Chapter 120: The Last Famous General of Hebei

“Glorious Great Han Dynasty Announcement: Because Cao Ren defeated Liu Bei and forced Liu Bei to flee south, the Runan battlefield is now declared over. As a reward, all Cao Camp Players on the Runan battlefield receive 60 Merit. As punishment, all Yuan Shao Camp Players on the Runan battlefield must forcibly end their Instance Quest, return to the Plane, and enter a dormant state until the Instance concludes.”

“Glorious Great Han Dynasty Announcement: Because Ma Chao killed Gao Gan on the battlefield and the Bingzhou army scattered, the Sanfu battlefield is now declared over. As a reward, all Cao Camp Players on the Sanfu battlefield receive 60 Merit. As punishment, all Yuan Shao Camp Players on the Sanfu battlefield must forcibly end their Instance Quest, return to the Plane, and enter a dormant state until the Instance concludes.”

Just as the beacon fires at Wuchao erupted, these two Dynasty announcements appeared almost simultaneously.

Cao Ren and Zhong Yao had also won!

Adding the already-finished Pengcheng and Guangling battlefields, Yuan Shao was now crumbling on all fronts.

“It’s finally coming to an end.” Mo Xiaobai walked down from Wuchao while leading his horse. He could still see Cao Cao up at the halfway point of the hill, laughing and dragging Xianyu Fu along. Mo Xiaobai felt a bit secretly happy.

“You Cao Aman can just enjoy yourself. I’ve been running around and working hard for so long; it’s about time I collected some interest from you.

“Flying General, let’s go!”

Taking Li Guang with him to ride forward, Mo Xiaobai figured there must be a huge loot drop waiting for him outside the Cao Camp.

…

“Big Brother, this war was truly frustrating!”

In a small wood about eight li away from the front of the Cao Army’s main camp, the retreating and defeated soldiers lay scattered on the ground in a disorganized mess. The two leading War Generals were no better; they looked dirty and beaten, and one of them had a purple eye.

“That scoundrel Guo Tu only cares about fighting for power and profit. We agreed that he would lead the troops to save Wuchao while we attacked the Cao Camp. But that guy actually took away half of our troops and horses. It’s clear that after seeing Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Han Meng die, he wants to eliminate all of our Hebei generals.”

The two War Generals, looking like a pair of unlucky brothers, sat in the weedy grass with exhausted faces. One of them had an expression of deep unwillingness. He was unwilling that his power over the troops had been taken away, and even more unwilling to lose such a wretched battle.

Just an hour ago, when the fire broke out at Wuchao, they knew the war was going badly. Both had strongly urged their Lord to take advantage of Cao Cao’s attack on Wuchao and send the entire army to make a fierce assault on the Cao Camp; this would have given them a slim chance to turn things around.

However, Guo Tu, the Commander of the three armies for this battle, had interfered. Using the preciousness of food and supplies as an excuse, he strongly demanded that troops be sent to save Wuchao.

Yuan Shao, who always suffered from choice paralysis, had no idea what to do, so he let his eldest son, Yuan Tan, issue the orders in his place. Yuan Tan was in Guo Tu’s camp, so of course he supported Guo Tu. But he also didn’t want to push these two poor guys to the enemy side, so he muddied the waters and made a final decision to split the army.

Once the order to split the army was given, it directly doomed these two unlucky brave generals of the Yuan Camp.

Leading the already small number of troops and horses they had, they had to attack a Camp fiercely defended by a bunch of generals like Xiahou Dun, Cao Chun, Cao Hong, Li Dian, Yue Jin, and Yu Jin. On the side, Liu Ye was commanding Thunder Carriages to launch long-range attacks, with a range that was even more exaggerated than bows and crossbows.

How were they supposed to fight this battle?

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the two generals lost nearly 2,000 troops.

They had only brought 5,000 troops and horses out in total. Losing more than half was already a huge defeat, and a major battlefield defeat usually marks the start of soldier desertions.

After retreating just seven or eight li, another 800 to 900 of the remaining 2,000 defeated soldiers ran away.

Unlike the soldier on the left who was relatively silent, the guy on the right with the annoyed face continued to chatter. Since he got no response after saying so much, he could only say gloomily, “Big Brother, what should we do now? You need to make a decision.”

“Tell the soldiers to rest for a moment. We will charge one last time later. If we really can’t take the camp, we have to go back and accept punishment from our Lord.”

“Huh? Are we fighting again?”

