Chapter 57

Chapter 691: The Result of a Clever Strategy (2)

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‘Luo Lu... With Luo Lu, it shouldn’t be difficult to cut through the iron net!’

Lü Bu quickly thought of Luo Lu.

Luo Lu is a treasured sword known as the King of Swords.

While it cannot slice through iron like a sword, cutting through the thin iron wires that make up the net should not be difficult with Luo Lu’s blade.

However, the problem was that Luo Lu’s blade was too long.

No matter how sharp the blade, what good would it do if he couldn’t draw it? It would be useless.

Indeed, even the former owner of Luo Lu, King Zheng of Qin, struggled to draw the sword when faced with an assassin’s surprise attack.

Now, Lü Bu was in the same predicament.

Luo Lu’s length made it difficult to draw in such a situation, but fortunately, Lü Bu didn’t need to draw it. There was a way to separate the scabbard.

‘King Zheng was truly a remarkable swordsmith!’

Lü Bu marveled at the skill of the Qin dynasty in making the scabbard easily detachable to compensate for Luo Lu’s flaw. He then began to twist Luo Lu to cut through the iron net.

With great effort, Lü Bu managed to create a small gap with Luo Lu.

Crack!

In an instant, the gap widened, and Lü Bu tore through the layers of the iron net.

For a fleeting moment, Lü Bu saw Red Hare, still entangled in the iron net, along with the halberd.

“Take a break for a moment.”

In response to Lü Bu’s words, Red Hare only snorted in frustration.

* * *

“Yaaaaah!”

Lü Bu shouted as he charged at the Red Silk soldiers. Now that Lü Bu was no longer on Red Hare, the Red Silk soldiers thought it would be much easier to deal with him.

However, this was a miscalcuation. Lü Bu didn’t have Red Hare or the halberd, but he still had Luo Lu, the King of Swords.

He slid forward, his knees dragging on the ground and his back almost touching it. This low posture allowed him to avoid the trajectories of the enemy’s swords.

But Lü Bu didn’t lower his body just to avoid the enemy’s sword strikes.

Swish!

Luo Lu’s long blade swept across the legs of the Red Silk cavalry.

With a sword that could cut through iron, it was natural that the horses’ legs were sliced, and blood flowed. The injured horses reared and thrashed about.

Squeal!

Lü Bu stood up and swung his sword diagonally.

The body of the horse and the Red Silk soldier riding it were both cut in half.

Luo Lu drew a bloody trail and then, like a bolt of lightning, pierced the chest of another enemy soldier.

As he retracted Luo Lu, blood splattered, creating a brief mist of red. Despite this, Lü Bu’s movements continued. He twisted his body and kicked the side of an ownerless horse.

The heavy body of the horse flew to the side, knocking down another enemy.

Lü Bu was building a tower of glorious achievements in the heart of the enemy’s formation.

* * *

Guo Jia was successfully driving the supply unit towards Hongmen with the help of General Shang Kai.

“General Shang, we need to divide our forces here.”

“Do you have other tasks to attend to? Or are you going to rescue the main force now?”

“I need to go and implement a plan to rescue General Yu.”

At this, a hint of color returned to Shang Kai’s face.

“Is that true?”

“What would I gain by lying to you, General Shang?”

“Master, if you tell me what I need to do, I will carry it out immediately.”

“General Shang, we need to confirm that the Guanxi army’s supply unit has fully entered Hongmen before we can consider this task complete. However, the battle in the gorge is about to reach its climax.”

Before giving orders to Shang Kai, Guo Jia briefly explained the current situation. He was considerate, allowing Shang Kai to think as a commander of a unit.

Shang Kai would eventually lead a unit. This was a way to prepare him by letting him understand how to divide a small force.

“The fact that we are driving them to Hongmen is almost certain. However, since our numbers are not large, if more than 30% of our forces leave, the enemy will find it suspicious.”

“If you had the authority to decide, how many of the forces here would you take?”

“I would like to take all of them to rescue the main force, but we cannot abandon the supplies. I will take ten units.”

“Excellent. Since you say so, General Shang, let’s do it that way. Now, we need to hurry to coordinate the timing.”

* * *

Guo Jia, along with just over ten units including Shang Kai, rode around the gorge. As he passed the entrance, he glanced inside, but he couldn’t see the detailed battle situation. All he could see were the backs of the Wei Yue army moving busily.

A fierce battle was raging inside the gorge, but the Red Silk forces were too numerous.

Wei Yue had the Jingnu soldiers, but their numbers were only in the hundreds. The Red Silk rear guard resisted by using their horses as shields, making it difficult to determine the outcome.

The entire Red Silk army was struggling to deal with Lü Bu alone. However, without Red Hare’s help, the number of enemies Lü Bu could handle was limited.

The advantage was on Lü Bu’s side, but if this continued, the Tang army would also suffer significant losses.

