The 57th chapter: Pan Feng's Big Axe Rescues Sun Jian; Cloudy Eagle Exchanges Armor as if Nothing Happened.

  War horses neigh, flowing clouds shake, and cold crows shrill.

  Sun Jian saw that there was no possibility of escape and gave a loud order. His generals charged forward with one against a hundred.

  Old General Cheng Pu, although he was already over sixty years old, was still vigorous and strong. He wielded his iron spear with a snake's head as if it were an extension of himself, completely disregarding the heavily armored cavalry surrounding him.

  Huang Gai wielded his iron whip with great force, and with one strike of the whip, either a horse's leg would be broken or a soldier would be knocked to the ground. The enemy soldiers were terrified at the sight.

  Han Dang's big knife was no ordinary thing, and with his skilled horsemanship, killing people was as simple as chopping vegetables.

  Zu Mao wielded his twin blades beside Sun Jian, his face filled with murderous intent. Every strike he made was sure to be accompanied by a flash of blood.

  Wearing silver armor and wrapped in a red turban, wielding a horizontal ancient sword, riding a flower-maned horse, Sun Jian was like a fierce tiger, rampaging everywhere.

  Seeing this scene, Li Cui realized that these people must be the great generals of the vassal army. He immediately ordered his soldiers to strive forward, and those who killed these people would be heavily rewarded.

  Huang Gai saw the enemy army growing more numerous by the minute, and in a fit of rage, he grabbed his twin whips and charged straight at Li Cui.

  But wanting to take Li Cui's head among several thousand soldiers is by no means easy, you know that they are now dealing with the elite under Li Cui's command.

  Huang Gai charged towards Li Ji, and the cavalry surrounded them layer by layer.

  Fresh blood stained his yellow battle robe, but he and Li Cui were still as distant as two mountains apart.

  "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

  Sun Jian let out three loud roars, and the young men of Jiangdong were so inspired that one became ten. The intensity of the battle was rarely seen.

  Another impact, but still no blood road was forced out.

  Zu Mao, who was already drenched in sweat, said to Sun Jian: "My lord, I'll hold off the rear, you hurry up and break through!"

  Sun Jian's eyes shot out cold glints: "Can a general of an army abandon his own brother and ignore him?"

  Han saw Sun Jian being so stubborn and didn't have time to persuade him, directly saying: "If you don't break through voluntarily again, we will die in front of you!"

  Sun Jian suddenly saw Han Dang with a big knife placed on his own neck, and immediately panicked, hurriedly saying: "Yi Gong (Han Dang's courtesy name Yi Gong), don't force me, Sun will definitely find an opportunity to break out of the siege!"

  Han waited until he agreed before continuing to fight bravely against the enemy.

  When several people were exhausted and there were corpses everywhere, Sun Jian still couldn't find an opportunity to break through the encirclement.

  However, Li Cui's army had been completely intimidated by the few of them, and although they were still trying to move forward, their combat effectiveness was significantly weakened.

  Li Jue ordered his men to recall the troops and send generals while he personally led the charge, killing towards Sun Jian.

  Sun Jian and Li Jue fought for over a dozen rounds without either gaining the upper hand, while Huang Gai and Han Dang saw that Li Jue dared to take the field in person, so they attacked him together.

  Li Cui was shocked and hastily retreated from the battlefield, but his troops were surrounded once again by the numerous cavalrymen.

  It wasn't long after that, a loud shout was heard. Li Cui had thought it was Guo Si leading his troops to the front, but when those soldiers were desperately killing his cavalry, he suddenly realized that reinforcements for these few men had arrived.

  Sun Jian fixed his eyes on him and saw that the leader was a general holding a large axe. With one swing of his axe, he could knock down many people.

  "Isn't this Pan Feng, a great general under Han Fu?" Huang Gai said with great joy to Sun Jian.

  Sun Jian saw this and immediately ordered his troops to counterattack.

  Li Cu was attacked from both front and back, and suddenly encountered so many fierce generals, he was also very frightened, and hastily ordered the retreat.

  However, Sun Jian and Pan Feng were not willing to let him off so easily, and Li Jue was forced to retreat while fighting.

  When they retreated to the front of Ziwu Pass, Sun Jian and Pan Feng were afraid that Guo Si would lead a large army to come forward, so they quickly retreated.

  After this battle, Sun Jian's generals were unscathed, but the soldiers they led suffered heavy casualties. Li Jue lost a few thousand soldiers.

  Li Cui returned to the pass of Tong, still shaken by the scene he had just witnessed. When Guo Si came to visit him, Li Cui was furious and exclaimed: "Why didn't you send troops? I almost died at the hands of those fierce generals!"

  Guo Zhan comforted him, saying: "It's not that I'm unwilling to send troops, it's just that soon after you led your army out of the pass, I received an order from Dong Xiang. He ordered us to only defend the pass and not to go beyond it!"

  "What? Such an order? Didn't we just win a great victory? Doesn't he know?" Li Cu was shocked, he thought this was truly unbelievable.

  Kuang Ze also said with a worried face: "I don't know why he gave such an order, but since the order has been given, we can only follow it!"

  With a loud crash, Li Cu cut through the case with one sword, and angrily said: "This is really infuriating!"

  Faced with this situation, Guo Ze could only comfort his emotions and had no other choice.

  After Sun Jian and others returned to the camp, Zhang Yang and Han Fu directly blamed Sun Jian for being too reckless.

