Chapter Seventeen: Gathering Fire

  A hundred-man squad stationed outside the Sunset Canyon heard the sound, turned their heads to look, and suddenly exploded. The mournful horn sounded.

  Zha Muhe heard the warning sound, his heart skipped a beat, and he forced himself to calm down. He turned around to see countless imperial guards struggling in the deep snow. They had been ambushed! This avalanche must have been created by those despicable southerners, it was a linked plot! For a moment, Zha Muhe felt as if all his thoughts were shattered, and the intense humiliation and pain of losing his brother made his throat sweet, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

  "Good grief!" Seeing his idol 'god' spitting blood, several bodyguards rushed over like their lives depended on it.

  Zhamuhe waved his hand, closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the divine light in his eyes had recovered a little: "Pass on the order, advance the whole army!!" This was Zhamuhe's only choice. His children couldn't even shoot arrows now, and it was impossible to meet the charging cavalry in this state. On the contrary, going into the valley still had a glimmer of hope.

  The hundred-man squad that had been left outside the Sunset Canyon was now bravely advancing under the leadership of the centurion, although it was destined to fail in the battle with just one hundred-man squad, but the centurion and Zha Muhe had no other choice.

  Du Bing bent his bow and set an arrow, aiming at the enemy's centurion. At the same time, the centurion also took aim at Du Bing, and the two arrows shot towards each other's enemies.

  That hundred-man commander's horsemanship was excellent, hiding in a stirrup as the arrows shot by Du Bing flew past his horse's back, hitting an unlucky devil who came to meet him.

  While Du Bing relied solely on his own eyesight, using a longbow to shoot arrows, "Two shots!" Du Bing sneered and drew out an arrow. The centurion was not willing to show weakness either, pulling out the arrow and shooting it back. However, this time, Du Bing's arrow shot out first.

  The centurion's arrow had just been shot when the war horse under him suddenly let out a mournful whinny, its front legs softened and fell to the ground. It turned out that Du Bing's arrow was shooting at the horse. A sentence flashed in the centurion's mind: "Despicable." Then his body flew out, and in the blink of an eye, he was overwhelmed by the riders behind him.

  Du Bing used his longbow to shoot arrows, then put away his bow, picked up his own spear, and slowed down his horse. He was waiting for his troops to catch up. Challenging a hundred-man team with one's own strength is not a good idea, especially since Du Bing admitted he wasn't a fierce general, and he hoped others would describe him as wise rather than brave.

  The vanguard light cavalry of the Flying Eagle tribe can be said to have been through a hundred battles. Even if the centurion has fallen, their coordination is still very tacit. Nearly half of the cavalrymen lowered their heads and charged forward desperately, while the other half slowed down, drew their bows and nocked arrows, with Du Bing's troops as the target of the first wave of intense shooting.

  Du Bing's performance was superb, as soon as he saw the opponent start to draw his bow, he had already made preparations, clamping his legs together, pulling the reins to one side, and the fine horse under him let out a long whinny, suddenly rushing towards the slanting stab, while Du Bing's long spear danced out with clusters of spear flowers, protecting his entire body.

  Most of the arrows were shot at Du Bing's horse, and the scattered arrows were all deflected by Du Bing's spear flowers. Only one arrow hit Du Bing's shoulder, fortunately, Du Bing wore two layers of soft armor, and the penetration was not very deep.

  The soldiers of the Flying Eagle tribe drew their bows again, but before they could even release the arrows, a dark shadow loomed over them and hundreds of arrows rained down on their formation. The sound of screams and neighing horses filled the air. Du Bing's cavalry had arrived, and he would not allow his enemies to harm his commander under his very eyes.

  Du Bing's long spear shook: "Kill!!" As soon as the shout left his mouth, he had already charged into the enemy formation. As a military general, what he feared most was being surrounded on all sides. If he only faced forward and didn't worry about the left, right, or rear, ordinary soldiers would be powerless against him.

  "Kill...!" The soldiers under Du Bing's command also shouted loudly and charged into the enemy ranks with their spears.

  Du Bing's long spear danced in the air, and he grew more courageous as he killed more people. With a small team of only a hundred men, their numbers were too weak, but in the blink of an eye, he had already broken through the enemy lines. Turning his head back, he saw that the few remaining enemies who were still struggling were also overwhelmed by his subordinates.

  What a bore! Du Bing's heart was not satisfied, he licked his lips and looked forward. In the snow sea of Luoshan Gorge, countless people were still struggling to survive. Du Bing was amused: "Brothers! There are still big fish ahead, those who haven't had enough killing, follow me!"

  The soldiers burst into laughter, and over a thousand cavalrymen galloped to the entrance of the valley. More than 300 cavalrymen dismounted, holding spears and forming a spear array. The remaining soldiers drew their bows and shot arrows randomly into the valley without any regard for accuracy. They had brought a large quantity of arrows under Qian Buli's orders, so they didn't worry about running out of arrows. As Du Bing said, "When our arms are too tired to lift, that's when we'll stop."

  Under Du Bing's command, more than 700 longbows changed angles continuously, covering one piece of snowy ground after another with concentrated fire. The Flying Eagle tribe soldiers struggling to move forward in the deep snow were unable to withstand the rain of arrows falling from the sky, and cries of despair rose and fell, occasionally someone would shoot back with a longbow in grief and anger, but unfortunately they couldn't even stand still, being swept away by the snow, let alone aim accurately.

  After several rounds of concentrated fire, Du Bing discovered the problem. The Flying Eagle tribe's soldiers were desperately drilling into the Sunset Canyon, which was contrary to the expected scene.

  "Shall we chase after them, sir?" a deputy general asked.

  "No way." Du Bing shook his head: "If we chase in, we'll lose our advantage."

  "What should we do then?"

  "How was I supposed to know! Commander said they would definitely fight to the death, who would have thought...". Du Bing self-deprecatingly smiled, had he been too demanding of himself? Under the commander's leadership, their side had already achieved a brilliant victory, did everything have to be calculated with complete accuracy?

  "You immediately take a few people back to Xueyuan City and spread the news of our great victory, then ask Commander, what we should do."

  "Yes, sir."

  Du Bing was a thoughtful general, and while he had immense admiration for Qian Buli, a question arose in his mind - what kind of person was he? He inexplicably gained the absolute trust of the emperor, and with inferior forces, he defeated the Feiying tribe's elite light cavalry, which dominated the grasslands. This achievement was a miracle for any general!