Chapter 99

"Report!... The vanguard has been defeated, General Shen Kang encountered an ambush by Wei troops and died in battle!"

"What?"

When Chu General Wugan heard this news, he found it hard to believe.

He had just led his troops to the vicinity of Yanling City, originally planning to send part of his army to help extinguish the fire inside the city, but unexpectedly, the vanguard had been ambushed.

Chu General Wugan carefully looked in the direction of Yanling Hill and indeed saw the vanguard fleeing in disarray. Behind them, General Baili Ba of the Xunshui Camp led 25,000 Wei troops in a well-organized pursuit.

"Form... form the battle array!"

Chu General Wugan hurriedly commanded the nearby Chu troops to form an array to face the enemy.

However, he did not expect that the first major enemy his Chu troops would face after forming the array would not be the Wei army from the Xunshui Camp, but the Chu troops who had fled from the front lines.

These fools... actually charging their own defensive line!

Chu General Wugan was so angry that his eyes almost popped out. He stared in shock at the fleeing troops from the front lines, who were trying to escape into the neatly formed Chu army defensive line, their faces filled with panic.

Worse still, the Chu troops forming the defensive line were clearly at a loss when faced with the fleeing friendly forces, unsure whether to block them or let them pass through the line.

Seeing this, Chu General Wugan made a decisive decision and issued a cruel order with a hateful voice.

"Kill!... Any who charge our defensive line, kill without mercy!"

This cruel order was issued, and the fleeing Chu troops from the front lines suffered greatly. They had thought that as long as they escaped to the defensive line of their allies, they could escape the slaughter by the Wei troops from the Xunshui Camp. However, the troops under Chu General Wugan's command issued a kill order against them.

Those Chu troops closest to Chu General Wugan's defensive line were hit by the arrows and crossbows of their allies, suffering heavy casualties.

"Wow, what a heartless general!"

General Baili Ba of the Xunshui Camp, seeing this from a distance, couldn't help but make a sarcastic comment. However, in his heart, he had a higher regard for the Chu general commanding the defensive line.

After all, at such a time, the worst thing to do was to be soft-hearted and allow the fleeing vanguard to hide behind the defensive line. Once the defensive line was in chaos, not only would the vanguard be defeated, but the Chu army's main force forming the defensive line would also be shattered, leading to a complete collapse of the entire army.

Unfortunately, the number of Chu troops in the defeated vanguard is no less than your main force... can you hold them off?

Baili Ba waved his hand, ordering his Xunshui Camp troops to slow down their offensive and let the fleeing Chu troops from the front lines charge their own defensive line.

Nearly 20,000 Chu troops, under the angry shouts and curses of Chu General Wugan, charged into the defensive line.

"Don't... don't come over..."

A Chu soldier within the defensive line used his shield to block the fleeing troops, facing the soldiers who were once his compatriots.

Behind the first row of shield bearers, the Chu soldiers with spears, after a moment's hesitation, finally thrust their spears at the oncoming compatriots.

"Thud, thud, thud—"

Hundreds of sharp spears pierced through hundreds of fleeing front-line troops. These survivors, who had barely escaped the blades of the Wei troops from the Xunshui Camp, looked at their compatriots who had raised weapons against them with blank eyes, their puzzled gazes asking: Why?

However, the cruel kill order did not stop the fleeing troops from charging their own army's defensive line. Their will to fight had been shattered by the 200 terrifying war chariots of the Xunshui Camp.

With the Wei troops from the Xunshui Camp slaughtering them from behind and their compatriots raising weapons against them from the front, the fragile minds of the troops caught between the two armies had already broken. They no longer cared about victory or defeat; their only thought was to survive and quickly leave this terrifying battlefield.

"Don't... don't block me!"

Finally, a Chu soldier who had not yet been killed by his compatriots could no longer hold back and raised his weapon against his former comrades. In a near-mad state, he slashed wildly at the shield bearers blocking his path, stepping on their shields and even their bodies, forcing his way into the originally orderly Chu army defensive line.

The defensive line set up by Chu General Wugan was torn open by these desperate front-line troops.

At first, it was just one or two people, but as the shield bearers were forced to the sides, more and more fleeing troops rushed into the defensive line, desperately trying to survive.

These beasts!... They have doomed everyone here!

Chu General Wugan's eyes bulged in anger. He angrily drew his sword and pushed through the crowd to kill the cursed fleeing troops.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The defensive line he had built had already been shattered by the front-line troops who had lost their minds in the face of death. Seeing this, General Baili Ba of the Xunshui Camp raised his hand and shouted, "Take advantage... and charge through!"

"Roar—!!"

Over 20,000 Wei troops from the Xunshui Camp, with high morale, followed the fleeing Chu troops, using them as a shield, and charged toward the defensive line formed by Chu General Wugan.

