Chapter 100

This is truly... something I never would have thought possible.

By the Yan River, Chen Shi, the Wuwei of Yanling, felt a sentiment similar to that of Bailing Ba, the General of the Jun River Camp, who was also standing there.

Three days ago, Chen Shi had been ordered by Prince Su Zhao Hongrun to lead five thousand Yanling soldiers to the upper reaches of the Yan River to build a dam. At that time, he realized that this move by Prince Su would create a weakness in Yanling's defenses, allowing the Chu army on the south bank of the Yan River to cross and attack Yanling.

Indeed, his guess was not wrong. Just three days after he left Yanling, the vanguard of the Chu army, consisting of sixty thousand soldiers, had successfully crossed the Yan River.

However, he had guessed the beginning but not the end.

Chen Shi had originally thought that Prince Su's stubbornness would lead to the fall of Yanling, resulting in a large part of the Wei territory being occupied by the Chu army. But he never imagined that what he awaited was not a request for aid from Yanling, but the complete defeat of the entire sixty thousand Chu soldiers.

Yes, a complete defeat.

A total rout!

Even standing by the Yan River, Chen Shi could clearly see the Chu soldiers fleeing like a tide towards this land by the Yan River, the terror on their faces, and the mighty and imposing Jun River Camp army chasing after them.

How shameful...

Chen Shi's face involuntarily showed a look of shame.

A few days ago, after successfully blocking several attempts by the Chu army to cross the river, even he began to believe that Prince Su's decision not to rely on him would be the greatest cause of Yanling's fall and the occupation of the territory by the Chu army.

But the result was that Prince Su almost annihilated the sixty thousand Chu vanguard in one go!

Chen Shi did not want to use the support of the Jun River Camp as an excuse, because he knew that even if he had received the support of the Jun River Camp, he would have used the army mainly for defending Yanling, not for the strategy of luring the enemy deeper and then ambushing them.

He finally realized that this was the biggest difference between him and Prince Su: he was preoccupied with how to defend Yanling, while Prince Su was thinking about annihilating the invading enemy.

One was focused on defense, the other on an active attack, and the difference was clear!

"Cough!... Wuwei Chen, it's not good to be lost in thought at a time like this."

Beside him, a voice reminded him indifferently.

Chen Shi turned his head to look at the person and smiled wryly.

He recognized these people; they were the royal guards around Prince Su, such as Zhang Ao, Li Meng, and Fang Shuo. It was because of their messages in Prince Su's name that he had led his army down the Yan River to cut off the Chu army's retreat.

Well... for now, let's just do our duty!

Taking a deep breath, Chen Shi adjusted his mood and focused on the battle at hand.

Shouldering the responsibility of cutting off the Chu army's retreat, to be honest, Chen Shi and his nearly five thousand Yanling soldiers were under great pressure. After all, the Chu army that had fled back to Yanling, if they wanted to survive and return to the south bank of the Yan River, could only cross through the three floating bridges he was currently defending.

Unless these people, in a desperate bid for survival, jumped into the Yan River without hesitation.

Because of this, Chen Shi and his nearly five thousand Yanling soldiers were now the mortal enemies of these Chu soldiers who were trying to survive. Just looking at their frenzied momentum, one could see that they were rushing forward like moths to a flame.

In such a situation, holding the three floating bridges was indeed very difficult.

Their nearly five thousand Yanling soldiers were like a small boat in the vast ocean, facing tens of thousands of Chu soldiers, the situation was precarious, and they could be capsized at any moment.

Fortunately, the rout of the Chu army gave Chen Shi and his nearly five thousand Yanling soldiers a strong confidence. After all, it was like beating a drowning dog; even if the situation was dangerous, they were still filled with the confidence of victory.

What they were considering now was not how to defeat the Chu army, but how to coordinate with the friendly forces of the Jun River Camp to completely annihilate the sixty thousand Chu vanguard, achieving a great victory that would boost morale.

Of course, as for those Chu soldiers who managed to escape to the south bank when they seized the floating bridges, Chen Shi and his men could do nothing about it.

But they were not concerned, after all, the escape of a few hundred Chu soldiers was insignificant to the overall battle situation.

It cannot be denied that the Chu army, in their bid for survival, was indeed very frenzied, but Chen Shi and his nearly five thousand Yanling soldiers were like three nails, firmly holding the three floating bridges.

If it were a normal day, the tens of thousands of Chu soldiers on the north bank of the Yan River could easily overwhelm this force, but now, with the approaching Wei soldiers of the Jun River Camp behind them, these Chu soldiers had no intention of entangling with Chen Shi's army.

Seeing that the floating bridges were lost, the Chu soldiers, in their desperation for survival, jumped into the Yan River, trying to swim to the other side.

It was indeed a spectacular sight. The north bank of the Yan River was densely packed with Chu soldiers, who jumped into the river one after another. From a bird's-eye view, the water surface was filled with dense black dots.

At this moment, a surge of water suddenly rushed down from the upper reaches of the Yan River, sweeping the Chu soldiers in the water downstream.

Did it work?

Chen Shi subconsciously glanced upstream.

The dam was not Zhao Hongrun's instruction, but Chen Shi's own judgment.

After all, Zhao Hongrun did not think that just a few days of water accumulation could have much impact on the Chu army.

Of course, mainly he did not believe that Chen Shi could build a dam in one day. At that time, Chen Shi was very resistant to the idea of building a dam upstream, so he did not consider the dam, treating the "dam construction" as a bait to lure the Chu army to cross the river and attack.

