Chapter 5: A Thin Line Between Life and Death

  "Sir, it's not that I'm speaking ill of you, but you really shouldn't have gone to find him. He's a Yellow Turban bandit, what credibility does he have? Now look at us, both of us are caught and our lives are in danger."

  Liu Xuan and Wu Xi were both bound hand and foot, and placed on a horse. Wu Xi was filled with resentment in his heart, talking incessantly.

  Liu Jiong bit his lip and remained silent, occasionally glancing at the large man who was escorting them, with a leather bag containing copper seals and other evidence on his back.

  The big Han didn't recognize the character and didn't know Liu Xuan's true identity, but he was very interested in that short sword, holding it in his hand and waving it, looking at his expression, had already decided to take it for himself.

  "Gentlemen, what shall we do now? We can't return to Jingzhou. It's possible that we'll die at the hands of Cao's army." Wu Xiu became more and more sorrowful, and actually burst into tears.

  Liu Jing turned around and glared at him fiercely, Wu Xiu was so scared that he didn't dare to cry again. He also found it strange in his heart, why did the young master not say a word?

  At noon, a war horse rushed from afar, and the cavalryman on the horse shouted: "The general has ordered, take a short rest."

  The soldiers sat down to rest, and the two men who were escorting Liu Xuan, a great Han general, pulled him off his horse and threw him to one side. "Take a break," they growled. "We'll get back on the road later."

  Dahan sat down on the other side, going to play with his new short sword. Liu Xuan saw that no one around him was paying attention, and he actually spat out a sword tip from his mouth. Wu Xi's eyes widened in shock, and it turned out that this was the reason why he had been silent all along.

  "Hurry up and cut the rope for me, Cao's army is about to arrive." Liu Xuan understood in his heart that they had only walked twenty or so miles before stopping, which must mean they had discovered something.

  "And... what about me?"

  "Cut the nonsense and cut it off for me quickly."

  Liu Xuan cursed softly and the two stood back to back. Wu Xiou picked up the sword tip with both hands and used the sharp blade to cut the rope for Liu Xuan.

  "Snap!" The rope was cut off, and at this moment, a commotion suddenly came from the front, with soldiers shouting loudly: "Cao's army is coming to kill us!"

  Only Cao Jun came from all sides, completely blocking the retreat of Liu Bi's army, without geographical advantage. The Yellow Turban soldiers were suddenly in a state of panic. Liu Bi regretted it and had to shout loudly: "Don't be afraid, listen to my command, fight to death!"

  The army was in a state of utter chaos, the situation was extremely critical. Liu Xuan suddenly turned around, hid behind Wu Xiuxiu, snatched the sword from his hand, and at this time, the Han Dynasty soldiers rushed up quickly, grabbed Wu Xiuxiu, and threw him onto the horse.

  He seized this opportunity, quickly cut off the rope on his feet, rushed up and grabbed the big man's hair, forcing him to crash into the saddle, which was not a bridge-shaped saddle at that time but a cylindrical one with iron hoops on both sides.

  "Bang!" A dull thud, the big man's head heavily hit the iron ring, fresh blood gushing out from his forehead, the big man let out a miserable cry, both hands covering his forehead, seizing this opportunity, Liu Jing snatched the short sword from his hand and stabbed it into his back.

  The big Han fell softly to the ground, and Liu Xuan quickly cut off the ropes on Wu Xi's hands and feet, and snatched the leather bag from the big Han's back and put it on his own back.

  At this time, Cao's army had already killed into the Yellow Turbans from all sides, the Yellow Turban soldiers' morale collapsed, running east and west, being slaughtered like cattle and sheep, the miserable cries echoing across the fields.

  "Prince, what...what should we do?" Wu Xiu's voice was trembling with fear.

  "You idiot, hurry up and ride!"

  Liu Xuan couldn't ride a horse, but Wu Xiu could. He could take him and escape, although it was an old horse, as long as he let it run wild, perhaps they could escape with their lives.

  At that time, war horses did not yet have stirrups, but they already had a single-sided stirrup for mounting, with both feet inserted into rope loops on either side.

  Wu Xiu's whole body went soft, and he couldn't get on the horse several times. At this moment, several arrows whizzed over, hitting the old horse right in the middle. The old horse let out a long neigh and fell to the ground, dead.

