The soldiers of the Qing River garrison were sleeping soundly when they were suddenly shaken awake, and immediate dissatisfaction arose in their ranks. However, with Ye City reported in danger and a direct military order issued, they could only grumble while organizing their equipment. After lighting fires, cooking, and eating their fill, Yan Liang and Wen Chou led their army out of the city at Chenshi (7:00–9:00 AM) and headed south toward Wei County.
At the exact same time, Tian Kai, leading the Youzhou Cavalry on foot, finished their grueling all-night march and finally arrived at the Wulu Market sector just as dawn broke.
"This should be the coordinate."
Tian Kai checked his topographical map, dispatched a few scouts into the dense forest, and quickly established contact with Guan Yu and Zhao Yun's hidden heavy cavalry. After a brief tactical consultation, Tian Kai ordered his Youzhou soldiers to immediately draw the felling axes they had carried and begin cutting down trees along the bank.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Such a thunderous commotion naturally attracted the attention of curious onlookers from the nearby agrarian populace.
"Folks, there is nothing to see here!" At Tian Kai's sharp instruction, several soldiers stepped forward to push the civilians back. "A major engagement is about to break out in this sector. Quickly return to your homes and hide!"
In truth, they didn't require much persuasion. The moment the common people spotted the armored soldiers gathering, they scattered in a panic from a great distance.
This reaction left the Youzhou soldiers feeling somewhat depressed. Back when they had campaigned across Qing Province, the common people would beat gongs and drums, light firecrackers, and line the streets to welcome them as liberators. How was it that the moment they crossed into Ji Province, they were treated like terrifying monsters?
However, as long as the local populace didn't interfere with their operational timeline, their initial mission was deemed a success. The Youzhou soldiers toiled relentlessly for nearly two hours, finally constructing three fully functional, stabilized pontoon bridges across the expanse of the Qing River exactly as Xun You had ordered.
Tian Kai checked the position of the sun and immediately barked an order. "Quickly! Hide the warhorses deep within the tree line and cross the river on foot!"
It was now Sishi (9:00–11:00 AM). If Yan Liang's advancing army was moving at a standard forced-march pace, they would breach this vicinity in at most another half-hour.
"General, please let the brothers rest for a brief moment," a junior officer stepped forward, his face pale with exhaustion. "The brothers have marched all through the night, then immediately transitioned to felling timber and building heavy bridges. They haven't had a single second to rest their legs, and now they are ordered to abandon their mounts and march on foot. It is truly..."
"A supreme military order has been issued! How dare you complain of personal hardship and fatigue?" Tian Kai sternly cut him off, his eyes flashing with a dangerous intensity. "Soldiers are sustained for a thousand days to be spent in a single moment of crisis!"
"The Lord has always provided for you with the absolute finest rations and armor. You do not complain of exhaustion when it is time to eat, so why do you begin whimpering the moment the Lord requires your absolute service? On the eve of battle, anyone who dares to disrupt my army's morale will be executed on the spot!"
Tian Kai had been the very first regional commander to pledge his absolute allegiance to Zhang Xin. Yet, latecomers like Gao Shun, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Liao were now all decorated generals, each commanding an independent, legendary legion. Even surrendered commanders like Xu Huang had been entrusted as the commander-in-chief of the River East forces.
Because Tian Kai had historically been entangled with He Jin's faction in the capital, he had cleanly missed several primary operational campaigns to amass military merit. This had left his current standing within Zhang Xin's military hierarchy somewhat awkward. Now that a golden opportunity to secure a monumental strategic achievement was finally within his grasp, how could he possibly allow it to slip through his fingers?
Furthermore, although his Youzhou soldiers had executed a rapid march, they had done so on horseback. Even during the logging phase, the heavy timber had been hauled to the riverbanks using the raw power of the mounts. If anyone truly possessed a right to complain of physical exhaustion, it was the warhorses. Compared to standard infantry units who marched on foot, his men still retained far more physical stamina.
Reprimanded so fiercely by Tian Kai, the junior officer's expression turned rigid, and he dared not utter another word of protest. No man in the realm dared to cross the threshold of Zhang Xin's iron military law.
Seeing the compliance, Tian Kai's tone softened slightly, and he patted the officer's shoulder. "Tell the brothers to run as fast as their legs can carry them later. Do not lose your lives over a moment of laziness."
