Chapter 29: The Battle of White Horse (5)

  Li Yuan broke through the heavy encirclement, his armor was already like water-washed, the yellow horse was panting heavily with its big mouth, and its front hooves were constantly trampling on some withered yellow wild grass.

  This road killing, from Huang Xin began, was challenged by Li Yuan and killed more than 20 allied generals. Fu Kuan, the Wudafu of Wei Wang Jiao, was the last general to be killed by Li Yuan. Fu Kuan, who had just arrived from Weidi to participate in the war, did not even have time to ask clearly who the enemy general was before being overwhelmed by Li Yuan's charge.

  "Commander, something is wrong! The two armies of Gan Junhou and Zhou Junhou are trapped in the formation!" Ruo Jia's expression was gloomy after he had just finished counting the soldiers who broke through the siege. Gan Houbao and Zhou Xing's two branches were Li Yuan's direct lineage and also the backbone of the infantry, if anything went wrong, Li Yuan's army would inevitably suffer a great loss.

  Li Yuan's face was solemn and concentrated. He glanced in the direction they had come from into the night, then swung his long spear and said: "Let's go, to meet our brothers."

  "Yes!" Kou Jia responded loudly, as a personal attendant and cavalry general, Kou Jia recognized Li Yuan's bravery today, in his heart, Li Yuan was already an invincible symbol.

  A mountain of knives and a sea of fire, thousands of troops and horses, as long as the great flag is raised everywhere, the enemy will retreat without exception!

  "Tell Yang County Governor and Sima Duwei, Li Mou will come back!" Li Yuan urged the horse reins, turned around and rode back to the battlefield where his brothers and trusted generals were still fighting.

  At this point, Li Yuan was like a sprinter who had passed the extreme point, and the inertial effect made him almost feel no fatigue. When one enemy general after another was killed under his horse, Li Yuan had a strong feeling that he was born to be a powerful force on this land.

  ——。

  "What did you say, Li Yuan ran away? How is this possible?" Liu Bang almost didn't believe his ears. In just one hour, the Li Yuan who was heavily surrounded by the allied army actually escaped. Was he a demon or a ghost, or did he have three heads and six arms, or was someone secretly helping him?

  Xiao He stood in front of Liu Bang, enduring wave after wave of verbal abuse. Only when Liu Bang had finally vented his anger did he continue: "Duke Pei, that Li Yuan killed more than 20 of our military generals during the breakout, and Huang Xin and Fu Kuan fell in battle several times!"

  "Fu Qing is dead. Not long ago, he was fighting against the Qin army in Yangwu and beheaded twelve levels of enemy soldiers. How could he have died?" Liu Bang stared with his eyes wide open, almost unable to speak.

  Fu Kuan, although a subordinate of Wei Wang Jiao, had followed Liu Bang in the two battles at Anyang and Gangli a year ago. To Liu Bang, Fu Kuan was a capable general who could be won over, but unexpectedly, before he made any move, Fu Kuan fell in this battle.

  Fan Kuai and Fu Kuan died one after another at the hands of Li Yuan, making Liu Bang suddenly feel a kind of irretrievable sorrow as if it was heaven's will.

  "Clang!" The wine cup was thrown to the ground by Liu Bang with great force, making a crisp sound.

  "This broken bowl, I won't drink from it anymore! Whoever is brave enough, go behead Lü Yuan's son and use his skull as a wine cup. Fill it up with wine before I'll take another sip!" Liu Bang shouted loudly, waving his big hand, pushing Xiang Yu aside and rushing out quickly.

  "General, please calm down. I've already led the infantry to surround one of Li Yuan's units. We can finally vent our anger." Lu Zhi followed behind and advised. As for Liu Bang's carefree and rascal temperament, Xiao He was an old friend and colleague, so he had nothing to say. Lu Zhi, on the other hand, admired Liu Bang's uninhibited image and unbridled style, which made him feel more straightforward and trustworthy compared to those deep and mysterious strategists who were hard to read.

  ——。

  Steep slope.

  The Qin army, led by General Qin, repelled the allied forces' attack once again in the dark of night. Zhou Xing was wounded several more times, and Gan Houben's abdomen was pierced by a long spear, his blood staining his armor, leaving him with only one breath left. Of the over 150 Qin soldiers, only about twenty were left.

  "Cough, Gu Yun, come here!" Zhou Xing coughed a few times, with threads of blood oozing from the corners of his mouth. His hot blood was almost drained, and he was about to lose even the strength to stand up.

  Among Zhou Xing's subordinates, only one or two out of ten survived. Gu Yun, this agile and quick-witted new recruit, had rapidly grown into a qualified military officer at this most difficult juncture.

  "General, you called me. What are your orders?" Gu Yun's sweat dripped down, no longer caring about her image. This intense battle had increased her pressure to an unprecedented level, and the original soldiers who were coordinating with her had already been replaced by several unknown teams.

  Zhou Xing exerted himself to stand up, took the already damaged flag from the flagpole and said: "Gu Yun, listen to my order. I command you to take this flag and hand it over to the Duwei right now. Go immediately, do not delay!"

  "General, I won't go!" Gu Yun was taken aback, and then her eyes turned red. How could the clever and wise her not understand that Zhou Xing letting her execute this command at this time was to give her a way out? Although it would be difficult to get out of the enemy's encirclement, it was still better than staying on the high slope waiting for death.

  Zhou Xing's lips twitched, and a pained expression flashed in his eyes. After a while, he continued, "Go! The commander won't blame you. Today, you fought alongside us, shoulder to shoulder. You are our brothers and sisters!"

  "General!" Gu Yun choked out, and at the moment when Zhou Xing revealed her true gender, all the grievances and heartache that had been pent up in her heart burst forth.

  "Go quickly! I know you can do it. When you see the commander, tell him that old Zhou and old Gan have not lost the spirit of the great Qin's heroic son." With these words, Zhou Xing closed his eyes and did not speak again, conserving all his energy for another fierce battle, striving to kill one more enemy soldier.

  ——。

  Li Yuan fought hard, the war song of the Qin army on the battlefield was getting weaker and weaker, almost inaudible. The victorious allied soldiers had already begun to clear the battlefield, those surviving Qin soldiers were searched out one by one, then beheaded as proof of their prowess at the enemy's waist.

  "Douwei, can't hear any sound anymore, Gan Junhou, Zhou Junhou and them...!" Rou Jia's hoarse voice was filled with despair.

  "Search again in the middle road!" Li Yuan tilted his ear to listen, and faintly, from the direction of the high slope, there were one or two more Qin songs coming.

  ——。

  Gu Yun wore a suit of armor stripped from the enemy, holding a bronze sword, and walked through the fallen weeds and the occasional corpse.

  After escaping from the high slope, she had evaded three or four teams of coalition forces searching for her, which was indeed not easy for her who was extremely exhausted.

  Li Yuan was heading left, and at night, Gu Yun could only rely on the few stars in the sky to guide her direction, plus she had to be careful not to be discovered, which made her route more and more deviated from the middle road.

  ——。

  Besides Li Yuan and Gu Yun, there was another team of people who marched to the central road. Liu Bang, who was drunk, brought Xiang Yu, Lu Jia and other strategists under the protection of Zhong Jun Zhou Bo's personal soldiers and cavalry, arrived at the battlefield that made him feel angry and unjust.