Break the enemy (1)

  Just as the vanguard had just left, not even a quarter of an hour later, the Yellow Turbans waiting at the original location suddenly found that flames burst out all around them, followed by arrows shooting through the air. In the dark night, they were instantly thrown into chaos and disorder like headless dragons, hundreds of people fell to the ground, and the rest trembled with fear and huddled together.

  Under the reflection of the flames, these Yellow Turban bandits finally realized their location, and it turned out to be a depression in the valley, like a basin, with people standing all around on the high ground, surrounding them all together.

  "You are all surrounded, those who know what's good for them will drop their weapons and surrender at once!" Lu Heng squeezed out of the crowd, grasping a long spear, and shouted loudly.

  In the valley, hundreds of Yellow Turbans with a look of horror on their faces, holding weapons in their hands, charged forward. However, before they could take five steps, arrows pierced through their hearts and lungs, and they fell to the ground, dead.

  At this time, Guan Hai revealed his head and face, stood together with Lu Heng, and shouted loudly at the Yellow Turban soldiers below: "You quickly put down your weapons, I have already surrendered to the government army, what about you? Surrender and be spared from death, don't struggle in vain!"

  The Yellow Turbans looked at each other in dismay, seeing that the opportunity to rush out was small, and also seeing that such a great general as Guan Yu had surrendered, they all threw down their weapons and indicated their willingness to surrender.

  All the Yellow Turban rebels have surrendered, Lu Bu was overjoyed and immediately ordered his soldiers to collect their weapons and take the surrendered rebels aside. He turned around and saw only Guan Yu, so he asked: "Brother Guan, where is Zhou Cang?"

  Guan Hai said, "The situation has changed. Zhou Cang stayed in the city. However, don't worry, we won't have to attack Xuchang again. At this time, it's likely that Zhou Cang has already taken over. Which direction is the lord in? I must go and inform him that Zhang Bao didn't go to the west."

  Lu Xiangdao said: "We're done for! If the lord heads east again, won't Zhang Bao's head fall into Zhang Fei's hands?"

  "Is Zhang Fei on the west side?"

  "Yes, Zhang Fei is on the west side, Guan Yu is on the south side, and Liu Bei and you are on the east side. Hurry up and inform the lord, I'll take care of things here, I'll go set fire in a moment!" Lu Xiang said urgently.

  Guan Yu said: "This merit cannot be cheapened by Zhang Fei, I will go find the lord now!"

  As soon as his voice fell, Guan Hai immediately rushed into the mountain slope behind him, turned over and rode on horseback, patted the horse and walked towards the east where Gao Fei was.

  Gao Shun and Liu Bei each led 2,500 government troops, who were deployed in an alternating ambush on a sandy ridge. When they saw about 20,000 Yellow Turbans passing by the foot of the sandy ridge, they did not take action but let all 20,000 Yellow Turbans pass through.

  "Sir, aren't you going to take action now?" Fei An asked softly beside Gao Fei.

  Gao Fei shook his head and said, "The enemy has many soldiers and has not yet entered the ambush point. If we launch an attack here first, I'm afraid Guan Yu's troops to the south will be rendered useless. Let's wait a bit longer."

  "Sir, I don't understand why we must let Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei achieve military success. From what I see, these three brothers are not of one mind with you."

  Gao Fei smiled and said, "You don't understand, if you want to take something, you must first give it. Although these three people are not of one mind with me for the time being, they have been in the Han army for many days and have not achieved any merit. I can only let them taste the sweetness first, give them some credit, so they won't say that I want to monopolize the merits. Later, I will slowly take it back for myself."

  Fei An gave a thumbs up and praised: "Sir is really brilliant, I admire you."

  Gao Fei smiled and said: "You work well under me, I won't treat you unfairly in the future."

  Fei An said: "I am wholeheartedly devoted to serving you, sir, and would never dare to be disloyal."

  Gao Fei patted Fan's shoulder lightly and looked up at the night sky without speaking. The night sky was dotted with stars, but there was no moon. It was a truly beautiful evening. He estimated that after the Yellow Turbans had gone far away, he said to Fan: "You go and call Liu Bei!"

  Fayen nodded and quickly ran out.

  Before long, Liu Bei returned with Fei An, and they both bowed down: "Greetings, sir!"

  "Gao said: 'No need for formalities, Brother Xuande. If I'm not mistaken, the matter with Lu Xiang has already been settled. As soon as the flames erupt, we'll each lead our troops to attack from both sides of the Yellow Turbans. Yunchang and Yide are each worth ten thousand men, so I have no worries about their side. However, this is the Yellow Bandits' escape route, so we must be extremely vigilant and not let a single soldier escape. Otherwise, if they flood back into the city, we'll have to go through even more trouble.'"

  Liu Bei cupped his hands and said: "I understand. Sir, at this time the hour is also almost up, I think we should quietly slip away too?"

  Gao Fei nodded, but before he could speak, he heard Guan Hai ask a nearby soldier in a low voice, "Where is the master?"

  "I'm here!" Gao Fei responded.

  Guan Yu walked over following the sound, and in the darkness he saw Gao Fei and Liu Bei together. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he immediately closed it again, forcing himself to swallow back what he wanted to say. He held back for half a day before shouting: "Sir, the situation has changed..."

  Gao Fei hastily interrupted Guan Hai's words and asked: "What's going on? Has Zhang Bao not come out?"

