Chapter 6: Pursuing and Killing All the Way

  The general was secretly delighted to hear that Zhao Yun was in the army. Last night, nearly 2,000 people were killed or injured in the attack on the mountain stronghold. He was worried about how to report this to his lord. If he could capture Zhao Yun, perhaps he could redeem himself with merit. At this moment, he made up his mind and immediately ordered, "Capture Zhao Yun alive!"

  Ts'ao's soldiers came from all sides, but Chao Yün was not afraid. With a shake of his spear, he charged into the midst of the enemy ranks like a tempest, and wherever he went men fell to the ground.

  But Zhao Yun took the two of them and did not engage in a fierce battle, nor did he charge into the dense enemy crowd. He tried to find a place with fewer people to break through. Behind him, Wu Xu tightly hugged the horse's neck, constantly urging the horse to follow closely behind Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun was meticulous and never left danger behind him, so Wu Xu basically didn't suffer any attacks.

  But it was precisely this that increased the danger Zhao Yun faced by several times. Many enemy soldiers who he could have ignored were threatening those behind him, and he had to rush forward to deal with them, making his situation extremely perilous.

  At this time, Liu Jue played a role. Although he was not good at riding horses, he was agile and used his shield to deflect several times, replacing Zhao Yun to resolve the danger of Cold Stab.

  "General, beware of the tripwire ahead!"

  Liu Jue's eyes were sharp and he spotted several tight ropes on the ground, but Zhao Yun didn't see them. He was startled in his heart, pulled the reins of his war horse, and the horse jumped up, clearing several tripwires. His long spear thrust into the air, knocking away several tripwires, so that the horses behind were not affected.

  The war horse galloped far away, Zhao Yun broke out in a cold sweat. He was not afraid of the open and honest fight, but feared this kind of defenseless sneak attack.

  "Thank you, young master!" He expressed his gratitude to Liu Xuan for the first time.

  Liu Xuan said with some pride: "I'm not useless either!"

  "The young master has a quick reaction and is a good candidate for martial arts training. I suggest that the young master learn martial arts, and he will surely achieve something."

  Haha, Liu Xuan smiled and said, "Just because of Zhao Zilong's words from Changshan, I, Liu Xuan, have decided to learn martial arts."

  "But first learn how to ride a horse!"

  Both of them burst out laughing, Zhao Yun regained his spirit, called out to Wu Xu, and urged the horse to rush towards the northwest corner. This was the last obstacle, and once they broke through this pass, they would be safe and sound.

  Northwest corner, Yu Jin had been waiting for a long time. He put down his strong bow and reached back to the quiver on his back. When he touched the arrow feathers, he hesitated for a moment, stretched out his hand to another soldier, "Give me the poison arrow!"

  The soldier handed an arrow to Yu Jin, who strung it on his bow and gazed coldly at Zhao Yun, who was rushing towards him. He stood under a large flag, slowly drawing the bowstring.

  At this time, Zhao Yun let out a loud cry and charged into the enemy ranks. His silver spear flashed about like a pear blossom in the whirlwind, or a hundred birds flying to the phoenix. In an instant, more than ten men were stabbed to death by him. The Cao army was frightened and shouted, retreating in disorder.

  "You go first!"

  Zhoa Yun turned his head and shouted loudly. Wu Xu's face turned pale, he clamped his legs on the horse, led the charge out of the battlefield, and galloped wildly to the northwest.

  Zhoa Yun swung his spear and stabbed a dozen men, blocking the pursuing soldiers. Just then, a burly general rushed up on horseback, raised his hand, and threw a long spear that flew towards Zhoa Yun's right side with incredible speed. Liu Xun saw the spear and raised his shield to meet it.

  Zhao Yun caught Liu's movement out of the corner of his eye and was shocked. He hastily shouted: "Don't take it head-on!"

  But it was too late, "Bang!" A loud noise, the shield was shattered, Liu Xiu's arm seemed to be broken, and he let out a painful cry. The huge impact made his body sway, and he almost fell off the horse.

  Zhoa Yun single-handedly wielded his spear and deflected the long javelin, while his left hand grabbed hold of Liu Xun who was about to fall off his horse.

