amaotonovel Chapter 239 Zhang He is too good at running.
Chapter 239 Zhang He is too good at running.
Upon seeing Zhao Yun reappear, Zhang He's hand gripping his spear trembled instinctively, and he cursed angrily, "Damn Zhao Zilong, why is he here again?"
Zhao Yun is too unbeatable, leaving him with too much psychological trauma, so much so that Zhang He is now afraid of him whenever he sees him.
But no matter how scared he was, he couldn't run. He didn't think he could outrun Zhao Yun, and Guan Ping was charging towards him again, clearly trying to entangle him and create an opportunity for Zhao Yun.
then what should we do?
There's no other way but to fight. When two armies meet on a narrow path, the brave will prevail. Let's see who laughs last.
Besides, Zhao Yun and Guan Ping, father-in-law and son-in-law, together have less than two thousand men. Why would our tens of thousands of troops be afraid of him?
Zhang He gritted his teeth, thrust his spear, and charged toward Guan Ping. Cao Zhen also led his troops toward Zhao Yun.
Zhang He rushed forward and thrust his spear straight at Guan Ping's door. Guan Ping parried with his sword and stepped forward to block. The two clashed, quickly separated, and then Zhang He charged forward again.
Cao Zhen, however, chose a different tactic. Instead of engaging Zhao Yun in direct combat, he opted to fire arrows. The Wei cavalry were all excellent archers, and they all drew their bows and nocked arrows while running, firing thousands of arrows at Zhao Yun simultaneously.
Zhao Yun was already immune to this rain of arrows. He wielded his spear like a wheel, easily deflecting the arrows as he charged into the enemy ranks. But the cavalry behind him were not so lucky, and they were shot and fell to the ground screaming in pain.
These cavalrymen were hastily assembled by Zhang Fei, and their horsemanship was far inferior to that of the Wei army. They had no ability to block arrows while running and could only take the damage with their bare hands when faced with a rain of arrows.
This volley of arrows wiped out nearly half of Zhao Yun's troops, but Zhao Yun, as before, remained oblivious and charged into the enemy ranks. After entering the enemy formation, he swung his spear and smashed the nearest Wei soldier off his horse.
Then he quickly rushed to the next person, using his spear as a club to sweep and smash along the way, easily pulling the nearby Wei soldiers off their horses.
Zhao Yun came here to rob, intending to take all the warhorses and knights for himself. Therefore, he did not kill them, but instead focused on injuring them and knocking them off their horses.
It's easy to fall off a warhorse, but it's very difficult to get back up. Once a cavalryman falls off his horse, he is temporarily incapacitated, so there's really no need to kill him.
Cao Zhen saw through Zhao Yun's intentions. His lips trembled with anger as he ordered his cavalry to quickly surround Zhao Yun, intending to use their numerical advantage to kill him.
But will this make your wish come true? Don't you even know who you're dealing with?
Zhao Yun was invincible on the battlefield and charged towards Guan Ping without any hesitation.
Zhang He, who was locked in a fierce battle with Guan Ping, saw this killing god charging towards him again. He decisively chose to retreat ten miles to find a watchtower, then immediately turned and fled, shouting before leaving, "Retreat..."
He heard footsteps from the northwest and knew that it was the main force of the Han army pursuing him. How could he dare to waste any more time?
Run! Every person who can escape is a winner, otherwise, once that beast Zhang Fei catches up, we'll be completely trapped.
Cao Zhen also dared not be negligent and led the able-bodied cavalry to flee eastward. As for those who had fallen off their horses and could not get up for the time being, who cared about them?
Zhao Yun and Guan Ping were naturally unwilling to let Zhang He escape, so they led their cavalry in a full-scale pursuit. Just as they were about to catch up with Zhang He, the personal guards who had been following behind Zhang He became anxious and decisively turned around, broke away from the ranks, and charged towards Zhao Yun and Guan Ping, ready to fight them to the death.
This was done solely to buy Zhang He time to escape.
Zhang He was riding a fine steed, which was much faster than ordinary cavalry, and he quickly widened the gap between himself and Zhao Yun.
After defeating Zhang He's personal guards, Zhao Yun continued his charge, catching up with the Wei army and striking them down with his spear. He continued the pursuit, relentlessly harassing Zhang He, intending to throw all the cavalry behind Zhang He off their horses and wait for Zhang Fei to arrive and regroup.
The idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.
Zhao Yun and Guan Ping had only chased each other for less than five miles when a sudden volley of arrows rained down on them, and at the same time, an intercepting rope appeared out of the ground.
The father-in-law and son-in-law exchanged a glance. Zhao Yun suddenly accelerated and rushed in front of Guan Ping to block the arrows for him. Guan Ping then drew his sword and swung it forcefully, easily cutting the rope and averting the crisis.
