Chapter 17: Desperate Struggle for Survival?

  On the battlefield, comrades are your greatest reliance. No matter how brave you are individually, you cannot preserve your life in the midst of a massive army's siege.

  Before crossing over, his brother was Qin Cheng's greatest reliance in the street fights. Now, it is these comrades who bathed in blood and fought together with him!

  Qin Cheng, Dong Zhuo and Wu Daliang, these three soldiers of the same squad, were now tightly bound together by the battlefield situation. Three other soldiers from the surrounding area also gradually gathered around, forming a mutual support system among the six of them, making it much easier to fight against the enemy and protect themselves on this battlefield.

  "Look quickly, yellow flag!" Wu Dalie didn't disappoint as a veteran of the battlefield. While Qin Cheng and others were engaged in fierce fighting, his sharp eyes caught sight of something.

  Qin Cheng and Dong Zhu retreated back, following Wu Daliang's pointing direction, they saw a scene that made their hearts tighten.

  Not far from them, beside a scrapped war chariot, a Han cavalryman holding a yellow flag was surrounded by several Xiongnu cavalrymen. At this moment, he was desperately protecting the yellow flag under the cover of two Han cavalrymen. However, it seemed that the two Han cavalrymen could not hold on for long, and those Xiongnu cavalrymen seemed to have set their sights on the yellow flag, fighting hard to seize it!

  The Yellow Flag, also known as the Yellow Tooth Flag, is a flag set up by the commander-in-chief in the army. It is the spiritual dependence of all soldiers on the battlefield. Once the yellow flag falls or is captured, it means that the army is facing collapse!

  At this time, Huang Qi was in deep trouble.

  "Dong Chou, Da Liang, clear the way for me!" Qin Cheng shouted loudly, his body already rapidly charging towards that abandoned war chariot!

  "Alright!" Dong Zhu and others responded in unison, frantically waving their long spears or long knives, desperately guarding the perimeter of Qin City.

  The military flag is the soul of the army. No soldier takes it lightly!

  Qin Cheng had just rushed out a few steps when he was blocked by a Xiongnu cavalry captain in front of him, apparently this Xiongnu cavalry also saw that Qin Cheng was rushing towards the military flag.

  It was precisely because of this that those Han army officers who wanted to get close to the military flag and protect it could not achieve their goal.

  Qin Cheng only saw a sudden appearance of an exceptionally tall war horse in front of him, and then a chill came down from above his head!

  Without time to think, Qin Cheng didn't slow down but instead knelt with both legs and leaned his body back, using the huge momentum to almost stick to the ground and slide past the belly of that galloping warhorse!

  After sliding past the horse's belly, Qin Cheng slapped the ground with his left hand and straightened up. At the same time, the long knife in his right hand made a ruthless slash on the horse's belly, cutting out a deep gash!

  That horseback rider slashed open his belly with one knife, and his intestines flowed out immediately along with fresh blood, and his body also fell down powerlessly!

  Neglecting this Xiongnu hundred-man captain, Qin Cheng continued to rush towards the war chariot!

  The Xiongnu hundred-man captain leapt up from his horseback, angrily cursed and was about to chase after Qin Cheng. Who would have thought that as soon as he turned around, his head flew up! It turned out that Dong Zhuo, who had been closely following Qin Cheng, took advantage of the captain's carelessness and slid a knife across his neck from behind!

  Two Han military cavalrymen guarding the army flag have been cut down by the surrounding Xiongnu cavalry, and the wounded flag-bearing soldier, after using the sharp head of the flag to pierce a Xiongnu cavalryman one last time, was struck in the back by a Xiongnu chiliarch and blood suddenly spurted into the air!

  The flag-bearing soldier used his last bit of strength to swing the military flag back, but was caught by the Xiongnu Qianfu. At this time, a Xiongnu cavalryman riding a flying horse beheaded the flag-bearing soldier with one knife!

  As the flag-bearing soldier's head flew into the air, he saw a lithe figure!

  Qin Cheng rushed onto the war chariot, his feet heavily stomping on the chariot, and his body shot out from the top of the chariot!

  Like the great Peng spreading its wings, the Qin City's long knife cut through a ruthless arc, with great force chopping down. The Xiongnu Qianfu who had just managed to seize the military flag felt something was off, and when he looked up, all he could see was the dazzling sunlight, as a black shadow flashed over his head, and a bright light flashed towards him!

  The Thousand-Man Commander's vision was momentarily blurry, and he subconsciously raised his knife to block.

  In mid-air, Qin Cheng's long knife slid off the long knife of a Xiongnu Qianfu, and with a flash of the blade, the head of this Xiongnu Qianfu was cut in half, and his brains and blood suddenly spurted out!

  Qin Cheng's body trajectory didn't stop there, his right foot kicked out and sent a Xiongnu cavalryman beside the Xiongnu commander flying off his horse. His body fell onto the horse, and with a loud whack of his legs on the horse's belly, the warhorse let out a loud neigh and galloped away.

  Qin Cheng snatched the military flag from the hands of a Xiongnu chiliarch who had already fallen off his horse and was about to collapse, and broke through the encirclement!

