Chapter 53: Unyielding and Extraordinary Bravery

  Han Dang responded from one side, shooting two arrows in a row, hitting the two Hu riders who were blocking Zuozhao's way. One of the Hu riders was shot through the chest and fell off his horse to die on the spot, while the other Hu rider only had an arrow on his shoulder and could still hold on to ride.

  His eyes blazed with anger, but despite his emotional agitation, he remained calm and composed in his heart. For now, what he most wanted to know was the plot of these thieves. Therefore, if conditions permitted, he still hoped to capture this Black Arrow bandit alive. Moreover, whether or not this Black Arrow bandit was the same person as the Qiang barbarian who had encountered his grandfather in the past, there must be a close connection between them. If he could capture this man, it would also count as completing the unfinished task of his ancestors and would surely earn him more praise.

  Just then, a figure flashed by in front of him, and a fierce gust of wind came forward, only to see an iron fork stabbing straight over. Han Dang saw clearly and immediately shouted loudly: "Zu Gongzi be careful!"

  Zu Chao's body leaned to one side, and the horse spear in his hand swung up from below, just blocking the iron fork's attack.

  A burly Hun cavalryman suddenly slowed down his speed at some point and actively charged forward to meet the attack. The weapon in his hand was very different from that of other Huns, this iron fork seemed to be forged from a single piece of fine iron, so it must have been extremely heavy, ordinary people couldn't use such a heavy weapon on horseback.

  Zu Zhaohad thought it was just an ordinary little thief, but when he saw the thick and heavy iron fork in his opponent's hand, he immediately dared not to underestimate him. In this world, there are many who pretend to be heroes, but there are also many brave and powerful warriors with real skills. He raised his spear and took advantage of the bandit's momentary lapse, stabbing forward fiercely.

  That bandit appeared sturdy but his body was actually quite agile, he slightly leaned back and easily dodged this stab.

  Zu Chao didn't let up, and with a forceful twist of the spear's handle, the blade spun rapidly and chopped straight down towards his opponent's chest. This move was executed in perfect coordination, not only extremely fast but also taking advantage of the spear's original position, which had already been thrust out to within seven or eight inches of the Hu person's body - a distance that would normally make it impossible to react in such a short amount of time.

  He suddenly let out a loud roar, completely ignoring the spear that was thrust at his chest, as if he had given up defending himself. Instead, he swung the iron trident in his hand and charged towards Zu Zhao. The force of the blow was so great that before the trident even fell, a gust of wind preceded it, pressing down on him. Even though the tip of the trident was flat and wouldn't pierce him if it came down horizontally, it looked like he would be struck by a club.

  However, relying solely on the Huren's terrifying arm strength, if he were to forcibly take this blow head-on, even without external injuries, it would still cause extremely severe internal injuries. At best, several ribs would be broken, and at worst, the fractured ribs would pierce through his internal organs, leading to internal bleeding.

  Zu Zha thought that the damage caused by his spear might not be enough to take the Huren's life, and exchanging blows like this would not be worth it. Immediately, he quickly withdrew his spear and countered with a slanting thrust, using the Huren's small arm to block the opponent's iron fork. If at this time the Huren continued to use force to suppress the spear, the spear would slide down along the direction of the force, just right to cut off his arm.

  Hú zéi clearly anticipated this and didn't continue to exert force on his hand, he drew back the iron fork and fiercely flung open Zǔ zhāo's horse spear.

  Just as the two were fighting intensely, the small and weak-looking barbarian in front had turned around, suddenly raised his hand holding a horse bow, and an icy black arrow was aimed at Zu Chao. This person did not spend too much time aiming, with some confidence releasing the bowstring, only to hear a muffled sound, the black arrow swiftly shot out.

  Han Dang watched as Zu Chao and Tie Qiang Hu Zei exchanged blows for over a dozen rounds, initially intending to assist from the side. However, on one hand, Zu Chao and Tie Qiang Hu Zei were evenly matched and difficult to intervene in, while on the other hand, he was unwilling to secretly attack someone. He even suspected that Zu Chao himself hoped to engage with the enemy openly and fairly. Therefore, after weighing his options, he stopped paying particular attention to their battle and instead remained vigilant for any unusual situations around him. When Hei Jian Hu Zei turned around, Han Dang naturally immediately noticed and hastily raised his bow, shooting an arrow in Hei Jian Hu Zei's direction. The timing was rushed, and the aim was not accurate, but relying on his many years of experience with archery, he still had a 50-60% chance of hitting his mark. Moreover, this arrow was not intended to hit the enemy, but rather to disrupt them!

