By the time Yuan Xi led his men back to the main formation, Yuan Tan's army was setting up camp on the spot and cleaning the battlefield.
Except for hundreds of cavalry sent out to pursue Tian Kai, most of them were too tired to move.
The soldiers stripped off all useful things from the corpses on the battlefield, including weapons, armor, clothes, straw sandals, food bags, and even hair.
Looking at the heavy baggage vehicles scattered all over the ground, Yuan Xi thought to himself that there was no shortage of food and grass for the time being.
But this time, too many people died.
After half a day of fighting, tens of thousands of soldiers died here.
He passed by on horseback, and the ground was full of overlapping corpses. The pungent smell of blood lingered for a long time.
When Yuan Xi entered the tent, Yuan Tan greeted him with a big smile, "Second brother, thank you for your hard work!"
He defeated Tian Kai this time, which means that most of Qingzhou is already in his pocket. It can be said that the situation is much better than he expected!
Yuan Xiqian said: "It's all because of my eldest brother's ability in running the army."
Seeing that Jushu was there, he went up to meet him, and Jushu returned the gift. Yuan Xi saw that the armor on his body was stained with blood, and thought that Jushu must go into battle every battle.
After Yuan Tan arranged for the generals to appease the soldiers and other matters, he said: "I plan to let the soldiers rest tonight and meet the other two reinforcements tomorrow morning."
"I'm not going to let those two reinforcements join together, otherwise it will turn into a war of attrition."
"Among them, Kong Rong's army is about three thousand. I will transfer Zhang He's army and Gao Lan's army, plus the second brother's own troops and horses, for a total of about four thousand troops and horses to the second brother."
"Early tomorrow morning, my second brother will go northeast to stop Kong Rongjun."
"I will lead the remaining 10,000 troops and horses, together with Yan Liang, Lu Kuang, Lu Xiang and others, to go south to intercept Liu Bei's 5,000 troops. After I defeat and destroy them, I will return to support my second brother."
After hearing this, all the generals nodded, this arrangement is reasonable.
However, Yuan Tan noticed that Yuan Xi looked hesitant and said, "Why, is the second brother afraid that Tian Kai's defeated troops will merge with Kong Rong's troops, making it difficult to deal with them?"
"Tian Kai has become a lost dog. He will never join forces with Kong. Don't worry about it, my second brother."
"If my second brother feels uneasy because he has never led so many soldiers, I can ask Mr. Jushuo to help you."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi raised his hand and said, "I don't have any worries on my side. I'm just worried about my brother's side."
"Liu Beijing is not what he used to be two years ago. Especially his two generals, Guan and Zhang, are said to have increased in strength. I'm afraid that something will happen to him."
Yuan Tan heard this and didn't take it seriously: "Two years ago, Liu Bei and Tian Kai's troops were superior to ours, and I could still stop him. If the number of troops is twice that, why should we be afraid?"
"Don't worry, my brother, I will defeat him in one fell swoop!"
After hearing this, all the generals shouted and applauded.
Yuan Xi saw that everyone was high-spirited and didn't know what to say. Yuan Tan had indeed commanded well in these battles. Maybe he was worrying too much?
When Yuan Xi returned to his camp, Zhao Yun had arranged the affairs and was waiting. Zhang He and Gao Lan also followed him.
Yuan Xi ordered his people to find an iron pot, put it outside the tent to make porridge, put some dried meat in it, and said to everyone: "We will march tomorrow, let's eat and talk."
He explained to Zhao Yun and found that when Zhao Yun heard that he was going to attack Kong Rongjun, he felt relieved. Knowing that Zhao Yun was still hesitant about meeting Liu Bei on the battlefield.
But this is human nature. It would be scary if Zhao Yun went up and killed Liu Bei without blinking an eye.
As the firewood at the bottom of the pot began to burn, tiny bubbles emerged from the rice porridge in the iron pot, and a faint fragrance floated out through the lid.
Yuan Xi counted the remaining troops and found that the losses were actually considerable.
Zhang He's two thousand troops suffered five to six hundred casualties, half of the cavalry were killed. The situation at Gao Lan's side was similar.
Nearly a hundred of Yuan Xi's own hundreds of soldiers died, and nearly ten of the more than thirty knights died, which made Yuan Xi feel even more distressed.
Moreover, the corpses were mixed together on the battlefield and could not be distinguished, so they could only be buried together after returning from the victorious battle.
Calculated in this way, those who were not injured and still had fighting strength were only three thousand, which was about the same as Kong Rongjun.
Gao Lan didn't take it seriously and said, "Second Young Master, don't worry. This trip should be easy. The First Young Master should have fully considered it."
"Kong Rong's army doesn't know how to fight, and his soldiers can't even defeat the Yellow Turban Army. They just stop them, have the two armies confront each other, and stall for time with them."
"As long as the eldest son defeats Liu Bei, he can join forces with us. By then, no one from Kong Rong's army can escape."
Yuan Xi stared at the flames at the bottom of the pot, "Do you really think Liu Beijun is so easy to deal with?"
Zhang He and Gao Lan both fell silent when they thought of the battle between Liu, Guan, and Zhang outside Feixian County.
They can't be sure either!
At this time, a voice sounded: "Why do you think, Second Young Master, that Liu Bei will be difficult to deal with?"
Yuan Xi turned around to look, and quickly stood up together with the generals, saying, "I've seen you, sir."
Jushu is here.
At this time, he had taken off his previous armor and changed into linen clothes. When he saw everyone making porridge, he squatted down and touched his stomach, "Just in time, I'm hungry too, give me a bowl."
Yuan Xi smiled, opened the lid of the pot, took out a wooden bowl of steaming porridge, and handed it to Ju Shou carefully.
