Chapter 5

Chapter 639: Heading to Zhongtian! (2)

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Ding!

“Waaaah!”

With a metallic sound like metal shattering, the soldiers of Yang Xing's army were thrown in all directions.

“There’s the main flag!”

At the sound of Lü Bu’s voice, the soldiers of the Tangye Army forgot their fatigue and rekindled their enthusiasm.

Seeing the main flag meant that the enemy commander was there. Whoever could behead the enemy commander would surely receive a corresponding reward, so the Tangye Army soldiers were determined to break through, their eyes blazing with determination.

Of course, the core of the breakthrough was Lü Bu.

He led the way, clearing a path for his subordinates.

As the Lü Bu Army gradually penetrated deeper into the enemy formation, Yang Xing grew anxious.

“Hold them back! Time is on our side! If we hold on, we will win this battle!”

At Yang Xing’s shout, his deputy, who could be considered the second-in-command of the Yang Xing Army, Zhen Jiang, stepped forward. He was also the leader of Yang Xing’s elite guard.

His brother, Zhen Li, led a thousand cavalry, while Zhen Jiang himself led the elite guard. If Yang Xing were not present, the Yang Xing Army would follow their lead. However, their loyalty was so strong that they were ready to lay down their lives at a single word from Yang Xing.

“What are the shield soldiers doing! Form a defensive formation! If the enemy flag enters within a hundred paces, I will behead you first!”

The elite guard of the Yang Xing Army moved to break the vanguard of the Lü Bu Army.

They were shield soldiers, who were supposed to play a leading role in close combat with other shield soldiers.

Holding round shields, they were less defensive compared to the linked shields, but there was no other choice now.

As Lü Bu appeared in front of the shield soldiers, who formed the last line of defense for Yang Xing, his halberd, the Red Hare, spun around the spearhead and extended towards the enemy soldiers. The silk attached to the halberd sprinkled water like an animal shaking off water.

The Red Hare shattered one of the shield soldiers' shields and pierced through the shield's owner.

Lü Bu swung the halberd hard.

The enemy soldier impaled on the spearhead was cut in half, and the halberd, named Yueya, flew towards another target.

After cutting another shield soldier in half, the Red Hare failed to break the shield of the second shield soldier. Perhaps because of the rain, Lü Bu did not use his full strength, fearing he might lose the halberd.

However, the shield soldier who blocked the halberd was thrown back as if hit by a charging horse, rolling with his comrades.

The Red Hare, like a performing horse, dragged its hooves on the ground and made a circle. Lü Bu swung the halberd with both hands.

The Yueya’s spearhead, not to mention the shields and spears, cut through the enemy soldiers' bodies one after another.

“Waaaah!”

As the enemy soldiers inside the gap of the halberd screamed and fell, the Red Hare leaped. Even as it easily jumped over the enemy soldiers, Lü Bu’s halberd continued to slaughter them relentlessly.

‘Is this Lü Bu? Ah! Truly a terrifying power! To think I had to face such a man...’

Yang Xing, seeing Lü Bu’s bravery up close, looked utterly disheartened.

A sense of powerlessness so overwhelming that it made him shudder enveloped his body. He had no mighty generals like Yan Xing or Cheng Gongying under his command, so he could not stand against Lü Bu. Even if he himself were to fight, how many rounds could he withstand against Lü Bu?

‘Just a little... Just a little more... If we can hold on a little longer, Zhang Heng will surely come up with a plan!’

Yang Xing was afraid of Lü Bu. He had never felt such fear even when facing Huang Boshun.

He was, after all, one of the ten generals of Guanzhong. But in the face of Lü Bu’s bravery, he felt utterly insignificant.

Not to mention Lü Bu, he felt he could not withstand even one of the brave soldiers fighting alongside Lü Bu.

However, he still held on for one reason: he believed in Zhang Heng’s assistance.

But when the Zhang Heng Army began to retreat, Yang Xing was almost in despair.

“What nonsense...!”

* * *

Curses kept pouring out of Yang Xing’s mouth. After all, the Zhang Heng Army, with its large force, was retreating.

It had been less than half an hour since the battle began. Of course, it was true that the Zhang Heng Army had repeatedly allowed Lü Bu to break through. However, the damage was not severe enough to warrant a retreat when considering the entire army.

From the perspective of the Lü Bu Army, it was a great achievement to have killed several times more enemy soldiers than the Tangye Army in less than half an hour, without the help of cavalry or other units.

However, the combined forces of Zhang Heng and Yang Xing approached twenty thousand. Even if they lost ten thousand, they still had enough troops to start the battle again.

But with the Zhang Heng Army retreating, how could Yang Xing think?

‘Zhang Heng is using my army as a sacrifice to preserve his forces and repel the enemy! How arrogant he was...’

Yang Xing and Zhang Heng ultimately blamed and resented each other. However, even in this situation, Yang Xing showed his qualities as a commander.

‘No matter how many troops there are, once the formation is broken, fighting further will only increase the casualties. This battle is lost! It has ended in a complete disaster. What should I do in this situation?’

Yang Xing asked himself what the best course of action was. He already knew the answer. The only best option was to repel the enemy.

The problem was the method.

“Commander! I will hold them back here. Retreat with the main flag.”

Zhen Jiang was deeply worried as Lü Bu’s cavalry gradually closed in. If the commander fell, the remaining soldiers would surely lose, regardless of their numbers. Moreover, his lord was the only one he trusted and relied on.

He wanted to hold back so that Yang Xing could retreat. However, Yang Xing did not make the same mistake as Zhang Heng by moving the main flag carelessly.

