Mythical Qin: I, Gao Yao, will never be a eunuch!

Chapter 916: Gathering the remaining soldiers, what a luck!

But reason told him that was practically impossible. The remaining routes to Yangping Pass were either rugged mountain trails impassable to a large army, or circuitous routes that would take days to travel. If Gao Yao chose those routes, he would be completely exposing his back to the pursuing Yi Xiaochuan, a much greater risk. His location was theoretically the best and only option.

"Why aren't you coming yet?!" Xiang Yu paced the royal tent, his heavy armor rustling with every movement. The atmosphere inside was oppressive and suffocating. Scouts sent out wave after wave returned with no success, no sign of a large-scale army approaching. This unnatural silence was even more unsettling than the enemy's drumbeats.

It was not until the afternoon of the next day after the night ambush between Gao Yao and Yi Xiaochuan that a fast horse finally rushed into Xiang Yu's camp carrying Yi Xiaochuan's urgent military report.

When Xiang Yu unfolded the parchment and saw the contents clearly, even though he was used to the storms of the battlefield, he couldn't help but gasp, his tiger eyes filled with disbelief!

The first thing the military report brought was a piece of almost absurdly tragic news: Yi Xiaochuan's 30,000 Great Chu cavalry had been defeated by Gao Yao in a direct confrontation in the open field! And this wasn't just a minor setback; after two consecutive battles, half of the troops had been killed! This meant that one of Great Chu's main cavalry corps had been practically crippled!

This news was shocking enough in itself, but what sent a chill down Xiang Yu's spine and instantly woke him up was the subsequent content of the military report and the significant time discrepancy it revealed. Yi Xiaochuan explicitly stated in the report that Gao Yao had "retreat" after his victory. Based on Yi Xiaochuan's calculations of the time and location of the ambush, if Gao Yao's troops had indeed retreated back to Yangping Pass along the same route, they would have been ambushed by Xiang Yu last night or early this morning at the latest!

But what about now? The sun had already set, and his scouts hadn't even seen the shadow of the Southern Border Army!

unless……

A terrifying yet extremely clear thought struck Xiang Yu's mind like lightning, instantly dispelling all the fog and luck!

Gao Yao had no intention of retreating back to Yangping Pass!

From the moment he defeated Yi Xiaochuan, his goal was not to return south, but... to advance north! Heading straight for Xianyang!

He'd been tricked! Completely tricked! Cutting off the enemy's retreat depended on the fact that he was indeed controlling the enemy's only route of retreat. But Gao Yao, this cunning opponent, had already seen through his plan and decisively abandoned his seemingly safe retreat. Instead, he led a solitary, exhausted army straight into the heart of Xiang Yu's capital, where his forces were depleted!

"Bang!" Xiang Yu slammed his fist down on the table, cracking the solid wood instantly. His face was ashen, and his eyes were filled with anger and murderous intent, but more of a sense of shock and sudden realization after being completely outmaneuvered by his opponent.

"Come!" Xiang Yu's roar was like thunder, instantly spreading throughout the camp. "Disband the entire army! Move out immediately! Advance towards Xianyang at full speed! Quick! Quick! Quick!"

"Yes!" Although the generals standing outside the tent did not understand what was going on, they were frightened by the unprecedented urgency and anger in the Overlord's tone, and responded without hesitation.

In an instant, the vast Chu army camp was like a lit powder keg, with shrill trumpets, shouts and neighs from the soldiers and horses, all in a state of rapid movement. Soldiers hurriedly packed their bags, generals shouted urging them on, and the entire army began to turn in a panic.

Xiang Yu grabbed the giant tripod Overlord Spear from the ground and strode out of the royal tent. He jumped on his horse and looked towards Xianyang, his heart burning with anxiety. He had to catch up with Gao Yao! He had to stop them before they entered Xianyang City! Otherwise, if Gao Yao's army returned to Xianyang, this battle would be fruitless and would end in failure.

At this moment, the dynamics of attack and defense shifted, and the roles of hunter and prey underwent another thrilling transformation on the ever-changing battlefield. A life-or-death race to Xianyang suddenly began.

Elsewhere, Yi Xiaochuan led the remnants of his troops, like a flock of startled geese, in a hasty retreat towards the designated assembly point. The darkness served as their cover, but also a magnifying glass for their inner fears. The sounds of recent shouts and cries of killing, the clatter of arrows piercing the air, and the cries of fallen comrades seemed to still echo in his ears. He was the last man standing, his sword already bent, his armor stained with blood—his own and the enemy's. His once handsome face was now shrouded in fatigue and a suppressed grief.

Along the way, stray soldiers continued to rejoin the ranks, following the sound of horns or the traces of their comrades. Most of these soldiers wore panicked expressions, their armor disheveled, having clearly managed to escape the chaotic ambush. Yi Xiaochuan watched the gathering stream of people, the chill of defeat finally dispelled by a faint warmth. He repeatedly dispatched small teams of his personal guards, combing the retreat route, gathering up the fleeing soldiers and reorganizing the formation. Orders were issued one after another, low and forceful, attempting to re-establish a skeleton of order in the chaos of the retreat.

"Count the number of people! Captains from all battalions, report in immediately!"

"Gather the injured and give them priority treatment!"

"Keep alert, scouts advance five miles!"

The retreat, originally expected to be an arduous journey, was relatively smooth because the ambush point was not too far from the designated assembly area and the retreat direction was clear. At dusk the following day, as the setting sun, a blood-red hue, cast its last rays of light over the gate of the makeshift camp, Yi Xiaochuan stood on a slightly higher slope, gazing at the camp gradually taking shape below, a mixture of emotions welling up in his heart.

In just over a day, the initial two or three thousand frightened men around him had quickly recovered to over fifteen thousand. The flags of each battalion, though somewhat damaged, were finally raised again. Smoke curled upwards from the chimneys. While the atmosphere remained heavy, it was at least no longer the despair of a rout. The quartermaster in charge of statistics presented a preliminary loss report: 20,000 vanguard troops, after such a dangerous ambush, ultimately suffered losses of around five thousand, half of whom were killed in action and half were seriously wounded or missing.

This number finally eased Yi Xiaochuan's tense nerves a little, and he even felt a sense of almost absurd "relief" or "luck." The moment he received news of the ambush at Gaoyao, the worst-case scenario he'd imagined was total annihilation, or at least more than half the troops, completely depleted of their combat effectiveness. Now, the core members were still there, the organization was largely intact, and while the damage had been done, it wasn't severe enough to cause a serious breakdown. This was undoubtedly a blessing in disguise.

"Gaoyao..." Yi Xiaochuan muttered the name silently, his gaze casting towards the distant valley they had just escaped, still shrouded in the smoke of gunpowder. He began to calmly review last night's battle. An ambush of this scale, if meticulously planned and prepared, would never have resulted in such a small loss, given Gaoyao's capabilities.