Li Dian POV

I turned back and saw her chasing after me but after a few paces, she got stymied by troops and was not able to catch up. I then continued to gallop about the battle front and swung my spear to deal with incoming enemies whilst looking for Lu Xiang. However, the enemies to our back had already begun to engage with our rearguard, resulting in a truly chaotic battlefield.

“Ah! 3,000-man general.” Just then, I saw my 3,000-man general and called out to her.

“Yes!” She responded but was not able to turn back as she was mired in battle.

“There’s no use in continuing to fight, did you not see our ambush behind!” I felt irritated and could not calm myself down as I yelled at her quickly, “Quickly! Quickly tell the vanguard to become the rearguard and the rearguard to become the vanguard and see if you can lead them to break through the surround!”

“Yes!” She replied and charged away. Though her capabilities are limited, at least she’s quick with her feet.

“Lord Li Dian!!” Just then, someone yelled out at me from behind. I turned back and saw that it was Lu Xiang who I was looking for.

“Behind!” Lu Xiang yelled out anxiously as she pointed in the direction where the ambush came from.

“No need to say any further.” I stopped Lu Xiang and drew the sword that hung by my waist and held it high above my head as I gave orders to the troops around me who were busy fighting Zhao Yun’s troops, “Everyone listen up! The rearguard will now be the vanguard! Begin retreating at once! We will break through their surround!”

After I finished yelling out the orders, I circled around the crowd and rode on with Lu Xiang in tow.

“Where were you?! I couldn’t find you!” My anger surged and I lost temper as I flared up at Lu Xiang, yelling above the racket, “Did you already notify the other 2 generals!!”

“They were with me, I already notified them!” Lu Xiang seriously responded and nodded, “After we charged into their formation, I began duelling with Zhao Yun but Zhao Yun did not engage me seriously and drew me away to the periphery.”

I see… So that’s what happened… The ambush was only sprung at the very last moment. They led us to be careless, making us think that we had an absolute advantage and charged in blindly. Our leading generals were then bogged down and separated. Finally, the ambush would be sprung and because we were separated, we could not respond immediately.

Kuh! We got thoroughly played. Looks like their entire strategy was watertight. But no matter what, I was far too careless. Even though I knew that they had more troops than what Zhao Yun commanded, I still gambled on the possibility that a rift had occurred.

And the ambush is led by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. These 2 will definitely do battle. Back when we were facing just Zhao Yun, I should have realised that something was weird when those 2 were not present!

Kuh… I even dared to give myself 30 points. From how things look now, even 0 would be far too generous.

“Lu Xiang! How many cavalry do you have left!”

“300, including my personal troops.”

I still have 100… And the other side is lightly armoured… I’ll gamble everything on this!

“Lu Xiang, see if you can get your cavalry to flank Guan Yu’s troops.”

“Alright!” Lu Xiang yelled and began gesturing with her hands, upon which a group of cavalry began separating from the chaotic battlefield and circling around it.

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quo;s not the time to consider how to achieve victory anymore. What we need to think about now is how to break through the surround and survive.

Ahead of us was the end of our rearguard. When I looked over, I saw that Zhang Fei and Guan Yu’s troops were also lightly armoured and in total, they numbered roughly 6,000 or so, the same as Zhao Yun’s troops.

So their total strength is about 12,000. But because of the chaos from the pincer attack, and the collapse in troop morale, it is impossible for us to mount a counterattack. Now, all we can do is see if the several hundred cavalry troops can tear a hole in the 6,000 strong force. At the very least, we need to break the formation and enemy lines on Guan Yu’s side before we can try to escape between Guan Yu and Zhang Fei’s troops.

However, even when we reached the battle front on this side, we still did not see mine or Lu Xiang’s battle flags amongst Guan Yu’s formation, which meant that the cavalry had yet to charge past enemy lines.

Kuh! Looks like the troops here have large s.h.i.+elds with them huh? If that were not the case, they would have charged through by now.

By now, we had already made our way to the battle front. Looking ahead, there were only “關” and “飛” flags flying about. Looking about, I found that though the rearguard had been successfully converted into a vanguard, the situation was not ideal in the least. From before up till now, we have not made much progress retreating at all, much less breaking through the surround.

