Chapter 47: When It Comes to Kneeling Before Guan Yu, No One Is Better at It Than Me!

An army from Liu led a night raid?

And numbering tens of thousands?

Tens of thousands meant Liu Bei’s main force.

Yet hadn’t Liu Bei’s main force marched north along the Yu Water to ambush the grain depot at Chaoyang?

How could they inexplicably and suddenly appear in Deng County, launching a night raid instead against the grain depot he was guarding?

Yu Jin was dumbfounded.

His alcohol-drenched brain whirred desperately, yet he could not fathom the reason for this turn of events.

"General! The enemy has reached the ramparts; they are about to breach the walls!"

"Reporting to the General! Banners bearing the character Guan have appeared outside the camp gate, and the enemy is charging toward our gate!"

"Reporting to the General! Enemy forces have appeared on the eastern side as well!"

One urgent report after another poured in like a flurry of snowflakes.

Yu Jin shivered, finally waking up completely. He struggled and forced himself to stand once more.

"Pass down the order! All units rush to the ramparts and hold your ground to the death! Do not let the enemy break in!"

"Quickly dispatch men to the main camp at Fancheng to report the emergency and ask General Cao Zixiao for reinforcements!"

"Hurry, make it quick!"

While shouting in a trembling voice, Yu Jin mounted his horse with the assistance of his personal guards and hurried toward the ramparts.

The main camp had already descended into utter chaos.

The Cao soldiers, jolted awake from their slumber, hastily rushed toward the line of ramparts amidst the reprimands of their officers, lacking even the time to properly don their armor and clothing.

When Yu Jin arrived at the camp gate, the sight before him made him draw a sharp intake of breath.

Countless torches illuminated the inside and outside of the camp as bright as day.

Outside the ramparts, dense throngs of Liu’s soldiers, resembling ghostly specters emerging from the underworld, surged forward like a tidal wave.

Wielding their ring-pommel sabers frantically, they hacked through the heavy chevaux-de-frise and vied with one another to swarm beneath the ramparts, hacking and pushing with the frenzy of madmen.

The rain of arrows overhead fell like a sky full of shooting stars, blanketing the area and pinning down the hastily assembled Cao soldiers in neat rows.

The intensity of the Han army’s offensive and the density of their troop formation indicated a force of at least thirty thousand men!

The commanding banner symbolizing Liu Bei fluttered brilliantly in the firelight, inspiring Liu’s soldiers to launch fierce, fearless assaults.

"Thirty thousand troops? Is Liu Bei personally leading the army?"

"What on earth is going on here?"

"Didn't Liu Bei fall into Cheng Zhongde’s trap, supposedly commanding these thirty thousand troops to raid Chaoyang? Why has he suddenly come to attack my Deng County?"

"Could it be..."

Yu Jin’s body shook violently, and a chilling thought flashed through his mind:

A feint to the east and an attack in the west!

"Could it be that Cheng Zhongde’s stratagem was seen through by Liu Bei, and that big-eared thief used his own counter-ploy, taking advantage of our main force marching north to Chaoyang to lay an ambush, and used a feint to the east to strike the undefended grain depot at Deng County?"

Yu Jin woke up with a start, breaking out in a cold sweat.

How brilliant and unfathomable Cheng Zhongde’s stratagem was, and which subordinate under Liu Bei possessed the ability to see through it, were matters for another time.

The fatal issue was that Liu Bei’s army of thirty thousand had caught him completely off guard.

With only ten thousand troops under his command, fighting a hurried defense, judging by the current situation, they were on the verge of collapse.

If the Deng County grain depot were lost, hundreds of thousands of *hu* of grain—nearly forty percent of the military provisions—would be burned to ashes by Liu Bei!

What face would he have left to face Cao Cao?

"Hear my command!"

"Hold the ramparts to the death! Anyone retreating a single step will be executed on the spot without pardon!"

Yu Jin spurred his horse close to the ramparts, brandishing the heavy spear in his hand and shouting in a near-hysterical frenzy.

He had no way out; he could only fight with all his might and hold on until reinforcements arrived.

Having served in the military for decades, he had encountered such crises more than once, and each time previously he had managed to turn danger into safety.

This time, however, it was different.

His capture and surrender at the Battle of the Han Water had already thoroughly ruined his prestige in the hearts of the Cao soldiers.

Since taking command of the grain depot, he had abandoned himself to despair, idling away his days in drunkenness. He neither inspected the camp nor gathered the soldiers for addresses; most of the soldiers in the camp had not even laid eyes on him.

