Chapter 50, Hu Cavalry Archery

  Just as Zu Chao led Zu Ji, Gong Sun Long and Han Dang to chase after the fleeing cavalrymen, the group of Hu riders who had been circling around suddenly changed direction and turned back towards them. As they approached the battlefield where the Zu family's sons were fighting against the bandits, they gradually slowed down their horses, took out their bows one by one, and using the downhill momentum from the high terrain, shot a shower of arrows.

  All that could be heard was the sound of bowstrings being drawn and released, followed closely by the "thwack" of arrows flying through the air.

  In the darkness, a dense web of arrows descended from the sky, completely disregarding whether there were any of their own people under the arrow net!

  Zu Ke, Zu Lie and other experienced members of the Zu family immediately identified the whistling sound in the sky. They struggled to extricate themselves from the battle at hand, shouting warnings to their fellow disciples around them.

  "Arrow incoming, take cover!"

  "The barbarians are coming back to kill again, the barbarians are shooting arrows, everyone be careful."

  Although the alarm sounded, few people really reacted. Many young and vigorous sons were fighting with bandits holding farm tools, at this moment, not to mention having no extra mind to listen to the warning, even if they heard the warning, they could not react immediately.

  A round of arrows flew by, and the battlefield, which had been fiercely intense just a moment before, suddenly fell silent.

  Those who could not avoid were shot and fell to the ground, covering their wounds and rolling around crying; while the family members of the ancestral home were all equipped with horses, not only were they the first to be shot, but even sitting on the horseback could not avoid it. The frightened horses got out of control, either throwing their owners off the horseback or trampling the fallen wounded at will.

  However, after all, the number of Hu riders was not many, and even if the arrowheads were fierce, the effect caused by the arrows of more than 40 people was very limited. Just like Zǔ Zhāo's order to shoot arrows on the hillside earlier, the number of Zǔ family brothers and Zhang family brothers far exceeded that of the Hu riders, but the real number of bandits shot dead could be counted on one hand, and most were only injured. Moreover, many members of the Zǔ family had equipped themselves with defensive gear, so even if some of the younger generation fell off their horses, they did not suffer heavy casualties, and most of the wounded could still maintain their ability to continue fighting.

  It was the bandits who were entangled with the crowd that suffered heavy casualties after this arrow attack. These ordinary people not only had no defensive equipment, but also did not have a single thick and warm clothing in the cold winter, and they were easily seriously injured by the arrows. Many of those who were shot but not dead fell to the ground crying, shouting, and begging for mercy, while those who could still move quickly took advantage of the situation to escape.

  Zu Ke and Zu Lie realized that the Hu people were going to launch a counterattack, they had no intention of letting these civilians go, but because they had previously declared "not letting one thief go", on the other hand, it was also because these thieves were entangled in battle, so they continued to consume here. Now that the real Hu bandits are planning to counterattack, they can naturally distinguish between primary and secondary, and immediately gather all their sons to prepare for battle against the Hu cavalry.

  "Never mind these petty thieves, they will all come around!"

  "The bandits dare to cross the border and get involved in our affairs, today they will be made to have no return."

  "The ancestral family's sons and younger brothers listen to orders, go out to attack the barbarian bandits."

  In the chaotic scene, these voices came out, and all the young masters and knights quickly reacted. They no longer paid attention to the begging, wailing farmers, but instead turned their horses around and gathered towards the elders. Before long, fifty or sixty riders had assembled on the outskirts of the wasteland.

  "Line up in formation, in case those bandits shoot arrows again!"

  "Prepare to receive the enemy!"

  A group of knights formed a linear formation, holding long weapons in their hands, all raised and ready to charge.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, the bandits in the distance quickly closed in and shot another round of arrows. However, this time the Zu family was prepared, and everyone swung their long weapons to block them. After all, only a few stray arrows actually reached them. Even though it was too dark to see the direction of the arrows, swinging their blades randomly would still hit something, and at worst, they had the iron armor on their bodies for protection.

  When those nomadic cavalry approached a certain distance, Zu Ke raised the weapon in his hand and shouted to order the younger generation to launch a charge.

  "Charge into battle!"

  "Kill!"

  The knights who had formed their array early on responded with a loud shout and urged their horses to charge forward.

  Although the nomadic cavalry had a geographical advantage, for the well-equipped Zu family disciples, this advantage was of no concern to them at all.

  In the vast wilderness, two cavalry teams faced each other from north and south, both letting out earth-shattering roars from their throats, as if they would not even yield an inch in terms of momentum before truly engaging.

  However, just as the Zu family was preparing for close combat, it seemed that the Huren cavalry coming from the front was also ready. But just before the two groups of horses approached, the leader of the Huren cavalry suddenly turned around with a whip, leading his troops to turn around. Not only that, but taking advantage of the slowdown in speed during the turn, the Huren cavalry shot arrows one after another again. At such a close distance, they did not use throwing shots like before, but directly fired flat shots at the gate.

  The trajectory of a flat-shooting arrow is short, but its speed is extremely fast, and its accuracy is also relatively high.

  The ancestral home of the knights did not expect that these Huns, who had the geographical advantage, would not dare to launch a counterattack. They also did not expect that the enemy would launch an arrow attack, and thus they collided head-on with the incoming arrow net. Seven or eight young men were shot down from their horses, most of whom were not directly hit in vital areas, but rather had their mounts shot by enemy arrows, causing them to fall off after the horses stumbled.

  "You scoundrels, how dare you deceive people so!"

  "Chase them down and make those bandits pay for their crimes with their own blood!"

