Jinting Han people

Chapter 760 Han Huang's Leaked Blade

Returning to the battlefield at Caizhou, although this battle was the smallest in scale, it was actually the bloodiest and most crucial. Soldiers from both sides were completely entangled, divided into countless small groups, some numbering only a few dozen men, others just a handful. This was because the Qi army initially adopted an attitude of tearing apart the enemy formation, rendering the formation essentially meaningless.

In principle, maintaining formation is the first rule of war, because soldiers gain courage from formation, reduce casualties, and can more intuitively and easily execute military orders. No matter how strong an individual may be, they are still vulnerable in the face of a united collective; all tactical evolutions on the battlefield originate from this principle.

But war also has a law: every group has a core. To command a large army, a commander is needed. Without a leader, there is no group. And killing the enemy leader has always been the ultimate goal in war. Now, almost without saying more, the Qi people can clearly see that the entire spiritual pillar of the Han army is here. This means that as long as they can successfully capture and kill the Southern Han emperor, everything will be settled.

Therefore, the Qi people adopted a strategy of fighting without any rear support, and the Han army responded with a desperate defensive maneuver. Almost every time a Qi soldier charged in, relying on their armor to disregard formation and casualties to carve out a path inward, a Han soldier would follow closely, dragging and slashing at them, forcing the Qi soldier to turn back and fight. This plunged the riverbank into complete chaos, like countless small whirlpools swirling together, each inextricably linked, making escape impossible. Even when they occasionally broke away from the battle lines, they would bring out their former adversaries, and both sides would quickly return to the battlefield.

The once tranquil sandbar, filled with the fragrance of grass, was quickly filled with the nauseating stench of blood due to the battle.

Liu Xian observed the battle formation, his expression remaining calm, but his physical weakness and the stalemate of the battlefield still caused him anxiety. He had intended to stand and observe the battle, but after a while, the cold wind made his throat hot, and he couldn't help but cough in public. The battle situation was also not very clear in the darkness. He had no choice but to sit back down on the stool, placing his Serpent-Slaying Sword and Zhangwu Sword to his left, and a cocked crossbow to his right, with a pointed armor-piercing arrow attached.

By this time, he had few guards left, arranged in two rows to protect him. One row, armed with bows and arrows, stood close to one side of the mound to prevent any flanking attacks. Horses for relocation were also positioned near the mound. The other row surrounded the emperor, heavily armored and armed with long spears or broadswords. In addition, there were about a hundred civil officials led by Lu Yun. However, having followed Liu Xian in battle for so many years, these officials could hardly be considered civil officials. They were busy loading arrows into crossbows and digging trenches to limit any potential future advances by the Qi people.

Li Xiu no longer served Liu Xian. As she had promised, she took up her sword and fought among the crowd. Liu Xian had initially been watching her closely, but seeing her swift and skillful swordsmanship, and her sharp and precise judgment, he realized that despite being a woman, every strike was deadly. She had killed five enemies in succession, her blood splattering onto her armor, quickly obscuring its shape. In the darkness, she was indistinguishable from the other armored warriors. Before long, Liu Xian could no longer find her and could only wish her good luck in silence.

However, this did indeed inspire the soldiers around them, none of whom wanted to appear inferior to the women. Even though many of them lacked experience in fighting, their daily training was quite rigorous. Driven by a sense of shame, they rediscovered their resilience, forgot their fear of life and death, and dealt a heavy blow to the reckless Qi people.

This inflicted heavy losses on the Qi soldiers charging at the forefront. Their effort and will to tear through the enemy lines were commendable. No matter what blades or spears lay before them, the Qi soldiers pressed forward without flinching. Even when wounded multiple times, even with severed hands and disemboweled bodies, as long as their legs were not broken and their minds remained conscious, they would not retreat. This fighting spirit was enough to terrify the Han army. Even Liu Xian, a veteran of countless battles, had never encountered such a determined opponent who disregarded casualties.

Unfortunately, Liu Xian chose an ideal battlefield. The sandy ground was soft and damp, unsuitable for infantry charges. In addition, the west bank was cone-shaped, becoming narrower as they advanced. Initially, they were able to carve a path through the sand with their perseverance and reckless drive. However, as they advanced deeper, there were almost no gaps between them. The Han army was in a desperate situation, with nowhere to retreat. They formed a human wall in the narrow passage, and the Qi army could not advance any further. Faced with an army several times their size, they were quickly hacked to pieces.

As a result, in the initial battles, most of the corpses on the sandbar were Qi people.

After realizing that their plan to capture the king directly had failed, the Qi people had no choice but to abandon this suicidal charge and instead rebuild their formation, stabilize the broken lines, and gradually break down the wall of men by taking turns attacking.