  Yu Jin seized this rare opportunity, and a cold arrow shot out from the left side like lightning, shooting directly at Zhao Yun's left chest. Zhao Yun was holding onto Liu Xun with his hand and couldn't dodge again, so he could only slightly shift two inches to avoid the fatal blow.

  With a "poof" sound, this arrow hit Zhao Yun's left shoulder. His whole body shook and he almost fell off his horse.

  Yu Jin was overjoyed and shouted: "Zhang Fei has been shot by an arrow! Capture him!"

  Over a thousand Cao troops came from all directions, at the critical moment, Liu Jue had already sat firmly on his horse's back, with his left hand holding a short sword, fiercely stabbing the horse's buttocks. The warhorse was in pain and used its last strength to rush out of the battlefield, fleeing northwest.

  Yu Jin saw that his efforts had been thwarted and flew into a great rage, shouting loudly, "Pursue them! I want to see the living captured and the dead corpses!"

  Hundreds of Cao's cavalrymen chased after them in hot pursuit.

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  The golden glow of the sunset gradually disappeared, and the sky dyed red by the evening clouds had darkened. The winding mountains and forests became a vast expanse of dark blackness.

  The night color enveloped the mountain, the mountain road was quiet, both sides were full of towering trees, the half-bright and half-dark moonlight passed through the saddle-shaped ridge and valley, and the black shadows of the forest, rocks and peaks were highlighted by the moonlight, making them exceptionally black, dense and gloomy.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  A sudden, urgent sound of horseshoes came from afar, unusually clear on the quiet mountain road. Under the faint moonlight, a warhorse exhausted to the point of collapse was carrying two people who were desperately running for their lives.

  The two of them were Zhao Yun and Liu Xun, who had escaped from the battlefield. Wu Xu was separated from them and his whereabouts were unknown. They were pursued by Cao's army, running from afternoon to evening, desperately fleeing for more than two hours, until their warhorses finally collapsed.

  At this time, the poison from Zhao Yun's arrow wound had taken effect, making him weak all over and in a semi-comatose state. This was a slow-acting poison that wouldn't kill immediately but would leave him completely powerless.

  The war horse could no longer hold on, running with great difficulty. Suddenly, the war horse let out a long neigh and fell heavily to the side of the road, throwing Liu Jing and Zhao Yun more than ten feet away.

  On the right side of the mountain path was a deep ditch, and on the other side was a slope with thick bushes. Fortunately, the two people fell onto the soft bushes.

  Liu Jiong only felt the pain between his legs was unbearable, riding a horse required strong thigh strength, he was still insufficient in this aspect. Although his whole body hurt like it was falling apart, but the situation was critical, he couldn't care about the pain all over his body, and hurriedly got up, ran to the warhorse's side, the warhorse had fallen on the mountain path, its whole body convulsing, foaming at the mouth, and was no longer usable.

  Liu Jue patted Zhao Yun's shoulder again, "General Zhao, you must hold on!"

  The blood on Zhao Yun's shoulder had stopped flowing, an arrow was stuck in his shoulder, and the stench of blood could be faintly smelled, he had actually been shot by a poisoned arrow.

  Liu Jiong was a bit flustered, with a thousand things to attend to, each one being so urgent that he didn't know which one to do first.

  Suddenly a loud and intense sound of horseshoes came from afar, it was the pursuing soldiers, judging by the sound they were already several hundred steps away.

  In the face of crisis, Liu Xuan suddenly calmed down. He turned around and ran to the war horse's side, exerting great strength to push the war horse into a nearby mountain ditch. The several hundred jin heavy war horse was pushed down into the deep ditch by him, and he also threw some miscellaneous objects on the ground into the mountain ditch.

  Liu Bei hurriedly supported Zhao Yun and carried him on his back as he ran up the slope, where there was still a mountain path.

  The pursuing soldiers had chased him to within tens of steps, the warhorse galloping wildly, when unexpectedly a troop of cavalry came rushing down from the mountain path above, cutting off his escape route.

  Both mountain paths have pursuing soldiers, it's too late, Liu Jue had to carry Zhao Yun and hide in a bush, lowering his head as much as possible, the half-person-high bush just covered them, Liu Jue's heart was so tense that it almost jumped out.

