Chapter 69 Zhang Chonghua

  First, the Liang army's Zhang Gao led three thousand elite soldiers to attack the rear camp. Just as they were about to thoroughly capture the rear camp, Ma Dai led four hundred Western Liang heavy armored heavenly soldiers in a surprise attack from behind. Meanwhile, Guo Huai led five hundred flying bear warriors in a fierce counterattack from the front.

  The Lü Bu army's morale suddenly plummeted after being ambushed, and Zhang Lu was beheaded by Hua Xiong in the blink of an eye. This batch of Lü Bu's troops fled, and Du Zhen led 200 archers and cavalry to pursue and kill them.

  "Go, my brother's place is very dangerous now! Hand over the wounded to Li Ziqi, and everyone who can move will follow me!" Guo Liang stuffed Zhang Dang's head into a cloth bag and hung it on the horse's neck, shouting orders immediately.

  Kuang Liang had just defeated Zhang Te's unit and led a thousand cavalrymen to charge against Ma Chao under Zhang Zhonghua, who suddenly broke through the rear of the Lü Bu's army, but suffered heavy losses.

  Ma Chao, as the front army's Sima, had nearly five hundred Xiliang Iron Cavalry heavenly soldiers under his command. These Xiliang Iron Cavalry were merely nominal. Although they were all top-notch recruits selected from a hundred, their time spent merging with the war spirit of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry was not long, ranging from four or five days to just one or two days.

  They inherited the combat experience and fighting spirit of the Western Liang Iron Cavalry, but failed to fully integrate. Moreover, their equipment was simple, and some were even inferior to the light cavalry like the Symbol Riders. There is still a long way to go before they can become a true Western Liang Iron Cavalry, so it's understandable that their combat strength is not strong.

  Even the five hundred or more elite cavalrymen from Hexi under the command of General Sima Zhaoyi were stronger than Ma Chao's heavenly army, after all this part of the elite cavalry had a longer integration time, and the degree of fusion with the war soul was higher. They had experienced several battles, and their equipment was also complete, at least everyone had a set of armor.

  "Zhuge, the situation in the central army camp is critical! The safety of our lord is the most urgent matter!" Ma Chao said to Zhuge Shuang, ignoring his own heavily wounded troops.

  Zhu Ge Shuang naturally understood Ma Chao's meaning and immediately said: "Please ask General Ma to lead his troops to the central army camp, and I, Zhu Ge Shuang, will take care of the battle here!"

  Ma Chao saluted with a fist and immediately led the Western Liang Iron Cavalry, which had lost half its strength, to return to the central camp and kill again. Along the way, the Liang army dispersed in disorder, without any order, and many were killed by Ma Chao's two hundred cavalry.

  Zhuge Shuang led a cavalry of over 400 men in continuous galloping on the spot, constantly driving away the Liang army and not allowing them to gather together.

  "Gongsun Zan, you have won, but you have also lost!" Xie Yi suddenly exclaimed loudly as he saw Gongsun Zan continuously beheading the Western Army's officers.

  Gongsun Zan turned his head to look, and saw that the battle in the big camp had already subsided at this time. The three thousand soldiers of the Yu army were all killed, and the ground was covered with dry ash formed by the rotting corpses of the dead soldiers from both sides amidst the raging fire.

  "What you said is right, I won! How could I possibly lose?" He jumped out of the battle array and the three remaining Lingjun lieutenants who were fighting him did not pursue, returning to Xie Ai's side panting heavily.

  Gongsun Zan was no exception, the mountain-patterned armor on his body was excellent in defense and flexible in structure, but it was hard to hide the fact that the mountain-patterned armor was very heavy. He panted heavily, leaning on the Green Dragon Halberd, feeling numb all over his body.

  "Because you're dead, winning is just losing!" Xie Ai took over a five-linked light crossbow, slowly and leisurely loaded the crossbow bolts, then adjusted and casually shot four arrows, finally calibrating.

  He raised the five-linked light crossbow, aiming at Gong Sun Ce's head, and asked with a smile that was not quite a smile: "Do you like to let this arrow pass through your left eye? Or do you want it to shoot through your right eye?"

  "You don't dare to shoot! Because Zhang Chonghua should be in my hands now!" Gong Sun Ce's hot sweat suddenly turned into cold sweat, but he had confidence that he would not die. Because he heard Chu Mengmeng say that Xie Ai was extremely loyal to Zhang Chonghua.

  "I hope you didn't deceive me!" Xie Ai said slowly, putting down the crossbow in his hand. Immediately afterwards, he picked it up again and aimed at Gong Sun Ce's calf. He planned to injure Gong Sun Ce first and capture him later.