However, during the change of formation, several Han generals took the opportunity to return to Liu Xian's side. This was not because they were afraid of fighting, but because they had just run out of arrows in the fierce battle with the Qi people, and their swords and cleavers were mostly damaged, so they had to replenish their supplies.

When they reached Liu Xian, they were covered in blood, their uniforms stained crimson, and their faces were smeared with a mixture of blood and sweat, making them almost unrecognizable. Zhou Xie, the leader, threw his sword to the ground and said, "This sword is useless now. Please, Your Majesty, grant me another!"

Seeing this, Liu Xian was quite impressed. As Zhou Qi's eldest son, Zhou Xie had inherited the swordsmanship that the Zhou family had been proud of for three generations, and his swordsmanship was powerful and fierce. Liu Xian had also noticed him earlier because he never dodged when fighting enemies, but instead met them head-on. Zhou Xie was determined to defeat every enemy he encountered, which naturally caused his weapons to break faster than others, leaving them chipped and broken, like scrap metal.

However, Liu Xian understood that this thankless tactic was actually psychological warfare, used to intimidate the enemy and establish his own fierce image. After killing several people, the Qi people, though fearless, couldn't help but feel intimidated by Zhou Xie. After all, being fearless didn't mean courting death, so they ended up taking a detour.

Liu Xian secretly pondered that Zhou Xie's skill level was probably between Wen Shuo and Guo Mo, and that his appearance at this time was a pleasant surprise. He immediately ordered the sword-bearing guard beside him to present him with a sword, and at the same time, he took off his own Zhangwu sword and smiled at Zhou Xie, saying, "This is my family's heirloom sword, which may enhance martial luck. It should lend Yanhe a hand. I hope Yanhe will cherish it."

Zhou Xie cupped his hands in agreement and then returned to the front ranks, heading to the left flank, drawing the attention of Lu Yun and the others. Some murmured that the battle was so chaotic that it was impossible to tell who had killed how many heads, and how the merits would be determined in the end. Liu Xian replied, "The situation in this battle was so critical that there's no need to count the heads. Any soldier who participated in the battle and survived will be credited with six lives."

As they spoke, a new wave of attacks from the Qi army had already begun. After stabilizing their position, this wave of Qi troops must have gathered all their elite forces to launch a fierce assault on the Han army's formation. They numbered about a hundred, advancing in a cone shape from east to west, and surprisingly managed to scatter several rows of Han soldiers who were trying to block their way. Their advance was swift and sudden, like lightning.

When they encountered the human wall that had previously blocked their path, a burly man at the head, clad in two layers of armor and wielding a large axe, cleaved the Han soldiers blocking his way in two with a single, powerful blow, leaving everyone horrified. He then proceeded to kill four or five more men, and with his comrades thrusting spears from behind, he finally managed to tear a gap in the human wall, breaking through to Liu Xian's feet. Before Liu Xian lay only an earthen moat, with a hundred or so officials and a few dozen unmounted guards positioned along its banks.

After a moment of panic, the Han soldiers fired arrows at the strongman. However, they couldn't penetrate two layers of armor, allowing the Qi man to advance slowly through the arrows until he reached the earthen moat. There, he threw down his great axe, drew a long spear from his back, and swung it left and right, driving away the approaching Han soldiers. Several more Qi soldiers then charged after him, forming a small formation.

The situation was so critical that Lu Yun quickly grabbed a cocked crossbow, which was meant for close combat in case of emergency, specifically to deal with strongmen like this. He aimed at the Qi man wielding a long spear and fired. The immense force of the crossbow bolt pierced the Qi man's chest, causing him to struggle for a moment before collapsing helplessly to the ground.

But as soon as the arrow was fired, the Qi soldiers below retaliated, arrows raining down from the trench. One arrow struck Lu Yun in the thigh, causing him to collapse to the ground in pain. Unbeknownst to him, the Qi soldier he had just shot down was Su Jun's eldest son, Su Shuo, whose bravery was comparable to Su Jun's. And the one who shot him was Han Huang, the same sharpshooter who had shot Liu Lang at the Qingxi Bridge.

Han Huang and Su Shuo were both extremely brave among the Qi people. To ensure the success of the surprise attack, Wang Mi transferred them from Su Jun to Cao Yi's command. Han Huang was Su Jun's right-hand man; if Su Jun couldn't win, with Han Huang's assistance, there was no opponent he couldn't defeat. Han Huang's transfer to Caizhou was also one of the major reasons for Su Jun's hasty failure. The pressure on Qian Feng's troops lessened, but Liu Xian's pressure had now reached an unbearable level.

Although the trench prevented Han Huang from crossing it directly, he possessed a remarkable skill in rapid-fire archery. Standing before the trench, he first opened fire on his unarmored subordinates, wounding over ten men. The Han army retaliated with arrows, but Han Huang repeatedly dodged them. When the Han army unleashed a barrage of crossbow bolts at him, he cleverly used the corpses on the ground as shields.