Just as they broke through the interception rope, thousands of Wei soldiers rushed towards Zhao Yun and Guan Ping. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the leader of the army was none other than Sima Yi.
After Sima Yi and Zhang He separated, Sima Yi did not just flee. Instead, he stopped and set up traps after reaching a safe distance to intercept Zhao Yun and cover Zhang He and Cao Zhen's retreat.
Sima Yi was far more cunning than Zhang He. While ordering the cavalry to charge, he himself kept a safe distance, fearing that Zhao Yun might graz him.
Sima Yi was also skilled in horsemanship and archery, and would definitely rush up to exchange blows with other Shu generals. However, he would politely decline if it were Zhao Yun, as his life was more important.
Seeing that his cavalry was locked in a stalemate with Zhao Yun, Sima Yi decisively turned around and retreated. He was also riding a fine steed, and soon caught up with the main force, continuing his frantic run with Zhang He and Cao Zhen.
In the rear battlefield, as Sima Yi withdrew, the Wei army lost morale and quickly surrendered. Zhao Yun and Guan Ping, however, did not bother to gather the prisoners and continued to pursue.
They both knew that after suffering several waves of attacks, it would be difficult to catch up with Zhang He's army. Now they could only hope that Zhang He and Sima Yi would really retreat to the narrow pass of Chencang and be blocked by Zhao Lei and Xi Zhen, and then the two sides would work together to keep Zhang He in Longxi forever.
Zhang He was terrified by Zhao Yun and dared not stop, running for his life until dawn before stopping to rest, intending to drink some water before continuing his run.
Sima Yi was also quite frightened. After looking back and confirming that Zhao Yun was not chasing after him, he breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed with relief, "Finally, I'm rid of that Zhao guy. He was too damn scary."
Cao Zhen, still shaken, said, "Indeed, Zhao Yun is worth a thousand soldiers all by himself. Let's finish our water and keep going. We'll be safe once we enter the Chencang Pass."
Zhang He nodded in agreement and was about to ride away when he suddenly realized something and exclaimed in alarm, "We can't go to Chencang Pass; there's definitely an ambush there!"
Cao Zhen and Sima Yi were both shocked and asked incredulously, "How is this possible?"
Zhang He retorted, "How is it impossible? You must know that we are facing Zhuge Liang. Have you two forgotten the scene after the defeat at Red Cliff? During the retreat, every time the King laughed, an ambush appeared. If it weren't for Guan Yu's consideration for the King's past relationship, the grass on our graves would probably be three meters high."
"This time we're facing the same Zhuge Liang from back then, the same cunning fellow who sets up ambushes everywhere. Does he not know we'll take the narrow Chencang Pass?"
Upon hearing this, Cao Zhen and Sima Yi's expressions changed drastically, and they asked simultaneously, "Then what should we do?"
Zhang He pondered, "Continue east into the Qinling Mountains. First, we'll enter the mountains to avoid the Shu army's pursuers, then find a small path to enter the Longshan Road or the Chencang Narrow Pass."
Cao Zhen and Sima Yi did not refuse and followed Zhang He to Qinling. When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, they were shocked to find that of the more than 10,000 cavalry that had retreated with them, less than 8,000 remained. The entire army of five or six thousand had been wiped out by Zhao Yun and Guan Ping like scraping a cup.
Zhang He trembled with pain, but he didn't have the courage to go back and seek revenge on Zhao Yun. Helpless, he went into the mountains and left Longxi.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yun led his cavalry and quickly arrived at the location where Zhang He had turned around. After glancing at the traces left by Zhang He, he decisively turned around and chased after him towards the Qinling Mountains.
Zhao Yun was not only a formidable warrior, but also an expert in tracking. Moreover, Zhang He had no time to clean up the tracks, leaving behind hoofprints denser than raindrops. How could Zhao Yun, who was not blind, not see them?
Zhao Yun, leading Guan Ping, chased after Zhang He to the foot of the Qinling Mountains. Pointing to the trail of Zhang He's advance, he said, "Never enter a forest, never pursue a cornered enemy. Let's go back. Send someone to the narrow pass of Chencang to inform Zhao Lei that he doesn't need to wait any longer; Zhang He won't be going there."
Guan Ping stamped his foot regretfully and said, "What a pity, we almost managed to keep Zhang He."
Zhao Yun patted his shoulder and laughed, "Capturing an enemy general alive isn't that easy. This victory is already quite glorious. One shouldn't be too greedy. Let's go."
The father-in-law and son-in-law returned by the same route, met Zhang Fei, explained the situation, and then went back to camp together.
On the way, Zhang Fei couldn't wait to ask about the results of the battle. In a battle between two armies, the victorious side has a great advantage in that they can clean up the battlefield. Captures, provisions, weapons, and armor are all spoils of war.