Under such circumstances, from officers down to private soldiers, who in the camp would submit to him?

Naturally, he could not rely on past prestige to stabilize morale and inspire the soldiers to fight to the death.

Facing the relentless, wave-after-wave assaults of an enemy three times their number, the morale of the Cao soldiers disintegrated, and they scattered in rout after offering only nominal resistance.

"Reporting to the General! The eastern wing of the ramparts has been breached by the enemy!"

"Reporting to General Yu! The enemy has broken into the left camp!"

"Reporting to the General..."

Messenger after messenger galloped up, driving fresh spikes of bad news into Yu Jin’s heart.

After less than half an hour of resistance, the ten thousand Cao soldiers had completely collapsed along the entire line.

"General Yu! The general situation is lost! We cannot wait for General Cao’s reinforcements; quickly abandon the camp and retreat!"

The deputy general beside him urged him with a voice choked with tears.

Yu Jin, however, wore the face of the dead, his body rigid in the saddle, his eye sockets brimming with grief and indignation.

"First I lost the naval force, and now I have lost the grain depot. What face do I have to face the Prime Minister!"

"Liu Bei, Guan Huang! I never expected that I, Yu Jin, would be driven to such a desperate plight by you two brothers..."

Yu Jin gnashed his teeth, long hesitating to make a decision.

"Crash!"

With a thunderous roar of collapse, the camp gate was finally knocked flat to the ground by Liu’s soldiers.

A long-bearded warrior, wielding a Green Dragon Crescent Blade and mounted on a Red Hare horse, broke through the gate first like a deity descending from the heavens.

A single sweep of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade sent the heads of several panicking, retreating Cao soldiers flying.

"Guan... Guan Yu?"

Just paces away, Yu Jin let out a trembling cry of shock, the grief and indignation in his eyes instantly turning to terror.

Liu’s soldiers poured through the camp gate like a tidal wave.

Countless ring-pommel sabers ruthlessly hacked down the panicking, retreating Cao soldiers.

Guan Yu swept his gaze across the scene and instantly locked onto that familiar face.

"Yu Jin?"

A look of surprise flashed across Guan Yu's eyes.

Clearly, he had not expected that Yu Jin, whom they had just released, would be assigned by Cao Cao to guard the Deng County grain depot.

Truly, fate works in mysterious ways...

The corners of Guan Yu’s lips curled into a sneer. Then, he dug his heels into his horse's flanks, spurred forward, and charged aggressively toward Yu Jin with his blade dragging behind him.

The Cao soldiers attempting to block his path along the way were overturned to the ground like ants.

Yu Jin’s deputy generals and personal guards, all frightened out of their wits by Guan Yu’s divine might, turned and fled in all directions.

It was not until Guan Yu charged within five paces that Yu Jin shivered, snapped abruptly back to his senses, and wheeled his horse around, desperate to flee.

It was already too late.

The Red Hare horse sped like the wind. Before Yu Jin could even complete his turn, Guan Yu stood before him like an iron tower, blocking his path.

"Do you think you can escape!"

A haughty and overbearing roar rang out, and the Green Dragon Crescent Blade whipped up a sky full of bloody dust, slashing down from above with the momentum of a collapsing heaven and earth.

There was nowhere to hide and no way to parry!

In his desperation, Yu Jin could only rely on his martial instincts, raising his spear with all his might in a frantic attempt to block.

However, aided by the speed of the Red Hare horse, Guan Yu’s strike came far too fast.

So fast that before Yu Jin could even execute his spear technique, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade had already flashed downward.

"Crack!"

Yu Jin’s left hand, which gripped the spear, along with the spear itself, was cleanly sheared off with a crisp snap.

A miserable scream rang out as a bleeding, mutilated torso flew into the air and crashed heavily to the ground.

Enduring the agonizing pain of his severed wrist, Yu Jin propped himself up with his remaining arm, struggling and trying to crawl back to his feet.

Just as he managed to stand shakily, Guan Yu’s towering frame enveloped him in shadow.

The blood-stained Green Dragon Crescent Blade rested coldly against his neck.

Whenever Guan Yu pleased, a gentle slice would be enough to claim his head.

A chill struck Yu Jin’s heart, and the fear of death instantly eclipsed the pain of his severed wrist.

"Thud!"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Yu Jin’s knees hit the ground.

Once again, he knelt at Guan Yu’s feet.