Chapter 8: Luring the Enemy into Danger

  Two days of emergency training were not in vain.

  In just ten seconds, two rows of sixteen long spear-wielding guards stood motionless, blocking the middle of the road.

  Wei Zheng was very satisfied with the result and quickly found a suitable place to shoot the arrow, which would also allow Tuozi to develop his own open position. After scanning the Tuozi sentry still standing at the gate without any vigilance, he quickly drew an arrow from the quiver, strung the bow, and steadily aimed at the shoulder that could make Tuozi lose combat effectiveness instantly but not kill him immediately.

  "Bang... whoosh..."

  The bowstring's vibration, the faint sound of the feathered arrow tearing through the air had just begun to ring out, when the swiftly departing arrow had already accurately lodged itself in the shoulder of the quiver.

  "Ah, enemy attack... there are sneak attackers, immediately go on high alert."

  A loud cry quickly rose in the quiet night as a large knife fell from the hand of a Tartar due to an injury on his shoulder.

  At the same time, the Tartar, fearing another arrow shot, did not dare to attend to his wounded shoulder which was constantly bleeding, and lay on the ground in pain, waiting for his companions to come to his rescue.

  The quiet and peaceful courtyard behind the yurt suddenly became lively at this moment.

  Although Wei Zheng and the big yard were separated by nearly twenty meters, the clashing sounds of various metal weapons and the shouting of the Tartars still clearly reached Wei Zheng's ears.

  A faint cold smile flashed across his lips, and Wei Zheng drew out another feathered arrow, pulled the bowstring back, and aimed at the still tightly closed gate...

  When three or four of the bandits cautiously poked their heads out from the gate, wanting to drag their injured companion back into the courtyard, Wei Zheng unhesitatingly released the taut bowstring in his hand.

  The accumulated arrow on the bowstring was pushed out and flew quickly towards the gate.

  "Bang......"

  A dull thud echoed at the gate, and although this feathered arrow did not achieve any results, the enormous force it carried with it directly embedded it more than half an inch into the wooden gate.

  Seeing the arrow shafts quivering next to their heads on the wooden gate, several of the Jin soldiers instinctively drew back their heads and shouted loudly at the officers behind them.

  "An archer, and the opponent has an archer too... a divine archer..."

  After years of fighting, the coordination between the cavalrymen can be described as "extremely familiar".

  The shout of the Huns had just sounded, and four Huns holding bows and arrows climbed up the courtyard wall, drew their strings, and began to search around the large courtyard for their opponents who shot arrows at them.

  The several Uighurs who had just been attacked again stuck their heads out of the gate, on the one hand continuing to rescue injured comrades outside the gate, and on the other hand luring the enemy, exposing the targets of the hidden archers.

  Two hearts still quivering, a Tatar had just exposed half of his body from behind the door and was pulling up the clothes of his fallen comrade when Wei Zheng's third arrow shot out as if it had grown eyes and steadily pierced into one of the Tatars' chest.

  "Hmph..."

  A dull thud of an arrow piercing flesh rang out, and the Tartar who was hit by the feathered arrow instantly had all his strength sucked out of him, his heavy body crashing to the ground at the entrance.

  As for the companions around him, they dropped the wounded in their hands with a terrified face and retreated to the back of the gate.

  However, what Wei Zheng did not expect was that the moment he shot out his third arrow, the four Hu archers who had been waiting for him to expose himself also released their bows at the same time. The four arrows flew out of the courtyard together with a "whooshing" sound, heading towards Wei Zheng's position.

  The acute sense of smell carried by Wei Zheng's later generations played a crucial role at this time.

  Just as he shot out the third feathered arrow, Wei Zheng faintly felt that he had already been targeted by the enemy, and a sense of unprecedented crisis swiftly swept over his heart.

  So, just as the four arrows shot towards him were about to leave the bowstring, Wei Zheng quickly crouched down.

  At the same moment, five feathered arrows flew back and stuck into the earth wall behind him, half an inch deep.

  "Damn it, the Tartars are indeed a nation on horseback, their archery is accurate, and I almost lost my life." Wei Zheng couldn't help but let out a sigh of frustration.

