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Huang Zhong led his men in a frantic dash while Sun Jian pursued closely behind, snapping at their heels. Sun Jian's personal guard troops stayed tightly clustered around him the entire time.
Most military commanders in this era paid extreme attention to their private soldiers, which was what people commonly referred to as one's own core troops. These soldiers received better treatment and better equipment than ordinary soldiers, and naturally, they also surpassed regular troops in physical conditioning and combat skills. They held a higher degree of loyalty to their commander, and for this reason, Sun Jian had even greater confidence in the men under his personal command.
After pursuing for another two or three li, Sun Jian gradually reined in his horse and ordered the army to begin reorganizing its formation.
Han Dang rode up beside him and asked, "My lord, why are we stopping?"
Sun Jian pointed toward the hilly terrain ahead and said, "The land ahead is full of hills, which makes it extremely easy to fall into an ambush." Ahead of them, multiple rolling hills blocked the line of sight, and the fleeing soldiers of that Huang officer were currently pouring headlong into the valley between those hills.
Do not advance when there are mountains ahead, and do not enter when there are forests. This was a fundamental principle for any commander leading troops.
Whether or not to pursue a beaten enemy depended entirely on the terrain. If this were an endless, wide-open grassland, chasing for dozens of li would likely pose no problem at all. But in mountainous terrain, pursuing even a few li could lead straight into an ambush.
Although Sun Jian still very much wanted to seize that enemy commander's banner, the problem was that the man had fled far too quickly.
Just as Sun Jian was gradually pulling his troops back together, a sudden clatter of wooden clappers rang out from up ahead. A body of soldiers emerged from the valley and began spreading out toward both flanks. In the center was a great command standard adorned with colorful feathers, resplendent and magnificent. Embroidered in the middle of the banner were four large characters: "Inspector of Jing Province."
Beneath that great standard was a canopied carriage, and in front of the carriage flew a general's banner bearing the character "Liu," fluttering in the wind. Upon the canopied carriage sat a man dressed in heavy layers of fine brocade, the embroidered satin gleaming brilliantly. A long beard drifted gently in the breeze.
The sudden appearance of these troops immediately caused a stir among Sun Jian's soldiers.
Han Dang was startled and said, "So there really is an ambush!"
Sun Jian, however, narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the figure on the canopied carriage in the distance. He tilted his head slightly and asked, "Yigong, that man on the carriage—could he be Liu Jingsheng?"
Han Dang shaded his eyes with one hand and gazed into the distance for a moment, then said, "It is a bit far and I cannot see too clearly, but it is said that Liu of Jing Province is eight chi tall, of imposing bearing, and has a fine beard... well..."
As Han Dang spoke, he suddenly exchanged a glance with Sun Jian. If this truly was Liu Biao, then this could be an enormous prize.
Sun Jian grabbed the reins of Han Dang's horse and whispered a few instructions to him. Han Dang immediately understood, wheeled his horse around, and quietly withdrew.
Sun Jian gave the order to spread his personal core troops out horizontally, concealing the other soldiers behind them. Once he saw that Han Dang's figure had gradually been hidden from view, he sent soldiers forward to call out to the enemy.
××××××××××××××
Fei Qian was somewhat worried about his fake beard. On top of that, he had put on a brocade robe over his armor, which was inevitably rather hot. If he sweated too much, the glued-on beard would naturally begin to loosen.
Fei Qian suddenly understood why Zhuge Liang, even in the dead of winter, always held a feather fan and kept fanning himself to stay cool—it was because wearing so many layers made one hot. A layer of hemp cloth underneath, a layer of armor in the middle, and a brocade robe draped over the outside—it was completely airtight and left one drenched in sweat. Without a feather fan to lower the temperature a bit, how could anyone stand it?
Still, this Sun Jian was clearly not an easy man to deal with.
