Chapter 16: Repaying the Supreme, Xi Shall Not Fail the Mission

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In a forest some distance outside Xiakou City, Liu Bei’s troops, who had hurried there, were resting.

Guan Yu stood atop a rise, gazing at the flames soaring into the sky above Xiakou. His expression was grave.

Just then, a scout came rushing over. “General Guan, this is bad! The cries of slaughter inside Xiakou are shaking the heavens. It seems Sun Quan is massacring the city!”

Guan Yu froze.

Pang Tong knitted his brows. “General Guan, what do you propose?”

“We go and save the people at once!” Guan Yu replied without hesitation. He immediately ordered the army to assemble and prepare for battle.

Pang Tong, however, said, “The Eastern Wu army is at the height of its morale. We would do better to wait until nightfall, when their men are exhausted and their guard has slackened, then launch our attack. That would ensure victory and minimize our losses.”

Guan Yu shook his head. “What you say is indeed reasonable, but what of the innocent people of Xiakou?” He spoke with unmistakable finality. “Enough. There is no need to discuss this further. We leave at once. Otherwise, who knows how many more people in Xiakou will die?”

The decision made, Guan Yu immediately led his men out of the dense forest and straight toward Xiakou.

The large force was soon spotted by scouts from Jiangdong, who hurried to report it to Sun Quan.

“Jingzhou still has reinforcements?” Sun Quan was greatly surprised. He had launched a sudden attack, and under ordinary circumstances, reinforcements from Jingzhou could not have arrived so quickly. At the same time, however, excitement gleamed in his eyes.

His swift conquest of Xiakou and execution of Huang Zu had filled him with pride. Unable to restrain his desire to command the battle personally, he shouted, “Excellent! No matter how many Jingzhou bandits come, I shall kill every last one of them!”

“Send word to Lü Meng and the others. Have them assemble the army at once and join me in going out to meet the enemy!”

Overcome with enthusiasm, Sun Quan did not wait for Lü Meng and the others to gather their troops. He led his central army out of the city and formed up beyond the walls.

Guan Yu advanced at astonishing speed, maintaining the momentum of a charge.

Guan Yu led his own thousand men on the left. Gan Ning commanded another thousand on the right, while Pang Tong took the remaining troops in the center.

The two wings resembled the jaws of a giant pincer, closing in on the enemy ahead.

Looking at the approaching army, Sun Quan could not help frowning. “Those troops do not look like soldiers from Jingzhou.” After a moment’s thought, he ordered, “Send someone to the front and ask whose command they serve.”

One of Sun Quan’s personal guards galloped forward.

But before he had covered half the distance, a cold arrow flew toward him.

With a sharp thud, it struck the guard in the face, and he toppled from his horse.

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Sun Quan was furious. “How insolent! Order the archers and crossbowmen to return fire at once!”

Faced with a rain of arrows blotting out the sky, Guan Yu paid it no heed. Leading his elite troops, he charged straight at Sun Quan’s central army.

Warriors from the northern lands all favored one particular tactic: concentrate their elite forces and strike directly at the enemy commander’s center—or even have a single warrior break through to the center alone.

Whether it was Guan Yu, who had once broken into the central army and slain Yan Liang, or Zhang Liao, who had relentlessly pursued Sun Quan, both were masters of this tactic.

When Guan Yu’s troops met Sun Quan’s formation beneath the storm of arrows, they tore through it as smoothly as a knife through soft tofu, splitting the center apart. The thousand men did not pause, continuing their charge straight toward Sun Quan.

Sun Quan stared in stunned disbelief and murmured, “Who is that man? How can he be so fearsome?”

Guan Yu descended upon the battlefield like a god from heaven, wielding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and felling nearly one man with every stroke.

His personal troops had likewise been carefully trained over many years. They were seasoned elites, equally unstoppable.

Sun Quan watched as his right wing collapsed. He was just about to send reinforcements from the center when, to his astonishment, the left wing began to crumble as well.

Gan Ning was also a master of breaking through enemy camps. The several hundred soldiers under his command had seen countless battles and possessed extraordinary fighting power.

Though somewhat slower than Guan Yu, they too broke through Sun Quan’s left wing.

“What—what is happening?” Sun Quan’s face turned pale. The arrogance he had displayed after defeating Huang Zu had vanished completely.

He could accept one such ferocious warrior.

But now there were two?

As Sun Quan hesitated over which side to reinforce, one of his personal guards seized him. “My lord, we must leave at once! The enemy is less than a hundred paces away!”

Sun Quan was completely overwhelmed.

He glanced at Guan Yu, who was still breaking through the army, then gritted his teeth. “Where are Lü Meng? Dong Xi? Ling Tong?”

“My lord, you are the most important person here!” Without allowing any argument, the guard wrapped his arms around Sun Quan and began dragging him toward the rear.

Sun Quan still wanted to stay, but when he saw the chaos engulfing both wings, he could only let his guards carry him away. At least the remaining troops could still ensure his safety.

The moment Sun Quan withdrew, both wings collapsed completely.

Pang Tong, commanding the central army, naturally did not miss the opportunity. He immediately ordered the entire force to advance.

In an instant, the battle became an utter rout.

At the same time, Lü Meng and the others finally regrouped their soldiers and prepared to go out to aid Sun Quan. But the moment they passed through the city gates, they saw Sun Quan retreating in panic. Before they could even form ranks, the fleeing troops crashed into them and scattered their formation.

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By the time they tried to form up again, Guan Yu’s and Gan Ning’s forces had already swept over them.

“Whose troops are these? How can they be so savage?” Lü Meng was also left stunned.

His eyesight was sharp enough to see at a glance that the attacking army was no ordinary force. Sun Quan’s men had been fighting all day and their strength was already exhausted. They had then plundered the city, expending even more energy. Although their morale remained high, their bodies could no longer keep pace.

Lü Meng’s troops offered a brief resistance before one of his personal guards hurried to him. “General, our army cannot hold them back. What are we to do?”

Lü Meng was still hesitating when a man beside him suddenly cried out, “Excellent! The villain Gan Ning is right before me! If I, Ling Tong, do not avenge my father today, how can I face him in the afterlife?”

A young officer charged into the fray like a madman.

Unfortunately, before Ling Tong could reach Sun Quan, he ran into Guan Yu.

Guan Yu raised his blade and brought it down, striking Ling Tong on the shoulder and knocking him straight from his horse.

Ling Tong’s guards hurried to lift him up and withdraw from the battlefield.

Ling Tong wept and shouted, “Let go of me! Gan Ning is right there! I must kill him!”

“That broad blade… Could he be Guan Yu?” Lü Meng had no time to concern himself with Ling Tong. Watching Guan Yu’s troops surge toward him like an unstoppable flood, he gritted his teeth and ordered, “Go! Hold him back!”

The troops under his command hesitated only briefly before charging forward.

But at the first clash, Lü Meng’s men were smashed to pieces.

Lü Meng bared his teeth in fury, yet he also understood that they could fight no longer. They were simply too exhausted. Gritting his teeth, he shouted, “Retreat! Tell Dong Xi to hold Guan Yu back and buy time for our lord to board the ships.”

Once he withdrew, the remaining soldiers had even less desire to resist and fled faster than ever.

Just then, Dong Xi, the last to leave the city, ran straight into Guan Yu and Gan Ning.

Dong Xi was still hesitating, watching the situation unfold, when a soldier rushed up before him and shouted, “General Dong, the forces of Generals Lü Meng and Ling Tong have been defeated! To give our lord time to board the ships, we beg you to block this road!”

Dong Xi immediately replied, “Tell our lord that I, Dong Xi, shall not fail him!”

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