During this time, the cavalry of the Xunshui Camp was responsible for disrupting the already chaotic Chu army defensive line, while the subsequent war chariots served as the main force, charging at the most solid part of the Chu army defensive line.

The defensive line formed by Chu General Wugan could have held off the Xunshui Camp's offensive, but it was thrown into chaos by the charge of the defeated Chu troops from the front lines. How could it withstand the Wei troops?

Not only could they not effectively kill the enemy, some Chu soldiers even fought each other: the Chu soldiers within the defensive line, following orders, tried to kill the friendly forces charging their line, while the defeated troops from the front lines, desperate for a way out, raised weapons against their allies.

How... how...

Holding his blood-dripping sword, Chu General Wugan couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

He never thought that the first time he drew his sword on this battlefield, he would be killing his own troops.

"At this point..."

Looking at the defeated situation of his own forces, Chu General Wugan gritted his teeth, his sharp gaze scanning the surroundings as if searching for something.

At this moment, a light laugh suddenly sounded from his side.

"Are you looking for me?... What a coincidence!"

Wugan instinctively looked up and was horrified to see his target, General Baili Ba of the Xunshui Camp, who had somehow ridden up to him, raising a long-handled saber.

Oh no...

Just as a foreboding thought flashed through his mind, Wugan saw a flash of blade and instantly lost consciousness.

"Thud."

The headless body slowly knelt to the ground and then fell lifelessly.

Not far away, a head rolled a few times, still showing the horrified and terrified expression of Chu General Wugan.

Meanwhile, General Baili Ba of the Xunshui Camp, mounted on his warhorse, held his saber in one hand, expressionless, and shook off the blood on the blade. Then he raised his left hand and waved it forward.

With this gesture, the cavalry of the Xunshui Camp quickly charged into the battlefield from both flanks, attempting to slaughter the Chu troops here from both sides.

In the center, the war chariots, which mowed down enemy lives like harvesting wheat, rumbled in front of all the Chu troops.

"What... what is that thing?!"

The one who instinctively asked this question was clearly a Chu soldier from the main force who had not yet seen the power of these war chariots.

Those Chu soldiers who turned to look at the war chariots and saw them with horror, as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight, did not even dare to pause, pushing through the crowd and fleeing desperately toward the direction of the Yan River.

"Thud, thud, thud—"

"Thud, thud, thud—"

The sound, like nails being hammered into wood, actually represented a Chu infantryman being killed by the crossbow bolts of the Wei crossbowmen in the chariots.

As the war chariots advanced, one after another, Chu soldiers were hit by arrows and fell to the ground.

Some were lucky and died instantly.

Others, not hit in vital areas, were still breathing.

However, the Wei crossbowmen on the war chariots did not even look at the Chu soldiers writhing on the ground; their eyes were only on the Chu soldiers still fleeing.

They were their prey!

As for the Chu soldiers hit by arrows but not yet dead, some were finished off by the infantry of the Xunshui Camp on the sides of the war chariots, while others were more tragically crushed to death by the massive wheels of the war chariots, a sight too gruesome to bear.

Finally, more and more Chu soldiers joined the fleeing ranks. Although there were still high-ranking Chu officers in the ranks, in this situation, even they could not reverse the complete defeat of the Chu army.

"The army's defeat is like a mountain collapsing..."

This was the second time General Baili Ba of the Xunshui Camp muttered this phrase to himself.

Although a look of pity flashed in his eyes, he would not truly sympathize with these Chu soldiers.

At this moment, it was their Wei army that had won. If the Chu army had won, the fate of their Wei soldiers would not have been much better.

Because this is war!

Either you die, or I die!

"General, ahead is the Yan River." A camp general rode up to Baili Ba and whispered a reminder.

Baili Ba took a deep breath, and the look of pity in his eyes was instantly replaced by a cruel determination.

"The cavalry will go around! Seize the floating bridge! The rest of the troops will cooperate with the war chariots to drive these Chu soldiers... into the Yan River!"

"Understood!"

The camp general saluted and rode away.

Indeed, due to the winter, the water of the Yan River was not swift, but it was early winter. If the Chu soldiers, in their desperation to escape, jumped into the Yan River and tried to swim to the other side,

The cold night wind of this season would be enough to freeze these wet Chu soldiers to death.

There was no doubt about it!

However, even so, Baili Ba still felt a bit regretful. After all, he had repeatedly said that he must ensure no Chu soldier successfully crossed the Yan River, but upon reflection, this was indeed unrealistic.

Unless... there was another Wei army near the Yan River that had already seized the floating bridge, cutting off the Chu army's retreat.

Thinking of this, Baili Ba shook his head, finding his own "greed" somewhat amusing.

But what he never expected was that several cavalrymen would return with a message that left him almost disbelieving.

"Report! Chen Shi, the military officer of Yanling, has already led 5,000 Yanling troops to seize the floating bridge and is awaiting our reinforcements!"

Can't... be!

Baili Ba's eyes widened in shock.