"The court has the most troops in the west. The reinforcements all wanted to win merit, but only crowded together. Now that Commander Fu has come over, he's actually held them off quite easily. Liu Cheng went east in person, apparently to rein his men in. He seems afraid of casualties, and I suspect they're also worried about the fighting at Xingyang and want to go there... Zhou Cheng, though, is an abscess clinging to the bone. When we counterattack, he stops; when we withdraw, he follows. At this rate, I'm afraid they'll bite off quite a few of our men."
Amid the milling troops, Xue Zan, clad in leather armor, managed to join Yao Xiang and report the overall situation. "And by now, our retreat has spiraled out of control. There's nothing more I can do. It all depends on the officers and leaders of the individual contingents acting on their own."
Great Chanyu Yao Xiang, a bedraggled mess of sun, sweat, blood, and dust, nodded and was about to turn his horse toward Zhou Cheng when Xue Zan unexpectedly caught his reins from beside him.
"What do you mean, Army Advisor?" Yao Xiang panted. "Is there something else?"
"Great Chanyu..." Xue Zan gritted his teeth. "I'm not saying you can't go, but I must say this: right now, your life may be worth more than anything else! As long as you're here, even if we suffer a crushing defeat, everyone will know to run toward Luoyang. Those who can't escape and surrender can still find ways to return. But if you're gone, even if the whole army survives today and everyone returns to Luoyang, people will still scatter."
"You're right." Yao Xiang nodded repeatedly on horseback, then gave a bitter smile. "But Army Advisor, Army Advisor Xue, if