"Understood!" The officer cupped his fists and rushed to relay the command.
Soon, the main body of the Youzhou soldiers rapidly crossed the newly constructed pontoon bridges, advancing toward the official highway on the western bank. Only a single detail of a hundred men remained on the eastern bank to securely conceal the warhorses within the thick foliage of the Wulu Market woods.
Not long after they vacated the crossing, Yu Jin arrived at the eastern bank leading the heavy Xuzhou infantry columns.
"Quickly! Send the designated decoy supply wagons across the river immediately!" Yu Jin began organizing his units with practiced efficiency. "Remember the plan: do not block the central bridge deck under any circumstances!"
The Xuzhou soldiers pushed a segment of the supply wagons across the pontoon bridges, positioning them conspicuously along the western bank to simulate an active logistical transport detail. Once the bait was set, they sat down in the grass, seizing every available second to recover their physical strength.
Yu Jin strode deep into the forest, ascending the crest of Wulu Mountain. Standing alongside Guan Yu and Zhao Yun, he narrowed his eyes, gazing intently toward the open expanse of the western highway.
The Calculation of Wei County
Tian Kai led his Youzhou soldiers forward at a punishing pace, finally positioning his lines along the official western highway at approximately a quarter past noon.
Carefully inspecting the soil of the road, Tian Kai let out a massive sigh of relief. Thank the heavens. Although there were massive signs of military movement etched into the dirt, the tracks were cold and dry. Judging by the weathering, they had been left by Yan Liang's army during their initial deployment from Ye City to the Qing River sector weeks ago.
In other words, Yan Liang's returning column had not yet crossed this threshold. They had beaten the clock!
Tian Kai was overjoyed. "Order the army to rest in place!"
At the command, the exhausted Youzhou soldiers let out a collective cheer, quickly scrambling beneath the shade of the trees to block out the brutal midsummer sun, collapsing onto the ground with heavy thuds. Tian Kai immediately dispatched a network of light scouts to reconnoiter northward and detect the approach of Yan Liang's force. He then located a cool spot beneath a canopy, sat down heavily, and unstrapped his water skin, gulping down the liquid greedily.
Before long, the heavy chorus of snoring echoed through the brush. Many of the soldiers were so utterly spent that the moment their bodies hit the dirt, they plunged into deep sleep. Tian Kai did nothing to check them. Their explicit operational mandate was merely to act as a compelling bait, not to engage in a prolonged, pitched melee. Since they had no clear timeline on Yan Liang's exact arrival, allowing his men to secure twenty or thirty minutes of sleep now would grant them the explosive energy required to run for their lives later.
But while Tian Kai possessed scouts, the hostile commanders—Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhao Fu, and Cheng Huan—naturally possessed their own scouting networks.
Gao Shun's Trap Camp had executed their covert river crossing at Yin'an under the cover of night. The fortress of Wei County lay a mere thirty li northwest of that specific crossing point. It could be said that the elite heavy infantry of the Trap Camp had crossed the river directly under the noses of the Wei County defenders, Zhao Fu and Cheng Huan.
While it had been pitch-black, the movement had gone undetected. But the moment the morning sun illuminated the plains, the two commanders received an urgent report: a distinct detachment of Zhang Xin's army had covertly crossed the river overnight and was marching due north.
Zhao Fu broke out into a cold sweat upon receiving the brief. "Come here!" he roared, his face flushing with fury. "Go to the courtyard and immediately execute the scout captain who was in charge of our night watch!"
An entire enemy host had crossed a major river barrier right outside his fortress walls, and his garrison had noticed absolutely nothing. What were his scouts doing? Sleeping? If that force had chosen to launch a midnight escalade against the walls of Wei County instead of bypassing it...
The two commanders shivered, not daring to follow that train of thought to its logical conclusion. Yet, beneath their fear, a profound confusion took root. Why would an enemy army execute a high-risk midnight crossing, completely ignore an isolated fortress like Wei County, and march straight into the interior? What was their objective?
Unable to fathom the strategy, Zhao Fu could only flood the sector with more scouts to monitor Gao Shun's advance. At the same time, he issued a counter-order to his own main army—which had been packing their gear to return to Ye City—telling them to halt their mobilization and stand by, ready to deploy for battle at a moment's notice.
