mtl008 Chapter 389 Lu Xun's Doomsday (8)
Chapter 389 Lu Xun's Doomsday (8)
On the battlefield, time is life, especially in the crucial moments of a decisive battle, where even a single instant can determine the outcome of the war.
Especially when time is not on your side, you have to make the most of every second in everything you do.
In order to buy enough time, Ding Feng had no choice but to order Lü Ju to lead a thousand men to block Guan Xing, while he himself retreated to Yushan to build a second line of defense, using space to buy time. In other words, at present, only the thousand men led by Lü Ju are digging pits in front of Guan Xing.
The Zhejiang-Jiangxi Corridor is not a narrow mountain path; even the narrowest part is several miles wide. A thousand elite troops scattered across such a wide road actually amount to very few, appearing sparse and insignificant.
Moreover, the lower-ranking soldiers also had their own thoughts. When they saw Ding Feng leave with the main force, abandoning them, they dared not say it but had some thoughts in their hearts. These thoughts manifested in their actions as going through the motions but not putting in any effort, working slower than an old woman with bound feet.
Although Lü Ju was unhappy about this, he knew the state of his own morale and dared not be too harsh, so he turned a blind eye.
After nearly an hour of this delay, someone suddenly shouted, "General, look! The Han army is coming!"
Lu Ju quickly looked up and saw the figures of Han soldiers holding shields and pulling out bamboo sticks.
Pulling out the traps is much faster than digging the pits. More importantly, to block the enemy from passing through, the entire corridor must be filled with traps; otherwise, leaving even a one-meter gap would be a waste of time.
The process of removing arrows was different. As long as a passage several meters wide was cleared for the army to pass through, the Han army could remove arrows very quickly. They advanced into the range of the Wu army's arrows in the blink of an eye. Lü Ju was so frightened that his hair stood on end and he shouted hoarsely, "Fire arrows! Fire arrows!"
The busy Wu soldiers immediately put down their tools, picked up their bows and arrows, and began to fire. However, the Wu army consisted of only a little over a thousand men and was scattered, so the arrows had no effect. The Han soldiers who were crouching on the ground were fine as long as they tucked their heads behind their shields.
After the rain of arrows, the Han army had few wounded. Before Lü Ju could decide whether to fire a second wave, several Wu soldiers suddenly rushed out of the mountains to the north and shouted in terror, "General, something bad has happened! The Han army is attacking from the mountains! The brothers can't hold them off at all! Run!"
To prevent the Han army from infiltrating, Lü Ju stationed half a garrison at the mountain pass. Lü Ju was not naive enough to think that such a small force could stop the Han army. He only hoped that they could hold out for a moment when the Han army arrived and give the main army a heads-up. But the damned garrison was too good at giving heads-up. They were shouting and yelling before they even left the mountain, as if they were afraid that the Wu army would not hear them when they dug the pit.
Upon hearing that the Han army was attacking from the mountains, the Wu soldiers, who were already unwilling to work, immediately turned into frightened rabbits and ran away without thinking. The Wu soldiers who were farther away from the mountains saw that their teammates had all run away, so they were even less willing to work. They hesitated for only a moment before turning around and joining the fleeing crowd.
Lu Ju was dumbfounded. Without thinking, he hurriedly rebuked him, but instead of stopping the momentum, the Wu army ran even faster after hearing the rebuke. Soon, he was left with only himself and a few dozen personal guards.
Taking advantage of the Wu army's escape, the Han army accelerated their actions, first scraping away the fresh soil on the traps with their shields, then pulling out the bamboo sticks from the pits and moving on to the next one, clearing the traps at an unparalleled speed and advancing forward.
"Ugh……"
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Lü Ju let out a helpless sigh, stomped his foot angrily, and turned to leave.
Deng Hong, who was also clearing traps with his shield, recognized Lü Ju and immediately stood up and said, "Stop messing around, chase after me through the gaps in the traps. This time, we can't let Lü Ju get away."
Deng Hong was very unhappy that Lü Ju had been captured during the annihilation of Xu Sheng and then rescued by Lu Xun, so he had no intention of letting him go. After saying this, he quickly got up, stepped through the gaps between the traps, rushed out of the trap area, and ran after Lü Ju.
The Han army in front followed Deng Hong away, and the Han army behind quickly filled the gaps and continued to pull out the traps. Soon they broke through the trap area and followed Deng Hong. Guan Xing received the news and immediately ordered the whole army to attack, preparing to cooperate with Deng Hong to keep Lü Ju here forever.
