Chapter 76: Camp Disturbance
Xiao Yi’s riding skill was superb. Liu Tingrang and the other two were also top-tier mounted archers in the army. The four quickly circled several tents, and while Nie Wenjin’s personal guards were caught off guard, they shook them off.
Ahead was the path to the granary, quite wide, with the tracks of carriages and horses still visible.
Turning his head, Xiao Yi suddenly reined in his horse.
To the west, beyond two rows of low camp fences, was a camp. The entrance was guarded by armored soldiers, but inside there were only many large tents, with no sign of people.
“Where is that?” Xiao Yi asked Hou Renbao.
“It seems to be the supply tent, piled with weapons, armor, and miscellaneous items.”
“Let’s go there.”
“You… are the four heroes perhaps Guo…”
Hou Renbao stopped mid-sentence, asking softly.
Cui Yanjin pressed a dagger against his lower back and said in a low voice, “Behave yourself.”
“Okay, okay, I am the most, most, most well-behaved, my nickname is Agui.”
“Go.”
“Can you jump over it?”
“Underestimate me? Who isn’t elite?”
Xiao Yi kicked his horse, controlling the reins, and let Wuzhui trot at a brisk pace.
He lifted his hips and leaned forward to reduce the pressure on the horse’s back, his legs lightly touching its belly to let it feel him, but without squeezing, so as not to affect its hind legs’ power.
Five steps, four steps… one step, jump.
Wuzhui pushed off and effortlessly leaped over the low fence. Xiao Yi controlled and soothed the horse, lightly pressing the reins to prevent it from running off, and continued forward, leaping over the next low fence.
Behind him, three riders followed.
They entered this camp on the west side. Xiao Yi looked back; the snow had been cleared, and the laborers who set up the fences had left messy footprints. The Imperial Guard could not track them.
Not long after, a patrol of soldiers passed by. They didn’t stop to question them, but stood respectfully before Hou Renbao and shouted, “Greetings, Young General!”
Deeper into the camp, they chose a large tent and rode their horses inside, hiding for the moment.
The tent was empty, save for cold weapons.
Hou Renbao said softly, “If the heroes wish to gather military intelligence, I will tell you everything. After you have finished asking, may I be released? Before they know I…”
“Shut up.”
“Oh.”
Suddenly, the sound of horses’ hooves approached from outside.
The four of them soothed their horses to prevent them from making noise.
Gradually, the sound of the pursuing horses faded. They must have not expected them to enter a place guarded by armored soldiers and continued chasing straight ahead.
“Let’s wait before going out.”
“Okay.”
Xiao Yi looked around and saw a spear hanging in the tent.
He had not found a suitable long weapon in Huazhou. At this moment, he couldn’t help but grab it.
The spear was two meters seventy long, the spearhead a standard three inches plus, covered with a thin layer of silver, white and slightly greenish. The edge was paper-thin. Tapping it produced a clear sound.
The red tassel was vibrant, blocking the enemy’s vision and absorbing blood.
He weighed it; it was about eight catties. The handle was made of zhe wood, yet it was not light, indicating the spearhead was made of hundred-refined steel. The silver plating was to prevent rust.
A normal spear with a heavy head often felt unbalanced and was tiring to wield. However, this spear’s zhe wood shaft was hard, and the butt of the spear had a silver ferrule to secure the shaft, making it very smooth to twirl.
Xiao Yi casually twirled it. The silver ring spun rapidly, and the spear shaft hummed with a steady sound.
Liu Tingrang’s eyes lit up, and he exclaimed in surprise, “You know spear techniques too?”
“I know a few tricks. Let’s go.”
Xiao Yi did not stand on ceremony with the Southern Army. He took this spear and rode out.
They headed back towards the camp gate.
However, as they passed through the camp, a whistle suddenly sounded. Squadrons of patrol soldiers immediately surrounded them, shouting loudly.
“There!”
“Capture them!”
Liu Tingrang exclaimed in surprise, “How were we discovered?”
