Chapter 47: A Narrow Escape!

  The cold armor shone with a chilly light under the moonlight, and the Qin army's thousand cavalry rushed towards the camp like a storm.

  "Enemy attack!"

  The sound of horseshoes was loud and clear, the war drums were beating loudly. The quietness of the night was completely broken by the charge of the Qin army.

  Without a moment's hesitation, Yi Quhong was surrounded by his loyal bodyguards and fled northwest. The remaining 700 or so men, led by a school lieutenant, formed up and launched a desperate countercharge.

  Yi Qu's cavalry was lucky, at least they had some time to form up. Relying on their growth on horseback and familiarity with controlling horses, the 700 Yi Qu soldiers only took three breaths of time to get the horses running completely. To know, similarly well-trained cavalry would need at least seven or eight breaths of time.

  Yi Qi's side was also unfortunate, as they were on a diplomatic visit to Xianyang, all the soldiers only brought curved knives and had no long-range weapons. Moreover, they were only equipped with leather armor, and a small number of people did not even have any protection. Their opponents - the Qin army? Were fully equipped with armor, long spears, and precious swords.

  It was an unfair fight from the start. But what's fair in war? There is only victory or defeat on the battlefield, the victor lives and the defeated die!

  Neither side will back down, each with a different mission. And the mission can only exist as one. The Qin army is eager to fight for glory; the Xiongnu are determined to fight for survival! This is a clash of steel on steel, iron against iron!

  Two raging torrents collided violently, the sword and gun sparking the most beautiful sparks. In the sparks, heads fell to the ground, and blood flowers bloomed. This is a man's battlefield, without the sound of sighs, only muted grunts; without tears of pain, only gritted teeth of ferocity.

  Wang Ling frowned as he watched the Yiqiu soldiers fight to the death. He immediately ordered his deputy to lead 200 men to pursue and kill the fleeing Yiqiu Hong.

  Tonight's battle was not going smoothly. The Qin army found an ownerless good horse more than 40 miles away from Xianyang, and the wolf head pattern on the horse's back clearly indicated the identity of its owner. Wang Ling immediately judged that there must be a Yiqu person who had escaped from Xianyang, and this section of the Qin army's defense was very strict, the noise of the horse was enough to alert their own side. This Yiqu person must have abandoned his horse and fled to report the news.

  It turns out that Yiqiu Hong and his party were just twenty miles away. This year, the scale of Yiqiu's delegation far exceeded King Qin's expectations, with an additional 500 people making it impossible for Wang Ling to be 100% sure to keep Yiqiu Hong behind. Therefore, Wang Ling thought of using a night raid to annihilate Yiqiu's delegation.

  Unexpectedly, it was a case of "almost succeeding but failing at the last step". His own night raid plan had to be changed due to the appearance of this man from Yiqiu, and he had to launch it ahead of schedule. Yiqiu Hong still managed to escape under the cover of darkness. Fortunately, before leaving, he had already sent someone to urgently inform Huan Qi, and no less than 4,000 cavalrymen had joined in the pursuit of Yiqiu Hong. It was just a pity that he couldn't take all the credit for himself and had to share it with Huan Qi. Wang Ling sighed.

  The people of Yi Qu burst forth with great strength in the face of death. With their flesh and blood, they blocked the Qin army for nearly half a day. If it weren't for Huan Qi's large army attacking from behind, Wang Ling even doubted whether he would have won in the end.

  It's too terrifying, the Qin people only show off their achievements by holding up the heads of their enemies, but the Yiqu people actually eat humans. Just now, one of my own guards was bitten by a dying Yiqu person and his face was covered in blood. Although that Yiqu person eventually died, it was impossible to pry open his jaws. In the end, I had no choice but to smash the teeth of that Yiqu person before my guard could escape.

  But in any case, he had won. Now all he had to do was follow the cavalry's tracks northwest, and by dawn it would be Yiqi Hong's time of death.

  Actually, Yiqiu Hong is in trouble now. The Qin army following closely behind was like a shark that had smelled blood, surging forward. They had the advantage of numbers, but were not eager to attack. They just hung around Yiqiu Hong and his party, occasionally coming up to take a bite.

