Chapter Ninety-One: The Battle of Jie Bridge, Part Five: The Death of Qu Yi

Not far now.

Squinting into the distance, Qu Yi could just make out the wavering banner of Gongsun Zan.

At last, this day had come.

I, Qu Yi, and my First Ascending Camp shall from this day on make my name known under heaven!

Qu Yi was a man of few words, and his thoughts were just as sharp and concise.

Catch up to Gongsun Zan, then kill him. The finest general in Hebei would be Qu Yi, and the strongest army in Hebei would be his First Ascending Camp!

Thus the thousand-man charge thundered forward with overwhelming force, swift and fierce.

Meanwhile, not far away, Gongsun Zan was leading a body of personal guards at full speed toward the camp when he suddenly saw a cavalry unit cutting in. At their head was a heroic figure of extraordinary bearing, mounted on a white horse and bearing a silver spear. Behind him came the very army Gongsun Zan had stationed here.

"My lord, Zhao Yun has arrived!"

"Zhao Yun!" Gongsun Zan was first stunned, then overjoyed when he saw the mighty force behind him. "Quick, follow me back into the fray. Today we must grind that Yuan general to dust!"

...

"Qu Yi!"

At the cry, Qu Yi looked back. "Wen Chou? Who told you to come here!"

"What did you say?!"

As Yuan Shao's most trusted beloved general, who would dare speak to him in such a manner?

"I made a military pledge to my lord that I alone would be responsible for this battle. The situation is already decided, yet you still came rushing over. Do you think my blade is too dull to use?"

"You fool. With just those rabble of yours, Gongsun Zan would already have fled back to Youzhou! Do not forget your own measure just because you won a battle. I'll settle accounts with you later!"

Wen Chou and Qu Yi glared at each other like ravening beasts, then each led his light cavalry forward to kill.

Not long after, Yan Liang did the same, silently leading his men straight past Qu Yi's front.

"Heh, ridiculous!"

"I led only eighteen hundred infantry and utterly defeated Gongsun Zan, yet now more than ten thousand have come to steal the credit!"

"My lord, this is unjust! How am I to command respect if you treat me thus, Qu Yi?"

Frowning, Qu Yi looked around, and exhaustion had begun to creep into the faces of his soldiers.

Though the First Ascending Camp had shattered the White Horse Volunteers, they were still infantry, born with no advantage in mobility. Watching wave after wave of shameless comrades race ahead of them, joyfully slaughtering the routed enemy, Qu Yi's heart burned with nameless fury.

"Find horses! Come with me!"

He did not care how many of the First Ascending soldiers could find a mount amid this chaos of war. Qu Yi simply whipped his horse onward, charging ahead on his own.

After galloping for a while, he suddenly heard the clash of weapons at his ear, and the pounding of hooves shook the ground.

Lifting his gaze, he saw another unit of White Horse Volunteers suddenly burst forth ahead. Though not many, each one was bloodied and wounded, yet all carried a fierce and savage air.

"There are still stragglers. First Ascending Camp!"

Qu Yi shouted, but no one answered. Only then did he realize he had already left his troops far behind.

"Outrageous. Get out of my way!"

With his long blade sweeping, he scattered most of the White Horse Volunteers once more.

And yet...

There were more and more White Horse Volunteers to kill!

What is going on! Qu Yi cursed inwardly. Yan Liang, Wen Chou, a useless pair of fools. What use are you!

My lord is still in the rear. How did you let this man slip through!

In the end, only one's own troops were truly reliable.

The soldiers of the First Ascending Camp gradually caught up, and those without horses sprinted hard to the nearby field of battle.

Another volley from the heavy crossbows came, though by now Gongsun Zan's men had begun to grasp their pattern. Seeing the First Ascending Camp prepare to fire, they immediately scattered their formation, and casualties did indeed decrease.

"When I get back, I will have a word with the lord!" Qu Yi was struggling to remain calm. The most crucial step in his comeback was being stolen from him, and on top of that he had been viciously sabotaged by his own allies. How could he endure it?

Then, all at once, the mountains seemed to shake and the earth to convulse.

More cavalry burst forth.

"How can this be!"

Qu Yi's eyes widened. There were well over a thousand of them at the very least; they were Gongsun Zan's cavalry!

"First Ascending Camp, fight to the death!"

With a furious roar, the thousand-odd soldiers of the First Ascending Camp formed ranks once more and continued harvesting the lives of Gongsun's troops.