  But Sun Jian did not say much more. After thanking Han Fu and Pan Feng, he led Huang Gai and others back to his own camp.

  Huang Gai said: "Pan Feng arrived just in time."

  Sun Jian smiled and said, "It's obvious that they've sent someone to spy on us. Well, since we're dealing with a group of people who don't trust each other, it's best for us to be cautious."

  Sun Jian and others did not take this ambush to heart, but someone had already reported the situation to Yuan Shao and "appropriately" added fuel to the fire.

  Yuan Shao heard the news and immediately gathered all the lords, saying: "Sun Tzu's move is too rash, Yuan has no confidence in it. Is there anyone else who wants to go and assist?"

  Cao Cao smiled and said, "The current war situation is focused on Tiger Trap Pass. The troops stationed at Xiangyang Pass only need to hold off Li Jue and Guo Si's two generals. Last time they were ambushed, from now on they will definitely be more careful. As for the matter of Governor Sun being ambushed, according to what I know, it was purely a coincidence."

  Yuan Shao, after listening to Cao Cao's introduction, only then understood that Sun Jian was ambushed because they happened to encounter the patrol soldiers of Bomaoguan while scouting the terrain. He said with some anger: "Unexpectedly, Zhang Yang and Yuan Yi actually joined forces to deceive our alliance leader, truly daring and unscrupulous."

  The groom standing by hastily interceded for him, "Sun Taigong is a proud and aloof person, he must not have told the other lords his true intention for going out, that's why this misunderstanding occurred. I hope Lord Yuan will not be angry."

  Yuan Shao felt that he was now fundamentally unable to control the various vassals, and could only say: "I just hope they don't start infighting!"

  After finishing speaking, he again discussed with the various lords how to respond to the battle next, and only then did he let the various lords return to their respective camps.

  After returning to his own tent, Ma Fu thought that he had not seen Diao Chan for many days in a row and was quite worried. However, in front of Yun Ying, he couldn't show it too clearly.

  Yun Ying poured him a cup of tea and pointed to the clothes placed beside the bed: "I've already helped you wash and dry these clothes."

  Ma Chao's face turned red with embarrassment. Those clothes were the ones he had worn when drinking with Cao Cao, and it seemed that after getting drunk, he had vomited everywhere.

  Yun Ying said: "I suppose that Cao Cao's capacity for wine is quite good, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten you drunk."

  He smiled slightly: "I've had a bit too much to drink, thanks for taking care of me!"

  Yun Ying shook her head helplessly, but the careful groom noticed a faint blush on her ear.

  "Could it be that she changed clothes for me?" Ma Fu's emotions were complex, but in front of this girl, he couldn't ask, so he personally went to Yin Feng and Zhao Ang's camp.

  After seeing Zhao Ang's injury had improved a lot, Ma Fu called Yin Feng to one side and said: "I was drunk that day and don't remember many things. If my words were improper, please forgive me, brother!"

  Yin Feng smiled and said: "Ma Tai Shou gets drunk easily and becomes arrogant, but your drinking capacity is not bad. I am also lucky to have dragged Cao Cao down to see this."

  "So I really was talking big?" The groom was a bit afraid that he had hurt his own brother due to drunkenness.

  Yin Feng saw that he was ashamed, and hastily said: "Nothing! I like to kick people with my feet when I'm drunk too! These things are not on my mind. Why did you suddenly think of asking these questions today?"

  The groom coughed twice in embarrassment: "Who took care of me when I got drunk that day?"

  Yin Fengdao said: "Besides your handsome guard, who else could it be?"

  "Are you sure it's not someone else?"

  Ma Fu asked so mysteriously, which completely piqued Yin Feng's interest. He said seriously: "He even helped you wash your bath at that time!"

  The groom was completely stunned and stood there motionless, thinking that Yunying must have seen through him.

  Yin Feng saw him like this and couldn't help but burst out laughing: "You're not thinking that a beauty has seen through your body, are you?"

  Ma Fu suddenly gave Yin Feng a punch and said: "What are you talking about? Obviously it's just a handsome little brother!"

  Yin Fengxiang said: "Governor, when do you plan to stop deceiving us? She had already fully revealed her identity that day on the battlefield with the black cloth. Obviously, she is a stunning beauty who can topple cities and countries, and she is precisely the mysterious masked woman from before. You truly have boundless good fortune! On one side, Diao Chan is pining away for you day and night, while on the other, Yun Ying is inseparable from your shadow. How are we underlings supposed to endure this?"

  Ma Fu said nothing and gave Yin Feng another punch: "So you've seen through everything! In that case, I won't hide it from you either. But is what you said about him fetching water for me to take a bath true or false?"

  Yin Feng covered his chest and said, "I'm telling you, Marshal Ma, this punch of yours is really too heavy! Even if I managed to survive on the battlefield, I would still be beaten to death by you in my own tent! To be honest, the bathing thing was purely made up by me, but if something like helping you change clothes or other extremely romantic things were to happen, I think it's also very possible!"

  Ma Fu suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, hearing him say that meant his clothes must have been changed by the Yunying Gang. Such a cold and elegant woman would actually change clothes for him, Ma Fu was completely unexpected.

  Although he's now very close to her, but thinking that she personally helped him change his clothes, he felt it was too intimate and ambiguous.

  What's even more unbelievable to Ma Fu is that Yun Ying still puts on an air as if nothing has happened...