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As expected, after nearly a hundred exchanges between Sunx Guan and Zang Ba, Zang Ba’s spear swiped past Sunx Guan’s ribs, prompting Sunx Guan to turn his horse and flee.
"Attack!" Guan Yu bellowed, and in an instant, the entire division’s Cloud Qi started to move, forming a massive blade that cleaved through the air from the direction of Guan Yu’s division, propelling all the troops forward in a charge!
A light blade shaped like the colossal Green Dragon Crescent, almost three hundred meters in length, was clearly etched with every pattern, thanks to the bolstering of the military formation consisting of thirty thousand soldiers. The sharp emerald light blade, intertwined with the energies of Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, and Taishi Ci, radiated in seven colors, fiercely striking the Yellow Turbans’ earthy Cloud Qi.
The seven-colored Qi from the others was eroded by the Yellow Turbans’ earthy Cloud Qi, but the gigantic light blade, with an unstoppable force, viciously split the Central Army of the Yellow Turbans.
Following Guan Yu’s initial strike, Zhao Yun let out a light shout, shook his Long Spear, and a flurry of pear blossoms instantly covered hundreds of meters. Zhang Fei unleashed a black shockwave in his agitation, while Taishi Ci hurled a Sky Piercer-shaped light blade almost two hundred meters in length towards the Yellow Turban Army, then drew his Precious Carved Bow to shoot out a multitude of golden, fine arrows that exploded right in front of the Yellow Turbans, covering an area of over a hundred meters.
Within five breaths, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci had depleted all their accumulated Inner Qi and available Cloud Qi, but they had also cleared a large swath of the Yellow Turbans. As the thunderous noise ended, Chen Xi casually opened his wooden folding fan with his right hand and waved it towards the dust, sweeping it all away like a broom through dust, revealing a crater nearly a kilometer in diameter carved out from among the Yellow Turban forces.
Both friend and foe halted in their tracks, daring not to move. It was at this moment that Sunx Guan let out a thunderous roar, "Kill the enemy!" Then, with a burst of speed, he charged out, instantly causing the morale of the Soldiers of Mount Tai to surge and follow him in the attack on the Yellow Turban Army, sending the entire Yellow Turban Army into a complete rout as they turned and fled!
"All troops, advance!" Chen Xi cried out hoarsely, the situation proving even better than he had anticipated, though it seemed eighty percent was due to Zang Ba’s spies defecting first. When the Yellow Turban soldiers saw their ranks being decimated and their own turning to flee, their morale plummeted, prompting them to follow suit.
"Hold the line! Steady!" Chen Bai yelled at the top of his lungs, even going so far as to cut down several Yellow Turban soldiers with his sword. But he couldn’t stop the routed troops; instead, even his own personal troops began to flee, and in the end, he was swept away with them.
"Pass on the orders to Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, and Sunx Guan to pursue the Yellow Turban routed troops with all their might, until the Yellow Turban collapse was complete," Chen Xi directed to the messenger beside him. "Wu Dun will lead the Tuntian Soldiers to capture prisoners along the way. Any who dare resist are to be killed without mercy! Impose martial law in all conquered areas, and execute any who cause trouble after capitulation. In extreme cases, allow decimations to discipline the troops, eliminating the worst performers!" He expected results within five days.
Run, run, run! Even Zang Ba himself was somewhat blinded by the chaos, desperately fleeing towards other Yellow Turban strongholds. Chen Bai was dead, cut down by that Yellow Turban general whom Zang Ba had once tricked into crippling himself. Clearly, the general had overestimated his own ability, thinking he could steady the situation by taking over after killing Chen Bai. But when he tried to stop the rout, he was thrown off his horse and trampled into a pulp by tens of thousands of men.
Two days had passed, and Zang Ba could now see the encampment of Fuyun; he had lost much weight, his cheekbones starkly prominent, looking as though he had crawled out from the soil itself. These two days were amongst the most agonizing he had ever endured, leading the desperate flight of over three hundred thousand Yellow Turbans.