  Yi Qu Hong was very clear about the Qin army's strategy, which was to keep their side in a state of high tension, creating enormous pressure on them. It was just like a pack of wolves hunting wild cattle on the grasslands; the wolves chased the wild cattle day and night, and as soon as they tried to stop and rest, the wolves would immediately pounce and bite off a few pieces of flesh. The continuous running would completely exhaust the wild cattle's energy, and in the end, the wolves could hunt down their prey without any effort. Now he was the Qin army's prey, and without waiting for dawn, his group of people would be exhausted, and they would be captured easily.

  Yi Qu Hong was not willing to accept such a fate, first he had his guards sacrifice themselves and lure some of the Qin army in another direction; then he personally led his guards in an ambush, annihilating 40-50 Qin soldiers.

  But Wei Qing also knew that what he needed most was not to annihilate as many Qin troops as possible, but to shake off his tail and run as far as possible before nightfall. Daybreak would mean exposure without a place to hide.

  The Qin army also learned a lesson after losing over a hundred men, but they were still far away from the troops led by Yiqiu Hong. Yiqiu Hong could only feel anxious, after all, he now had only more than 40 bodyguards around him.

  When Yiqiu Hong arrived in Qī Xiàn, he had thirty-two guards by his side; when he arrived in Bīn Xiàn, he only had twelve guards left. From Qián Chéng to Bīn Xiàn, a distance of one hundred li, Yiqiu Hong's group took three watches to cover. There were detours and brief rests along the way, but they couldn't shake off the pursuing troops behind them.

  There was still a hundred miles to reach Yilu, and the war horse under him had already started foaming at the mouth. In less than an hour, the sky would be bright. By then, he would definitely be on a dead-end road. What to do? Yi Qu Hong kept asking himself.

  Suddenly, the war horse under Yiqi Hong fell to the ground and couldn't get up. Fortunately, Yiqi Hong was prepared and didn't get hurt.

  "Chancellor, ride my horse quickly." A guard hastily dismounted and pushed Yiqi Hong onto his own warhorse. With a crack of the whip, the warhorse galloped away in pain.

  Again, several guards stayed behind to block the Qin army. Yiqiu Hong knew that this was all a futile effort, a path to certain death. Although they had a thousand or ten thousand reasons to die for themselves, Yiqiu Hong still shed tears.

  "I must not die! I cannot die! This blood feud, I must avenge it!" Yi Quhong encouraged himself. He was already nearly sixty years old, and this midnight struggle had almost exhausted him, but he gritted his teeth and persisted. As long as the Qin army didn't catch up with him, he knew he had to keep running.

  Run, run, only by running can you have a chance to survive, and only by surviving can you take revenge!

  "Chancellor, we'll go ahead of you. You must survive!" The last five guards' voices came from beside him, but Yi Quhong had already lost his mind. He was frantic, with only one thought left in his head - to escape.

  When Yiqiu Hong woke up, there was no one around him. Between heaven and earth, only the sound of horseshoes and Qin people's shouting remained.

  Qin army deputy general gazed at the lone figure in front, with a face full of wild joy. That was indeed Yi Qu Hong! Killing him would make himself the hero of tonight's Great Qin. Pursuing and striking from a hundred miles away, beheading Yi Qu Generalissimo - this would become his lifelong boastful achievement.

  Although General Qin wanted to overtake Yiqi Hong immediately, he found that it seemed impossible for the time being. General Qin had been running all night, and although his armor protected himself, it also greatly consumed the horse's energy! Now he can only tightly bite Yiqi Hong, he believes that this old man will be exhausted soon, and he doesn't mind waiting a little longer after waiting for so long.

  Are we going to die? Yi Quhong gazed at the remaining thirty or so Qin soldiers behind him. He would ultimately have to die on Qin soil, how unwilling he was!

  It was as if they had heard the call of Yiqiu Hong, and more than a hundred crossbow arrows shot out from a flat ridge. The Qin army, which had just been proud and complacent, fell off their horses and died instantly. Yiqiu Hong's reinforcements have arrived!