Under such circumstances, Shangguan You, who was standing next to Liu Xian, could no longer bear it. He picked a blue-maned horse with tack still on from the herd of horses on the hill, then swung the reins and rode off. The blue-maned horse quickly crossed the obstacles on the ground and leaped over the hill in one breath to stand in front of Han Huang. It was about to use its momentum to thrust its spear at Han Huang.

Han Huang was known among the Qi people for his composure, daring to face danger head-on no matter how formidable the threat. He had already spotted Shangguan You charging towards him and quickly made his plan. As soon as Shangguan You arrived, he subtly sidestepped, effortlessly dodging the attack. At the same time, he thrust his spear tip through the gap in Shangguan You's spear, then stopped, using the momentum of the blue-maned horse to make it seem as if Shangguan You had deliberately run into the spear tip, sending him flying off his horse. Shangguan You crashed to the ground, blood gushing from his chest, and breathed his last in utter despair.

This move was truly divine, something only someone with extraordinary courage and martial arts skills could pull off. Everyone around was stunned, while Han Huang seized the opportunity to pull on the reins, leap onto the horse, and easily mastered the unfamiliar steed. He then turned the horse around and, following the route Shangguan You had taken down the hill, galloped back up the hill. At this moment, he threw the nearly broken spear in his hand forward, piercing a guard to the ground.

In an instant, Han Huang drew another cleaver from his waist, now holding it in his right hand while pulling the reins with his left. His blue-maned horse galloped forward, kicking up dust like a predatory beast, forcefully knocking down Lai Ping who stood in its way. Ignoring the other Han soldiers before him, he made a move to head straight for Liu Xian, who was under the banner.

In that extremely critical moment, Meng He, wielding his long spear, disregarded the horse's thunderous charge and thrust it forcefully to the left side of the blue-maned steed. The spear pierced the horse's right abdomen, the tip emerging diagonally upwards from the left side of its neck. With a snap, Meng He's arm and the spear broke simultaneously. The poor blue-maned steed, though not immediately killed, was overcome by the intense pain and fainted, unable to support its weight, and immediately rolled to the right on the ground.

Han Huang was thrown to the ground. Although, thanks to his rich experience, he quickly rolled over as the horse fell and immediately stood up, gripping his ring-pommel sword tightly, his disheveled state filled him with anger, making his immediate desire to kill Meng He.

But at this critical moment, Zhao Ji, grandson of Zhao Yun and son of Zhao Tong, shouted loudly, attracting Han Huang's attention. He looked up and found a cocked crossbow aimed at him, and the person holding the crossbow was a young man standing with his legs apart.

This sent chills down Han Huang's spine. The distance was perfect; he couldn't engage in close combat, nor could he escape. In that instant, Han Huang's mind went blank; he didn't know what to do. Bows and arrows, swords, horses, blood—all the things he had become accustomed to on the battlefield now seemed pale and powerless; the East China Sea, Mount Tai, fishing boats, winter rain, his lover—everything he had experienced in his life had become unattainable. His chapped lips twitched slightly; he wanted to utter the names of his wife and children, but in the end, only a helpless, bitter smile could be managed.

With a snap, the trigger was pulled, the crossbow bolt whistled through the air, and a muffled thud followed as the arrowhead pierced the face of the fierce general known as "Unrivaled in the East Sea." Han Huang froze, his knees buckling, his upper body arching backward as he slowly fell to the ground. He wore a white robe, now stained with blood, all from the blood of the Han soldiers. The hilt of his sword, which he had gripped tightly, remained firmly in his hand until his death.

Han Huang's death marked the end of this round of Qi army offensive. The commotion under the trenches disappeared almost simultaneously, and the remaining Qi soldiers were driven away by Zhou Xie and others who came to reinforce them. When he climbed the hill, he saw that Han Huang's charge had truly left a scene of devastation. He was only a dozen paces away from Liu Xian, and countless nobles and officials around him had been injured because of him.

Just then, a commotion arose from the rear of the Qi army, plunging them into chaos and causing their previously well-organized formation to crumble. Soon after, Liu Xian could see ships bearing Han army flags approaching; these were the troops under Tao Kan.

It turned out that after Tao Kan discovered the Qi army's flanking maneuver at Baishi Slope, he chose to abandon the nearly completed Baishi Fortress. Although the Qi army constantly tried to hold them back, Tao Kan still forcibly led his troops to seize boats and rush to their rescue. Their timely arrival put Cao Yi's forces in a pincer attack, making a desperate offensive impossible; defeat was inevitable. This also signaled the end of the Han army's most dangerous moment, and perhaps even the imminent conclusion of the entire Jiangzuo campaign. (End of Chapter)