Battle Royale of the Sinners

Once Qiuliju died before all of his subordinates, their morale crumbled. A portion of Qiuliju's men ran away from the battle while the ignorant ones were still fighting against Tian Yu's battalion.

"Don't run! As long as we kill that guy and get those woman, we'll win!"

A voice came from behind the battle lines. It was from a subordinate general under Qiuliju.

Because of the sudden command, the encircling soldiers regained their sense. No one deserted from the army anymore.

Wang Men, an officer under Gongsun Zan, had conspired with Gongsun Du to rebel against his lord. He was also an agent who had been exchanging information with Cheng Yu, the senior advisor of Cao Cao, which he learned about the coming of the empress.

At first, Gongsun Du, Wang Men, and Qiuliju wanted to kill Gongsun Zan and took over his forces and territories. Things changed when they learned about the empress convoy.

Gongsun Du did not want the empress because of lust. He tried to sow seeds of chaos within the country, so everybody could be busy fighting each other. Then, he would slowly expand toward the south as he could consolidate his new kingdom's foundation.

As long as the empress and Liu Xie were dead or missing, all warlords would go crazy over who would be the next in line for the throne, and many of them would eventually crown themselves like how Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao did.

Now, Wang Men gazed at the exhausted Zhao Yun and the terrified He Xing. If he could capture or kill the empress, his promotion would be guaranteed.

"Archers, shoot at them! Target your aim at that woman!"

Although Wang Men and the archers coordinated well, their preparation time allowed Zhao Yun to get up on his feet.

After Zhao Yun killed Qiuliju, he managed to steal his horse. He leaped and sat on the horseback and rode it to the empress.

"Your Majesty, please get on the horse."

Zhao Yun extended his hand, and He Xing grabbed it, getting on the horse with her son. She sat in front of Zhao Yun with Liu Xie in her arms.

Liu Xie regained his consciousness at this moment. He looked around in confusion.

"What happened here?"

"We are under attack, but we will flee from here soon."

"O-Okay!"

After they got on his horse, Wang Men hastened his order.

"Fire! Fire now!"

*SWOOSH*

*SWOOSH*

*SWOOSH*

A volley of arrows covered the sky once more.

"Hmm!"

Zhao Yun kicked the sides of his horse, rushing it forward. It charged at the soldiers before them in reflex.

With a horse, Zhao Yun got away from the hail of arrows.

*POEK*

*POEK*

*POEK*

The horse also ran over several archers, opening the path again.

Finally, Zhao Yun and others broke through the encirclement.

"We got out! Just a little more, your majesty!"

"U-Um."

As they broke out to the north, they had to journey southeast if they wanted to regroup with Tian Yu and others.

However, Wang Men and others were still eyeing on the empress. They had to get away from here first.

"ZILONG, TAKE THE EMPRESS AND GET OUT OF HERE!"

Tian Yu bellowed again. Though his battlefront situation was not favorable, he was more worried about Zhao Yun and He Xing.

Zhao Yun bit his lower lips as he galloped toward the north, heading toward Lu Zhi's location.

.

Wang Men glared at the fleeing Zhao Yun with hatred. Had Liu Yi not lusted for He Xing's body, they could have killed both Liu Xie and He Xing right there, and they would have completed their mission.

He turned toward Tian Yu, who seemed to be Zhao Yun's acquaintance.

Tian Yu and his force were left with less than 700 soldiers after the short fight, and he should have more men on the east side, who were fighting with Tadun's remaining soldiers.

Wang Men examined his remaining troops. There were still over 3,000 remaining.

Judging the pros and cons if he continued fighting, Wang Men did not think that trading more men against these Gongsun Zan's remnants was worth it.

"All units, retreat! We are going northward, and we'll rejoin with the main army!"

.

= Lu Zhi and Gongsun Du's battlefield =

Gongsun Du was using a hit-and-run tactic with his horse archers while Lu Zhi formed a fish-scale phalanx formation to protect his men from arrows.

Gongsun Du's horsemen panted, and their arms trembled as they were exhausted from the repeated shooting.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhi's men were still fresh as they had done nothing but defending. His soldiers might have run out of arrows to retaliate, but Gongsun Du's men were donating theirs to Lu Zhi's side.

*PONK*

*PONK*

*TINK*

Sounds of iron arrowhead hit with iron shields continued as if someone was playing a musical instrument.

"Hu."

The soldiers under the shields inhaled and exhaled in a rhythm. After defending for a while, they could predict Gongsun Du's volley timing.

The calm Lu Zhi, who stood behind the shield wall, observed the general situation. Since he could not fight against horse archers, he ordered his men to stand guard, waiting for an opportunity or Gongsun Du's mistake.

As the stalemate continued, a fleeing horseman with a woman and a child approached them from the south.

Since Lu Zhi could not see the face of the horseman, he thought they were a civilian family who had run away from the south battle.

"Ignore the horseman! Focus on your defense! All free hands pick up the arrows while you can. If there is anyone who tries to pretend to be a messenger, double-check his tokens!"

.

