Water Margin: From a White-Robed Scholar to Donning the Yellow Robe

Chapter 70 Huyan Zhuo Enters the Encirclement

Yang Zhi and Hu Yanzhuo rallied their spirits and displayed their martial arts skills, fighting evenly. Before they knew it, dozens of moves had passed and they were still evenly matched.

If the two are to determine a winner, it will take at least another hundred rounds. At that point, the winner will be determined by physical strength and endurance, not by the strength of their martial arts skills.

Yang Zhi brandished his spear to parry Huyan Zhuo's double whips, then spurred his horse and rode off to return to his own army.

Huyan Zhuo was in the middle of a fierce battle and was unwilling to let him go, so he spurred his horse and chased after him.

His steed, Snow-Treading Black Steed, was even faster, and it looked like it was about to catch up with Yang Zhi. Yang Zhi turned around and fired a spear, the strike was extremely strange, and the move was both fast and steady.

Huyan Zhuo quickly swung his whip to deflect the attack, and his precious horse slowed down as a result.

Seeing that Yang Zhi was fleeing back, and that the enemy only numbered seven or eight hundred, Huyan Zhuo waved his whip and ordered, "The entire army must pursue and annihilate the bandits."

The three thousand heavily armored cavalry behind him immediately charged, forming groups of thirty riders each, rushing towards the Liangshan Flying Tiger Army like an iron wall.

Yang Zhi was terrified and shouted, "Retreat immediately!"

He and Wu Song led the way, sending the soldiers fleeing eastward.

Only a few vanguards knew about the plan to lure the enemy deep into their territory. Yang Zhi and Wu Song were pretending to flee, but the soldiers were actually running away.

They were already somewhat afraid when they saw the large number of government troops and the imposing heavy cavalry. But when they saw that Yang Zhi had failed to defeat Huyan Zhuo, they became even more fearful.

Upon hearing Yang Zhi's order to retreat, the soldiers immediately followed Yang Zhi and Wu Song as they fled eastward.

Seeing that the other party was fleeing, Huyan Zhuo shouted, "You scoundrel, don't run away!"

His horse was fast, and he took the lead. Just as he was about to catch up with the Liangshan soldiers, Yang Zhi turned his horse around, exchanged a few blows with Huyan Zhuo, and then fled again.

The two fought and retreated, with Wu Song only concerned with leading his soldiers to escape. Before long, they reached the foot of the mountain.

Yang Zhi forced Huyan Zhuo back with several consecutive shots, then spurred his horse and charged into the mountains.

The entrance to the mountain is so narrow that it is no longer possible for thirty riders to pass side by side.

Seeing Yang Zhi and the Liangshan Flying Tiger Army flee into the mountains, Huyan Zhuo laughed heartily on horseback: "You must think that my linked cavalry formation is only effective on the plains and that you're safe once you're in the mountains. But you're sorely mistaken. My linked cavalry formation, when linked together, is an invincible battle formation, and when dispersed, it's an ironclad cavalry force. How can you mountain bandits compare?"

He gave the order: "Scatter!"

His linked cavalry formation consisted of thirty riders linked together by iron rings. When they needed to fight independently, they only needed to remove their respective iron rings, and the linked cavalry would disperse.

This formation is indeed extremely powerful in cavalry warfare, not only due to Huyan Zhuo's wisdom, but also because it incorporates the experience of many famous generals.

As the cavalry dispersed, Huyan Zhuo led his men into the mountains to pursue Yang Zhi.

Seeing that Huyan Zhuo was ignoring Jizhou and instead pursuing a force of less than a thousand men, Zhang Shuye, who was leading the observation team from a distance, was furious: "Huyan Zhuo is so foolish! At this time, the right thing to do is to concentrate our forces to attack Jizhou and take it back in one fell swoop."

But Hu Yanzhuo had already arranged all the troops, leaving only a small squad of soldiers to protect Zhang Shuye, so he had no other choice.

Huyan Zhuo led his troops into the mountains, only to find that the mountain was becoming increasingly narrow. At first, it could accommodate seven or eight riders side by side, but later it could only accommodate two riders side by side.

As he chased after them, he sensed something was wrong and realized he had fallen into a trap. But what kind of trap was it?

