Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1731: Chapter 1639: Scheming for the Worst-Case Scenario (Part 2)

The war eagles of Qiu Linbei are considered rare Divine Eagles. If it weren’t for Huyan Chu’s terrifying Golden Eagle, this eagle might have been the fastest flying creature in the world today.

Although this eagle only possesses the power of Qi Refining to Gang, it is a fierce bird born to fly. Its advantage in flight is unmatched by other creatures that acquire their abilities through training.

It’s important to note that even without Inner Qi, the most ordinary eagle can hunt a swift flying at fifty meters per second. With Inner Qi, its flying speed multiplies, and upon reaching Qi Refining to Gang, even Red Hare cannot outrun it in flight.

Therefore, this eagle with Qi Refining to Gang can easily soar to twice the height of a regular eagle, reaching an altitude of fifteen kilometers. While it is possible for an Inner Qi Manifestation to see that far, finding an eagle fifteen kilometers away in such a vast field of view is like dreaming.

For this eagle, unless it is locked onto early by a top-tier archer like Huang Zhong, it’s practically impossible to be easily taken down.

With this eagle, Qiu Linbei can securely tail from dozens of miles away, and from this distance, even if the White Horse reacts to launch an attack, Qiu Linbei can make an immediate retreat.

”Are all the people heading north leading Elite Cavalry?” Qiu Linbei listened to the eagle’s cry with a strange expression. The combat power of the Han Dynasty’s Elite Cavalry is certainly well-guaranteed, but its frightening training difficulty has led to a sharp decline in their numbers.

The seven or eight thousand Elite Cavalry of the Han Army, under the command of three or four commanders with Legion Talent in Inner Qi Manifestation, could even firmly block the advance of a one- or two-thousand-strong Military Spirit Legion without their final special moves, which is a force with enough influence to affect a war.

[What are they planning? Are they going after our rear? But that can’t be right; our rear is very well-hidden this time and has left a large number of elite troops. Even if those seven or eight thousand Elite Cavalry know the location, they shouldn’t be able to pose a threat.]

Qiu Linbei pondered while pursuing quietly. Inner Qi Manifestation at any location represents top-tier combat power, and Inner Qi Manifestation with Legion Talent is a national treasure.

Sending out four or five such individuals makes Qiu Linbei cautious, as even the Huns, counting their fatalities, currently have only five individuals with Legion Talent.

[That guy called Zhao Yun has left with the troops. His cavalry, although fast, doesn’t have strong combat power; they are top-tier support units at best. But without him, there are still four people left. Should I give it a try?]

Qiu Linbei weighed the combat power of both sides. Facing four commanders with Legion Talent and seven to eight thousand Elite Cavalry while he had six thousand Elite Cavalry and a thousand-strong Military Spirit Legion, victory wasn’t impossible.

In terms of combat capability, frankly, facing such elite cavalry, even with Lyu Bu’s power, it would only erupt its full combat strength under the suppression of Cloud Qi for a short time. Hence, entering such high-level battlefields, as long as no unexpected situations arise, generally couldn’t affect the overall war situation.

Moreover, Qiu Linbei still had a more than a thousand Military Spirit Legion. In a large army confrontation, this force leading the charge to break the formation could counter four or five Inner Qi Manifestation foes. Yet, Qiu Linbei had a headache since, despite having such prowess, he had no certainty.

Managing seven to eight thousand Elite Cavalry; even if the opponent couldn’t beat him in battle, escaping them wouldn’t be easy. Although he wanted to take an action to take down a Legion Talent in Inner Qi Manifestation, defeating or even routing the opponent might be possible, but killing them truly wasn’t easy.

[Forget it, I’ll just tail them from behind and see if there’s an opportunity. If we can take down one, it would already be worthwhile.] Qiu Linbei silently suppressed the urge for action.

For the Northern Huns currently, the tribe is exceedingly important. It’s best to minimize losses. To seize a chance to kill such a commander with Legion Talent from the Han Army, risking three or four thousand Northern Huns Elite Cavalry, Qiu Linbei decisively gave up since it wasn’t guaranteed to kill one.

