The imperial cause at the end of the Han Dynasty was not one of partial peace.

Chapter 94: High Spirits, Advancing by Land and Water, and Devastating the Enemy Army

Once Liu Bei issued the military order, the three armies immediately prepared to set off.

In just two days, the army was fully armed and its supplies were ready.

On the third day, Liu Bei formally swore an oath before setting out on the expedition.

At this critical moment, Zhao Yun led the Jing Sai Iron Cavalry as the vanguard, followed by Wen Chou and Gao Lan with over a thousand Xuanjia Iron Cavalry.

The cavalry traveled south by land, reaching Liling, then east of Changsha, crossing the foothills of the Luoxiao Mountains, and arriving at Yichun City in a single day.

Liu Bei, along with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, advanced by water, in a completely opposite direction. They went north along the Xiang River, passed through Dongting Lake into the Yangtze River, then turned southeast, directly plunging into the heart of Yuzhang, cutting off the bandits' retreat and forming a pincer attack, giving the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhang no chance to catch their breath.

On the day of departure, over a thousand armored cavalrymen, clad in crimson robes and black armor, their spears like a forest, marched south with the speed of wind and rain. At a single command, their iron hooves thundered.

Liu Bei then boarded the largest warship in the navy. This ship was the flagship recently delivered by Huang's Carpentry Workshop. The bow was covered with iron and painted with vermilion lacquer. The ship was about two zhang wide and about ten zhang long, with three cabins in the fore and aft, and the masts soared into the clouds.

A large red banner stood at the bow of the boat, bearing the six characters "Liu, Prefect of Changsha of the Han Dynasty," fluttering in the river wind.

Liu Bei stepped onto the deck, wearing a bright scale armor and a crimson battle robe. A vermilion cloak billowed behind him in the river wind, giving him an imposing presence.

On the Xiang River, a thin mist hung like gauze. Behind the warships, nearly a hundred large and small warships, including fighting ships, small boats, grain transport vessels, and civilian ships, departed from the shore in succession, their sails fluttering and their prows stretching for miles, creating a magnificent sight.

Three thousand naval officers and soldiers, all in full armor and armed, lined up on the ship's side, their banners obscuring the sun, and the sounds of drums and horns echoing through the air.

Liu Bei stood with his hand on his sword, the river breeze blowing against his face, causing his robe sleeves to flutter wildly.

Gazing at the magnificent sight of thousands of sails racing on the river, a surge of pride welled up within him. He exclaimed, "Second brother, do you remember when we first raised our army in Zhuojun? The three of us brothers had only three hundred infantrymen and a few dozen inferior horses. Now, in just five or six years, we have over a thousand cavalry, eight thousand infantrymen, three thousand naval forces, and two hundred warships. Today, as we set out on our expedition, we finally possess the grandeur of a royal army!"

Upon hearing this, a hint of excitement flashed in Guan Yu's phoenix eyes.

He stroked his long beard and exclaimed, "Brother, you have gathered heroes with integrity and cared for the common people with benevolence, which is why you have achieved what you have today. This is not a gift from heaven, but the result of your years of accumulating good deeds and cultivating virtue."

Liu Bei, filled with righteous indignation, drew his sword and proclaimed, "Today we will crush the Yellow Turbans of Yuzhang in one fell swoop, settle the war in a few days, and leave no opportunity for the local government to blame us!"

This battle was also a test of the results of their reorganization of the Changsha army. The soldiers were all delighted at the prospect of battle, and they were all in high spirits, eager to fight and afraid of falling behind.

Guan Yu stood beside Liu Bei with his hand on his sword. His phoenix eyes swept over the vast fleet on the river, then looked at the black-armored cavalry speeding eastward on the shore. He couldn't help but stroke his long beard and sigh, "Brother, your deployment this time, advancing by land and water, attacking from both sides, Zhang Ya, though he has tens of thousands of troops, is nothing but a chicken and a dog."

The naval fleet set sail from Linxiang Wharf, sailed down the Xiang River, and entered Dongting Lake after a day and a night.

The vast expanse of Dongting Lake stretches for eight hundred miles, its waters and sky blending seamlessly into one.