He grabbed Zhen Jiang by the collar and said,

“No! You go. Retreat to Zhongtian! Don’t stop, go straight to Zhongtian!”

Yang Xing then took out the token he received from Huang Boshun and firmly placed it in Zhen Jiang’s hand.

This token symbolized military authority. Handing over the token meant handing over military authority. When a commander handed over the token, it signified that he had given up on returning alive.

How could a deputy who served the commander not understand this? Zhen Jiang knew that Yang Xing was prepared to fight to the death and pleaded desperately.

“Commander! I will serve you until the end!”

“This battle is lost!”

“Then we can repel the enemy, reorganize, and fight again.”

“Once we repel the enemy, they will pursue us relentlessly. There will be no time to reorganize until we reach Zhongtian. Go! No matter what happens, do not come back.”

Despite Yang Xing’s order, Zhen Jiang resisted.

“Even if we return to Zhongtian, we will be executed for abandoning the commander. Whether we stay or go, we will die. If so, I would rather die by your side...”

As Zhen Jiang insisted, a desperate Yang Xing slapped him. Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth, but that was not important now.

“As long as you have this token, Lord will not punish you. Preserve as many troops as possible and return to Zhongtian!”

Yang Xing then pulled Zhen Jiang’s collar close and gave one more instruction.

* * *

“Retreat! All troops, retreat!”

Zhen Jiang shouted with all his might, tears streaming down his face. How heart-wrenching it was to leave his lord behind. But it was a military order. As a soldier, one must live and die by military orders, even forgetting personal feelings.

Zhen Jiang led the troops in retreat, but Yang Xing remained in place. The soldiers, following Zhen Jiang with the main flag, withdrew like a receding tide, but Yang Xing and the shield soldiers did not move.

“Form a tight formation!”

He wanted to order the shield soldiers to retreat as well. But without them, there would be no way to ensure the safe retreat of the rest of the army.

The shield soldiers pressed their backs against each other’s shields, forming a seamless human wall. The Tangye Army soldiers charged at them.

Lü Bu, leading the charge, sensed that this would be the final battle.

‘At most, half an hour! If we delay any longer, the horses will die. We must sweep them away within half an hour!’

Lü Bu thought the enemy commander was retreating because the main flag was moving back. After all, he did not know Yang Xing’s face or the internal situation, so it was not unreasonable to think this.

However, there was a reason why Lü Bu was attacking the shield soldiers instead of chasing the main flag.

With the main flag retreating, the shield soldiers who remained were the elite of the army. They were prepared to die, so they had to be eliminated to prevent future trouble.

The Lü Bu Army had the upper hand. With the enemy retreating, it was more appropriate for a commander to attack the enemy’s elite soldiers rather than the commander, unless the commander was a famous general.

When would there be another opportunity to slaughter only the elite soldiers? This was a rare good opportunity for Lü Bu.

But Dashi, who did not think this through, shouted at Lü Bu.

“Commander, the main flag is retreating! Let’s attack the enemy commander! We can bypass the shield soldiers!”

However, Hong O opposed this.

“How can we attack the enemy commander when the main flag is joining the retreat? And we don’t even know the enemy commander’s face?”

“Just kill them all, what’s there to worry about? If you’re afraid, retreat! I, Dashi, will behead the enemy commander!”

Lü Bu was convinced that he needed to attack the shield soldiers. But he also had a greedy thought of sending Dashi to capture the enemy commander.

‘Should I send Dashi alone?’

If he could catch both rabbits, it would be the best outcome. But he feared he might lose both.

The horses were exhausted, so even if he sent a few hundred Tangye Army soldiers with Dashi, they would likely only capture a few stragglers at the rear of the enemy army.

The shield soldiers had formed a tight formation, so concentrating the troops was necessary to avoid heavy losses among the Tangye Army soldiers.

“Without knowing the enemy commander’s face, how can we claim credit for beheading him? Let’s attack the elite soldiers first! Let’s go!”

With the Yang Xing Army starting to retreat, Wei Yue and Zhang He, who had some spare capacity, joined the five mighty generals in sweeping through the enemy soldiers.

Crack!

Dull cracking sounds echoed as the shield soldiers were thrown in all directions by the charging horses. The Tangye Army soldiers scattered the shield soldiers like wheat in a field, and Lü Bu was approaching Yang Xing.

‘I thought he might chase the main flag. Even if he split his forces, it would have been better... Why is Lü Bu’s bravery known, but not his wisdom? He should be called a wise general (智將) rather than a brave general (勇將)!’

Yang Xing hoped the Lü Bu Army would chase the main flag and stop due to exhaustion. That was his best hope.

Even if they split their forces to target both the main flag and himself, it would have been better.

He calculated that the horses would be too exhausted to fight for long and would have to retreat if the forces were not concentrated.

But Lü Bu did not choose either of the two options and came straight for him. It was no wonder Yang Xing felt despair.

‘I wish I could have a conversation with him. If I’m going to die by the enemy commander’s sword, it wouldn’t be bad to know how great a hero he is.’

Yang Xing knew the shield soldiers could not hold on much longer. But he did not forget that every moment they held on would allow more of his men to retreat safely.

He looked at the backs of the shield soldiers.

‘I’m sorry! You will all die! But don’t be too resentful! I will join you soon.’

With only dozens of shield soldiers left, the area was already filled with Tangye Army soldiers.

The Tangye Army soldiers surrounding the shield soldiers only pointed their spears and swords at them.

It is natural for soldiers to admire bravery. If they were not enemies, the Tangye Army soldiers would have praised the shield soldiers for their courage in fighting to the end.

But as enemies, one of them had to die. Once Lü Bu gave the order, the Tangye Army soldiers would immediately slaughter the shield soldiers.