  "You little bandit, how dare you secretly shoot people with hidden arrows!"

  As the arrow flew out of the bowstring, he gathered his vital energy and let out a loud shout, intending to intimidate the barbarians and warn Zu Chao.

  The black arrow was affected, and the bowstring deviated slightly, but the black arrow still flew towards Zu Chao's direction.

  Zu Zhao heard Han Dang's warning, he let out a loud shout, using force to push away the iron fork of Hu Zei, and hastily retreated to dodge. He only felt a cool breeze sweeping across his cheek, and even had a faint burning pain, taking a deep breath in secret: almost got ambushed!

  At the same time, Hei Jian Hu Ze was not necessarily safe and sound. Even if he dodged with all his might, Han Dang's arrow still hit him in the shoulder. Unfortunately, this arrow seemed to have only grazed him, and with the jolting of the horseback, it soon fell off.

  Zu Zhaodeeply knew that these barbarians were uncivilized, and the etiquette, morality, righteousness, and rules of the Central Plains Han family were not in their minds. They were used to doing such sneaky and underhanded things. A surge of anger gathered in his chest, his face grew even colder and more sinister, and the killing intent in his eyes increased. Immediately, he pulled on the reins again, closing the distance with the Iron Spear barbarian bandits. Like a thunderbolt, he let out a loud roar: "You despicable thieves, watch me take your heads within three moves!"

  Furious emotions can stimulate a person's instincts, but at the same time they will also lose more rationality.

  In the last dozen or so rounds of fighting, Zu Chao was not without a way to seriously think about breaking the enemy. He could see that Tie Chui Hu Zei's strength was not trivial, and he was afraid that it was still above his own. If he just relied on brute force, he might be able to hold his own, but if he wanted to win, it was clear that he couldn't rely solely on brute force.

  He deliberately showed a furious appearance, the purpose is to lure Tie Chui Hu Zei into the same state of barbaric fighting. Hard collision is the most vulgar competition, in other words, there will be more flaws. The top priority is to defeat Tie Chui Hu Zei's method, that is to use skillful tactics to attack his unpreparedness, and win with surprise.

  Tie Cha Hu Zei saw Zu Zhao's stance and naturally didn't dare to relax, also letting out a low growl as he raised the blade in his hand to charge forward. From then on, every one of his movements was filled with power, and almost every attack followed the same pattern - either horizontal sweeps or vertical chops, even rarely using thrusts, seemingly abandoning the sharpest part of the iron fork's advantage.

  In just two rounds, Zu Chao took advantage of the Hujie's momentary lifting of his iron fork and thrust forward with his horse spear, directly stabbing into the opponent's exposed abdomen.

  The iron fork bandit's movements were already old and slow, unable to dodge, and was pierced by this spear.

  "Ah!" He let out a pained cry and his body tilted forward, falling onto the horse's back.

  Zu Zha saw that the opponent did not fall off his horse and was about to take advantage of the victory to pursue and capture the thief, but unexpectedly received another warning from Han Dang by his side.

  The dark archer seemed to be rescuing his companion, shooting multiple arrows in a row at this time, although not every arrow was so sharp and accurate, but also created enough interference.

  Zu Zhao had no choice but to pull his horse and open up some distance.

  The iron-clad cavalry slowly disappeared into the distance, lying prone on horseback from start to finish, and it was unknown whether they were dead or alive.

  Just then, Zu Chao's team finally met with the more than 20 cavalrymen from the east. The Hu people turned around and fled northward, and the two groups of pursuers, one going east to west and the other going west to east, naturally collided. It was seen that the more than 20 cavalrymen were all lightly armed and simply dressed, most wearing black clothes and holding horse knives, only a few wore casual clothes, and the blades in their hands were also varied. The leader of this team of cavalrymen wore a square official hat, and from his figure, he seemed to have met before.

  Zu Zhaoding carefully looked for a while, because the sky was dark and gloomy, and besides, this team of knights had previously discarded their torches, so they couldn't be distinguished very clearly for the time being.

  However, before long, the leader wearing a square scarf and official hat subconsciously rode over on his horse, calling out to Zu Zhao: "Young Master Zu, I didn't expect that you would actually use a clever plan to lure out these bandits!"

  Zu Zhao heard the other's voice and immediately said in surprise: "Lord Tian, how did you come here?"

