Chapter 41: An Unfair Duel

  Qian Buli's army set out to the slow beat of war drums, while Zhu Maohui's troops followed with bugle calls. In order to get the fastest firepower support from the central arrow camp, Qian Buli arranged the arrow camp on the rear side of the central army, and Du Bing's cavalry formed a long snake array, always keeping a distance of 20-30 meters from the arrow camp.

  Looking at the scouts of the nomadic tribes in the distance, Qian Buli couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. It was not that he begrudged the fact that in both worlds, the farming nations would always be at a disadvantage against the nomadic nations upstream. The individual combat capability of each soldier was an indispensable link. The scouts of the Zhou Dynasty were mostly in groups of three or five, some even had more than a dozen together, while the scouts of the Flying Eagle tribe were mostly acting alone.

  Both sides are hostile, so the friction between the two scouts is inevitable. In this small friction, shooting is undoubtedly a very foolish thing, and the probability of close combat is not great. At this time, both sides are competing for who has the most accurate archery skills, and naturally, the scouts of the Zhou state are at a disadvantage.

  According to Du Bing's words, if it was a one-on-one match, Ji Zhou Guo Zhi Hou's chances of winning were less than 30%. Ten years ago, Ji Zhou Guo's general Wei Chi Feng Yun had once fought against the young Jamukha. Although Jamukha's forces were far from sufficient, he dared to disperse his troops into hundreds of small units of a hundred men each, roaming the grasslands and specifically targeting and killing the scouts sent out by Wei Chi Feng Yun. When Wei Chi Feng Yun realized something was amiss and hastily recalled his scouts, more than 3,000 of his elite scouts had already been killed. The disastrous defeat in the scout battle was the direct reason why Wei Chi Feng Yun fell into Jamukha's encirclement during the later stages of the war!

  Money asked, "Why not let the scouts be equipped with foot crossbows?" Du Bing replied, "The use of foot crossbows has always been strictly monitored by the Imperial Court. If the manufacturing method were to fall into the hands of the grassland tribes, the consequences would be terrible. Even the imperial guards can only use foot crossbows during training and must return them to the armory afterwards."

  Qian Bu Li smiled incredulously and said: "There's no such thing as absolute secrecy in this world! Is it really true that there isn't a single foot-powered kite on the entire prairie?"

  Du Bing was silent, and the commander's words made sense. Indeed, there were no absolute secrets in this world, and some of the foot-operated crossbows had already been leaked to the grasslands. However, because cavalrymen couldn't draw the bowstrings on horseback, and the number of foot-operated crossbows was still scarce, they hadn't been used on a large scale yet. But they couldn't not be prepared, in case the grassland tribes really did have the ability to mass-produce foot-operated crossbows... That would be a disaster for the Ji Zhou Kingdom, and who knew how many soldiers who should have lived would die under the powerful crossbow arrows?

  "Look, sir!" Du Bing's low voice interrupted Qian Buli's sentimental thoughts.

  Qian Buli looked back and saw a lone horseman galloping towards them, whipping his horse, while Jamukha led the imperial guards in a slow pursuit behind him.

  Want to play a game of archery? Qian Buli smiled coldly, he knew that this enemy general must be an extremely skilled archer. Jamukha wanted to use his absolute advantage in shooting to boost the low morale of his troops, but this was also what Qian Buli wanted!

  Qian ordered in a low voice, the guards behind him hurriedly blew their whistles, and the short and long whistle sounds echoed, the arrow camp made way for a path, and eight soldiers pushed the only catapult forward.

  "You hold the fort here." Qian Buli handed over to Du Bing, clamped his legs together and drove the horse forward. Comparing riding and shooting? What kind of bow and arrow can compare with the Colt in his hand?

  Sankyō's eyesight had always been good, and he saw that the opposing cavalry unit had a person who was clearly a commander coming towards him. Especially since that commander was still waving a ridiculous fan in his hand, Sankyō's mouth corner revealed a cold smile! As long as he could charge another hundred steps, he had absolute confidence that he could shoot down that commander! What a great achievement! Thinking of this, Sankyō took off his bow and whipped the horse's buttocks fiercely with one stroke. Don't escape! Whatever you do, don't escape!!

  Jamuqa, who was leading the troops in a slow march, looked at Qian Buli with surprise and suspicion. He couldn't believe that the enemy general would be foolish enough to come to his death voluntarily. The man either had extraordinary archery skills or had an ulterior motive! Jamuqa quickly crossed his hands over each other, with the index and middle fingers of his left hand intersecting with those of his right hand, revealing a small gap in the center. Through this gap, Jamuqa observed Qian Buli. This was a common technique used by scouts from the grassland tribes to observe small targets at a distance.

  Qian Buli suddenly reined in his warhorse, holding a fan in his right hand and pointing it straight up at the sky. He made several quick gestures with it, then hid his left hand in his sleeve for an instant before a loud crash echoed out.

  San Kui, who was galloping with high hopes, felt as if he had been struck by an invisible giant hammer. His entire body shook involuntarily and his head fell onto the warhorse's neck. The warhorse under San Kui was frightened, let out a long whinny, and rushed to the side, but one of San Kui's feet was still locked in the stirrup. His corpse left a trail of blood on the road as the warhorse galloped wildly.

  Zha Muhe took a deep breath, and the gesture of pointing to the sky with his fingers could only deceive ordinary soldiers, but not him. Based on intuition, Zha Muhe could determine that the enemy commander was holding a kind of weapon he had never seen before!

  "Third Brother!!" shouted Hua Jiao loudly, urging his horse forward as he charged out.

  "Halt!" Zha Mu shouted with a pale face, the enemy commander's weapon was too terrifying! He knew that if Zhan Han rushed out, it would be a dead-end situation.

  If it were someone else who had died, Nian Han would still have some sanity, but the death of San Kui was a blow to him that was too great! San Kui had been his slave since childhood, but Nian Han had never treated San Kui as a slave. He didn't dare to go and play with his older brother, while San Kui made up for the emptiness of his childhood, all the way through adolescence and youth. San Kui had always followed him faithfully, never leaving his side. When he was thirsty, San Kui would steal the best wine from the tribe for him; when he was annoyed, San Kui would use his silly smile to cheer him up. To Nian Han, this kind of affection was priceless!

  His eyes were fixed greedily on the money, his teeth clenched with a cracking sound, he galloped his horse, he wanted to avenge San Kui, he wanted to tear that person to pieces!

  Zha Mu He was shocked and pale, hastily removed his own iron arm guard, took aim at Jian Han's war horse, the bowstring rang out, Jian Han's war horse fell to the ground with a thud, throwing Jian Han far away.