Chapter 67: Midnight Assassination

  The scout leader of Qin's army was called Zhang Mu. He was actually only twenty-three years old and had already been in the Jiuyuan Army for five years!

  Although it has been five years since the Xiongnu were defeated by Meng Tian in the 32nd year of the First Emperor, and there have been no major battles in Youyu for nearly five years, the Xiongnu have not launched a large-scale invasion of Qin again during these five years.

  However, in these five years, the small-scale scouting and probing of the Xiongnu cavalry have never stopped. Or it can be said that although the Xiongnu suffered a great defeat, they have never given up their ambition to take the Hetao grasslands and Henan from the Great Qin.

  In the five years, in the vast grasslands north of Jiuyuan and south of Yingshan, countless small-scale bloody battles took place. The protagonists of these battles were the Qin Dynasty's scout cavalry and the Xiongnu's scout cavalry.

  Five years have passed, and I don't know how many of Qin's elite soldiers are buried in this endless grassland.

  In the five years that followed, it was impossible to know how many of the Huns' elite cavalrymen fell under the arrows or swords of the Great Qin scouts, becoming the military achievements of these brave soldiers.

  In the five years, he rose from a small soldier to follow his previous captain and fight against the Xiongnu cavalry in this vast grassland.

  In five years' time, he had changed dozens of masters, and was seriously injured several times to the point of near death, but ultimately survived.

  Five years have passed, and the once young and inexperienced soldier has now become a family man. After countless battles, he has also been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

  This was his first encounter with Xiongnu cavalry on this vast grassland since he had been the governor for five years.

  In five years, Zhang Mu grew from a young man who was kindly teased by the veterans like Xiao Wu into a brave and fierce warrior, as cunning as a fox, a fine soldier of the Great Qin. He also understood the cruelty of the Xiongnu elite cavalry scouts better than anyone else in this scouting team.

  Suppressing the boiling murderous intent in his heart, Zhang Mu quietly lay on the ground staring at the Xiongnu cavalry drinking and eating meat, he was waiting for the best opportunity. The remaining Qin army scouts also quietly lay on the ground waiting for his command.

  Zhang Mu's team of scouts consisted of ten people, nine of whom were old veterans who had participated in at least three battles against the Xiongnu cavalry, while only Xiao Wu was experiencing his first real battle.

  At this time, Little Wu's eyes were chaotic and his face was pale, breathing rapidly, tightly grasping the bow and arrow in his hand. The sturdy soldier lying beside him felt his tension, gently patted Little Wu's shoulder with his hand, and gave him an encouraging smile.

  The little Wu, who was startled by the sudden pat on the back, saw the robust soldier's smiling face and encouraging eyes, nodded slightly, and the panic in his eyes dissipated a lot, gradually becoming firmer, and his breathing also became more stable.

  Zhang Mu, who was at the forefront, keenly sensed the change in Xiao Wu behind him. He turned his head to see Xiao Wu's breathing gradually stabilizing, and threw a protective glance at the robust soldier before stretching out his thumb and smiling warmly at Xiao Wu.

  The Xiongnu cavalry's dinner was nearing its end, more than 40 Xiongnu cavalrymen had eaten and drunk enough and were preparing to enter their tents to rest. At this time, they were arguing over the arrangement of night watch, apparently no one wanted to keep watch at night.

  It's not dark yet, and earlier Zhang Mu agreed to pick up a vote, not just for the sake of military merit, but more importantly, both sides of this mountain pass are steep slopes as high as his uncle, and the only flat road happens to be facing the Xiongnu cavalry by the river.

  The Xiongnu cavalry is facing them, and at this moment they can't see them, but it's impossible for them to leave with their war horses without the Xiongnu cavalry noticing. If they don't solve these Xiongnu cavalry, then this group of people can only wait until tomorrow morning when the Xiongnu cavalry leaves before they can come out.

  Now that the Xiongnu cavalry scouts have appeared here, it means that the main force of the Xiongnu is camping in a certain place not far to the north. One night can change many things, let alone now it seems that the Xiongnu army is at most 600 miles away from Jiuyuan. So Zhangmu agreed to take a vote.

  After a good while of arguing, the leader of the Hun scouts wearing simple leather armor finally chose four cavalrymen to keep watch at night and then walked into a tent to rest. The four unlucky Hun cavalrymen who were chosen began making strange drinking noises with their mouths after the leader left.