“If we don’t fight, what else can we do? We’ve fought for a long time now. You and I are covered in the blood of Cao Camp Soldiers. There is no other path left.” The War General who had been silent all along shook his head helplessly. If there was a choice, he wouldn’t want to fight again either. But at this moment, the fate of the two of them was no longer up to them to decide.

“Yes, we killed so many of Cao Mengde’s men. I heard Cao Mengde has moods of anger and joy that change constantly; how could he possibly allow the likes of us?” Hearing this, the annoyed War General also felt bitter. After fighting so hard for Yuan Shao for so many years, he had ended up in such a situation; it was truly ridiculous and sad.

“Heaven has no eyes! Am I, Gao Lan, really going to be forced to death at Guandu?”

Roaring at the sky with a sense of tragedy, the War General on the right looked even colder. He glanced over the remaining thousand or so men: “This final battle is a death no return. If you want to save your lives, you can leave. But those who wish to die with me and Junyi in this life, know that you will still be my brothers in the next life.”

Hearing Gao Lan say this, some of the soldiers who still wanted to live managed to get up from the ground. They bowed their fists, helped each other up, and left.

They became soldiers just to survive; it is not shameful to fear death.

With this departure, nearly 800 more left.

The remaining nearly 300 people were mostly the Fierce Soldiers who sat around the two commanders. Although they also bowed their fists, they did not leave. Instead, they loudly declared:

“We are willing to fight to the death with the General!”

“We are willing to fight to the death with the General!”

“We are willing to fight to the death with the General!”

…

“For a General, one should be proud of this!”

On the mountain path near the small wood, Mo Xiaobai and Li Guang, who had just arrived on horseback, happened to witness this scene.

Li Guang was originally a veteran general on the battlefield. Seeing this, he was naturally moved: “Having twenty or thirty men willing to die for you is enough to call you a good general. Having over a hundred soldiers willing to face disaster together, that is what a world-famous Famous General is all about.”

“Yes, this is the battle of Guandu, the last Famous General of Hebei. If I hadn’t come, wouldn’t that have just let Cao Cao get a free win?”

Mo Xiaobai was very relieved that he had arrived at the right time. If he really let these two leave, given the insight of Guo Jia, Xun You, and others in the Cao Camp right now, wouldn’t they have persuading Zhang He to surrender?

Once those few opened their mouths to promise Zhang He things, well, these two men would have nothing to do with Mo Xiaobai anymore.

Mo Xiaobai got off his horse and walked slowly into the wood. As soon as he entered, he saw hundreds of shining halberds pointing at himself.

Looking at those halberds still covered in blood, Mo Xiaobai was not panicked at all. He continued to walk forward calmly and smiled: “Hebei’s Famous Generals Zhang He and Gao Lan, who would have thought you two would end up in such a situation?”

“Who are you? Do you just want to die?”

Hearing this sarcasm while in a bad mood, Gao Lan immediately exploded with anger.

“I can devise a plan to surrender Chang Xi, ambush and kill Sun Ce, and burn the grain at Wuchao. Do I still fear the likes of two defeated War Generals?”

Although Mo Xiaobai really wanted to recruit the two men in front of him, he knew that kneeling and kissing their boots would never work. The two men in front of him were not normally proud; ordinary people wouldn’t even look at them sideways.

To face them, one must have achievements worth showing off.

Achievements that would make them feel ashamed.

“Did you kill Sun Ce and burn our grain?”

Upon hearing that Mo Xiaobai was indeed the main culprit for Yuan Shao’s defeat, Gao Lan raised his knife and charged without saying a word. However, before he could reach Mo Xiaobai, Li Guang firmly held his wrist.

“Is a defeated War General just left with the skill to show off?”

Glancing sideways at Gao Lan, who was almost pinned to the ground by Li Guang, Mo Xiaobai kept walking toward Zhang He: “This battle is already lost. Why force your brothers to fight to the death? I crushed several of Yuan Shao’s armies with just a wave of my hand. You can see how stupid and useless this person is. If Famous Generals like you two give your lives for him, ask yourselves honestly if it is worth it?”

“In the past, the Marquis Sima said that everyone must die someday; some deaths are heavier than Mount Tai, while others are lighter than a goose’s feather. Yuan Shao might have already abandoned his troops and fled by now. If you die fighting at Guandu, who will remember your ambitions and loyalty?”

“Instead, regain your fighting spirit and confidence. Isn’t it better to follow me to conquer another world?”