Chapter 344: Zhao Zilong, MotherfOOker!
Battle Royale of the Sinners
A familiar general led a battalion of 5,000 horsemen to the rear of the marching Gongsun Zan Army.
He was Tadun, the Wuwan general who dueled against Zhao Yun and lost.
Tadun had surrendered to Gongsun Du along with his master, Qiuliju. Both of them now served the Gongsun Clan.
At this moment, Tadun could see the grand palanquin of Empress He Xing. He licked his lips, thinking that he could taste the beautiful empress.
"Charge! Anyone who can get me the empress, I'll reward you a hundred gold! All of her maids are yours to keep!"
"REEEEE!"
"WOOOO!"
Like barbarians, these horsemen galloped to the shocking footmen and collided them with their horses.
*POEK*
*CLANK*
*SWUA*
Five thousand riders managed to dent the defensive formation, but they could not break through it. As light cavalries that focused on mobility, they were not efficient in a direct charge like heavy cavalries.
"Hammer tactic! Pull back, we'll charge at them again!" Bellowed Tadun.
"AHAHAHA!"
"WOOO!"
The riders cheered and laughed as they enjoyed being advantageous in this battle. They retreated from the disarrayed formation of spearmen and reformed a wedge line in the next five minutes.
While the horsemen were preparing for the next charge, two youths, each on a white horse, rode to the battle. They stood in front of their spearmen as if they were generals of this army.
"Guorang, go back and protect her majesty."
"Uh-ah. We're in this together, Zilong. Aren't we brothers?"
"Ai, who is going to command the men if we both are fighting?"
"Let Guan Jing handle it. Isn't he Gongsun Zan's strategist? He should be able to command troops in the emergency, right?"
"Know your priority, Guorang. We can't just assume that the others will complete certain tasks for us forever. What if Guan Jing suddenly surrenders or backstab us?"
"Hmm? Oh, I haven't thought about that."
Zhao Yun had to take off his helmet to scratch his head in annoyance. He stared at Tian Yu and reprimanded him with this glare.
"Go back, please."
Tian Yu shrugged, "Alright. I'll command, and you fight. Next time, we switch."
Zhao Yun grinned, "It's better to not fight like this the next time."
"Meh, oh well. I'll be going. They're coming, brother."
Tian Yu rode back and began organizing the panicking spearmen. On the other hand, Zhao Yun turned back toward his old enemy.
Tadun had completed his formation and stared at Zhao Yun.
Recognizing the face of this youth on a white horse, Tadun widened his eyes in surprise.
'Didn't I lose to this asshole?'
The barbarian general smirked. The time for his rematch arrived sooner than he had guessed.
"ZHAO ZILONG! THIS TIME, I'LL KILL YOU FOR SURE!"
Zhao Yun was about to wear his helmet, but he had to pull it off, so he could scratch his right ear with his pinky finger.
"Noisy."
Hearing Zhao Yun's remark, Tadun was infuriated.
"CHARGE! KILL THEM ALL!"
"SHAAA!"
"REEEEE!"
"WOOO!"
The light cavalries rushed forward.
"Spearwall array! Raise your shield and spear up! Grit your teeth and get ready for impact!"
Tian Yu, who had retreated back behind the spearwall line, displayed his calm and his leadership.
Zhao Yun, like a heroic figure, rotated his spear as he warmed up his fingers, right arm, and his right wrist. He gently kicked the sides of his horse, gesturing it the dash forward as well.
In Tadun's mind, Zhao Yun was committing suicide.
'Fool! This is not a duel. You can't win against many soldiers alone!'
Laughing and sneering, Tadun slowed his horse to the back of his formation, allowing his soldiers to engage against Zhao Yun first.
'Die, brat!'
Zhao Yun and Tadun's horsemen got closer. All spectating spearmen gulped while Tadun's horsemen believed that this suicidal maniac would be skewered by multiple riders for sure.
Sharp whistling noises came from Zhao Yun's spear, and five after images followed.
Five horsemen, whom everyone believed that they could kill Zhao Yun with ease, had a hole in their forehead. They fell from their horse as they retained their smirking faces.
*Whoosh*
*Whoosh*
*Whoosh*
Each second, three to five after images appeared, and the same number of light cavalries fell.
Zhao Yun managed his breathing tempo. Because of the experience from dueling Khan's clone soldier, he had gained enlightenment for his spearmanship.
As a result, his combat prowess improved faster than the other him in real history.
Tadun stared at Zhao Yun in shock.
At this moment, Zhao Yun broke through the charging horsemen's line and reached Tadun.
"That was a fluke! You can't defeat me!"
Tadun roared as he raised his halberd upward, planning to slash down and cut Zhao Yun in half.
"Naïve."
Zhao Yun muttered as he thrust his spear tip into the neck of Tadun.
Raising the halberd upward left his lower body an opening. Zhao Yun would not miss this opportunity.
*PU*
The spear tip cut Tadun's spinal cord and severed his arteries.
Zhao Yun pulled his spear out of Tadun's neck. The kinetic force behind pulling spear dragged him down from the horse along with his shocked expression.
Tadun could not believe that he could have lost in one strike again.
That was his thought before his death.
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
While Zhao Yun was fighting Tadun, all charging horsemen reached the formation of spearmen that Tian Yu commanded.
Without the leader, this battalion of horsemen would be wiped out in a matter of minutes.
Zhao Yun sighed. This battle should be over soon.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
A change occurred on the opposite side of their location. Gongsun Du's ambushing forces had broken through another front.
While Tadun organized a battalion to attack the back of marching troops, Qiuliju also led another force of 5,000 men to lurk within the west of Liyang.
