Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 484 Zhang Yan Runs
Zhang Yan traveled through the mountains and forests and finally got out of the mountains. In front of him was a village with crisscrossing paths and curling smoke. In the fields, he could see a few oxen pulling iron plows and walking slowly.

"General Zhang, we're here! This must be a village outside of Langtiao County. Only the villages here can be so wealthy. A small village can have so many oxen."

Hearing his men's joyful shouts, Zhang Yan was also a little excited.

"Okay, we're here, we're finally here, hahahaha, Liu He, ah Liu He, you would never have thought in your dreams that I, Zhang Yan, would go straight to your lair today. Let's see how you can stop me."

He turned around and shouted to the soldiers behind him: "Brothers, charge out, flatten the village, capture the county town, the money, food, and women are all ours!"

"Oh ha ha...robbing money, robbing women..."

A total of 40,000 Black Mountain soldiers rushed out of the mountains and forests. From a distance, it was like a hornet's nest had been broken, causing a swarm of bees to come out. The crowds of people were black and continuous.

When the villagers saw this scene, they were all terrified.

"Bandits, bandits!"

"The bandits are coming again, everyone run away..."

Zhang Yan looked at these confused and frightened villagers, and the more he looked, the more excited he became.

"Bingzhou, oh Bingzhou, you have frightened me, Zhang Yan, for so many years. Now I can finally avenge my past humiliation. Today I will rob and kill as much as I can, haha."

He rode his horse and rushed into the village, roaring.

However, just as he ran into the village, he slowly stopped and the smile on his face gradually stiffened.

"Huh? Where are the people? Where have they gone? Weren't there so many people just now?"

He ran around the village, searching for a long time, but couldn't see a single person except his own Black Mountain Army.

"General, general..."

Several soldiers ran over, panting.

"Something is wrong. No one is missing from the village. The brothers have searched the entire village but can't find anything valuable. Every household's rice jar is empty, and there's nothing in the livestock pen except manure."

Zhang Yan suddenly had a very bad feeling in his heart.

"There were so many villagers just now, and there was manure in the livestock pen, which naturally means that there were livestock in it. How could they all disappear in the blink of an eye? Could it be... Could it be..."

He thought of a possibility, and as he thought about it, the expression on his face began to become one of fear.

"There's a problem... there's a problem... hurry, retreat!"

He hurriedly gave the order to retreat. Among the 40,000 Black Mountain troops, there were a group of people who had participated in the previous battles against Bingzhou. Seeing this scene and Zhang Yan's expression, these people recalled the unbearable scenes of being tricked so many times.

Led by these people, the 40,000 Black Mountain troops, who had just rushed out of the mountains and forests, began to run back at a faster speed than before.

However, a scene that made them feel desperate appeared.

An army slowly walked out from the forest behind.

Zhang Yan didn't even look carefully. When he saw this situation, he immediately determined that he had been ambushed and quickly turned around and ran in the other direction of the village.

"Where are you going, old thief Zhang Yan?"

From the mountain road on the west side of the village, small groups of soldiers and horses suddenly emerged and quickly formed an army to block them.

"The veteran of the Anmin Army, Du Xian, the commander of Taiyuan County, has been waiting here for a long time."

Zhang Yan recognized the attire of these soldiers at a glance. It was the armor of the Anmin Army that had given him nightmares for several years.

"You...you..."

Zhang Yan looked around and found himself surrounded, feeling extremely desperate.

"General Zhang, what should we do? We are surrounded..." "I don't want to die. My wife just gave birth..."

The Montenegrin troops under his command were still aggressive just now, but after all, they had not received any military training and were just a group of mobs. When they saw that the situation was unfavorable, they immediately lost their morale. Many of them even knelt down and begged for mercy, crying bitterly.

"Stop arguing!"

Zhang Yan was very upset by their shouting.

