Chapter 279: Tough Battle
“General Pu Nu is here!”
“Our reinforcements are here!”
The Xiongnu Barbarians were so excited they were about to cry. They desperately gathered together, but the Pei Family Army had already gone berserk, fighting to the death in mutual destruction without letting go.
The ferocity of the Pei Family Army deeply infected the Guangning Army. The soldiers of the Guangning Army shouted as they fought to the death.
The ground continued to tremble, the horse hooves sounding like muffled thunder, drawing closer from afar. By the light of the torches, a large group of blurry black shadows could already be faintly seen.
At this speed, they would charge onto the battlefield in an instant.
On the chaotic battlefield of desperate fighting, everyone was roaring and battling furiously. At such a time, no shout could reach everyone’s ears, making effective command impossible.
Pei Qinghe swiftly climbed a tree, steadied herself, and drew her bow and arrow. The divine archers gathered around her followed suit, nimbly climbing onto the trees.
Pei Qinghe never missed a shot in daily practice, but with the urgent warfare, she didn’t care about wasting arrows and fired her first arrow at the warhorses charging through the darkness.
The divine archers all followed by shooting arrows.
Immediately after came the second arrow, the third arrow. Before the Xiongnu Barbarians’ pursuing forces arrived on the battlefield, they shot as many arrows as they could.
This barrage of dense arrow rain took an unknown number of lives. In the darkness, there were cries of alarm, some fell from their horses, some warhorses were tripped by those in front. Many infantry holding torches threw them with all their might. Some warhorses were startled, others were directly hit by torches and caught fire. The cavalry on the warhorses tried to jump off to escape but were thrown down by the frenzied warhorses, trampled on their bellies, their guts spilling out, their agonized cries endless.
The originally surging cavalry had no choice but to slow their speed.
Then, the Xiongnu Cavalry faced a new dilemma. The battlefield was littered with corpses, warhorses on the ground wailing and neighing in agony, everywhere trembling with fighting. Not to mention whether they could charge through, even if they did, they would easily injure their own people by mistake.
The Xiongnu military general leading the troops to rescue was Pu Nu’s confidant. This man was bloodthirsty and brutal, actually grinning ferociously as he shouted: “Charge through!”
He spurred his horse forward first.
The cavalry kept encountering obstacles, their morale waning. Now led by the military general charging into the battlefield indiscriminately, it reignited the Xiongnu Cavalry’s morale, and they shouted gibberish.
The Xiongnu Barbarians originally fighting in the field angrily yelled and cursed, dodging in panic. The Pei Family Army faced the iron hooves of the warhorses, gritting their teeth and waving their weapons. Even if they died, they would drag an enemy down with them.
The sharp whistle sounded again.
On the chaotic and disordered battlefield, their general blew the bamboo whistle, guiding them to reform their military formation. In the chaos, finding companions was impossible. They had no time to look around. In the shortest time, they formed five-man military formations with the nearest companions.
This was what they had trained daily. On the battlefield of flying flesh and blood where death could come at any moment, fighting side by side with companions meant even if dying together, there would be company on the road to the Yellow Springs. The successive sharp whistle sounds gave them boundless courage.
After paying a huge price in casualties, they endured the first wave of cavalry charge. They also took the lives of many Xiongnu Cavalry and warhorses.
Due to the inertia of their gallop, these warhorses continued charging forward.
Pei Qinghe threw away her bow and arrow, drew her long saber, leaped down from the tree, swung her saber in mid-air, cut down a Xiongnu Cavalryman, and seized his horse.
The divine archers also jumped down one after another. They were the elites of the Pei Family Army, precise in archery, and equally masterful, fierce, and ruthless in blade techniques.
Lu Feng was boiling with hot blood, stuck the torch on the tree, roared: “Everyone mount up! Fight to the death!”
The Fanyang Army was like a pile of mud, but these days they had been trained to have guts. One by one, they placed torches on trees or the ground, drew their long sabers, howling as they charged forward.
This was a true tough battle.
Compared to the cavalry battles of the previous days, both sides had more numbers, and it was even more brutal and bloody!
Everyone had gone berserk.
Suddenly, a sheet of firelight flared up.
It turned out that a torch from the tree had fallen, igniting the grass. After the flames rose, warhorses and corpses were also set ablaze. Some people caught fire alive, rolling on the ground in agony.
The fire spread extremely quickly.
If this continued, everyone would be engulfed by the fire.
The Xiongnu Barbarians’ nature to flee when battle turned unfavorable emerged again. Soon, some Xiongnu Barbarians mounted and fled. With the first, came the second and third.
The Xiongnu military general shouted in anger, but the battlefield was too chaotic for his voice to carry. Instead, it drew Pei Qinghe’s attention.
What does it feel like to be targeted by Pei Qinghe?
It was like being stared at by a ferocious tiger.
It was the terror of impending death.
A chill ran up the Xiongnu military general’s back. He turned his horse to flee when a long saber flew through the air, piercing through his back and out his chest.
The Xiongnu military general let out a despairing howl, fell from his horse, and stopped breathing.
The remaining Xiongnu Cavalry watched their military general die, lost their courage, and fled in all directions.
The Pei Family Army had only over a hundred warhorses left, and Pei Yan and others were all wounded, lacking the capability for pursuit. Watching the Xiongnu Cavalry gallop away, Pei Yan cursed coarsely in rage.
Pei Qinghe had no time to care, striding forward, pulling out her long saber, and continuing to kill enemies.
The Xiongnu Cavalry who could flee had all fled. The remaining Xiongnu Barbarians who had lost their warhorses or were trapped and couldn’t flee—this was their burial ground.
“Run fast!”
“The fire is burning bigger and bigger, yet they don’t run and keep fighting—are they crazy!”
The forcibly detained Xiongnu Barbarians also went mad.
They simply couldn’t understand why, with the fire burning so fiercely, the Pei Family Army still didn’t run and kept fighting. Did the Pei Family Army really not fear death?
On the most dangerous battlefield, their General Pu Nu hadn’t come, and the military general commanding them was dead.
And Pei Qinghe had always been with her Pei Family Army.
Pei Qinghe didn’t retreat, and no one retreated.
Perhaps a moment passed, or perhaps a long time, finally Pei Qinghe blew the whistle to withdraw troops.
Only then did the Pei Family Army drag their barely alive companions and desperately flee out of the firelight.
The person holding the Pei character flag had long since died. Pei Qinghe personally took the flagpole, charged out from the fiercest part of the fire, reached a place not yet reached by the flames, and waved the flag.
All who escaped over gathered.
Seeing the fire spreading, Pei Qinghe had no time to say anything, quickly waving the Pei character flag, leading all the survivors forward in a run.
She chose the direction of Liaoxi Commandery.
They ran nonstop all the way.
They ran out of the surging firelight, onto the official road, and kept running.
The Pei Family Army trained running every morning; running ten li loaded was a common occurrence. The Guangning Army fell short, panting after five li.
The Fanyang Army fared even worse, soon falling behind.
Pei Qinghe slightly slowed her pace, leading everyone forward. When the sky was just beginning to lighten, they charged to the city gate of Liaoxi Commandery.
