105 Breaking the Fortress

Zhu Ying was frantic. He strained his voice to the limit to drown out the noisy complaints of the soldiers and officers, finally roaring, "Having a hot meal is fine, but you cannot set up stoves and cook right here!"

"What is wrong with this place?" Su An replied, his face full of impatience. He pointed toward the nearby granary and said, "This place is adjacent to the food storage. It is the most convenient spot for transporting supplies. If we don't cook here, where should we go?"

"You... you are a fool!" Zhu Ying was so infuriated that his mustache twitched. He spat out the phrase that had become all too familiar to him. "Look at this cooking smoke... If Luan Yi uses this to discern the location of our grain stores and seizes the chance to launch a sneak attack and burn our supplies, what will you do then?"

"This..." Su An understood the logic in Zhu Ying's words, but out of pride, he forced a rebuttal: "Luan Yi's forces are fewer than ours. He only knows how to play tricks with gongs and drums; he wouldn't dare launch a frontal assault. Why fear him?"

"Exactly!"
"He doesn't have the guts to fight us!"
"That bastard, all he knows is how to torment us."
The others chimed in.

"You are all fools!" Zhu Ying stomped his feet in frustration. "That Luan Yi..." Before he could finish, Su An rudely interrupted him: "Enough, Commander Zhu. You are tired. Why don't you go back and rest?"

Zhu Ying was consumed by rage. "How dare you, Su An! Have you turned against me? Do you dare to drive me away? I am the Commander, the highest authority here! Men, seize this insubordinate Su An!" As he finished, several of Zhu Ying's personal guards stepped forward to arrest Su An. But before they could take a few steps, dozens of fierce soldiers emerged from behind Su An, blocking the path of Zhu Ying's guards. The soldiers who had been waiting for their food near the stoves slowly gathered around, surrounding Zhu Ying and his men.

"You... are you trying to mutiny?" Zhu Ying exclaimed in shock.

Su An was delighted and laughed, "We were planning to mutiny all along!"
The rest of the crowd burst into laughter.

"Fine! Very well..." Zhu Ying fumed, his face purple with anger. "Su An... you win, you all win!" With that, Zhu Ying shoved through the crowd and slunk away in disgrace.

In the past, when he served as the Administrator of Jinan, he had wielded great power, and his subordinates had obeyed his every word. Now, a phoenix fallen to the ground was less than a chicken; he had been sidelined by a group of ignorant peasants. The mastermind behind all of this was Luan Yi. He lamented in his heart, "Luan Yi... it is Luan Yi again. I will never let you live!"

He whispered to himself, "No, if things continue like this, the army will soon be scattered by these peasants. I must secure an escape route for myself!"

As the saying goes, hunger brings sleepiness, but a full stomach brings lethargy. The well-fed Yellow Turban soldiers split into two groups: one returned to their tents to rest, while the other, yawning uncontrollably, stood guard over the camp.

Just past the seventh hour of the morning, the sleepy Yellow Turban guards at the north gate leaned against the palisade, drifting in and out of dreams, when they suddenly heard the incessant sound of gongs and drums from the dense forest in the distance.

The guards were terrified and rushed back to report to Su An. Su An was fast asleep, but upon hearing that the Church army was attacking again, he hastily donned his armor, rushed out of his tent, and ordered the guards to line up for battle.

However, when the formation was set, they saw the flags in the forest being lowered and the troops retreating, disappearing once again.

Su An was furious. "Those heretical dogs, playing games with me again and again. This is too much."

"Commander, should we pursue them?" a Yellow Turban officer asked.

"No, the enemy is in the shadows and we are in the light. We might fall into an ambush," Su An waved his hand. "However... I think that Luan Yi dares not attack our camp directly; he only knows how to use these tormenting tactics. We just need to hold our ground!"

"Yes..."

"I am tired! I need a good rest. For the next eight hours, if there is any more news of this sort, do not report it to me. Handle it yourselves."

"Yes!"

Su An did not realize that the moment of numbness and carelessness is the moment of total defeat. While he fell back into a deep sleep, Luan Yi had already finalized his battle plans.

The Church army arrived in force. Eight thousand troops in the center advanced toward the north gate of the Yellow Turban camp to the thunderous sound of drums. The guards outside the north gate were still groggy; before they could react, the robust Church soldiers were already upon the gate.

"Ah... no! The heretical army is here!" Before the guard could finish his sentence, he saw a massive, gleaming silver object flying toward him. He had no time to react before a force like a crumbling mountain smashed into his forehead.

Flesh and blood flew, and brains splattered as a skull was shattered by the lotus-shaped hammer.

Luan Yi charged in the lead, entering the camp gate. His great hammer whirled like a gale, acting like a meat grinder and stirring up a storm of blood and gore among the enemy soldiers.

Behind Luan Yi, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Taishi Ci were incredibly ferocious. Clad in bright armor, they looked like heavenly generals descended to earth—brave and fierce—each using their own methods to lead the soldiers in a frantic slaughter. No one could withstand them for even a single blow.

Huang Zhong followed closely behind, his recurve bow drawn wide. His arrows flew like shooting stars, piercing willows at a hundred paces, claiming one life with every shot. In just a few moments, over a dozen Yellow Turban officers and squad leaders had died by his hand.

The Yellow Turban command system collapsed. The soldiers were gripped by terror and began to retreat, abandoning the gate. As they fell back, they collided with the reinforcements rushing to the scene, causing complete chaos.

