Chapter 269: Horse Combat
This was the hardest battle the Pei Family Army had ever fought.
People around her kept falling from their horses, with cries of agony continuous. One moment they were wielding a saber to kill the enemy fiercely, the next they became souls under the enemy’s blade.
Kill!
Pei Qinghe’s face was cold and stern as she kept wielding a saber, covered in blood. While killing the enemy, she kept an eye on the surroundings with her peripheral vision and occasionally blew the bamboo whistle in her mouth.
This was the whistle sound used during daily training to encourage and urge everyone on. The blood-soaked Pei Family Army did not collapse or retreat, but shouted loudly and continued to fight to the death.
Pei Yan stayed by Pei Qinghe’s side, clearing threats from behind for her. Pei Yun was on the left, Pei Xuan and Pei Feng on the right. Pei Qinghe was like a sharp blade, ruthlessly piercing through the Xiongnu Barbarians. Under her leadership, the Pei Family Army did not fall due to the massive casualties; instead, they burst forth with unprecedented ferocity.
Kill!
Kill all the Xiongnu Barbarians!
The Xiongnu Barbarians, vicious by nature, gradually became terrified.
The cavalry before them clearly were not particularly skilled in horse combat. Among the Jing Dynasty armies they had encountered, they counted as elite, but compared to Xiongnu brave soldiers raised on horseback, they were far inferior. Yet their coordination was exquisite, their bravery fearless, and they did not hesitate to trade life for life—they were truly mad.
After half a day of pursuit and fighting to the death, the corpses on the ground grew more numerous, and the thick bloody smell in the air was nauseating.
One Xiongnu Barbarian suddenly roared.
Pei Qinghe had practiced Xiongnu language for over half a year and understood immediately. She shouted sternly: “The Xiongnu Barbarians are fleeing! Block them!”
This was also the military order Pei Qinghe had given everyone before the battle. Kill as many Xiongnu Barbarians as possible!
This was Great Jing territory; every Xiongnu Barbarian killed was one fewer, while the Pei Family Army could continuously recruit soldiers to expand troop strength. This was one of the Pei Family Army’s advantages.
Everyone shouted in response and spurred their horses to pursue. The Xiongnu Barbarians spurred their horses to flee, not even having time to turn and shoot an arrow. They had never encountered such ferocious Jing Dynasty troops, nor fought such a grueling horse combat. That female general was truly too ruthless and terrifying!
If they could not win, they ran—this was instinct ingrained in the bones of the Xiongnu Barbarians. Unfortunately, today they had met true formidable enemies and could not escape even if they wanted to.
The Pei Family Army behind them chased up like maggots gnawing at the bones.
Another round of intense entanglement ensued. The Pei Family Army grew braver with each fight, while the Xiongnu Barbarians grew more afraid; they once again abandoned their comrades and spurred their horses in mad flight.
Pei Qinghe spurred her horse to continue the pursuit.
She could no longer remember how many sabers she had swung or how many Xiongnu Barbarians she had killed, nor did she have time to care how many people behind her had died. She kept leading troops forward in the charge and slaughter.
The sky gradually darkened, the sunset like fire, with evening clouds filling the sky.
This brutal fight to the death finally entered its end.
“General, there’s no one ahead; no need to chase further.” Pei Yan, with immense strength, was drenched in sweat, her right hand trembling nonstop, her throat hoarse from shouting half the day.
Pei Yun’s voice followed: “This battle, we won!”
Pei Qinghe snapped out of the frenzy of killing, took a deep breath, then quickly scanned around. She had brought four thousand cavalry to pursue and kill the Xiongnu Barbarians; now, only a few hundred remained by her side.
Where were the others?
“Everyone got scattered!” Before Pei Qinghe could ask, the quick-witted Pei Xuan spoke up.
Pei Qinghe nodded: “We’ll ride back to the city and gather the soldiers along the way.”
Pei Feng picked up: “And finish off the wounded Xiongnu Barbarians.”