Zhao Yun got away from the southern battle and reached the central march convoy where Lu Zhi was. He stopped his horse to inspect the battle between Lu Zhi and Gongsun Du.

Lu Zhi was doing well as 12,000 soldiers formed a maze made of several squads of shield bearers. However, he could not attack Gongsun Du this way.

'Should I ask for their help? Will they attack me if I approach them like this?'

Currently, Zhao Yun did not carry a banner, which was necessary for the chaotic battlefields. The flags and names of their generals indicated which force they belonged to, and they could use them to identify if the other units from a distance was a friend or a foe.

Messengers also carried affiliate banners, white flags, and tokens of their affiliation. Once they got close to an army, they always showed their tokens and revealed their purposes of visiting.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yun had none of those.

'Will they believe me if I say that I'm carrying the empress and her son? Eh, they're on edge right now. They will kill me on the spot if I jump in there directly without a white flag.'

Zhao Yun looked at his cloth. Unfortunately, he was soaked with the enemy's blood.

He was not shameless enough to ask He Xing to strip her cloth either, and Liu Xie's fabric was all yellow as he was the crown prince.

'I can't enter the battle, and I can't rejoin with master Lu. I have to stay away from the battle until the situation is clear.'

As Zhao Yun was afraid of the friendly fire, he chose not to regroup with Lu Zhi yet. Instead, he redirected his horse toward a forest at the side.

"Sir Zhao?"

The empress did not understand Zhao Yun's motive.

"We can't head there, your majesty. They're in the middle of a battle. We don't have a white flag or a banner, so they will kill us if we get too close."

He Xing frowned.

Zhao Yun evaluated the situation, "Since we can't regroup with master Lu right now, we can still head north toward Ye City. If we travel at full speed until the next morning, I think we should reach there, and both of you will be safe."

"Can you wait for a moment?"

He Xing opened her clan chat and began typing.

.

He Xing: "Sir Lu, Zhao Yun and I are south of you. Can your soldiers open a path for us?"

Lu Zhi: "Is the lone horse you, your majesty!?"

He Xing: "Have you found us? We wish to seek refuge under your protection. Our convoy has been attacked, and only us three have fled here."

The moment He Xing mentioned that they were attacked, Jia Xu and others flooded the chat.

Jia Xu: "What happened over there!?"

Xun Yu: "Who's attacking you!?"

Jia Xu: "Sir Lu, what's going on? Who are you fighting?"

Ju Shou: "Where are you right now. My men have withdrawn to Henei, but we're ready for another deployment!"

Zhang He: "I'm at Kaifeng. Should I rush north instead of ambushing Yuan Shao?"

Ju Shou: "Yes, please. Abort the plan and help the empress first!"

Zhang He: "Understood, I'll forced-march to Ye ASAP!"

Li Feihong: "I'll transport the Mountaineer and the Immortal home in a few days."

Li Feihong: "I'm sorry, I can't be there on time again. I've just recovered Hua Shi's body."

Lu Zhi paused for a moment before he replied.

Lu Zhi: "Your majesty, do not regroup with me. Head north toward Ye like that and disguise as peasants. Being with our men is too risky."

Lu Zhi: "They've come here prepared, so I'm expecting another ambush or another raid."

Lu Zhi: "Escape with Zhao Yun while you can. We'll be the bait, and I'll pretend that you are with me."

He Xing: "Alright."

Sima Fang: "Where are you now?"

Lu Zhi: "We're south of Ye City. Can you deploy troops from Ye?"

Sima Fang: "That's what I'm about to do. I'll send the reserves and the police to receive you."

He Xing: "Thank you, everyone."

Lu Zhi: "@Everyone, Gongsun Du has betrayed us. He had probably killed Gongsun Zan during the ambush, and I'm squaring against his force ATM."

Jia Xu: "OMG, Gongsun Du, you son of a $#@!%"

The chat did not end there as all strategists were busy discussing the conspiracy behind this attack. Noticeably, Tong, Friday, and Medusa did not participate in the chat.

.

He Xing closed the clan chat and turned to Zhao Yun.

"A-Alright. Let's get away from here and go to Ye City."

"Understood, your majesty."

Zhao Yun looked back toward Tian Yu's direction. He prayed that he would be safe, and they could meet again.

.

*BWOOO*

Wang Men sounded the retreat, and all Gongsun Du's affiliate soldiers disengaged from the battle.

From the initial 10,000 ambushing men, 4,000 survived.

Tian Yu's subordinates did not perform well either as only 3,000 soldiers made it through. They suffered many casualties from Qiuliju's battalion as Guan Jing failed to defend against them. This strategist of Gongsun Zan was also killed in the battle.

Tian Yu survived with wounds all over his body. Because he was still young and inexperienced, he could not battle many enemies at once like Zhao Yun, who had dueled a Lu Bu's clone and made it back alive.

"That was too damn close! I almost die. What are those guys anyway!?"

All his soldiers were so tired that their trembling legs could lose their strength at any moment. Still, they stood and faced the direction of the retreating army in preparation for a change of tactic.

Tian Yu staggered to the front of his soldiers.

"Don't die, Zilong!"