Just as the tide was about to settle, a white-robed general broke through the rain of arrows and charged at the forefront.

"Die, you little thief!"

Qu Yi stepped forward to meet him. In his eyes, what masterful warrior could there possibly be under Gongsun Zan's command?

If there truly were one, Gongsun Zan would not always have ridden at the front himself.

But he was wrong.

Clang!

With a single blow, the silver spear of the young man in white sent Qu Yi's long blade flying aside, leaving Qu Yi wide open with every defense exposed.

"Strong. I was careless."

Qu Yi hurriedly dragged his blade back from its off-line position and slashed horizontally at him.

"A phantom!"

The spear tip, so vivid it seemed real, was in fact only an afterimage. Then—

Pu!

Even though Qu Yi had already sensed where the strike would land, it was too fast. His spear speed was too fast, so fast that only thought could keep up, while the body had no time to react at all.

"Outrageous!"

Roaring, Qu Yi yanked himself backward with all his might, forcibly ripping the enemy general's spearhead from his chest.

Ha... haah...

Heavy breathing, thick blood, and arms gradually losing strength.

I, Qu Yi, such a hero—how could I die by your hand!

At that moment, Qu Yi seemed as though his battle spirit had awakened all at once. His whole body surged anew with power, and his long blade blazed with unmatched sharpness as it screamed toward the white-robed young general's head, unstoppable and overwhelming.

"He actually achieved sudden enlightenment!"

The white-robed general was startled, then decisively assumed a defensive stance. No matter how wildly Qu Yi bombarded him, he could not break through.

At such a level of skill, so long as he did not wish to win, he would never lose.

"General!"

Seeing Qu Yi injured, the soldiers of the First Ascending Camp no longer cared about formation or crossbow volleys. They drew their blades and rushed in to kill, and thus the surviving White Horse Volunteers finally found their chance.

This was truly infantry versus cavalry.

And yet it was somehow also not.

The First Ascending Camp still pressed these cavalrymen, who had already suffered a terrible blow, hard into the ground. Just as they were about to crush these defeated foes once more—

Pu!

A spear shaft pierced through a chest.

The white-robed general's spear had already run Qu Yi through.

"What a pity..." Qu Yi smiled.

"You are strong, especially in commanding troops. You are the strongest man Yun has ever seen."

"You... are strong too, in your spear work..."

Qu Yi turned back to look at his soldiers, the elite force of the First Ascending Camp he had built with his own hands. Every word he wanted to say lodged in his throat, more painful than the wound in his chest.

At last, with his final breath, he forced out, "Quick... go to the front... protect... my lord!"

The spear was withdrawn, and blood surged out in a fountain.

Qu Yi, commander of the First Ascending Camp, was dead.

"The one who killed you was Zhao Zilong of Changshan."

A general is the courage of an army.

With the commander dead, Yuan's army immediately fell into disarray.

The First Ascending Camp still had the spirit of men fighting in mourning, but Zhao Yun alone, on horseback, swept into the Shao army, charging left and right as though in an uninhabited wilderness. In the blink of an eye, more than ten men fell beneath his spear.

And the surviving White Horse Volunteers following close behind him were like an arrowhead driven straight through Yuan's battle line, shattering the morale of the entire force.

"General Zhao, what should we do?"

In so short a time, Zhao Yun had already won these veteran White Horse soldiers over with his martial prowess and charisma.

"I just heard that general say Yuan Shao should be behind us. Our lord is also bringing the main army here, and they will surely meet. We might as well press onward and strike straight at the enemy camp!"

"Yes!"

...

"That Zhao Zilong's skill is no less than yours or mine. This time, we might as well let Qu Yi suffer a little."

Wen Chou spoke as the two fierce generals rode forward.

"But Qu Yi's skill is nothing remarkable. Aren't you afraid Zhao Zilong will kill him?"

"What is there to fear? Even if Zhao Yun is fierce, can he really face a thousand men alone? Qu Yi's First Ascending Camp is indeed a strong force. No matter how much I dislike him, I must admit it."

"But there are also the White Horse Volunteers."

"I only let Zhao Yun and a few dozen riders through. Where would any White Horse Volunteers come from?!"

"...I also wanted to teach that brute a lesson, but I did not seal the gap well. Perhaps I let more than a thousand of them through."

"Yan Liang!" Wen Chou was stunned. "You! Idiot!"

"What? Did you not let some through too? Does that not prove the brotherly harmony between us—"

"Brotherly harmony my foot. The lord is still behind us!"