Traveling back in time to Liu Feng, starting with rescuing soldier Guan Yu.

Chapter 119 Liu Feng was shot by an arrow?

Sun Huan strode down the earthen slope, his steps quick and powerful, the armor plates clanging crisply in the night.

When he lifted the curtain and entered, the generals in the tent were gathered around a map, discussing their next strategy for the advance.

Sun Quan sat at the head of the table, holding a bowl of tea that had gone half-cold, his face showing a rare relaxation after days of siege.

Han Dang's white beard was still covered with mud splattered from supervising the battle during the day. Zhu Huan's arm was wrapped in a newly changed bandage. Quan Cong, dressed in a plain robe and belt, stood to one side of the map, pointing at the location of Linxiang City with a thin bamboo whip and saying something.

"My lord,"

Sun Huan clasped his hands in a fist salute, his voice low but steady, silencing the murmurs in the tent. "This humble general requests permission to pursue Liu Feng."

The tent fell silent for a moment.

Han Dang raised his graying eyebrows and glanced at him, and Zhu Huan also turned his head. Sun Quan put down his teacup and his gaze fell on Sun Huan's face.

Sun Huan walked to the map, pointed to the north of Linxiang City, and said with a firm and sharp tone: "Liu Feng is a man of great military strategy, and he is most adept at the pincer movement. He has set up a camp outside the city, which is the cornerstone of Linxiang City, allowing for both offense and defense. Without capturing this camp, our army cannot launch a full-scale attack on the city; if we do capture the camp, Liu Feng can send troops out of the city to attack our flank and rear, forcing us to fight on two fronts. Such repeated fighting will drag on for a long time. How many days can our army's food supplies last? Shamoke's barbarian troops are still in the Mufu Mountains, and they may launch an attack at any time to cut off our supply lines. Liu Feng's strategy of burning the camp and retreating south after layers of obstruction is to buy time and wait for our army's morale to be exhausted."

His finger moved from the camp to the main road, and his tone suddenly became sharp: "Just now, a huge fire was raging on the opposite bank, and Liu Feng has already pulled out..."

The army retreated south from the camp. He had just fought a bloody battle; his soldiers were exhausted, and the ranks were disorganized. I had observed from the earthen slope for some time; the Shu army's retreat was so arduous that even stretchers were hastily made from spears and battle robes, the wounded supported each other, and the ranks stretched out in long lines. Tonight, before they reach that camp, they will be at their most vulnerable. I am willing to lead elite cavalry to pursue them under cover of night, catching them before they can firmly establish themselves. If we can decisively defeat Liu Feng's central army, then the last cavalry outpost outside Linxiang City will fall without a fight. This is a fleeting opportunity; I humbly request your permission, my lord!

Upon hearing this, Sun Quan slammed his hand on the table and exclaimed, "Excellent! As you say. I will allocate two thousand elite cavalry to you. Set off immediately and make sure to catch Liu Feng before he sets up camp!"

Sun Huan clasped his hands in acceptance of the order, then turned and strode out of the tent.

The night wind was biting outside the tent, and two thousand elite cavalrymen had already lined up in formation on the training ground as ordered.

These cavalrymen were Sun Quan's personal guards from Jiangdong. They were all clad in light armor, carrying lances, and had ring-pommel swords hanging beside their saddles.

The warhorses were all carefully selected Jiangdong dwarf horses. Although they were not as tall as the Xiliang warhorses, they had extremely strong endurance and were best at night raids.

Sun Huan mounted his horse, swung his spear into the air, and two thousand elite cavalrymen simultaneously turned their horses around. The sound of their hooves rolled across the drill ground like thunder, and they galloped south along the official road.

The two-thousand-strong procession stretched out in a long black line along the official road. No one spoke, no one carried torches, only the muffled clatter of hooves and the rapid breathing of the soldiers rose and fell in the night wind.

Sun Huan lay prone on his horse, one hand holding the reins and the other a spear, his gaze fixed on the darkness at the end of the official road ahead. His scouts had already set out, leaving markers along the way—a few inconspicuous piles of pebbles, or a broken branch—to guide the pursuers.

direction.

Liu Feng led his remaining troops south along the official road, less than ten li from the last camp. Most of the soldiers who had retreated from the Liuyang River were wounded; some used their spears as crutches, while others limped forward, supporting each other. Several old soldiers with broken arms bit one end of their bandages to bandage themselves, blood dripping from between their fingers into the dust of the official road.

Kou Wei's left arm bandage was soaked with blood, turning from white to dark red, yet he still insisted on walking at the very back of the group. He would occasionally glance back at the darkness to the north; his years of scouting experience made him vaguely uneasy. The night was too quiet; even the night birds in the distance were silent.

Liu Feng rode his horse in the middle of the group. The Jade Lion Horse had been running around for many days, its body covered in sweat, its white mane matted into clumps by the sweat, yet it still strode with its head held high, occasionally letting out a snort.

Liu Feng's armor was covered with knife marks and arrow holes, and his black battle robe was soaked in blood and mud, making it impossible to tell its original color.

He glanced at the faint outline of the camp ahead, where lights were dim and the figures of several sentries moved about on the walls. The garrison that Ma Liang had arranged here was clearly ready to provide support.

The camp gate was ajar, and behind it, one could vaguely see piles of arrows and provisions. He felt slightly relieved and was about to order the entire army to speed into the camp when, at that moment, a series of muffled thunderous hoofbeats suddenly came from the distance behind him.

