readytorunbook Chapter 279 General Han, This Road Is Blocked
Chapter 279 General Han, This Road Is Blocked
Han Dang retreated again. Having suffered two fatal blows in just one night, even Han Dang, with his strong character, was somewhat on the verge of collapse.
Nevertheless, driven by his veteran instincts, Han Dang made the right decision, leading his men to cover the rear and prepare to ambush the Han army's pursuers. After waiting for a quarter of an hour without seeing Hao Yu's pursuers, he heard Shen Yi's footsteps from the east. Fearing that Shen Yi would attack from his flank, he dared not delay and turned to retreat.
It was already daylight, the sun was out, and the road was much easier to travel than at night. However, Han Dang was not happy at all; instead, he became even more worried.
Because the influence of the environment is two-way, if it makes their journey easier, it also makes it easier for the Han army to move, and they might catch up soon.
Han Dang walked quickly with a gloomy face. He had not gone five miles when he suddenly heard a cry that sounded like crying.
"General..."
Han Dang turned his head and saw ten soldiers dressed in personal guard uniforms carrying a corpse, tumbling and crawling along the rugged mountain path towards him.
Those were his personal guards, or more precisely, the personal guards who stayed behind with Han Zong to cover his retreat and buy him time to escape. Now that his personal guards have returned, what about Han Zong?
A sense of foreboding rose in Han Dang's heart, his expression changed drastically, and he stumbled towards his personal guards.
The two sides quickly met up, and the ten guards knelt down at the same time, wailing, "General, we failed in protecting the young master, the young master..."
Han Dang didn't hear a word they said. At this moment, Han Dang's eyes were fixed on his son's corpse, his mind was blank, and a loud buzzing sound suddenly appeared in his ears. The sudden tinnitus seemed to carry some mysterious power, ruthlessly separating him from the whole world.
The out-of-body state lasted for an unknown amount of time before Han Dang finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed backward.
Seeing this, the kneeling and weeping guards didn't bother to get up. They crawled behind Han Dang at an unprecedented speed to become his human cushion.
Han Dang collapsed onto his personal guards, who then lifted him up and laid him flat before he slowly opened his eyes and asked with difficulty, "What exactly happened over there? Why did only a few of you return? Where are the others?"
At this moment, Han Dang seemed to have lost all his energy, and his tone was weaker than ever before.
He had anticipated this outcome when Han Zong covered his retreat, but the impact of imagining it was completely different from witnessing it firsthand.
You have to understand that Han Zong was his eldest son, the successor he had carefully groomed, but he died before him. How could one bear to lose a son in old age?
The guards hesitated, unsure of what to say, mainly worried that Han Dang would be further agitated and faint again.
Han Dang rebuked him sharply, "Speak! I want to hear the truth."
The guard could only reply, "After the young master's death, we fought back with all our might, vowing to avenge him. But the Han army was too many, and each one was fearless and fought even more fiercely than the Wei army. We killed one wave after another, and there was no way to kill them all. When the commander saw that things were hopeless, he ordered us to take the young master's body and retreat. He led the other brothers to cover our retreat and buy us time. Now it seems that..."
They were Han Dang's personal guards, who had followed him in many battles over the years, fighting against Liu Bei and Cao Cao, and some of the veterans had even fought against Dong Zhuo. Naturally, they knew the strength of the armies of Wei, Han, and Wu.
Han Dang asked incredulously, "So, apart from you few, everyone else died in battle?"
As he spoke, Han Dang felt a piercing pain. Those were his personal guards, many of whom were descendants of veterans who had fought alongside him and Sun Jian against Dong Zhuo. They were his nephews and nieces whom he had watched grow up, and now the entire army had been wiped out.
Thinking that he would never see those familiar faces again, Han Dang finally couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood and roared to the sky: "Guan Xing, you little thief, I will never let you go! And Xu Sheng, I will never let you get away with this!"
He hated Guan Xing, but he hated Xu Sheng even more. If Xu Sheng hadn't disobeyed military orders and acted on his own initiative, how could he have suffered such a crushing defeat?
Compared to god-like opponents, pig-like teammates are the most hateful.