  Although Gong Sun Zan was exhausted, he couldn't be captured by his own troops in a short period of time. Xie Ai's plan was good, first capture Gong Sun Zan, if Zhang Chonghua was captured by the Qin army, they could exchange each other later. If Zhang Chonghua was safe and sound, then Gong Sun Zan's fate could be imagined.

  "Hold, my lord! Ma Meng is rising!" Ma Chao's voice arrived before he did. Xie Yi turned his head to look, and in the firelight saw Ma Chao charging towards him with a spear thrust, the short spear rapidly expanding in Xie Yi's pupils.

  Xie Ai instinctively dodged while triggering the light crossbow in his hand, and he was less than twenty meters away from Gongsun Zan. The arrow shot out fiercely, and Gongsun Zan dodged to the side just as Xie Ai turned his head. A black shadow flew through where Gongsun Zan had just stood, then rapidly flew off, piercing two Liao soldiers in a row before losing its force.

  Ma Chao was very lucky and did not step into the pit that Gongsun Zan had dug. He charged into the encirclement on horseback, his tiger-headed spear shaking out one after another, and the surrounding Liang soldiers fell under his spear.

  "Where to go?" Gong Sun Ce saw Xie Ai under the guard of his personal soldiers, mixed into the chaotic Liang army, and also saw that this guy was moving while still loading crossbow arrows into the five-linked light crossbow!

  "Kill!" The Western Liang Iron Cavalry, following Ma Chao's lead, finally arrived. The morale of the Liang army plummeted, and under Xie E's urgent cries, they gritted their teeth and charged towards the Western Liang Iron Cavalry, with some even heading straight for Gongsun Zan.

  "Big brother!" Guo Liang led five hundred flying bear soldiers to charge from the other side, and the morale of the Liang army completely collapsed. They fled in disorder, and Xie Ai was also dragged away by his own soldiers, abandoning his light crossbow and fleeing with the defeated troops.

  "Meng Qi, bring that white-armored enemy general here!" Gong Sun Ce finished giving the order, only to feel his whole body weak and tired, lying in a pile of dry ash feeling his eyelids heavy.

  Guo Liang dismounted and saw that Hua Xiong was also about to dismount, so he immediately ordered: "Since Li Wei is here, you can lead the troops to pursue and kill the defeated Liao soldiers!"

  Hua Xiong led the Flying Bear Troopers to set out once again, while Guo Liang took down a package from the horse's saddle and sat with Gong Sun Ce in the withered ash that was left after Jun Wu Ji's death.

  "This time, I finally made it!" Guo Liang opened the package, Gong Sun Ce barely supported himself up, and took a look, they were all dried persimmon cakes and raisins.

  Gongsun Ce patted the dry ash off his hands, grabbed a handful of dried grapes and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing loudly. He then took a water bottle from a flying bear warrior beside him, tilted his head back and gulped it down. The whole bottle was drained in one go, and he exclaimed with satisfaction!

  "You've arrived just in time! If you'd been half a minute later, I would have become a prisoner of the Lü Bu's army! That Xie Yi is not easy to deal with, indeed a figure like Han Xin!" Gong Sun Zan had a deep impression of Xie Yi.

  The coordination between the Fu soldiers can be said to be a tacit understanding that has been ingrained in their bones, so they are not afraid of melee combat. Because in the melee, the Qin army's coordination is very high, and they can support each other, with an attacking ability even higher than when forming a battle array.

  Unexpectedly, Xie Ai took advantage of being held back by the Liang army's commander to continuously command the Liang army to surround and annihilate, and actually wiped out all the soldiers in the central camp, not leaving a single one. Just based on this point, Gong Sun Ce felt that he was inferior to Xie Ai.

  "Haha, good luck! Boss, this time I've made such a great contribution, you should reward me with something, or it's really not worth saying. Guo Liang accompanied Gong Sun Ce to eat and drink, and started asking for things."

  "Speak, and I'll satisfy all your demands that can be satisfied. As for those that cannot be satisfied, you will be beheaded on the spot!" Guo Liang didn't take Gongsun Ce's words seriously and went ahead to state his own requirements.

  Gongsun Zan thought for a moment and said, "Du Zhong is still okay at making soy sauce, but he's too concerned about the lives of his heavenly soldiers. When it comes to tasks with greater losses, this guy will definitely do something that doesn't work! I don't dare give him important tasks, you want it, I'll give it to you."