Jushou blew in a few breaths and waited for the porridge to cool down a little, then he put it to his mouth and took a big sip.
He touched the taste in his mouth and sighed: "My mouth was filled with the smell of blood, but now it's diluted a bit."
The generals all nodded. Too many people had died today. Apart from the previous battles, they had never seen such deaths.
Seeing everyone standing, Jushu raised his hands and said, "What are you all doing standing here? Are you feeling full just by watching me drink porridge?"
Then everyone squatted down around the pot and each took out a wooden bowl to fill the porridge.
Jushou drank a few more sips and said to Yuan Xi, "It seems that you are not at ease with the eldest son's arrangement?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "When it comes to fighting, I'm far inferior to my brother. I'm afraid I'm overthinking."
Jushou shook his head and said: "On the battlefield, the key is to plan ahead and never overthink."
"But the plan is not without evidence. I came here just to ask why the second young master made this judgment."
Yuan Xi said: "Captain Zhang feels the same way. He should understand better than me."
After hearing this, Zhang He quickly told the story of the encounter with Liu Guan and Zhang outside Feixian County. He finally said: "The general feels that compared to two years ago, Liu Bei and others are no longer what they used to be, so we must take precautions."
Jushou drank another bowl and thought thoughtfully: "Is it so powerful?"
"You can go from being invincible to the captain to being able to firmly suppress you in two years?"
Zhang He sighed: "I'm ashamed, that's true."
"And those few people haven't encountered a bottleneck yet, and they will probably become stronger!"
Jushou put down his bowl and began to think deeply.
Yuan Tan was aggressive and aggressive, which was an advantage on the battlefield, but it was also easy to suffer losses. However, his performance this time was much better than before, which made Ju Shou quite satisfied.
But Yuan Xi's performance this time was far beyond Jushou's expectations.
The bold idea of dividing and defeating, and the cleverness of the attack, can only be understood by a counselor like Ju Shou.
The fact that Yuan Xi was able to think of this strategy on the spot shows that he is not as cowardly and incompetent as the rumors say!
Is he hiding his weakness, or has he grown up in the past three years?
Ju Shou was a little worried. Yuan Tan was good at fighting and Yuan Shang was good at planning. If Yuan Xi intervened again, the three sons of the Yuan family would probably have an internal fight.
The lord has not yet decided who will be the master, but wants his sons to take charge of each other. This is a recipe for disaster, and trouble will follow.
He stood up and said, "I will bring these words of the Second Young Master to the First Young Master and ask him to be careful."
"I owe the second young master a bowl of porridge. I'll pay you back when I return to Yecheng."
Yuan Xi and others quickly stood up and sent Jushou back.
When Yuan Xi led the army to set off the next day, Jushou did not follow him, but stayed in Yuan Tan's camp. I don't know whether Jushou listened to Yuan Xi's words and wanted to help Yuan Tan take charge, or he felt that Yuan Xi's road was enough to handle it.
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Yuan Xi didn't care either. If Kong Rong's army was as he expected, the soldiers should not be as good as Jizhou soldiers. Apart from that, there should be only one troublesome place.
After he led his troops to march northeast for a day, he finally encountered Kong Rong's army early the next morning.
The good news is that Kong Rong's army did not join up with the defeated Tian Kai army. It seems that Tian Kai escaped by boat on the day of his defeat.
The bad news is that the forward on the opposite side is really who he guessed.
It is said that this man is not a general or a general, he is just a small forward with hundreds of people, but in Yuan Xi's eyes, this man's value is higher than the three thousand men behind him.
Now that he has met him, he will not let him go at any cost.
He called Zhao Yun, Zhang He and Gao Lan over, pointed at the vanguard on the opposite side and said: "When the battle begins, you don't have to worry about anything else. Just go up together. As long as you capture this man alive, you will be done."
Zhang He was shocked: "Gao Lan and I are both respectable people, so if we besiege him, we won't be able to win without force, right?"
He and Zhao Yun had never fought before, so he automatically ignored Zhao Yun.
Yuan Xi said: "This man is very accurate in shooting arrows. If you fight alone, it will be difficult for you to get close to him."
Gao Lan looked at the striker. He was about thirty years old, and his mind was older than his own. Ordinarily, at this age, he was no longer at his peak. How could he make the young master so afraid?
He stared at the other person's appearance and suddenly remembered what Qu Yi had said to him before.
Using a pair of halberds means you can shoot arrows more accurately.
Damn it, this piece of shit Qu Yi has put himself in so many pits.
Which one of the people he lied to was easier to deal with?
At this time, the vanguard of Tao Qian's army had already moved forward on horseback. He drew his long bow from behind with his ape-like arms and said loudly: "Tai Shi Ci of Donglai is now the vanguard of Kong Beihai!"
"Among the generals of the Yuan family, are there any who dare to fight?"
Taishi Ci was a native of Huang County, Donglai. Because of the courtesy he received from Kong Rong, he helped him borrow troops from Liu Bei and relieved the Yellow Turban siege of Beihai.
Although Taishi Ci was nearly thirty years old at this time, his reputation was not obvious and he was not known by the generals in Jizhou.
Taishi Ci shouted, expecting that the other party would either ignore him or send a forward to fight him.
When the time comes, he is confident that with the hard bow in his hand, he can steadily suppress the opponent and weaken his spirit. If he can kill him, Kong Rongjun's morale will be boosted and he can win this battle.
In this way, he would repay Kong Rong's love and be able to take his mother away.
Just as he was thinking this, he saw the opponent's general wave his hand, and three generals appeared from the military formation and all rushed towards him on horseback.