Chapter 22: Not Crossing the River as a Fierce Dragon (Part 2)

  The second target was just over ten paces in front of the horse's head, and with the faint light from the opponent's torches, it could be seen that he was a sturdy and powerful warrior. The large curved knife in his hand was thick and heavy, estimated to be no less than twenty kilograms. If both sides were charging at high speed on horseback, Yang Zhe thought that he would likely lose. When cavalry charges failed, it often meant death.

  But now, Yang Zuo is galloping with his gun, while the Jin soldier is still competing with that war horse which keeps spinning around in place, shaking its head and swishing its tail. The cavalry has lost its speed, can it still be called cavalry? It's not even as good as an ordinary infantryman - at least they have some agility.

  When Yang Chuo charged forward, the Jin soldier was turning his horse's head around with great force and raised his large curved knife high. He estimated that when their horses crossed paths, he would strike down with one slash. Yang Chuo originally intended to stab the Jin soldier, but due to the obstruction of the horse's head, the spearhead followed the horse's neck and stabbed in, transmitting a huge counterforce to the spear shaft. Yang Chuo promptly and quickly released his hand from the spear, while his left hand had already tightly grasped the curved knife, borrowing the momentum of the horse, fiercely cutting into the Jin soldier's neck bone - this slash was so deep that the blade was firmly stuck in the neck bone. Yang Chuo had no choice but to abandon the knife again to avoid a wrist fracture. Almost at the same time, his opponent's large curved knife also struck Yang Chuo's thigh area.

  Jin Bing originally intended to chop Yang Zongbao's chest, but unexpectedly the war horse was shot and its body tilted, causing his entire movement to change shape. The chest chop turned into a leg slash, and the direction suddenly changed, greatly reducing the force. What's worse is that the deformation of the movement left a big gap, giving the opponent an opportunity to strike this fatal blow.

  Yang Chong drove his horse out for dozens of steps before he heard a loud thud coming from behind, as if a huge boulder had fallen to the ground.

  Just this brief sprint left Yang Zhe's clothes drenched in sweat, his breathing labored, the iron leaves on the battle skirt protecting his right leg were all deformed, and the leather armor was torn open. His entire right leg felt numb, as if it didn't belong to him, and there seemed to be a thick liquid flowing down.

  Yang Zhechong forced his right leg to move a little, feeling slightly relieved. The wound was not deep, just a flesh wound. What a stroke of luck! If that knife had been aimed at his chest, he would have been dead by now, or at least left with only half a life.

  Although he had paid a certain price, Yang Zhe's heart was extremely relieved at this moment. How long has it been since he last did such a solo charge? Hmm, it seemed that the last time he did something like this was eight years ago, when he was still a new recruit, following his older brother on patrol, and encountered a group of Western Xia scouts. He was eager to make a name for himself and didn't wait for their side to gather together before taking action, charging forward alone. As a result, after killing one of the enemy, he was attacked from both sides, and if his older brother hadn't led a small team to arrive in time, he would have been buried in the western wilderness long ago.

  After being severely whipped by his elder cousin, he never did such a thing again. Who would have thought that eight years later, he would relive this feeling... and this time, the opponent was the most ferocious Golden Soldier in the world. Being able to achieve such a result is really cool!

  But Yang Zhechong's refreshing feeling didn't last long, as a arrow shot from the left side hit his helmet and knocked it off. Yang Zhechong was shocked and frightened, rubbing his ears which were ringing from the impact, he glanced sideways and saw more than twenty steps away, another Jin soldier drew his bow again, the arrowhead reflecting the red glow of the torches, like a small crimson dot.

  The previous arrow only hit the helmet, thanks to the sudden movement of the horse. However, at this moment, the golden soldier had already jumped off his horse and was standing firmly with his bow and arrow. He took a steady stance, lowered his waist, and drew his bowstring taut like a full moon. This arrow would surely not miss its mark.

  At this moment, Yang's scalp was numb, his blood rushed up, and he stared at the cold arrowhead, not knowing which part of his body it would pierce next.