  Zhang Mu heard it very clearly, the four cavalrymen were all scolding their leader. The four of them scolded for a while, and then the four night watch cavalrymen began to gather around the huge bonfire in the middle of the camp, drinking goat's milk wine and talking loudly.

  Before long, they talked about the Qin woman. One of the cavalrymen loudly spoke about a Qin woman he had raped and killed, talking about her skin's tenderness and body's softness. The remaining three cavalrymen listened with gleaming eyes, repeatedly saying that even after conquering Jiuyuan, they would still want to thoroughly taste the flavor of the Qin woman.

  Upon hearing the four men's lewd and obscene remarks about Qin, Zhang Mu gripped his bow tightly, his eyes gradually turning bloodshot. Alright, I'll let you live for a little while longer, but come nightfall, I'll be back to take your lives!

  The sky gradually darkened, and there was not a single star in the vast sky. The moon was even more impossible to see, and the heavy darkness enveloped the vast grassland.

  The moon is dark and murderous tonight! Today is really a good day for murder! Zhang Mu looked up at the sky and muttered to himself.

  After a while, the four people who had indulged in their fantasies finally began to face reality and started discussing the night watch. It's worth noting that there are many wolf packs on the vast grasslands. In the end, the four decided to divide into two groups to take turns keeping watch, using a draw to decide which group would go first.

  The result of the draw came out, and the two Huns cavalrymen who drew short straws stood up with a scowl on their faces, swaying back and forth as they went to explore the north and south of the camp.

  It's now!

  Zhang Mu nodded to the sturdy soldier behind him and another soldier, then pointed to the Xiongnu cavalry in the north. The two of them nodded, stuck close to the ground, and slowly crawled outwards. Afterwards, Zhang Mu also pointed to two soldiers to point south, and these two soldiers also slowly crawled outwards.

  Before long, two nightingale calls came from the north and south respectively. Zhang Mu's hanging heart fell. Now there were only two Xiongnu cavalrymen left by the fire heap.

  After a while, the two Huns who were sitting by the fire chatting saw that the other two hadn't returned yet. One of them laughed and said: "Moto and Tomur won't be taken away by the ghost of that Qin woman, will they? Let's go take a look!"

  They didn't know that these two people were not taken away by Qin Nu, but were taken away by the Qin army.

  When the two men finally remembered that the two Xiongnu soldiers were about to move, Zhang Mu let out a sigh of relief. But just a moment later, Zhang Mu's face changed greatly, "You listen to my orders and act accordingly. Xiao Wu is in charge of taking care of the horses, don't run around randomly." He said in a low voice, not waiting for the reaction of the left-behind Xiao Wu, he quickly snuck out.

  Originally, I didn't know if the two Xiongnu cavalrymen were drunk or what, but they actually hooked their shoulders together and headed south towards the camp. In the south, there were only two Qin army soldiers, who definitely couldn't silently take care of the two tall and majestic Xiongnu warriors.

  Once the killing sound awakened the remaining Xiongnu cavalrymen who were still sleeping in their tents, the consequences would be unimaginable. So after Zhangmu finished instructing them, he personally crawled out of the valley to support the two Qin army soldiers in the south.

  Two Huns soldiers walked out of the camp and soon saw the soldier named Tomur who had come out earlier standing not far in front. The two men's hearts suddenly calmed down, and they stood still on the spot.

  "Hey, Tomur, what are you looking at? Is Qin girl dancing over there? Haha!" One of the two Hun cavalrymen teased. After a while, seeing that Tomur was still motionless, this Hun cavalryman walked up to Tomur's back and patted him on the shoulder, "Hey, Tomur?"

  As he did this Tom's soft body went forward and down.

  The Huns cavalry were suddenly shocked and felt something was wrong, opening their mouths to shout loudly.

  "Whoosh", an eight-inch long crossbow bolt flew out of the darkness and landed squarely in his throat. The small bolt instantly blocked all sound from escaping his chest cavity.

  "Huh", he clutched the crossbow bolt deeply embedded in his neck with both hands, his throat letting out a faint hiss as his eyes widened in terror, trying to locate the killer in the darkness.

  As he let out a low, guttural "huh", large amounts of fresh blood continuously spurted out from his mouth and neck, as if the surging crimson blood was taking away all the vitality in his body along with its flow.

  He finally collapsed with a thud, his terrified eyes wide open.