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

A wave of unease washed over him.

He realized that Chu Xuan was not only trying to annihilate them, but was also practicing a certain tactic—an encirclement and annihilation tactic specifically designed to counter cavalry.

Every arrangement was precise and ruthless, clearly the result of repeated planning.

"General! Northeast corner! There's a royal flag there!" Tuoba Lie suddenly shouted.

The bald man looked in the direction the other flags were pointing and saw a golden royal banner that was larger than the others. Chu Xuan's figure could be vaguely seen under the banner.

The idea of ​​"capture the king first" flashed through my mind like lightning.

"Tuoba Lie, lead the main force and continue the charge southwest!"

Bald Man turned his horse around: "Personnel guards, follow me!"

"General, no! That's a trap!" Tuoba Lie exclaimed urgently.

"It's precisely because it's a trap that we have to go!"

A resolute glint flashed in the bald man's bulging eyes: "Chu Xuan wants me to think it's bait, but I'll take the bait! As long as his attention is drawn, you'll have a chance to break through!"

Three hundred guards followed closely behind. This elite force, personally trained by the bald man, maintained a disciplined formation even in this dire situation.

They were like a dagger, thrusting into the Chu army's ranks from the opposite direction, heading straight for the royal banner.

The Chu army clearly did not expect this move, and the northeast corner of their defenses was briefly thrown into disarray.

The bald man's long sword was soaked with blood, and the guards, fearless of death, actually fought their way through and approached the royal banner.

"Chu Xuan! Do you dare to fight me!" the bald man roared, his voice drowning out the clamor of the battlefield.

Under the royal banner, Chu Xuan slowly drew his sword.

It was an ancient longsword, with a coiled dragon pattern engraved on its blade.

Unexpectedly, he actually spurred his horse forward and headed towards the bald man.

The two horses crossed paths, swords clashed, and sparks flew.

With just one strike, the bald man felt a tremendous shock throughout his body.

Chu Xuan's swordsmanship was devoid of any frills, but every strike was precise, ruthless, and powerful, clearly a killing technique honed on the battlefield.

This prince, who was said to live a life of luxury, was actually a hidden master.

"I didn't expect it?"

Chu Xuan sneered, his sword wielding a force like the Yangtze River, flowing endlessly: "Do you think that I, the Prince of Great Chu, am only capable of reciting poems?"

Baldness tried its best to defend itself, but gradually it began to feel the strain.

The internal injuries left by the Battle of Jicheng were still throbbing, and Chu Xuan's swordsmanship was subtly countering his blade techniques.

Even more terrifying, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his personal guard being divided and surrounded by Chu troops who outnumbered him several times over.

You're distracted.

Chu Xuan's sword flashed, leaving a deep mark on the bald man's shoulder armor: "On the battlefield, distraction means death."

Bald Man gritted his teeth and suddenly feigned an opening, taking the blow to Chu Xuan's left abdomen with a sword. At the same time, he swept his longsword horizontally, forcing his opponent back.

Blood gushed from the gaps in his armor, but he laughed loudly: "Chu Xuan, you've lost!"

Chu Xuan was stunned for a moment, then his expression changed drastically.

From the southwest came deafening battle cries—Tuoba Lie's main force had actually broken through the encirclement!

It turned out that Tuoba Hun's desperate attack not only attracted Chu Xuan himself, but also diverted some of the garrison in the southwest corner, creating a fleeting opportunity for the main force.

"Chase!" Chu Xuan roared, but it was too late to regroup.

Despite the excruciating pain, the bald-headed man led his remaining guards in a counterattack, rejoining the main force.

When he finally broke through the encirclement and looked back, Eagle's Sorrow Gorge had become a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Of the 25,000 cavalry, less than 8,000 charged out, and most of them were wounded.

"General, your wounds..." Tuoba Lie's voice choked with emotion.

