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Sun Jian liked to wear a scarlet felt cap. Perhaps it was true that brave men all enjoyed things that were unconventional and eye-catching, much like the bizarre and flamboyant hairstyles popular among certain crowds in later generations. It seemed to stem from a deep desire for attention and recognition from others.
It certainly was attention-grabbing. Fei Qian gazed at that somewhat outlandish scarlet cap ahead of him, the glaring red bobbing up and down with the movement of the horse, and suddenly a thought stirred in his mind. He gave the order to pursue.
In warfare, one must not only consider problems from the enemy's perspective, but also from one's own position.
Just as Sun Jian's primary objective was Liu Biao, so too was Sun Jian naturally the main target for Liu Biao. A single head—Sun Jian's head—could resolve a great many problems. Even those gentry clans and powerful local magnates in the southern part of Jingxiang who had been wavering and hesitating all along could, once Sun Jian was taken down, very likely be brought back under control without a single drop of blood being spilled. Lingling and Guiyang could be recovered just like that. Therefore, Sun Jian's provocative behavior was bound to draw Liu Biao's gaze as if by a magnet.
So then—pursue!
It was just that Fei Qian could not help but feel the situation was a little ridiculous.
What kind of situation was this supposed to be? A mutual backstabbing rhythm?
The canopied carriage looked extremely impressive, but in reality it was thoroughly impractical. The low surrounding rails absolutely could not provide any kind of secure protection, and the high, curved canopy pole was also a considerable encumbrance. It had no aerodynamic qualities whatsoever, and it severely affected the center of gravity. With the slightest carelessness, the whole thing would lean and sway dangerously, and it could only move forward at a leisurely pace.
If one were to look down from the sky at this moment, Sun Jian's forces were maintaining a somewhat irregular circular formation as they fled ahead, while Fei Qian's soldiers were gradually shifting from a horizontal formation into a vertical one, like a long arrow.
A military unit is hardest to defeat when its formation is strict and orderly, and there are two situations in which it is most likely to lose that formation: one is during a rout, and the other is during a pursuit.
As Sun Jian led his core troops forward in retreat, he constantly turned his head to observe the situation behind him. Because he had full confidence in these soldiers of his personal command and in his own ability to lead them, Sun Jian had not hesitated to employ a baiting tactic. He himself was the bait.
During the pursuit of Huang Zhong, there had been a small grove of trees along one side of the road. The scattered saplings and underbrush could not conceal a large number of troops, but temporarily hiding one or two hundred men there would not have been much of a problem.
And so this small grove had become Sun Jian's designated counterattack point.
Han Dang was now lying in wait there with a group of soldiers. He waited until Sun Jian and his troops came rushing past right before his eyes, and he also let Fei Qian's foremost and most concentrated unit pass by. Then he suddenly burst out of the grove with his men and charged into the pursuing force, cutting Fei Qian's column cleanly in half at the waist.
At that moment, Sun Jian also wheeled his troops around and turned back to fight. Sun Jian himself took the lead, charging at the very front. His war blade flashed up and down as he cut down one after another of Fei Qian's pursuing infantry, who were just beginning to panic. In an instant, the momentum of Fei Qian's pursuing troops was completely halted.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Seeing their commander display such heroism, Sun Jian's personal soldiers fought with even greater ferocity, clustering tightly around him, protecting him and following him. Like a massive iron hammer, they smashed Fei Qian's pursuing arrowhead completely flat.
These soldiers of Fei Qian's had originally been commandery troops transferred from the defense forces of Xiangyang. They had only temporarily been placed under Fei Qian's command, and just moments ago they had been gleefully convinced that victory was within reach. But now, struck by the combined blows of Sun Jian and Han Dang, they were completely stunned. And when they tried to find someone to issue commands, these low-ranking soldiers and junior officers discovered that Fei Qian's central command formation was still far behind in the rear.
With no one to direct them, the selfish side of human nature came to the surface. On the chaotic battlefield, the soldiers at the front of Fei Qian's pursuit force did not know how many enemies they were facing, nor did they understand the specifics of Han Dang's ambush at their rear. All they knew was that they seemed to have fallen into a trap. Gripped by terror, some chose to flee, while others began to surrender.
The foremost portion of Fei Qian's troops instantly fell into complete disarray. Sun Jian could not be bothered with the soldiers scattering in all directions and simply hacked away madly at the small portion still putting up resistance, utterly crushing the morale of that leading group of Fei Qian's men to the freezing point.
Many of Xiangyang's garrison soldiers had not seen their commanding officer, and they held little loyalty to Fei Qian to begin with. Finding no hope of escape, they threw down their weapons one after another and surrendered.
Sun Jian bellowed orders, assigning a company commander to remain in place with some soldiers to guard the surrendered troops. Then he took the rest of his men and swiftly linked up with Han Dang, and together they lunged straight for Fei Qian's central formation.
Sun Jian's arrival filled Han Dang with wild joy. Although his own hundred or so personal soldiers had suffered heavy casualties while intercepting the rear half of Fei Qian's force, Sun Jian's arrival meant the destruction of Fei Qian's forward troops. It also meant that this long, drawn-out battle was finally about to end in victory.
What was more, if they could truly capture or kill Liu Biao, then Jing Province would effectively be in their hands.
Sun Jian and Han Dang seemed to be infused with boundless divine strength. Like two fierce tigers, they led their respective personal guards and hacked their way through Fei Qian's troops, who had already lost all formation due to the pursuit, driving them back step by step.
Seeing this, Fei Qian hurriedly called for Huang Xu, who was driving the carriage, to turn around. And so began an act of reckless speeding that violated every traffic regulation of the Han Dynasty. But that canopied carriage had probably never been driven at such high speed since the day it was built. The accursed canopy caused the entire vehicle's center of gravity to ride far too high. The moment a wheel struck a protruding stone or a clod of dirt, the whole carriage would leap into the air and tilt dangerously to one side. This forced Fei Qian to constantly lunge to the left and then scramble to the right, using his own body weight to keep the carriage balanced. He could not help but shout, "We're going to tip over! We're going to tip over! You brat, steady it down!"
Huang Xu, who was driving, cracked the whip frantically to urge the horses onward while laughing heartily. "Don't worry, Lord Fei! When it comes to driving, not even Shuye can match me!"
Huang Xu was not boasting. Although the canopied carriage looked as though it might tip over at any second, every time it somehow managed, by the slimmest of margins, to recover its balance. Bouncing and lurching wildly, it fled at a speed not much slower than a lone rider on horseback.
However, this extraordinary display of high-speed driving left Sun Jian rather vexed. Were all these people of Jingxiang born in the Year of the Rabbit? Why did every one of them flee so quickly?
That carriage up ahead, swaying and lurching as if it would topple over at any moment, had drawn the attention of everyone. Each time it tilted, it prompted a chorus of curses and urging from Sun Jian's soldiers: "Tip! Tip!"
But then, in the next instant, the carriage would somehow twist back upright again, drawing a wave of disappointed sighs as it continued its suicidal speeding.
Perhaps it was because Fei Qian's earlier proactive assault had convinced Sun Jian that the ambush had already been sprung and there was nothing left to worry about. Or perhaps it was because that wobbling, tilting, yet never quite falling carriage was simply too eye-catching. Or maybe the bait of Fei Qian's impersonation of Liu Biao was sweet enough that Sun Jian had already passed the point where he had previously stopped, now clinging tightly to Fei Qian's rear and chasing with desperate determination.