Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 5

  Murong Feng walked up to Li Hong and patted his shoulder in praise. Tiě Láng glared at him fiercely, opening his mouth to scold him for being an idiot, but seeing Murong Feng standing beside him, he swallowed the words back down. Li Hong smiled foolishly at him.

  Fifteen war horses lay quietly at the foot of the slope, all with muzzles on. The soldier who was sent to Bailu Plain to report before dusk was intercepted and killed here, his body lying beside his war horse.

  Murong Feng glanced at everyone and waved his hand, saying: "This place is still ten miles away from White Dew Plains, but the pursuing soldiers are only three or four miles away from us. Let's hurry up! The fifteen horses are just enough, let's go quickly. Where's Leopard?"

  Everyone suddenly realized that Li Hong was gone, and Tie Lang remembered Duan Zhen, "That kid took Duan Zhen away."

  At this critical juncture of life and death, riding a horse with an unconscious and dying wounded person to escape together is self-evident. If the pursuers and the escapees engage in fierce battle along the way, everyone can barely protect themselves, let alone have the strength to protect the wounded? Li Hong's approach now seems unwise indeed.

  Murong Feng said nothing more, and signaled everyone to mount their horses. Ti Lang stood on the spot anxiously waiting for Li Hong. Before long, Li Hong's tall figure appeared at the top of the slope, his hands holding the stretcher with Duan Zhen, running with all his might while shouting loudly: "Hurry up, people from the Tiger Tribe are chasing us, can you hear the sound of their horses' hooves?"

  Tie Lang knew that the stubborn little guy in front of him would rather die than abandon Duan Yun and escape alone. He turned to Murong Feng and said, "General, you go first, I'll stay with this kid and die together." Then he shouted to the other soldiers, "Leave the quivers behind, leave more arrows for me."

  Li Hong, covered in blood, walked quickly with the stretcher, being extremely careful along the way, fearing that he might accidentally drop Duan Yun from the stretcher. Murong Feng turned his head to look at him, feeling a surge of emotion, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes. "Be careful, once we find reinforcements, we'll be back."

  Murong Feng's eyes welled up with tears as he turned his horse around.

  "How can they all leave without even leaving a few to help?" Li Hong put down the stretcher and gazed at the iron cavalry disappearing into the night, muttering softly.

  "Need help? You must be joking." Iron Wolf retorted ill-temperedly. Li Hong knew that Iron Wolf was unhappy, and now with three people and two horses, including Duan Zhen who was seriously injured and unconscious, the Tiger Tribe's iron cavalry were pursuing them relentlessly from behind. The opportunity to escape alive to White Dew Plains was indeed very slim, but Li Hong did not want to give up. He could not abandon his comrades. This thought, like his current memories, had been with him since birth, deeply rooted in his heart, without reason or need for reason.

  Li Hong put his arm around Tie Lang's shoulder and laughed: "Old Wolf, are you afraid?"

  "You idiot, am I afraid? The battles I've fought are more numerous than the meat you've eaten, and the people I've killed are more numerous than the hairs on your head. Am I afraid?" Iron Wolf cursed, still not satisfied.

  Li Hong burst out laughing, "Alright, Old Wolf's heroic spirit soars to the sky, this time we will definitely not die, we must make it to White Dew Plains."

  Tie Lang was infected by Li Hong's laughter and his emotions slowly calmed down. After all, he had been through many battles and still looked at life and death very lightly.

  Li Hong and Tie Lang hastily tied Duan Zhen to the stretcher and then to the horse's back, after which they rode together on one horse, rushing into the endless darkness at top speed. Li Hong held the reins of another warhorse in one hand and grasped Tie Lang's waistband with the other, his mouth not idle as he exchanged insults with him. The deep friendship between the two had been built up over a long time through such exchanges of abuse.

  The sound of horses' hooves behind him grew denser, like thunder, approaching from afar.

  After Ke Ju's death, the pursuing troops of the Tiger Tribe were commanded by Hu Fu Zhang Yuan Ci. He was startled by Li Hong's momentum in the forest and abandoned 50-60 corpses, leading over a hundred men to retreat from the forest in disarray. Then he ordered his subordinates to divide into two teams, searching along the outer edge of the forest, avoiding close combat with the enemy. As long as they could find Mu Rong Feng's trail, once they reached the grassland, Mu Rong Feng would be dead for sure.