"He won't die." The bald man tore off a piece of his shirt and hastily bandaged himself: "Chu Xuan... I will avenge this."

In the blood-red twilight of Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, Bald Hun led his remaining troops out of the encirclement like arrows released from a bow.

Eight thousand surviving cavalrymen trampled over the corpses of their fallen comrades, their hooves kicking up a dark red trail of blood and mud behind them.

The sounds of fierce fighting in the canyon gradually faded away, replaced by the howling wind across the wasteland.

"General, the Black Pine Forest is just ten miles ahead!"

Tuoba Lie's voice was hoarse, his face a mixture of blood and exhaustion: "After passing through the forest, it will be another day's journey to Black Stone Fortress!"

Despite the excruciating pain in his left abdomen, bald-headed Hun endured the sword wound inflicted by Chu Xuan.

Every bump felt like the wound was being torn apart, but there was no time to stop.

He looked back and saw that the Chu army was not pursuing him with all their might. This unusual calm made him uneasy.

"Send scouts to explore the way, the rest of you slow down and reorganize your formation," he ordered.

Having survived the ambush at Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, any terrain could harbor deadly dangers.

The scout team darted out like cheetahs and disappeared into the twilight.

The bald man had his wound treated simply by the military medical officer. When the cold ointment was applied, he gritted his teeth and didn't utter a single groan.

The surrounding soldiers silently organized their weapons and counted their arrows, each with a lingering sense of relief at having survived a catastrophe.

Suddenly, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from ahead.

It wasn't just one rider, but all the scouts returning simultaneously—this was a signal that they had encountered the enemy!

"Prepare for battle!" The bald man scrambled onto his horse, the movement aggravating his wounds, causing his vision to go black for a moment.

On the horizon, a black wave slowly surged in.

Those were not the golden banners of the Chu army, but a large, dark black banner, which appeared as a moving shadow in the darkening sky.

The army marched almost silently, with only the low hum of armor rubbing together and the sound of their synchronized footsteps. This discipline made the battle-hardened bald man feel a chill run down his spine.

What shocked him even more was the figure in front of the army.

Dressed in a black robe as if cut by the night, he held a feather fan and sat gracefully on a white horse.

Even from hundreds of steps away, the bald man could still recognize those eyes.

On the walls of Jicheng, those were the same calm, even cruel, eyes that watched as his most elite cavalry fell one after another along the moat.

"Su Tingmei!" The bald man squeezed out the name through gritted teeth.

A strategist actually intercepted them here personally!

Shouldn't he be in Jicheng overseeing defenses?

Unless Su Tingmei already knew that Chu Xuan would ambush her at Eagle Sorrow Gorge, and had calculated the time and place in advance, and was waiting here early on.

"General, dust is rising behind us!" the lookout shouted a warning.

The bald man suddenly turned around and saw that in the direction he had come from, golden dragon flags were raised like a forest.

Chu Xuan's pursuers arrived, taking their time and completing the encirclement at just the right moment.

In front of them were Su Tingmei's Northern Army, and behind them were Chu Xuan's Chu Army. To their left and right lay desolate plains and open roads, yet also a deadly place.

Being attacked from both sides in such open terrain, the cavalry's last advantage of mobility vanished.

"Circular formation defense!"

The bald man's hoarse voice echoed across the wasteland, yet it couldn't hide a tremor.

It wasn't fear, but anger—the kind of anger that comes from being thoroughly outmaneuvered, like a trapped beast.

The remaining Scorpion Clan cavalry quickly formed ranks, eight thousand against at least sixty thousand, a disparity so stark it was despair-inducing.

But the fierce courage in the bones of the grassland warriors was fully unleashed at this moment. They formed three concentric circles, spears pointing outwards, bows and crossbows nocked, silently awaiting the final battle.

Su Tingmei's troops stopped three hundred paces away.

This distance was just at the edge of the crossbow's range, demonstrating the enemy general's precise control of the battlefield.