By noon, a winded scout galloped back into the fortress hall, throwing himself down before Zhao Fu. "Reporting to the Attendant! Zhang Xin's army has successfully thrown down three pontoon bridges across the Qing River! A portion of their vanguard and several logistical supply wagons have already breached the western bank and are currently resting directly along the official highway!"
"What is their numerical strength?" Cheng Huan pressed forward urgently.
"Roughly two thousand enemy troops have established a presence on the official road. They appear to be the same unit that executed the midnight crossing near our county borders last night," the scout reported. "Furthermore, there is an additional force of over three thousand enemy troops positioned on the eastern bank of the river, seemingly responsible for managing the supply line."
"Is that the extent of their force?" Zhao Fu asked, his brow furrowed in deep skepticism.
Two thousand on the road, perhaps twenty-five hundred in the flanking element, and three thousand managing the river crossing... That amounted to barely eight thousand men in total. Why would Zhang Xin go to such absurd logistical lengths to insert a meager eight thousand men directly into the corridor separating his fortress from Yan Liang's approaching legion? What could he possibly hope to achieve?
Did he honestly believe he could block Yan Liang from returning to reinforce the capital? If Zhao Fu marched his own garrison out to combine forces with Yan Liang, their unified host would exceed fifty thousand troops. Even if Yan Liang operated entirely in isolation, his personal column boasted over twenty thousand men! How could a measly eight thousand light infantry hope to block a juggernaut of that size?
Furthermore, last night, Zhang Xin's main army was confirmed to be resting near the Weiguo border. For them to be sitting between Wei County and the Qing River by noon today meant they had sustained an overnight forced march of well over a hundred li without a single pause. Did those soldiers possess even a shred of combat effectiveness left in their bodies?
Using eight thousand physically broken, sleep-deprived soldiers to block twenty thousand fresh, returning troops? It wasn't just poor tactics; it was operational suicide.
"There may be additional hidden elements remaining on the eastern bank of the Qing River," the scout added hesitantly. "However, the enemy's counter-scout perimeter is incredibly fierce. I was spotted almost immediately and had to fight my way out, preventing me from reconnoitering further east."
"What is your assessment of this setup?" Zhao Fu turned to Cheng Huan, completely unable to parse the enemy's true intention.
"I believe..." Cheng Huan pondered deeply, staring at the regional map spread across the desk. A sudden look of revelation lit up his face. "Zhang Xin is attempting to lay a lethal ambush for Yan Liang!"
"Explain your logic," Zhao Fu urged.
"Look at the board," Cheng Huan said, pointing his finger at the schematic. "This is the official highway. A single, visibly exhausted unit of Zhang Xin's army is resting here in the open. Now, look eastward to the Qing River crossing; there is another unit stationed by the pontoon bridges. Finally, look south—this is where the midnight crossing occurred."
Zhao Fu nodded, his eyes tracking the markers.
"If you calculate the geometric center of these three distinct enemy positions..." Cheng Huan's voice dropped into a dark murmur, "I believe Zhang Xin intends to utilize the isolated, seemingly vulnerable unit on the highway as a piece of irresistible bait. He wants to lure Yan Liang's entire army off the official road and drag them toward the banks of the Qing River. The moment Yan Liang falls for the deception and commits his lines, he will be struck in the flanks and rear by the remaining units descending from the southeast."
Finally, Cheng Huan's finger slammed heavily down onto the coordinate of Wulu Market. "And look what sits right here: Wulu Market, a sector defined by a dense, old-growth forest capable of seamlessly concealing several thousand elite soldiers. If Zhang Xin has covertly nested a heavy heavy cavalry or shock infantry unit inside those woods... Yan Liang's entire column will be marched straight into a slaughterhouse!"
Zhao Fu gasped, a wave of shock rippling through him. Although Yan Liang's personal command boasted twenty thousand troops, the bitter, internal reality was that the vast majority of those twenty thousand men were green, civilian militia elements temporarily conscripted by Han Fu's administration to pad out their numbers. Their baseline combat effectiveness was abysmal. Some of those peasants had gone to the battlefield carrying nothing but carved wooden staves and agricultural hoes.
But Zhang Xin's soldiers? Every single man under his banner was a battle-hardened, iron-disciplined veteran of a dozen brutal campaigns. That was the singular, agonizing reason why Han Fu, despite commanding an aggregate force of over a hundred thousand troops across the province, still cowered in terror whenever he faced Zhang Xin's modest force of thirty to fifty thousand. The quality gap between the individual soldiers was a yawning chasm.