A diversionary tactic? Liangshan has lured away the main force of the government troops so that they can attack their camp? That would be pointless.

To encircle and annihilate the main force of his army?

Huyan Zhuo laughed and shook his head. If that were really the case, then Wang Lun of Liangshan would be an utter mediocre talent. His own troops were fully armed, and the soldiers were all elite troops. The Liangshan Flying Tiger Army only had a few thousand men. Even if there was an ambush, it would not cause much damage to his army.

He has great confidence in this team.

After chasing for a while, a gong was suddenly heard, and flags were displayed on both sides of the mountain valley. Suddenly, many Liangshan soldiers emerged.

As expected, there was an ambush, but Huyan Zhuo was even happier, happy that he had seen through Wang Lun's scheme.

He glanced around and saw a man in white robes carrying a long spear, standing out among the ambushing troops on his left. He was none other than Wang Lun, the "White-Robed Scholar."

Huyan Zhuo laughed loudly: "Wang Lun, you are just a mere scholar, how did you manage to pick up a knife? Haven't you heard of Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi, only to look even uglier?"

Wang Lun smiled and said, "General Huyan, you're laughing a little too soon."

Huyan Zhuo was not afraid at all. He looked to his right and saw that there were about four or five hundred people lying in ambush on the hillside. Among them was a fat monk who carried a staff. He was tall and strong, like an iron tower.

He secretly estimated that of the two ambushes, this fat monk was the most troublesome.

Just then, despite it being broad daylight, a strong wind suddenly arose, blowing the snow on both sides of the mountain with a rustling sound, and then the snow was blown into the valley into Huyan Zhuo's army.

Huyan Zhuo was immediately blinded by the wind and snow, and could only cover his eyes with his hands.

Suddenly, a loud bang came from behind, as if the entire valley was shaking. Then came the screams of soldiers and the neighing of horses.

"What's going on?" Hu Yanzhuo couldn't see, so he shouted loudly.

His personal guards behind him couldn't see what was happening, but judging from the sounds, Wang Lun had already launched an attack.

After that loud bang, explosions followed one after another, the screams of soldiers behind them grew louder, and the neighing and galloping of warhorses became even louder, creating chaos behind them.

Huyan Zhuo was furious: "Hold on, charge up the mountain and capture Wang Lun!"

"Release the arrows!"

Huyan Zhuo heard a loud roar, followed by the sound of an arrow piercing the air. This sound was unlike that of an ordinary bow and arrow; it was faster and more powerful.

As a descendant of the Hu family generals, he naturally recognized its value and exclaimed in surprise, "The Divine Arm Bow!"

His armored soldiers were fully armed, but their bows and arrows were useless; even the Divine Arm Bow might not be of much use.

As he was thinking, he heard screams coming from further behind him. Hu Yanzhuo's face turned pale, and he froze instantly.

The Flying Tiger Army of Liangshan was not shooting at the armored cavalry with their divine crossbows, but at the infantry following behind. The infantrymen were only wearing thin chainmail and were no match for the divine crossbows.

Hu Yanzhuo heard what was happening behind him, and although he couldn't see it, he already knew what had happened.

The Liangshan Flying Tiger Army launched a bombardment against the heavily armored cavalry with thunderbolts, but no matter how strong the armor was, it was no match for the power of the thunderbolts.

The divine crossbow was aimed at the infantry behind them, and Wang Lun knew that the infantry could not withstand the divine crossbow.

Huyan Zhuo was immediately alarmed. This inexplicable snowstorm was also very annoying, making it impossible for him to see anything.

"Hold on, maintain formation."

Huyan Zhuo roared loudly.

"Huyan Zhuo, do you still dare to fight me, Yang Zhi?"

Hearing a sound from ahead, Huyan Zhuo knew that Yang Zhi had returned with his soldiers. Yang Zhi had indeed used the strategy of luring the enemy deep into his territory, and his hatred for Yang Zhi intensified.

He shouted, "Retreat!"

But then a commotion erupted at the back of the column. Amid the chaos, someone shouted, "Make way for me, Qin Ming! I will only kill Huyan Zhuo!"

Thunderbolt Qin Ming also led his men to attack from behind.

Hu Yanzhuo's hands trembled slightly; he hadn't expected to be surrounded by enemies on all sides.