Zhao Erlang also quickly grabbed an explosive package beside him, lit it, silently counted three breaths, then threw it toward the direction where he’d just found Shi Lei…

Just as the explosive package was about to hit the ground, it detonated. Having dodged in advance, Shi Lei was still knocked off his horse by the explosion’s shockwave. An iron fragment spun rapidly and pierced into his back. He grunted dully, feeling his vision blur and his ears ring thunderously, his whole person dazed.

He had forgotten that people move.

Especially since Shi Lei had sensed danger in advance. While ordering his soldiers to be alert, he too had moved, wanting to urge his horse backward to hide behind shields…

Only Xie Shi’s order to attack came swiftly, and Zhao Erlang threw the explosive package quickly, so he only managed to move slightly…

Zhao Erlang hadn’t hit anyone, but he himself didn’t know that. So what he thought in his heart, he shouted out loud.

He jumped up, grabbing his bow and arrows to shoot rapidly downward while loudly shouting, “I killed Shi Lei! I killed Shi Lei! Shi Lei is dead—why don’t you surrender?”

The last sentence he’d completely learned from similar operations by his sister, copying accordingly.

While having men switch to arrows and crossbows for attack, Xie Shi grabbed Zhao Erlang and asked, “You really killed Shi Lei?”

Zhao Erlang nodded firmly and with certainty. “Really killed him. That explosive package detonated right by his head and blew his head apart.”

Xie Shi became extremely excited, shouting loudly, “Did you all hear? The bandit chief has been executed!”

The Zhao Family soldiers pulled back the camouflaging branches from their crossbows, loaded large wooden arrows, and shouted along, “The bandit chief has been executed! Surrender and you won’t be killed!”

Having thrown all their rocks, the Zhao Family soldiers temporarily didn’t charge but lifted rolling logs to smash and roll downward while shooting arrows, also shouting loudly, “The bandit chief has been executed! Surrender and you won’t be killed!”

Below, fifty thousand Shi troops were mixed together. Only a portion holding shields temporarily blocked the attack, while the rest were either struck by stones or rolling logs, shot by arrows, or trampled by each other—the scene was utterly miserable.

In their panic and confusion, hearing this earth-shaking shout, they couldn’t help but search for their commander.

But in the chaos where could they find him? They could only look for the commander’s banner but couldn’t find that either. They immediately despaired.

Once morale collapsed, the situation fell apart like a dam breaking.

Zhao Erlang excelled in nothing else but had deep sensitivity to people’s emotions. Before Xie Shi had fully weighed the situation, he had already waved his hand and shouted loudly, “Sons! Kill with me—”

Having shouted, he grabbed his spear and led the charge downward.

Xie Shi: …

He surveyed the surroundings and found everyone had thrown all their boulders and rolling logs, with few arrows remaining, so he accepted Zhao Erlang’s command. Grabbing his sword, he also charged down to kill.

Shi Lei, lying on a corpse having been trampled several times, finally recovered somewhat from his ringing ears and blurred vision. When he crawled up from the corpse, he saw his elite forces had collapsed, with fifty thousand troops being slaughtered like lambs by Zhao Family’s army.

He immediately tried to stand, shouting loudly, “I am here! Don’t panic—form ranks! Form ranks!”

But few heard his shouts.

Kong Chang and two generals squeezed out from the chaotic crowd, found Shi Lei, grabbed him, and shouted, “General, the army has collapsed. You must flee quickly. At the end of the mountain pass there are still two thousand troops…”

How could Shi Lei abandon his own elite forces? He pushed away their hands and roared, “Where’s the battle standard? Where’s my standard bearer?”

The banner was a military force’s soul. Where the banner was, hearts were. Where the banner went, people went.

While Shi Lei and his men loudly tried to stop the army’s chaos, they began searching for the military standard.

But the battlefield was chaotic and noisy. Aside from soldiers around Shi Lei recognizing their commander and beginning to follow orders, those farther away remained uncontrolled, with some even beginning to lay down weapons and surrender.