Assuming there truly was an ambush force nested within the treeline of Wulu Market, it would only need to be two or three thousand strong. Aggregating all the units together, Zhang Xin would have over ten thousand elite troops concentrated in that single bottleneck. Ten thousand tier-one veterans launching a coordinated, sudden ambush against twenty thousand uncoordinated peasants marching in a straight line... It wouldn't be a battle; it would be a total, crushing annihilation.
"Are you suggesting..." Zhao Fu looked up, his eyes wide. "We should disregard the Governor's recall order, halt our retreat to Ye City, and instead march our entire garrison out to reinforce Yan Liang?"
"We must rescue him!" Cheng Huan nodded vigorously, his voice filled with an intense, strategic fervor.
The two of them were intimately aware of the macro-importance of the Wei County and Qing River defense lines. It was only Han Fu's frantic, cowardly paranoia that was forcing them to abandon these priceless shields. If they could leverage this exact situation to catch Zhang Xin's ten thousand elite troops out in the open and systematically wipe them out in a single afternoon, the entire existential siege surrounding Jizhou would be instantly lifted!
How many elite soldiers did Zhang Xin possess in total? If he suffered the catastrophic loss of a full third of his veteran core in a single afternoon here, his strategic campaign would be broken. He would have no choice but to gather his remaining units and retreat back to Qing Province.
"But... what if the Grand Excellency holds us legally accountable afterward?" Zhao Fu hesitated, the shadow of bureaucratic discipline looming over him. "We would be openly, flagrantly violating a direct, written gubernatorial edict..."
"When a general is operating in the field, he is under no obligation to blindly follow a civilian lord's suicidal commands if the strategic reality dictates otherwise!" Cheng Huan interrupted fiercely. "If this engagement yields a total victory, the entire province is saved. By then, the Grand Excellency will be far too consumed with showering us with promotions and gold to ever dream of holding us accountable for a minor breach of protocol!"
"Then let it be resolved as you say!" Zhao Fu slammed his fist down, his hesitation evaporating. He instantly ordered the main garrison to prepare for immediate deployment, while simultaneously drafting an urgent dispatch to be carried to Yan Liang.
Zhang Xin's decoy position on the highway was roughly forty li away from the gates of Wei County; it would take his heavy infantry columns approximately two hours to reach the sector. In his letter, Zhao Fu explicitly warned Yan Liang not to rashly engage any enemy units he encountered along the highway, lest he march blindly into a pre-engineered trap. He commanded him to maintain his position and wait until the Wei County garrison arrived so they could crush the enemy together with overwhelming force.
The messenger accepted the secret scroll, vaulted onto his mount, and took off down a hidden, winding dirt path, galloping northward at maximum speed.
Zhao Fu strode out of the main administrative hall, his eyes locking onto the bronze sundial positioned in the courtyard. The shadow fell precisely across the marker—it was exactly a quarter past noon.
The Trap is Sprung
Meanwhile, Yan Liang's massive, sprawling column had broken camp at Chenshi (7:00–9:00 AM) and had successfully ground through over fifty li of road by the time noon arrived. It was the height of midsummer, and the oppressive, stagnant heat had caused thousands of his conscripts to sweat profusely, their morale flagging under the sun.
Yan Liang wiped a heavy layer of sweat from his forehead, squinted up at the blazing sky, and ordered his officers to halt the march. He directed the men to rest in place beneath whatever shade they could find until the worst of the afternoon heat dissipated before resuming their journey.
The conscripts let out a collective sigh of relief, scrambling into the ditches and treelines. However, not ten minutes after the halt was called, a scout from their vanguard came screaming down the road on a lathered horse.
"General! Vital intelligence! An active enemy force has been discovered directly blocking our vector ahead!"
"What did you say?!" Yan Liang gasped, springing to his feet, his hand instinctively dropping to the hilt of his broadsword. "An enemy force? How could Zhang Xin's infantry possibly be positioned in this sector already?"
"What is their numerical strength?" Wen Chou asked, his demeanor slightly more measured as he stepped forward.