  The sound of horseshoes grew louder and closer, and in an instant, a strong gust of wind swept past them, bringing with it the intense smell of bloodlust. A group of cavalrymen galloped by, soon disappearing into the distance.

  They waited until the cavalry had gone far before slowly lifting their heads. At this time, Zhao Yun let out a painful cry, his arrow wound bursting open and blood flowing out again.

  Liu Jue hastily laid him down, put his left arm in Zhao Yun's mouth, pulled out the short sword, gritted his teeth and cut off a large piece of flesh along with the arrowhead.

  Zhao Yun let out a muffled cry of pain, almost biting off Liu Xuan's arm. After taking several deep breaths, he said in a low voice: "I have some wound medicine in my bosom."

  Liu Jiao was overjoyed, enduring the pain in his arm, and from his bosom he took out a packet of medicinal powder, thickly applying it to his wound. Then, from his leather pouch, he took out a piece of brocade with an official seal on it, using it to bandage the wound. Zhao Yun's face was deathly pale, looking extremely weak.

  Liu Jue bandaged the wound, hesitated for a moment, he had no water by his side, nor clean gauze, he had to leave immediately, otherwise even if he wasn't caught, Zhao Yun would still die from poisoning.

  Liu Jue slowly helped Zhao Yun up, seeing that his body was very weak and walking with difficulty, so he carried him on his back, ran up the slope, and rushed in the direction of escape.

  Zhoa Yun was eight feet two inches tall, with a robust build. Liu Zong had to strain his back to carry him. He had only taken twenty or so steps when the sound of horse hooves came from ahead. Someone shouted loudly: "General Zhao Yun, Master Liu Bei is here! Where are you?"

  Liu Jue was overjoyed, this is Liu Bei who has arrived. Zhao Yun's spirit also lifted, it seemed to be the voice of Zou Fang, he hastily said in a low voice: "This is my master who has come."

  Liu Xuan quickened his pace and rushed forward. In the darkness, he saw a team of cavalry appearing vaguely in front of him. At this moment, Liu Xuan suddenly reacted, no!

  How can the other side directly call out their lord's name, this is extremely disrespectful. Generally shouting 'General Zhao, our lord is here!' would be enough, adding 'Liu Bei' is clearly superfluous, they are not Liu Bei, but rather Cao's army using deceit.

  Liu Jing's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, but in the darkness ahead, someone had already caught a glimpse of his figure and shouted out, "Who is that up ahead?"

  Liu Xuan's face suddenly turned pale, and he quickly thought of a plan, pushing Zhao Yun into the bushes. "Quickly hide!"

  He turned around and ran, Zhao Yun used up his last bit of strength to crawl into a bush, only to see the young man turn around and run, with a speed as fast as a cheetah, the cavalry behind him chasing after like a mad wind. "Halt!"

  Zhao Yun knew that this young man was trying to divert the pursuing soldiers to save himself. He secretly sighed, "This young man is done for, what a pity!"

  Liu Jiong had just run out about 70 or 80 steps when an arrow grazed his scalp and flew past. He stopped, for if he continued to run, he would undoubtedly be killed.

  At this time, dozens of cavalrymen rushed over and surrounded Liu Jue. General Yu Jin came afterwards, and a cavalryman reported, "General Yu, it's a young man."

  Liu Jue saw Yu Jin for the first time, and he was wearing an eagle helmet, wearing iron armor, with a sturdy and majestic figure, deep eyes and high nose, his gaze was like lightning, holding a golden-backed tiger-toothed knife.

  Yu Jin looked up and down at the young man, at that time Liu Jiong was behind Zhao Yun, his face covered in blood, and also blocked by Zhao Yun's body, Yu Jin did not notice him, while other cavalrymen were all Yu Jin's personal soldiers, they watched from a distance and did not come forward.

  More importantly, it was now nighttime, and Liu Xuan's blood had been washed away by his sweat for the most part. For a moment, everyone didn't recognize Liu Xuan.

  Yu Jian's war knife flashed in his hand, pressing against the man's throat, and he shouted sternly: "Who are you?"

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