Mythical Three Kingdoms

”Hurry up and run, hurry up and run, it looks like the Northern Huns are on our tail,” Zhou Yu and Chen Xi bantered with each other as they ran. Their situation was almost exactly as expected; the opponent, with great acumen, suppressed their anger and intended to wear them down with pursuit.

”Let them chase us,” Chen Xi said with a smile, showing no worry at all. He could guarantee that by the time they arrived with their large army, and the opponent was tired from the pursuit, Zhao Yun’s reinforcements would have arrived. By then, their idea of using a small force to win against a big one would only lead to defeat.

”But are you certain the reinforcements will arrive?” Zhou Yu inquired while still appearing carefree.

”At this distance, if the White Horse really wanted to help, they could reach here with the entire army in two days, so don’t worry. It’s a pity though...” Speaking of the White Horse Soldiers, Chen Xi couldn’t help but think of Gan Ning and shook his head, wondering how Gan Ning was doing lately.

If Gan Ning were here, the situation would be even better. After Chen Xi and Zhou Yu lured away this last group of Northern Hunnic elites, the remaining Northern Huns would be like meat on the chopping board for Gan Ning. Unfortunately, Gan Ning had gone south.

”What’s the pity?” Zhou Yu, not thinking about Gan Ning, laughed and said, ”A snake swallowing an elephant won’t be satisfied; you’ve already gained so much, what more do you want?”

”Aren’t people driven to move forward by desire and ambition? The so-called people with no desires are like stones, how can they progress?” Chen Xi raised an eyebrow and said.

”Hearing you say that, I’m curious, what is your ambition?” Zhou Yu looked at Chen Xi with curiosity. He could hardly sense any desire from Chen Xi, and from all information, it seemed quite unscientific.

”My ambition? To make this world revolve around Huaxia.” Chen Xi said with a smile.

”Is that all?” Zhou Yu frowned, looking at Chen Xi in confusion.

”That’s it. Some things are hard to know but easy to do; others are easy to know but hard to do,” Chen Xi shook his head. ”Let’s talk about this later. For now, we’d better run, or if they realize and decide to fight us desperately, things will not be good.”

On the evening when Chen Xi and Zhou Yu took action against the Northern Huns, Zhao Yun had already received Liu Bei’s orders in the form of an urgent secret letter personally delivered by Yin Li’s cousin, Yin Luo. The letter clearly explained the causes and effects.

Of course, Zhao Yun had no reason to refuse. At the time, they were already in a standoff with Huyan Chu, separated by more than forty miles. As for the war against the Miscellaneous Huns, most of it had been resolved after several reinforcements arrived.

As for the fleeing Miscellaneous Huns, Zang Ba and others had no good solution either. As Zhou Yu and Chen Xi estimated, using food to control the Miscellaneous Huns, if not captured by the Han army and brought back to the camp, most deflected back to the Northern Huns Camp on their own.

After all, they are not cattle and sheep that can graze on grass. If they don’t find a place to eat, they’ll become bones on the prairie sooner or later. Among over 200,000 young and strong Miscellaneous Huns, the Northern Huns managed to retrieve seven to eighty thousand, but this wasn’t too surprising.

Truly defeating more than 200,000 Miscellaneous Huns in one battle — frankly, without people like Li You and Jia Xu, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to attempt such a thing.

”Strategist Jia, after I leave, General Zhang will be in command, so I ask you to be extra careful,” Zhao Yun said earnestly to Jia Xu before departing.

”General Zhao, rest assured,” Jia Xu replied with confidence, ”General Zhang may appear reckless but is not a brute who cannot heed advice.”

Zhao Yun cupped his fists in salute and, feeling reassured by Jia Xu’s words, said no more. He then led all the White Horse Soldiers to the place indicated in the letter at a swift pace.

Jia Xu watched Zhao Yun depart. For someone like him, when truly helping someone solve problems, it’s difficult to encounter unsolvable issues. Likewise, even dealing with a rash person like Zhang Fei, Jia Xu still had plenty of strategies to manage.

”Ma Mengqi and Sun Bofu?” Jia Xu watched as two large armies emerged in the camp shortly after Zhao Yun marched north, frowning as he seemed to recall something, then narrowed his eyes.

[Sun Bofu, is he truly smart or relying on an almost beast-like instinct?] Jia Xu thought as he watched Sun Ce head out to pursue Zhao Yun, without issuing any alerts, having already deduced some facts.

However, from any standpoint, Sun Ce’s actions appeared very correct and a way to stabilize the tripartite relationship.

[So even Zhang He went along, the act of discarding disagreements?] Jia Xu watched the direction of Sun Ce’s army moving with a touch of appreciation in his eyes.

Then Jia Xu turned to look towards the Cao Army camp. As expected, under the successive provocations of Zhao Yun and Sun Ce’s departures, after a brief discussion with Pang De, Zhang Xiu decided to follow. Whether dealing with the Northern Huns or scheming against them, he had to follow; no one could show cowardice in this battle, regardless of who it was.

That was Pang De’s biggest headache. Although Ma Chao was his own, he followed Sun Ce and didn’t inform him. Pang De, being cautious, had no choice but to let Zhang Xiu go among the two of them.