Dozens of warships lined up and broke through the waves, their sails like clouds, attracting fishermen on the lakeside to stop and watch—a navy of this scale had not been seen in Jingnan for many years.

The fleet crossed Dongting Lake, entered the Yangtze River, turned east, and headed straight for Yuzhang.

Although the waterway flows downstream, it ultimately makes a large detour—first going north into Dongting Lake, then east down the Yangtze River, and then turning south along Poyang Lake into the Gan River, a journey of more than a thousand li.

Li Bai's "a thousand miles to Jiangling in a single day" is ultimately a bold and exaggerated statement; even if Liu Bei's naval and land advance was fast, it would still take five or six days.

However, Zhao Yun's cavalry could penetrate straight in. They set off from the Linxiang camp, with Zhao Yun leading two hundred Jing Sai cavalry as the vanguard, and arrived in Liling in two days.

They arrived in Yichun on the third day.

Yichun, belonging to Yuzhang Prefecture, is located at the junction of Jing and Yang. It is bordered by Wugong Mountain to the east and Luoxiao Mountain to the west. The Yuan River, a tributary of the Gan River, flows through the area. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, it has a strategic and dangerous terrain.

With a population of about four thousand, it is not a large county, but it is the gateway and barrier to the western border of Yuzhang. If Yichun is lost, the eastern border of Changsha will be wide open.

Therefore, Liu Bei's statement that rescuing Yichun was to protect his hometown of Changsha was not an exaggeration.

Zhao Yun's troops entered Yichun and rested briefly before arriving at the city walls on the fourth day.

If we can defeat the bandits of Yuzhang in today's battle, they will be ambushed by Liu Bei's navy during their retreat.

Therefore, Zhao Yun was very decisive and ordered the army to move swiftly and rapidly to the front of the enemy's army, giving the enemy no chance to prepare.

At this moment, Zhao Yun reined in his horse on a low hill and looked into the distance. The entire city of Yichun was completely unprepared for the arrival of this iron cavalry.

The city walls of Yichun were low, only about two zhang high, and many of the crenellations showed signs of collapse. The red flag of the Han people still flew on the city wall, but the flag was tattered and drooped helplessly in the wind.

Outside the city, the enemy's camp stretched for miles, a chaotic mess. There were no deep moats or high walls, no chevaux-de-frise or deer antlers, just piles of felled trees to serve as a barrier.

As the sun rose, the bandits gathered in twos and threes around the stove to cook. The smoke from the cooking fires mingled with the morning mist, and the noisy voices of the people and the neighing of the livestock rose and fell in waves. It was no longer like an army besieging a city, but rather a bustling market.

The bandits' deployment was typical of bandit tactics. Their main force of infantry numbered over 20,000, mostly scattered in the west and south of the city, surrounding Yichun City on three sides. The only gap left on the north side, near the mountain, was not a strategic move of encircling three sides and leaving one open, but rather because the terrain to the north was too rugged to set up camp, and the bandits were too lazy to climb the mountain to attack the city.

Dozens of bamboo rafts and fishing boats were moored at the Yuanshui ferry crossing south of the city, used by bandits to cross the river and plunder. To the east of the city, [the river] could be vaguely seen...

Several cavalry units galloped back and forth in the fields. They were the few cavalry units among the bandits, numbering no more than a hundred, with small and thin horses, clearly having been plundered from local powerful families in Yuzhang.

Zhao Yun's gaze swept across the chaotic camp and finally landed on a slightly elevated hill about five miles west of the city.

There was a large camp there, with several colorful flags standing in the camp. The largest of them, an apricot-yellow flag, had the character "Zhang" crookedly written on it.

"That's it." Zhao Yun withdrew his gaze and said to those around him, "The central army of the bandit leader Zhang Ya."

He did not rush to charge into battle, but instead turned his gaze to Wen Chou beside him and calmly deployed his troops: "Wen Qidu, you lead the Xuanjia Iron Cavalry to the north of the city. When I break in from the front and the enemy scatters, you will launch a surprise attack from the north and cut off their escape route into the mountains."

Wen Chou clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Yes, sir!"

Zhao Yun then turned to Gao Lan: "Captain Gao, lead three hundred cavalry to lie in ambush behind the mulberry grove east of the city. When the enemy forces come out of their camp to meet you, you will attack from the flank, capture their main force, and plant many red flags to demoralize them."

