Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

The scorching sun shone on the remnants of the Han army who were retreating in panic.

Liu Che's golden armor was stained with blood, and the warhorse under his crotch was emitting thick white steam.

Suddenly, the sound of hurried horse hooves came from the front, and a scout rushed out from the dust, his horse standing upright.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty!"

The scout nearly fell as he dismounted, blood still seeping from the arrow wound in his left arm. "Three miles ahead, we've spotted Chu cavalry!"

Liu Che suddenly pulled the reins, and the horse neighed and stood up: "What did you say?"

His fingers beneath his gilded wrist guards tightly gripped the reins. "How could the Chu army appear before us?"

The scout swallowed bloody saliva and said, "It's absolutely true! I saw the dragon banner with my own eyes. Chu...Chun Ning was right there in the battle!"

The air suddenly solidified.

Liu Che's pupils contracted violently as he looked at the exhausted soldiers behind him - these were the men who had fought bloody battles with him for several days, and now only tens of thousands were left.

On the distant horizon, the smoke and dust of pursuit are approaching.

"How many enemy troops are there?" Liu Che's voice suddenly became terrifyingly calm.

"About 5,000 light cavalry."

"Five thousand?"

Liu Che suddenly laughed out loud towards the sky, and his laughter startled everyone and they all looked at him.

He suddenly drew out the Tai'a Sword, the blade reflecting a cold, blood-red light in the sunset. "Chu Ning! Do you really think I'm a lost dog?"

He pointed his sword forward, his voice shaking the whole field: "My men! Chu Ning's head is ahead! Today, either he dies or I die!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The roars of thousands of soldiers made the leaves fall.

The fire of war was rekindled in the eyes of these tired soldiers. They gripped their blood-stained weapons tightly, as if they had returned to the heroic spirit they had when they set out on the battle.

At the same time, on a hill three miles away, Chu Ning gently stroked the mane of his beloved horse.

The silver armor shone coldly in the sunlight. He looked at the smoke and dust rising in the distance, a sneer appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Your Majesty, your foresight is brilliant." A personal guard beside him bowed and said, "Liu Che has indeed chosen this shortcut."

Chu Ning nodded slightly: "Pass the order down, ten rounds of arrow rain."

He suddenly raised his voice, his voice like the clanging of metal: "Empty all the quivers!"

Chu Ning narrowed his eyes: "I will first use the rain of arrows to weaken their sharpness, and then..."

He suddenly gripped his spear tightly, the tip of the spear drawing a streak of blood in the sunlight: "Crush them in one fell swoop!"

The sound of five thousand cavalrymen drawing their bows at the same time was like thunder before a storm.

"Shoot!" Chu Ning's military order sounded like thunder.

The sound of five thousand cavalrymen drawing their bows at the same time was like the sound of millions of poisonous snakes spitting out their tongues, which was creepy.

Amid the humming sound of vibrating bowstrings, the first wave of arrows soared into the air, drawing countless deadly arcs in the sunlight.

"Shield bearers! Form a formation!" Liu Che's roar tore through the sky.

The Han army in the front row immediately raised their heavy wooden shields, and the cowhide covering the shields rustled in the wind.

However, when the rain of arrows fell, chilling piercing sounds were heard one after another - the Chu army's specially made armor-piercing arrows could actually penetrate a three-inch thick shield!

"Ah!" A shield bearer let out a shrill scream.

The steel arrow pierced his palm and nailed his arm to the shield.

The second arrow immediately pierced his throat, and blood splattered on the face of his comrade behind him.

A second hail of arrows followed, this time mixed with flaming rockets that set the dry grass on fire.

In the thick smoke, soldiers kept falling down wailing.

A young captain of the Han army was shot in the chest by three arrows at the same time. He fell to his knees, still holding the military flag tightly to prevent himself from falling.

"Don't stop! Keep charging!" Liu Che swung his sword to knock down two stray arrows, leaving a bloody mark on his face.

