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

Outside the woods, the Han army was still advancing.

Under normal circumstances, when marching through this kind of terrain, scouts would definitely be sent out first to carefully explore it.

But at this moment, both Liu Xiu and his soldiers had relaxed their vigilance because of the previous "miracle" and the emperor's assurance, thinking that they had already left the danger zone.

The vanguard of the team stepped into the official road in the forest almost without any precautions.

However, just as the large group of people were about to enter the forest completely——

A sudden change occurred!

“Swish, swish, swish—!”

A dense and sharp sound of breaking through the air suddenly erupted from the dense forests on both sides of the road!

Countless sharp arrows, like poisonous snakes coming out of their holes, shot out from behind the trees and bushes with the cold light of death!

Their targets were precise and ruthless, targeting the densest crowd in the team and the officers on horseback!

"Puff puff!"

The sound of sharp blades cutting into flesh is endless!

The defenseless Han soldiers suddenly fell down in large numbers, and their screams instantly broke the tranquility of the evening!

"There's an ambush!"

"Enemy attack! Protect His Majesty!"

The team was in chaos in an instant!

The soldiers panicked and instinctively raised their crude shields or brandished their weapons to block, but the arrows from the darkness were too dense and sudden, and people kept falling to the ground after being shot.

Liu Xiu was riding in the middle of the team when an arrow almost grazed his cheek and hit the throat of a personal guard behind him!

The guard fell off his horse without a sound.

"Be careful, Your Majesty!"

The guards around were horrified and immediately rushed forward, using their bodies and shields to protect Liu Xiu.

Liu Xiu was stunned by this sudden attack. The smugness and calmness on his face disappeared in an instant, and were replaced by extreme shock, anger and a hint of panic of being deceived!

Isn't he blessed by destiny?

Weren't the Chu army crippled? How could an ambush occur here?!

Seeing the troops in disarray under the hail of arrows, with heavy casualties, Liu Xiu was shocked and furious. He suddenly drew his sword and pointed it at the depths of the dense forest where the arrows came from. He shouted in disbelief and fury:

"Who is it? Who is in the woods?!"

Liu Xiu's shout of shock and anger still echoed in the woods.

What answered him was not the small group of defeated soldiers or stragglers as he had imagined, but a low but heart-pounding sound of war drums like thunder, and the clanging sound of countless armor plates rubbing against each other!

Immediately afterwards, under the terrified gaze of the Han soldiers, countless black figures emerged from the originally silent dense forests on both sides of the road as if by magic!

The cold light of swords and spears instantly pierced the darkness in the forest, and the ferocious "Chu" battle flags and "Ran" general flags were erected high, fluttering in the wind!

The sound of hooves was like thunder. A Chu army general with an extremely burly figure and a bald head that shone a blue-black luster in the setting sun, rode a majestic black horse and slowly emerged from the forest, surrounded by a group of elite personal soldiers.

He held an exaggerated giant battle axe in his hand, the flesh on his face trembled, and he had a cruel and playful smile on his face.

He was none other than Ran Ming, a fierce general under Chu Ning who was known for his bravery and ferocity!

And with his appearance, more Chu soldiers poured out from the depths of the woods like a tide.

These people quickly spread out along both sides of the official road, with spears like a forest and bows and crossbows strung.

In the blink of an eye, the already exhausted and frightened remnants of the Han army were surrounded in three layers, with no escape possible!

Judging from their momentum, the number of troops is definitely no less than 20,000, and they have obviously been gathering strength for a long time!

"Ran...Ran Ming?"

When Liu Xiu saw who was coming, his pupils suddenly contracted, the blood color on his face instantly drained away, and his voice changed due to extreme shock.

"You...why are you here? Shouldn't you be outside Kunyang City?!"

This was completely beyond his understanding!

As a core general of the Chu army, Ran Ming should have followed Chu Ning's main force to besiege Kunyang. How could he have ambushed in the woods more than 20 miles away from Kunyang in advance like a divine soldier descending from the sky?

Was the siege of Kunyang a fake? Could it be that the Chu army could clone themselves?

Looking at Liu Xiu's expression of disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost, Ran Ming grinned, revealing his sharp white teeth, and his smile became more ferocious and complacent.

He deliberately knocked his shiny bald head with the axe blade, making a clanging sound like a loud bell, full of mockery:

"Why are you here? Hahahaha! Liu Xiu, oh Liu Xiu, you call yourself a great hero. Do you really think that my Majesty is such a fool that he would watch you slip away from the hands of God one after another without any backup plan?"

His words were like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of Liu Xiu and every Han soldier:

"You relied on that inexplicable bit of luck to avoid the hail and escape the skyfire, and you really think that fate is in your hands and you can rest easy? Bah! Dream on!"

Ran Ming suddenly put away his smile, a fierce light flashed in his eyes, and he pointed his battle axe at Liu Xiu. His voice suddenly became cold and cruel:

"Let me tell you! My Majesty never believes in that bullshit destiny! He only believes in one thing—man can conquer nature!"

"Even before deciding to launch an all-out siege of Kunyang, Your Majesty had already predicted that even if something unexpected happened, your most likely escape route, Liu Xiu, would be westward from here, attempting to enter the mountains!"

"Therefore, I have already secretly ordered this general to lead 20,000 elite troops to sneak into this forest a day in advance, traveling day and night. The net has been set, waiting for you, the self-righteous true dragon, to fall into the trap!"

He looked around at the pale, trembling Han soldiers, and his voice rang out like thunder:

"Now, the facts are before us! No matter how lucky you were before, in the end, didn't you still fall into my hands?"

"That's called—a smart move! That's called—man's plans are better than nature's! Hahahaha!"

The Chu soldiers who were waiting in formation all around also erupted in thunderous laughter and mocking shouts at the right moment:

"Hahaha! What a destined prince! Turns out he's just a turtle in a jar!"

"Even God can't save you!"

"Surrender quickly and I will spare your life!"

These mocking voices were like cold steel needles, piercing Liu Xiu's ears.

It also pierced through the psychological defense line in his heart that was built by "destiny", which was not very strong to begin with!

"No... Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

Liu Xiu's body began to tremble violently, his face turned from pale to blue, and from blue to red. He could not accept this reality, and he could not accept that his belief in "receiving the mandate from heaven" was so ruthlessly trampled and mocked by the other party!

Like a trapped beast, he roared hysterically yet powerlessly:

"How could Chu Ning... How could he have predicted that I would..."

"Why not?"

Ran Ming interrupted him impatiently, swinging his battle axe with murderous intent.

"Put aside your self-deception! The reality is, you lost! You lost miserably!"

"The God you relied on ultimately failed to save you! Now, I give you two choices—"

Ran Ming's voice, like the final judgment, echoed coldly on the silent forest path:

"Or, get off the horse and be tied up, maybe you can live a few more days!"

"Or, I will chop off your head with my own hands and send it to my Majesty as a wine jug!"

The cold reality was like a basin of ice water poured over Liu Xiu's head, chilling him from head to toe.

The "destiny" he firmly believed in seemed so pale, ridiculous, and vulnerable in the face of Chu Ning's meticulous calculations and Ran Ming's 20,000 ambush troops!

Man can conquer heaven!

These four words, like a curse, echoed wildly in his mind, completely shattering his last bit of luck and dignity.