xymnovel Chapter 221 Defeating the Thieves
Chapter 221 Defeating the Thieves
Chapter 221 Defeating the Thieves (Part 2)
"Woo—" Liang Tai blew the horn again.
The archers on both sides frantically drew arrows from their quivers.
Some tried to nock the bow but failed, while others' hands trembled when they drew the bow; the results were predictable.
Only the middle-aged archer calmly fired an arrow, which struck one of the bandits squarely in the chest, the arrowhead piercing through his back.
Teams Gao and Li fired six arrows; four were blocked, and one struck the bearded man's right arm, causing him to groan and stagger.
Another arrow struck a thief in the neck, and the man collapsed to the ground before he could even scream.
There was no chance to fire a third wave.
Liang Tai decisively struck the waist drum.
The sound of heavy footsteps rang out as the twenty-eight members of Teams Gao and Li marched in orderly ranks along the wall.
The remaining nine thieves quickened their pace, letting out angry roars, their faces contorted with rage as if they wanted to devour someone.
Despite being injured, the bearded man's eyes were wide with rage, and he charged to the front, heading straight for Li Fu, who had a flag stuck in his back.
"Bang!" Li Fu raised his shield and blocked the knife thrust by the bearded man.
Without hesitation, spearman Su Shuisheng thrust his spear straight forward.
The bearded man used the small round shield tied to his elbow, which was held by a cavalryman, to block the attack, but then Wei Dayong's hook-and-sickle spear swiftly thrust forward.
He slashed with his right hand with his ring-bladed sword, severing the hook-and-sickle spear, but little did he know that there was a hook hidden under the spearhead.
The moment the gun was parried, the shaft spun, the hook caught the back of his knife, and he was pulled back sharply.
Although the bearded man was strong, his right hand had been wounded by an arrow, causing him to drop his knife and stagger forward.
Jiang Sanbao, who had taken Guo Xian's place, thrust his spear forward, the tip piercing the bearded man's chest without any resistance, thus ending his life.
Just as Jiang Sanbao was about to draw his spear, One-Eyed Dragon rushed forward and brought his broadsword down heavily.
In a flash, Li Fu held his shield in front of him and charged straight at the attacker.
The shield struck the one-eyed man's side, causing him to stumble.
Using the momentum, Li Fu thrust his shield-mounted dagger downwards, aiming straight for his opponent's ribs.
The one-eyed man reacted with lightning speed. Even as his body was still tilted, he had already retracted his saber and slammed the hilt down, striking the back of Li Fu's blade and deflecting the attack. Immediately afterward, he kicked the shield, the force of which numbed Li Fu's left arm, causing him to stagger back two steps before regaining his balance.
Wei Da thrust at him again with his hook-and-sickle spear.
The one-eyed man swung his broadsword and cleaved down with great force, the sound of the wooden pole shattering and breaking was unusually crisp.
Wei Dayong's expression changed, and he immediately abandoned his hook-and-sickle spear, drawing his ring-bladed sword to meet the attack.
Jiang Sanbao had already withdrawn his spear, and with almost no time to think, he thrust it at the one-eyed man.
The man had exhausted his strength and had no strength left, so he could only parry the spear with his backhand.
Su Shuisheng's spear followed swiftly.
The one-eyed man dodged to the side, only to see the swordsman and shield bearer Wu Shangyuan rushing forward. The gleaming blade was blindingly bright, so he mustered his remaining strength and brought his saber down heavily, smashing Wu Shangyuan and his shield to the ground.
Li Fu charged forward again, like a mad tiger.
The one-eyed man was a little overwhelmed, but fortunately a companion rushed up from behind and caught Li Fu.
Jiang Sanbao's spear thrust again from behind the swordsmen and shieldmen—
The one-eyed man could only take a step back, looking for an opportunity to strike. Just then, his companion, who had just rushed over, was stabbed in the neck by Su Shuisheng and fell to the ground with a scream.
The one-eyed man felt a chill run down his spine.
They were all just average people, but when they came together, they attacked with swords and spears, making him busy and flustered. If it were the archers from the patrol office, he would have broken into their formation and slaughtered them.
On the other side, Gao Daqiang had already thrust out three times with his ebony spear. Except for one that was blocked, the other two thrusts each took down one person, showing his ferocity.
At his feet, Wu Mazi, the swordsman, lay injured and groaning incessantly.
Zhan Feng Zeng Yi filled Wu Mazi's position, and he lived up to his boast, seizing the opportunity to kill a thief who was jumping around.
The two sides only met once, perhaps in the time it takes for an ordinary person to breathe or exchange a few words, and a total of six people were lying on the ground. The bloodshed and horrific scene was shocking.
"Whoosh!" Shao Shuyi shot down the last thief with an arrow.
Tie Niu and the others stood by his side, some holding large shields, others wielding swords and spears, unmoving.
The two teams advanced slowly but resolutely, fighting fiercely with the bandits.
After realizing that half of his ten men had died in battle, the man wielding the horse-slaying sword finally felt fear.
The astute man had already realized that it wasn't that their combat strength was insufficient, but rather that they lacked organization, often fighting alone and ultimately being killed by the opponent's skillful teamwork.
