Chapter 14: The Force of Three Generals

  Yan Liang saw through Cao Ren's strategy, but what he saw more clearly was Cao Ren's combat strength.

  In the Battle of Jiangling in history, Cao Ren's general Niu Jin was surrounded by Zhou Yu's troops several times more, and Cao Ren made a few advances and retreats, and finally managed to rescue Niu Jin alive.

  Cao Ren's commanding ability and martial prowess were undoubtedly top-notch.

  Yan Liang inferred that even if he used Gong Du as bait and successfully launched a surprise attack, with the combat effectiveness of his troops, it was not necessarily possible to defeat Cao's army in one fell swoop.

  The fact was just as Yan Liang had expected, Liu Bi's three thousand Yellow Turbans were simply unable to shake Cao's army.

  As expected, Yan Liang was decisive and made a frontal assault with the troops under Liu Pi's command. He himself led his light cavalry to encircle around Cao Jun's army from behind and launched a surprise attack.

  Cao Ren was engaged in a fierce battle, completely unaware that behind them, pairs of bloodshot eyes were fixed intently on their heads.

  "Charge, entire army!" Yan Liang pointed with his long sword and shouted loudly.

  Two thousand light cavalry suddenly moved, rushing down from the earth slope, and directly attacking Cao Jun's abdomen.

  Rolling iron flow, rolling up the dust all over the sky, the knights' spears in hand are pressed down uniformly, a dense and dark mass like the teeth of death.

  "Hah!" A low shout, Yan Liang's long knife, like a flowing light, swept towards an enemy cavalryman who was charging at him.

  A bloody human head flew into the air.

  In the midst of flying blood, Yan Liang broke through Cao Jun's weak defense line on horseback, with a thousand iron riders following him like a raging tide, breaking into the formation.

  Cao Ren, who was just getting into the swing of things, only now sensed the unusual movement behind him. He suddenly turned his head and was shocked to see countless enemy soldiers, as if heavenly troops had descended from the sky, appearing right behind him.

  More than a hundred paces away, the large banner with the character "Yan" danced in the wind.

  "What's going on? Is this really the true Yan Liang?" Cao Ren was shocked in his heart, and that usual calm expression was finally disrupted by Yan Liang's sudden appearance.

  "General Filial Piety, we have fallen into Yan Liang's treacherous plan. It is best to retreat quickly." Ma Chong, who had ridden up, also looked shocked.

  So enraged was Cao Ren by this humiliation that he ignored the dissuasions of Man Chong and charged straight at Yan's great banner.

  Yan Liang under the war flag was killed just in time, suddenly felt that in the midst of the battle group, there seemed to be a rolling killing intent sweeping over.

  He glanced sideways and saw a long knife, like a shooting star chasing the moon, slashing towards Yan Liang's chest.

  Clang!

  In the chaos of the Martian flight, Yan Liang turned around and with a single horizontal stroke of his large knife, he had already pinned down Cao Ren's long sword.

  His arm shook slightly, and although this knife's force was inferior to Guan Yu's, it was still quite powerful.

  One move into the fight, Yan Liang knew that his opponent's martial arts were not weak.

  "Yan certain knife down does not cut nameless general, who comes next? Report your name!" Yan Liang's arm shook slightly, easily parrying the enemy's blade while loudly questioning.

  Cao Ren heard that it was indeed Yan Liang, his face as sharp as a knife with anger, furiously shouting "Cao Ren is here, take your dog's head", the long knife in his hand rose again, changing from chopping to slashing, carrying a swift wind and pouncing on Yan Liang's left shoulder.

  It's Cao Ren after all.

  Yan Liang knew he was a formidable enemy, so he shook his spirits and swung his long sword, turning defense into offense.

  Tungsten!

  Another loud shout echoed through the air. Cao Ren's powerful slash, which he had put all his strength into, was actually blocked by Yan Liang.

  That massive force poured into his entire body, Cao Ren only felt a surge of great power crashing into his internal organs, stirring up his blood and energy to the point where his hand grasping the knife was numb, with signs of his tiger's mouth almost cracking.

  Cao Ren's heart and soul were shaken, for the first time in his life he felt a thread of fear.

  Since following Cao Cao to raise troops, he has been fighting east and west for half his life. Even in the most dangerous moments, he never had a hint of fear.

  However, today's encounter with Yan Liang was just two moves, but it made his heart chill.

  "No wonder Guan Yunchang couldn't handle this person, it turns out that Yan Liang's martial arts are so impressive, probably not much worse than Lü Bu in his heyday."

  Cao Ren's heart was startled, and he hastily turned his horse around to counterattack, fearing that Yan Liang would launch a sudden assault.

  Yan Liang merely halted his horse with a horizontal sword and did not take advantage of the situation to launch another attack.

  "Zi Xiaohao, today I will let you go. Go back and tell Lord Cao that Yan Liang has no intention of being his enemy. He can rest assured to fight a decisive battle with Yuan Benchu." Yan Liang said loudly.

  Yan Liang was not afraid of Cao Cao. Moreover, he knew that in the future, if he were to contend with other heroes, he would inevitably have to cross swords with Cao Cao.

  At present, Cao Cao is not a major enemy, and Yan Liang does not want to make too much trouble with him, wasting his limited troops in battles against Cao Cao.

  Cao Ren's eyes were spewing fire, and Yan Liang's sentence "I'll let you off this time" was a blatant humiliation to him.

  "Yan Liang you scoundrel, come and surrender!"

  Cao Ren's hair stood on end as he let out a loud roar and charged forward again, wielding his sword.