Xiao Yi looked back and saw a tall tower on the summit of Chigang Mountain. Above it, a flag bearer was waving two flags crosswise. The red flag pointed west, and the black flag pointed east, signaling an urgent message. Afterward, the flag tip pointed towards them.
A messenger immediately echoed the call, his voice carrying from afar.
“West Camp, Left Wing, Third Section! Four enemy horsemen, wearing Imperial Guard armor, escorting one person in white, fled north from the weapons tent!”
“Clang——”
In the camp, the direction bell rang loudly.
“This is bad.” Cui Yanjin’s face changed. “The watchtower spotted us. They are mobilizing troops to surround us.”
“Old Man Hou Yi, the camp is set up in a damn tricky location.”
“Break through.”
“No.” Xiao Yi pulled Liu Tingrang’s reins and said, “We went too deep. The watchtower is focused on us, we can’t break through.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Counterattack.”
Xiao Yi’s tone was decisive. “Liu Chengyou is in the camp. We’ll pretend to assassinate him to create chaos among the Imperial Guard, so the watchtower will ignore us and we can kill our way out.”
“Alright, follow me… Giddy up!”
Liu Tingrang immediately turned his horse around. Cui Yanjin and Hai Jin were also fierce and fearless, laughing heartily.
The four horses galloped, charging directly towards the main camp tent.
At this time, they were at least five hundred paces away from Liu Chengyou, with countless armored soldiers in between.
But as the four of them took out their bows and shot at the approaching patrol soldiers, they hit their targets from a great distance.
“Whoo——”
A sharp whistle suddenly pierced the sky, accompanied by a series of orders.
“Protect the Son of Heaven!”
“Quickly, armored soldiers form a Turtle Formation! Archers in front, long-spearmen guarding the flanks, infantry encircling the Golden Chariot!”
“Order all troops: anyone who approaches within one hundred paces of the main camp tent will be killed without mercy!”
“……”
Hou Yi’s reaction was steady.
But the camp had just been set up, and the laborers had not yet withdrawn. Coupled with the Son of Heaven personally coming to boost morale, and all the generals gathered, the camp defenses finally had a loophole.
Footsteps and the sound of horses’ hooves immediately surged in the same direction.
Xiao Yi glanced and saw a fire pit outside a tent not far away. He directly drove his horse towards it, dismounted, and kicked over the tent. The canvas immediately covered the charcoal fire, and flames shot up.
“Start a fire.”
He roared, using his spear to lift the burning canvas and throw it at a nearby tent.
Liu Tingrang and the other two immediately did the same.
Soon, many tents in various parts of the large camp caught fire. Unfortunately, a fire trench had been dug in the camp, and the tents were far apart, so it couldn’t spread into a conflagration. It could only cause some confusion.
Xiao Yi was not blinded by the chaos. He knew he had to create a time difference and escape before the soldiers in the camp realized they were impersonating the Imperial Guard.
He rode out some distance and met approaching patrol soldiers. He shouted instead.
“Fire! Quick, put it out!”
After riding a bit further, he saw people coming to fight the fire and scolded again, “Idiots! This is a feint by the enemy! Why aren’t you protecting the Son of Heaven?!”
“Protect the Son of Heaven!”
“……”
“Go.”
“Cui Yanjin, you go first!”
“Got it!”
The four horses then charged towards the camp gate again.
Xiao Yi looked up. The flags on the mountain-top watchtower were waving, busy pointing at the flames and at the confused areas that might threaten Liu Chengyou, not at them for the moment.
“Quick!”
From afar, Southern Army soldiers were pushing abatis to block the road ahead, and the camp gate was slowly closing.
“Shoot them!”
“Swish.”
Liu Tingrang and the other two shot their arrows one after another, hitting their marks with every shot.
Xiao Yi did not slow down. The moment the abatis were moved aside, he charged his horse through.
A soldier lunged forward, drawing his saber, intending to chop at his horse’s legs.
“Plop.”
The spear thrust out, drawing blood.
While galloping at full speed, it was easy to thrust the spear, but extremely difficult to retract it.