  Only dozens of Cao army soldiers were rushing towards this side, Liu Xiu pulled Wu Xiuzi and turned around to run, running out about one mile, in the chaos, taking advantage of people's unpreparedness, Liu Xiu suddenly pounced on the pile of corpses, wiping his face and body with fresh blood.

  "Hurry up, don't be stunned!" Liu Xuan cursed in a low voice.

  Wu Xiu finally came to his senses, grabbed the blood on the ground and smeared it on his body and face, "Young master... can we escape with our lives now?!"

  "I don't know either, let's just take it one step at a time!"

  Liu Jue knew that he was surrounded by Cao's army on all sides, and unless he had a horse, running out would be death. Even with a horse, it would be useless under the hail of arrows; they wouldn't survive either way. If Cao's army didn't sweep the battlefield, perhaps playing dead could save his life.

  But thinking about it again, it's impossible. Cao Jun will eventually burn the body to prevent the plague. Liu Jing felt despair in his heart for the first time and didn't know if he could escape this time.

  The war was gradually coming to an end, and dozens of war horses rushed over, the war horse standing beside Liu Xuan, and the general on the horse was Gao Lan.

  His horse's head was tied with a human head, which was the leader of the Yellow Turban bandit Liu Pi. He had been killed by Gao Luan, staring with his eyes wide open, and a drop of fresh blood dripped from his neck, just dripping onto Liu Xun's head, making people feel terrified.

  "Inspect the battlefield and execute all Yellow Turbans who are pretending to be dead!"

  Liu Jue's heart sank, this time he really couldn't save his life, and he still hoped to go after Liu Biao's family business, now all his dreams were shattered.

  At this time, a sudden commotion broke out in the northwest corner, with soldiers shouting: "Liu Bei's army has arrived to kill!"

  Liu Jue saw a glimmer of hope in despair, and secretly looked up to see a team of hundreds of people rushing into the Cao army, holding a large flag with a yellow bottom and black characters, with a big character "Liu" written on it. It was really Liu Bei's army that had arrived.

  Liu Xuan sighed secretly in his heart. Unfortunately, they were one step too late. Liu Bi had already been killed. If they knew this news, they would definitely withdraw immediately.

  But Liu Bei's army was too weak and soon scattered by Cao's forces. The chief general, fearless, charged into the Cao army alone on horseback, killing Cao soldiers left and right, causing them to fall off their horses. Wherever he passed, Cao soldiers were so frightened that they fled in all directions with their heads covered.

  Gao Lan was furious, "What kind of person is he, alone and yet so ferocious?"

  "General, it seems to be Zhao Yun!"

  "Zhaoyun!" Liu Xuan's heart lit up, and he seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

  Just then, a long whistle came from afar, getting louder and louder, like an eagle soaring over the sea.

  Under the sunlight, a white-robed silver spearman came rushing from afar. He wielded his silver spear with flair, his warhorse was spirited and heroic, its momentum like a dragon, as if it were riding on clouds and mist, blocking the path of Gao Lan and the Cao army. The general was none other than Zhao Yun, who had been sent by Liu Bei to rescue Liu Pi, but arrived one step too late.

  "Liu Bei, where are you?" Zhao Yun shouted loudly from dozens of steps away.

  Gao Lan let out a cold laugh, "Isn't it right under my horse?"

  Zhoa Yun saw Liu Bei's head at a glance, and he was so angry that he rushed forward with his horse. Dozens of Cao army cavalrymen swarmed up, chaotic spears stabbed towards Zhao Yun, surrounding him from all sides.

  Zhoa Yun's war horse galloped swiftly, his long spear dancing in his hand like a pear blossom spinning through the air. In an instant, dozens of Cao army cavalrymen were killed by him, their corpses scattered all over the ground. Two soldiers fell off their horses and scrambled to their feet before running away.

  Zhoa Yun rode his horse in a single leap over the heads of two soldiers, and with a reverse stroke of his silver spear, killed both men by piercing their throats.

  With a swift withdrawal of his spear, a flash of lightning shot straight at Gao Lan, and a thunderous cry shook the air: "Rebel leader, take this spear from Zhao Yun!"

  Gao Lang let out a loud roar and swung his sword in a powerful slash, the blade flashing swiftly like lightning.

  Zhoa Yun's silver spear thrust out, taking advantage of the momentum to deflect Gao Lan's knife. The spear didn't stop there, using the warhorse's charging force to swiftly stab towards Gao Lan's face.