  The scene that had just occurred was perilous, but in order to minimize casualties as much as possible, Wei Zheng had no choice but to shoulder his longbow and continue to lure the enemy.

  After quickly moving to a new position, he took a look at the still motionless gate and decisively shifted his target to the wall. Because from the situation just now, the archers hiding on the wall were the most threatening enemies to himself.

  After a thorough search, a Tartar finally appeared in his line of sight, lying on the wall and searching around with his bow.

  "It's all up to you... I don't believe it, killing three of your soldiers and still managing to hold back from counterattacking."

  Wei Zheng muttered to himself while simultaneously drawing another arrow from his quiver with great familiarity...

  To ensure a hit rate, Wei Zheng directly aimed at the opponent's largest upper body.

  "Hiss.....ah...."

  A faint whizzing sound of a feathered arrow pierced the air, followed closely by a blood-curdling scream from tens of meters away. Wei Zheng swiftly ducked and hid behind the courtyard wall, even clearly hearing the thud of the Tartar falling heavily to the ground from atop the wall.

  Just as Wei Zheng dodged the remaining three feathered arrows of the Hu's counterattack and pondered whether to continue his attack, in the large courtyard where the Hu's had gathered, three Hu's clad in iron armor were gathered together discussing something loudly.

  In the post-Jin Khitan army, each banner was based on the cow record as a basic military combat unit.

  In each niú lù, there are also distinctions between the ordinary tiě jiǎ bīng wearing iron armor, the bǎi yā lǎ wearing two or three layers of iron armor, and the lí jiǎ bīng wearing ordinary leather armor.

  Among these three soldiers, the one with the title of 'Houjin Yongshi' is undoubtedly the highest-ranking Houjin general in the Nurhaci's Eight Banners, except for Nurhaci himself.

  The dozen or so Tatars gathered in the large courtyard were commanded by a man named Aguda, who wore two layers of iron armor and wielded a fearsome sword. Among his troops were two heavily armored iron-clad warriors and 12 lightly armored ordinary cavalrymen.

  Facing the sudden casualties and increasingly low morale of his subordinates, an Iron Armor soldier in charge of six plate armor soldiers quickly walked to the side of Pai Ya La Agu Da, shouting loudly with a face full of anger.

  "Aguda, we have already lost three brave warriors. If we can't eliminate the Ming dynasty people outside, the morale of our warriors will definitely hit rock bottom. So, I think we should take the initiative to attack, rather than hiding in the yard like a coward and becoming prey for the Ming dynasty's archers, waiting to be slaughtered..."

  As soon as the voice fell, another iron armor soldier followed and shouted loudly: "According to the report of the brave warriors, there is only one Ming dynasty archer outside the yard. If we can't go out and catch him, our remaining Houjin warriors will not only lose their courage but also be ridiculed by other warriors when they return to Niu Lu. So, we must go out and catch this despicable Ming dynasty archer."

  Seeing Aguada still unresponsive in thought, the ironclad soldier unexpectedly drew his waist knife and shouted sarcastically at Aguada: "Since Aguada was intimidated by the Ming archers, I'll lead the brave warriors out to counterattack and kill the Ming archers who are ambushing us outside."

  Having said that, he directly shouted loudly at the remaining golden-haired boy in the big yard.

  "Fearless warriors of the Later Jin, stand behind me! I will lead you out of the courtyard and kill the Ming dynasty's ambushing archers. Let the Ming people see what true Later Jin warriors are!"

  "I'll go, the cunning Ming archer, I'll personally go out and kill him, when the Later Jin's teeth are loose." Another Tatar iron armor soldier standing beside Aguuda suddenly raised his wolf-toothed club and shouted loudly.

  A few days ago, in the battle, it was this Tatar iron armor soldier who knocked Wei Zheng unconscious with a wolf-toothed club, causing over a hundred bandits to instantly lose morale and ultimately flee in disarray. If today he could personally eliminate one of the Ming country's divine archers, then he himself would be promoted to the most noble position of "Bai Ya La" among the iron armor soldiers due to his military merit.