Chapter 308: Break Through the Encirclement
Translator: DavidT Editor: DavidT, Rock
Right at this moment, the Northern Wei army suddenly split into two and a few burly men charged out from the depths of the troops. Their clothes were all drenched with water and they held onto a long spear each. Then, each of them actually charged straight into the sea of fire and before the crowd could exclaim, pillars of fire shot into the air and spun around a few times before landing in the midst of the Sky Bearing army. All of a sudden, the wall of fire in front of them seemed to have thinned out considerably with a huge gap formed! The burly men had actually thrown out the logs of fire with their spears!
Then, all of them charged back out from the sea of fire! Following which, each of the burly men had two men from the Northern Wei army immediately throw a bucket of water over all of them. The fire on their bodies was immediately extinguished, but every last hair on their body had already been burned away with blisters all over their body. All of their breathing was ragged and there were some who had fainted already. There were even some who had died instantly from the abrupt change in temperature!
Without a doubt, such a method to extinguish the fire was extremely effective. Very quickly, another batch of burly men emerged from the Northern Wei army and charged into the sea of flames with a roar! Pillars of fire were shot to the Sky Bearing army again as the same method was repeated!
There were many from the Sky Bearing army who could not avoid the burning logs and let out miserable moans!
Upon witnessing this scene, Ling Xiao cursed in agitation, "Where did Wei ChengPing find these b*st*rds who don't know how to fear death! D*mmit! To think that they would willingly jump into the sea of fire!"
In just a short while, the wall of flames separating both armies had been mostly cleaned up. While there were still places that were on fire, it no longer affected the battle. Even though the fire was not completely extinguished, there were countless gaps in the wall of fire and it was enough for the Northern Wei army to launch their next attack!
Following the Northern Wei's furious onslaught, Ling Xiao waved his hands and the last wave of arrows was shot out. Then, the archers made their retreat and the elite infantry aggressively lined up along the front as they held onto their blades!
"Kill them all!" Following a loud roar, almost three thousand blades ferociously struck down! The blinding flash of their blades almost blinded their enemies in that instant! It was as though a bolt of lightning had landed on the battlefield!
The Northern Wei army charged forward without any fear of death as their spears stabbed out without a care for who was in front of them!
Blood splattered everywhere! Countless Northern Wei soldiers were cleaved in two from their shoulder to their waist! At the same time, many Sky Bearing soldiers clenched their faces in pain as their hands covered their chest with a spear sticking out of it!
The two ferocious armies had entered into an intense brawl! Every moment, there would be countless soldiers from both sides perishing!
Ling Xiao and Kong DaYuan were both by the marshal's tent with their faces calm. It was as though they could not see the bloody scene in front of them! Ling Nineteen suddenly slid down from the flagpole and shouted out, "Marshal! The enemy is attacking us from all directions, and they intentionally left a gap in the southeastern direction!"
Kong DaYuan gave a delighted smile, "It was just as I had expected! Marshal, give the order! We just need to charge out in the opposite direction. As long as we determine a direction to charge out from, the sparse troops of the Northern Wei army will not be able to stop us!"
Ling Xiao took in a deep breath and suddenly raised the weapon in his hand, "Fellow generals, listen to my orders!"
All of them acknowledged Ling Xiao's words immediately.
Ling Xiao shouted out, "Li XiangDong will be the vanguard! Kong DaYuan will position himself on the left wing and Meng YouCai the right. The main force will be positioned in the center, and we will form a triangle formation to break out of this encirclement! Li XiangDong, this marshal will let you deploy my Blood Iron Warriors, and you have to kill a blood path for our army to retreat!"
Li XiangDong straightened his back and shouted in response, "Even if this general has to offer my life as a sacrifice, I will not let the marshal down! Brothers, charge with me! Our army will be victorious! We are invincible!" Then, he got onto his horse and charged forward without hesitation. His personal troops also followed behind without any hesitation and let out bestial roars as they charged forward. They were like a poisonous dragon rising up from the deep abyss, clashing head-on with the Northern Wei army!
Li XiangDong then raised his blade and slaughtered the many enemies in front of him. With a crazed laugh, he charged forward on his horse. At the same time, his personal troops also raised their shields and followed him without hesitation! In just a short while, Ling XiangDong's troops had already charged out dozens of feet! They were like a sharp blade stabbing deep into the depths of the enemy's troops!
Ling Xiao then waved his hands and shouted, "Abandon the camp! Charge!" He then urged his horse to follow behind Li XiangDong! Ling Nineteen and the others did not dare delay as they quickly followed behind Ling Xiao! With Ling Xiao's marshal flag moving, the Sky Bearing army also began following him without breaking their formation.