  Whoosh! An arrow shot out, and the one who fell was not Yang Zhongche, but that Jurchen soldier who had been drawing his bow - on his neck, a short crossbow bolt was stuck.

  Yang Chuo let out a long sigh, wiping the cold sweat from his face: "Boss, you've finally decided to take action. But it seems like you're not using that 'divine artifact'..."

  Yang Zhechong hadn't even had time to catch his breath when a strong gust of wind suddenly swept across his body, and his neck was tightly grasped by a powerful arm, pulling him off his horse. As Yang Zhechong struggled desperately, he felt sticky liquid dripping down his face, and a thick, fishy smell wafting up from behind his neck. The sticky liquid flowed from his mouth and nose, smelling of blood and salt. Yang Zhechong was taken aback, but then suddenly realized that it was the Golden Army soldier who had been injured in one eye earlier, and whom he had forced to roll off his horse.

  When Yang Zhechong and the Golden Soldier were wrestling on the ground, the other three Golden Soldiers had basically controlled the war horses. However, they did not take advantage of the situation to surround and kill Yang Zhechong. Instead, they simultaneously turned their horse heads towards a certain place along the riverbank - where the real danger was lurking!

  Three golden armored cavalrymen quickly formed a line, with one horse-width interval between each other. As the leading golden armored scout pointed his whip forward, the iron cavalry thundered and charged straight towards their target less than thirty steps away.

  It's no wonder they're from a hunting background, the Jurchen people felt something was off. Ahead of them, there was a black lump that looked like a boulder or a pile of dirt, which was actually Di Lie in disguise.

  Di Lie crouched there, holding a homemade crossbow. The crossbow, a night battle instrument, was even one of the standard equipment in special forces in the 21st century. What's different is that later generations' crossbows were made with high-elasticity special steel and springs and steel wires twisted into bowstrings, small in shape but with killing power surpassing this era's so-called strong crossbow.

  Di Lie wasn't very good at archery, and he wouldn't be foolish enough to challenge the nomadic knights of Ride and Shoot Unmatched with a bow and arrow. But crossbows were different - they were originally a strong point of the Central Plains dynasty's army. Similarly, it was also one of Di Lie's special combat skills that he could master fluently from his past life.

  The crossbow in Di Lie's hand was directly modified from the captured golden armor's horse bow. The method is very simple, just add a wooden beam with a board mechanism between the bow arm and the bowstring. Generally, the horse bow has shorter bow arms and thinner bowstrings than the infantry bow, and its range is also not as good as the infantry bow. However, Di Lie added two more spare bowstrings to the original bowstring, making the crossbow's pulling force increase several times, greatly enhancing its range and lethality. That's why he could shoot an arrow through someone's throat at a distance of 40-50 steps and save Yang Zhe.

  At this time, facing three murderous gold soldiers riding high-headed horses, equivalent to ancient motorcycles, rushing at high speed. Di Lie, with the good mental quality of a soldier, calmly drew his bowstring, loaded an arrow, aimed, and fired. The Jin soldier scout on the left let out a dull hum and fell off his horse.

  At this moment, the enemy cavalry was less than twenty steps away, and it was basically too late to shoot another arrow. Di Lie quickly abandoned his crossbow, pulled out his dagger, and rushed forward like the wind, flashing through the gap between the two enemy horses.

  The two sides clashed and rushed out more than ten steps away, the golden armored horse on the right let out a mournful whinny, its right front hoof was cut off cleanly, the warhorse lost balance, and rolled forward in a tumble.

  That Jin soldier was quite agile, and at the moment when he was about to fall, he quickly swung his stirrup and jumped up. After rolling over on the riverbank several times, he sprang to his feet, and the cavalry spear in his hand was still firmly grasped in his palm.

  As the golden soldier shook his dizzy head, regained his composure, and turned to look for the enemy who had knocked him off his horse. A black shadow flashed by from the side, followed by a chill on the back of his neck, and a lightness in his hand...

  Di Lie rushed out five or six steps before he heard a faint "hiss" sound coming from behind him, similar to the sound of a bicycle tire valve being pulled out, except that what burst out was not air, but scorching hot blood...

