Chapter 96

The civilians within Yanling City had already begun to retreat northward to Anling.

The Yanling Wei soldiers on the front lines, under the leadership of Zhao Hongrun, Wang Shu, and Ma Zhang, were also retreating comprehensively from the Yan River.

Behind them, the Chu soldiers were overwhelming, their heads swarming like a tide, covering the sky and the earth.

Wuwei Wang Shu turned his head and glanced back, his face slightly changing at the spectacular sight.

"The Chu... Chu soldiers are chasing us..."

He glanced at Zhao Hongrun, who was riding his warhorse nearby, and said anxiously, "Your Highness... no, Lord Jiangrun, the Chu soldiers are just a few dozen yards away from our soldiers. I'm worried..."

"Why are you panicking?" Zhao Hongrun said calmly. "Our soldiers are running on two legs, and the Chu soldiers are also chasing on two legs. Are you worried that our Wei people can't outrun the Chu people? ... Don't look at the distance of just a few dozen yards. As long as our army's running speed is not inferior to the Chu soldiers, even if we run to the ends of the earth, those people behind won't be able to catch up."

"R-Really?" Wang Shu asked, eyes wide open.

Zhao Hongrun ignored him and sighed silently.

Once, he chased an enemy hero with low health all over the map. They were only two steps apart, but with the same movement speed, he couldn't catch up and was eventually counter-killed by the enemy's teammates... That was a bloody lesson.

He turned and looked at his soldiers, noticing that a few of them carrying banners were clearly falling behind the main force. Zhao Hongrun said, "Pass the order down, drop the banners. ... Do you think you can outrun the Chu soldiers while carrying those things? You're underestimating them too much."

Perhaps Zhao Hongrun's calm and determined expression increasingly amazed and trusted Wuwei Wang Shu, so without a word, Wang Shu ordered his soldiers to discard the banners, including the military flags, on the road.

The Chu soldiers, who were chasing closely behind, stopped and bent down to pick up the banners when they saw the Wei soldiers discard them.

It was no wonder, for during the war, capturing a banner was as meritorious as killing an enemy soldier, especially a higher-level banner, which would cause a scramble. To put it bluntly, if Zhao Hongrun's banner of the Prince of Su were discarded on the road, the Chu soldiers behind would fight over it.

Seeing this, Chu General Shen Kang's face turned red with anger, and he shouted, "Damn it! Are a few banners making you lose your heads? ... Chase them!"

Despite his stern warning, his soldiers were reluctant to discard the Wei banners they had picked up, as they were all military merits.

There was nothing Shen Kang could do about it, so he could only urge his soldiers to catch up with the Wei soldiers.

Under his urging, the Chu soldiers finally closed the distance a bit.

Seeing this, Wuwei Wang Shu couldn't help but say to Zhao Hongrun, "Lord Jiangrun, the Chu soldiers... are catching up again?"

Can they still catch up? That's strange...

Zhao Hongrun glanced back in surprise and then slapped his forehead as if suddenly realizing something.

It turned out that the Wei soldiers' equipment was generally more complete than the Chu soldiers'. For example, Chu infantry wore leather armor and carried weapons like spears or halberds; while Wei infantry wore iron armor, with cotton clothes underneath, and carried iron shields in their left hands and weapons in their right, making their equipment much heavier than the Chu soldiers'. No wonder the Chu soldiers were catching up.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun hurriedly said, "Order all the soldiers to drop their weapons. ... Retreat with light equipment!"

Wang Shu shrank his head and hesitated, "Lord Jiangrun, dropping weapons... violates military discipline."

Zhao Hongrun frowned and said, "What nonsense? In emergencies, we must act decisively. Weapons are just objects. Are objects more important than living people? ... Drop them!"

"Yes." Although Wang Shu was scolded, he smiled genuinely.

Clearly, he was delighted by Zhao Hongrun's statement that living people were more important than objects.

With one command, the Wei soldiers discarded their iron shields and weapons.

This caused a commotion among the Chu soldiers behind, as the Wei weapons were generally of higher quality than the Chu weapons. Now that the Wei soldiers were discarding their high-quality weapons, the Chu soldiers naturally scrambled to pick them up.

Seeing this, Shen Kang didn't even have the heart to scold them, as he knew the Wei weapons were highly sought after by his Chu soldiers. Therefore, he could only urge his soldiers to catch up and not fight over the Wei weapons.

After chasing for a while, Zhao Hongrun even ordered Wang Shu to have the soldiers discard their iron armor while running.

This time, nearly five thousand Wei soldiers were completely "lightened," and their running speed increased significantly.

On the contrary, the Chu soldiers, who had stopped several times to scramble for the discarded weapons and equipment, never caught up.

However, this also reduced Chu General Shen Kang's vigilance towards the Wei soldiers ahead.

