Chapter 10: The Clever Plan Wins Over the White Horse Village

  Long Fei's swift and fierce movements were met with Gong Sun Zan's calm demeanor, rendering the former's tactics useless. He could only watch as Gong Sun Zan annihilated the Xianbei people one by one. The encirclement led by Baima Yizhong had already been formed, making it impossible for the Xianbei to escape. With a cold smile, Gong Sun Zan extended his long spear towards Talun's face: "Not a single good thing has come from the Xianbei; being killed by my own hand is your greatest fortune!"

  "Hmph!" Talen snorted coldly: "Less nonsense, come on!"

  "Halt!" Zhao Yun suddenly shouted, his hand holding a bow and arrow, the sharp arrowhead pointing directly at Gongsun Zan. Everyone's gaze stopped, all staring at Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun's eyes were wide open, due to tension and excitement, his snow-white face turned bright red, the bow and arrow in his hand slightly trembling.

  Gongsun Zan slanted his eyes at Zhao Yun, and smiled: "Heh heh, it seems you really want to betray me! Do you know what happens to those who betray me?"

  Long Fei burst out laughing: "Haha! Betrayal, huh? A ruthless killer like you dares to talk about betrayal. Brother Zhao just did what a human should do. Someone like you who views people's lives as worthless doesn't even deserve to be called human. Today, Brother Zhao is ridding the people of a scourge, and I strongly approve!"

  "Hahaha……" Gongsun Zan burst into laughter: "Is human life like grass? Do you know how many of our Han people these Xianbei people kill every year? If it weren't for me, not to mention you, but all the people in Maiyi, Baideng, and Shanggu would have died at the hands of the Xianbei. Without me, the entire north would be a pasture for the Xianbei. The great Han dynasty without me - who else is there in the north? You actually dare to oppose me for the sake of these few Xianbei people. Are you worthy of being Han people? Right and wrong are not distinguished. If I had known it was like this, I should have let these Xianbei people kill all of you!"

  "Little brother!" Talon shouted at Long Fei: "I, Talon, will never forget your kindness. Today's matter is between us and Gongsun Zan, don't worry about me. Even if Gongsun Zan kills me today, I still have a son, and my son will definitely kill Gongsun Zan!"

  "Hahaha..." Gong Sun Zan burst into loud laughter: "Son? Aren't you Taren of the Bear People Tribe? Before you die, I'll tell you that your Bear People Tribe is already gone!"

  "What does it mean? What are you saying?" Taran and all the Xianbei people were stunned.

  Gongsun Zan sneered: "Just now, I have already annihilated your Xiongnu tribe. All of them, men and women, old and young, not a single one is left!"

  "You beast! I'll fight you to the death!" Taren whipped out his curved blade and charged at Gong Sun. Gong Sun hastily engaged him, and the two began exchanging blows. Gong Sun had clearly overestimated himself, charging straight at Taren's chest with his spear. Taren leaned to one side on horseback, dodging Gong Sun's spear, and counterattacked with a swift slash of his blade. Gong Sun's long spear stabbed empty air as Taren's knife reached his neck. Gong Sun hastily ducked to avoid the blow, but Taren's blade scraped against his helmet, slicing off the long plume on top. By the time Gong Sun looked up again, his helmet was askew. Frightened, Gong Sun broke out in a cold sweat.

  All the Xianbei people rushed towards Baima Yicheng like madmen, their tactics without any defense, all were attacks. This life-or-death fighting style made Baima Yicheng very unaccustomed for a while, and he was about to be surrounded by these Xianbei people. Gongsun Zan shook his head vigorously, mustered up twelve points of spirit and fought against Talun again.

  "Release the arrow! Release it quickly!" Long Fei loudly reminded Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun still couldn't bring himself to do it, the person he was supposed to shoot was his own general, a general of the Han Dynasty, if he shot him, he would really become a traitor who betrayed the Han Dynasty!

  Long Fei looked anxious, picked up his own crutch and fiercely poked Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun loosened his hand, the arrow flew out. Gongsun Zan was desperately fighting against Tauren's bloodshed, Tauren kept attacking, completely ignoring Gongsun Zan, one knife after another, every knife aimed at Gongsun Zan's vital spot. Gongsun Zan had to dodge as much as possible, seeing that he couldn't hold on any longer. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a bowstring behind him. Knowing it was Zhao Yun taking action, he quickly bent down.

  "Hmph!" Gong Sun Zan felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, and at the same time, Taren's curved knife arrived. Gong Sun Zan could no longer hold on, and with a flip of his body, he fell from his warhorse to the ground. Taren's knife ruthlessly sliced across the head of Gong Sun Zan's horse, from its forehead to its mouth, cutting it in two. The horse's front hooves softened and crashed towards Gong Sun Zan. Gong Sun Zan endured the pain and quickly rolled away, barely avoiding the danger of being trampled by his own horse.

  Tauren wanted to chase again, but several white horses rushed up to save Gongsun Zan's life. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gongsun Zan endured the pain and stood up from the ground, found an ownerless war horse, climbed up, gritted his teeth, and hugged his own shoulders: "Kill them all, don't leave a single person, including that Zhao Yun!" Gongsun Zan had completely gone mad.

  Gongsun Zan was wounded and the encirclement of White Horse by Yuan Shao's forces showed some signs of relaxation. Long Fei shouted loudly to Taren: "Over here, come over here!"