The Guan-Zhang force on the other hand had charged into our formation and broke our defensive lines, with more pouring in every second. It was clear that their moral was very high. If it were not for the fact that our troops were caught between the enemy and a city, they would have likely deserted by now.

Kuh! Even though Liu Bei is already dead, just his will alone is enough to make people this zealous!?

“Yaa!” I roared out as I charged into the fray, throwing enemies left and right. After about several dozen paces in, I was completely surrounded.

“Lord Li Dian!” When they saw me charge in, the troops who had hung on desperately until now followed and helped me beat back the surrounding enemies, tearing a small hole into the surround.

“Haa!”

“Lu Xiang?!” I yelled out in surprise as I saw Lu Xiang charge and hack past me, dual-wielding a spear and a sword just as I did, as she led her cavalry into a charge.

“Follow behind, everyone! There is no use maintaining the defensive lines!” Sensing hope, I yelled to the troops behind, “Charge! The enemy is only 5-6,000 strong! Breaking through is only a matter of time!”

“Ohhhh!!!”

Though I said as much, all this was just to boost troop morale. It would be much easier if we had more cavalry but my troops now are almost entirely heavy infantry, so they are slow. So slow in fact that the hole that we just tore has begun to shrunk because the troops behind were not fast enough to continue pouring in. They were also exhausted from the battle before. Now they have been caught in a pincer and their fates are practically sealed.

The cavaly, has the cavalry not charged in yet?!

I looked over and saw that there was no commotion over there. If the cavalry is unable to draw enough attention away from us, it will be very difficult to break through the surround. By my estimates, we will be completely decimated in less than an hour.

Including both Lu Xiang and I.

“Lord Li Dian, we meet again.”

Un?! Just then, a stern and righteous voice came from the side. Even though she could have just attacked me, she still greeted me first.

I raised my hat to get a good glimpse as sweat streamed down my face. When I saw a green gown, a head of red hair and the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, I closed my eyes and spat out a sigh.

“It’s been a while, Lord Guan Yu.” I returned the greeting and saluted while Guan Yu saluted back. We were surrounded by troops from both sides but all that we saw was each other. I dealt with any incoming enemies with my periphery vision while no troops from my side dared to approach Guan Yu. Even when any of them did try, they would be stopped short by her domineering aura as she pointed her glaive at them.

That glaive of hers does seem to be very solid though. If I get cut by that, I will probably be split in half.

“You lot have lost your lord. Won’t you surrender? Imperial Chancellor Cao will definitely treat you all well.”

I had to try even though I knew it was hopeless as it was 1 of my primary missions after all. At the very least, it afforded me the opportunity to calm myself down.

“The Imperial Chancellor did treat me very well but my place is here.” Guan Yu said with a chilly look in her eyes that nearly made me pull my reins and gallop in the opposite direction, “Now that you lot have come here to do battle with us, even if big brother is not around, I will fight till the last drop of blood leaves me.”

When she finished, Guan Yu raised her glaive and readied her stance. Looks like she intends to let me make the first move.

However, at this time, I do not have the leisure to do battle with her. But it’s not like I can evade her and continue charging forth to break through the surround either.

“Yaa!” I roared as I charged for Guan Yu with my spear ready to stab at her. Guan Yu stared at me motionlessly until my spear was about to reach her horse.

*Dang*!

She swung her glaive upwards, sending my spear flying up. This made me confirm for a second time that my strength was incomparable to Guan Yu’s. Unlike with Lu Xiang, the difference is completely insurmountable.

“Haa!” She yelled as she swiveled her glaive and slashed down. I hurriedly tugged on the reins and narrowly dodged the attack.

*Si*!

Eh? At the same time, a tearing sound filled my ears and all of a sudden, it seemed like my field of vision widened considerably. I blinked and when I regained my senses, I saw the 2 halves of my hat floating down.

To think that I was still cut. Was it the aura from her glaive?! I was shocked and hurriedly touched my forehead. As expected, there was a shallow wound there. It’s only been 2 bouts too…

“You’re not focused.” Guan Yu scolded and looked at me with eyes filled with pity, “While desiring to avoid battle with me, you tried to think about how you could escape the surround as quickly as possible. Did you never think of stabbing me before charging through?! Do you not even have that resolve in you!”

Kuh! I do not want to admit it but what Guan Yu said is what a warrior ought to be. Compared to her, my martial path is a lot longer.

… No, perhaps this is where my path ends.