more and more convinced that the enemy was about to break through.

"Your Majesty, this humble general believes that what the Imperial Advisor said is very true." Ji Ling, who was accompanying the army, was the first to stand up and support Yang Hong's statement. He respected Yang Hong quite a bit, and he could also see that Yuan Shao valued Yang Hong.

"So, we should strengthen the encirclement?" Yuan Shu asked.

Yang Hong stepped forward and replied, "No, Your Majesty. I believe our army should loosen the encirclement appropriately and allow the enemy to break out. After all, our goal is to capture Pengcheng, and our army is currently short of troops and is not suitable for a life-or-death battle with the Red-Clad Army. Our current goal is to control Pengcheng, build a defensive line around Pengcheng to block the Red-Clad Army's attack, then stabilize our rear and repel Sun Ce's army, which may attack from the south."

"Sun Ce's army?" Yuan Shu asked doubtfully, not believing that Sun Ce would dare to launch an attack on his Chen Kingdom.

“That’s right. Sun Ce has effectively taken control of the Jiangdong region, and he has also declared war on my Chen state. I believe that Sun Ce is very likely to take advantage of our army’s battle with Chen Er to launch a surprise attack on the Yangzhou region,” Yang Hong said to Yuan Shu.

Upon hearing Yang Hong's words, Yuan Shu did not speak, but he understood that Yang Hong was right. He had lent troops to Sun Ce, but now it had become a case of raising a tiger to cause trouble. Yuan Shu was a little confused, and he realized that he had unknowingly made so many enemies.

"Let's deal with the enemy in front of us as soon as possible."

Yuan Shu sighed. Although he was very arrogant, he was not unaware of the gap between himself and the enemy. In particular, he knew that Chen Er had already assembled three legions. However, due to Yuan Shu's outdated intelligence system, he was unable to gain a clear advantage.

They were unaware that the three legions of the autonomous region had arrived, and Yuan Shu's intelligence was still based on information from half a month ago, with the main force of the autonomous region still within Qingzhou.

The battle was over. Yuan Shu ordered his men to be on high alert and then went to rest. He really wanted to rest; the enemy's surprise attack last night had kept him from sleeping well. As the emperor, he couldn't stay asleep during today's battle. He had come to personally lead the army and had to set an example for his soldiers.

Now that the fighting is almost over, he should get a good night's sleep.

Most of Chen Jun's troops did not sleep well last night. If there is no enemy night attack tonight, it will be the best time for them to rest. The fighting power of Pengcheng's defenders on the third day of the battle has left the Chen soldiers somewhat stunned.

However, the message coming down from above to the Chen army was that this was the Pengcheng defenders' last counterattack. As long as everyone could hold out until today, that would be enough. With this propaganda, the Chen army maintained sufficient morale.

Although the Chen army has suffered nearly 50,000 casualties in the past three days, its morale is still relatively high. Under the propaganda of the Chen generals, all the Chen soldiers believe that they will win the final victory.

No one launched a night raid, and the Chen soldiers slept soundly. Of course, this was tough on the Chen soldiers on the outer perimeter patrol, but they were all assigned to this position by drawing lots.

The night passed quickly. When dawn broke, the entire Chen army was shocked. They suddenly discovered that countless blood-red golden dragon flags had appeared around them. It was the Red Army!

"what happened?"

Upon receiving the report, Yuan Shu quickly emerged from his tent, surrounded by a large number of generals. He took the telescope from his personal guard and looked around at the places where flags had appeared.

Cold sweat poured down Yuan Shu's forehead. This was no feint; a large number of enemy troops had genuinely appeared! The autonomous region's army, clad in red uniforms and red armor!

"Your Majesty, I have made a rough observation and we have at least 170,000 to 180,000 troops in the east, west, and south. We don't even know if there are more reinforcements behind them," Zhang Xun reported to Yuan Shu after making a rough observation of the situation around the camp.

"Where are the scouts! Where are the scouts! They're all useless! They're all useless! The enemy has gotten within five or six miles, and not a single person has noticed! Who was in charge of patrolling and guarding last night? Arrest them and behead them!"