Meanwhile, Lu Ju, after giving up and turning to run away, tragically discovered that he couldn't run at all. The Wu soldiers who had escaped earlier were running around the corridor like sheep, causing chaos in the fleeing group and even a stampede. This made Lu Ju's nameless anger rise.
Lu Ju caught up with the two troublemaking soldiers and gave each of them two large bibs. He roared angrily, "The road is so wide, why do you have to squeeze together? Retreat in an orderly line!"
Wu Jun gradually restored order under his reprimand, but this also delayed the troops and gave Deng Hong a chance to catch up.
Deng Hong threw down his shield and ran wildly until he was within range of the bow and arrows, shouting, "Bring me the bow!"
After saying that, he took the bow and arrow handed to him by his personal guard and shot it at the back of a Wu soldier. The Wu soldier, with his back to him, could not dodge and screamed and fell to the ground. The screams frightened the other Wu soldiers, who accelerated again. The formation they had painstakingly formed was in disarray again. Lu Ju was so anxious that he almost cried. He really did not want to be a prisoner of the Han army again. If he was a prisoner again, it would be twice. Didn't he, Young Master Lu, have any face?
Deng Hong didn't care about anything else. As he ran, he drew his bow and fired arrows wildly at the backs of the Wu soldiers. At the same time, he shouted, "Brothers of the Wu army in front, you can't escape. Surrender! The Han army treats prisoners well and won't make things difficult for you. If you don't believe me, go ask your General Lü. He was once a prisoner of the Han army and knows the Han army's policy towards prisoners. Everyone shout together!"
The soldiers behind him shouted in unison, repeating Deng Hong's words to the Wu army in front. Hearing this, Lü Ju broke down on the spot and almost couldn't help but turn around and kill them.
Damn Han army! What do you mean General Lü was a prisoner of the Han army? That's an insult! A scholar can be killed but not humiliated.
Despite his urge to turn and fight the Han army to the death, Lü Ju struggled to direct his army to adjust its formation and flee towards Yushan at top speed.
He was fast, but the Han army was even faster. Moreover, the lower-ranking soldiers were not as resilient as the generals. When they heard the Han army's footsteps getting closer and closer, they panicked. Some fled, some surrendered, some had their mentality collapse and were ready to turn back and fight the Han army to the death. All sorts of people were there. They ran around the formation like headless flies and soon smashed the formation that Lü Ju had been struggling to maintain to pieces.
Then the Han army arrived, and Deng Hong was the first to charge into the Wu army's ranks. Like someone with schizophrenia, he swung his sword and hacked and slashed while patiently persuading, "The Han army treats prisoners of war well..."
What's the difference between this and whipping you while saying you'll treat me well?
Wu Jun was completely bewildered by Deng Hong's divisive actions, and then he was kicked to the ground by the Han army that had come with Deng Hong.
Seeing that the army's morale had completely collapsed, Lü Ju had no choice but to give up on treatment. He abandoned the army and fled towards Yushan with his personal guards, forgetting that Deng Hong's eyes were always on him. How could he possibly escape smoothly?
Deng Hong quickly broke through the enemy lines and chased after Lü Ju. The two began a long-distance race along the corridor.
Deng Hong has a clear advantage in long-distance running. Don't forget that he fought alongside Guan Yu for many years, escaped from Maicheng to Dabie Mountain, and ran day and night with Guan Xing for many days. He had already developed his long-distance running skills. Even if he was not good at it, he was still better than Lu Ju, that pampered young master.
The footsteps of the pursuers grew closer, and Lü Ju's mood became heavier and heavier. For some reason, he instinctively recalled the day he and Ding Feng hid in the cave to avoid capture, and how Ding Feng had frantically run away to distract the pursuers for him.
When Ding Feng was running for his life that day, he probably felt the same way he does now. But if Ding Feng could escape, could he?
The answer is no, because Deng Hong caught up.
Deng Hong led his troops to attack Lü Ju's personal guards. With just one charge, he scattered the equally terrified guards. The main reason was that these guards were not Lü Ju's original group, but rather those temporarily promoted after Lü Ju was rescued by Lu Xun. Their loyalty and combat strength were not on the same level as those trained by his family from childhood. It was no wonder they could not stop the Han army.
Deng Hong broke through the enemy lines and chased after Lü Ju. After catching up, he leaped up and transformed into a giant hammer, smashing it down on Lü Ju's back. Poor Lü Ju was knocked to the ground on the spot.
Deng Hong acted swiftly, using the invincible scissor kick that Guan Xing had taught him to lock Lü Ju's neck and roared, "General Lü, I regret to inform you that you have been captured again. Surrender!"