Chapter 223: Ambush
This was an extremely suitable spot for an ambush.
The official road was right next to the mountain forest, which could weaken the Xiongnu Barbarians’ advantage of all being cavalry to the greatest extent.
The chain lure the enemy tactic was used perfectly. Yang Hu was young, yet a true talent for generalship.
The first fast horse charged over. The Xiongnu Barbarian shouted gibberish from his mouth, unclear what he was yelling. Pei Qinghe drew a sharp arrow from her quiver, pulled the bowstring, but did not release it.
Pei Yan, Pei Zhi, Captain Sun, and Cheng Taofeng similarly pulled their bows, holding their breath in wait.
The Xiongnu Barbarian ran extremely fast in pursuit of the defeated soldiers ahead, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of fast horses had passed by.
Pei Qinghe still did not move.
Thunderous horse hoof sounds flashed past before their eyes; at least a thousand cavalry passed before Pei Qinghe coldly released her arrow.
Swoosh!
The sharp arrow, poised with potential energy, flew out like lightning, piercing through a Xiongnu Barbarian’s chest. The Xiongnu Barbarian let out a miserable cry and fell from his horse. He was trampled continuously by the fast horses charging from behind, turning into a pile of muck.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh!
Pei Yan and the others all released their arrows; sharp arrows fell like a violent rain. There was no need to shoot precisely—hitting any part of a Xiongnu Barbarian’s body, or hitting a warhorse, would do. Once dismounted, the continuous warhorses behind, driven by inertia, simply could not stop. Either they trampled the fallen Xiongnu Barbarian to death, or the warhorses from behind crashed into the fallen ones ahead, hurling their riders down hard.
In an instant, the official road was littered with countless dead and wounded.
The Xiongnu Barbarians who had already run ahead had no idea that an ambush raid had struck from behind. Even if they sensed something wrong, they could not turn back. Turning a warhorse around was not difficult, but the problem was that some Xiongnu Barbarians had charged through the arrow rain and come over. The front could not turn around at all, or it would immediately become a tragic head-on collision.
From above, the endless stream of Xiongnu Barbarians was brutally severed: the front continued running, the middle was in chaos, and the rear, unaware, kept charging forward.
Pei Qinghe seized the moment on the battlefield, doing so with perfect precision.
The Xiongnu Barbarians were rich in horse combat experience; after experiencing one wave of chaotic deaths, they quickly reacted. The rear cavalry slowed their horses, some dismounting and heading straight for the mountain forest from which the sharp arrows had been shot.
A large group of Xiongnu Barbarians charged over.
Pei Qinghe did not even blink, continuously shooting arrows. Every arrow released felled a Xiongnu Barbarian. Pei Yan and Pei Zhi’s archery was extremely skilled, and Captain Sun and Tao Feng were also masters. The Xiongnu Barbarians paid a heavy price before charging into the mountain forest.
Pei Qinghe tossed aside her bow and arrows, drew her long saber, and pounced forward like a tiger.
Pei Yan said nothing, raised her saber, and followed. Pei Zhi stuck closely to the other side.
The first wave of Xiongnu Barbarians charging into the mountain forest saw three girls coming at them fiercely with raised sabers and showed contemptuous grins. The next moment, they were horrified to find their heads flying into the air. With a splat, they crashed back to the ground.
As the commander, Pei Qinghe always charged at the forefront on the battlefield. Like a sharp blade, she stabbed ruthlessly into the enemy’s chest. This also greatly boosted the morale of the Pei Family Army.
Kill!
The elite soldiers of the Pei Family Army shouted and raised their sabers.
Captain Sun had a slightly lame leg; he could ride horses and walk. However, in true battlefield fight to the death, it inevitably had some impact. The veteran soldiers who had followed Captain Sun for many years stayed by his side with great tacit understanding. One of them was slashed by a Xiongnu Barbarian and fell straight down.
The battlefield was like this: alive and kicking one moment, breathless the next. In life-and-death combat, no one could guarantee they would not be injured or die in battle.