  "Here it comes, just a slight change in plan. Zhou Cang didn't come out, but instead stayed inside the city..."

  Before Gao Gan could finish speaking, Gao Fei let out a deep sigh and said: "It seems that Zhang Bao can't take advantage of his victory to attack Xiakouyang."

  "Sir, there's no need to attack Xiaoyang City. Although the situation has changed, it's changing for the better. I'm afraid everyone in Xiaoyang City has already surrendered to you." Guan Hai explained hastily.

  "Oh? Such a good thing? It seems that you and Zhou Cang's skills are really not small, actually able to win over so many people!"

  "My lord, I do not dare to take credit for this. It was all part of Liao Hua's plan. He had long intended to surrender to the government army and took the initiative to contact me and Zhou Cang, and we staged a good show together. My lord, I have come to tell you about this matter, so please feel at ease in killing the enemy. Even if there are any fish that slip through the net and return to Xiayang, they will certainly be caught by Zhou Cang and Liao Hua."

  "Liao Hua? Haha, another good fellow. After I've killed Zhang Bao, I'll definitely meet him in person. By the way, which direction did Zhang Bao go?"

  He pointed west and said, "Go burn their food and forage."

  Gao Feng smiled and said, "This is also good, it saves Brother Yide from blaming me for not being able to kill Zhang Bao. Since that's the case, then let Brother Yide take care of killing Zhang Bao. Guan Yu, you stay here, we'll need a brave general like you to block the enemy troops later."

  Guan Yu saw Zhang Fei seemingly intentionally sending Zhang Bao to Zhang Fei, and after glancing at Liu Bei's expressionless face, he secretly speculated in his heart: "Could it be that the lord is trying to use this opportunity to win over Liu Bei and the others?"

  "Yes, sir! I will obey your orders!"

  They waited for a while, but saw that the fire on the northern side of Niutou Ridge was rising rapidly, and in such a night it looked particularly dazzling. Immediately afterwards, shouts broke out from the east and south sides of the Niutou Ridge camp, and 20,000 Yellow Turban soldiers rushed into the camp with their weapons in hand. When they arrived at the camp, Gao Sheng and Yan Zheng met face to face, but saw that the fire in the northern direction had blocked the gate, but did not see a single Yellow Turban soldier. They looked around in dismay, but did not see a single Han general, and their hearts were panicked. Before they could react, they suddenly heard loud shouts from behind, and thousands of government troops emerged from the darkness.

  "Bad! We've been ambushed! Retreat quickly!" Gao Sheng shouted loudly, and immediately ordered his troops to withdraw from the camp.

  A wall of fire suddenly flared up from the outside of the camp, blocking the Yellow Turbans' path back. Behind the wall of fire, government troops held torches, arrayed in a strict formation and guarding the outside of the camp. Then countless arrows carrying sparks rained down from the sky, shooting into the straw men set up inside the camp as well as the simple tents, igniting flammable objects instantly, quickly forming a raging inferno that began to spread outwards.

  The flames spread rapidly, causing the 20,000 Yellow Turbans who had charged into the camp to fall into great chaos, scrambling to flee in all directions. However, just as they reached the vicinity of the firewall, they were mercilessly shot through with arrows, falling amidst the blood and fire, their bodies left to be consumed by the raging inferno.

  "Don't panic! Don't panic, follow me and break out!" Gao Sheng calmed down his own 50 cavalrymen and 500 infantrymen, attempting to control the chaotic scene, and shouted loudly.

  But the situation had already gotten out of control, and the desire to survive had taken root in everyone's heart. They heard the Han army shouting "Surrender and be spared" outside the firewall, and they all threw down their weapons, shouting loudly "I am willing to surrender", and quickly rushed out of the encirclement of the big fire.

  "General Gao, the situation is already lost, it's better to lead your troops out and break through, you can still regroup in Xiayang!" Yan Zheng shouted amidst the chaos, having found Gao Sheng with several hundred infantrymen.

  Gao nodded and looked at the already out-of-control situation, shouting: "Follow me!"

  At the sound of the order, Gao Sheng and Yan Zheng merged their troops and charged out towards the south where the fire was smaller. As soon as they broke through, they felt a sense of wonder that there were no enemy soldiers blocking their way. They thought it was a mistake on the part of the Han army and couldn't help but feel joyful in their hearts. Just then, they heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the side, and a lone rider emerged from the darkness, and the person on the horseback was none other than Guan Yu.

  "Guān Yu and others have been waiting for you for a long time!" Guan Yu held the Qinglong Yanyue knife in one hand, stroked his beard with the other, and slowly opened his Danfeng eyes, from which two captivating rays of light shot out.

  Gao Sheng and Yan Zheng exchanged a glance, then spurred their horses forward together, charging towards Guan Yu with the weapons in their hands.

  Guan Yu let out a loud shout, "Hua!" and rode his horse forward, quickly passing between Gao Sheng and Yan Zheng. The Green Dragon Crescent Blade flashed in front of Gao Sheng's face, and his head fell to the ground immediately. At the same time, Guan Yu drew his sword from his waist with his left hand, slightly shifted his body, dodged Yan Zheng's spear thrust, and struck back, causing another head to fall to the ground.

  The Yellow Turbans saw Guan Yu's majestic appearance, and upon seeing Gao Sheng and Yan Zheng already dead, they felt a surge of fear. They immediately dropped their weapons and knelt to the ground, loudly begging for mercy.