Chapter Fifty-Three: White Deer Gorge

  They were originally ordered by the Xiongnu Chanyu Houtou to enter the southern mountains and pursue the remaining Dayuan people. This campaign was led by the Xiongnu general Yuxian, who led a cavalry of over 1,000 horses. They were part of this team, responsible for blocking the Baihe River Valley to prevent the Dayuan people from escaping. General Yuxian himself led the main army in the front line, about 100 miles away, in the upper valley of the Baihe River, besieging the Dayuan people. Liu Ze asked again if their mission was to seize the sweat-blood horses. The hundred officials nodded and said yes, they had received orders to kill all the Dayuan people and transport all the sweat-blood horses back to Xiongnu.

  Liu Ze ordered that the two small soldiers be buried alive on the spot, and the Xiongnu hundred officials were tied to the horse. The troops immediately assembled, lit torches, and rushed towards the Baihe River Valley at full speed.

  On the road, Zhang Fei kept saying: "Brother, you're so capable, even that barbarian with an iron mouth and steel teeth was pried open by you. Look at him, he's scared to death, almost peeing his pants."

  "When dealing with such evil villains, it's a matter of being more ruthless than they are. Liu Ze had never planned to show any mercy when dealing with the barbarians."

  Jia Xian may not agree with Liu Ze's cruel methods, but what Liu Ze said is indeed true.

  To rush to the Baihe Shang River Valley as soon as possible, Liu Ze ordered the troops not to rest and marched overnight. Even eating was done on horseback, and each team had dry rations, which were eaten hastily for dinner. To illuminate, dozens of torches were lit by each team, lighting up the winding mountain road, like a fire dragon. Baihe Shang River is a tributary of the Baihe River, both of which are seasonal rivers. Every spring, the ice and snow on Mount Kunlun melt, causing the river to flood, but in the summer, the hot weather causes the river to dry up. However, the riverbed is very soft, with quicksand in many places, making it unsuitable for marching. The troops could only move forward along the rugged and bumpy small road along the riverbank.

  At the time of dawn, Liu Ze's troops had approached the upper valley of the White River, only a mountain ridge away from their destination. At this moment, the sound of horseshoes, shouting, and the clashing of weapons could be heard, as well as the cries of people on the verge of death. It was clear that the massacre by the Xiongnu had begun. Liu Ze led the charge up the mountain ridge, where he saw a scene of chaos: the army of Dayuan had been almost annihilated, and unarmed women, children, and elderly were fleeing in terror. The Xiongnu cavalry was rampaging unchecked, their curved blades rising and falling, splashing blood everywhere.

  Liu Ze had no time to make tactical arrangements, and every delay would result in more lives lost among the Great Yan people. He drew his twin swords and let out a loud cry: "When paths converge on a narrow road, the brave will win! Kill!" With a swift movement, he charged forward, dashing towards the mountain slope and making a fierce assault on the Xiongnu's flank. Behind him, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Pan Feng, and Wu Anguo each led a contingent of troops, closely following Liu Ze as they charged towards the Xiongnu army's position.

  All the cavalry first used longbows, and after charging down the slope, they saw that the Xiongnu had entered their own bow and arrow range. First, it was a row of full bows and arrows. Before the Xiongnu could react, another row of shots was fired. The Xiongnu people had almost no iron armor, and most of them wore a set of cowhide armor made of cowhide. The cowhide armor was weak under the sharp steel arrowheads, like a piece of paper, "puchi puchi" was shot through, and many Xiongnu soldiers fell under their horses. The entire left wing was in chaos. Liu Ze launched the attack at the time when the sun had just risen, with brilliant light shining from west to east from the position where the Xiongnu soldiers were standing, the strong sunlight made them unable to open their eyes, and they could not know how many people and horses were killed on the east side, nor could they effectively dodge the arrows that came shooting.

  From the mountain slope to the river valley, a distance of about 600-700 meters, at the speed of a fast horse, in just 60-70 seconds, even the most trained archers could only shoot two arrows with a longbow and three or four arrows with a composite bow.

  Due to the effect of the sunlight, Liu Ze led his team into the Xiongnu camp, and the Xiongnu people were unable to react in time. Liu Ze saw a fierce Xiongnu cavalryman raise his ox-horn knife at a young man from Dayuan, who was frightened and at a loss, but did not know how to dodge. Just as the knife was about to strike the young man's neck, a burly man rushed out from the side, knocked the young man down, and rolled twice on the ground, barely avoiding this fatal blow.

  The Huns soldier slashed at the air with one knife, and was even more furious, and again slashed upwards with another knife.

  Just as the two of them were about to clash, Liu Ze was quick and had already pounced forward. With a swift swing of his sword, Dragon Abyss Sword sliced through the air with a sharpness that could cut through tofu, cutting the Xiongnu soldier in half.

  The cavalry behind had put away their composite bows, drew out their bright sabers and charged into the Xiongnu formation, killing wildly.

  The Xiongnu general, Yu Xian, was enraged and ordered the horn-blowing soldiers to stop the massacre of the Dayuan people and instead surround Liu Ze's troops. The Xiongnu cavalry were all seasoned veterans, although they had been temporarily thrown into chaos by Liu Ze's sudden attack, but under the command of General Yu Xian, they quickly regrouped and launched a counterattack against Liu Ze's troops.