  Talen looked around, all his men were dead, and all the White Horse Guards were rushing towards him. Talen cut down one of the White Horse Guards with a single stroke, then urged his own warhorse to charge towards Long Fei.

  "Release arrows! Release arrows! Shoot them dead!" Gong Sun Zan roared.

  Taren and Ma Xing hid behind the carriage, a hail of arrows poured down, hitting the carriage with a series of loud thuds. The entire carriage was like a porcupine, no one dared to show their heads. Gong Sun Zan continued to roar: "Kill them all, not a single one left! Kill...!"

  "What shall we do now? We are trapped here!" Wang Wei looked at Long Fei and asked.

  Long Fei furrowed his brow, thinking constantly. He had never encountered such a situation before, in his time, on the battlefield there was nothing except for heavy armored vehicles. He had no experience dealing with war horses. Wang Wei continued to ask, Long Fei looked at Zhao Yun: "Brother Zhao, do you have any good ideas?"

  Zhoa Yun shook his head. He glanced at Wang Can and Hua Tuo, both of whom also shook their heads. Gongsun Zan's cavalry approached the carriage while shooting arrows, with some people detouring to prepare for a pincer movement. Long Fei suddenly remembered that when he was chatting with several herdsmen on the grassland, they told him that horses were most afraid of wolves. If they encountered a wolf pack, the horse group would become anxious and restless, making it difficult to drive them back to the stable.

  "Aaaaooo!" A wolf howl suddenly came from behind the horse carriage. Gong Sun's warhorse suddenly stopped in its tracks, perked up its ears, and no matter how hard the driver whipped it, the warhorse only spun around in place. Long Fei was delighted - these warhorses hadn't undergone strict training, and had no resistance to sudden noises; if it were cannon fire, they might very well be frightened into collapse.

  "Learn! Follow me and shout, quickly!"

  "Wooo...! Wooo...!" The sound of wolf howls came from behind the horse carriage. Gong Sun Zan's warhorse snorted and retreated, becoming restless and anxious, the cavalry struggled to control their own horses, forgetting to continue shooting arrows.

  Long Fei poked his head out to look at the white horse outside the carriage. Gong Sun Zan's horse was not his own, and upon hearing the wolf's howl, it became even more anxious, several times lifting its front hooves, wanting to turn around and run away. Gong Sun Zan continuously stroked it, calming the mount down. Long Fei pulled on Zhao Yun's sleeve, pointing at Gong Sun Zan: "Zhao brother, it's up to you now! If we can subdue Gong Sun Zan, we'll have a chance!"

  "This..."

  "Don't hesitate! No time, hurry!" Long Fei pushed Zhao Yun out with one hand. Zhao Yun took a deep breath and strode towards Gongsun Zan. Just as Gongsun Zan had calmed his warhorse, he saw Zhao Yun charging towards him and instinctively turned the horse's head to hide behind Baima Yifang. Another loud cry, Gongsun Zan's warhorse whinnied and suddenly raised its front hooves again, catching Gongsun Zan off guard. He fell backwards, his hands failing to grasp the reins, and was thrown heavily to the ground by the horse. The horse turned around and ran away, quickly disappearing into the distant grasslands.

  "Halt!" Zhao Yun shouted loudly. The wolf's howl suddenly stopped, and all the war horses quieted down again. Zhao Yun held his own sword in his hand, placed on Gongsun Zan's neck.

  All the white horse guards were stunned. Long Fei stepped out from behind the carriage in a timely manner and shouted at the white horse guards: "Get off your horses, don't look anymore, if you want Gong Sun Zan to live, come down obediently and put down all things and roll away!"

  White Horse Yizong stared at Gongsun Zan, Zhao Yun's hand added a few points of force, perhaps because of tension, the force on his hand was not grasped accurately, and a thread of fresh blood flowed out from Gongsun Zan's neck. Long Fei limped to Zhao Yun's side, gently patted him, took over the treasure sword from Zhao Yun, and smiled slightly at Zhao Yun: "Gongsun Zan, it seems that what I said was useless, do you have anything to say?"

  Gongsun Zan swallowed hard and spat out a mouthful of saliva, panting as he said: "Do as he says! Dismount!"

  Bai Ma Yi Cong dismounted from his horse, throwing away his sword, spear, bow and arrows. Long Fei ordered Wang Qian siblings to collect Bai Ma Yi Cong's weapons onto their own carriage. Following Long Fei's orders, they tied all the white horses behind their carriage before releasing Gong Sun Zan: "Ah! These white horses might sell for a good price, haha! Thanks to General Gong Sun, alright, you can leave now! I won't slaughter innocent people like you do, scram!"

  "I'm going to kill Gong Sun Zan and avenge my clansmen!" Talon glared fiercely at Gong Sun Zan.

  Bai Ma Yi stepped forward, blocking Gong Sun's view, and glared at Talen with anger. Long Fei patted Talen on the shoulder: "A gentleman takes revenge ten years later, but now is not the time, we are leaving, what will you do?"

  Talen panted heavily, glaring fiercely at Gongsun Zan: "He killed my clansmen, I must kill him!"

  Zhao Yun blocked Taren's way: "Forget it, spare his life! Even if you look at me, let him go!"

  Tauren glanced at Zhao Yun: "You saved me, I'll agree with you once, but Gong Sun Zan, remember this for me, I'll be back!"

  Zhoa Yun took a last look at Gongsun Zan, knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to him, sighed, got up on his horse with his long spear in hand, and slowly headed south towards the afterglow of the setting sun.