Chapter 21: The Shock of Jingzhou People

  Yan Liang was like a sharp sword, easily tearing open the defensive line of Jingzhou army.

  The knights following him surged forward like wild beasts out of a cage, swarming in.

  The 40,000-strong Jingzhou army was like a fragile glass wall; once one point was breached, the entire wall would shatter into pieces.

  Cries of killing and wailing sounds mixed together.

  Blood splattered everywhere, iron cavalry passed by, countless limbs and skulls scattered and flew in all directions.

  Yan Liang rode his horse like flying, wherever the horse's hooves passed, no one was left alive, unmatched, and rushed straight to Wen Ping under the big flag.

  Two horses clashed, steel knives whizzed out, transforming into a semicircular iron curtain, its momentum like the Yangtze River and the Yellow River flowing endlessly, carrying a howling wind sound rushing towards Wen Ping.

  Wen Pin's mind was filled with an unprecedented chill, as he frantically circulated his internal energy. Although he wasn't a top-notch expert, he could still see how incredibly powerful the enemy's knife was.

  Inescapable.

  No time for further thought, Wen Ping hastily raised his sword to block.

  Ahhhhh...

  Sparks flew everywhere as two steel blades clashed, their shrill ringing sound shaking the fields.

  The force on the knife poured into his body like a landslide, and Wen Ping only felt his five internal organs shaking, his blood and energy churning, and the handle of the knife in his hand was almost impossible to grasp.

  "Is this man perhaps Yan Liang?"

  At this juncture, two riders crossed each other on horseback. Wen Ping hastily suppressed the surging blood and turned around with his horizontal sword, fearing that Yan Liang would launch another fatal blow.

  Yan Liang, who had turned his horse around, did not make another move, but instead looked at the astonishing sight in front of him with an appreciative gaze.

  "Is that man opposite us Wen Zhongyue of Nanyang?" Yan Liang thundered, his voice full of unyielding majesty.

  Wen Ping took a deep breath and loudly said: "I am Wen Ping, are you Yan Liang of Hebei?"

  It's Wen Pin after all.

  When he heard the other party report his family background, Yan Liang nodded slightly, and a few appreciative glances flashed in his eyes.

  In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Wen Pin's martial arts skills are only mediocre, if Yan Liang really wanted to take his life, it would be a piece of cake.

  Just now that sword, Yan Liang only used 40% of his strength, just to test Wen Ping's martial arts, and Wen Ping's martial arts seemed to be a little higher than he imagined.

  As for Wen Pin, upon learning that the enemy general before him was actually Yan Liang's descendant, the shock in his heart grew even stronger.

  He devoted half his life to serving Liu Biao and had hardly ever left the land north of Jing, let alone fought against any master of the time.

  The original Wen Ping thought that his own martial arts were outstanding, enough to rival the heroes of the world. Today, after fighting with Yan Liang, he realized that he was a frog at the bottom of the well, and was too arrogant.

  Looking at Wen Ping's shocked face, Yan Liang said calmly: "Wen Zhongye, the outcome is already decided, why fight again? Dismount and surrender."

  Wen Ping was shocked and enraged in an instant.

  "You arrogant fool! Don't think that Jingzhou is without a hero, Wen Certain will fight you to the death!" With a loud shout, Wen Ping galloped forward, brandishing his sword.

  A man of blood, I like.

  Yan Liang burst out laughing, his ape-like arm swung out with one hand, and his steel knife transformed into an iron curtain that swept out horizontally.

  They clashed again, and Wen Pin's all-out slash was easily parried by Yan Liang.

  Yan Liang's iron tower-like body stood still, while Wen Ping's whole body trembled, almost unable to sit on the horse, and his legs clamped tightly on the horse's belly to barely stabilize his figure.

  Yan Liang didn't have time to delay any further, and with a low whistle, his knife flashed out like a fierce storm.

  He indeed admired Wen Pin, wanting to subdue this man, it was precisely because of this that he had to let him know his own prowess.

  In this era of worshiping the strong, one must first destroy their opponent's self-esteem in order to make them feel reverence.

  Yan Liang once became serious, Wen Ping was immediately unable to parry, and in less than ten moves his swordplay became disordered, with openings everywhere.

  "This Yan Liang is not only incredibly powerful, but his swordsmanship is also superb... I truly underestimated the heroes of the world..."

  Wen Pei's heart was both shocked and fearful, the pressure he bore grew greater and greater, all his previous anger gone, leaving only bitter endurance.

  Twenty moves in one go, Yan Liang suddenly let out a loud roar and swung his long knife backhandedly.

  Clang!

  A loud crash, Wen Ping couldn't resist, and he was knocked off his horse along with his sword, heavily falling to the ground.

  Wen Ping spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, struggling to get up from the ground when Yan Liang had driven his horse forward, with the blade pressed against his neck.

