Yuan Xi watched as Gongsun Zan's few cavalrymen placed the body of their fallen officer on a horse and departed, thinking to himself that in this chaotic world, there were people who were never given the opportunities they deserved.
Like that dead officer, if he had met a wise lord, he might have become famous overnight.
But now, meeting an unworthy leader and having bad luck, he died silently and unknown in a battle.
He directed the soldiers to strip the armor from the bodies of the White Horse Volunteers and throw it onto the donkey carts.
Even a pyrrhic victory in battle was much more worthwhile than a small defeat because it allowed them to scavenge the battlefield.
Especially since forging a set of armor was extremely expensive, involving a series of processes such as mining iron ore, smelting iron, refining steel, and making armor, which a small place like Beixin City simply couldn't afford.
But obtaining spoils of war from the battlefield, with slight modifications, made acquiring armor much easier.
Today's victory, the first in three years, was a result of a lucky coincidence, with well-rested, armored infantry defeating long-range, rapidly charging cavalry, and with the assistance of the great generals Qu Yi and Zhao Yun, it could be said that they had the favor of heaven, advantageous terrain, and the support of the people.
Watching sets of armor and weapons being loaded onto the donkey carts, Yuan Xi was overjoyed, no wonder later generations said that when the cannons fire, gold flows in by the thousands.
But this was far from enough, only by defeating Gongsun Zan and bringing the entire You Province under control could he utilize the rich salt and iron resources of You Province, implement Yuan Xi's farming plan, and establish his own territory in this chaotic world.
After this battle, Gongsun Zan's army would inevitably become more cautious, and such a good opportunity was hard to come by.
The living and wounded warhorses that could still walk were led away, and the dead ones were loaded onto the carts, along with armor and weapons. The soldiers spent a good half an hour cleaning up the battlefield before preparing to push the carts and return.
The corpses scattered all over the ground would be left for Gongsun Zan's army to bury themselves. Yuan Xi, fearing that something might happen overnight and that the enemy might send reinforcements, told everyone to quickly return to Beixin City.
He looked at Qu Yi on his left, who had a slightly displeased expression on his face, and Zhao Yun on his right, who was somewhat silent, and felt extremely pleased in his heart.
He also had two great generals now!
He turned his head and said a few words to Zhao Yun, then felt a burst of dizziness coming over him.
Only then did he slowly calm down from his excitement and feel some pain in his waist. He looked down and found that the armor on his waist had a tear, and blood was slowly seeping out.
He touched it with his hand and found that there was a lot of bleeding, and he immediately realized that he had been stabbed by the enemy's horse lance during the horse battle, although it didn't pierce directly through, he was still injured.
He had been careless.
He had been cautious these past few years, but after winning two battles in a row these past few days, he had become arrogant and dared to face the White Horse Volunteers head-on. He deserved this loss.
On the battlefield, swords and spears have no eyes, how could he always be unscathed?
Wouldn't his kidneys be cut out?
His body swayed twice, and he was about to fall off his horse.
Wu Zhao drove the carriage alone and returned to Yuan Xi's mansion, where servants led the carriage away.
Wu Zhao stood in the courtyard, not knowing what to do. Seeing Yuan Xi's appearance when he left, she knew he wouldn't be back for a while.
She didn't know what to do either, pacing around in the courtyard. She noticed that there were many houses in the mansion, but only a few servants. She wanted to go up and help, but was politely refused.
This was the first time in years that she felt so relaxed.
Years ago, her husband fell ill, and the marriage was intended to ward off bad luck. Unexpectedly, after she married into the family, her husband's health deteriorated and he eventually died of illness. Her mother-in-law regarded her as an ominous person, and in a fit of anger, she returned to her parents' home.
At that time, she was a young widow in mourning, but fortunately, she had her father's care. But the good times didn't last long, and her father was imprisoned for a crime and died in prison.
At this time, the court was afraid of the power of the influential officials, and they all drew a clear line with her family, making her life even more difficult.