Gao Lan accepted the order and left.

With the assignments settled, Zhao Yun mounted his horse.

He held his silver spear across his saddle and glanced back at the two hundred Jingsai Iron Cavalry behind him.

These valiant warriors, selected from among the millions of generous and heroic men of Yan and Zhao, were all clad in black armor, wielding long spears, with ring-pommel swords at their waists and a quiver of eagle-feathered arrows hanging on each side of their saddles.

Beneath their masks, only a pair of menacing eyes were visible; these men were true veterans who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Zhao Yun, commander of the "Silent Frontier Army," raised his silver spear, its tip gleaming coldly in the morning light. "Charge!"

Two hundred cavalrymen responded to the call and moved, their hooves flying and the earth trembling, rushing straight towards the largest bandit camp in the west of Yichun City.

The soldiers guarding the city walls were the first to notice something amiss.

An old soldier who was dozing behind the battlements was awakened by the tremors of the ground. He raised his head blankly, rubbed his eyes, and then suddenly stared wide-eyed.

From the west of the city, a large red banner broke through the morning mist and sped toward the enemy camp.

Beneath the great banner was a crimson torrent, iron armor gleaming in the sun, spears like a forest, and the sound of horses' hooves approaching from afar, turning in an instant from a faint rumble of thunder into a deafening roar.

"Reinforcements! Reinforcements are here!" The old soldier stood up shakily, his hoarse voice trembling with tears. "Red flags! It's the Han army! The Han army is here!"

A commotion immediately broke out on the city wall. The county soldiers and able-bodied men who had been guarding the city for many days rushed to the crenellations, vying to see what was happening.

Some people knelt down and kowtowed in excitement, some embraced each other and wept, and others pointed at the red banner and shouted incoherently.

He shouted, "Liu—Lord Liu! This is the banner of Lord Liu of Changsha!"

The bandits reacted quite differently. In the western camp, the bandits were squatting in small groups by the stove drinking porridge when they suddenly heard the thunderous sound of horses' hooves approaching. Looking up, they saw a cavalry force in black armor tearing through the morning mist like divine soldiers descending from the sky, already less than two miles from the camp's perimeter.

"The enemy attacked!" A shrill scream pierced the noise of the camp. The bandits dropped their earthenware bowls and frantically searched for their weapons. Some, unable to find knives or spears, grabbed sharpened wooden sticks.

Some didn't even have time to put on shoes, crawling barefoot out of their shacks and looking around blankly.

Meanwhile, the Jingse Iron Cavalry, swift as the wind, had already reached them.

Zhao Yun charged ahead, plunging into the enemy camp. His silver spear flashed, and before the first bandit leader could even raise his weapon, he was pierced through the throat by a single thrust, sending him flying backward and knocking down several others behind him.

Immediately afterwards, two hundred Jingsai Iron Cavalry surged into the camp like a tidal wave. Their iron hooves trampled over the firecrackers, their long spurs pierced the tents, and their ring-pommel swords drew cold arcs in the morning light.

The bandits cried out for their fathers and mothers, scattered and fled, trampling each other, leaving the dead piled up like heaps.

Zhao Yun did not linger in battle. He led his iron cavalry like a long sword cutting through bamboo, directly penetrating the western camp of the city and charging towards the mound with the apricot-yellow flag.

Inside the central command tent atop the mound, Zhang Ya was just shaken awake by his personal guards. He had been drinking with several leaders until late last night and was still somewhat groggy from a hangover. He was drinking a bowl of sobering soup when he heard a commotion outside the tent, followed by a guard scrambling into the tent.

"General! General! Something terrible has happened!" The guards were ashen-faced, their voices trembling. "The Han army—the Han cavalry has broken in!"

Zhang Ya put down the ceramic bowl and waved her hand impatiently: "What's the rush? How many people are there?"

"About two hundred riders."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ya was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter. She laughed so hard that her hangover headache flared up.

He rubbed his temples and laughed at the leaders in the tent, "Two hundred halberd-wielding knights have scared you like this? I thought it was heavenly soldiers and generals."