They started with horses, but it wasn’t long before the horses died. As they continued, some dropped out of the ranks while others joined in. The troop became bloated through this ongoing process of attrition and reinforcement but it was exactly because of this that they weren’t wiped out by the five madmen pursuing them.
Guan Yu and his four companions relentlessly oppressed the Yellow Turban bandits ahead, not giving them a moment’s respite. Whenever the bandits tried to regroup, Guan Yu’s group would pounce like flesh-cutting knives, forcing the Yellow Turbans to run once more. Then they followed behind, driving tens of hundreds of thousands of desperate Yellow Turbans like a flock of sheep. As for those who fell behind, Wu Dun dealt with them. Already, he had captured over a hundred thousand stragglers. The ones who continued to flee were mostly young and strong.
Seeing the camp of Fuyun, nearly all of the Yellow Turbans became excited, their pace strengthened. At the same time, the attacks from Guan Yu and his comrades grew even sharper, brutally cutting down several chunks of the Yellow Turban Army.
When the large group of the Yellow Turban Army was spotted on the move, Fuyun noticed the situation immediately. Out of caution, he began organizing his troops right away. He then ordered his capable lieutenant, Li Fang, to take three thousand of his elite soldiers to intercept the enemy. Whatever the enemy’s purpose, halting them was the correct course of action. Besides, in Fuyun’s view, even if they couldn’t stop them completely, simply delaying them would be enough.
"Halt! Ah~" The forces of Fuyun that hadn’t finished assembling were led by an officer who ended up sharing the same fate as the limping bandit leader previously fooled by Zang Ba; knocked off his horse and trampled into a pulp. And the three thousand weapon-armed, armorless Yellow Turban soldiers were directly swept up and rolled into Fuyun’s division.
Over three hundred thousand stalwart routed soldiers swarmed forward. Unable to see the front from the back, they crushed into one another, not giving Fuyun’s troops a chance. They scattered the front ranks and rolled back, throwing the entire Fuyun division into chaos. Not long after, the whole division was engulfed, swept along with the massive flow as they ran forward.
Guan Yu and the others felt a chill run through them at this sight. The Yellow Turbans were defeated. Fuyun’s division was dispersed by four hundred thousand routed troops. Hence, by the time they reached Hou Qian, even with a large number falling behind, there would still be over six hundred thousand routed soldiers. At that point, Hou Qian’s forces wouldn’t last a quarter hour from being scattered to being dragged along in the rout. The Yellow Turbans were finished.
Zang Ba, leading the routed soldiers, had been running desperately for four days. In those four days, he only managed to eat twice. The rest of the time, he had to either run or be dragged along by others. The entire Yellow Turban force had become a pack of terrified birds, ready to fly at the slightest stir. A small disturbance would trigger a few to run, soon followed by a multitude, and then hundreds of thousands would flee for their lives. Zang Ba could swear that many who ran did not even know why they were running...
On the afternoon of the fourth day, Zang Ba finally reached the main camp of Hou Qian. They could have arrived even earlier, but Hou Qian’s relocation of the camp due to food logistics led to a change in position. Zang Ba had to cover a lot of extra ground before he discovered Hou Qian’s main camp. Dispelling any worries about dispersing Hou Qian’s forces, Zang Ba was now more concerned about how to stop the momentum.
Hou Qian met the same fate as Fuyun. A quarter-hour later, Hou Qian’s division, which originally had three hundred thousand Yellow Turbans, was swept away completely. Hou Qian himself was knocked down and trampled by Zang Ba’s dark foot, and then nearly six or seven hundred thousand Yellow Turbans trampled over in succession, grinding Hou Qian into dust.
Zang Ba, desperate, kept running circles. The Yellow Turbans had lost any sense of leadership and were being led by Zang Ba in circles throughout Qingzhou. More kept falling out of line, and those left behind were taken in by Wu Dun who followed.
The group that had enveloped Hou Qian’s forces, close to a million strong young and able-bodied men, continually dwindled during this endless marathon. They ran from Zhangqiu to Zibo, from Zibo to Banyang, and then back to Zhangqiu. A million Yellow Turbans were finished...
[bookid=3280030,bookname="Immortal Three Kingdoms"]