He saw that some of the arrows in the third wave of arrow rain had copper whistles tied to their shafts. The sharp whistles echoed on the battlefield, adding a bit of terror.

After the fifth round of arrow rain, the battlefield was filled with trembling arrow feathers.

The Han army's charge formation became sparse, but the surviving soldiers were still advancing over the corpses of their comrades.

A shield bearer with a broken right arm bit the shield strap with his teeth and held the shield with one hand to protect the archers behind him.

When the tenth round of arrows fell, the entire battlefield had turned into a forest of arrows.

Blood flowed like streams on the cracked loess, and the fallen soldiers often had seven or eight arrows stuck in their bodies.

But what is shocking is that the remaining Han troops are still charging!

They knew that stopping would mean death, and the only way to survive was to break through the Chu army's defense line.

Liu Che's Tai'a sword was stained with blood. He looked around and found that more than half of the original 10,000-man army had been killed.

But when he looked back, the smoke and dust from the pursuit in the distance was clearly visible - the main forces of Zhao Yu and Ran Ming were approaching.

The eight-foot-long spear in Chu Ning's hand suddenly burst out with a dazzling cold light, and the tip of the spear drew a bloody arc in the setting sun.

"Kill!" This roar was like a thunderclap.

Five thousand cavalrymen urged their horses on at the same time, and the earth began to shake violently.

The first round of charge was like a torrent of steel hitting a dam of flesh and blood.

The heavily armored cavalry formed a wedge formation, with their lances held high, and instantly tore through the Han army's shaky defense line.

Liu Che saw with his own eyes that a Chu army centurion's horse lance pierced the chests of three Han army soldiers. The lance shaft broke because it could not withstand the impact. The centurion immediately drew his sword and continued to kill.

"Protect His Majesty!" Jiang Yun led his personal guards to fight to the death.

A Chu cavalryman's horse was stabbed in the abdomen by a spear. The moment he fell to the ground, the cavalryman rolled up flexibly. His scimitar flashed a silver light, and the heads of two Han archers flew up at the same time.

A shrill scream suddenly erupted from the left wing.

The light cavalry led by Ran Ming made a roundabout move. They did not use long weapons, but instead used double swords to chop the horses' legs.

The fallen war horses crushed the Han soldiers on their backs into meat paste, and the gap became bigger and bigger.

Liu Che saw that Ran Ming's face was splattered with blood, but he showed a ferocious smile, and his two swords danced, causing waves of blood.

The second charge was even more deadly.

The Chu cavalry split into several groups and weaved through the Han army's formation like poisonous snakes.

Zhao Yu's silver armor was particularly eye-catching among the chaotic army, and every time he stabbed with his spear, it would take a life.

A Han army general tried to stop him, but Zhao Yu's spear knocked off his helmet, and the second spear pierced his throat directly.

When the setting sun sank to the treetops, the battlefield had turned into a Shura field.

The remaining 500 or so men around Liu Che formed a circle with their backs to each other, surrounded by layers of Chu troops.

Chu Ning's golden helmet gleamed brightly in front of the formation. He slowly raised his blood-stained spear, and the cavalry reined in their horses at the same time. The battlefield suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

"Liu Che!"

Chu Ning's voice penetrated the twilight, "Look around you!"

He swung his spear and the cavalrymen shouted in unison, the sound waves shaking the leaves into flying pieces.

The remaining Han soldiers' hands were shaking as they held their weapons, but they still tightly protected the emperor.

Liu Che's Tai'a sword had already broken into several pieces. He wiped the blood from his face and suddenly laughed out loud:

"Chu Ning! Do you think you can make me surrender like this?"

Laughing, he pointed his sword at the sky: "Big man! Follow me and kill!"

The final charge begins.

The five hundred remaining soldiers burst into earth-shaking shouts and rushed towards the iron-clad Chu army line.

Amidst the flash of swords and the shadow of sabers, the entire land was dyed red with blood, and the setting sun in the sky finally sank completely below the horizon.