Zhao Hongrun probably did not expect that Chen Shi would complete the dam construction in one day.

Actually, if you think about it, it's not surprising. At that time, Chen Shi subjectively believed that Zhao Hongrun's decision to move him away from Yanling would inevitably lead to the fall of Yanling, so he hoped to build the dam as soon as possible and be ready to support Yanling at any time.

As for why he had to build the dam, it was because Chen Shi felt that his previous refusal to hand over command had caused Prince Su to have a bias against him. Therefore, only after completing the task assigned by Prince Su could he find an opportunity to do something else.

However, Chen Shi did not expect that the dam he built with his troops in anger three days ago would now play a good role in blocking the Chu army.

This is truly unpredictable.

Due to the release of water from the dam upstream, the water level in this area rose significantly, and the current became much stronger. Although it was not as severe as during the flood season, it was enough to scare the Chu soldiers who were trying to swim across the Yan River.

What to do? What to do?

For a moment, almost all the Chu soldiers were considering this problem.

Blocked in front, pursued from behind, they were in a desperate situation, surrounded on all sides. What made them even more desperate was that the Wei soldiers of the Jun River Camp behind them showed no mercy, driving two hundred formidable war chariots, which looked like fortresses, in a straight line, trying to drive them all into the Yan River.

"Ah—"

"Ah ah ah—"

Thousands of Chu soldiers, pushed by their comrades, were unfortunately squeezed into the Yan River, screaming in terror as they were swept downstream, their fates unknown.

Seeing this, the Chu soldiers closest to the river bank fearfully pushed back, but behind them, the two hundred war chariots slowly advanced, and the crossbowmen in the upper compartments of the chariots shot arrows, killing the Chu soldiers closest to them in waves.

Although there were still thirty thousand Chu soldiers on the north bank of Yanling, they were like thirty thousand cattle waiting to be slaughtered, with no fighting spirit.

Their fate was either to be shot by the Wei soldiers of the Jun River Camp or to be driven into the Yan River by the war chariots.

Even the great general of the Jun River Camp, Bailing Ba, felt some pity in his heart at this scene.

But pity is one thing, and his orders are another.

After all, taking in Chu army prisoners is a very troublesome matter. In Chu, the status of commoners is extremely low, and the treatment of those with noble blood and those without is vastly different. Even if the Wei kingdom captured these Chu soldiers, Chu would not redeem them through ransom. Chu would only redeem the generals and the nobles of the Xiong clan, such as the Pingyu Marquis Xiong Hu.

As for these ordinary Chu soldiers, Chu has plenty of people and does not care.

If the soldiers are lost, they can just recruit more. After all, Chu's territory is four times that of Wei!

Why spend a large amount of resources to redeem a group of defeated soldiers?

In other words, even if Wei took in these Chu soldiers, it would not get any return, but would have to provide food for the prisoners, settle them, and assign people to guard them.

Letting them go is impossible, as it would indirectly help Chu. But keeping them is also useless. In that case, it might as well kill them all and be done with it.

Thinking of this, Bailing Ba issued a cruel order without hesitation: drive the thirty thousand Chu soldiers into the Yan River!

At this moment, a voice stopped him.

"That's enough!"

"..." Bailing Ba turned his head in surprise and saw that Zhao Hongrun, along with Wang Shu, Ma Zhang, and several royal guards, had already galloped up.

"Prince Su..." Bailing Ba threw the long-handled horse saber to a nearby guard, clasped his hands, and frowned, asking, "What do you mean, Your Highness?"

Zhao Hongrun rode his warhorse forward, glanced at the miserable Chu soldiers, and shook his head, saying, "We have already won this battle. Continuing to kill them would only be a massacre. ... Let's stop here!"

Bailing Ba frowned and reminded, "Your Highness, I believe that keeping prisoners would only add to our burden. ... For the greater good, I cannot comply with your order!"

Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun raised his head and looked at Bailing Ba calmly, "That's enough! ... These prisoners, I have a use for them!"

Although his tone was calm, it left no room for argument.

...

Bailing Ba's tiger-like eyes narrowed, and he suddenly smiled, "Is Your Highness going to use a gold order for these people? ... As I understand, you only have one gold order left, granted by His Majesty."

"Ha." Zhao Hongrun smirked, "Sorry, the last one, I used it a long time ago."

Hmm?

Bailing Ba was taken aback, staring deeply at Zhao Hongrun, who looked back at him calmly.

After a moment, Bailing Ba chuckled and slowly moved his horse to the side.

This was a sign of compromise and concession.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun rode his warhorse forward a few steps, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly, "Order the entire army, no killing of those who surrender!"

The nearby soldiers of the Jun River Camp, hearing this, began to call out to the Chu soldiers to surrender.

"Drop your weapons, those who surrender will not be killed!"

"Drop your weapons, those who surrender will not be killed!"

"Drop your weapons, those who surrender will not be killed!"

Hearing the calls from the Wei soldiers of the Jun River Camp, the thirty thousand Chu soldiers, who were in a desperate situation, burst into tears.

The authority in his eyes... does not resemble that of a mere fourteen-year-old child.

Bailing Ba observed Prince Su from the side, and for the first time, he felt that the title given to the Eighth Prince by the Wei emperor was fitting.

Solemn, yet authoritative without anger!

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