  The Qin City, who was rushing away, did not see that in the place where the Xiongnu Qianfu fell, a Han army helmet with no body was on the ground. After seeing Qin City snatch the military flag, the originally wide-open eyes quietly closed. A tear flowed from the just-closed eye and merged with the blood-stained face.

  "General, the army flag is safe!" The body of Li Guang, who had just beheaded a Xiongnu cavalryman, heard his own soldiers shouting. Turning his head, he saw that the army flag was tightly held in the hand of a young soldier covered in blood, and this young man had already broken out of the encirclement of the Xiongnu cavalry under the protection of several Han military cavalrymen!

  "Good! This young man is brave, he will be the great contribution of this war!" Li Guang couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart and said loudly.

  Without having time to see clearly what this brave soldier looked like, Li Guang threw himself into battle again.

  Nearly five thousand Han soldiers, on this vast battlefield, engaged in a fierce battle with more than four thousand Xiongnu cavalrymen. Due to Li Guang's proper use of tactics, the war did not show the usual situation where the Han army was at a disadvantage. However, it was only that, and the battle also did not see the Han soldiers surrounding and heavily defeating or annihilating the Xiongnu cavalrymen. Although the Han cavalry formed an encirclement with the Xiongnu cavalrymen, soon the fierce Xiongnu cavalrymen clashed with the Han soldiers together.

  It has now become a thorough and utter melee. This battle is likely to end in a situation where both sides suffer losses.

  Even so, with the same force, and fighting fiercely with the Xiongnu cavalry without a clear victory or defeat, this was already an extremely proud achievement for the Han army officers who had only nearly two thousand cavalry.

  However, the Han army officers who were fighting for their lives did not realize that this favorable situation should not have occurred in the first place.

  Because the performance of the Xiongnu cavalry in this battle was too abnormal.

  The battle has been going on for about two quarters of an hour, and the armies of both sides have completely mixed together, except for the light infantry in the Han army who are pressing from behind.

  Is this destined to be a battle where both sides will suffer?

  The answer will be revealed soon.

  Because, behind the Han army's formation, the dull sound of the horn suddenly rose again.

  Li Guang, who was leading the Han cavalry in a fierce battle against the Xiongnu cavalry, turned pale as soon as he heard the sound of the horn.

  "General, it's an enemy raid! How can there be an enemy raid?" The personal guards who were following Li Guang's side to undertake the protection task also turned pale. As a veteran, he was very aware of what kind of situation it was when the rear of the army formation was attacked!

  "Pass the order, gather the troops! The cavalry is cut off at the rear! The entire army retreats back to Eagle's Mouth!" Li Guang's line of sight was blocked, and he couldn't see what was happening behind the formation, but just by hearing the sound of the horn, he knew how severe the situation was. As a seasoned general, Li Guang quickly gave out battle orders.

  "Yes!" The Imperial Guards immediately carried out the order without a second word.

  In the gourd-shaped terrain that served as a battlefield, on the branch of the postal road that almost vertically pierced the middle line of the gourd, dense and numerous Xiongnu cavalrymen appeared in a thick line, shouting "Ah" as they charged towards the rear of the Han army's formation, numbering no less than 4,000 to 5,000!

  They came from the direction of Duo Ka!

  That is the direction of the Xiongnu cavalry troops who were met by General Li Xi of Shanggu!

  These Xiongnu cavalrymen should have been fighting against the Han army led by Li Xi, but now they suddenly appeared on this battlefield!

  In the forefront of this cavalry formation, a middle-aged man with a leather armor and a goatee was exceptionally eye-catching. This man had somewhat dark skin, exuding a fierce aura all over his body, with piercing eyes. Rarely, in the Xiongnu army, this man surprisingly had an air of nobility among the five elements.

  Needless to say, this man was the leader of these Xiongnu cavalrymen.

  "Zuo Gutouhou, you lead the troops to break into the Han army's rear formation, guard the mountain pass, and don't let a single Han soldier pass through!" The leader ordered a Xiongnu cavalry general beside him who was full of vigor and martial spirit.

  "Understood!" Zuo Gutu Hou took orders and led a group of Xiongnu cavalry away.

  After Zuo Botouhou left, the leader finally pulled out his long knife and shouted loudly at the Han army formation in front of him:

  "Warriors, give me the kill! Kill Li Guang! Break into Qiansang! The Han people's women, money and livestock are all ours!"

  "Waaaah~~"

  The remaining Xiongnu cavalry received the order and all shouted wolf calls as they rushed towards the Han army officers in the distance!

  ……

  The Han army officers and men scattered all over the battlefield, whether they were cavalry or infantry, began to shrink back and retreat!

  But attacking is easy, retreating is difficult, especially when both sides are mixed together and there is no distinction between victory or defeat.

  Fortunately, Li Guang led all the cavalry to cover the rear, which made the situation slightly better. However, when the Xiongnu cavalry suddenly attacked from a branch of the post road, Li Guang had no choice but to divide his remaining nearly 1,000 cavalry into two groups again: one group covered the rear and the other went to intercept those Xiongnu cavalrymen. Only by doing so could he win an opportunity for the infantry to retreat; otherwise, once the formation was disrupted, the infantry would be at the mercy of the cavalry!

  However, at this point, can these several thousand Han soldiers break out of the encirclement?