Since the battle of Xinye was unavoidable, Yang Rui only ordered 900 scaled soldiers to board the ten river-spanning warships, while the rest of the soldiers were brought to Xinye City by Yang Rui using the Void Crossing Airships.
Liu Biao had split his army into four groups to attack Yuan Shu. The northernmost group was Zhang Xiu of Nanyang Prefecture. He had set off from Wancheng and only headed northeast to Luyang County before biding his time.
Zhang Xiu was the son of Zhang Ji. After the remnants of Dong Zhuo's Xiliang army were defeated, it was rumored that Zhang Ji had passed away. It was said that Zhang Ji was sickly and did not care about politics anymore. Although the exact information was not clear, it was true that Zhang Xiu had formed an alliance with Liu Biao to guard Nanyang Prefecture.
Now that Liu Biao wanted to attack Yuan Shu, it was clear that Zhang Xiu did not want to act blindly. Instead, he stationed his troops in Luyang County to observe the situation before making a decision.
Liu Biao's second group was Wen Pin and Su Fei's 100000 troops. They were currently heading toward Xinye and were also Liu Biao's fresh troops.
As for Liu Biao's other two armies, one was led by Cai Mao and Cai He. At this time, they were moving along the Xiangjiang River towards the main stream of the Yangtze River. Their marching speed was not very fast and they were waiting for an opportunity to move.
There were at least 200 ships. The majority of them were large and small warships while the rest were transport ships that transported provisions and supplies.
Liu Biao's last group was led by Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue. There were no less than 100000 troops in this group. However, it seemed that they were only there to support Liu Biao. They were currently stationed near Fancheng and there were no signs of them moving.
Thus, even though Liu Biao's four armies came in a menacing manner, Xinye and Yishui's armies were the key. Perhaps this situation also represented Liu Biao's own attitude. He was also assessing the situation.
For a long time, Liu Biao had been very loud in his crusade against Yuan Shu. However, if he really wanted to make a move against Yuan Shu, Liu Biao would naturally consider various factors. At the very least, he would not put himself in a very passive situation.
Previously, Cao Cao had gathered several armies to deal with Yuan Shu, but he had not expected that Yang Rui would almost destroy his lair. The various vassals had naturally seen this. At the very least, Yang Rui had always seemed to be helping Yuan Shu, so his attitude needed to be carefully considered.
This time, if Cao Cao did not make a very tempting promise to help Liu Biao gain a good reputation in front of the Han Emperor Liu Xie, Liu Biao would not have spent so much effort to cooperate with Cao Cao and Liu Bei to attack Yuan Shu.
Just as the various vassals thought, Yang Rui naturally did not want Yuan Shu to die too early. On one hand, Yang Rui could use Yuan Shu to consume the strength of the various vassals.
On the other hand, with Yuan Shu as the focal point, Yang Rui could also make further preparations for the third large-scale storyline of the Three Kingdoms Region. He could also integrate the current territories, troops, resources, etc.
Even in the historical records, Yuan Shu was crowned emperor in 197, but it lasted for three years. It wasn't until 199 that he completely died out.
At this time, Yuan Shu had only been crowned Emperor for half a year. Yang Rui expected Yuan Shu to last for another year or so. After all, Yang Rui still had a lot of things to do.
It was also because of this goal that Yang Rui interfered with Cao Cao, Liu Biao and Liu Bei's crusade against Yuan Shu. Moreover, he attacked the key points of the crusade against Yuan Shu – Liu Biao's troops at Yishui and Xinye.
On the other hand, Yang Rui brought a limited number of troops to Xinye. At this time, it was deep into the night and the 80,000 to 90,000 troops in front of Wen Pin and Su Fei had already rested. They were also more vigilant than the supply troops on the other side of Yishui. After all, they were already at the gates of Xinye.
Even so, Yang Rui still managed to sneak attack them a few times. The main reason was because Huang Wudie and Mogami Yohime's special troops were too strong. They could be described as undetectable.
Mogami Yohime's special troops were not that bad. A total of 1,500 reincarnated soldiers could be instantly summoned and were very suitable for attacking the outskirts of the camp.
The more powerful ones were Huang Wudie's Butterfly Swordsmen. As long as Huang Wudie waved her sleeve, she could release the butterflies that were hidden in her special troop space and summon the Butterfly Swordsmen.
Moreover, from the moment the butterflies were released to the moment the Butterfly Swordsmen were summoned, there was a certain amount of time for the butterflies to move. In other words, even if Huang Wudie was in the outskirts, she could silently release the Butterfly Swordsmen into the inner area.
Just like Wen Pin and Su Fei's army at the outskirts of Xinye City, even if Huang Wudie was in the outermost area, she could still release the Butterfly Swordsmen into the inner area, silently killing many of the enemy's soldiers.
At the same time, it was easy for the Butterfly Swordsmen to retreat. As long as Huang Wudie gave the order, the Butterfly Swordsmen would instantly turn into thousands of butterflies and fly back into the special space that Huang Wudie used.
Under such circumstances, the Butterfly Swordsman and the Warrior of Rebirth, these two special forces had completely messed up Wen Pin and Su Fei's army. In fact, the other side did not even know who their enemies were or where they were.
Wen Pin and Su Fei's army did not have any peace for the entire night. In just one night, half of their troops had been killed. Huang Wudie's Butterfly Swordsmen numbered over 16000. Even if they could only kill one in each sneak attack, they could still cause quite a bit of damage to the enemy.
Wen Pin and Su Fei were confused by Yang Rui. This was the first time they had encountered such a strange opponent. They couldn't figure out the opponent's identity and how he came and went. Anyone would have a headache if they were in Yang Rui's shoes.
However, some of the soldiers at the outskirts had seen the reincarnated soldiers. Due to the special appearance and identity of the reincarnated soldiers, they looked like they were pulled out from the ground after they died. This made Wen Pin and Su Fei even more suspicious.
While Wen Pin and Su Fei were filled with doubts, Wen Pin and Su Fei did not have a clear idea of what was going on. In addition, they received news from the Yi River. Before the sky was completely bright, Liu Biao's army that surrounded Xinye City had already retreated.
This was not the end. The boats that Wen Pin and Su Fei used to cross the Yi River no longer existed. The remaining 10 warships were also under the control of Yang Rui's scaled soldiers and could no longer cross the river.
Wen Pin had no choice but to use a carrier pigeon to inform Liu Biao of what happened. At the same time, he commanded his army to move towards Fancheng in order to receive support from Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue.
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