He stood up, walked to the tent entrance, gazed at the dust-filled camp in the distance, and sneered, "Southerners are not good at archery and horsemanship. These two hundred halberd-wielding knights are nothing to worry about. Even if we ignore them and let them gallop for a while, less than six or seven miles, half of these southern cavalrymen would fall off their horses."

Upon hearing this, the leaders inside the tent all joined in the laughter and chatter.

But not everyone was so nonchalant. Lieutenant General Zhang Yue stepped forward and whispered, "General, there seems to be something fishy about this. In Yuzhang County, there are only a few hundred soldiers, and even fewer warhorses. Where did these two hundred halberd-wielding knights come from?"

"Moreover, these knights charged with the force of a falling sun, instantly cutting through several enemy units with unstoppable momentum. This is unlike the Yuzhang..."

The troops of this prefecture.

Zhang Ya's smile faltered slightly.

Zhang Yue continued, "Last year, Qu Xing gathered tens of thousands of people in Changsha, but within a month, Liu Bei led several thousand infantry and cavalry to wipe them out."

"Does the General still remember this matter?"

Zhang Ya's hangover dissipated almost instantly, and cold sweat streamed down her forehead.

"Isn't Liu Bei's army a formidable cavalry force?" Zhang Yue's voice trailed off, but it grew louder in Zhang Ya's ears.

"His black armor shone like the sun, swift as wind and rain. Back in Hebei, he routed the Yellow Turbans and Black Mountain bandits, numbering in the millions. 'Throwing down a cup, the enemy trembled in fear; donning armor, the bandits fled in terror.' These sixteen characters are a fearsome reputation earned with the lives of hundreds of thousands."

The tent was completely silent.

The leaders, who had been laughing and joking just moments before, now looked ashen-faced.

Zhang Ya's Adam's apple bobbed, and she forced herself to remain calm, saying, "That Liu Xuande is the Prefect of Changsha. Changsha belongs to Jingzhou, and Yichun belongs to Yangzhou."

How dare he cross the border? A prefect is not allowed to leave the prefecture's borders without an imperial edict; this is a law of the Han Dynasty. Liu Bei, a member of the imperial family and a renowned scholar, values ​​his reputation above all else; how could he possibly defy such a great disgrace?

No sooner had the words left his mouth than another scout rode in, scrambling and stumbling into the tent, his voice shrill and distorted with fear: "General! Those iron cavalry have breached the camp and are heading straight for the central army! The general leading the troops, clad in white robes and wielding a silver spear, is invincible!"

Unstoppable! Look at the banner—look at the banner!

"What's the banner?" Zhang Ya demanded sharply.

"Red background, red lettering, the four characters 'Jing Sai Tie Qi' are written in large characters!"

Inside the large tent, there was a deathly silence.

The ceramic bowl in Zhang Ya's hand fell to the ground and shattered, splashing the hangover soup all over his boots.

The fat on his face twitched a few times, and the smug look he had just had vanished, replaced by deep-seated fear.

Of course he knew about Liu Bei's achievements!

No, it should be said that among all the thieves in the world, who does not know the formidable reputation of Liu Bei?

In the first year of the Zhongping era, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, with a force of one million, swept across eight provinces, shaking the entire land. Liu Bei, a commoner, gathered a righteous army, and on the banks of the Zhang River, two thousand defeated one hundred thousand, capturing Zhang Liang amidst ten thousand troops and beheading Zhang Bao beneath a fortified city.

In the second year of Zhongping, more than a million people from the Black Mountain tribes rose up again in the Taihang Mountains. It was he again who defeated dozens of tribes in a short period of time, making the Black Mountain bandits cry out for their fathers and mothers, either surrendering or fleeing, and none dared to confront his might.

Those were no ordinary bandits; they were the Black Mountain Army, a million strong force that even the imperial army could not defeat!

Zhang Ya felt her whole body trembling, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

He disregarded all pride and immediately ordered, "Quickly! Send the order to gather all troops and retreat south!"

No, no, retreat to the mountains! Run into the mountains!

But it was too late.

Outside the tent, the sound of horses' hooves arrived suddenly, like a torrential downpour.

