The Xiliang Iron Cavalry, upon hearing this, abandoned the Jiangyi Grand Camp and turned south in pursuit.
After about half an hour, Li Que saw that familiar grand banner.
"Huh?"
Li Que twitched his nose, feeling that something was off.
He had served under Zhang Xin and had seen the Yellow Turban Old Guard.
Those Yellow Turban Old Guard, after years of generous support from Zhang Xin, were all well-equipped, majestic, and robust, exuding a fierce aura.
These five hundred soldiers in front of him, tho their armor was also considered good, somehow lacked that certain something.
"Could it be that the person commanding this army is not Lord?"
Li Que wondered, "Did he hear of my army's arrival but, burdened by the common people, was unable to resist, so he sent out this feint to draw me away?"
"That's not right either..."
Li Que shook his head, "With Lord's wisdom, he wouldn't be unaware that if Lord Dong sent cavalry to pursue, it would definitely be me and Guo Si leading them."
"Both of us have served under him and recognize his personal guard camp..."
Li Que thot it over and decided to continue the pursuit.
Although he couldn't be certain if the person commanding this army was Zhang Xin, as the old saying goes...
He had already come this far.
Moreover, Dong's army had marched rapidly all nite, first ambushing Longmen Ferry, then pursuing Xu Huang's remnants; their horses were already running on fumes.
If they were to turn back to Jiangyi now, even if the horses could reach there, they would likely be too exhausted to charge.
Thinking of this, Li Que pointed his spear.
"Pursue!"
The sound of hooves rumbled.
Wang Meng looked at the Xiliang Iron Cavalry slowly approaching from behind and smiled.
"Order the soldiers to march quickly."
Zhang Xins army's cavalry all had two horses per person, so before he left, he had left some warhorses in the camp for Wang Meng to form a cavalry unit.
Although the current cavalry, due to Zhang Xin, were basically equipped with the 'three treasures of the horse' (stirrups, saddle, bit), allowing them to learn to ride quickly.
However, fighting was not so simple.
Of course, this cavalry unit was not meant for combat.
Their purpose was to deal with situations like today, to draw away Dong Zhuo's cavalry.
At Wang Meng's command, the White Wave Bandits cavalry suddenly accelerated.
They had all been infantry before, and with the aid of stirrups and saddles, slow riding was not an issue.
Now that their speed increased, their formation instantly became chaotic, and the riders on horseback began to sway precariously.
Some even fell off their warhorses.
Seeing this, Li Que became even more certain that this cavalry, flying Zhang Xin's banner, was not his personal guard camp at all!
But since things had come to this, Li Que could only continue the pursuit.
The White Wave Bandits cavalry had plenty of horse strength, but the riders' skill was too poor, so their speed couldn't be maintained.
Li Que's cavalry's horse strength was depleted, but under the control of the Western Liang riders, the distance between the two armies was slowly shortening.
He fled, he pursued, he...
Wang Meng looked at the increasingly close mountain pass ahead, then turned back to see Li Que's army, which had closed to less than a hundred paces, and ordered: "Leave the grand banner here."
Zhang Xin's grand banner was thus left behind.
Wang Meng spurred his horse, leading the White Wave Bandits cavalry into the mountain pass, then left behind an extremely arrogant voice.
"Come here!"
"Stop!"
Li Que quickly reined in his horse to observe.
In the middle of the mountain pass was a narrow path, not very wide, only enough for about three horses to ride abreast, with cliffs on both sides.
Such terrain was simply a heaven-sent place for an ambush.
Li Que looked at his soldiers beside him; the warhorses beneath them were not in good spirits, constantly snorting, clearly close to their limit.
After much consideration, Li Que took the grand banner left behind by Wang Meng and slowly retreated, returning to report to Dong Zhuo.
If he pursued, he feared an ambush in the mountains.
If he went back to Jiangyi, the men could endure, but the horses could not.
Fortunately, although this pursuit did not inflict casualties on the enemy, obtaining Zhang Xin's grand banner was a satisfactory explanation for Dong Zhuo.
Li Que returned to the Longmen Grand Camp, took down Zhang Xin's banner, and entered the tent to present it to Dong Zhuo.
"Zhang Xin's grand banner!"
Dong Zhuo was extremely excited and immediately stepped forward, snatching the banner from Li Que's hand.
"Hmm, good, it's his grand banner."
Looking at the words 'Marquis Xuanwei of Han, Zhang' on the banner, Dong Zhuo nodded repeatedly.
A grand banner, compared to a regular General's flag, beside the name, also had extremely complex decorative patterns; making one took a long time, so it couldn't be fake.
"Zhiran, tell me properly, how did laughing? I'm going to raid Chang'an..."
Dong Zhuo's face instantly turned pale with shock.
"Exclamation of alarm!"