Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 329: A New Era, a Role Model for Princes

As Zhang Yu paid more and more, he wanted to capture and kill Han Sui more and more. Not to mention that the enemy was about to be defeated, but Han Sui was about to slip away. How could Zhang Yu be willing?
In the chaos of the battlefield, Zhang Yu rode up to Zhao Yun and shouted, "Zilong, do you have enough energy to pursue Han Sui?"

Zhao Yun laughed loudly and said, "I am willing to follow you through fire and water."

As he spoke, Zhao Yun stopped and said, "The heavy cavalry is now exhausted. If you want to pursue Han Sui, you must use light cavalry. I'm afraid you need to use the Xiongnu cavalry."

"Zilong and I have the same idea!"

Zhang Yu called down his cavalry and said, "Send a message to Hu Chuquan, and have him lead 500 light cavalry to follow me and chase and kill the enemy."

"promise!"

Before Zhang Yu could finish his words, he suddenly felt weightless and fell off his horse. He fell to the ground with his armor on. He felt dizzy and his helmet rolled a few times.

"Your Majesty!"

Seeing Zhang Yu fall off his horse for no reason, Zhao Yun was so frightened that he quickly dismounted to check and reached out to help Zhang Yu up.

"Pooh!"

Zhang Yu ate a few mouthfuls of sand, pointed at his beloved horse which had struggled to stand up, and said, "Zilong, help me check Wu Tiyun's injury!"

"My lord, Wu Ti Yun's hind leg tendons are about to break, and the flesh is almost visible as bones!" Zhao Yun looked at Wu Ti Yun's injuries and said, "It should be that someone hooked the horse's leg when he was caught in the battle just now."

Zhang Yu picked up his helmet, walked to Wutiyun, looked at his exhausted horse, stroked its neck, and sighed, "It must have been the blow from Zahu that caused it to suffer a big injury. It's not easy for it to hold on for so long. It saved my life!"

If Wutiyun had fallen in the chaos of the army just now, Zhang Yu would have been surrounded. Fortunately, Wutiyun used all his strength to carry Zhang Yu and fight against him until he could no longer hold on.

"Not only the leg bone, but also the horse's buttocks were hit by the spear, and the blood is flowing out and cannot be stopped." Zhao Yun pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid it will be~"

Zhang Yu looked at his beloved horse, which had followed him since the beginning of the war, and was about to die. He said reluctantly, "Arrange someone to take care of it. Now let's go after Han Sui first!"

"promise!"

A little later, Huchuquan led his cavalry to rush here, bowed to Zhang Yu and said: "Sir, now more than a thousand cavalry are ordered to chase and kill the bandits, and I am leading 500 cavalry here."

As he spoke, seeing that Zhang Yu's Wutiyun was about to die, Huochuquan hurriedly led Zhang Yu's horse and said, "My lord, please mount the horse first!"

Holding the saddle, Zhang Yu stood up quickly, pointed forward with the whip, and said, "Follow me to chase and kill Han Sui!"

"As ordered!"

"Bah!"

On the chaotic battlefield, the armored cavalry and the infantry led by Xu Chu attacked from both inside and outside, defeating the Qiang and Di troops. Agui and Yang Qianwan could no longer hold out and led their troops to flee.

Song Jian was in an even worse situation because Yan Xing withdrew his troops to support the central army. Under the charge of Zhang Liao and his cavalry, Song Jian could not withstand the fierce attack of Zhang Liao and Gao Shun without the help of armored cavalry, and his formation was directly broken.

Now, when Zhang Yu led 500 light cavalry to pursue Han Sui, he first saw the "Song" flag in front retreating and swaying, and suddenly he did not know which army caught up with it. When Zhang Yu led the cavalry to catch up with the "Song" flag, he saw it fall down.

"General Gao Shun will kill Song Jian!"

The soldiers shouted enthusiastically, with pride in their tone.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu said to his followers with a smile, "Zixun killed Song Jian, and now he has killed Han Sui and returned. This is a complete achievement!"

"Chase!"

Amid the long sounds of hoofbeats, five hundred riders bypassed Xingguo City and followed the trail left by Han Sui.