  Li Weigong's grandson, Sun Ce, who was standing by, did not recognize him, as the Flying Bear Warriors and the Pitfall Warriors were all dressed alike in thick armor and wore face masks during battle.

  At this time, Li Wei's impression of Gongsun Zan had greatly improved. He originally thought that Gongsun Zan was just lucky and owed everything he had now to Lü Bu's legacy. It seemed that wasn't the case after all. Many inheritors of military families died on the battlefield, and those who survived were not ordinary people.

  However, Li Wei still had a grudge against Gongsun Ce in his heart. It was Xue Ling, the eternal thorn in his heart.

  Zhang Chonghua led a thousand heavy armored heavenly soldiers back to Jin City, only to find the city gate wide open. They rushed in, but as soon as they entered, countless short spears were thrown down from the city wall, and the following heavy armored heavenly soldiers were nailed to death at the city gate.

  The heavily attacked heavy armored heavenly soldiers fell into chaos, morale plummeted, and when they were at a loss, the city gate suddenly closed.

  "Zhang Chonghua! Jincheng has already been taken by me, Gao Shun! If you don't surrender now, what are you waiting for?" Gao Shun loudly persuaded Zhang Chonghua as he entered the city.

  Zhang Zhonghua, who was in the city, felt dizzy and almost fell over after hearing the news. He had left 2,000 soldiers in the city, but didn't expect that they would be completely annihilated within less than two hours of his own departure from the city. The Golden City was taken without making any noise! This shows how elite this army is!

  "Throw your spear!" Gao Shun saw that Zhang Chonghua did not respond and prepared to force Zhang Chonghua to surrender.

  The soldiers in the array raised their short spears and threw them at the gathering place of the Liang army inside the city. The heavy armor of the Liang army also had shields, which were now protecting Zhang Chonghua. The remaining soldiers were pierced by the chaotic spears and nailed to the ground. They were scattered and in disarray.

  With just one round of throwing, the heavily armored heavenly soldiers in the city became sparse, and most of the survivors were wailing on the ground, with blood gushing out of their wounds, staining Zhang Chonghua's golden boots wet.

  "Spare me! General Gao, I surrender!" Zhang Chonghua knew that after his surrender, the Liang army would be absorbed by the Qin army. The capital he had left was to continue serving his great general of Liang, and these loyal heavenly soldiers were all he had.

  These heavy armored warriors will be the only strength in his hands in the future, and each one is very precious. Although he can still manufacture heavy armored warriors, it's hard for Qin State to give him many more robust men!

  "Great King! Save us!" The six or seven hundred heavily armored heavenly soldiers outside the city suddenly cried out for help. It turned out that Cheng Shen's Yu riders had arrived, and they launched a charge against the heavy armor of the Liang army outside the city. All of this was seen by Gao Shun, but he was powerless to stop it.

  "General Gao! I surrender! Please, General Gao, calm your anger and spare the soldiers outside the city!" Zhang Chonghua pushed away the shields and heavy armor around him, kneeling in the pool of blood. He could even feel the warmth of the blood on the ground. But his heart had already turned cold.

  "Sorry, the ones who came out were the Qin Fu soldiers. Only my master can command and instruct with the Tiger Tally in hand." Gao Shun was somewhat apologetic, he seemed to also think of the importance of these heavy armored heavenly soldiers after Zhang Chonghua's surrender.

  Gongsun Zan is not here, and the only way to rescue this batch of heavy armor outside the city is to open the gate and let them in. Gaoshun will not do so, because if these heavy armors enter the city, he cannot guarantee that his own wounded and exhausted soldiers can suppress this batch of heavy armor.

  Listening to the mournful cries of his heavy armored heavenly soldiers being slaughtered by the Yu riders outside the city walls, it was as if a sharp awl was piercing Zhang Zhonghua's heart. He wanted to open his mouth and beg Gao Shun, but he also knew that this would be futile.

  "Ah, relief!" He let out a long whistle towards the sky, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood, his face as pale as wax, kneeling down in the pool of blood.

  "Great King!" Wei Zifu rushed over to the blood-soaked ground and helped Zhang Chonghua up, wailing loudly.

  Zhang Zhonghua looked up and asked his favorite minister: "My dear, is there still hope for my Daliang?" His voice was weak, and Wei Mou's heart felt like a knife cut.

  "The great king is here, and so is the great coolness! The world's ways change, but there will always be opportunities!" Wei Jiao nodded very firmly, tears falling like rain.

  "That's it! Lonely King waits for him, waits for ten years! Twenty years!" Zhang Chonghua said firmly. After that, he fainted.