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Although Han Dang excelled in archery and horsemanship, that did not mean his skill in foot combat was lacking. On the contrary, the vast majority of commanders were often stronger fighting on the ground than on horseback, because the Han people simply could not, like the northern barbarians, spend their entire lives riding and migrating on horseback from the moment they were born.
The infantry of both sides quickly collided and became entangled in a chaotic melee. At this point, the archers on both sides also ceased firing and began moving toward the flanks to steady the formation, leaving the central area open as a grinding mill of flesh and blood.
"Kill!"
A soldier of Sun Jian's forces charged forward first, his eyes bloodshot, and viciously thrust his spear straight at the chest of the opponent before him.
There was almost no need for further commands. The soldiers of both sides were locked in deadly combat. The sword-and-shield men held the battle line steady while the spearmen behind them searched for openings to stab at the enemy.
Shield pressed against shield, blade clashed against blade, spear met spear. In that moment, the opponents facing one another were no longer young men or middle-aged men with the same skin, the same hair, the same language, and the same armor. They could no longer even be called human beings.
All that remained was brutality and bloodshed.
The soldiers of both armies were like two ferocious beasts with jagged, serrated teeth, interlocking and tearing at each other, entangled in a desperate struggle as each side fought to devour the flesh and blood of the other, striving to bring down the enemy before their own blood ran dry.
Han Dang remained hidden within the military formation. Although the cacophony of shouts, screams, and the sounds of blades hacking surrounded him, and although it stirred his blood into a constant boil, he still watched every change on the front line with cold composure, like a venomous snake concealed in the grass, ready at any moment to deliver a lethal strike.
Suddenly, Han Dang's eyes flashed. He lunged forward in one great stride, and the personal guards beside him hurried to follow.
With a thunderous roar, Han Dang thrust his long spear forward. The spear, thick as a chicken's egg, moved as nimbly as a long snake, slipping through the crowd and striking like a python gliding low over the ground. It slammed viciously into the calf of one of Huang Zhong's sword-and-shield men who had raised his shield too high while defending against attacks from others.
Caught completely off guard, the soldier's lower leg was smashed into an unnatural bend by the tremendous force of the spear. He let out a scream and toppled to the side. Before the sword-and-shield man beside him could step in to fill the gap, a black shadow darted like a viper along the ground and instantly pierced his throat. Blood sprayed outward like a fountain.
Han Dang withdrew his spear, and in the moment the enemy's shield line was broken open, he launched a rapid series of thrusts, exploiting the exposed gaps and killing three more men in the space of a few breaths.
Seeing their commander's bravery, Han Dang's personal guards were instantly filled with soaring morale. Roaring ferociously, they pressed hard into the breach, hacking and shoving with wild abandon until they had driven a deep dent into Huang Zhong's sword-and-shield line.
More and more of Sun Jian's soldiers swarmed forward toward the broken section of the enemy formation. The shields raised by Huang Zhong's sword-and-shield men could only defend against attacks from the front. Now that they were suddenly assaulted from both sides of the breach by Sun Jian's troops, they suffered catastrophic casualties. At last they could no longer hold, and a crack appeared in the entire formation.
After catching his breath, Han Dang was overjoyed. He immediately gave the order: "Fight your way in! Cut straight through the center!"
The morale of Sun Jian's soldiers surged upward at once. It seemed as though even their strength had grown by several degrees. Like an iron drill, they drove hard along the crack in Huang Zhong's battle line, stabbing viciously toward the center.
Huang Zhong's sword-and-shield troops were suddenly forced to contend with attacks from two or even three directions at once. They were quickly beaten into disarray and routed, retreating in defeat toward both sides.
"Center army, advance! Archers, provide cover!" Sun Jian seized the opportunity and immediately issued the order.
The archers who had been waiting in the rear hurried forward and loosed their arrows while the enemy forces on the opposite side had not yet reacted.
Huang Zhong, on the other hand, seemed to have only just now responded. The commands given to his archers appeared inconsistent. Some fired at Sun Jian's charging infantry, while others attempted to suppress Sun Jian's archers in return.
This confusion resulted in Huang Zhong's archers achieving very little effect. Instead, they themselves became the targets of Sun Jian's archery units and were soon crying out in agony, suffering heavy casualties.
With the suppressing fire from Huang Zhong's archers greatly reduced, Sun Jian's soldiers grew even more fervent, charging forward like madmen. The entire battlefield quickly turned into a one-sided rout.
Huang Zhong seemed to have lost the courage to continue the fight. His central command banner swayed unsteadily and then rapidly retreated toward the rear.
Han Dang's sharp eyes immediately caught this. He let out a great roar, and the Huang Zhong soldiers still resisting turned their heads to look. Upon seeing their banner withdrawing, they too lost the will to resist and began turning to flee.
The cavalry on Huang Zhong's two flanks also wheeled about and fled. Sun Jian's cavalry quickly swung back around and clung tightly to their heels in hot pursuit.
The battle of fixed positions had turned into a running pursuit. What mattered now was no longer who was braver, but who could run faster. Some of Huang Zhong's soldiers who ran too slowly were gradually overtaken by Sun Jian's men and then surrounded by several attackers and cut down mercilessly.
Some of Sun Jian's cavalrymen nocked arrows and fired from horseback, while others drew their war blades and used the momentum of their galloping horses to cut down the fleeing soldiers of Huang Zhong's force.
In a short time, Huang Zhong's troops were collapsing like a landslide, while Sun Jian's soldiers pursued them closely from behind with unstoppable momentum, biting at their heels as they pressed forward.
Without realizing it, Sun Jian had led his troops in pursuit for quite a long distance, gradually moving farther away from the original battlefield and drawing closer to Xiangyang.
Han Dang urged his horse over from the side and rode alongside Sun Jian, saying, "My lord, that fellow is running remarkably fast. Do we continue the pursuit?"
Sun Jian asked, "Have we captured any of their banners?"
Han Dang shook his head and said, "That man has taken them all with him. Look—there, up ahead!" While controlling his horse with one hand, Han Dang pointed with the long spear in his other hand.
Indeed, although Huang Zhong was fleeing, and although his banners were drooping and trailing, he had not discarded them. Like a mountain finch folding in its long tail feathers, he dragged them along as he fled.
Sun Jian glanced back while urging his horse onward and said with some irritation, "Order the cavalry on both flanks to push forward at full speed and cut them off! Anyone who dares to break ranks in a scramble for spoils will be executed!"
Although this Huang officer's battle formation had collapsed just as Sun Jian had expected, he had not managed to seize many banners. The infantry banners were all identical and could not be distinguished from one another. It was the command banners and the general's personal banner—those with distinctive markings—that were Sun Jian's true objectives. Yet the ones carrying the general's banners were all cavalrymen, and those four-legged beasts could run far too fast. Without relying on his own cavalry, how could he possibly intercept them? And without capturing several of the enemy's banners to use as a disguise, how could his plan to deceive the enemy possibly succeed?
However, Sun Jian's cavalry had been competing with the infantry for kills, and so they had not been sprinting at full speed in pursuit. They were now gradually falling behind.