As Tadun attacked from the east of Gongsun Zan's forces, Qiuliju assaulted from the west in silence.
Their timing was impeccable. At this rate, Qiuliju would reach the empress!
Tian Yu and Zhao Yun looked the collapsed front in shock.
"Not good! We gathered most of our elites here!"
Tian Yu wanted to rush to the other side and protect the Empress carriage, but he could not. Tadun's remaining forces were pressing on them.
"ZILONG! GO HELP THEM!"
"I KNOW!"
The horse of Zhao Yun galloped toward the pack of the chaotic battlefield while his spear swept the hostile forces, clearing the path for his rush.
On his way, Zhao Yun reached Tian Yu's side, who were engaging in a battle with five riders.
Five spear thrusts got rid of the soldiers around Tian Yu in an instant.
"Come with me!"
"Who's going to command them, then?"
It was ironic. Just a moment ago, both of them did not want to command the troops. Now, Tian Yu wished to stay behind and oversee them.
"Alright. Stay safe, brother."
"Aight. You too, Zilong."
With haste, Zhao Yun departed.
.
At the middle section of the battlefield, Lu Zhi's phalanx formation and Gongsun Du's horse archers were at a stalemate.
The long marching lines of Gongsun Zan was initially separated into three sections, the northern front, the middle, and the southern rear.
Gongsun Zan controlled the northern front, but all front battalions had been annihilated.
Lu Zhi managed to organize the middle section and formed a 12,000-men phalanx array.
For the rear, the empress caravan was there along with Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Gongsun Zan's strategist, Guan Jing.
The longer the fight continued, the more worries Lu Zhi had. As Gongsun Du avoided fighting with Lu Zhi head-on while Lu Zhi focused on his defense, it was clear as days that Gongsun Du was a decoy.
'Bastard. This ambush was planned! They wanted the empress!'
Lu Zhi opened his clan chat and was about to warn Zhao Yun and Tian Yu. Then, he remembered that both of them had not joined Tong's clan yet.
"Messenger!" Lu Zhi bellowed.
"Sir?"
"Send words to Zhao Yun and Tian Yu! Beware of a surprise attack and protect the empress!"
"Yes, sir!"
The messenger departed from the formation, galloping toward the southern units.
Gongsun Du noticed the movement. He grinned, "So weak, Zhang Tong's dogs. What's immortal? They are just a farce and a fairy tale. Did you see, my soldiers? No one in this world is mighty and invincible. All forces will crumble once we hit their weak point."
The horse archers of Gongsun Du sneered and laughed at Lu Zhi's battalion while they kept shooting arrows at from a distance.
Lu Zhi could not chase after them, and his archers ran out of arrows.
There was nothing he could do at the moment.
'Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, please!'
His last hope was placed on the hands of two youths.
.
When Zhao Yun got back to the palanquin of the empress, he cursed himself for being an irresponsible bodyguard.
As a bodyguard, he should have been by He Xing's side at all time. Yet, for the sake of thrilling, he jumped into a battlefield and discarded his duty.
The palanquin was broken and riddled with arrows. He Xing and Liu Xie also were not there!
Everything was in chaos. Gongsun Zan's soldiers fought in a disarrayed formation while the horsemen of Qiuliju decimated everything in their path.
As soon as Zhao Yun observed the enemy's formation, he noticed a group of horsemen who were carrying a woman and a child.
"YOUR MAJESTY! YOUR HIGHNESS!"
Zhao Yun screamed in a panic. He galloped forward and charged into the formation of horsemen.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!!"
Like before, his spear cleared away all opposition. As his adrenaline injected into his brain, his attacking speed increased from three to five strikes a second to five to seven attacks a second.
Moreover, he subconsciously accelerated his brain process and perception, activating Tong's personal skill, the overclock.
Zhao Yun used a bullet-time, and his speed increased by another gear.
Within five seconds, he mowed down forty soldiers!
The phenomenon alarmed Qiuliju and his soldiers.
"Get rid of that rider! Archers, get him!"
Light cavalries transformed into horse archers. A hundred riders took out their bows and arrows, aiming at Zhao Yun.
"HAH!!"
The spear tip of Zhao Yun entered the stomach of a Qiuliju's soldier. Zhao Yun exerted his force and carried him up with the spear.
Then he slashed down, throwing the soldier at a pack of archers.
"What!?"
Although Zhao Yun disrupted a few archers, he could not stop all one hundred soldiers. Almost a hundred arrows flew into the air, targeting Zhao Yun.
Zhao Zilong peered at the oncoming arrows. He shifted his spear handling to the center and spun it as fast as he could.
A rotating spear became a shield of Zhao Yun, which it deflected the arrows from himself and his horse. After the arrow rain finished, Zhao Yun came out unharmed.
Qiuliju looked at the scene as if they saw a ghost.
"What … is he!?"
Fortunately, Qiuliju was commanding his troops at the center of his formation. Meanwhile, his subordinates were handling He Xing and Liu Xie.
Zhao Yun chased after the empress instead of going after the general.
He roared, "LET HER GO, OR I'LL KILL EVERY SINGLE OF YOU!!"
The subordinate general, who was carrying He Xing, turned around and sneered.
"What are you going to do here alone? Kill us all?"
He placed the kidnapped empress to his colleague and rode back, coming to confront Zhao Yun.
"I'm Liu Yi of the Gongsun Clan! Who do you think you are!?" Shouted Liu Yi as he charged at Zhao Yun on his horse.
*PU*
Like what had happened to Tadun, a spear tip found its way inside Liu Yi's neck.
"Zhao Zilong, motherfOOker!"