Before the guards could rush out of the main tent, they heard a series of piercing screams and the clanging of metal coming from the direction of the camp gate. Immediately afterward, a tattered apricot-yellow flag was thrown in from outside the camp gate, crashed to the ground, and trampled underfoot by iron hooves, crushing into the mud.

The tent curtain was cleaved open with a single stroke of a knife.

Zhao Yun stood on his horse before the tent, blood still dripping from his silver spear.

He looked down at the group of pale-faced bandits in the tent, his gaze calm as still water, as if these thousands of bandits were nothing but chickens and dogs!

Behind him, hundreds of Jingse Iron Cavalry, their black armor gleaming in the sun, their spears like a forest, attacked from all sides, unstoppable, and the bandits could only flee in terror!

Zhang Ya escaped from the camp in a disheveled state, protected by dozens of her personal guards.

He mounted a nag and, without bothering to discern the direction, whipped the horse's rump frantically, galloping wildly toward the rear of the camp.

Behind them, the sounds of battle shook the heavens. The cold glint of the Jingse Iron Cavalry shone brightly in the morning light, their crimson banners and black armor awe-inspiring, and with each rise and fall of their spears, the enemy forces crumbled in disarray.

Zhao Yun's white robes stood out conspicuously amidst the chaos of battle, and wherever he went, no one could withstand a single blow from him.

Zhang Ya whipped his thin, sluggish horse desperately, not daring to look back. Only after galloping three or four miles, when the shouts of battle behind him gradually faded into the distance, did he dare to slightly rein in the horse and look back.

That one look chilled him to the bone.

The camp stretching for miles west of Yichun City had been reduced to a sea of ​​fire.

His army, which he had painstakingly built up over several years and boasted of tens of thousands of soldiers, was now at a loss, like a piece of fat meat on a chopping board, completely at the mercy of others.

The routed soldiers were scattered all over the mountains and fields, abandoning their helmets and armor, trampling each other. Their cries could be heard everywhere.

The Han army's iron cavalry swept through the enemy lines as if they were in an empty field, invincible wherever they went.

Zhang Ya's lips turned white, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably.

He wasn't unaware of those stories.

No, it should be said that such things were commonplace in the annals of the Han Dynasty.

During the Yongping era, Zhao Chongguo stationed several hundred cavalrymen in Huangzhong, and the tens of thousands of Qiang people dared not invade.

During the Jianchu era, Ban Chao led thirty-six men to roam the Western Regions, and none of the thirty-six kingdoms dared to disobey him.

Even in this dynasty, when Duan Ying campaigned against the Qiang, he often led several thousand Han cavalry to pursue and defeat the fleeing Qiang, whose numbers often numbered in the tens of thousands, causing them to collapse at the first encounter.

Hundreds of Han soldiers in crimson robes and red banners chasing thousands or even tens of thousands of bandits across the mountains and fields—such things were all too common in Han history books.

But he couldn't understand.

"That's twenty thousand men!" Zhang Ya almost growled through gritted teeth. "Twenty thousand men! Even if they were twenty thousand pigs, it would take them three days and three nights to capture them! How could Liu Bei's Jingse Iron Cavalry, even if they were made of iron, move through the enemy lines so easily?"

What's more, you, Liu Bei, lack martial ethics! You actually launched a sneak attack!

The more he thought about it, the angrier and more wronged he felt. If he had known Liu Bei was coming, he would have run away long ago! No, if he had known Liu Bei was coming, he would never have besieged Yichun.

As early as when Qu Xing was defeated and killed, he had carefully studied Liu Bei's battle tactics - the man's forte was to launch surprise attacks with elite cavalry, striking like thunder, directly hitting the heart of the enemy, and giving the opponent no chance to breathe.

This is a typical tactic used by fierce border generals, leaving the heroes of the Central Plains completely bewildered.

"If I had known you, Liu Bei, were coming in person, I would have fled long ago!" Zhang Ya thought bitterly. "Why did I end up in such a sorry state, getting slaughtered by a mere few hundred men in my own camp?"

But he was no ordinary bandit. Zhang Ya had his own extraordinary abilities to rise from a commoner to a commander of tens of thousands.

He quickly calmed down from his fear and anger and began to plan his escape route.

