The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 137 Shaky

The chaotic battle east of Rencheng continued. The Seventh Army, seemingly surrounded in the center, appeared to be on the verge of collapse. However, if Ju Yi could see Li Ji's expression in the center, he would know that the Seventh Army still had strong momentum. Ju Yi was simply misled by the superficial appearance he saw.

"Reporting to the general, the vanguard battalion has sent word that they have arrived near the battlefield."

Just as Ju Yi had already exceeded his half-hour target by more than ten minutes, the main force of the First Legion, which had been rushing to catch up, finally arrived near the battlefield.

"The general offensive will begin in fifteen minutes." Gao Shun took out his pocket watch and said to the messenger. Since the commanders of the two armies were on the east and north sides respectively, Gao Shun took back command. After all, such a large battlefield could not function without unified command.

When Gao Shun arrived near the battlefield, the scouts sent by Shen Pei also sent a message back to the central army of Yanzhou, and it was a red alert: the enemy had appeared, and a large number of enemy troops had appeared!

"Just as I thought!" Shen Pei wasn't too surprised by the sudden appearance of the autonomous region's main force. On the contrary, he felt that his intuition had finally been verified. The enemy had indeed set a trap for them. Shen Pei immediately found Ju Yi and demanded that Ju Yi retreat immediately. Ju Yi's failure to retreat when the time came had already made Shen Pei very uneasy. Now, the enemy's main force had appeared near the battlefield, and scouts were returning one after another, bringing back bad news. There were at least 20,000 to 30,000 enemy troops to their east and north.

“General, our army must retreat immediately,” Shen Pei said to Ju Yi. “The enemy has formed a pincer movement, and we must retreat.”

"How do we get out!" Ju Yi panicked. He realized he had made a huge mistake. He asked Shen Pei, "Sir, save me."

“Leave a group to cover the rear. Abandon all supplies except for essential provisions. We must be quick, or none of us will make it out,” Shen Pei said.

Upon hearing this, Ju Yi quickly instructed the messenger to relay his orders. However, retreating was not so simple. In an instant, the two sides engaged in battle could not be separated just because you said so, not to mention that some companies were already entangled with the enemy.

Ju Yi had to be resolute enough to make a tough decision, so he ordered all flintlock musketeers to assemble and retreat first, while five thousand arquebusiers were to be deployed to cover the rear.

Ju Yi's plan seemed flawless, but in reality, using arquebusiers to cover the rear was Ju Yi's biggest mistake. Arquebuses were not as effective as flintlock muskets, and with Ju Yi's move, the arquebusiers covering the rear barely had a chance to fire one shot before being overwhelmed by the attacking autonomous region troops.

The First Army Corps unleashed a barrage of firepower on the Yanzhou army with its large number of General Type II cannons. Although these cannons had a small caliber and were not particularly powerful, they were still cannons after all, unlike muskets.

Ju Yi was entangled. As the most senior legion in the autonomous region, the First Legion immediately taught Yanzhou what a musketeer attack was. The First Legion, which attacked in neat formations with battalions and companies as its basic units, maintained its formation without any panic and approached the Yanzhou army step by step. Even from a distance of several hundred meters, Ju Yi could feel the pressure from the First Legion, which was something the Seventh Army did not have.

"My God, how did they do that?" Ju Yi was dumbfounded as he watched the newly appeared enemy troops attack at a slow pace, and the entire formation could stop to fire and reload while running! This was definitely an elite, battle-hardened army.

"Retreat! Retreat now!" Ju Yi roared, and the entire army retreated!

However, the Yanzhou army, its rhythm disrupted, retreated much slower than the First Army Corps' offensive. The distance between the two armies drew ever closer. The Seventh Army, previously partially encircled, held back the enemy to their north. This portion of the Yanzhou army, numbering over ten thousand, suffered the most, finally understanding the meaning of being attacked from both sides. Under the First Army Corps' assault, the Yanzhou army on the north flank quickly crumbled, falling in disarray.

Only a portion of the Yanzhou army on the south side was able to maintain a relatively intact formation. Ju Yi and Shen Pei were also in this portion of the Yanzhou army at this time. The main camp had already been breached by a part of the First Army Corps. Ju Yi decisively abandoned the east side and led Shen Pei directly towards the south side.

However, Ju Yi's actions had become somewhat meaningless. Gao Shun's first regiment was attacking too fast. In less than ten minutes, the main force of the First Legion had completely cut off Ju Yi's troops.

Ju Yi and Shen Pei were also tied up by a regiment. The First Army Corps' attack had only one objective: to entangle the Yanzhou army. In any case, with the arrival of the First Army Corps on the battlefield, the autonomous region's army already had a numerical advantage, and the Yanzhou army couldn't even gain a local numerical advantage.

The gap in training and combat experience between the two sides was immediately apparent. Although the Yanzhou Army had undergone a series of reforms, it was still far inferior to the veteran First Army Corps of the Autonomous Region Army. Even the arrogant Li Ji had to admit, after seeing the First Army Corps' battlefield performance, that any division of the First Army Corps was stronger than any of the three divisions of the Seventh Army.

At that very moment, the First Army Corps' Independent Cavalry Regiment, responsible for the outflanking maneuver, also completed its maneuver, leaving Ju Yi with absolutely no chance of breaking out.

The moment Qi Bing launched his attack from the rear of the Yanzhou army, Ju Yi and Shen Pei saw no hope left. They felt their lives had turned utterly bleak. Shen Pei was prepared to be captured. As for death? Shen Pei had no intention of doing so. Who wanted to die like that? There was no need. Living was better than anything else. Moreover, being captured by the Chen family army posed no danger. As for surrendering voluntarily, that was definitely out of the question. Shen Pei still had a strong sense of so-called scholarly integrity. Not surrendering voluntarily was the bare minimum.

Of course, in Chen Er's opinion, this is a typical case of wanting to be a prostitute while also wanting to maintain a virtuous image. What is the essential difference between waiting to be captured and surrendering?

"Woo!"

When the cavalry charge sounded, it marked the end of the Yanzhou army. The cavalry regiment of over two thousand cavalrymen tore through the last line of defense of the Yanzhou army in an instant, and the Yanzhou army's organized units concentrated near Juyi were also completely scattered.

Some of the Yanzhou soldiers who had been cut off by the autonomous region's army began to surrender. No one wanted to die, especially in a battle with no chance of winning. No one wanted to die meaninglessly. People are only useful when they are alive. Once one person surrendered, a group of people would follow.