The guards around Han Dang were startled by his vomiting of blood and quickly advised him, "General, you must pull yourself together. The young master and the brothers are counting on you to avenge them."
The words "revenge" possessed a special magic, which made Han Dang's eyes shine with a glint of light. He muttered to himself, "That's right, revenge. I must take revenge. I must cut off Guan Xing's head to appease my son's soul."
He grabbed his personal guard by the collar and struggled to sit up. With the guard's help, he stood up and said, "Let's continue. We need to get back to the Grand Commander as soon as possible to discuss countermeasures. We must teach Guan Xing a lesson."
He still doesn't know who ambushed him last night, but it doesn't matter. They were all Guan Xing's men, so this debt will naturally be attributed to Guan Xing.
Han Dang set off again with his son's body, asking his personal guards along the way, "You just said that the Han army is even fiercer than the Wei army, and that they fight without regard for their lives?"
The guard nodded and said, "Yes, we have fought alongside you in so many battles over the years, even against Guan Yu. We have seen all kinds of battles, but the Han army last night was really too fierce. They all fought with the attitude of 'I would rather be killed by you than not be killed by you.' It was terrifying to watch."
"What's even more speechless is that there are many familiar faces among them. There's one named Zeng Aniu who used to be in our army. I even beat up that kid before. This guy used to be too scared to say a word in front of me, and he would even tremble when he saw me from afar. But last night he was like a different person. He fought like a madman. The young master was killed by him."
Han Dang gritted his teeth and cursed, "Damn Zhang Cheng."
If what the guards said is true, then this Zeng Aniu was transferred to Zhang Cheng's command during Lü Meng's counterattack on Jianye and was captured by Guan Xing. Without Zhang Cheng sending troops and supplies, Guan Xing could not have developed so quickly.
Damn it, how come Jiangdong is full of these traitors who aid the enemy?
And Guan Xing, what magic does he possess that allows him to transform these lowly soldiers who were just getting by in the Wu army into elite troops in such a short time?
And that damned Lü Meng, if he had killed Guan Yu and his son at Maicheng back then, there wouldn't be this mess today.
If only Grand Commander Zhou were here, with his abilities, he would never have allowed the Guan family father and son to be so arrogant.
In just two miles, Han Dang cursed every colleague he could think of, but he didn't curse himself.
Han Dang continued forward, cursing and swearing. After walking for more than half an hour, he came to another canyon. This time, he did not dare to enter immediately but ran to the entrance of the canyon to check it out.
There's no such thing as a third time. After suffering huge losses twice, I'll definitely be more cautious the third time. Besides, it's daylight now and visibility is better, so I can see the situation in the valley clearly.
Han Dang took a closer look and indeed found something amiss. There were figures vaguely hidden in the grass in the canyon ahead, and there were no birds chirping, so it was obvious that someone was lying in ambush.
Han Dang was so angry that his lungs felt like they were going to explode. He gritted his teeth and cursed, "Damn Han soldiers, how come they are like flies in a latrine, infiltrating everywhere? Guan Xing, that little thief, doesn't he intend to give me any way out?"
The guard asked, "What should we do? Should we retreat?"
Han Dang shook his head and said, "Our retreat has definitely been blocked by the Han army that ambushed us last night. We have no way to retreat but to fight our way through."
"Fortunately, this place is too far from the corridor, and the Han army will be able to infiltrate here silently without alerting us, so their forces will definitely not be too large. We have a chance to break through."
Even Han Dang himself wasn't confident in his words. His forces had been reduced to less than 7,000 after being defeated by the Han army, and he had also lost his strongest personal guard, which had caused the Wu army's combat strength to drop by more than 30%.
More importantly, Wu Jun was exhausted after fighting for so long, and his morale was extremely low. Under such circumstances, it seemed unreliable to launch an attack on the defensive positions set up by the Han army. But what other choice did he have but to fight head-on?
Han Dang quickly made arrangements, leaving 3,000 men to block Shen Yi's pursuers, while he personally led the rest of the army to prepare for a charge.
Before any action could be taken, a man stepped out from the Han army formation ahead, clasped his hands and shouted, "This humble general Wu Yue pays his respects to General Han. I humbly request that you turn around and take a detour, as I will guard this place and prevent you from passing."