Chapter Fourteen: Leaping Horse and Shooting Enemy

  On the high mountain ridge, the horse's hooves fluttered, its silver mane fluttering in the wind. The rider's buttocks left the saddle, his body bent at a 90-degree angle, almost parallel to the horse's back. With the maximum reduction of wind resistance, the already swift horse became even faster, leaving the pursuing soldiers three hundred steps behind.

  Ma Xiang ran with excitement, stepping on the stirrup, stretching out his arms, holding his head high and chest out, letting out a long whistle in the strong wind.

  "Wooo——"

  The sound spread with the wind, and it was heard a thousand steps away. Lü Xiang and other Ji Zhou cavalry were left far behind, not even having the chance to eat dust, and they were so angry that they almost vomited blood.

  "Lü Shimu, this won't work if we keep chasing like this. The bandits' horses are too fast, we can't catch up."

  Chasing for nearly ten miles in one breath, the Youzhou horse can no longer bear it. This kind of explosive sprint is not the strong point of the Youzhou horse, and will only fall further behind, causing irreversible damage to the warhorse, shortening its service life, and even affecting its lifespan.

  Every warhorse is the second life of a cavalryman. Seeing the warhorses suffer more and more damage, while the enemy runs farther and farther away, that kind of helpless anger is extremely suffocating for the Jizhou cavalry.

  Lü Xiāo's whiskers were blown into a mess by the strong wind, and his thick eyebrows almost stood up like two "1" characters. He knew that Master's precious horse was extremely fast, but he didn't expect it to be this fast. At this rate, within five miles, either they would be completely shaken off or the war horses would stumble one after another, capturing people and horses, which would be a joke.

  It's okay, Lü Xiang is not completely without opportunity, his opportunity lies three miles ahead.

  Three miles ahead, there is a tributary of the Clear River called Leaping Horse Creek. The creek dries up in autumn and winter, but swells with tide in spring and summer. Previously, Lü Shuang's group transported grain and fodder through this place. This Leaping Horse Creek has no bridge, and when the transportation team crossed the river, they had to build a pontoon bridge by themselves. Now that the pontoon bridge has been dismantled, this ten-zhang-wide river surface will be an insurmountable obstacle.

  "Hurry up and catch this thief at Yue Ma Creek!" Lv Xiang raised his bow and shouted with gritted teeth.

  More than thirty riders, under the commander's loud order, dispersed into three teams. One team in the middle pursued closely, while two teams flanked and surrounded from left and right. Three rising clouds of yellow dust resembled three earth dragons, chasing towards that white dot at the center.

  The Silver Arrow sped extremely fast, passing two miles in the blink of an eye. The sudden appearance of a flowing "green belt" ahead made Ma Han quickly understand why Lü Xiang was pursuing him relentlessly.

  In front of Yue Ma Creek, the waves are sparkling, the water flows rapidly, the river surface is about 18-19 meters wide and 3 meters deep. There are no boats or bridges on the river, and there is no road to walk on.

  Ma Hu rode his horse to the top of a high slope, one hand gently stroking the wet sweat on the horse's neck, while surveying the terrain to find a crossing point. Unfortunately, he didn't find one. Without turning around, he could also hear the urgent hoofbeats coming from over a hundred paces away. He had fifty arrows; if the terrain was suitable, he would absolutely be able to shoot and kill the pursuing soldiers one by one. But all of this required a prerequisite: he must start running, must have speed advantage and distance advantage, must be able to shoot at the enemy while the enemy couldn't shoot back at him... If not for this advantage, how could one bow compete with thirty or so?

  Cross the river! Cross the river! Must cross the river! After crossing the river, let's see how I'll play you to death.

  Ma Xiu suddenly turned his horse's head and galloped down the slope, making an unexpected move: he charged towards the ten cavalrymen who were approaching from the left flank.

  Lv Xiang, who was a hundred paces away, was overjoyed and thought to himself: "The thief has finally run out of options!" But in the next moment, his jaw dropped.

  Ma Hu held his bow against the wind, with four fingers of his left hand clamping three arrows with three prongs. The bow holder was holding one, and his thumb moved slightly to open the infrared sight, aiming at the Jizhou cavalry eighty steps away.

  The Jizhou cavalry, who were facing them head-on, also drew their bows but did not dare to shoot. At a distance of eighty paces, even the strongest bows could not harm the enemy. Moreover, on the back of a galloping horse, how many people can hit a single target moving quickly at a distance of eighty paces?

  You can't, I can!

  Whoosh!