"There's still time," he said through gritted teeth to those around him. "As long as we escape this valley and enter the mountains, there are plenty of deep valleys and mountain tribes within Yuzhang territory. I, Zhang Ya, have been operating in the mountains for many years, and which of the various leaders doesn't give me some face? As long as I can escape and recuperate for a few months, I can make a comeback whenever Liu Bei returns to Changsha."

He had barely finished speaking when one of his bodyguards suddenly pointed ahead in terror, his voice shrill and distorted: "General! Forward! Forward!"

Zhang Ya suddenly turned around.

Ahead, on the hillsides on both sides of the official road, rows of red flags had been erected at some point. The flags fluttered in the morning breeze, and the character "Han" was written in large cinnabar on each flag.

Immediately afterwards, dust billowed up on the hillside, and a cavalry force of nearly a thousand men, clad in black armor, charged out. The leader, a burly man with a dark, menacing face, held a long-tipped pole; it was Wen Chou.

Zhang Ya felt a sudden darkness before her eyes and almost fell off her horse.

He pulled hard on the reins and looked around. He saw red flags of the Han army everywhere.

The retreat route to the north of the city has been cut off, and Gao Lan's troops have also charged out to the east of the city. Behind the mulberry grove, flames are shooting into the sky, which is the direction where he stockpiled supplies.

This was precisely Zhao Yun's troop deployment: the Jingse Iron Cavalry charged forward from the front, while the Xuanjia Iron Cavalry flanked them from both sides, effectively trapping all the bandits beneath Yichun City.

Although the bandits were numerous and powerful, they were so disoriented from the fighting that they had no idea how many Han soldiers there were. They only felt that there were red flags and iron cavalry all around them.

Wen Chou did not rush to charge. He reined in his horse and stood on the high slope, pointing with his long spear. Behind him, nearly a thousand armored cavalrymen shouted in unison, "Those who surrender will be spared!"

This shout, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami, echoed endlessly through the valley.

The bandits, already terrified by Zhao Yun's attacks, now saw their retreat cut off and surrounded by Han troops on all sides, and their last shred of fighting spirit collapsed instantly.

Some people dropped their weapons and knelt down, some jumped into the Yuan River to try to swim away and escape, and some simply collapsed on the ground and wailed.

Many others threw down their weapons, crouched on the ground with their heads in their hands, and didn't even have the strength to run away.

Fortunately, Zhang Ya was from the south and was skilled in boating. He and his guards found a bamboo raft on the shore and crossed the river to escape.

The rebel general fled, and the Han army won a great victory in this battle, killing over a thousand enemy soldiers and routing the rest.

However, Zhang Ya's troops numbered 20,000. Although they were defeated by Zhao Yun's surprise attack, more than 10,000 soldiers still fled south under the leadership of a few surviving leaders.

Zhang Ya fled south without daring to rest. After narrowly escaping Yuanshui Ferry, he and dozens of his personal guards fled for their lives along the rugged path on the northern slope of Wugong Mountain, gradually gathering up the remnants of the defeated soldiers along the way.

Those stragglers who had managed to escape from Yichun City, scattered in groups of three or five, abandoned their armor and weapons, wandering aimlessly through the mountains and forests. When they saw Zhang Ya's banner in the distance, they gathered around it like drowning people grabbing onto driftwood.

By the afternoon of the following day, Zhang Ya retreated to a mountain valley called Yangqi Ridge, more than fifty miles from Yichun.

He reined in his horse and looked back. He saw the mountain path teeming with defeated soldiers, young and old, their cries of despair echoing across the land. He ordered his guards to take a rough count and found that he had managed to gather over ten thousand men. Although these men were exhausted and demoralized, they were still a force of over ten thousand. With a little reorganization, they might be able to launch a counterattack.

Zhang Ya ordered all units to rest on the spot and cook their meals. He personally inspected each camp, reassured the leaders, and ordered his personal guards to distribute the several bags of gold ingots they carried to the generals to stabilize morale.

After completing his inspection, he returned to his central command tent, plopped down on a large rock, and let out a long sigh of relief.

Several trusted leaders gathered around, all looking disheveled and bewildered.

Zhang Ya looked around at everyone, then suddenly burst into laughter.

The leaders looked at each other, wondering why their commander was laughing.