The sound was extremely distant and deep, like muffled thunder on the horizon in summer, or like countless iron hammers striking the rammed earth simultaneously. The Jade Lion Horse suddenly stopped, its ears perked up alertly, it snorted uneasily, and its front hooves pawed at the ground.

Liu Feng suddenly turned around. In the darkness at the end of the official road, countless torches were moving rapidly, like a winding fire snake rushing towards him.

The torchlight was particularly dazzling in the night, casting flickering light on the fields and woods on both sides of the official road. The sound of horses' hooves grew closer and more frequent, shaking the ground slightly and causing the leaves of the trees along the road to fall in a rustling sound.

"Form ranks!"

Kou Wei roared hoarsely, his voice almost inaudible from days of shouting.

The surviving veterans of Wancheng Camp quickly formed ranks on the official road, with swordsmen and shieldmen in front, archers and crossbowmen in the middle, and spearmen at the rear.

These veterans' movements were almost instinctive. The shield bearers half-crouched and slammed their shields heavily on the ground. The spearmen placed their spears on the edges of the shields, with the spear tips pointing straight north. The crossbowmen knelt behind the shield bearers and placed their crossbows on the shield bearers' shoulders.

However, the formation was hastily arranged, and the shields of the shield bearers in the front row had not yet been firmly erected, and the crossbowmen in the rear row had not yet fully drawn their crossbows, when the enemy cavalry arrived.

Sun Huan took the lead, charging ahead like a black arrow.

He did not take the official road, where the Shu army's shield formation, though hastily arranged, was still well-organized, and a direct frontal charge would inevitably lead to being trapped in the layers of shield formation's resistance.

He led his cavalry in an arc through the fields on the flank, their hooves pounding across the dry paddy fields, which were covered with stubble after the harvest, splashing up large amounts of mud and broken straw.

Two thousand elite cavalry from Jiangdong, like a nimble venomous snake, bypassed the hastily laid frontal defenses set up by Kou Wei and fiercely pierced the middle of the retreating Shu army from the flank.

Horse hooves trampled over the makeshift tents and the still-burning campfire, sparks flying everywhere. A Shu army platoon leader had just stood up from the campfire when a warhorse rammed into his chest, sending him flying through the air, tumbling twice before crashing heavily to the ground, his sternum shattered.

A healer who was bandaging his companion had half his ear sliced ​​off by the blade of a passing cavalryman. He screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding cheek.

Blades flashed in the night, screams mingled with the neighing of horses, and a strong stench of blood filled the air.

Sun Huan charged through the enemy lines, his spear flashing up and down. His spear technique was not the wide, sweeping style common in the Jiangdong army, but rather a narrow and dangerous one. Each thrust of his spear aimed straight for the throat and face, and when he withdrew the spear, he used the momentum of his horse to pull it back, tearing the wounds open even wider.

Just as a Shu Han garrison commander raised his shield to parry, Sun Huan pierced his throat through a gap in the shield with a spear. The spearhead emerged from the back of his neck, and blood splattered down the spear shaft onto half of Sun Huan's arm. The commander clung tightly to the spear shaft, refusing to let go, but Sun Huan used the momentum of his warhorse to lift him off the ground and send him flying, crashing into two crossbowmen who were drawing their bows behind him.

Another Shu soldier attempting a flanking attack was struck by his spear shaft, which shattered his helmet. The helmet caved in, and the soldier's eyes bulged out of their sockets. He fell into a roadside ditch, sword and all, and twitched twice before becoming still.

The firelight illuminated Sun Huan's young face, which would normally be considered handsome, but now carried a coldness that seemed out of place for his age.

His lips were pressed tightly together, and his eyes scanned the chaotic battlefield rapidly, searching for his target.

While observing the retreating Han army from the earthen slope, he noticed a white horse in the middle of the column, with a man in black armor and a crimson robe on its back, surrounded by numerous personal guards.

He spurred his horse up a slightly raised mound and surveyed the battlefield from above.

Firelight, glint of blades, a figure—and then he saw it. The white horse was less than a hundred paces ahead, and the figure on its back was turning the horse's head, hand on the hilt of a sword.

Liu Feng turned his horse around, his right hand already on the hilt of his sword, ready to spur his horse forward to block the gap torn open by the cavalry. The Jade Lion Horse reared up, letting out a long neigh. In that instant, Sun Huan, on the galloping back of his horse, suddenly drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

His movements were extremely fast, almost instantly switching from controlling the reins to drawing the bow. His left hand looped and loosened the reins, while his right hand had already grabbed the vermilion horn bow from beside the saddle. The feathered arrows in the quiver slid between his fingers, and the eagle feathers at the tips of the arrows brushed against the bowstring, making a soft friction sound.

He drew the bow to its fullest extent, the bowstring creaking softly, the arrowhead gleaming coldly in the firelight. His gaze pierced the chaotic battlefield, locking onto the figure in black armor and crimson robes atop the Jade Lion Horse, and his right hand released its grip.

The bowstring snapped, and a cold arrow pierced the air.

The arrow was both accurate and deadly, piercing through the gap between two soldiers locked in combat, passing through the flying sparks and billowing smoke, and striking Liu Feng squarely in the right rib. The arrow pierced through the gap in his armor, embedding itself in flesh and bone, and blood instantly gushed from both sides of the shaft, flowing down his battle robe.