Chapter Thirty-Three Crisis

  At this time, Sha Er Bao began to notice that his opponent seemed a bit abnormal. After all, he had followed the former Da Guan Yi Jun for a period of time and had witnessed large-scale battles between the Yi Jun and the official army. In such situations, in his understanding, whoever had more people would usually charge forward, and the side with fewer people would immediately start to become disorganized. However, today it seemed that things were not quite right. The opponent had fewer people but did not show any signs of disorganization, still advancing towards them in a tight formation. This situation was somewhat strange. Even two years ago, when he was fighting alongside the Da Guan Lu Min and the official army, he had never seen anything like this. Except for the family guards of the generals, the soldiers were basically a chaotic mess. Today was truly bizarre. The opponent's troops seemed to be giving off an eerie aura, making him start to feel uneasy.

  Then Sha Er Bao slowed down his pace and shouted loudly at the front: "Release arrows! Release arrows to shoot them!"

  At this time, some of the subordinates running in front also began to feel the difference from each other, and they all slowed down their pace. After hearing Sha Erbao's roar, three archers immediately stopped in their tracks, sheathed their swords, removed the horn bow from their backs, and started loading arrows aiming at Xiao Tianjian.

  With the soft sound of three bows, three feathered arrows immediately rose from the crowd on San Er Bao's side and fell towards Xiao Tian Jian.

  Maybe it was because of the tension, or maybe his archery skills were not good to begin with. After the three arrows fell, only one arrow hit a person in the front row center, while the other two arrows flew over the crowd and landed far away, and another arrow directly inserted itself into the ground in front of someone's feet.

  Even so, the sudden arrow interception still caused chaos on Xiao Tianjian's side. The person who was shot immediately dropped his long gun and fell to the ground, letting out a mournful cry, causing a gap in the team.

  Xiao Tianjian also suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed, he was afraid of this, the other side had archers, but they didn't have the ability to counterattack. Seeing that his subordinates were in disarray, he had to grit his teeth and loudly shouted: "Everyone get back in formation! Continue moving forward! Rear row, fill up the gaps! Left... Iron Head, if you see anyone trying to escape, behead him! Left..."

  Xiao Tianjian yelled loudly while pressing down on his subordinates, shouting orders as he quickened his pace.

  Although some people were very afraid, they were intimidated by Xiao Tianjian's "lustful power" and the ideas he constantly instilled in them. They knew that retreating would be death, and a quicker one at that. Turning back to escape would only lead to being beheaded. Despite their boundless fear, these people suppressed the feeling of terror in their hearts and continued to move forward step by step, following Xiao Tianjian's orders.

  Sha Er Bao's three bowmen shot two more arrows, and as the distance narrowed, their aim improved a bit. They unexpectedly hit three people again. One of the bowmen even shot an arrow at Xiao Tian Jian, but his aim was off, and the arrow flew past Xiao Tian Jian's shoulder, also making him break out in a cold sweat.

  Several shield-bearing men, under Xiao Tianjian's command, immediately ran to the front of the formation and raised their shields to block the arrows shot from the opposite side for the long spearman behind them. However, with only four people holding shields on all sides, they were limited and could not cover the entire formation of over a dozen people lined up side by side. As a result, more arrows still hit Xiao Tianjian's long spearman team, causing new casualties.

  But even so, Sha Erbao's men were unable to stop Xiao Tianjian and his gang from advancing, nor could they use bows and arrows to disperse the enemy's formation. The distance between the two sides was still narrowing, step by step, until it was within ten steps. At this time, the archers had lost their effectiveness and did not dare to shoot arrows forward again.

  Under Xiao Tianjian's constant orders, the personnel in the back row stepped forward one by one, replacing the positions of the front-row personnel who had fallen to the ground with arrows. Every person's eyes were filled with fear and anger, their hands tightly grasping the gunstocks, the palms of their hands already wet with sweat, and some people's guns even began to tremble due to excessive tension.

  "Charge and chop them down! Kill! Charge for me!"

  Then his men, after hearing his roar, hastened their pace one by one, rushing towards Xiao Tianjian and the others with a loud shout, attempting to overwhelm them with numerical superiority.

  "Halt! Shield bearers, open up! Gunners, level your guns! Kill!" Xiao Tianjian saw that the enemy had already started charging along the road, so he finally gave the order to halt. His men immediately stopped in their tracks, and the four shield bearers rushed to either side, hiding behind the troops. The first row of gunners maintained a relatively neat horizontal formation, and when the enemy was about three or four paces away from them, Xiao Tianjian shouted out the order to kill.

  The people in the first row, after hearing this command, finally had a way to vent their anger that had been suppressed due to being beaten passively. More than ten people shouted in unison: "Kill..."