Captain Sun watched his brother die in battle, felt heartbroken, gritted his teeth, and shouted fiercely to kill the enemy.
Another outstanding performer was Cheng Taofeng. Cheng Taofeng had once been an elite soldier of the Beiping Army, rich in experience fighting Xiongnu Barbarians. While fighting to the death, he kept an eye on those around him with his peripheral vision, occasionally warning them aloud.
The Xiongnu Barbarians who charged into the mountain forest had lost their cavalry advantage, yet remained ferocious and sharp.
The Pei Family Army’s will to fight was fierce, facing the enemy with their well-practiced five-man military formation. Although they lacked experience against the enemy, they did not fall behind.
This was a true battle of life and death.
Xiongnu barbarians fell one by one, and members of the Pei Family Army also died in succession. The Xiongnu barbarians were accustomed to life and death, ferocious and matchless. No one in the Pei Family Army retreated, and no one fled; they followed behind their own general, continuously wielding sabers.
Pei Qinghe could no longer remember how many people she had killed.
Her gray cloth clothes were already dyed red and soaked through with blood. She had also suffered two minor injuries.
Suddenly, a muffled cry came from beside her. Pei Zhi had been slashed in the waist and abdomen, with blood gushing out.
Pei Qinghe fiercely wielded her saber, stabbing through a Xiongnu barbarian’s chest with one strike: “Pei Zhi, fall back and bandage it.”
If she continued bleeding like this, she wouldn’t need to fight anymore; she would die from excessive blood loss. Pei Zhi did not act tough; enduring the intense pain, she retreated all the way to the warhorses. Using a warhorse for cover, Pei Zhi leaned against a tree and quickly took out the medicine packet from her bosom.
Every member of the Pei Family Army carried such a medicine packet. Inside were two rolls of clean gauze, Madam Lu’s hemostatic medicine, and ginseng slices to sustain life.
Pei Zhi first put a ginseng slice in her mouth, sprinkled the hemostatic medicine on the wound, and wrapped it with gauze. After this series of actions, Pei Zhi was already drenched in cold sweat, trembling with pain at the core of her heart.
She was a few months younger than Pei Yan and was seventeen this year, in the prime of a woman’s youth. She still wanted to follow Cousin Sister Qinghe to conquer the world; she did not want to die.
Pei Zhi bit the tip of her tongue hard to keep herself from fainting.
Soon, wounded soldiers who were too severely injured to continue fighting came over one after another. Some, like Pei Zhi, barely bandaged their wounds and waited for their comrades to carry them back after the battle. Others had injuries too severe and slowly fell, their breathing stopping.
War has never been anything beautiful; bloody slaughter and death are the norm.
Pei Zhi mustered her spirit with effort and encouraged the wounded soldiers around her: “Don’t be afraid, we will definitely win this victory. Everyone hold on a bit longer; Cousin Sister Qinghe will come to pick us up soon.”
A teenager in his teens had his arm chopped off and had also been stabbed in the chest, like a blood gourd. He fell on his back, looking at the sky visible through the gaps in the branches and leaves, murmuring softly: “Before I die, I want to see the general one more time.”
Among the Pei Family Army, young men who admired Pei Qinghe were everywhere.
Pei Zhi didn’t even know this teenager’s name, feeling waves of sourness in her heart, but she kept encouraging him verbally: “You won’t die. The general is coming soon.”
The teenager smiled weakly and closed his eyes.
Tears surged from Pei Zhi’s eyes.
She began to feel waves of cold in her body, her consciousness gradually blurring. Even the shouts of killing grew distant.
Was she going to die too?
“Pei Zhi!”
A familiar voice rang in her ear.
Her wandering soul was called back into her body by this shout. Pei Zhi used all her strength to open her eyes, and what entered her vision was Pei Qinghe’s face splattered with blood.
“Pei Zhi, wake up.” Pei Qinghe’s gaze was firm, her voice steady, only her hand supporting Pei Zhi trembling slightly: “We have won this battle. Now I’ll take you back!”