However, Guo Jia’s decisive strategy was about to be put into action.

“Master, didn’t you order Wei Yue to execute a military strategy?”

Shang Kai questioned Guo Jia, who was simply passing the gorge entrance. Although it might seem like a slight, Guo Jia didn’t take it to heart.

Considering that the soldiers and officers had already tasted blood after a skirmish with the enemy, their excitement had reached its peak.

“Generals Yu and Wei are only capable of holding the Red Silk forces at bay right now.”

“Then do you have another strategy?”

“Of course.”

Two messengers from the Yingzhao army, each riding a horse, approached Guo Jia and Shang Kai.

“Report to the strategist. General Ying has informed us that the Xiahua army’s formation is complete.”

Guo Jia took a red flag from his robe and handed it to the messenger.

“Immediately deliver this flag to General Ying!”

The messengers quickly changed horses and rode back.

The messengers could see outside the gorge, where the battle was raging. There, dozens of archers from the Xiahua army were waiting as communication soldiers.

Yingzhao, who had been waiting on a slope, received the red flag from the messenger and raised it high, waving it towards the Xiahua army positioned on the eight ridges of the gorge.

While visibility was still limited by smoke in other areas, the wind blowing down the slope maintained clear visibility in this area.

Hong Wu and Da Shu, who were leading the Xiahua army and waiting for the attack order, could see Yingzhao waving the red flag from below.

“Hong Wu, the signal has come.”

“I will command the archers. Da Shu, you use the rock-rolling tactic.”

“Alright.”

As Hong Wu signaled, the Xiahua archers lined up on both sides of him.

The Xiahua soldiers in front prepared to execute the rock-rolling tactic with Da Shu. They had already placed levers under several large rocks that could be rolled down.

Now, all that was left was to put the plan into action.

* * *

“Attack!”

“Roll the rocks and shoot the arrows!”

As soon as the orders from Hong Wu and Da Shu were given, the Xiahua army of thousands appeared above the gorge.

Thousands of Xiahua soldiers rolled rocks down and continuously drew their bows.

Rumble!

Swish!

Huge rocks rolled down, crushing the Red Silk soldiers.

The heavy rocks rolled down the steep slope of the gorge, crushing several units of men and horses.

Those who clutched their crushed feet and screamed were struck by the arrows from the Xiahua archers and met their end.

The sudden ambush by the Xiahua army threw the Red Silk soldiers into great confusion.

“Counterattack! Form ranks and respond!”

Jue Ying shouted, ordering a counterattack while shooting arrows at the Xiahua army above. However, no matter how skilled the Red Silk archers were, they couldn’t reach the Xiahua soldiers who were positioned out of range.

‘There shouldn’t have been any ambush in the gorge... The heavens are abandoning me, the Chake King, and the Red Silk!’

Chake King blamed the heavens, but the moment they entered the gorge, victory was already out of reach.

Guo Jia’s strategy of using smoke to limit visibility was initially effective. However, the Red Silk soldiers moved as one, avoiding the concentrated fire.

So far, so good.

The problem was that they didn’t understand the nature of the battlefield, where scouts couldn’t be used effectively.

The rugged terrain of Zongling Mountain made it impossible to move scouts into the mountains. Even if they had Gaozhu or Gaoshi soldiers, it would have been a dream for the Red Silk, who were composed solely of archers.

Thus, they had judged that there would be no ambush based on the reports of the scouts who had returned a few hours earlier.

The decisive mistake was that the Red Silk, composed solely of archers, had pursued Lü Bu into the gorge, abandoning the open plains where they excelled. How could they hope to win in such a disadvantageous position?

‘I will be the one to ruin the Red Silk’s long history of invincibility!’

Chake King’s eyes were filled with the sight of Red Silk soldiers being struck by rocks and arrows, falling like leaves in the wind.

He also saw the gruesome sight of soldiers being cut down by Lü Bu.

The voice of Zhang Shi, who had returned with one arm missing and was incessantly talking, didn’t even register in his ears.

However, even in such a chaotic situation, Chake King instinctively pondered what he needed to do as the commander of the unit.

As the commander of the Red Silk, he had to make a decision.

The Red Silk had two options. One was to break through the only entrance to the gorge, which was blocked by Wei Yue’s forces. If they used all their strength, perhaps they could preserve 30% of their forces.

However, even if they successfully escaped the gorge, they couldn’t avoid the stigma of defeat.

The other option was to obtain Lü Bu’s head.

Chake King believed that if they could do this, the battle would immediately end in the Red Silk’s favor. After all, who would fight to the death after their commander had fallen? That was the current common sense.

“Gather all the rear guard, including Jue Ying and Dao Ziliang! Only by taking Lü Bu’s head can we escape this crisis!”

“Commander, how do you plan to deal with that monster, who even the Zhangsha unit failed to defeat? We should break through the exit and escape the gorge now. That is the only way!”