Seeing the pursuing Jinyang Army, Liu Jie fled even faster, running forward at full speed and taking several thousand men with him…

Seeing them successfully break through, Liu Kun was so angry he nearly fell from his horse. He could only grip his sword and charge forward to fight. At such a critical moment, Liu Jie had even arranged for a rearguard.

The rear-guard Xiongnu soldiers blocked Liu Kun and the other Jinyang troops. The Zhao Family Army also charged forward, putting on a show of pursuing, but with chaotic fighting everywhere, neither the Zhao Family Army nor the Jinyang Army could immediately break free…

When Liu Kun fought his way to Ji Ping’s side, he even blamed him, “Why are you standing here idle? Why not go in pursuit? That’s Liu Cong’s eldest son! Liu Cong himself might be hiding among them.”

Ji Ping thought: That’s impossible. Liu Cong could be hiding anywhere, but he definitely wouldn’t be hiding in this division. Otherwise, the Lady wouldn’t have had Liu Kun guard this route.

Ji Ping turned to look and saw that one Jinyang Army unit was relatively orderly while another was somewhat chaotic, almost running wildly across the field to kill enemies, nearly disrupting their own rhythm.

He said to Liu Kun, “Inspector Liu, now that our two armies are cooperating in battle, this is precisely when we need unity. This subordinate also believes we should pursue Liu Jie. However, we lack sufficient manpower. Please grant me your command flag so I can lead troops in pursuit.”

At this critical moment, with the sounds of clashing weapons and fighting all around them, Liu Kun didn’t think much and immediately gave him the flag—essentially giving him command authority.

As soon as Ji Ping obtained command, he immediately took charge. Messengers transmitted orders according to the flag signals, and the troops moved according to the flags. The Jinyang Army in the field quickly and orderly integrated into the Zhao Family Army.

The Jinyang Army’s rear troops temporarily withdrew from the battlefield. Only after Ji Ping had redeployed some of the Zhao Family Army did he allow the remaining Jinyang troops to enter the field.

He had Cheng Da take the redeployed Zhao Family Army and Jinyang troops back to pursue Liu Jie and support Li Tianhe.

Liu Kun didn’t know there were ambush troops ahead. Seeing Ji Ping only extract about ten thousand men to go, he grew anxious. “Liu Jie is ahead. When will these ten thousand men catch up to them? Even if they do catch up, they may not be able to capture them. We need to send more men.”

Ji Ping smiled and said, “Inspector Liu, rest assured. Once we subdue these Xiongnu soldiers, we’ll provide support.”

As the first personal guard to follow at Zhao Hanzhang’s side, Ji Ping had deeply learned her skill at psychological warfare. He immediately shouted loudly, “Brothers! After we finish this battle, we can go home! Kill them—”

The Zhao Family Army’s morale surged, and they shouted along, “Kill them—”

After fighting for a while and venting the excitement in their chests, with the Xiongnu army’s morale suppressed, he then shouted loudly, “Those who surrender their weapons will not be killed! The Zhao Family Army treats prisoners well!”

“Your general has already fled!”

“Surrender quickly, surrender quickly!”

The Xiongnu soldiers, gripping their blades and gasping for breath, stared at them with bloodshot eyes, as if the next moment they would rush forward and tear them apart. Liu Kun’s heart stirred, and he shouted loudly, “Where are your families? They’re in Hunu County right now. Will you abandon them and flee?”

Ji Ping immediately signaled for everyone to echo this. So this question was passed down, with every unit of Zhao Family Army and Jinyang Army fighting while asking the opposing soldiers, “Will you disregard your families and fight to the death?”

The Xiongnu soldiers’ resistance gradually weakened. Some thought of their homeland and the families left behind, and couldn’t help but cry out, then dropped their weapons with a clang.

When one person dropped their weapon, others followed.

Liu Jie had already fled. Even if they continued fighting, it was only to buy him a brief moment. Could they possibly break through the heavy enemy encirclement?

If they could live, no one wanted to die. Many laid down their weapons.

Ji Ping immediately ordered people to receive the surrenders.