  A dozen or so long spears, almost simultaneously, thrust forward together in the direction directly in front of them, without regard for whether there was anyone in the direction they were stabbing, only using all their might to thrust forward.

  Only a few shrill cries had barely sounded when they rang out between the two groups of people. Five of Sha Er Bao's subordinates almost simultaneously let out mournful wails, incredulously staring at the long guns thrust into their waists, watching as fresh blood spurted out from their bodies, which immediately went limp and collapsed to the ground, the knives and guns in their hands also falling to the ground.

  But on Xiao Tianjian's side, someone was also stabbed in the chest by the opponent's long spear and fell to the ground with a loud cry...

  Liu Baoman was drenched in sweat, his hands trembling slightly as he gripped the gun stock tightly, his eyes fixed intently on the enemy ahead. He mechanically followed Xiao Tianjian's commands, moving his legs forward. This was his first time on the battlefield. As a member of the Zhao family village, he had always been an outsider and had often been bullied in the past. After the war disaster, he was left with no one but himself. Now that he had joined Xiao Tianjian, aside from trying to survive, he also secretly hoped to take this opportunity to gain some respect in front of his fellow villagers, to show them that Liu Baoman, an outsider, was not someone to be trifled with. That's why he had been practicing so diligently these past few days.

  He thought he could charge into battle with the same vigor as those old comrades he had seen before, but when he actually held his gun and walked to the front of the troops, he realized that things were not as simple as they were during training. Especially when the enemy started shooting arrows earlier, he felt his heart racing wildly, as if it was going to jump out of his throat. His stomach was also tightening up, giving him a feeling of being unable to hold in his urine, and if he wasn't afraid of losing face by holding it in, he estimated that his crotch would have been wet by now.

  He wanted to turn around and run away, never coming back to this place. The feeling of being watched and waiting for the other side to make a move, yet being powerless, made him feel weak all over his body. If he hadn't been used to Xiao Tianjian's commands, he probably wouldn't have known how to take another step. However, he didn't dare run because behind him was Tie Tou, who was staring at their backs with an intimidating gaze. He feared that if he turned around, he would see the knife in Tie Tou's hand coming straight for him, and dying like that would make him a laughing stock. He had also seen how Xiao Tianjian dealt with deserters, so even though he was scared to the point of wanting to wet his pants, he still persisted without turning around to run away.

  Heaven bless, the opponent's archer shot arrows did not hit him, he still walked step by step, the closer he got, the more tense he became, because he could even see the pockmarks on his opponent's face clearly. More than a dozen days ago, he was just a farmer, but today he had to hold a long gun and fight with people, which made him feel like he was dreaming.

  Closer, closer, he became more and more uncontrollable, starting to tremble slightly, his neck becoming stiff as a board, the sounds around him becoming chaotic. Except for Xiao Tianjian's commanding voice, all that was left was the sound of his own heart racing wildly.

  As soon as the flat gunshot command was given, he first froze for a moment, then slowly put down the long gun in his hand, making the front row of guns look a bit messy, but fortunately, he still managed to put down the long gun on time and fill this gap.

  When he heard Xiao Tianjian's loud shout of "kill" again, he finally summoned up the courage to follow Xiao Tianjian and shouted "kill..." Then, with all his might, he thrust his gun at the ferocious enemy in front of him.

  As the gun recoiled violently, he clearly felt the resistance transmitted from the grip through his hands, as well as the feeling of the bullet penetrating flesh, which also reached his hands along with the recoil. He was so frightened that he almost dropped the gun, staring blankly at the eyes of the enemy in front of him.

  In the eyes of his opponent, he saw countless expressions: horror, unwillingness, pain, confusion... Blood spurted out from the person's heart and mouth along the gun tip, and then he heard the dying man's mournful cry. For a moment, Liu Bao forgot to retract his spear.

  "Take gun! Gun put flat, kill!" Xiao Tianjian let out a loud roar, holding the long spear in his hand horizontally, using all his strength to thrust forward viciously, and with one spear he knocked down an enemy who was trying to dodge through the forest of spears and pounce on him. The enemy's blood splattered onto his face, but before he could even wipe it off, he let out another loud roar.

  Liu Bao didn't react until now, and he hastily pulled out the long spear from the man's chest with great force. As he withdrew his hand and spear, the man immediately fell to the ground, revealing a person standing behind him with a terrified expression. Liu Bao steeled himself, suppressing the urge to vomit, and shouted again "Kill..." With renewed strength, he stabbed forward once more with all his might...

  These long gunners stabbed out with one shot, and immediately withdrew their guns, again following Xiao Tianjian's command, stabbing forward fiercely. Immediately, there were several miserable screams, and three more enemies were pierced by the gun tip, screaming and falling to the ground.

  (Two updates today,)