Han Sui first led a mixed retreat of infantry and cavalry, but was soon pursued by Zhang Yu, and the two armies engaged in a fierce battle. Fearing that Zhang Yu's follow-up troops would arrive, Han Sui abandoned his infantry and fled north with his cavalry alone.

Han Sui galloped on his horse, looked back at Zhang Yu who had reappeared in pursuit, and his emotions were almost broken.

His army was defeated by Zhang Yu. Shouldn't he have stopped while he was ahead? He didn't understand why Zhang Yu insisted on pursuing him. Could it be that he had offended Zhang Yu before?

"If I had known that we would be defeated today, I would have surrendered when I negotiated peace with Zhang Yu!" Han Sui said with a long sigh.

"General, you have been raising troops for more than ten years. Although you have been defeated today, why are you making such cowardly remarks?"

Cheng Gongying said: "Zhang Yu has pursued you for hundreds of miles and knows that you are capable of pacifying the Qiang and Hu tribes. If you can escape, you can still do something when Zhang Yu and Yuan Shao fight."

Han Sui whipped his horse's buttocks and asked, "Now that all my troops have been lost and Zhang Yu is hot on my trail, what shall I do?"

Cheng Gongying looked back at the dust and smoke behind him and said, "We are now more than 300 miles away from Jincheng. You are familiar with the geography and can reach Jincheng in two days. Although Zhang Yu is still pursuing us, he is unwilling to give up. If what I predict is correct, Zhang Yu will pursue us for dozens of miles and will not be able to capture you. He will return because it is getting dark and his horses and men are exhausted."

"General, when you arrive at Jincheng, take the old and weak with you to the Qiang, where you can recuperate for a few years, and then you can pacify the Qiang and Hu people and retake Jincheng. If Zhang Yu does not lead the army at that time, any general will be a difficult opponent for you."

"it is good!"

Encouraged by Cheng Gongying, Han Sui gave up the idea of surrendering to Zhang Yu and instead focused on escaping.

After chasing for more than 30 miles, they found that they could not catch up with Han Sui, and it was getting dark. As Cheng Gongying had expected, everyone began to think of withdrawing. "Sir, our army has no food and we may not be able to pursue further!"

Huchuquan rode up to Zhang Yu and said, "It is getting late today. Han Sui is familiar with the geography of Longyou. If he escapes overnight, it will be difficult for our army to track him down."

Longyou has a complex terrain. It is not a large plain or a simple river valley, but a crisscross of river valleys, hills, and gullies. As Huochuquan said, when night falls, Han Sui hides in the darkness, and Zhang Yu cannot find any trace of him, so he can only return in disappointment.

"How about Zilong?" Zhang Yu asked.

Zhao Yun ran into the wind, with the feathers on his head flying, and shouted: "Your Excellency has defeated the Long people and shocked the Hu and Qiang people. People near and far are in awe. Now that you have pursued them here, you have already made a special achievement. Han Sui has fled with his troops lost and has no confidants to lead him. Maybe we can stop fighting!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yu looked around and saw that everyone was exhausted. He was unwilling to pursue Han Sui any further. He gritted his teeth and said, "If we can't capture Han Sui by dusk, I will return with you."

"promise!"

Zhang Yu could actually understand why everyone didn't want to pursue. Not only had they been fighting for most of the day, but more importantly, there was no hope of pursuing and capturing Han Sui.

However, for Zhang Yu, the reason why he continued to pursue was simply because he was unwilling to give up. If he could capture and kill Han Sui, he could completely pacify Longyou; if he could not capture and kill Han Sui, Han Sui's ability to attract Qiang people would cause chaos again.

The sun was hanging in the west and it was getting dark. The two teams of people were running along the valley, the one fleeing and the one chasing.

Seeing that the sky was about to turn dark, Han Sui looked back and said with a smile: "As Bojie said, it is dark today and it will be difficult for Zhang Yu to catch up!"

Han Sui didn't laugh for long, before he saw a general leading his cavalry rushing down the mountain with great momentum, blocking Han Sui's way.

The smile on Han Sui's face froze. He did not arrange any troops here. Could it be that Zhang Yu sent troops here to rob in advance?