Liu Kun grew anxious and urged him, “We should send more men to pursue Liu Jie. If they cross the river, it will be difficult to chase them down again.”

Ji Ping acknowledged, then had Linghu Sheng first lead ten thousand men in pursuit.

Liu Kun was displeased. Ji Dan, standing beside him, explained on Ji Ping’s behalf, “The prisoners’ rebellious nature hasn’t been removed yet. We still need to guard them. We can’t have too few men left here to contain the prisoners.”

Linghu Sheng had already stopped paying attention to Liu Kun and went directly to select troops.

Liu Kun was still worried about the uncaptured Liu Cong and also went along.

By the time they caught up, the battle ahead was nearing its end. Li Tianhe had waited at ease for a weary enemy, and it was an ambush. After two consecutive major battles, Liu Jie was already exhausted in body and mind. When suddenly ambushed, his mentality nearly collapsed.

Li Tianhe had set his ambush well. Liu Jie only discovered them when they leaped out. Horse-tripping ropes and arrows came all at once. Unprepared, the already disheveled and fleeing Xiongnu remnants suffered an even greater blow. The several-thousand-strong force instantly fell into chaos. Before they could mount a counterattack, Li Tianhe led the Zhao Family Army charging out, directly attacking.

The Xiongnu remnants tried to retreat, but Cheng Da had already arrived with troops, supporting from behind and surrounding the Xiongnu army.

Liu Jie sensed the situation was lost. Combined with his countless injuries, he hesitated momentarily between surrender and resistance. But Li Tianhe gave him no chance to hesitate—before he could speak, a blade pierced through him. Both men’s eyes widened as they glared fiercely at each other. Liu Jie saw in his eyes his inevitable death. For a moment, his heart turned vicious. He gathered his last remaining strength throughout his body, swung his blade, and struck Li Tianhe.

Li Tianhe grunted, and the hand gripping his blade handle twisted viciously. Ignoring the blade at his waist, he shouted loudly, pressed forward against Liu Jie, and pushed him down, pinning him to the ground.

He straightened up. Seeing the arriving Liu Kun about to greet him, his vision suddenly darkened, and he crashed to the ground with a thud.

Both Beigong Chun and Zhao Ju had sent reinforcements. Zhao Hanzhang, receiving the news, also had Linghu Ni lead five thousand troops to provide aid. When they arrived, the battle had already ended, leaving only soldiers cleaning the battlefield and counting prisoners.

Li Tianhe was severely wounded and urgently sent back to the main camp.

Although each military division had one or two military physicians accompanying them, currently the Zhao Family Army’s best military physicians were with Zhao Hanzhang.

The military physician here, seeing Li Tianhe’s serious injuries, dared not remove the blade. He simply stopped the bleeding and had people carry him back to find more skilled military physicians for treatment.

Hearing that Li Tianhe was severely wounded, Zhao Hanzhang personally went to see him and ordered the military physicians to do everything possible to save him.

The military physician looked at the blade in his waist and said, “Removing it will cause massive bleeding. Whether he survives depends on the situation.”

Zhao Hanzhang frowned and asked, “Haven’t you researched the blood transfusion method that Minister Fu proposed?”

The military physician said shamefacedly, “We truly cannot find a method.”

Another military physician doubted the correctness of this method and said to Zhao Hanzhang, “We have searched through all the medical texts Your Lordship sent us. Although we’ve seen blood transfusion methods in some manuscripts by ancient physicians, this method has great drawbacks. The number of deaths exceeds the number of survivors. Some patients seem to die not from the illness itself, but from the blood transfusion method.”

Zhao Hanzhang sighed and said, “We’ll discuss this matter later. The urgent task now is to save General Li. Tell me whatever medicinal materials you need.”

“Yes.”

The military physicians did their utmost to save him.

Only then did Zhao Hanzhang look at Liu Kun, who had also returned, and ask, “Yueshi, you’re not injured, are you?”

Liu Kun shook his head calmly and asked, “Has Liu Cong’s whereabouts been discovered?”

“Liu Cong is already dead.”

Liu Kun’s eyes widened, and he asked, “Which route did he escape from?”

—