Even if they vaguely heard someone shouting the commander was safe, they still didn’t quite believe it because the military banner was gone.

An officer found the military standard under a huge boulder. Trying to pull it out, he discovered it wouldn’t budge—the standard bearer must have been crushed when pinned, and he couldn’t extract it. Left with no choice, he sliced off half the battle standard with one stroke, then held it high shouting, “The commander is here! The commander is here!”

His voice not only drew the attention of their soldiers but also attracted the gaze of Zhao Erlang charging down the mountain. Following the line of sight, looking past layers of people, he saw Shi Lei. Eyes widening in disbelief, “How is this possible? Didn’t you die?”

From such a distance, Shi Lei naturally couldn’t answer him. He didn’t even see Zhao Erlang. Protected by his trusted followers, he mounted an intact horse, wanting to break through the encirclement…

Zhao Erlang huffed angrily, leading his personal guards straight toward Shi Lei’s direction to kill.

He absolutely had to kill Shi Lei!

At this moment, Zhao Hanzhang’s army also arrived, surrounding Shi’s troops who hadn’t yet entered the mountain pass. Working in coordination with Zhao Erlang from inside and outside, they harvested Shi’s army.

Only now did the rumor of the commander’s death spread outside the pass. In their panic, with morale shattered by Zhao Hanzhang, many laid down weapons to surrender.

In this battle, eventually even the grass on both sides of the mountain pass was stained red. Zhao Hanzhang advanced through the pass to meet Zhao Erlang, ignoring the corpses piled on the official road and both sides, directly asking, “I heard from people that you killed Shi Lei?”

Zhao Erlang said dejectedly, “No, he got away.”

Disappointment filled Zhao Hanzhang’s heart, though she didn’t show it on her face. True enough—if he could be killed so easily, would Shi Lei still be Shi Lei?

This man still had some fortune attached to him, and fortune was the hardest thing to predict.

Zhao Hanzhang carefully examined Zhao Erlang, then reached out to open his collar. Seeing the bandages wrapped inside, she frowned slightly. “You’re injured?”

Zhao Erlang immediately pulled his clothes closed, face reddening. “It’s not a serious wound, just got cut.”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t believe him. She directly called over Zhao Cai to ask, only then learning he had engaged Shi Lei in close combat and been slashed by him. The wound was very deep, nearly to the bone.

If not for an accompanying military physician immediately stopping the bleeding, blood loss alone could have killed him.

Zhao Hanzhang frowned and forbade him from further combat. “Go back and assist Ji Yuan in organizing provisions.”

Zhao Erlang felt unwilling. “But I can’t do arithmetic. How can I organize provisions?”

“You’re going to be the supervisor, watching to see if anyone embezzles provisions,” Zhao Hanzhang said with a serious expression. “Right now provisions are crucial. I’m leaving my back entirely to you—you must manage this well for me.”

Being entrusted with such an important task, Zhao Erlang finally cheered up and nodded. “Alright, I’ll go.”

But after agreeing, he felt some regret again. “Sister, I still prefer going onto the battlefield.”

Zhao Hanzhang frowned. “How can you be so narrowly focused? As a commanding general, you must learn a bit of everything—troop deployment, strategic planning, and logistics too. Only after you’ve learned the first two can you now learn this last part. Only then can I feel at ease letting you onto the battlefield.”

Zhao Erlang looked around and whispered, “Without bringing Scholar Xie and Scholar Wang—is that okay?”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and nodded. “It’s fine.”

Little brat, without Xie Shi and Wang Ni, did that mean there weren’t other people?

Zhao Hanzhang now had plenty of capable people at her disposal.

After sending Zhao Erlang away with encouragement, Zhao Hanzhang’s smile faded. She told Zhao Cai and Lü Hu, “Watch over Erlang carefully. Use anti-inflammatory medicine on him. The weather is hot now—be cautious and careful.”

Zhao Cai and Lü Hu lowered their heads in acknowledgment.

Only then did Zhao Hanzhang have the army rest urgently. Tomorrow they would pursue Shi Lei.