  Looking at the proud and cold Yan Liang, Wen Ping's thoughts were all darkened, he could only admit that his skills were not as good as others, so he didn't struggle anymore, just closed his eyes and waited for that one strike.

  Yan Liang's mouth curled up in a slight smile, but he swept his long knife and shouted: "Come on, first tie up this defeated general for me."

  Zhou Cang rushed forward with his troops and tied Wen Ping up securely.

  At this time, the main general was captured, and the Jingzhou army, which had already been in disarray, lost its will to resist.

  More than 4,000 people and horses were killed, with more than 7,000 wounded. Over 2,000 people and horses surrendered.

  Looking at the prisoners kneeling all over the ground, Yan Liang thought to himself: "It seems that the Jingzhou army indeed has a tradition of surrendering. No wonder in history, when Cao Cao's army marched south, they all followed their lord Liu Xun and surrendered, not one of them stood up to resist. Liu Biao, you are truly a tragic figure..."

  At this moment of contempt, Zhou Cang had already brought Wen Ping over under escort.

  "General Wen, I, Yan, also had no choice but to do this. If you have been inconvenienced, please forgive me." Yan Liang smiled slightly and said.

  "Wei Yan's face turned red with rage: 'You're using the banner of unity to invade my state and county, killing my generals, and yet you say it can't be helped? If you want to kill me, then kill me! Does Wei Yan fear you?'"

  Wen Ping's bravery and integrity made Yan Liang admire him even more, silently lamenting that such a loyal and brave general was not being utilized by Liu Biao, truly a case of having eyes but no pearls.

  Yan Liang sneered, "In a world in chaos, the strong are revered. Didn't Liu Jingsheng's foundation also come from snatching it from others' hands? Yan Zhen, your words are quite lacking in insight."

  "You..." Wen Pian was refuted by him and for a moment was left speechless.

  Yan Liang didn't want to waste his breath on him either, figuring out how to subdue him could wait, for now he had more pressing matters to attend to.

  Kuai Liang and those more than 60,000 Jingzhou troops were still waiting for him to go and take them over.

  Yan Liang immediately divided his troops in half, ordering Zhou Cang to lead 500 light cavalrymen, wearing the surrendered soldiers' armor and pretending to be Wen Ping's men heading west to deceive Xinye City.

  Yan Liang himself led five hundred light cavalry to drive away the more than two thousand surrendered troops of Jingzhou, heading east towards the main camp of the Jingzhou army.

  At noon, Yan Liang finally saw the enemy's large camp.

  At this time, Kuai Yue in the big account was still planning a countermeasure.

  In his view, Wen Ping would definitely defeat Yan Liang's surprise attack on Xinye if he could get reinforcements in time.

  Although this was the case, Yan Liang's plan had caused him to lose face, and Kuai Yue, who was furious, planned to persuade Liu Biao to send several tens of thousands of troops northward again, in order to completely drive Yan Liang out of Jingzhou.

  The curtain was lifted, and the deputy general hastily entered.

  "Parting ways with the commander, General Wen was ambushed and killed by Yan Liang halfway. Our army suffered a great defeat. At present, Yan Liang's troops are killing their way from the west towards our main camp."

  Kuai Yue's face turned pale with shock, and for a moment he was stunned, as if he had heard the most unbelievable thing in the world.

  "How can this be? Is it that Yan Liang's surprise attack on Xin Ye was false and the ambush of the relief troops is the real goal?"

  Kuai Yue muttered to himself, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. Since he had pledged allegiance to Liu Biao, he had never encountered such an unexpected moment.

  Kuai Yue was indeed a first-rate strategist. After being shocked for a moment, his turbulent emotions soon calmed down.

  He furrowed his brow and pondered for a moment before making a decisive deployment.

  The 6,000 troops in hand were divided into two thousand at the east of the camp to prevent the main camp of Hebei Army from taking advantage of the situation and launching an attack.

  Kuai Yue himself led 4,000 troops and swiftly deployed them west of the main camp to counter Yu Jian's sudden attack.

  "I didn't expect Yan Liang to be so cunning, humph, what's the big deal? I reckon you're just a few hundred cavalrymen at most. Ambushing Wen Ping is one thing, but wanting to launch a fierce attack on my main camp? It won't be that easy."

  Reining in his horse at the edge of the camp, Kuai Yue gazed out calmly into the distance, a look of serene confidence on his face.

  Dust rises in the distance, soldiers and horses are approaching.

  "Archers ready!"

  Kuai Yue took a slight sip, and over a thousand bowmen drew their bows and shot, the dense arrows aiming at the gradually clearer enemy in front of them.

  Kuai Yue's mouth curled up in a cold smile, he believed that as long as Yan Liang dared to charge into the camp on horseback, his well-trained bowmen would be enough to turn Yan Liang and his cavalry into hedgehogs.

  As the dust and fog drew near, when the enemy in the fog, like a ghost, suddenly emerged from it, Kuai Yue's originally confident expression suddenly became extremely frightened.