"A meager two thousand men, resting directly along the official highway roughly seven or eight li to our south," the scout reported, catching his breath. "Furthermore, my deployment got close enough to hear their lines. The entire unit is dead to the world—the sound of their snoring can be heard from the treeline!"
"What? A mere two thousand men?" Yan Liang was utterly stunned, a look of profound disbelief crossing his rough features. "And they are all asleep in the open?"
Is this a literal gift from the heavens?
"Report!"
Before he could process the information, a second vanguard scout shattered the perimeter, throwing himself from his saddle. "General! An additional enemy detachment has been detected along the banks of the Qing River! They are currently transporting an immense convoy of supply wagons across their pontoon bridges!"
"Detail their numbers!" Yan Liang demanded.
"In excess of three thousand men!" the scout barked.
"Elder Brother," Wen Chou turned to Yan Liang, his eyes gleaming with a sudden, predatory excitement. "It is blindingly obvious. Zhang Xin intends to use these detachments to block our return vector and prevent our army from reinforcing Ye City!"
Over five thousand men in total, heavily encumbered with logistical supply wagons. No further analysis was required; the enemy was clearly attempting to establish a fortified blocking position across the highway to trap them in the eastern commanderies.
"Magnificent!" Yan Liang let out a booming laugh, his chest swelling with immense satisfaction. "This is a heaven-sent opportunity for me to secure a legendary, career-defining victory over Zhang Xin's mythos!"
Just yesterday evening, his intelligence had confirmed that Zhang Xin's main infantry core was still lagging behind in the Weiguo sector. Yet here they were at noon today, sitting directly across his retreat highway. What did that prove? It proved that the enemy had driven their men through a desperate, hundred-plus-li midnight forced march to beat them to this choke point.
Judging by the pathetic state of their vanguard—sleeping like dogs in the dirt without even taking the time to throw up a basic perimeter fence or dig a trench—it was clear the enemy was completely, irreversibly exhausted. They had run themselves into the ground.
Under these parameters, when else would a true warrior strike? To delay would be an insult to the gods of war!
"My dear brother," Yan Liang turned to Wen Chou, his face twisted into a fierce grin. "I am placing five thousand of our finest vanguard infantry under your direct command. Exploit the enemy's total lack of operational readiness. Advance at the double and cut them to pieces where they lie!"
"Consider it done!" Wen Chou cupped his fists, his face filled with an intense, martial fervor as he rushed out to mobilize the lines.
"Get up, you dogs! Move it!" Wen Chou's roaring voice echoed through the resting camps. "There is a broken, sleeping enemy force just down the road! Up on your feet! I am leading you straight to an easy harvest of military glory and gold!"
Under Wen Chou's relentless barking, five thousand of the most capable vanguard soldiers were rapidly marshaled into a spearhead formation, charging down the southern highway with a thunderous roar.
The massive movement was instantly picked up by Tian Kai's advanced scouts and relayed back to the resting place.
"Seven or eight li out, is it..." Tian Kai took a deep, stabilizing breath, pushing himself up from the shade and casting his gaze toward the northern horizon.
Within minutes, a massive, billowing cloud of dust materialized in the distance, beneath which emerged a sea of iron spears and a massive silk banner emblazoned with the bold character for 'Wen'.
"Five li... four li..." Tian Kai silently calculated the closing speed of the hostile infantry. The moment Wen Chou's screaming vanguard closed the distance to a mere three li, he drew his blade and unleashed a frantic, theatrical scream.
"Quickly! Up! Up! Shake off the sleep! The enemy has sprung an ambush! Run for your lives!"
In truth, he didn't even need to strain his vocal cords. The terrifying, rhythmic thud of five thousand pairs of marching boots slamming into the earth had already shocked the majority of the Youzhou soldiers awake.
"Quick! Quick! Brother, get up! Don't look back, run!" The Youzhou soldiers frantically kicked and hauled their sleeping comrades to their feet, their faces twisted into expressions of manufactured panic.
Beholding the absolute chaos and frantic scrambling defining the Youzhou lines, Wen Chou felt an intoxicating surge of absolute triumph. "Faster! Drive them into the dirt!" he roared, pointing his long spear toward the fleeing targets. "Kill them all!"
The hostile conscripts, witnessing the complete lack of resistance from Zhang Xin's reputedly terrifying veterans, felt their morale explode into the stratosphere. They let out a deafening war cry, breaking into a dead sprint as they charged forward.