Continuing to fight like this is too disadvantageous; it's better to retreat early.
"Go!" he roared, and after forcing back Wu Shangyuan who was rushing up with a single slash, he turned and ran.
Upon seeing this, the remaining three thieves instantly lost their will to fight and retreated.
One of them was slower and was directly stabbed by Ji Wu's hook-and-sickle spear as he rushed up.
The spearhead pierced deep into his thigh, and with a yank pull, a strip of cloth was torn off along with the flesh.
The man screamed and knelt on one knee.
Feng Qiu, a salt official from Tongzhou, swung his knife and severed half of his neck.
Team Leader Gao continued forward, neither too fast nor too slow, maintaining his formation without breaking it in the rush to pursue the enemy, while simultaneously applying sufficient pressure and relentlessly pursuing them.
The rustling sound of footsteps echoed across the wasteland.
More than thirty people carrying equipment advanced in a line along the wall.
The three thieves, including the one-eyed man, fled quickly, already terrified.
A rousing shout came from the foot of Qinwang Mountain behind them, and Bian Yuanheng led more than ten men to the front.
Behind them were a hundred or so nameless ruffians, each armed with knives and spears, shouting incessantly—it was obviously impossible to rely on them to fight a battle against the odds, as they would collapse, but when the wind was blowing in their favor, they could bolster their own morale and intimidate the enemy.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Shao Shuyi, Liang Tai, and the others each nocked an arrow.
Two arrows, one after the other, struck the same person in the back—what a stroke of luck!
Bian Yuanheng was only forty steps away from the one-eyed man and the other two.
Two arrows flew out from behind him. One was deflected by the saber, and the other struck the bandit in the leg, causing him to groan and fall to the ground.
Only two of the Huai bandits remained standing.
The archers on both sides saw an opportunity and were very excited. Twenty men charged forward without waiting for orders, shouting and rushing at lightning speed.
On the distant city wall of Xia, Prefect Zhang Yang was looking out.
In his view, Cao Luo's troops were the main force, and they directly defeated the Huai bandits who were charging towards them, pushing them back.
At the same time, the archers from the patrol unit quickly moved forward, flanking the enemy from both sides.
Further away, Cao Luo led a force of over a hundred soldiers. Although they were no longer in formation, their sheer numbers allowed them to block the bandits' escape route from behind.
This means we're surrounded on all four sides.
He breathed a long sigh of relief, knowing that the battle was won.
In the very center of the battlefield, the one-eyed man and his only remaining subordinate struggled to walk.
He was panting heavily, his one eye scanning the pursuing crowd.
There was a cut on his right arm, he didn't know when he was cut, and blood dripped down his wrist onto the saber and then down the blade.
His subordinate was in even worse shape; blood was still seeping from the wound on his shoulder, and half of his body was soaked, but he gritted his teeth and remained silent.
The one-eyed man gave a bitter laugh, stopped in his tracks, held his broadsword across his chest, and slightly hunched his back.
His subordinate fell to his knees with a thud, not to surrender, but because he could no longer hold on.
His eyes were blurred with sweat and blood as he murmured, "Brother, I can still get up. I'll help you break through the formation, uh—"
An arrow flew from a distance and struck the man in the neck, causing him to collapse to the ground.
"Hahaha—" The one-eyed man suddenly burst into a nervous laugh.
After laughing, he mustered his last bit of strength and charged forward, crashing hard into the ranks of Li and Gao's team.
In an instant, seven or eight weapons struck him simultaneously.
"That was exhilarating! That was exhilarating!" The one-eyed man's face was contorted with madness, and his final cleaver stopped above the head of the spearman Zhao Xiaoer, but he never managed to bring it down.
"Thump!" The corpse, almost turned into a tattered sack, crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Blood and tears flowed out, slowly soaking the parched battlefield.
The battlefield fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of the wind remaining.
The cicadas suddenly chirped from the old locust tree not far away, as if giving a closing salutation to this short but fierce battle.
Surrounded by the crowd, Shao Shuyi stepped forward, carefully examined the face of the bandit leader, and then ordered his men to cut off his head and send it to the prefect Zhang Yang. At the same time, he ordered the battlefield to be cleaned up, to check for any wounded but not dead bandits, and to keep them under guard pending further orders.
Without the slightest delay, the bandit leader's head was delivered to the city wall by archers.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhang Yang, despite feeling utterly disgusted and uncomfortable, still pretended to look at it and then ordered, "Immediately punish him, then hang his head in the prefectural government office and display it to the whole city."
"Yes." Chen Zi, the patrol inspector of Chengjiang, immediately arranged for his men to handle the severed head.
Zhang Yang slowly came to his senses, staring intently at Shao Shuyi's troops who were cleaning up the battlefield in the distance, his expression a mixture of joy and worry.
This battle exposed the true colors of the government troops, but it also gave Cao Luo's salt gang a huge boost in the public eye.
Zhang Yang felt particularly bad when he saw the borrowed archers crowding around Cao Luo to pay their respects.
From now on, Jiangyin Prefecture will probably be harder to govern.