  In the end, only one enemy was left standing, and that was the golden armored cavalry leader. Judging from the number of men he led, he was either a squad leader or a company commander.

  This Jin soldier was not very tall, with longer arms, and was estimated to be quite skilled in archery. However, he seemed to know that at such a short distance, the enemy would not give him the opportunity to leisurely draw his bow and take aim. Moreover, in such darkness and dense underbrush, he also did not have the confidence of hitting his target with one shot.

  Seeing the blurry figure of his opponent, he slowly approached him on foot. The golden soldier seemed to have been provoked by his pride as well. He slowly drew out the curved knife hanging beside the saddle, rode his horse through the river water and stepped ashore - just now he had charged forward in vain, almost falling into the river because the riverbank was too close to the water's edge.

  This Jin soldier also saw that his opponent was a very difficult and formidable enemy, but as a member of the strongest and invincible iron cavalry in the world, he couldn't believe that the Jin heavy cavalry would lose one-on-one to the Southern infantry.

  "Come on!" Jin Bing shouted angrily, slapping the horse's buttocks with the back of his knife and charging fiercely.

  Di Lie put the dagger back into his boot, grasped the stolen spear and made two swift motions with it, then held it level, assuming a heroic stance as if to charge at the enemy with a bayonet, before dashing off at full speed.

  Just as the two were about to collide, Di Lie's spearhead suddenly plunged downwards, deeply embedding itself in the sand. Using the momentum, he sprang into the air with a pole-vaulting motion.

  The ring gun, as a cavalry-specific gun, naturally has a longer stock than the musket or carbine used by infantry, and the elasticity of the stock is also better. Moreover, it can be used as a thrusting pole, which is no worse than a bamboo pole.

  That Jin soldier never thought that his opponent, ten steps away, would suddenly fly to the top of his head. And in his hand, the curved knife was still placed horizontally under the horse's neck, with a posture of slashing downwards... This is the most effective and standard way for cavalry to pursue and kill infantry, but it's absolutely not suitable for dealing with aerial attacks...

  Bang! Before the golden soldier could even change his move, his chest was heavily kicked by Di Lie's double feet that descended from mid-air. Even with the protection of the iron leaf armor, the fierce force still penetrated through the armor, shattering his breastbone and seven or eight ribs. The golden soldier spat out blood arrows, fell backwards off his horse, and when his head hit the ground, a crisp sound of his neck bone breaking could be clearly heard. "How's that? Need help?" Di Lie asked as he walked quickly towards Yang Zhechong who was entangled with another golden soldier, flipping his dagger up and down. Just then, a miserable cry was heard, and the golden soldier's only remaining good eye was actually poked into by Yang Zhechong using his middle finger. Amidst the splashing of fresh blood and crystal, Yang Zhechong let out a fierce roar, struggled free from the enemy's chokehold, turned around with both hands clamping down on the enemy's head, and twisted...

  Yang Zhongchui was exhausted from the intense battle, and he lay sprawled out on the battlefield littered with corpses, too lazy to even move a finger. Except for rolling his eyes to glance at Ye Die'er, who was safely ashore after hiding in the water while clinging to the ferry rope, he didn't want to say another word.

  Wait until Di Lie slightly cleaned up the battlefield and chased back the scattered horses, tied them up, and then used his toes to kick a small stone onto Yang Zhe's body. Yang Zhe's whole body shook, like he had springs on his butt, jumped up, and loudly shouted: "Boss! Big brother! Next time if you don't plan on using that divine artifact, can you please say so first? I was counting on having such a powerful tool to back me up, or else I wouldn't have dared to do something so crazy..."

  "Now that you don't have any powerful backers to rely on, can't you still win?" Di Lie coldly interrupted, "A person's only true reliance is oneself!"

  Yang Zhechong stared blankly at the corpses scattered all over the ground, seemingly still unable to believe it - a third of these ferocious enemies were actually taken down by him? When did he become so fierce? Was it really because...

  At this time, Di Lie's gentle voice came: "You've done a good job, go back and I'll let you fire a shot to satisfy your craving."