12dz Chapter 2288 Trying to run away? Dream on!
Chapter 2288 Trying to run away? Dream on!
Helian Hui shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to regain his composure.
However, his orders were less effective in spreading amidst such chaos.
Unable to advance from the front, attacked from behind, and flanked by Chu cavalry on both sides, with crossbow bolts raining down from above.
Panic spread rapidly among the Scorpion Clan cavalry like a plague.
The once relatively unified assault group began to split and collapse.
Some tried to turn and fight Zhao Yu, some wanted to push forward, and some wandered aimlessly to both sides like headless flies, just in time to run into the flanking cavalry sent by Feng Mulan.
The cavalry under Feng Mulan's command executed their flanking maneuvers with extreme precision.
Instead of engaging the chaotic Scorpion Clan cavalry in prolonged combat, they utilized their speed and local advantages to continuously drive away and divide the small groups of enemy troops attempting to break out, forcing them back into the core area.
At the same time, firmly control several key entrances that could lead to more open areas.
After Zhao Yu's troops made initial breakthroughs in the rear, they did not linger and continue fighting.
Instead, under Zhao Yu's command, they quickly spread out to both flanks, like a silver tide spreading to both sides, gradually approaching and connecting with the flanking cavalry sent by Feng Mulan.
While fighting, they deliberately controlled the rhythm and direction of their charge, forcing more Scorpion Clan cavalry towards the center.
With Feng Mulan's calm overall command and Zhao Yu's troops' fearless frontal assault, a huge and deadly encirclement was rapidly closed and tightened with astonishing efficiency.
The area in front of Eagle's Beak Bend has been transformed into a huge, noisy slaughterhouse.
At the center were the increasingly crowded and desperate Scorpion Clan cavalry, who had lost all space to charge. People were jostling each other, horses were bumping into each other, their organization was completely disrupted, and command was almost non-existent.
On the periphery, there was an impregnable wall of Chu infantry, cavalry, and archers, constantly compressing the space and pressing forward step by step.
The silver-white and jet-black Chu army formations, like two ever-closing steel gates, firmly clamped the struggling black figure in the middle within an ever-shrinking death zone.
Arrows and crossbow bolts rained down from the outside in, halberds thrust continuously from the defensive line, and cavalrymen roamed the perimeter, hunting down any stragglers who attempted to break through the encirclement.
Helian Hui's wolf-head banner still stands, stubbornly fluttering in the chaotic center, but it has lost its ability to guide the way and is more like a symbol of despair.
Helian Hui was surrounded by his personal guards, struggling to break free, only to find himself seemingly trapped in quicksand.
Enemies were everywhere, and every step was extremely difficult. All that could be seen were the imposing array of Chu troops and the terrified, distorted faces of his men.
The encirclement is now a foregone conclusion.
What remains is the final strangulation and cleanup.
Zhao Yu and Feng Mulan were the sharpest spear and the strongest support in the Chu army.
In the light of dawn and amidst the flames of blood, they executed a near-perfect tactical maneuver, completely locking down Helian Hui, the great threat to the northern border, and his main force on this nameless plain.
Helian Hui's ambition and ferocity, which had roamed the grasslands, seemed to be tolling the death knell of fate amidst the deafening battle cries of the Chu army.
Helian Hui looked around and saw nothing but the ever-retracting Chu army lines and the terrified, desperate faces of his men.
Shouts of battle, screams, the clash of weapons, and the mournful neighing of warhorses, all mixed with the pungent stench of blood, constituted the entirety of this land of death.
He realized that if he continued to remain trapped in this ever-shrinking encirclement, the only way out would be to be slowly worn down and eventually wiped out.
The ferocity of the grassland warlord was fully unleashed; rather than sit and wait for death, he decided to fight to the death!
"Wolf Guards! Follow me!"
Helian Hui suddenly raised his blood-stained scimitar and pointed it northwest—the direction where the encirclement seemed relatively weak and closer to a sparse woodland.
His two thousand most elite "Wolf Scorpion" guards were veterans of the Scorpion Clan royal court who had survived countless battles and were utterly loyal to him.
Upon hearing the order, a resolute light, like that of a trapped beast, burst forth in his eyes.
"May the Eternal Heaven protect us! Follow me, Khan, and fight our way out!"
Helian Hui let out a tearing roar, no longer trying to command the overall situation, but instead turning himself into the sharpest arrow.
He turned his horse around, no longer facing Feng Mulan's impenetrable defenses, nor paying attention to Zhao Yu's harassment from behind.
Instead, he concentrated all his remaining strength and led his two thousand elite troops like a desperate hammer, smashing them hard against the Chu army's junction in the northwest!
The momentum of these two thousand wolf guards charging forward was truly extraordinary.
They shed all their burdens, leaving only the will to kill. Their horses were pushed to their limits in this desperate situation, like a concentrated black storm, charging forward recklessly.
The Chu infantry formation blocking their way, though well-ordered, showed moments of wavering and gaps in the face of this reckless, all-out charge.
Helian Hui brandished his scimitar, took the lead, and cut down several Chu soldiers in succession. He actually managed to forcibly tear open a narrow rift!
"Stop him!"
"The traitor is trying to escape!"
The Chu generals shouted, and the troops quickly reinforced and blocked the breach.
However, how could such an unusually fierce and purposeful breakout attempt escape the eyes of the battlefield commanders?
Zhao Yu, who had been patrolling the perimeter and directing the White Horse Cavalry to compress the encirclement, noticed something amiss almost the instant Helian Hui turned around.
He saw the familiar wolf-head banner suddenly change direction, gathering an elite force to charge fiercely towards the northwest, and immediately understood Helian Hui's intention.
"Trying to run? Dream on!"
A cold glint flashed in Zhao Yu's eyes, and old and new grudges surged into his heart in an instant.
His Majesty entrusted him with the important task of pursuing the culprit. If Helian Hui, the mastermind, were to break through and escape right under his nose, he would be damned!
"Imperial Guard Battalion! Follow me! Target—Helian Hui's wolf-head banner!"
Zhao Yu let out a long howl, brandished his silver spear, and without even having time to gather more men, he led only his most personal hundreds of elite cavalrymen, like arrows released from a bow, and slashed diagonally toward the direction where Helian Hui was breaking out!
His "Jade Lion Under the Night" seemed to sense its master's soaring fighting spirit, letting out a long roar and unleashing its final potential.
With its four hooves off the ground, it actually managed to carve out a path through the chaotic army.
Zhao Yu's interception angle was extremely tricky, hitting Helian Hui's troops at the very moment they were about to break through the encirclement but had not yet completely escaped it.
Although his cavalry was outnumbered, their advantage lay in their surprise attack, their speed, and their clear objective—to strike directly at Helian Hui, the core of the central army!
"Zhao Yu, you little thief! How dare you block my way!"
Helian Hui saw a silver lightning-like figure rushing straight towards him and recognized it as the young Chu general who had been chasing him all night. He was filled with shock and anger.
He knew that this was a life-or-death situation. If he were to be entangled by Zhao Yu, the surrounding Chu army would close in within moments, leaving him with no chance of survival.