  The pursuers soon discovered that Murong Feng had escaped from the forest and received reports from his subordinates. They immediately gathered over a hundred people and chased after him. On the small hillside of the grassland, they found their own dead bodies. Feeling the still warm corpses, Yu Zhan felt that Murong Feng was as real as the grass in his hand. He rode his horse, running at the front, and vaguely saw two riders galloping ahead. He became excited, as if he had seen a beautiful woman made of gold and silver. The other soldiers also discovered Tie Lang and Li Hong, and they cheered, whipping their war horses fiercely, suddenly increasing their pursuit speed.

  Weng Ci saw the fleeing figure in front of him becoming clearer and clearer, then he saw that terrifying Han man with disheveled hair, who jumped off his horse, standing upright on the grassland, holding a fully drawn strong bow.

  "Kill...!" The urn temple suddenly straightened his body, excitedly waving his knife and roaring wildly. He hated that he couldn't take a step forward and cut the Han man to death with one slash.

  Li Hong was always scolded by Tie Lang until he was covered in dog blood, especially when shooting arrows. Tie Lang thought that his three-arrows-in-one-shot technique was among the best on the vast grasslands, but Li Hong just couldn't learn it. Every time, Li Hong would honestly only shoot one arrow, and although he hit the target every time, compared to Tie Lang, it was really a difference of heaven and earth. Li Hong said, "You've been shooting for thirty or forty years, and I've only been shooting for four or five months, how can we be mentioned in the same breath?"

  Li Hong stood on the vast grassland and shot out an arrow with a determined spirit.

  The urn temple widened its eyes in disbelief, staring at the long arrow inserted into its own chest. The white feathers on the tail of the long arrow were as dazzling as snow, and the black arrow shaft was still trembling in the chest. Then, a severe pain suddenly invaded his entire brain like a tide, and he lost everything, falling off the horse.

  Li Hong grasped his battle sword, eyes wide with rage, and let out a loud, crazed roar as he charged forward to meet the enemy cavalry without hesitation. Countless long arrows whizzed past his body.

  The enemy cavalry was stimulated by Li Hong's ferocity and became more excited, shouting loudly with hoarse voices, the killing sounds echoing across the grassland.

  Li Hong's eyes were filled with the powerful legs of horses, countless legs rising and falling in rhythm, like thunderous roars that deafened his ears. Li Hong felt as if he had fallen into a flood and was trapped in a massive whirlpool, unable to resist or move, and couldn't even tell which direction he was facing.

  "Ah......" Li Hong roared in anger, accelerating his approach towards the enemy cavalry.

  The face of his nearest enemy, twisted in an almost bestial excitement, was clearly visible under the dim moonlight. The two came into contact for a moment.

  Li Hong suddenly ducked to avoid the enemy soldier's powerful slash, and his knife stabbed into the horse's belly. The second rider, who was right behind him, had already flown over Li Hong's head in the blink of an eye. Li Hong let out a loud roar, leapt up horizontally, and dodged the warhorse's impact. The third iron cavalryman came sweeping in like a gust of wind. Li Hong had nowhere to hide, so he rolled on the ground, hoping not to be trampled by the galloping warhorse. Fortunately, there were no more warhorses behind him. Li Hong sprang up from his half-crouched position, drew an arrow and strung his bow, and shot in one swift motion, without a moment's hesitation. "Whoosh..." The long arrow flew out, and the enemy soldier died instantly, falling headfirst under his horse.

  The enemy cavalry turned their horses' heads and killed again on their way back.

  Li Hongfei picked up the enemy's war knife and charged at the enemy cavalry again. Li Hong went crazy. The pursuers from the Tiger Tribe knew that this disheveled Han man had taken Murong Feng away from the Tiger Trap, killed Commander Ke Ju in the small woods, and today killing him would be a great achievement. The enemy also went wild.

  Iron Wolf rode alone, galloping and shooting arrows to the left and right. The enemy soldiers' torches were live targets, Iron Wolf's arrows never missed, those who were hit would surely die. A group of enemy cavalry followed closely behind him, pursuing relentlessly, both sides exchanging arrow for arrow, fighting intensely with no clear winner.

  Like wolves and tigers, the pursuing soldiers surrounded Li Hong, fighting fiercely with all their might. One by one, they were like fierce demons, vowing to chop Li Hong into minced meat. Li Hong was calm and fearless, but his combat strength had already greatly decreased compared to this afternoon in the small forest. He had too many injuries, his physical strength was severely depleted, and he was getting more and more exhausted. Li Hong gritted his teeth and persisted with all his might, although there was no hope of escape, he was determined to fight to the end.

  A low and prolonged ox horn sound suddenly came from the southeast direction.

  Li Hong was excited as if he had heard the music of the gods, "Kill, kill... The Grand Marshal has arrived, the Grand Marshal has arrived..."

  At this most critical moment, Murong Feng's White Dew Origin reinforcements finally arrived.