Kong DaYuan's left wing troops were left at the very end. Seeing that the bulk of their troops had broken through successfully, Kong DaYuan wanted to unleash another wave of fire attack to stop their enemies. However, he suddenly saw a group of Sky Bearing soldiers run towards him pitifully, with every one of them riddled with injuries! Behind them, there were many Northern Wei troops approaching close behind!
Kong DaYuan's face contorted in misery and he let out a roar, "My brothers behind! This general has let you down! For the sake of the marshal's army, I have to use fire to stop the enemy! Fellow brothers, this general has let you down!" As he said that, he raised his right hand and the archers behind him pulled their bows taut!
The Sky Bearing troops who were running over suddenly stopped as they heard that. A bearded man then shouted out, "General, just unleash the arrows! For the marshal and our brothers, our death is insignificant!" He then let out a roar, "Brothers, let us bring up the rear for our marshal and all our brothers!" The bearded man then turned around and raised his blade up, charging towards the Northern Wei army, "B*st*rds of Northern Wei! Your granddaddy Liu Si is back!"
The dozens of soldiers who were with him revealed a resolute gaze and turned around as well. Following behind the bearded man, they charged at the Northern Wei army, "B*st*rds of Northern Wei, this granddaddy is here to accompany you!"
Kong DaYuan then let out an order with tears in his eyes, "Brothers, have a safe journey! Fire!"
The flaming arrows shot out and the whole Sky Bearing camp was engulfed in flames! In the flames, Kong DaYuan could still see the bearded man called Liu Si killing two enemies. Even after being stabbed by a blade in his back, he still pounced forward and dragged an officer off his horse. He did not bother about the blade stabbed into his body and rolled into the flames while hugging the enemy. The next moment, that person's miserable wails could be heard together with Liu Si's maniacal laughter!
"Retreat! Retreat at full speed! Don't let our brothers die in vain!" Kong DaYuan gave a military salute and let out a roar. Turning his horse around, he chased after Ling Xiao's main forces!
Behind him, a wall of fire had been formed, and the path was already blocked!
Far away from the front, Wei ChengPing's face blossomed with a bright smile as he said delightfully, "Brother Shui's plans are wonderful indeed! Ling Xiao had indeed given up on the southeastern direction and charged towards the northwestern direction! He even used a wall of flame to cut off his avenue of retreat. As such, he will definitely fall into the pincer attack of our army and the Western Han army! We can definitely let them fight to the death before coming out to fish for benefits. We won't even need to expend any effort! Hahaha…"
The young man, who was also Shui QianRou's brother, Shui QianHuan, sat on the horse with a calm expression. Not a trace of delight could be seen on his face from his successful plan. Instead, he looked at the battlefield with a sharp gaze and said calmly, "Issue my orders: Block their escape with full force!"
Wei ChengPing was startled again as he said, "Ling Xiao is going in the right direction and we only need to let him leave. Why do we have to block him? Won't it only increase our casualties?"
Shui QianHuan then said coldly, "Ling Xiao's title of 'God of War' isn't for no reason, and he will definitely be suspicious if we don't try to stop him with full force. It would be akin to announcing to him that we have laid an ambush for him in the northwestern direction. If they were to change directions again, we would have to face their powerful army alone! At that time, it would be too late for you to even cry! Are you going to question my orders at every juncture?!"
Wei ChengPing twitched his lips awkwardly but did not say a thing.
Shui QianHuan's orders had already spread across the army.
All of a sudden, a look of shock could be seen on Shui QianHuan's face as he muttered, "Who would have thought Ling Xiao would have such an expert! How extraordinary!"
All of them looked towards the same direction and realized that Shui QianHuan was looking at Ling Xiao's marshal flag! Upon witnessing what they saw, they could not help but take in a breath of cold air!
Ling Nineteen and his three brothers surrounded Ling Xiao in all four directions and beautiful flowers seemed to be blooming out from their blades! Beautiful flowers made from the blood of their enemies! Every time they brandished their sword, they would take the life of an enemy! However, the faces of the four of them were still calm and indifferent with a resolute and cruel gaze in their eyes! They reaped the lives of the Northern Wei soldiers without any hesitation and were like farmers reaping the grain from their harvest! The familiarity of their actions made it seem like they were numb to what they were doing!
Ling Xiao looked towards these four teens with shock! To think that these four young teens who usually didn't say much would be so proficient in killing. Even an old general like Ling Xiao could not help but be awed! He could not help but feel inferiority! Then, he suddenly remembered that these four little fellows were the personal elites that his son had trained! As such, Ling Xiao couldn't help but think to himself, Are the rumors really true? Is Tian'er even more powerful than the four of them?!