"Retreat! Fall back to the river!" Tian Kai roared at the top of his lungs.
The Youzhou soldiers turned tail and fled down the highway in an absolute, chaotic rout. The scene was a masterpiece of tactical deception. To the untrained eye, they appeared to be a completely broken force. A regiment of elite cavalry stripped of their warhorses, coupled with the crushing physical toll of an overnight forced march, attempting to flee on foot—their lines instantly dissolved into a disorganized, screaming mass.
Wen Chou was ecstatic. He drove his vanguard forward with reckless abandon. Intoxicated by the prospect of a historic decapitation strike, he personally spurred his mount forward, leading the only few dozen cavalrymen available in his division to spearhead the pursuit, leaving his massive infantry blocks trailing behind.
Every few hundred yards, a trailing Youzhou soldier would be run down and cut into the dirt by the pursuing horsemen. Fortunately, Tian Kai had meticulously engineered a buffer of several li before initiating the rout, ensuring that Wen Chou's primary infantry blocks could not close the physical distance to lock his men in a melee. Relying solely on those few dozen pursuing cavalry, the actual structural damage inflicted upon his running columns was kept within acceptable parameters.
"Run! Run faster! Do not look back!" Tian Kai kept screaming, his horse weaving through his fleeing men.
Wen Chou's sharp eyes instantly locked onto Tian Kai's position. Seeing that Tian Kai was one of the few individuals remaining on horseback and surrounded by a small cluster of officers, he immediately deduced his status as the commanding general. Wen Chou fiercely dug his spurs into his stallion, driving his mount forward to claim the ultimate prize.
"Treacherous dog! Do not dare run from my blade!" Wen Chou roared, his voice cutting through the wind as he bypassed the common fleeing soldiers, his long spear leveled squarely at Tian Kai's back.
With a cohort of furious cavalry snapping at their heels, the grueling, ten-plus-li escape corridor was crossed in what felt like a single, breathless flash of time. Within minutes, Tian Kai's stampeding column rounded the final bend, spilling out onto the banks of the Qing River where the three pontoon bridges awaited.
"They have arrived," Yu Jin murmured. Standing atop the high ridge of Wulu Mountain, he witnessed the approaching storm and violently waved his crimson command flag through the air.
Sun Guan, who had been stationed at the edge of the western tree line tracking the signal, spotted the flash of fabric and unleashed a roaring cry to his hidden men. "The enemy has breached the perimeter! Execute the panic protocol! Run!"
The Xuzhou decoy soldiers stationed around the western approach to the pontoon bridges immediately let out a chorus of terror-stricken screams. They abandoned their positions, stampeding across the narrow wooden planks toward the safety of the eastern bank. In the calculated chaos of their simulated flight, several supply wagons were intentionally overturned by the fleeing troops. Heavy wooden crates shattered upon impact, and a literal sea of glittering copper coinage and thousands of bushels of refined grain spilled out across the dirt, blanketing the entire approach to the river crossing.
The moment the Xuzhou soldiers cleared the span, Tian Kai's gasping Youzhou column hit the bridgeheads, sprinting across the rocking pontoons to the eastern bank without a single second of hesitation.
Wen Chou breached the clearing an instant later, his horse's hooves skidding through the dirt. His eyes flared with an intense, manic excitement as he beheld the total panic of the enemy. He was so utterly consumed by the thrill of the hunt that he failed to notice an incredibly lethal tactical reality: in his absolute desperation to claim Tian Kai's head, he and his tiny detail of a few dozen horsemen had completely outrun their own lines, separating themselves from their main five-thousand-man infantry block by several full li.
Standing high upon the forested hillside of Wulu Mountain, Guan Yu witnessed Tian Kai being hotly pursued by the roaring Wen Chou, a sharp pang of martial protective instinct piercing his chest. His hand gripped his belt. "Bring me my Crescent Blade!"
"Yunchang, hold your ground," Zhao Yun stepped forward, his hand firmly arresting Guan Yu's arm plate, his eyes calm and calculating. "You are the supreme commander of our hidden heavy cavalry corps. Your mandate is to remain here to direct the trap against Yan Liang's approaching main army.
Zhao Yun's silver armor caught the dappled sunlight as he checked his spear. "Allow me to ride out and rescue General Tian!"