  Ma Hu shot the first arrow, with the help of infrared aiming, accurately hitting the chest of the enemy cavalry rushing in front. The enemy cavalry had just fallen backwards, and the second, third, and fourth arrows were shot out in one breath.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The arrow will not be shot in vain, either hitting the chest or lower abdomen. The last cavalryman, as both sides approached within seventy paces, greatly increased accuracy and directly entered through the face and exited from the back of the head.

  With four arrows shot in quick succession, Ma Xiu wiped and pulled with his left hand, and another arrow was already on the string. Three arrows were sandwiched between his palms. The remaining six riders opposite him were all frightened and scattered in all directions.

  Ma Huo didn't stop at all, galloping past, leaning down to pick up a long spear that had been dropped by an enemy cavalryman, suddenly accelerating and charging towards a raised slope on the riverbank. The momentum was so fierce that it seemed like he was going to throw himself into the river.

  What is this for?

  Below Ziluoxiang, the Jin state cavalrymen who were surrounding them in a semicircle all stared blankly and involuntarily slowed down their pace. Then, they saw...

  At the end of the riverbank, a white horse leaps into the air, its lower part surging, its upper part faint.

  When the white horse jumped to its highest point in mid-air and was about to fall, Ma Hu took advantage of the momentum to leap off the saddle. From six meters high in the air, he soared ten meters away to the west bank of the Jumping Horse Creek. Two meters from the ground, Ma Hu stretched out his right arm, with the long spearhead pointing downwards, half of it entering the earth. Under the huge impact force, there was a cracking sound as the spear shaft broke. And Ma Hu also took advantage of this powerful recoil momentum to land safely on one roll, turning over and getting up, steadily stepping onto the west bank soil.

  At the same time, like a flying bird crossing a stream, the divine steed Silver Arrow's iron hooves, as large as a bowl, also heavily stepped onto the opposite bank's loose soil. The iron hooves sank into the ground, splashing mud and water everywhere. Due to the four hooves being protected by fine iron horseshoes, and its rider jumping off the saddle in advance to greatly reduce the pressure, Silver Arrow finally completed this perfect stream-jumping feat.

  "My goodness!" Lü Xiāng was stunned for a while and could only utter these two words. Could he complain that his master's treasured steed was too powerful?

  On the other side of the river, Ma Huai remounted his horse and galloped along the riverbank for two laps before waving goodbye to Lü Xiang and his men.

  Lü Xiang's anger was unrelenting, and he shouted loudly: "You thieving rascal, where did this horse come from?"

  Ma Huan was also straightforward: "As you think, this is Yuan Shao's mount. He used this to exchange for his own life. Do you think it's worth it?"

  Lü Xiang flew into a rage: "Humiliating my lord is the same as humiliating my parents! You little thief, don't think that escaping across the river will make everything all right. This is the territory of Ji Province, no matter where you flee to, the army of Ji Province will search heaven and earth, I swear to retrieve my lord's precious steed, and capture you alive, cut you into five pieces, behead you and display your head in public!"

  Ma Xun narrowed his eyes and said calmly, "Catch me first if you can."

  "A certain Hebei military commander, Lü Xiang." Lü Xiang fiercely raised his bow and angrily shouted, "You rebel, your archery skills are still decent, dare you to have a shooting match with me across the river?"

  Ma Xiang smiled, this Lv Xiang had a good idea, thinking that one arrow could solve all the problems and they wouldn't have to chase each other to death. However, this proposal seemed not bad, he also didn't want to drag a tail behind him.

  Two sharp gazes, like two swords, clashed silently in mid-air above the Jumping Horse Creek, as if sparks were flying.

  Both sides simultaneously draw their bows, take arrows, nock them, and release the strings.

  Bang! Bang!

  Two arrows crossed each other in mid-air, flying towards their respective targets. At this moment, Ma Xun and Lü Xiang simultaneously made a standard move: they raised the riding shields on their left forearms to block the incoming arrows.

  The arrow shot from Lü Bu's Twin Dragons bow, pierced through Ma Chao's leather shield on his arm thirty paces away. However, the arrow's force was spent after breaking through the shield and its tip only lodged itself in the armor, unable to penetrate any further.

  Boom! Puff! Pop! Whoosh——

  The first sound was Ma Yuan's armor-piercing arrow penetrating the leather shield; The second sound was the arrow piercing Lv Xiang's left forearm; The third sound, the remaining force of the arrow was still strong, carrying the shield and arm, piercing the chest armor, entering the chest and lungs; The last sound was Lv Xiang's dying scream.

  On the fifth day of crossing the Three Kingdoms, Ma Chao killed the fifth general of the Three Kingdoms.

  From this moment on, he had a notorious title in Hebei - "killing one general every day".