  Many knights gritted their teeth and launched a fierce pursuit. For the northern men, horseback archery was not a difficult task; if the nomadic cavalry could harass them with arrows, they could also counterattack. Unfortunately, this time everyone was equipped with long weapons, and they didn't have specially designed stirrups and saddles like Zu Chao did, so they couldn't place their weapons in their hands while galloping, let alone drop their weapons to take up bows and shoot. Therefore, they could only steel themselves and rely on the horses' strength to pursue.

  The nomadic cavalry rode in a circle and continued to gallop northward.

  The northern wilderness is undulating with many hills, and it's not an easy task for either of them.

  However, the Hu cavalry was in front and the Zu family's knights were behind, more or less showing initiative and passivity. Moreover, this team of Hu cavalry was obviously familiar with the terrain, and every time they rushed up a hill, they would turn back and shoot a few arrows. Although not every shot hit the knights behind, it also caused no small trouble for the people in the rear.

  "Bandit, dare you fight me head-on? You only know how to shoot arrows from behind!"

  Zu Ke's anger was unrelenting, he furiously shouted and whipped his horse which was already covered in blood, urging it to gallop faster. Although most of the blood on the horse came from the bandits, the horse itself had several injuries, and now it was showing signs of exhaustion from continuous running.

  After a chase, the Hu cavalry repeatedly turned back to shoot arrows, resulting in more than ten people falling off their horses. Among these fallen knights, some were able to climb back onto their horseback, while others suffered broken bones during the fall, and a few were either shot by arrows or had their mounts injured.

  The ancestral home of the knights was led by the Hu cavalry in such a way that they were all furious, and some of the young men simply threw down their weapons and took out their horse bows to counterattack. However, due to the limitations of the terrain, coupled with the fact that the Hu cavalry was running forward, they were chasing from behind, and the gains were very limited.

  Zu Rong, who had been fighting against the Huns for many years, quickly realized that something was amiss. He knew that the nomadic tribes were most skilled at this kind of harassment warfare, where they would retreat when the enemy advanced, and then attack with arrows as they retreated; and when the enemy retreated, they would advance and pursue them with even more arrows. If they continued to pursue, they would eventually fall into this predicament, suffering heavy casualties before even engaging in a decisive battle with the enemy.

  What's more, from the beginning, the sons who were shot down by arrows and fell off their horses, to say something unpleasant, it would be better if they died. Once injured, especially seriously injured, along with the injury of the horse, it would become a burden. Whether attacking or retreating, if people are assigned to take care of the wounded, the Huns will take advantage of the situation and attack from the side, which will only lead to more casualties; if the wounded are ignored, the Huns will catch up, and one can only watch these sons being tortured, which will become a lifelong heartache.

  "Can't chase anymore, hurry back and reunite with others."

  Zulei hastily shouted loudly to the crowd beside him. Some of the disciples heard his shout and immediately passed it on to those around them.

  Zu Ke and others who were running at the forefront were getting anxious, their hearts burning with urgency as they continued to spur on their mounts in pursuit.

  Zulei and the other children in the rear continuously called out several times, but still didn't see these people react. Afraid that these people were isolated and deeply trapped, he had no choice but to order a few of the children to go back first to pick up the wounded halfway, while he led the remaining children to continue following closely behind.

  At the same time, a firelight finally emerged from the shadow of the forest in the south.

  Zu Ling led more than 50 knights out of the forest, but by this time most of the Zu family sons and Zhang family brothers had already chased after the Hu cavalry. Under the cover of night, it was hard to see clearly, but there were still over a dozen horsemen moving about in the east. He hastily led his troops over, and only after meeting up did he discover that Zhang Yu and Zu Fan were leading several knights to tend to the wounded. Not far from these people, there were five or six others crouching down.

  Zu Feng led the troops to Zu Ling, and informed them that not long ago, everyone had fought against the bandits in this very place. The five or six people squatting down were the captured bandits. The other bandits either died on the spot or escaped in the chaos.

  "Where are the young masters?" Zulang hurriedly asked.

  Zufanman was worried, looking towards the northeast and said: "The eldest son is chasing after those horse-riding thieves, Ahji and several guests from Gong Sun's house are following him. Li Shu Gong and Ke Shu Gong led a large team of cavalry to pursue another wave of Hu thieves in the north, they have been chasing for a long time, now it's unknown how it will turn out."

  Zu Ling's eyebrows furrowed suddenly, and he exclaimed in surprise: "How did more barbarian thieves appear?"

  He was just in charge of making a show of force on the south side, and after entering the forest, he proceeded with caution, without encountering any bandits throughout the whole process, so naturally he didn't know about the Hu cavalry.

  Zu Fan was also very surprised and asked in return: "Does Uncle Ling really not know? Or is it that he hadn't met anyone from the county government before?"

  Zu Ling shook his head and said, "In the evening, the young master sent someone to pass on a message, saying that the Gong Cao of Ling County had arrived. However, they didn't come from the south. The person sent by the young master also didn't mention anything about Hu cavalry in the forest."

  Zu Fan sighed, "Perhaps time is pressing and there's no time for more words. Ah Bao was killed by the Black Arrow bandits, just now many horse-riding thieves escaped from the forest, half of them dressed as Hu people. It seems that this matter must be related to the Qiang Hu."

  Zu Ling sank into thought for a moment, and also felt that this matter was quite suspicious. However, at the moment, he couldn't afford to indulge in wild thoughts. Zu Zhao, Zu Li, and Zu Ke had all exchanged blows with the enemy, and he had only just arrived, which was really not right. Immediately, he consulted with Zu Fan and Zhang Yu, leaving ten people to watch over the wounded and captives. Zu Fan led another ten people east to search for the young master, while he himself led men north to rescue Zu Li and Zu Ke.

  After the discussion, the three of them immediately took action.