Mythical Three Kingdoms

With such a response, Zhao Yun felt reassured to face the upcoming troubles, otherwise, if the Northern Huns crossed the Yan Great Wall again, it would indeed become a laughing stock.

”Gongtai, this battle won’t be easy to fight.” After seeing Zhao Yun off, Jia Xu said with a slight headache, even with Liu Bei and Cao Cao’s armies marching north, it wouldn’t be easy. The current situation is that the Northern Huns surely won’t fear any consequences.

”I heard someone once said that Marquis Chen had the aristocratic families survey the north last year before the year-end?” Chen Gong slowly spoke.

”Indeed, but Zichuan didn’t give me the map.” Jia Xu shook his head and said, he had thought about this before and he could ensure that Chen Xi had the map.

”Do you think he was preparing for a rainy day, or did he know about it in advance?” Chen Gong looked at Jia Xu and asked.

”Preparing for a rainy day, Zichuan loves to play the long game, many schemes only reveal themselves much later.” Jia Xu shook his head, somewhat unwilling to elaborate on the matter.

”Actually, there is an easy way to win this.” Chen Gong immediately stopped tangling in this aspect and spoke to Jia Xu.

”The Hu People are not the Northern Huns, nor are they of the Han Dynasty; if we can win over the Northern Huns, can’t we do the same?” Jia Xu raised an eyebrow and asked.

”The downsides are significant, but this approach could destabilize the foundation of the current Northern Huns.” Chen Gong nodded and said.

”This kind of thing is impossible unless they willingly submit; otherwise, we must not bow our heads. We’d rather subdue them by force than allow a foreign clan to play both sides against each other.” Jia Xu said firmly.

”Just hiding a knife behind a smile.” Chen Gong calmly looked at Jia Xu, ”Whether it works or not, it’s all about sowing discord.”

”We also need to win this battle first.” Jia Xu had considered this aspect before, and fortunately, he had thoroughly analyzed the overall situation. As long as nothing unexpected happened, each step would follow as he had planned.

Just after Huyan Chu led the Northern Huns to dispatch, Zhao Yun broke camp and set out, splitting his forces into two routes. One went to the Yan Great Wall to rescue Zang Ba, while the other advanced north, then veered west, thus avoiding most of the Huns’ scouts.

After receiving Zhao Yun’s orders and Jia Xu’s instructions, Zang Ba led six thousand infantry and cavalry to retreat south, then force marched west, and finally disguised as reinforcements heading east after five days of forced march.

That day, after Zang Ba and his troops had rested, they marched east under a brightly flying banner. Soon they encountered a group of less than a thousand aristocratic family private soldiers. After a brief exchange, this group of private soldiers from the Wang Family of Taiyuan joined Zang Ba’s ranks.

Of course, Wang Chen also made it clear that their Wang Family’s private soldiers could be sacrificed as bait, but only if it had meaning. They could die, but their deaths must be valuable, and they would not engage in meaningless sacrifice.

Zang Ba had no intention of harming the Wang Family of Taiyuan, this was the Wang Family of former Minister of Education Wang Yun, which had been nearly exterminated by Li Jue and Fan Chou. In the past two years, they had only recovered slightly with the help of various great families; there were only two people left in the main family, known for their remarkable family ethos.

Later, Zang Ba also encountered private soldiers from the Wenn Family of Taiyuan. The Wenn Family was not keen on joining Zang Ba, but after Wang Chen explained the reason, they too, with over a thousand cavalry, merged into Zang Ba’s forces, requesting the same condition: they could die, but not pointlessly.

Afterward, they encountered various smaller families. Families like the Wang Family and Wenn Family, capable of fielding over a thousand well-trained private soldiers, by rights should have been eradicated by the state. So afterward, they only encountered groups in the hundreds.

But even so, over two days, Zang Ba picked up over four thousand aristocratic family private soldiers. Only then did Zang Ba understand why Chen Xi would always talk about weakening the power of aristocratic families. This was without even encountering the top-tier aristocratic families, yet they had already encountered so many private soldiers.

The coalition of aristocratic families overthrowing the state wasn’t just rhetoric in terms of military strength; Zang Ba was slightly apprehensive. Fortunately, while these aristocratic private soldiers had decent physical qualities, their organizational power was clearly lacking. The Wenn Family and Wang Family had the organizational power, but lacked outstanding leaders. Overall, the development model of aristocratic families inherently had shortcomings.

Just as Zang Ba was considering gathering more aristocratic family private soldiers, a scout suddenly reported that ahead, Han Army and Hu People were fighting. However, the Han Army numbered less than two thousand, and the Hu People exceeded ten thousand, clearly having the upper hand.

Hearing this, Zang Ba merely shook his head repeatedly. If it were a regular army, two thousand people facing ten thousand Hu People head-on would definitely not be at a disadvantage, but for aristocratic family private soldiers, it was a completely different story.

”Wei Yan, take two thousand cavalry and charge through the middle for me, don’t worry about the depletion of Inner Qi, show your momentum.” Zang Ba tilted his head and spoke to Wei Yan.

”Guan Ping, Zhu Ling, you two attack the enemy’s left and right wings with force.” Zang Ba ordered Guan Ping and Zhu Ling before Wei Yan could respond.

Both clasped their fists in a salute, then mounted their horses and led their divisions to charge out.

”General Zang, what about us?” Wang Chen asked.

”You stay put for now.” Zang Ba shook his head. On the plains, it’s easy to rout the Hu People, but annihilating them is very difficult, so he wouldn’t expect that. As the goal was to rout, the aristocratic private soldiers would be best assisting his main forces in combat.

Wei Yan advanced first, though he had yet to awaken his Legion Talent, his martial arts had progressed significantly since his battle with Gao Lan, having broken through that limit. At least now, Hua Xiong had no solution for Wei Yan.

Though not unparalleled in the world, it wasn’t easy to deal with him either, especially since among these Hu People, none had an Inner Qi Manifestation. Wei Yan unleashed a fierce Inner Qi, wielding the Legion Attack, carving a massive gap in the Jie Clan army.

Thereafter he laughed wildly and charged through the gap, while his elite veteran soldiers spurred their horses, fiercely charging straight for the Jie Clan army’s Command Banner.

The originally aggressive assault of the Jie Clan army failed to adapt to the change in formation, colliding with Wei Yan’s frontal assault, its aggressive momentum halted abruptly, like waves crashing against rocks, instantly shattered.

The Jie Clan chief, realizing the vast disparity in strength, immediately woke up, realizing they were facing the Han Army’s regular forces, shouted for the tribe to retreat, but Guan Ping and Zhu Ling’s divisions had already attacked from the flanks, like two sharp fangs driving straight into the Jie Clan’s vital points.

At the same time, the aristocratic family private soldiers, once enveloped in a semi-encirclement by the Jie Clan, under the lead of a young general clad in silver armor, seized the momentum, disregarding casualties, launched a counter-charge, forcefully curtailing the Jie Clan’s aggressive momentum, seizing the opportunity and linked with Wei Yan, in a single breath pressed down on the Jie Clan.