  The newcomer was none other than Tian Xian, the county clerk of Lingzhou. The cavalry approaching from the east were also the brave warriors recruited by Tian Xian. Tian Xian said in a hurried tone: "Earlier, I promised to arrange food and fire for Zuzongzi and others. When I arrived, I happened to see the fight here. As a local official, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So, I first sent someone to report back to the county castle, and then led the remaining men and horses to come and assist."

  Zu Zhao nodded and sighed: "Governor Tian is indeed a man of justice. No need to say more, I will definitely capture that bandit chief!"

  Tian Xuan hastily warned: "Zu Gongzi is indeed a young hero, but ahead is the continuous Gobi Desert for dozens of miles. After crossing the Gobi Desert and traveling more than 20 miles, it will be the border area. There are often barbarians coming and going here, and I'm afraid that when the time comes, we will be far away from the county town and unable to respond."

  Zu Zhaowei thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry, Lord Tian, I have my own measure."

  Having said that, he patted the horse's buttocks with his spear and sped up forward.

  Tian Xuan had no choice but to keep up, and even Zu Zhao, an outsider from another county, was fighting so desperately against the bandits. As a local official, if he didn't do his best, wouldn't it be ridiculed by others?

  After closing the distance with Hei Jian Ze, Zu Chao put away his spear and took up his bow. He had some confidence in his archery skills, and since Hei Jian Ze was skilled with a bow, he couldn't immediately catch up to him now, so he decided to engage in an arrow-for-arrow exchange. With the help of the stirrup to stabilize his body, without slowing down, both hands drew the bow and shot three or four arrows forward.

  At this time they were not far from each other, and the few arrows shot out with extremely slight deviations.

  However, Hei Jian Ze was very clever and every time he heard the sound of the bowstring, he would change his sitting position to avoid it, and did not get hurt.

  However, Zu Chao had an arrow that was not shot at people, but intentionally lowered to shoot at the opponent's horse. This arrow directly hit the horse's thigh.

  The black arrow's horse slowed down for a moment, but soon accelerated again. After all, the horse's hindquarters weren't a vital part, and a good horse could still hold on for a while.

  Taking advantage of Hei Jian's momentary slowdown, Zu Zhao spurred his horse forward and struck down at the short figure with his cavalry spear.

  Those barbarians had no guns in their hands, and could only resist with horse bows. Zu Zhao thought that relying on this strike, he could destroy the opponent's horse bow at once, but unexpectedly, after the collision between the horse spear and the horse bow, they were evenly matched. Nor did he know what material the horse bow was made of, but it was so sturdy.

  Zu Chao exerted force on his hands, attempting to suppress the opponent. The black arrow Hu's arm strength was far inferior to that of the iron spear Hu earlier, and the horse spear pressed down extremely quickly, holding out for less than a moment before already pressing against the opponent's shoulder. He took advantage of the opportunity to twist the horse spear, letting the spear blade strike downwards, thus stabbing into the black arrow Hu's shoulder flesh.

  "Ah!" The black arrowed Hun let out a pained cry.

  Zu Zhaowei was taken aback, feeling that the voice was very strange. Compared to the previous cries of other Hu people who had been attacked, the Black Arrow Hu people seemed to lack energy, and instead sounded like a woman. Of course, based on this one soft cry, he couldn't make a clear judgment.

  Hei Jian Hu Ren took advantage of Zu Zhao's momentary distraction to push away the spear on his bow arm, grab the other end of the bow with a reverse grip, and fiercely pull it towards Zu Zhao. Although the bow was not long, the two were very close at this moment. Zu Zhao did not dare to be slow, even if being hit by the bow would not cause serious injury, but when facing the opponent's attack, where is the reason not to dodge? He slightly shifted his body back, raised the spear in his hand, and easily blocked the bow with a light touch.

  He thought the Black Arrow Hun had no other moves, but just as he was putting away his spear to block, the opponent suddenly pulled out an arrow from his quiver, drew his bow, and shot an arrow at Zu Chao. This series of actions was completed very quickly, and even Zu Chao, who was quite confident in his archery skills, had never seen such a fast shooting motion. In his haste, he didn't have time to raise his spear to block, and could only abruptly twist his waist and use all his strength to dodge.

  Unfortunately, the distance was too close and the Hu people's arrow shot out too quickly. This arrow with great force grazed Zuozhao's neck.

  He suddenly felt a burning sensation on his neck, and when he reached out to cover the wound, he could clearly feel a depression on his neck. Fresh blood seemed to be pouring out of the gap between his fingers uncontrollably.