Then there were continuous misfortunes and chaos. The Luoyang military disaster, the generals attacked each other, the emperor moved to Chang'an, and Luoyang was repeatedly looted by bandits. She hid in the mansion, feeling anxious all day long.
Finally, the Southern Xiongnu tribe in Bing Province lost control and took the opportunity to go south and plunder, looting Luoyang.
One night, her mansion was stormed by Xiongnu soldiers. In the chaos, all the servants fled. In order to hide her father's rare books, she didn't have time to escape.
In her haste, she smeared her face with the cinnabar ink her father collected. This thing was originally used for calligraphy and painting seals in the study, and it was said that it would not fade for decades or even hundreds of years, and if it was accidentally smeared on the skin, it would not disappear for years.
With this, her face immediately became extremely terrifying, and she tried to distort her eyebrows and eyes, making her appearance even uglier.
But what she didn't expect was that the Xiongnu still abducted her, along with some of her father's rare books, and took them north.
She followed behind the team, her feet were blistered several times. Some of the women were raped, some were killed for resisting, and some died of exhaustion on the road.
Because of her ugly appearance, she escaped the disaster. She also thought about escaping, but when she thought of her father's belongings being taken to the border by the Xiongnu, she felt unwilling.
Finally, in the valley outside Beixin City, she waited for the opportunity.
The Xiongnu were ambushed by Han soldiers and were unable to take care of themselves. Han women fled everywhere. She found an opportunity to take her father's belongings and escape, but it started to rain again.
Those books and other things couldn't get wet, so she didn't dare to open the box and could only hide under the carriage and wait. As a result, she was discovered by the Xiongnu chieftain Liu Bao and was stabbed in the shoulder.
Just then, Yuan Xi led people to arrive and fought Liu Bao to the death in front of the carriage.
Seeing that Yuan Xi was no match and was pinned down by Liu Bao, about to be stabbed to death by a bronze spear, she didn't know where she got the courage, but she stabbed Liu Bao hard in the foot with a dagger she picked up.
With her help, Liu Bao finally was defeated, but she fainted due to excessive bleeding from her shoulder.
When she woke up, she was already in the mansion.
Later, she realized that the leading general was actually Yuan Xi, the second son of Yuan Shao, the governor of Ji Province.
Now she dared not reveal her identity even more. At this time, her father had been convicted and killed, belonging to the traitor Dong Zhuo's faction in the court.
And Yuan Shao was the vanguard of the uprising against Dong Zhuo. If she rashly revealed her identity, it was likely to be detrimental to her. In addition, her father, this backer, had already passed away, who would speak for her?
But her father's collection of books made her uneasy, many of which were rare books, including historical records, and scriptures of various schools of thought. If they were lost, it would be a major loss.
But she hadn't thought of a suitable excuse to retrieve them.
She hesitated for most of the day, but then she heard a commotion at the gate of the mansion. She hurried out to take a look and saw a group of soldiers carrying the unconscious Yuan Xi in.
Wu Zhao saw Yuan Xi lying on the stretcher, with blood constantly seeping from the bandaged area of his waist, his face pale and his eyes closed. She couldn't help but feel dizzy.
She saw the general who drove the carriage in the morning shout at her: "Come and lend a hand, and work with the physician to treat the young master!"
Wu Zhao listened and hurried over.
After an unknown amount of time, Yuan Xi lay on the bed and opened his eyes.
After a while, he remembered what happened before he fainted. He looked at the wound on his waist, which had been bandaged with herbs, and it was still a little painful.
He thought of what happened during the day and smiled bitterly. It seemed that he still had to be cautious next time.
He slightly raised his hand, and Wu Zhao beside the bed immediately woke up and said happily: "General, you're awake?"
"The wound is not deep, just a little blood loss, the physician has already stitched it up."
Yuan Xi nodded and said: "Thank you for your trouble."
Wu Zhao was still in shock, "Young master has been unconscious for more than a day, I'm afraid he's hungry, I'll go to the kitchen and make a bowl of porridge."
Yuan Xi was stunned, almost two days?
He suddenly thought of something and exclaimed: "That's bad!"