He had initially suspected that the Wei soldiers might have some trick, but now that they had discarded all their weapons and armor, Shen Kang no longer had any doubts.

Clearly, the Wei soldiers were fleeing for their lives, regardless of everything else.

Yanling... It seems we can take it!

Chu General Shen Kang's face brightened, and he subconsciously looked towards Yanling.

Suddenly, his face changed.

He noticed that in the direction of Yanling, thick smoke was rising, and flames were shooting up to the sky.

Damn it! Did the Wei people burn down Yanling?

Recalling how the Wei soldiers had deliberately delayed for a long time, Shen Kang's face turned grim.

If the Wei people really burned down Yanling, then even if they took the city, it would be useless.

An empty city, what use is it?

Did they really burn down Yanling?

Chu General Shen Kang was anxious and urged his army to run faster.

Meanwhile, as they approached Yanling, Wuwei Wang Shu and Ma Zhang also noticed the flames and smoke from the direction of Yanling, and their faces changed.

They certainly didn't think the Chu soldiers had captured Yanling before them, as the Chu soldiers were still behind them.

Thus, there was only one explanation: The magistrate of Yanling, Pei Zhan, had ordered the city to be burned!

Lord Pei Zhan... No! Lord Pei Zhan doesn't have the courage to do this. So...

Wuwei Ma Zhang looked at Zhao Hongrun with a strange expression, as he recalled that when Zhao Hongrun ordered the entire army to head to the Yan River for the so-called "gamble," the attitude of the magistrate of Yanling, Pei Zhan, had been somewhat strange.

Could it be... Prince Su deliberately lost the battle at the Yan River and then burned down Yanling? Why did he do this?

Wuwei Wang Shu and Ma Zhang looked puzzled.

Sure enough, when they approached Yanling, they found the entire city engulfed in flames and thick smoke.

"The civilians in the city..."

"Are ahead!"

Before Wang Shu could finish, Ma Zhang pointed in shock to the distance, where a sea of people could be seen.

That group of people was quickly retreating northward, turning around the hill named Yanling and disappearing from sight.

"Lord Jiangrun, the city of Yanling..."

But before Wang Shu could finish, Zhao Hongrun interrupted, "Follow the civilians retreating to Anling. We will also retreat in that direction."

"This..."

Wang Shu's face changed, as he thought that if there were civilians retreating from Yanling ahead, they couldn't take this route, or the Chu soldiers would catch up and harm the civilians.

But if they stayed behind, their Wei soldiers, without weapons and armor, couldn't fight the Chu soldiers.

Perhaps sensing Wang Shu and Ma Zhang's hesitation, Zhao Hongrun reassured them in a low voice, "Just follow my orders. I have a plan."

... I hope so.

Wang Shu and Ma Zhang sighed and ordered their soldiers to continue running along the route taken by the civilians from Yanling.

At this moment, Zhao Hongrun turned and looked at the Chu soldiers behind, thinking to himself: What will you choose, Chu General?

Behind Zhao Hongrun, Chu General Shen Kang also noticed the civilians retreating northward from Yanling.

The Wei people... Indeed, they are evacuating the civilians and burning Yanling, leaving us an empty city...

Chu General Shen Kang pulled the reins, stopped his horse, and observed the burning Yanling and the civilians retreating northward, his face showing deep thought.

"General, the Wei people burned Yanling. Should we go to put out the fire?" his subordinates asked.

Chu General Shen Kang thought for a moment and shook his head, "We should... put out the fire. But even if we do, we will only get an empty city. I believe the Wei people have already taken away the valuable items in the city... Instead, we should take advantage of this to capture Anling!"

"Capture Anling?" his subordinates exclaimed.

"Yes! ... If my guess is correct, there should be over a hundred thousand civilians from Yanling ahead... If Anling accepts these civilians, we will take advantage of this to capture Anling..."

"What if Anling doesn't accept them?"

"Hmph! Then we will kill these civilians in front of Anling to intimidate the people inside! ... Pass the order, the entire army must catch up, and send someone to inform Lord Xiong Hu of Pingyu to bring the remaining army quickly... This is a good opportunity to capture Anling, we must not miss it!"

"Yes!"

Thus, under the orders of Chu General Shen Kang, tens of thousands of Chu soldiers rushed forward, sparing no effort to catch up with the civilians from Yanling.

Seeing this, Wuwei Wang Shu and Ma Zhang were both angry and anxious, regretting that they had followed Zhao Hongrun's orders to discard their weapons and equipment. Now, the Chu soldiers were chasing them relentlessly, and they had no way to hold them back.

However, Zhao Hongrun remained very calm. He turned and looked back, a smile on his face.

Ah, indeed, you chose to take advantage of the situation to capture Anling? Very smart, Chu General... Unfortunately, this intelligence will cost you your life!