  Damn! He was shocked and for a moment couldn't be sure if he had injured the carotid artery. If he wasn't lucky, his life would be in danger.

  With worries in mind, there's no way to enjoy the battle.

  The black arrow Hun saw that the previous arrow had some effect and did not hesitate for half a moment, and immediately took out the second arrow on horseback.

  Zu Chao stared intently at his opponent's every move, his anger burning fiercely. He wasn't resentful of the barbarian's sneak attack; after all, there weren't many rules on the battlefield to begin with - if anyone was to blame, it could only be himself for not being skilled enough. However, he had countless regrets about his impending death on the spot, and these countless regrets converged into a burst of rage - this was his refusal to compromise with cruel fate.

  It is better to die in a decisive battle than at the hands of bandits!

  At this thought, he stopped covering the wound on his neck, clapped his palms together, let out a loud shout, and swung his horse spear in a sweeping motion that seemed to split heaven and earth.

  It's probably that even the barbarian didn't expect that a wounded person could have such a shocking reaction. The barbarian abandoned his bow and hastily lowered his head. The horse spear whizzed by, directly cutting through the hood on his cloak. The hood fell off, revealing dense black silk, which was actually a flowing and smooth long hair.

  Zu Chao couldn't see the face of the black arrow Hu people clearly, but he felt that it was absolutely impossible for a man to have such fine and soft long hair. He secretly took a shock: Could the black arrow thief be a woman?

  Before he could think much, the black arrow Hu suddenly stood up straight, with a very large sideways movement opening his bow. However, this Hu also didn't know why, although there was an opportunity to turn around and aim, he didn't turn his head around, and actually shot out an arrow in a "nearly blind" manner. This arrow had no accuracy at all, brushing past Zu Zhao's side as it passed by.

  However, Zu Chao had learned a lesson from the Black Arrow Hun's archery skills and couldn't help but feel apprehensive in his heart, subconsciously slowing down his horse's speed and pulling away.

  It was at this moment that Hei Jian Hu Ren kicked his horse's belly and urged the injured horse to speed up.

  Zu Zhao's blood was boiling, just waiting to exert his strength and catch up, but he heard a voice behind him shouting: "Young Master, don't chase, quickly withdraw and come back." It was Tian Xian's voice.

  Zu Zhao turned his head to take a look, but saw that not only Tian Xuan's men had slowed down, but also Zu Ling and Zu Fan's men were reining in their galloping horses. Tian Xuan shouted while pointing northward with his hand. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he sensed something was amiss, and quickly turned back to gaze forward. Under the night sky, on the horizon of the northern Gobi Desert, many scattered silhouettes appeared, and at some point, another group of people emerged in the distance, although they were far away, it was not hard to see that these people were all riding horses.

  He remembered what Tian Xian had said earlier, further north was the border, and there were often barbarians coming and going.

  The night is dark and windy, riding from the north, eight or nine out of ten are barbarians, and they are also people who have come to meet the black arrow barbarians.

  Considering the exhaustion of both men and horses, and his own multiple injuries, Zu Chao knew it was not advisable to continue the pursuit. Looking at the fleeing Huren cavalry getting farther and farther away, the black arrow thief who lost his helmet in the crowd seemed to have turned back, but after all, the light was insufficient, and he couldn't see clearly what he looked like. He let out a cold hum, and although there were countless fires of anger, at this moment, he had to control them, and finally pulled tight the reins.

  Han Dang, Tian Xian, Zu Fan, Zu Li and others rushed to Zu Zhao's side on horseback. Seeing that Zu Zhao was covered in blood and his neck was still wet, they all showed worried expressions.

  "Great young master, how are your injuries?" asked Zulinqing with concern.

  Zu Chao checked the wound on his neck again, and although it was still bleeding, it was clearly not an arterial injury that would spurt blood everywhere. He felt a slight relief in his heart.

  "It's just a minor flesh wound, nothing serious." He shook his head and said firmly. Then he turned to Zu Fan and asked in a hurry, "Ah Fan, did you just rescue Ah Ji? How is his injury?"

  "He was shot in the abdomen, fortunately he had iron armor on him, so he wasn't hurt too badly," said Zu Fan.

  "This time, the suppression of bandits unexpectedly involved Hu people. There must be a sinister plot." Zu Zhao said in a sonorous and powerful tone, he finished speaking, turned his head again to look towards the north. Those Hu people were getting farther and farther away, almost merging with the black shadows that appeared on the horizon. His face was cold and stern, his sharp eyes gleaming with a fierce light.