  A sword flashed in the air, its sharp point already in front of his eyes, startling him so much that his soul flew away, and he hastily dodged to the left. "Hiss!" The tip of the sword scraped across his cheek, leaving a long gash, half of his right ear was cut off, and fresh blood spurted out.

  Before he could react, Zhao Yun's warhorse had already galloped past him. In this fleeting moment, Zhao Yun swung his spear with a single motion, striking the back of his opponent's heart with great force. This was one of Zhao Yun's ultimate techniques: "Gun Hammer", using the spearhead as a hammer to shatter the opponent's spine with immense power.

  Gao Lan only felt a strong gust of wind behind him, and his heart was filled with fear. At this moment, he had nowhere to hide, so he could only hold the hilt of his knife backwards. A loud "clang" sound pierced the air as the gun head heavily struck Gao Lan's knife hilt. The force of the blow was at least a hundred kilograms, causing Gao Lan's tiger mouth to crack open and his large knife to fly out of his hand. The fish-scale iron armor leaves were slapped flying in all directions.

  With a loud cry, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and his bones were almost shattered. But he was after all an experienced general on the battlefield, and with this sudden burst of strength, he urged his warhorse to gallop away, and in an instant, he had escaped without a trace.

  Gao Lan's martial arts were also extremely powerful, at least able to exchange ten moves with Zhao Yun, but Zhao Yun was furious and exceptionally brave in his heart, while Gao Lan was alone on horseback, panicked in his heart, and his martial arts naturally suffered a discount, this one move of expansion and contraction made him unable to defeat Zhao Yun in one move.

  Zhao Yun and Gao Lan's battle only had one encounter, swift as a rabbit and sudden as a hawk's fall, it ended in an instant. But the shocking and thrilling nature of this battle left Liu Xuan staring with his mouth agape. Zhao Yun's speed was so swift, his strength so powerful, the outcome so brutal, that Liu Xuan's breath was almost taken away by the tension.

  He slowly sat up, his eyes staring blankly at this famous general of all time. At this moment, a strong desire surged in his heart, Liu Xuan also wanted to become such a brave general.

  Zhao Yun reined in his warhorse, took a glance at Liu Xun and Wu Xu, saw that the two were covered in blood, but their attire didn't resemble those of the Yellow Turbans. He didn't ask any further questions, and instead said: "You'd better run quickly! Playing dead won't save you from slaughter."

  He turned his horse's head to leave, Wu Xiu hastily said: "General, this is the nephew of Liu Zhou, the governor of Jingzhou, who has fallen into trouble here. Please save our lives, and the governor will surely thank you heavily!"

  Zhao Yun was taken aback, but immediately shook his head, "I can't save you, hurry up and leave!"

  He urged his horse to run and had just galloped out of a dozen or so steps when Liu Xuan suddenly shouted: "General Zi Long, are you really going to abandon us?"

  Zhoa Yun's body shook slightly, but he didn't stop. He rushed out for over a hundred steps, then led two war horses back and looked deeply at Liu Xuan, "Quickly mount your horses and follow me in charging out."

  Wu Xu was overjoyed, this is exactly what he wanted to save them. He hastily mounted his horse, grabbed the reins, and Zhao Yun saw Liu Xuan not moving, furrowed his brow, "Why aren't you mounting your horse?"

  Liu Xuan had learned simple horse riding and knew some basic skills, but when it came to galloping, he didn't have the ability to control the horse. Liu Xuan sighed, "You guys go ahead! I won't ride a horse, I'll just drag you down."

  "Sir, we can share a horse." Wu Xiu said beside him.

  Zhoa Yun did not adopt this plan. He urged his horse forward, grabbed Liu Jiong with one arm and lifted him up, placing him behind himself on the horse. "Hold my waist tightly!"

  Zhoa Yun urged his horse to gallop quickly, he knew in his heart that only his own warhorse could carry two people and run fast, other horses carrying two people would not be able to run fast and would instead hinder themselves.

  Liu Jue did not hold his waist, but instead clamped the horse's belly with both legs, leaned against Zhao Yun's back, and fixed his body firmly. He took down the round shield from behind Zhao Yun's back and held a short sword in one hand.

  Liu Jue is actually more cunning than anyone else. If he had hugged Zhao Yun's waist tightly, wouldn't he have become a human shield?

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