Lieutenant Zhang Yue tentatively asked, "General—why are you laughing?"

Zhang Ya stopped laughing, picked up a bowl of rice porridge, took a big gulp, wiped her mouth, and then slowly said, "I laugh at Liu Bei; in the end, he was just bluffing."

The leaders did not understand what he meant.

Zhang Ya put down the ceramic bowl, counted on her fingers, and said, "Think about it, why did we lose this battle today?"

Before anyone could answer, he replied, "It's not that our army is incapable of fighting, but rather that we were caught completely off guard. They stormed into our camp before dawn; how could anyone not be thrown into chaos? That's the first point."

"Secondly, the young general in white robes launched a surprise attack on my central command tent, cutting down my apricot-yellow flag. With the various units losing their orders and leaderless, they were routed. This victory was due to the surprise attack, not a failure in battle."

Upon hearing this, the leaders all nodded in agreement.

Seeing that everyone's expressions had eased slightly, Zhang Ya became even more smug and continued, "The most important thing is—has any of you seen Liu Bei's banner? Has anyone seen the prefect's canopy and flags?"

The crowd looked at each other and shook their heads. Indeed, from beginning to end, all they saw on the battlefield were the banners of the "Jingse Iron Cavalry" and the flags of generals such as Wen Chou and Gao Lan, but they never saw Liu Bei's own canopy, red banners, or four-horse carriage.

"That's it!" Zhang Ya slapped her thigh, her eyes gleaming. "Liu Bei himself isn't here! Only his generals have come! I've heard that Liu Bei has several great generals under his command—Zhao Yun, Wen Chou, and Gao Lan, all of whom are capable of defeating ten thousand men. These are the ones who came today. But no matter how powerful they are, they are just generals, not Liu Bei himself."

He stood up, paced back and forth, his tone becoming increasingly certain: "Who is that Liu Bei? The Prefect of Changsha! He belongs to Jingzhou..."

"Official! How dare he leave the prefecture's territory without permission? The laws of the Han Dynasty are strict; a prefect cannot cross the border without an imperial edict. Liu Bei, a member of the imperial family and a renowned scholar, values ​​his reputation above all else. How could he risk such a transgression for a mere Yichun? It would be truly strange if he came in person!"

He grew increasingly excited as he spoke: "As long as Liu Bei isn't here, what do we have to fear? No matter how capable his generals are, they only have a thousand or so cavalry. We still have over ten thousand soldiers here. As long as we hold our ground and defend our positions, how can he possibly devour us all? When they run out of supplies and retreat, the mountains of Yuzhang will still be our mountains, and the waters of Yuzhang will still be our waters!"

These words greatly invigorated the leaders in the tent. Indeed, unless the mighty Liu Bei himself came, what trouble could a few generals with a thousand or so cavalry possibly cause?

Zhang Yue breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "General, you are wise! I was just thinking that if Liu Bei really came in person, we would have no choice but to flee. Since he is a subordinate, he is nothing to worry about."

Zhang Ya laughed heartily, about to utter a few more grand pronouncements, when suddenly a personal guard stumbled in from outside the tent, his face ashen, his voice shrill and distorted with extreme fear: "General! It's terrible! The Han army! The Han army has outflanked us from behind!"

The tent fell silent instantly.

Zhang Ya frowned and shouted, "What's the panic? Is that young general in white robes catching up again? He only has about a thousand riders. They've chased this far; their horses must be exhausted. What's there to be afraid of!"

"No—no!" The guard shook his head frantically, pointing behind him, his words slurred, "It's not the Iron Cavalry!"

"It's the navy! It's warships! They're sailing upstream from the lower reaches of the Yuan River!"

"A navy?" Zhang Ya was taken aback. "Where did Yuzhang get a navy?"

The guards were almost in tears: "It's not the navy of Yuzhang! It's the navy of Changsha! And those banners say 'Liu, Prefect of Changsha of the Han Dynasty'! Liu Bei himself has come!"

Zhang Ya's smile froze instantly, looking worse than crying!

Liu Xuande!

He just said he wouldn't come, and here he is? And right behind our side?

How did he suddenly appear?! Did a divine soldier descend from the heavens?!