Trailing behind Sun Ce and others, Qiu Linbei was startled upon receiving new intelligence from the Recon Eagle that the opponent suddenly launched their Legion Talent, charging forward at full speed. This left Qiu Linbei awkward.

Even with Qiu Linbei’s decent Legion Talent, it could only cover three thousand men, and he had a total of seven thousand people under him. Excluding one thousand Northern Huns Guards, there were still six thousand people, and his Legion Talent couldn’t cover all of them.

”Damn it!” Qiu Linbei cursed under his breath, realizing the severe predicament. Abandoning three thousand men and charging with just the Military Spirit Legion and three thousand of his own men would lead to a massacre.

And if he doesn’t activate his Legion Talent, the Elite Cavalry ahead, who’ve already activated it, could soon leave them behind. Even with the war eagle observing from above, they couldn’t capitalize on any benefit.

Seeing the war eagle circling in the sky, Qiu Linbei made a firm decision, whistling to let the war eagle keep fixing on Sun Ce and others ahead while he maintained his current speed, chasing ahead without depleting too much physical strength.

This was also Zhou Yu’s intention. As a meticulous Sage, upon discovering the Northern Huns’ Golden Eagle, Zhou Yu no longer viewed Northern Huns through previous perspectives but directly responded to the worst-case scenario.

That is, Zhou Yu assumed the Northern Huns might have not just one such Golden Eagle but two, or three, or even more, preemptively deciding that the Northern Huns could gather all marching intelligence under necessity.

Knowing Sun Ce headed towards Yongliang, Zhou Yu was certain Ma Chao would be persuaded by Sun Ce. Thus, even if Sun Ce brought along the complete six-thousand troop, they could activate their Legion Talent and proceed at maximum speed, with no disparate troop quality due to Talent coverage, ensuring uniform marching speed.

Thus, the entire legion could move at full speed, effectively shaking off their pursuers; no matter how intelligent the Recon Eagle may be, it doesn’t translate to equivalent mobilization capability.

With this strategic advantage, Zhou Yu could rendezvous with Sun Ce first. Then, by combining the Legion Talent of Sun Ce, Chen Xi, and Zhou Yu, they could elevate most soldiers to a quasi-Three Talents state.

Even if both Chen Xi and Zhou Yu’s talents bear a ”pseudo” prefix, their combined talents equate to two Legion Talents. Despite certain limitations in endurance, the absolute capability elevated to an elite level, was enough to resist or repel the pursuing force behind strongly.

Forcing the pursuers to retreat facilitated reactivating the Legion Talent to head south, effectively distancing from the adversaries. The Northern Huns pursuing them, encountering such a setback, would definitely reorganize.

This provided Zhou Yu, Chen Xi, and others an opportunity to face the potentially existing Northern Huns Elite Cavalry advancing from the northern part of Youzhou alone.

By that time, regardless of whether those Northern Huns behind Sun Ce chased forward, the Han army, having initially shaken off their pursuers, possessed sufficient strength to counter the probable Northern Huns force, ensuring a victory.

It could be said Zhou Yu had plotted each step since directing Wen Pin southward, so he was not worried. This, coupled with Zhou Yu’s profound understanding of Sun Ce, and his cautious stance toward outsiders like Chen Xi, was significantly evident.

However, even if Zhou Yu had such vigilance towards Chen Xi and others, two minds united when confronting the Huns leading the Miscellaneous Hun in tidal waves, surging forward.

At this moment, the strings of Han Army bows twanged loudly, releasing swift arrows cascading down, resulting in numerous Hun Cavalry falling from their horses to their deaths. Yet none of the Hu Cavalry retaliated with arrows, stepping on blood, and jaws extended from the formation to bite into the extended spearhead line of the Han Army.

At this moment, under Hua Xiong’s leadership, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry spearhead formation cleaved through like a knife-cut, with three layers forming a comb formation advancing towards the jaw formation of the Miscellaneous Hun with an imposing momentum to rupture the entire formation in one go.