Chapter 61: Capturing the Bandit King

  Update 2 is here

  Wang Tiandong was loudly ordering his subordinates to block Xiao Tianjian's retreat, when suddenly he saw that Xiao Tianjian did not follow his expectations and instead rushed towards the road junction in the opposite direction, pushing towards Wang Tiandong's position, causing a brief mental blackout.

  "What do they want to do?" This was Wang Tiandong's first thought.

  But he immediately woke up from the shock, and suddenly his scalp felt a little numb, his back broke out in cold sweat, and all his muscles tensed up! Because even if he was stupid, he could see that the other party had no intention of breaking through, but instead came straight to him! So what Xiao's surname wanted to do was clear!

  Looking around at the people beside him, Wang Tiandong suddenly panicked. He and his subordinates had been calculating against Xiao Tianjian all along, guarding against Xiao Tianjian leading an escape, but they never expected that Xiao Tianjian would have the same idea as him, wanting to get rid of this obstacle. So from the beginning, their deployment was completely wrong. They arranged the main force at the exit of Zhaojia Fortress, and dozens of people were placed on the right flank of Xiao's group, surrounding them. Meanwhile, there were less than 50 people left beside Wang Tiandong, surprisingly fewer than the other side.

  Moreover, the position he was in and the position of Xiao's group were very close, within fifty steps or so. The enemy formed up quickly, while his own troops were still in disarray and had not yet made preparations. The enemy was already charging towards him with large strides. Although he was a relatively experienced leader, he was not good at formal battles. He usually used the old method of swarming forward, relying on numerical superiority to overwhelm the enemy. This method had been effective many times before.

  So he thought that with more people, they would definitely win, and didn't understand the importance of strategy. Now, when he saw Xiao Tianjian's troops charging towards him with a fierce momentum, he immediately panicked.

  "Release the arrows! Release the guns! Block them, block them quickly! Don't let them come over! Summon Ma Hou and his men to hurry up and surround them, crush them!" Wang Tianlong was busy shouting for his subordinates to rush forward, while he himself retreated towards the back, kicking and hitting his men to urge them forward.

  However, his subordinates also discovered that something was seriously wrong at this time. Looking at the opponent pushing forward like a wall, the momentum made them scalp numb one by one. Originally there were still full of morale, but suddenly only three points were left!

  Although the noisy crowd was driven forward by Wang Tiandong, they seemed somewhat timid and hesitant. The few archers who had managed to stay behind finally began shooting arrows at Xiao Tianjian's group, but their sparse and scattered shots failed to exert any effective pressure.

  The men in the front row, including Tie Tou, immediately raised their shields to protect themselves and easily deflected the scattered arrows shot by the enemy with their rattan shields. Dozens of people continued to march forward quickly, following the sound of the horn, and these arrows basically did not cause them any losses. Only one long gunner was hit in the head by a stray arrow that fell from mid-air, but the wide brim of his fur hat blocked the arrow, which although penetrated the brim of the fur hat and shot into his cheek, had lost its force and only opened a gap on his face, scaring him out of his wits.

  Perhaps due to excessive tension, the long spearman who was shot by an arrow did not feel much pain and did not fall down. The arrow was stuck on his fur hat, with blood flowing from his face, yet he continued to march forward mechanically with the troops, without disrupting his pace.

  "Change spears!" Xiao Tianjian spat out a whistle and loudly shouted at the long spear holders beside him.

  At this time, both sides had approached to a distance of twenty steps. The opponent was still busy and hadn't loaded the bullet into the musket yet, not firing a single shot, which reduced their threat by a lot.

  All the long gunners immediately handed their long guns to their left hands, and with a swift motion, they pulled out a javelin from behind their backs. Since they were not wearing armor, they didn't feel too weighed down. In addition to carrying one long gun, each person had enough physical strength to carry two javelins on their back, and some even carried three or four. Suddenly, they all became javelin throwers.

  Their advancing column was densely packed, but between each row of people, there were still four or five steps of distance, enough for them not to interfere with each other and leaving space for them to throw javelins.

  When he saw everyone had drawn their javelins as required, Xiao Tianjian immediately let out a loud shout: "First row! Throw!"

  Right behind the first row of halberdiers was Li Gan's squad, now with only seven men left under his command. Two had been injured yesterday, including himself, and all eight men who were still able to follow orders took a step forward with their left foot, stretched out their right arm as far as possible, then let out a loud, fierce cry in unison, putting all their strength into it: "Hah!" As they did so, they threw the javelins in their right hands with all their might, hurling them forward and upward.

  These eight spears immediately whizzed over the heads of the front row of swordsmen, like a black flash of lightning, drawing an arc in the air, and immediately fell into the crowd of people led by Wang Tianlong.

  Only a few loud thuds were heard, and then several blood flowers burst forth from the crowd on Wang Tianlong's side. Several people who had been hit by the darts immediately let out mournful cries, one after another falling to the ground, dropping their weapons and clutching at the darts in their bodies, emitting inhuman wails of agony.

  The weight of the javelin far exceeded that of the arrow, and with the inertia of the throw, its killing power was quite impressive. To say nothing of Wang Tianlong's men being almost all unarmored, even if they were all wearing iron armor, they would still be no match for the javelins. As a result, each of the javelins that hit someone pinned their body to the ground without exception. Except for two people who were injured in the thigh, the remaining two or three people were shot through the chest and abdomen, and it seemed hopeless for them.