As expected of one of the fierce generals of the early Three Kingdoms period, his combat experience was extremely rich. Trying to ambush this Sun Jian was truly no simple matter.
But it was not a major problem. Fei Qian's whole outfit had been prepared precisely for this purpose. Of course, if Sun Jian had been foolish enough to charge headlong into the ambush like a man with water in his brain, then Fei Qian could have saved himself a great deal of trouble.
But as things stood now...
Most of what was written in the historical romances was pure deception. Fortunately, he had not believed any of it.
Fei Qian grumbled inwardly. A great general, the commander of an entire army, personally chasing after a small force that was clearly breaking out to seek reinforcements? And bringing only thirty cavalrymen with him? And plunging headfirst into any kind of terrain without a second thought?
Well, one could only respond to that with a dry laugh.
Besides, even if Sun Jian's intelligence had temporarily gone offline, what about Cheng Pu? Huang Gai? Han Dang? Were those enforcers all sleeping back at camp while the boss personally took to the field?
A boss had to act like a boss. At the very least, he should look the part the way Fei Qian was doing now.
It was just that beard—no matter how he looked at it, it seemed awkward. Fortunately, he only needed to present a convincing appearance from a distance. If anyone got close, the ruse would certainly be exposed.
Since one intended to trap a certain person, one naturally had to consider the problem from that person's perspective. Did Sun Jian want to beat Jingxiang into a pulp, leaving it chaotic and broken?
Certainly not. If that were the case, he would have long since begun attacking the fortified estates of the local gentry and powerful clans along the way. Moreover, according to the information Fei Qian had gathered from Liu Biao and Cai Feng, the region of Jingxiang actually did not have any strong inclination one way or the other. In other words, it did not matter much who came to take control, as long as that person could establish dominance and hold the mantle of legitimacy.
Therefore, Sun Jian's first objective was absolutely Liu Biao. For Sun Jian, as long as Liu Biao was eliminated, everything would be settled.
So when this fake Liu Biao that Fei Qian was impersonating appeared before Sun Jian, even if Sun Jian had some doubts, he would subconsciously lean toward believing it first and testing the situation.
Just as expected, while Sun Jian held his formation steady and reorganized his troops, he also dispatched soldiers forward to call out. They declared that Sun Jian had come in the name of sharing the nation's burdens, that Liu Biao's control over Jingxiang had not received broad recognition and support from the Great Han Dynasty, that his occupation was illegal, and that Sun Jian had merely come to set things right.
Fei Qian naturally also sent out soldiers with loud voices to first proclaim his own upright political stance as the legitimate Inspector of Jing Province, to assert absolute sovereignty over the land of Jingxiang, then to strongly condemn Sun Jian's illegal invasion, and finally to demand that Sun Jian immediately withdraw from the territory of Jing Province.
Both sides spoke well enough.
Fei Qian and Sun Jian stood far apart, separated by their soldiers, and both smiled faintly at almost the same moment. Both men knew that when there was time for talk, it meant there was no chance to fight, and when there was a chance to fight, there would absolutely be no more talking.
Sun Jian, seizing the moment before Fei Qian's troops had fully deployed, suddenly gave the order and his soldiers lunged forward in a ferocious assault.
Fei Qian hurriedly directed his front-line infantry to advance and meet the attack. But then something strange happened.
Whether it was because Sun Jian's soldiers had gone soft in the hands and feet after running several li, or because the troops under Fei Qian's command were simply extraordinarily brave, Sun Jian's infantry were beaten back repeatedly. In less than half the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, Sun Jian's entire formation began to waver, and scattered soldiers started to flee.
Before long, Sun Jian's entire battle line collapsed, and the collapse spread to his central forces. Then, just like that, the whole army turned tail and ran in a chaotic swarm.
This sudden turn of events left Fei Qian somewhat stunned. How had Sun Jian just run off like that?
What happened to being unyielding and indomitable?
What happened to the Fierce Tiger of Jiangdong?