Chapter Thirty-Nine: Breaking Through the Enemy's Camp

  The power of the land, even in the dead of night, is to march for less than an hour and arrive at this time. Yuan Tan's face revealed a triumphant smile, because he saw that the flames were coming from the enemy camp, his heart was overjoyed, and his face showed an even more arrogant expression.

  He was ordered to attack Qingzhou. Now he is the governor of Qingzhou, and has established such great merit that compared with his three younger brothers, he undoubtedly has the upper hand.

  "Haha, the enemy troops in Chang County are no match for us, our army has won a great victory!"

  Yuan Tan was laughing loudly, while at this time General Zhu Ling felt his heart beating faster, as if he had overlooked something. At this moment, he suddenly asked: "May I ask, young master, where is Guo Gong now?"

  Upon hearing Zhu Ling's words, Yuan Tan was also slightly stunned, then smiled and said: "It's already late at night, I reckon Mr. Gong Ze is probably somewhere else now, after all it's hard to gather together at night!"

  "Tonight, tonight... no good!"

  Zhu Ling muttered to himself, at this time, his face changed greatly, looking back at his own camp, there was a faint firelight, his face changed again and he said: "Come on, quickly go back to the big camp and take a look!"

  Zhu Ling's heart was increasingly fearful, because at this time, the enemy army's camp was really quiet, too quiet to be true. The fire was fierce, but he didn't believe that no one could rush out. It had only been a short while, it was impossible for all 4,000 soldiers and horses to have been burned to death.

  The anxiety in her heart grew thicker, and at this moment, Zhu Ling had a feeling of impending doom. Her expression suddenly turned serious, and tonight's events seemed to exude an eerie aura!

  "General Zhu Ling, nothing wrong, is there?"

  At this time, Yuan Tan also felt that something was wrong. After all, although he was a bit of a wastrel and useless, he wasn't completely useless either. It's just that compared to his father Yuan Shao, he had a somewhat tiger-father-dog-son feeling. He wasn't an idiot. At this time, he also sensed the strangeness of the enemy camp!

  "Things may have changed, young master. If any unexpected situation arises, you take the cavalry and break through the encirclement, don't worry about us!"

  Zhu Ling's face was extremely serious as he said, "Among the 10,000-strong cavalry of the Xiu Riding Camp, there is only one thousand elite cavalry, which is the Northern Iron Cavalry. Under Yuan Shao's command, they are considered to be among the best!"

  Yuan Shao's forces spanned across the four provinces of You, Ji, Bing and Qing, with a vast territory. Although in terms of population and resources, he may be temporarily inferior to his brother Yuan Shu, his underlying strength was absolutely first-rate. At this time, Yuan Shao had not yet reached his peak, but even Cao Cao was his junior, which shows the extent of Yuan Shao's power!

  The Northern Iron Cavalry is indeed not a false name, the strength of the Xíng Róng Yíng is naturally imaginable, and now that Zhū Líng can do this, it can be said to be loyal and devoted.

  "General Zhu Ling, could it be...could there really be a mishap?"

  At this time, Yuan Tan's voice also trembled. Now his father was being dragged by Gongsun Zan on the battlefield of Youzhou. With great difficulty, he had managed to scrape together 30,000 troops and handed them over to him and Yan Liang, ordering them to campaign in Qingzhou. However, they were greedy for wealth and glory, and acted rashly. If their forces were lost here, it would be unthinkable!

  Now Tian Kai, the governor of Qingzhou appointed by Gongsun Zan himself, is still very powerful. This ten thousand troops, if damaged, would be extremely unfavorable to the strategy of Qingzhou.

  "Don't worry, young master, no matter what happens, I'll definitely keep you safe and sound!"

  Zhu Ling clasped his fists and said, but actually answered Yuan Tan from the side.

  At this moment, a personal soldier suddenly said: "Young Master, General, there is a scout coming from the big camp to pay respects!"

  "Hurry up and get on!"

  Yuan Tan also realized something and hastily said.

  "Yes!"

  The orderly immediately went down and soon came back with a scout who looked slightly disheveled. As soon as the scout saw Yuan Tan and Zhu Ling, he quickly knelt down on the ground: "Young Master, General, our camp has been attacked by the enemy army and we have suffered a great defeat! I risked my life to rush out and report the news!"

  "Ah!"

  Yuan Tan was shocked, the camp was raided, what does this represent he naturally knew, after all, his 10,000 troops were originally the vanguard opening up the road, on the south bank of the Yellow River in Qingzhou territory, but there was no supply at all, the camp was raided, this is simply a sneak attack on his rear!

  "Your Highness, the situation is now urgent. It seems we must take immediate action, otherwise we will be attacked from both sides by the enemy and suffer a great defeat!"

  Zhu Ling immediately made a decisive statement.

  "Then our army will immediately withdraw!"

  Yuan Tan's expression changed suddenly.

  "Your Highness, the enemy has certainly cut off our army's retreat route. It is still nighttime now and we cannot act rashly. Our 5,000-strong army still has a scale advantage. Let us wait for dawn. If we can make it to dawn, then there will be an opportunity to break out of the encirclement!"

  Zhu Ling sighed and said, "Now that it's nighttime, we can't act rashly. The darkness in this era is a formidable enemy. Even in the wealthy land of Ji Zhou, one or two out of ten soldiers suffer from night blindness. If we act rashly and get into chaos, the consequences will be unthinkable."

  "I regret listening to the general's words!"

  Yuan Tan was worried and said.

  At this time, Guan Hai and Wu Qing killed into the enemy's large camp. Although the enemy also had some defense, with more troops, they were scattered in three large camps, and after all, they were passive defense, without expecting that Guan Hai and Wu Qing would lead a night raid at this time.

  Moreover, the troops led by Guan Yu and Wu Qing were the most elite under their command. Although they only numbered a thousand or so, they moved autonomously at night like ghosts, breaking through one camp after another in no time. They then chased the enemy, bursting into the second camp, the third camp...

  The enemy army abandoned their helmets and armor, morale plummeted to an all-time low, one defeat led to a chain reaction, despite having a large army of 2,000, they were on the verge of collapse!

  "The enemy's main camp has been broken!"

  Wu Qing exclaimed with great joy, his voice filled with extreme delight. This was a major victory, the enemy's main camp had been broken, and so the defeat of Yuan Tan's army was already sealed!

  "Round up the defeated soldiers and take them all captive. The Heavenly Master needs manpower, do not kill prisoners arbitrarily!"

  Guan Hai was a general leading the troops, commanding Wu Qing. When he gave orders, the soldiers of the two battalions followed them strictly, having undergone rigorous military training and being extremely familiar with military rules. Three hundred men were assigned to guard the prisoners, while the rest were reorganizing the camp, rebuilding defensive facilities. The camp was originally built by Yuan's army and was very solid, but it couldn't be wasted...