  The sudden javelin instantly stunned Wang Tiandong's subordinates, one by one turning their heads to look at the fallen person, and then suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat, frightened and shouting.

  "Second row, prepare! Throw!" Xiao Tianjian took a few more steps forward, getting even closer to the enemy, and immediately gave the order for the second row of long gunners to throw their javelins.

  The second row of this class was led by Zhao Erdui, who immediately shouted loudly: "Throw it! Hey..."

  The same action was repeated by the second row of people without hesitation, who shook their arms and threw out the javelins in their hands.

  Immediately followed by several miserable cries, Wang Tianlong's side suddenly had a few more people shot and fell to the ground.

  A man holding a bird gun had just loaded the fire gun, blowing on the fuse stuck in the dragon head of the bird gun, preparing to aim and fire at the opposite side. A spear suddenly inserted into his neck, and with great inertia, he immediately fell backwards to the ground. The bird gun in his hand happened to be fired at this moment, and all that was heard was a dull "pa" sound, followed by a burst of flames and smoke from the muzzle, but it was unknown where the bullet had gone.

  "Third row! Shoot!" Xiao Tianjian pulled his throat again and let out a loud roar.

  As a result, the third row of spears was thrown out in his roar and fell again on the crowd on Wang Tianlong's side.

  This time, the number of casualties was not high. Firstly, because the third row of long spear soldiers had poor visibility, with people in front blocking their line of sight, they were essentially blind to their targets. Secondly, because the first two rounds of javelins had already knocked down several people, the remaining followers of Wang Tianlong were frightened and scattered in all directions, fearing that the incoming javelins would turn them into human kebabs. As a result, this round of javelins only knocked down two people. However, the two men who were already lying on the ground with gunshot wounds were extremely unlucky, as they were hit again, making it impossible for them not to die this time.

  The javelin throw was just a matter of ten seconds, but in those ten seconds, the outcome had already been decided. Wang Tianlong's men immediately scattered, and no one dared to stay on the spot to confront Xiao Tianjian and his gang. One by one, they fled for their lives, leaving behind a trail of dead and wounded on the ground.

  Xiao Tianjian was tall and majestic, although he was in the midst of the troops, but basically no one could block his line of sight. He commanded his subordinates to continue charging forward with large strides while scanning the enemy's situation with his eyes.

  Watching the other side start to scatter, he was very puzzled and did not see Wang Tiandong among the fleeing crowd. Where did this guy run? Xiao Tianjian really couldn't figure it out.

  Shi Rang saw Wang Tianlong's group dispersing, immediately raised the horse knife in his hand and shouted to Da Niu and three or four other mounted men under him: "Charge up and chop them!"

  At this time, of course, Xiao Tianjian didn't need to tell Shi Yan to charge forward anymore! The opponent had already collapsed, and it was the perfect opportunity for their cavalry to perform. So several horsemen immediately urged their horses on, raised their sabers, and charged towards the fleeing subordinates of Wang Tiandong on both sides.

  At this time, the two sides were only more than ten steps apart. Starting the war horse was obviously a bit too late, but for Shi Rang and his men, it wasn't a big problem at all. These opponents had already lost their will to fight and no one dared to stay here to die anymore. They were all panicked and wanted to escape with oil on their feet, so even if the war horse couldn't run, it was enough for them.

  Several war horses, under the urging of Shi Rang and Da Niu, immediately set off at a gallop, charging into the enemy's crowd in just a few strides. Although these several horsemen were only newcomers, they didn't hold back this time. This battle was fought with great fanfare, with horses trampling and swords slashing, and several more were knocked to the ground in the chaos.

  No matter how fast the people's legs were, they couldn't outrun the horses. Even if the horses hadn't reached their full speed yet, it was still no use because these people weren't world-class sprinters. Very soon, those fleeing people were surrounded again. Frightened out of their wits, they dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground, begging for mercy from Shi Yan and others who sat on horseback.

  At this time, Xiao Tianjian had already led his men to charge over, with knives and shields in hand, immediately taking control of these surrendering people. Several of Wang Tiandong's trusted subordinates still wanted to resist, but they were quickly chopped down to the ground amidst the chaotic hacking sounds.

  This sudden surprise attack was over, and Xiao Tianjian only discovered Wang Tiandong at this time, and suddenly burst out laughing.

  Just now he didn't see Wang Tiandong, that's because Wang Tiandong was already lying on the ground at that time. He was originally hiding behind the crowd. When the javelin was thrown over, it was not a big threat to him, but it scared him badly. The people in front of him suddenly dispersed, and the sudden change made him unable to react in time.

  Just as he was about to jump up and gather his subordinates, a gunshot suddenly rang out. He only felt a sudden shock in his thigh, and immediately fell to the ground. When he looked at his thigh again, Wang Tianlong almost cried, that fire gun hand's last shot before death had unexpectedly hit him right on the thigh! His life was really not ordinary! In such a chaotic scene, he actually won the lottery, and it just so happened to hit him!

  So he fell to the ground at that time, wailing and shouting for his subordinates to hurry up and escape with him. However, who had the spare capacity to take care of him at that moment? His subordinates were busy dodging the spears and scattered in all directions. Not only did no one support him, but several people even trampled over him as they ran past.

  Xiao Tianjian laughed so hard he almost choked, and with a single swing of his rifle butt, he knocked the fellow out cold. He immediately gave the order to reassemble their formation, turn around, and regroup, preparing for the next battle.