  The iron wolf slanted its horse's head and ran wildly to the southeast. The pursuing soldiers were shocked and uncertain, pulling their horses to observe and searching everywhere for their hundred-man commander. It wasn't until then that they suddenly realized Commander Eunuch was gone, Commander Eunuch was dead. There were only two enemies, yet over a hundred of our own men not only failed to kill them but also let the enemy kill dozens of our own, even killing Commander Eunuch - this dealt a huge blow to their morale.

  One of the lieutenants took over command and after consulting with several subordinates, he immediately sounded the retreat.

  The various Xianbei tribes' dahan, hou chuai, da chuai and xiao chuai all commanded armies separately, with the larger ones commanding tens of thousands of cavalry and the smaller ones commanding several thousand cavalry. These army leaders all had qianchang (commanders of a thousand cavalry), bai chang (commanders of a hundred cavalry) and shi chang (commanders of ten cavalry) as their lower-ranking officers.

  Reinforcements of about four or five hundred men came from the southeast, these iron cavalrymen holding four or five torches indicating direction, a vast black mass galloping over.

  Li Hong's spirit was greatly lifted, his roar like thunder, his big knife flying about, fiercely chopping towards the densely packed enemy. The enemy soldiers were afraid of his bravery and didn't dare get too close, scattering and retreating in all directions. Originally they had planned to exhaust Li Hong's physical strength, waiting for him to be exhausted before capturing him alive to receive even more rewards, but unexpectedly this Han man not only didn't become exhausted, instead he killed them until they were crying out in misery.

  Li Hong saw the enemy surrounding him retreat like a tide, and saw them jump onto their war horses and turn to flee in disarray. He couldn't help but feel elated and burst out laughing loudly. He was already exhausted and unable to stand, but didn't want others to see his sorry state, so he could only use his knife to prop himself up, standing amidst a pile of corpses.

  At this time, from a distance, he really had an air of pride that was overwhelming.

  Tie Lang and Li Hong returned to the White Dew Plains at midnight, Mu Rongfeng led a thousand iron knights waiting outside the camp. Hearing the thunderous cheers, the two were extremely excited.

  At this point, Zhēn also woke up and learned about the whole thing. He was so moved that his eyes were filled with hot tears. Li Hong's refusal to abandon his comrades even in death deeply shocked the Xianbei people and earned him the respect of all the generals under Murong Feng's command.

  Li Hong was extremely hungry, and upon seeing the tender roasted mutton, he immediately began a frantic devouring. From his imprisonment until now, he had never tasted meat, and today he finally satisfied his craving. In the past, Iron Wolf would occasionally cook small meals for him in Koye's territory, so life wasn't extremely bitter, but this was the first time he had eaten with such abandon. After eating his fill, Li Hong fell into a deep sleep, sleeping soundly until the second day when he was startled awake by the intermittent sounds of cow horns on the White Dew Plains.

  Bailu Plain was on the edge of the grassland, backed by a piece of virgin forest. On both sides were rolling hills, with dense forests. Murong Feng's troops were stationed in this lush and verdant land.

  The next day, Kuye led the Iron Cavalry to Bailu Plain and set up an attacking formation. After seeing that the army responding to Murong Feng had more than a thousand cavalrymen, he immediately ordered his own army to withdraw from Bailu Plain and retreated for thirty miles. Kuye sent someone to report to Lord Ke Zui and request reinforcements.

  Murong Feng did not launch a counterattack, and instead led his Iron Cavalry in a withdrawal to the southwest, towards the Da Yan Mountains. Along the way, Murong Feng proceeded at a leisurely pace, as if on a sightseeing tour, covering only thirty miles each day. His subordinates regarded him with reverence, believing that everything was under his control, even when they had pursuers behind them and their numbers were increasing every day.

  Five days later, Murong Feng led the army to Xiongzu Mountain. At night, Murong Feng and Gong Sunhu, Wu Bao, Tie Lang and others were eating and chatting in the big tent. Li Hong was standing behind Murong Feng, holding a plate and eating meat because he was Murong Feng's personal bodyguard.

  At this time, a scout rushed in to report the military situation: "General, the King's troops have arrived at Fenghou Mountain. The largest army of Ke is also rushing over from the northeast."

  Murong Feng's expressionless face asked: "Where is Quan Yu?"

  "Neither General Que nor General Murong has made a move yet."

  Murong Feng waved his hand to signal the guards to retreat, and Tie Lang, Wu Bao, and Gong Sun Hu stopped eating and drinking, waiting for Murong Feng's command.

  "Tomorrow, we'll ambush Koye." Murong Feng said in a cold voice.