Pei Feng had been finishing off wounded enemies since age seven; he was very skilled at it.
Pei Qinghe finally showed the first smile of the day: “The heavy responsibility of finishing off is yours and Pei Xuan’s.”
Pei Feng and Pei Xuan acknowledged together.
Pei Qinghe turned her horse around and spurred it back to the city. Along the way, she kept gathering the remaining soldiers and occasionally encountered ongoing fierce battles, charging straight in to kill the Xiongnu Barbarians and be done with it. On the battlefield, killing the enemy was the top priority; there was no need or place for showing off individual prowess. The Pei Family Army was long accustomed to fighting side by side to kill the enemy together.
“General, Zhai Sanlang is badly wounded!”
A veteran of the battlefield, accustomed to life and death. Pei Qinghe dismounted and went to Zhai Sanlang’s side, where blood was gushing and he lay gasping his last.
Zhai Sanlang had been stabbed in the waist and abdomen, his organs injured, excessive blood loss, lips pale, no strength left to speak. With his last strength, he lifted his eyes to look at Pei Qinghe.
Four years ago, when the Xiongnu Barbarians massacred the county town, he and a group of children hid in a cellar and survived. He and his companions spent days hauling corpses, scavenging grain, starving, waiting to die in despair.
Then Pei Qinghe came. She gave them grain, brought them to Pei Family Village, and gave them a new life and hope.
These years, he practiced martial arts and reading desperately, always charging at the front in every battle. He wanted to follow the general to conquer the world.
The general was like the blazing sun in the sky; he kept chasing the light. Unfortunately, today he was dying and could no longer follow the general into battle.
“General,” Zhai Sanlang’s voice was faint, barely audible: “General.”
His youthful infatuation, finally unveiled, forever frozen in his eyes.
Pei Qinghe was not heartless stone; her eyes suddenly burned. She reached out and gently stroked Zhai Sanlang’s face. Zhai Sanlang closed his eyes with a smile.
Pei Qinghe turned her head aside.
Everyone felt grief-stricken; some choked back sobs, others cried out loud.
They had won this battle, but it was a victory as brutal as could be. Almost no Xiongnu Barbarians escaped alive from the battlefield, but they had even more dead—nearly twice as many as the Xiongnu Barbarians.
Zhai Sanlang was just one of them.
Pei Qinghe took a deep breath and stood up: “Leave the corpses for now; we’ll return to the city first and tend to the wounded soldiers.”
The people behind her grew in number again, and by the time they reached the city gate of Tuhe County Town, nearly two thousand men had gathered.
Yang Hu and Lu Feng, who had waited half a day, rushed out.
Yang Hu first checked on Yang Huai, confirming he had no broken limbs or severe injuries, just some light wounds, and breathed a sigh of relief. Then he looked at the blood-covered Pei Qinghe: “General, how did this battle go?”
Pei Qinghe smiled: “We won!”
Though hard-fought and brutal, they had ultimately won!
This was the first direct clash between the Pei Family Army and the Xiongnu Barbarians. The Pei Family Army, with their fearless bravery, had won this battle!
Yang Hu was thrilled, Lu Feng was stunned speechless, and the soldiers on the city gate began shouting loudly.
The earth-shaking cheers alerted the entire Tuhe County.
The common people, who had hidden for two days, finally couldn’t resist peeking out.
“Did you hear the cheers?”
“I did! It sounds like they won a victory.”
“Not sounds like—I heard it clear as day; they won!”
“Even the Liaoxi Army couldn’t beat the Xiongnu Barbarians; how could this Pei Family Army win? Is the female general really that powerful?”
“I heard this General Pei has never lost a battle; she’s undefeated in a hundred battles, and the Imperial Court’s first female general!”
“These two days, the Pei Family Army patrolled the city without taking a single grain, and no one broke in to bully the common people. Now they’re fighting to the death for us against the Xiongnu Barbarians. This is a real army!”