The Church soldiers pressed their advantage. Luan Yi, Dian Wei, and Huang Zhong charged the center, while Xu Chu and Taishi Ci circled around the left and right flanks. The three units cut into the enemy camp like steel forks.

The Church soldiers were well-trained, high in morale from consecutive victories, and possessed extraordinary combat power. The Yellow Turban troops, however, were weary from constant defeat; their morale was unstable, and they were fearful before the fight even began, losing the psychological battle from the start. Furthermore, the Church soldiers were well-nourished and physically much stronger than the sallow-faced Yellow Turban soldiers, and their equipment was far superior.

Thus, the outcome of this battle was sealed from the very beginning...

Just then, awakened by the intense shouting and the clashing of weapons, Su An scrambled out of his sleep. He looked toward his main tent and saw blood splattered everywhere and corpses littering the ground. He panicked, donned his armor, and rushed out, cursing his guards for not reporting the situation sooner.

The guards were aggrieved. "But Commander, you ordered that you were not to be disturbed for eight hours!"

"To hell with that!" Su An drew his blade and took the guard's head. "If you didn't report it early, were you waiting for me to be decapitated in my sleep before telling me?" He did not even look at the corpse, leaped onto his horse, and shouted to his remaining guards, "Follow me and oversee the battle!"

At the same time, he yelled, "Soldiers, listen! We have the Ji River at our backs; there is no retreat. If you want to live, you must fight to the death!"

The Yellow Turban soldiers, who had been contemplating flight, suddenly remembered that they were bordered by the great river to the south, while the fierce Church army stood to the north. With blades in front and a natural barrier behind, they were in a desperate situation. The river could not be crossed, but the blades...

The low morale of the Yellow Turban soldiers instantly surged. "Brothers, fight for your lives!"

"Fight!"

A murderous intent reignited in the eyes of the Yellow Turban troops, and they charged at the Church army as if they had lost their minds. One of the most brutal hand-to-hand brawls of the cold-weapon era unfolded within the Yellow Turban camp.

Just as the Yellow Turban soldiers felt the tide might be turning, a crimson light erupted. Su An cried out in alarm, turned his horse to look south, and saw the granary engulfed in flames—it had been attacked.

As it turned out, while Luan Yi led the main force into the north gate, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun had executed a pre-planned strategy. They led the Church’s elite "Divine Power" and "Divine Shield" battalions, as well as the Templar Cavalry, to attack the east and west gates during the chaos. Once inside, they headed straight for where the smoke had risen earlier in the day, where the soldiers had gathered, and threw incendiary bottles everywhere.

In ancient times, military tents, granaries, and other facilities were often coated with oil for moisture-proofing. Now, the oil caught fire, and within moments, the entire rear camp became a sea of flames, with all the grain consumed by the blaze.

After setting the fire, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun turned their horses and charged into the rear of the Yellow Turban lines, surrounding them along with the main force.

Seeing this, Su An knew the situation was lost, yet he could not reconcile himself to such a defeat. Just then, he saw a unit of the Church army approaching from the flank. The man leading them was murderous and extraordinary; his great hammer spun like a shooting star, leaving a mess of flesh and gore with every swing.

Su An knew that Luan Yi was skilled with a hammer, and he was certain this man was Luan Yi. His fighting spirit ignited, and he led his guards, spear in hand, to attack. "Luan Yi, you heretical dog, stop your arrogance! Taste the spear of this Commander!"

"Commander?" Hearing this, Luan Yi was overjoyed, thinking it was Zhu Ying. He squinted and saw that the man approaching was covered in blood, his face masked by soot and gore, making his features indistinguishable. However, his physique resembled Zhu Ying's, and since he called himself a Commander, it must be him. Luan Yi was delighted, thinking, "I didn't have to go looking for you, and you brought yourself to me." He shouted, "Zhu Ying, you dog! Return the lives of my followers!" He then raised his hammer and met him.

It must be said that to be a Deputy Commander of the Yellow Turbans, Su An was quite capable. As their horses crossed, his long spear lashed out like a viper—fast as lightning and at a tricky angle; an ordinary person would certainly have been pierced through.

But was Luan Yi an ordinary person? He was born with divine strength, and at the same time, he was remarkably agile—a contradiction of strength and agility combined. In the words often used by Zhang Fei, Luan Yi was a freak.

Furthermore, since inviting Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Xu Chu, and Taishi Ci to join the Church, Luan Yi had first learned a set of meteor hammer techniques from Zhang Fei, and over the following months, he had sought instruction from these fierce warriors repeatedly. Additionally, after taking up Chen-style Tai Chi, he practiced daily, constantly trying to incorporate the martial art into his hammer techniques, mastering the art of leveraging force. With such methods combined, Luan Yi’s martial arts had leapt forward, undergoing a qualitative transformation. Even a great warrior like Zhao Yun would find it hard to match him, let alone this unknown Su An.

Su An's spear, which embodied all his life's training, thrust forward. Luan Yi remained unruffled, walking as if in a courtyard. He tugged his reins slightly, shifting his horse's direction. Luan Yi leaned out of his saddle, easily dodging the silver spear, and as he fell, he kicked the ground, his body soaring back into the saddle, effortlessly evading Su An's strike.

Then, with strength in his legs, he twisted his horse’s body. The massive warhorse was forced by the power of Luan Yi’s waist and core to turn 180 degrees, facing Su An directly. But by this time, Su An had failed to complete his turn, leaving most of his back and a portion of his side exposed to Luan Yi.