License to Kill

  Gao Fei led fifty cavalrymen in a northwest direction, the wind whistling past his ears, the horses' hooves pounding the ground, and after several miles of frantic pursuit, they finally caught up with Guan Hai and the others.

  "Guān Hài!" Gāo Fēi fixed his gaze and saw Guān Hài only a mile away, then loudly called out.

  The sound was like thunder, but when he saw the horse under him collapse to the ground, it threw Guan Yu off its back. Guan Yu rolled over several times on the ground, but seeing that the horse was foaming at the mouth and letting out a mournful whinny, he got up in fright and cursed loudly: "This accursed beast!"

  Almost at the same time, the rest of the horses under the Yellow Turban bandits also fell to the ground one after another. Those thin horses had not eaten well for a long time and were already skin and bones. After carrying people running for a long time, they finally collapsed in this unknown small valley.

  "General, hurry up and leave! We'll take care of this place!" Several Yellow Turban bandits rose from the ground, holding their swords, quickly gathering around Guan Yu, shouting loudly.

  "None of you should think about escaping!" Gao Fei led the cavalry to rush over quickly, surrounding Guan Hai and those few Yellow Turbans.

  Guan Hai saw that he had no way out, let out a long sigh, dropped the big knife in his hand, clasped his hands together and bowed respectfully to Gao Fei, saying loudly: "General Gao, Guan Hai's head is here, just come and take it if you want. To die at the general's hands would be a kind of blessing, so go ahead!"

  Gao Shun originally intended to capture Guan Hai, but seeing him volunteer to die, he burst out laughing and said: "If the people do not fear death, why should they be intimidated by it? You followed Zhang Jue in rebellion, which is an unforgivable crime. I see that you are a good fellow, so why not surrender to me and follow me in killing Zhang Jue, and consider your merit as offsetting your crime?"

  "I joined the Yellow Turbans, no more than for fame and fortune... If I can turn from a rebel to an official army, it's not a bad choice. Since the great teacher's power is already gone, why should I die for this?"

  Guan Hai thought of this, and knelt on the ground, clasped his hands and said: "Thank you, General, for sparing my life. From now on, Guan Hai's life belongs to you. However... however, Da Xianliang is my former master, no matter what I will not be able to do it..."

  "I understand what you mean, and I won't force you to do anything difficult. Just tell me where Zhang Jiao has escaped to, and the rest will be taken care of by me. If things go well, you'll also have made a great contribution." Gao Fei said hastily, seeing Guan Yu's sincere expression.

  Guan Hai's face turned difficult, he bit his lip and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "Due north direction, Xiayang!"

  Gao Fei said to his left and right, "Leave twenty people behind to escort Guan Zuo back to the camp. If anyone asks, say that Guan Hai has surrendered to me! The rest of you follow me!"

  "Hello!"

  Guan Yu stood up from the ground and bowed deeply towards the flying high, saying slowly: "I wish the general to arrive at his destination successfully!"

  Gao Fei smiled slightly, riding on horseback, and with a loud voice to the thirty cavalrymen behind him, "The bandits' horses are weak and will not be able to run far. As long as I pursue them all the way, I must be able to catch up with Zhang Jiao."

  "Promise!"

  Gao Fei let out a loud whoop and rode off, with thirty cavalrymen following closely behind him, rapidly heading towards Xiaquyang in the due north direction.

  A group of people had just chased north for less than five miles when they saw dozens of horses lying on the ground, exhausted to death.

  At the sight of this scene, Gao Fei immediately made a gesture and shouted loudly: "Stop!"

  Gao Fei looked around and saw a long string of footprints on the ground, his heart filled with great joy. He shouted loudly: "The bandits have no horses, they are advancing on foot! General Zhonglang has ordered that whoever captures the bandit leader will be rewarded with 500 catties of gold! Brothers, our chance to get rich has come, follow me and continue the pursuit!"

  He continued to chase forward for less than two miles, and Gao Fei suddenly saw a three-forked road ahead, and again ordered his men to stop, dismounted himself, and examined the footprints on the ground. He saw that all three roads had human footprints, and he smiled: "Zhang Jiao is not stupid either!"

  "What shall we do now, sir?" a bodyguard asked.

  Gao Fei walked to his horse's side, mounted it and immediately asked: "Which way is the road to Xia Quyang?"

  "Northwest direction, take the left path!" The bodyguard replied.

  "Everyone follow me and chase northwest!"

  "Sir, all three roads have enemy troops passing through. Why are you only pursuing in the northwest direction? What if Zhang Jue doesn't take this road? Won't that render our previous efforts useless?"

  "Below Yang is where the bandits gather, Zhang Jiao will definitely head to Below Yang! Although there are more bandits than us, they have been starving and have walked so far, they must be exhausted. As long as we chase for another stretch, we will definitely catch up! Follow me!" Gao Fei shouted loudly.

  At the sound of the order, Gao Shun led his troops in a mad dash to the northwest. They followed the winding path for less than three miles when they saw Zhang Jue running swiftly forward surrounded by a group of Yellow Turbans.

  "It's Zhang Jiao!" Gao Fei's face lit up with great joy, and he shouted loudly, "Quickly chase after him, we can't let Zhang Jiao get away!"

