Chapter Fifty-One: One Against a Thousand

  Thanks to "Zhao Wu Xie 2014", "Tiger Ye Bu Huo", "Evil Wolf Star", "Ge Jiu Yi Pi Min" and "Parrot Shell Child" for their rewards. Hehe, "Parrot Shell Child" is the owner of this old book, finally arrived!

  "You... don't feel tired at all?" Liji said with a look of utter incredulity.

  Just now, because there was no threat from enemy arrows, she secretly peeked out from behind the big rock and saw an unbelievable scene - this person only used one arm to draw his bow and shoot, with a speed that made her eyes wide with wonder. She counted carefully, and within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had fired thirty-eight arrows. Whether each arrow hit its mark or not, she couldn't see clearly from her angle, but in such a short time, shooting out so many arrows with one hand stunned her.

  What made Liji even more shocked was that this person's arm didn't show any signs of fatigue, as if shooting one arrow and thirty-eight arrows were no different. Moreover, after finishing the shot, he stood up and moved his hands and feet to test the recovery of his left arm and legs, while his right arm seemed unaffected.

  Li Ji saw this unbelievable scene and also had an urge to pull something, fortunately her upbringing was very good, all her doubts finally turned into a dry sentence: "You... don't feel tired at all?"

  Ma Huan did not respond to her rhetorical question, he was inspecting the bowstring. In one breath, he shot out nearly forty arrows, adding up to a total of seventy or eighty arrows in the previous two rounds. The high-intensity shooting had already caused visible wear on the bowstring. Ma Huan's spare bowstrings were stored in his silver arrow quiver bag on his horse, but since he couldn't ride it himself, he had given the horse to Tian Yu to ride instead... In other words, if the bowstring broke, he would have no replacement.

  Ma Xun turned his head to look at Li Ji: "Go to the mountain path and take a look, see if there are any bows, bring a few over, and find some arrows... but don't go down to the valley path, I'm not sure if anyone is still pretending to be dead."

  Li Ji nodded in response, emerged from behind a large rock, lifted her skirt with both hands and ran out for several steps before being stopped by Ma Yuan: "Quickly come back, the Xianbei people are attacking."

  Yes, the Xianbei people attacked, and they were recklessly crazy. The 4,000-strong Xianbei army, led by the central Xianbei chieftain, gathered the elite of various tribes to attack one person, or at most two people, resulting in heavy casualties and no way out. When this news spread, the reputation of the Xianbei people was ruined. Without a doubt, after this battle, if that person did not die, he would become a legend of the grasslands, an uncrowned king.

  "Kill him, no matter what the cost!"

  This is the death sentence that Kuibi can issue.

  Thousands of Xianbei people were under the order to kill, divided into five teams, entering the valley one after another. Due to the narrowness of the mountain valley and the even narrower mountain path, only 200 people could be deployed at a time. Qie Bi had already broken through, he ordered the 200 people to divide into two teams, 100 people rushed into the mountain valley, and 100 people charged up the mountain path. Those who charged up the mountain path could only hold knives and axes (because the mountain path was narrow, even long spears were not convenient to use), while those who entered the valley could hold bows and arrows.

  This time, all tribes are sending troops, and even the Wuhuan people have taken action. Under such circumstances, although the Jian Ti department is intimidated by Ma Xian's prestige, Fu Luo Han still sent out 200 elite soldiers, but he also left a mind and did not let his son Xi Guimudi go to battle.

  On the cliff, the mountain wind was howling, Ma Xun's face was cold and stern, slowly putting a captured crude bronze arrow on the bowstring. He knew that now was the most critical moment. The crisis came not only from the enemy but also from his own arrow supply. He had just counted them, leaving 108 arrows, of which less than ten were his own three-edged heavy arrows, and three pure iron training arrows. The rest of the arrows were mostly captured ones. The Xianbei people's arrows were mostly self-made, varying in length, with different materials for the arrowheads: wrought iron, bronze, bone, stone, all sorts. If not for his strong bow power, even a sharpened wooden stick could pierce armor and take lives, but he feared being rushed by the Xianbei people before that.

  The Xianbei had found his weakness, exchanging his life for arrows, one hundred and eight arrows, how long could he hold on?

  Ma Xun looked up at the sky, it was already past noon, perhaps it was late afternoon (1-3 pm), as long as he could hold on until nightfall, he would win. The Xianbei people had great skills, but they couldn't stop someone like him from escaping under the cover of night.

  Two hours! Ke Bi Neng, Yan Rou, let's see who can outrun time.

  Ma Hu's steel teeth clashed, the bowstring suddenly relaxed, and with a "hiss" - a bloody battle of one against a thousand began.

  Ma Xun focused his attack, first concentrating on the death zone in the valley, sealing it off, and the Xianbei archers could no longer pose a threat to him. As for the close combat soldiers advancing along the mountain path, they didn't need to be dealt with for the time being, and would be handled later when they got closer.

  Perched high and with a broad view, under the threat of strong bows and sharp arrows, the Xianbei people on the valley path were completely like sheep waiting to be slaughtered. But this time the Xianbei had also learned their lesson, they rode their horses at full gallop, using the fastest speed to charge through the killing zone. The mountain path was no more than ten zhang wide, and could not get too close to the cliff wall, while also having to leave out half of the space for the infantry rushing up the mountain path to disperse the attention of the horsemen, so only five horses could charge through at a time.

  Under the leadership of a Xianbei hundred-man captain, the hundred cavalrymen were divided into twenty rows. At one whistle, the hooves sounded loudly, like muffled thunder, echoing through the mountains and valleys.

  Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

  Ma Hu shot four arrows in a row, but they were not aimed at people, but at horses. Three arrows hit the horse's head and one arrow hit the horse's abdomen. On the valley road, there was a mess of people and horses falling over, causing the Xianbei cavalry following behind to dodge and fall, bringing down a whole section. What's worse is that nearly a hundred riders behind were blocked and unable to advance or retreat, all becoming targets for arrows.

  Whoosh! Gulp! Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Gulp gulp gulp!

  Dozens of arrows shot down, and the valley road was already a mess. Heavily injured horses and Xianbei people trampled to death raised the valley road by three feet.

  The Xianbei people originally wanted to quickly pass through the valley, but they were outsmarted and ended up blocking their own path.

  Ma Xian eliminated the threat from Gu Dao, and quickly turned his arrows towards the Xianbei people climbing up the mountain. At this time, the Xianbei people who were charging at the front had just reached the middle of the mountain.

  The Xianbei people also drew lessons and no longer dared to rush up with dozens of people at once, but instead went up in batches of ten. The first batch did not charge up the mountain top, and the second batch absolutely did not move.

  Since the Xianbei people were determined to die, or in other words, exchange their lives for arrows, Ma Xian was not polite either and killed as many as he could. The bowstring vibrated, and miserable cries arose with it...

  Just as Ma Yuan was about to kill with his mechanical killer, he suddenly heard a cry from Liji: "Be careful!"

  At almost the same time, Ma Yuan also felt a sense of danger approaching, and suddenly a sharp gust of wind came towards him. Ma Yuan quickly raised his arm to block it, and with a dull thud, an arrow shot onto his right forearm, with great force. Immediately after, two more arrows arrived in quick succession, hitting the bow arm of the leopard bow, with the arrowhead penetrating halfway into the wood.

  Ma Xian was enraged, he had discovered that the person who ambushed him was the same Xianbei hundred-man commander who had escaped his deadly arrow at the beginning of the cavalry charge. Because this man started quickly and charged swiftly, coupled with Ma Xian focusing his energy on cutting off the main force of the Xianbei army, allowing this man to become a fish that slipped through the net. Unexpectedly, he climbed up the opposite mountain cliff and launched a surprise attack with arrows.

  Ma Huan had already seen the Xianbei hundred people's long-range shooting without success, and quickly hid behind a tree trunk as thick as a water bucket. He smiled coldly, picked up a black iron arrow from the ground, and shot it out. This iron arrow was one of the three training arrows that Ma Huan had recently ordered the Han Ge department to forge. It was called a training arrow because the leopard bow's strength was too great, and when Ma Huan practiced horseback archery, the arrows he shot would often be damaged. When he first tried out the leopard bow in Gongsun Zan's military camp, twenty arrows were rendered useless, which was a clear example.

  To save arrows, Ma Feng ordered craftsmen to make ten iron arrows that could be reused. This time on his northern expedition, he brought three with him. Horsemanship and archery require constant practice; there is no shortcut, only familiarity through the hands.

  Ma Xun placed the iron arrow weighing up to seven jin on the bowstring, narrowed his eyes, and the arrowhead sparkled. With a creaking sound, the leopard bow was drawn into a full moon shape. Ma Xun didn't always draw his bow to its fullest extent for every shot; when shooting at the Xianbei people on the mountain path, half-drawing the bow would have been enough. But now he drew it fully, and this was also the first time he used an iron arrow.

  Hummm...

  The sound of the iron arrow shooting out was vastly different from that of an ordinary wooden arrow. A dark light shot straight to a large tree on the cliff thirty zhang away.

  He stood upright with his back against a large tree, drawing out three arrows, one on the string, one held between his fingers, and one clenched in his teeth. He took a deep breath, his body tensed, ready to dart out, when suddenly three arrows shot out in rapid succession. Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion behind him, his whole body shook, and from his left chest, an arrowhead with blood on it burst out, the arrowhead still had some fine wood shavings stuck to it.

  Xianbei's eyes bulged with anger, unbelievable, his whole body kept twitching, his mouth and hands relaxed, the bow and arrow fell to the ground...

  The sun sets in the west, and the corpses on the mountain path are piled up layer upon layer. Not only can't ride a horse, but even walking is impossible to set foot. Seriously affecting the continuous fighting. In this situation, it's completely impossible to quickly pass through the death zone.

  Nearly a thousand Xianbei people have been killed, one-third of them. Due to the blockage of the valley, Kou Bei had no choice but to order a temporary halt in the attack and clear the valley first. Thousands of Xianbei cavalrymen were silent.

  Under the great flag, Yan Rou narrowed her eyes and gazed out at the mountain cliff for a moment before suddenly pointing: "I have a premonition that he's running low on arrows."

  Luo Hou gritted his teeth and said, "This devil, within half an hour, has successively shot and killed nearly three hundred of my great Xianbei warriors... I don't believe he still has the strength!"

  His face was expressionless, the reins were held tightly in his hand, and a fierce flame burned in his chest. The great king of the Xianbei tribe was forced to this point by one person, something he had never heard of or seen before in over 20 years. He really had an urge to personally take up his bow and charge up the mountain to see with his own eyes how that person did it. But all he could do was fiercely whip the reins into the palm of his hand, the intense pain making him come back to his senses, enunciating each word: "It seems...the time for a decisive victory has arrived——after clearing the valley path, launch a full-force fierce attack. This time, no...death...no...rest!"