  Those people of Da Yuan who had narrowly escaped death stood there in a daze, as if they did not dare to believe that this was real. Suddenly someone shouted: "The Sun God! It is the messenger sent by the Sun God to save us!"

  From their perspective, Liu Ze indeed seemed to have burst out of the brilliant sunlight, and at this desperate moment, in their hearts, this savior must be a godsend. All the people knelt down on the ground facing the sun, kowtowing incessantly, muttering words of gratitude, as if thanking God's blessing.

  But on the east side of the valley, a fierce battle had just begun. The Huns' rapid assembly instantly formed an encirclement against Liu Ze's 300 cavalrymen. Although the Huns suffered hundreds of casualties in Liu Ze's first wave of attack, they still outnumbered him by four to five times with a total of 1,200 to 1,500 men.

  From the style of armor, Yu Xian had already distinguished that the army in front of him was not from the Western Regions, but from the Great Han Army from thousands of miles away in the East. He really couldn't understand why a Han army would appear in this place where they shouldn't be, and as soon as they took action, they were so ferocious, killing hundreds of his soldiers.

  He was furious and could not be consoled. Before that, he had fought several battles with the Han army in the Hexi Corridor, giving him the feeling that the Han army's combat effectiveness was very weak, and they could only rely on their numerical superiority and dense defensive formations to counter the Xiongnu cavalry's powerful attacks. If it weren't for the division of the Xiongnu into northern and southern tribes and the constant attacks by the Xianbei people, the Northern Xiongnu would never have been defeated at the hands of the Han army, fleeing from the lush grasslands of the north to the desert wasteland of the Western Regions.

  His hatred for the Han people far exceeded his enmity towards the various ethnic groups of the Western Regions, especially with Liu Zhe's sudden appearance not only disrupting his deployment to annihilate the Dayuan people, but also taking out several hundred men in a single swift motion. Therefore, he had to mobilize all his forces and go all out to eliminate Liu Zhe's troops.

  The Xiongnu people were brave and good at fighting, but they were destined to be defeated today because their opponents not only had the two heaviest war gods of the Three Kingdoms era - Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but also a Liu Ze with 2,000 years of wisdom. Even Pan Feng and Wu Anguo, these two unknown people in the Three Kingdoms, were unbeatable for them.

  Guan Yu and Zhang Fei each blocked one side, killing the Xiongnu soldiers to abandon their helmets and armor, with corpses scattered all over the field. Pan Feng wielded a large knife, Wu Anguo wielded a pair of large hammers, also continuously beheading and killing Xiongnu soldiers. The members of the Tianzhi team and Dizhi team, who had been trained for a long time, were now like fierce tigers descending from the mountain, newborn calves, each holding off ten people, killing the Xiongnu soldiers to retreat repeatedly.

  He was shocked and amazed, he had never seen such a brave and strong Han army before. The weapons they were equipped with were also astonishing to him, the long and narrow cavalry sabers were so sharp that whether it was bronze or iron curved swords, they were easily cut off, cutting off the Huns' arms and heads was like chopping vegetables. But the Huns' bloodthirstiness and arrogance would not let him give up easily, especially since his side still had an absolute numerical advantage, he waved his command flag, urging more Huns to join the encirclement.

  Liu Ze frowned, although outnumbered, Liu Ze was very confident, after all, he had several tiger generals and knights who had undergone rigorous training. However, such a chaotic battle, killing one thousand enemies while suffering eight hundred casualties was something Liu Ze absolutely did not agree with. Moreover, he could not afford to suffer such losses at this time. Therefore, he said to Guan Yu: "Guan Yu, capture the enemy commander!"

  Guan Yu shouted: "Yes!" He swung his sword and beheaded the two small soldiers in front of him. With a kick of his stirrup, he spurred his horse forward, charging straight at Yan Lian.

  Yu Xian did not expect the enemy general to suddenly break through the encirclement and come straight for him. However, Yu Xian was also a senior general under Huan's command, with many years of battle experience, having killed countless people, so he would naturally not be afraid of Guan Yu, who at this time still had no reputation, raised his long spear, let out a loud shout, and charged forward to meet him.

  Liu Ze saw from afar and secretly laughed, thinking that even Yan Liang, the famous general of Hebei, was no match for Guan Yu's single move. Yet, Wen Fu dared to challenge Guan Yu without knowing whether he would live or die, truly not knowing how to write the word "death".

  But at the moment when the two horses crossed, Guan Yu's Green Dragon Crescent Blade drew a perfect arc, and in the flash of lightning, Yan's head had already rolled to the ground.

  At the moment of his death, Yan Liang did not understand how Guan Yu's sword had struck him. He only felt a cool breeze brush against his neck, and then everything was over for him.

  When Xian was killed, the Huns' camp fell into great disorder, and many of the Hun soldiers retreated.

  However, the Xiongnu people who had experienced many battles did not disorder their formation. Although the main general Yu Jian was killed in battle, there were still several hundred men under his command who stood up and stopped the fleeing soldiers, reorganizing to launch another attack in an attempt to turn the tide of defeat.

  Liu Zhen ordered several skilled archers to aim at those centurions and shoot them dead.