  Zhang Jiao ran forward under the protection of his guards, when he suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes behind him. He turned around to see Gao Fei leading thirty cavalrymen in pursuit. His face was immediately filled with terror, and he hastily shouted to the fifty bandits behind him: "You stay here and block the government troops!"

  Immediately, more than 80 Yellow Turban bandits quickly dispersed, and 50 bandit soldiers holding long spears and swords formed a human wall, blocking the middle of the road. Seeing the agile cavalry rushing over from the opposite side, some bandits trembled all over their bodies, feeling great fear towards these cavalrymen. Before the cavalry arrived, they hastily dropped their weapons and hid on both sides of the road, kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy.

  The rest of the bandits, seeing this, were immediately frightened and suddenly heard Gao Fei and others shouting "Surrender and be spared" at the same time. They hastily dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground to beg for mercy.

  Gao Fei's face was cold and stern, seeing the human wall suddenly disperse, making way for a road. He didn't care about the bandits kneeling on both sides of the road, and led his men to quickly drive past them. His eyes were fixed intently on Zhang Jiao, who was less than 300 meters away, and he shouted loudly: "Don't run, Zhang Jiao!"

  The roar entered Zhang Jiao's ears, he was already frightened and timid, and the hoofbeats were getting closer and closer. When he suddenly turned his head, he saw that there was not a single guard behind him. Those guards who usually treated him with reverence were all kneeling on both sides of the road. Although he was angry, he had no choice but to quicken his pace and flee desperately.

  Zhang Jue's two legs no matter how they ran, absolutely could not outrun the four legs of Cao Cao's warhorse.

  Gao Fei quickly caught up, grasping the Yulong spear tightly in his hand. As he passed by Zhang Jiao's side on horseback, he suddenly thrust forward, stabbing through Zhang Jiao's body from behind.

  He reined in his horse, turned the horse's head around and saw that his Dragon-Phoenix Halberd was still stuck in Zhang Jiao's body. Seeing that Zhang Jiao had already died and fallen into a pool of blood, he rode his horse to the side of Zhang Jiao's corpse, dismounted, drew out the sword at his waist and cut off Zhang Jiao's head.

  "What shall we do with these bandits, sir?"

  "The crime lies with Zhang Jiao alone, these bandits are merely deceived by him. Take them all back to Guangzong and wait for the orders of the Grand General!" Gao Fei pulled out the Dragon Lance from Zhang Jiao's body, held up Zhang Jiao's head and mounted his horse, glanced at those exhausted bandits, and said in a low voice.

  "Promise!"

  The cavalry gathered up the dozens of bandits' weapons, drove them to the middle of the road, let them rest for a moment, and then took them to Guangzong.

  Gao Fei tied Zhang Jiao's head to the horse's halter, gave a soft shout of "drive", and followed the troops away. He looked ahead, feeling extremely pleased with himself, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

  When they returned to Guangzong, the battle in the city had already ended. The city's flagpoles were filled with the large flags of the Han army. Not one of the tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans escaped; all were driven out to a vast open area outside the west gate. A dense mass of people stretched as far as the eye could see, like a swarm of ants packed tightly together.

  Gao Fei rode in from the north gate, surrounded by cavalry, with Zhang Jue's head on a spear, flaunting his military achievements, slowly galloping into the city through the gate tunnel.

  The city was already in a state of utter devastation, with corpses scattered everywhere, blood splattered across the streets, and some buildings still smoldering with faint flames, emitting thick black smoke, while the air was filled with the stench of blood and gunpowder.

  At the sight before his eyes, Gao Fei's heart seemed to have a hint of hidden pain. The phrase "a thousand bones dry up when one achieves success" might be the best explanation. He raised his head and looked at the dragon spear in his hand, which was still held high, and saw that the spearhead was stained with blood, with a ferocious-looking skull on it. He let out a soft sigh.

  The Han army inside the city was busy moving the corpses one by one to outside the city, throwing all the corpses into a deep ditch and then burying them.

  Gao Fei inquired about the location of Lu Zhi, then ordered his men to join the ranks of those moving the corpses, and personally went to the county government office to find Lu Zhi.

  After turning several corners in the city, he met many Han army generals along the way. Those generals saw the head held by Gao Fei and immediately cheered loudly, with a kind of reverence and respect in their eyes. He soon arrived at the county government office, got off his horse, took Zhang Jiao's head from the dragon-shaped spear, and swaggered into the county government office.

  County government, Lu Zhi sat in the center, both sides were filled with people, all officials above the military governor had arrived, seeing Gao Fei walking from outside the door, holding Zhang Jiao's head in his hand, and their eyes revealed a look of admiration.

  Gao Feng entered the hall, heavily throwing the head in his hand to the ground, and said with a fist: "See the lord! General Gao Feng is lucky not to be disgraced, specially came to present the head of Yellow Turban thief Zhang Jiao!"

  Note 1: During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhang Jue established thirty-six divisions, with large divisions having over ten thousand people and small divisions having six to seven thousand people. Each division had its own commander-in-chief, called a "general". Guan Hai was the leader of one division, and the rebel army referred to him as a "general", but this was not equivalent to an official position in the Han dynasty.