Xiao Yi flipped his wrist, and his left hand quickly reached out, gripping the middle section of the spear shaft. In the motion of flipping and gripping, the spear reversed direction, the tip pointing backward.
His horse’s speed did not falter. Using the momentum of his charge, he pulled the spear shaft out from the corpse.
“Hum.”
He released the tension in his right hand and pushed, pulled with his left hand, and smoothly twirled the spear. He lowered his shoulder and elbow, holding it, his left hand regaining the reins, his right hand lightly gripping the spear butt. The spear was already back in position.
At the same time, Wuzhui shot through the barely closing camp gate like the wind.
Xiao Yi thrust his spear again, knocking down an enemy soldier who was trying to lunge at the camp gate.
The entire action took only three breaths.
Twirling the spear back into position, the bloodstains on the red tassel were blown away by the wind, creating a red streak.
“Swoosh!”
“My God!”
“What a magnificent display of skill!”
The three of them looked back and couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
Xiao Yi was unfazed.
Among the countless moves he had mastered, this was the least difficult.
The four horses galloped down Chigang like shooting stars.
However, this area was entirely Southern Army camps. As they weaved between Hou Yi and Yuan Xi’s large camps, they inevitably encountered Southern Army scouts.
A whistle sounded again.
The watchtower on the mountain summit again pointed its flags at them, directing the patrol cavalry to intercept.
“Block them!”
Ahead, a unit of Taining Army soldiers was observing from the top of the ridge and immediately drew their bows and nocked arrows at them.
Xiao Yi, galloping behind Liu Tingrang, hung his spear on his saddle and took out his bow and arrows.
The enemy arrows had already arrived.
He lowered his body, letting the arrows land on his helmet with a clang.
He only heard Hou Renbao let out a scream.
“Ah!”
Upon reaching eighty paces, Liu Tingrang and the other two each shot an arrow, and enemy soldiers ahead fell down.
At sixty paces, Xiao Yi blind-nocked and shot an arrow, hitting an enemy soldier in the face.
Wuzhui continued to charge forward. At over thirty paces, he nocked another arrow and shot it casually.
“Swish.”
At this distance, an arrow from the forty-jin zhe wood bow pierced directly through the enemy’s leather armor.
Compared to his three comrades, his mounted archery could only be considered not a burden.
That unit of Taining Army soldiers was terrified and, at a distance of more than ten paces, dared not engage. They turned their horses and scattered.
The four horses seized the opportunity to cross the ridge and charged down towards Liu Zibei.
Afterward, they got onto the official road and headed straight for Chenqiao Posthouse.
“Hahahaha.”
Finally having shaken off the pursuers, Liu Tingrang reined in his horse and laughed, asking, “Commander Xiao, were you invigorated by acting as our scouts?”
“You three, your mounted archery is truly something.”
Xiao Yi panted slightly and gave a thumbs-up.
Hou Renbao was still sitting on Cui Yanjin’s horse, his face ashen and his lips pale.
But this man was quite clever and chimed in, praising, “The four heroes are truly amazing. Renbao is deeply impressed, truly impressed… I have some wealth in the capital, and I’d like to offer gold and silk…”
“Shut up, you living intelligence report. Your time to speak will come.”
“Let’s go.”
The setting sun gradually shifted westward.
It was nearing the hour of You (5-7 PM), and they were still two to three li from Chenqiao Posthouse.
Xiao Yi suddenly reined in his horse.
He felt the ground tremble slightly, and a noisy clamor could be heard in the distance.
He spurred his horse up a small hill beside the official road and looked out. On the northern horizon, a giant dark shadow was slowly approaching, revealing orderly square formations.
Banners fluttered, and spears stood like a forest.
Guo Wei’s army had arrived, and their troops were even more formidable than when they marched south from Ye Du.
“Haha, we have brought back intelligence, which we can report to the Marshal.”
“Giddy up!”
The vast heavens and earth stretched out, and the four horses galloped, merging into the dense army…