"I am Wusun Shiyi, and I have been waiting for your army here for a long time!"

Shi Yi stopped his horse in the middle of the road, holding a bow and arrow in his hand with a serious expression. When he saw Han Sui's troops approaching, he simply raised his hand and shot down Han Sui's troops with one arrow.

Seeing that Shi Yi's archery skills were so superb, Han Sui and the others subconsciously reined in their horses and retreated a few steps.

"Berger, what should we do now?"

Han Sui was terrified and asked Cheng Gongying, not knowing what to do.

From heaven to hell, from hell to heaven, and then from heaven to hell, the ups and downs in recent days have tortured Han Sui to the point of exhaustion, and now he doesn't know how to deal with Shi Yi who is blocking him here.

Cheng Gongying tightly grasped the reins, his face full of bitterness. In his eyes, although Zhang Yu's military strategy was very strong, he could not control everything and predict the future military events. Now Shi Yi's appearance slapped him in the face, Zhang Yu could really predict the future.

At this time, because Shi Yi led his troops to intercept, not only Han Sui and Cheng Gongying were panicked, but Zhang Yu's troops who were following closely behind saw Shi Yi led his troops to intercept Han Sui, which surprised everyone who was planning to give up the pursuit.

"Your Excellency is pursuing Han Sui and has sent someone to inform Shi Yi!"

Seeing this, Huchuquan was pre-conceived and also thought that Shi Yi was ordered by Zhang Yu to lead troops to block the enemy. He was amazed and said, "Your Excellency was able to know that the enemy was defeated and sent troops to ambush them on the main road. I admire you very much."

"Your Excellency is good at military affairs. I admire you very much!" Zhao Yun complimented.

In fact, the appearance of Shi Yi's troops to intercept Han Sui was not arranged by Zhang Yu in advance. Now that everyone praised him, Zhang Yu could not explain much, so he could only accept it and planned to ask Shi Yi about it later.

Now with Shi Yi's troops in front and Zhang Yu's troops behind, Han Sui has almost no way out!

Han Sui sighed and said to his men, "The enemy has surrounded us tightly. Our only option now is to dismount and surrender to Zhang Yu."

The troops were silent. If they didn't surrender to Zhang Yu now, they would have no way to survive.

After a while, Han Sui, under the persuasion of Zhang Yu's men, thought for a while and then led his troops to dismount and surrender to Zhang Yu.

"The rebel Han Sui led his troops to resist stubbornly. I beg the general to forgive me."

Since Han Sui was planning to surrender, when he met Zhang Yu, he performed with great courtesy, presented his sword with both hands to show his respect to Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu took the sword, pointed at the setting sun in the west, and said with a smile: "If you knew that Shi Yi was leading his troops to block us, would you be willing to surrender earlier?"

"My lord, please be so powerful that I dared to resist the enemy in the past. I am guilty of a serious crime. Please punish me!" Han Sui said with a guilty look on his face.

"There is no need for punishment!"

Zhang Yu returned the sword to Han Sui and said in a deep voice: "You and I are both frontier warriors, so we don't need to waste time on ceremony. Since Han Jun has surrendered to me, I will not only not kill you, but I will also offer you official titles to the emperor and treat Han Jun and his subordinates well. But Han Jun must help my army pacify Longyou and surrender Jincheng and Hehuang. If you do not do the same, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Hearing this, Han Sui calmed down a little, bowed deeply and said: "Your Excellency has forgotten the past, and I feel ashamed. Now that I have surrendered to you, I dare not have any second thoughts, and I will definitely help you to stabilize Longyou."

"good!"

Zhang Yu didn't have to accept Han Sui's surrender, but considering Han Sui's reputation among the Qiang and Di people, Zhang Yu finally wanted Han Sui to surrender so that he could quickly pacify Longyou. As for whether Han Sui would rebel again, Zhang Yu had planned to move Han Sui and his family to Anyi to avoid giving Han Sui the opportunity to rebel again.

Of course, the role of recruiting Han Sui was not limited to this. More importantly, Zhang Yu intended to set an example for other princes in the world. Even Han Sui, who resisted to the end, was treated well by Zhang Yu, not to mention the princes who would surrender in the future.

(End of this chapter)