  Cao Ren's impertinence also enraged Yan Liang, whose eyes shot out murderous intent like a sharp blade. With a squeeze of his legs on the horse's belly, he raised his long sword with a frenzied force and swung it out in a sweeping motion.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  Three moves as swift as lightning, flashed by in an instant.

  Yan Liang's every knife was powerful and heavy, Cao Ren, who barely parried three knives, felt his internal organs churning like the sea, and when he glanced sideways, the hand holding the knife was covered in blood, and the tiger's mouth was already shattered.

  After several rounds of fighting, Cao Ren was already at a disadvantage.

  "General Filial Piety, I'm here to help you!" Amidst the loud shouting, another general charged out of the battle array, and it was none other than Man Chong.

  Cao Ren saw reinforcements arrive and regained his spirit to fight again. The two of them attacked Yan Liang from both front and back.

  After fighting with Guan Yu, the Martial Saint, Yan Liang had considerable confidence in his own martial arts. At this time, he was facing two enemies alone, but he showed no fear at all. His long knife danced out layer upon layer of iron curtains, calmly forcing the two generals to retreat from their full-strength attacks.

  "Bo Ning's martial arts may not be as good as mine, but he also has some skills. The two of us joined forces and still couldn't defeat this person... Yan Liang's martial arts are actually so powerful..."

  Cao Ren's heart was increasingly shocked, Yan Liang's blade became even more fierce, a torrent of knives chopped down, shaking him so much that his blood and energy churned, the long knife in his hand almost unable to be grasped.

  Ten paces away, Li Tong, who was just suppressing the defeated soldiers, caught a glimpse of the three riders' clash in the chaos.

  When he saw Cao Ren and Man Chong join forces but still couldn't kill that one enemy general, his heart was also shaken to the extreme.

  Li Tong immediately realized that the enemy general with extraordinary martial arts skills must be Yan Liang without a doubt.

  He rushed forward, reining in his horse and brandishing his spear, killing the general as he passed by. He shouted: "Zi Xiaojun, Ben Ning, Li Tong, come and lend your assistance to these two!"

  In an instant, the cavalry arrived, and Yan Liang's back was pierced by a golden spear that shone like flowing light.

  Yan Liang suddenly felt a breaking sound behind his back, knowing that another expert had arrived to kill him. He didn't turn his head around, but instead concentrated all his strength and swung his long knife in all directions like a wheel.

  Wah! Wah! Wah!

  Three loud shouts, Li Tong and the other two's weapons were all swept away by Yan Liang's wild wind-like swing.

  The three of them were forced back, exchanged a glance, and with a loud shout, they surrounded and attacked again.

  At this point in the battle, Yan Liang felt some pressure for the first time.

  If they were fighting alone, none of the three would be a match for Lü Bu, but now that they are attacking him together, Lü Bu is beginning to show some signs of being unable to cope.

  "It's not that easy to win just because you have more people!"

  Yan Liang was enraged by the opponent's siege, and with a thunderous roar, he poured out all his strength, and the big knife in his hand counterattacked like a stormy rain.

  For a time, the three of them were forced to be on the defensive, and seemed to be at a disadvantage.

  Cao Ren and the others were greatly shocked and frightened. They had originally planned to join forces with three people to kill Yan Liang, but they did not expect that Yan Liang's martial arts would be so powerful. Not only could they not attack him, but they were instead dominated by Yan Liang.

  That frenzied blade edge seemed to have endless power, continuously attacking them.

  Cao Ren's heart was filled with great fear, his anger and will to fight had been shattered by Yan Liang's successive strikes, and he gradually showed signs of retreating.

  "General Yan, Zhou Cang has come to your aid."

  In the chaos of the battle, Zhou Cang saw Yan Liang being surrounded by a crowd of people and hastily danced with his knife to come and assist in the fight.

  Liu Bi, who had broken through Cao's army formation with his Yellow Turban troops, also rushed to assist Yan Liang on horseback.

  Seeing the arrival of reinforcements, Cao Ren knew that he would lose again in battle, so he launched a fierce attack with several knives and then turned his horse to jump out of the battlefield.

  "Yan Liang, today's shame will be remembered by Cao Ren. Tomorrow I will surely take your dog head." Cao Ren left behind a ruthless remark and led his troops to retreat northward.

  Cao Ren withdrew and the Cao army, still stubbornly resisting, immediately collapsed and retreated in disarray.

  Li Tong reacted extremely quickly and followed Cao Ren closely.

  Yan Liang's original intention was to follow Cao Ren to gain fame, and then go to Jingzhou to scare Liu Biao for his own benefit. He did not intend to really fight Cao Ren to the death.

  But Cao Ren's vicious words before his defeat enraged Yan Liang.

  With a fierce glare, he spurred his horse and was about to attack Cao Ren.

  Man Chong, who was slow in his march, feared that Cao Ren would be pursued and caught, so he didn't even care about his own defeat, bravely using his horizontal blade to intercept.

  Yan Liang's sword was like a raging wind, carrying with it powerful forces that swept towards his obstructing enemies.

  Man Chong's martial arts are inferior to Cao Ren's. Previously, when the three of them besieged Yan Liang together, they were at a disadvantage, let alone now that it's one-on-one combat.

  Fighting without a plan, Ma Chao's swordsmanship has become disorganized and chaotic, with flaws and weaknesses frequently exposed.

  Yan Liang took advantage of a gap and made a fake attack with his knife. Man Chong swung his sword to cut through the air, but Yan Liang's body leaned forward.

  At this moment, Yan Liang's arm turned, and the back of his knife heavily knocked on Man Chong's back.

  He let out a stifled grunt and his body swayed before falling off the horse.