"Zhang Yan, you really only care about food and not about fighting. You were defeated and plotted against by my lord so many times in the past. You have been more obedient in recent years. My lord spared you and did not cause you any trouble. You actually got bold and dared to come and attack my Bingzhou. Fortunately, my lord and the military advisor had anticipated this. A few days ago, they ordered me to temporarily evacuate the villagers of more than 20 villages in the two nearby counties and move all the supplies away. I specially asked the soldiers to pretend to be villagers and wait for you here. Hehe, I didn't expect you to really come. Tsk tsk tsk, even the dumbest fish can't be caught by the same hook several times, right?"

Du Xian mocked Zhang Yan to his heart's content. His laughter echoed throughout the mountain village, making Zhang Yan feel ashamed, angry and afraid.

"Don't be so arrogant, kid. I think you only have a few thousand men, but I have 40,000. The worst that can happen is that both sides will be defeated today!"

His words were harsh, but the implication of using 40,000 troops to fight to the death with an enemy force of only a few thousand people actually revealed that he was 70% cowardly.

"Zhang Yan, Zhang Yan, why are you so focused on the things ahead that you forgot about me?"

A very loud voice came from behind. Zhang Yan looked back and saw two people riding horses coming out of the army that emerged from the mountains and forests.

After seeing the faces of these two people clearly, Zhang Yan's pupils dilated instantly.

"You...Xu Huang, Qian Zhao! When did you...when did you join Liu He? You actually fought against me for him!"

The people who came were Xu Huang and Qian Zhao. They were both wearing armor, one holding a big axe and the other holding a spear. They looked at Zhang Yan with a teasing look on their faces.

"Hahaha, Captain Du just said you are stupid, and it really is true. My Baibo Army is different from you. You make a living by robbing, but what about me? I make a living by doing business. Doing business with merchants can make money and food, and I can buy weapons and armor from them. Then doing business with the court is the same, isn't it? The price given by the general is much more generous than those merchants, and it is enough for my Baibo Army to eat and use for half a year. Besides, you and I are mortal enemies. We have fought no less than ten times in the past few years. I can teach my old opponent a lesson and make money at the same time. Where in the world can I find such a good thing?"

After he said this, Zhang Yan immediately understood.

"Okay, okay. I never thought that a bandit like you would actually start doing business with the imperial court. Aren't you afraid that you will get what you want but not what you spend?"

"General Zhang, what you said is not right." Du Xian said, "Since you, Zhang Yan, can accept Yuan Shao's benefits to deal with our Bingzhou, then why can't his Baibo Army accept our money and food to deal with you?"

He suddenly looked serious: "Okay, stop talking nonsense, either dismount and surrender, or I'll make you bleed on the spot!"

"Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

The troops in front and behind shouted this sentence at the same time.

How could Zhang Yan be willing to surrender like this? He secretly used his peripheral vision to check the surrounding terrain.

"Humph, surrender? Surrender to your uncle! My name Chu Feiyan is not false? You want to catch me? No way!"

He shouted at the top of his voice: "Brothers, we have been robbing for many years. If we surrender, there will be no good end! There are only a few thousand soldiers ahead. As long as we rush over, we can not only escape, but also capture the city. Then they will not be able to do anything to us!"

His shout did have some effect to some extent. Except for a small number of soldiers who were still thinking about surrendering, most of the 40,000 soldiers who had originally lost their fighting spirit picked up their weapons again and charged forward with all their might.

Du Xian and Xu Huang issued orders at the same time.

"Kill it!"

Zhang Yan acted as if he was leading by example, and his encouragement boosted the morale of the Black Mountain Army soldiers.

However, after the two armies clashed, the gap in combat effectiveness between the Anmin Army led by Du Xian and the Black Mountain Army was immediately apparent.

Even though there were only 8,000 people on the opposite side, they still firmly occupied this front line. No matter how hard the Black Mountain Army attacked, they could hardly move forward even a little bit, let alone break through it completely. Soon, a large number of Black Mountain Army corpses were lying outside this defense line.

"Hmph, I, Zhang Yan, won't keep you company..."

Taking advantage of the chaos, Zhang Yan suddenly dismounted from his horse. With the skills he had acquired over half a lifetime, he moved around in the chaotic army and quickly got into the densely packed houses, then disappeared into the forest...

(End of this chapter)