Chapter 489: Chapter 489

Fan Xing was a small centurion, leading ten soldiers. As arrows flew towards them, he was fully aware, defending against the incoming arrows back-to-back with his team members, but the people around him kept falling. Not far away, the team leader shouted, "Raise the shields, counterattack, counterattack!"

Fan Xing: ...Let’s not mention they are a group of infantry, how do they counterattack cavalry?

Speaking of shields, do they even have something like shields?

At his moment of despair, a wave of arrows flew over their heads, shooting toward the opposite side. Taking a moment, Fan Xing glanced back and immediately saw the leading female general wielding a spear and galloping on horseback, leaping over them, and charging into the arrows.

Archers suppressed the enemy with their arrows, Beigong Chun and Zhao Hanzhang took the opportunity to lead people into the enemy forces.

Fu Tinghan, being bold, circled back with Fu An, shouting again, "The Zhao Family Army from Yu State is here to reinforce..."

This time, before he finished shouting, the soldiers immediately grabbed their ragged swords and ran with him.

The team leader, seeing his men had run away, simply followed them.

The assistant general, witnessing the soldiers detaching from the main force in chaotic retreat, immediately became furious, "Are they deserting in the face of battle? Order them to return at once. Kill any deserters without mercy!"

"General, we have reinforcements!"

"Where are the reinforcements from..." The assistant general paused as he shouted, seeing the banners of the Zhao Family Army and Xiliang from a distance. He stopped, eyes widening, "Zhao Hanzhang and Beigong Chun?"

"Yes! It’s the Zhao Family Army and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, the reinforcements personally brought by Zhao Hanzhang and Beigong Chun."

The assistant general’s heart pounded as he exclaimed, "But Zhao Hanzhang has a grudge against our Prince. Would she really come to save us?"

"Yet, she has come to save us, General. General Zhao’s people advised us not to crowd together and to retreat from the southeast. Let’s go."

The assistant general couldn’t help but look at the chaotic crowd dispersing and fighting ahead, gritted his teeth, but still followed his trusted soldiers’ advice and ran.

Though he was very loyal to Prince East Sea, he had to survive to prove his loyalty.

Fu Tinghan led away a group of people; the rest were directly drawn into the battlefield, and he could no longer enter. Jin Soldiers and accompanying family members and civilians were not foolish and did not crowd on the official road awaiting death. They dispersed and ran away.

Fu Tinghan withdrew with his men and began picking up people in the wilderness.

Shi Le and the main target of the Xiongnu Army were Prince East Sea, the court officials, and the army he was leading, so their forces were mainly concentrated here.

The Jin Army lost their morale and resistance power, and there were families, great clan members, and others mixed together. Despite Wang Yan’s considerable talents, he couldn’t command them at this time.

Thus, their defense was extremely difficult, which caused Zhao Hanzhang and Beigong Chun, who were blocking the Xiongnu Army, to face even more Xiongnu troops.

It wasn’t until nightfall that both sides temporarily ceased fighting.

Zhao Hanzhang was trembling slightly as she dismounted, heading towards Fu Tinghan with a relieved smile on her face, "You weren’t hurt, were you?"

Fu Tinghan shook his head, looking her up and down, "What about you?"

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head, "I’m not hurt either."

Fu Tinghan pointed to the bonfire and said, "Sit down. I asked someone to boil hot water so you can wash your face. I’ll apply some medicine for you later."

Ting He immediately came forward, "Master Lang, let me handle applying the medicine."

Zhao Hanzhang was surprised to see her, "Mr. Ji has arrived?"

Fu Tinghan nodded slightly and said, "He’s gone to settle the refugees."

The Jin Soldiers and civilians were not stupid. Zhao Hanzhang and Beigong Chun were holding off the Xiongnu, so they immediately ran for their lives.

At this point, they weren’t thinking about migrating with Prince East Sea anymore; naturally, they ran wherever was farthest away.

Fu Tinghan was outside gathering refugees, directing them to regroup and run in clusters.

Some were Jin Soldiers with weapons, mostly young and strong. If they spread into the countryside, they could become bandits later. Therefore, Fu Tinghan intentionally tried to concentrate them, leaving them nearby, though they weren’t very obedient, and many had run away.

Ji Yuan arrived with the main army, and Fu Tinghan handed over these people for him to gather.

Zhao Hanzhang wet a cloth to wipe her face and hands. The bloodstains on her clothes were impossible to clean. She planted her spear into the ground beside her, pulled a pouch of dry rations from her clothes, and took out a hard biscuit to eat.

The biscuit was dry, mixed with soybean flour, and a bit coarse. She took a bite, and crumbs began to fall. She caught them with her hand and then poured them into her mouth, "The dry rations need improvement, too damn hard to eat."

Beigong Chun smiled and also took out a biscuit to eat, thinking this dry ration was already quite good.

Fu Tinghan glanced at her and said, "Watch your language."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded and corrected herself, "Write to Chen County and Xiping, ask the cooks to come up with more ideas for making dry rations that are tasty, convenient to carry, and can be preserved for a long time. Anyone who succeeds will be greatly rewarded by me!"

Fan Ying agreed, gazing at the bloodstains on Zhao Hanzhang’s clothes, feeling stirred up inside, "My lady, tomorrow, let me go to the battlefield with you." The rıghtful source is novel{f}ire.net

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head and refused, "You are a civil servant. Your job is to help Mr. Ji manage the rear. Where is our grain? We need to gather the escaped Jin Soldiers, and check through the scattered luggage for anything useful."

Zhao Hanzhang turned to ask Fu Tinghan, "How many people got away?"

Fu Tinghan said, "A rough estimate is about 150,000."

He casually took a stick and drew by the fire, "I instructed the flag soldiers to lead them southward, back to Xiang City, or from around Xiang City to near Luoyang, in three routes, a team every two quarters of an hour, with each team ranging from two thousand to four thousand. I instructed the flag soldiers to guide them near Luoyang and return."

"Along the way, there are deserted wildlands and villages. If they wish to stay, they can. If they don’t listen to the orderlies and scatter, they will head toward Yu State," Fu Tinghan said, "150,000 people, either staying between Luoyang and Xiang City or going to Yu State. They are all yours."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded in satisfaction, "Ordinary civilians should not be restricted too much, but if they’re Jin Soldiers, we must try to integrate them; they have weapons and military experience. Without constraints, they may pose a threat in the future."

Fu Tinghan nodded in response, "Mr. Ji is working on this."

It was dark, but the fleeing refugees did not stop. Fan Xing was still leading a group of soldiers trudging on.

At some point, a group of comrades, roughly a hundred, gathered around him.

Having become deserters, they were uneasy, "Centurion, where are we running to?"

Fan Xing stopped, looking at the darkness around, except for a few distant lights behind, which was the battlefield.

In the dark, someone shouted, "The Zhao Family Army from Yu State is recruiting. All Jin Soldiers can join, there’s military food!"

Everyone stared at Fan Xing eagerly, "Should we go?"

"What if we end up fighting the Xiongnu again? Wouldn’t that be courting death?"

Fan Xing hesitated, finally gritting his teeth, "Let’s return; running will only turn us into bandits, and we have no dry rations left, risking starvation."

So they ran back, quickly encountering soldiers with torches gathering the disordered troops and brought them back.