Chapter 181: Chapter 181: Slaying Yuan Youchun

The round moon hung high, the night air slightly cool.

Han Wu hurriedly arrived outside Chen Mo’s command tent, only to be stopped by Liu Ze.

Han Wu anxiously said, “I have urgent matters for the County Magistrate.”

“Then please wait a moment, I will report.” Liu Ze dared not delay.

Just as he was turning away, Chen Mo emerged from the command tent, tying his belt around his waist, frowning slightly, and said, “What’s happened?”

Han Wu and Liu Ze both bowed, the former urgently saying, “County Magistrate, the scout reported that about ten miles away, some troops are approaching us, and the scout heard the cries of battle.”

“What?!” Chen Mo’s face changed. Their outposts were set ten miles away, and with this report, the enemy might be less than five miles from them. He quickly ordered, “Wake all the soldiers, extinguish the torches.”

“Understood.”

Inside the command tent, Xia Zhining also heard Han Wu’s report. By the time Chen Mo entered, she had already dressed and donned her armor.

Chen Mo paused slightly but said nothing, and with her help, he put on the Bright Armor, took the Tang Blade, and slung the Strong Bow over his back, and the two of them headed outside the tent.

By now, the whole army was standing in an orderly formation.

Unlike Chen Mo, the soldiers below had slept in armor, so they didn’t need to prepare much upon waking.

“Bite your wooden sticks, muffle the horse hooves, follow me.”

Chen Mo didn’t say much more. Judging by the time, the enemy was already close.

The soldiers quickly took a piece of wood from their pockets to bite on, and the few warhorses had their hooves wrapped in flax.

Chen Mo’s army was stationed between the mountains, with the road below as their path of movement.

Chen Mo led his men to swiftly ambush on both sides of the mountain road.

Soon, a commotion and several sparse firelights appeared from the distance.

Yuan Youchun, after breaking out from the mountain pass, fled immediately, changing horses whenever one died. Yet, the Yu State Army wouldn’t let him go, relentlessly pursuing.

Fortunately, Yu State had many mountains, with difficult roads slowing the cavalry, allowing Yuan Youchun to escape a great distance.

He suffered significant losses, with over ten thousand Tiger Swift Army soldiers reduced to fewer than a thousand after breaking through.

During the escape, more than half were killed or injured.

Now, less than three hundred followed him, and he didn’t even know where the main battle flag was thrown.

Bai Shu, the recently promoted Commander of the Personal Guard Battalion, had a wound on his left shoulder. It was unaddressed and infected, leaving him pale and unable to fight.

“Goddamn it, where the hell has Chen Mo’s bastard army gone, we’ve run this far already.” Yuan Youchun cursed, glancing back.

The pursuing Yu State Army seemed fixed on him, and without another army’s intervention, he feared he wouldn’t escape.

“General, may it be that Chen Mo’s led his troops away…” Bai Shu weakly said.

“Hell, if we get out of this, I’ll surely complain to the Commander about him. Get on.”

…

Even though the moonlight was bright, visibility was limited. Without military flags, it was hard for Chen Mo’s army to distinguish these approaching forces.

However, as they got closer, Chen Mo recognized them, because the red numerals floating in the air were rather eye-catching.

“It’s the Tiger Swift Army.” Xia Zhining also identified them.

“County Magistrate, the Tiger Swift Army is being pursued,” Han Wu said in astonishment.

Chen Mo heard it.

The rumbling of hooves was impossible to miss.

“Let them pass first.” Chen Mo considered for a moment and said.

“Understood.”

“Almost there, release arrows.”

When the pursuing cavalry entered the ambush zone, Chen Mo commanded.

Xia Zhining’s expression tightened, “But the Tiger Swift Army hasn’t fully passed yet.”

“What Tiger Swift Army? There is no Tiger Swift Army; they’re all goddamn enemy forces. Release arrows,” Chen Mo shouted.

Han Wu and the others didn’t hesitate. As soon as Chen Mo issued the first order to release arrows, Han Wu blew the bamboo whistle.

When Chen Mo gave the second order, the archers hidden on both sides of the mountain road released their arrows.

“Swish!”

“Swish!”

“Swish!”

The arrows became reaping sickles.

Thud, thud, thud!!!

Under the indiscriminate attack from both sides, the cavalry passing through the middle were shot off their horses; the unlucky ones turned into living porcupines.

The slightly luckier ones had their horses shot in the legs, flipping them embarrassingly. The cavalry following closely behind were caught off guard by the ambush on both sides, unable to rein in their horses, crashing into the fallen cavalry, flipping over with horse and man.

As the first wave of arrows finished, the drums sounded. Chen Mo’s Personal Guard Team locked their crossbows and squeezed the triggers, launching another arrow volley.

Once the crossbow arrows were exhausted, the archers swiftly reloaded, starting a new round of volleys.

The horses screamed in anguish, blood sprayed wildly.

“Not good, there’s an ambush, retreat, retreat!”

At the rear, General Guan led the rear cavalry to arrive. Relying on the moonlight, he couldn’t clearly see the situation on both sides of the mountain road. Without knowing how many enemies there were, he could only stop pursuing and ordered a retreat.

But the cavalry already on the mountain road couldn’t retreat.

The sound of bowstrings kept ringing.

At such a close distance, with such a dense crowd, almost every shot took a life.

A one-sided massacre, the Divine Brave Guard and Divine Martial Guard grew braver as they fought.

“Retreat!”

General Guan knew the front troops couldn’t return, so he immediately stopped hesitating, turned his horse around to leave.

“Woosh!”

Just then, a heavy arrow shot out from the forest towards General Guan.

“General, be careful.” The personal soldiers instantly raised round shields or used their bodies to protect General Guan.

But unexpectedly, the heavy arrow grazed past their heads.

“Missed the shot?”

The personal soldiers, including General Guan, were stunned. Even the latter was already surrounded by a circle of blue Innate Spiritual Qi.

Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, the arrow that flew past them turned back.

As a Sixth-Grade Martial Artist, General Guan, with rich combat experience, drew his blade to block it, stopping the arrow just before it hit his forehead.

But the arrow’s explosive force was too great. At the moment the arrowhead touched the blade, sparks flew, and then the blade was heavily struck against his forehead, knocking off his helmet, and he fell off his horse.

General Guan’s expression changed drastically, his long hair fell over his shoulders. He immediately guessed he was facing a master. But before he could get up, a whooshing sound came from beside his ear.

An arrow pierced the Innate Spiritual Qi surrounding him, hitting his forehead, pinning him to the ground.

“General.” The nearby personal soldiers were shocked, quickly dismounted, protecting around General Guan, and hurriedly left without checking whether he was still alive.

In the forest, Chen Mo put down the strong bow, finding the red numbers on the opponent’s forehead too conspicuous to resist shooting.

Chen Mo drew the Tang Blade, shouting, “Beat the drums, charge with me!”

“Boom boom boom…”

On Chen Mo’s side, the Divine Brave Guard’s drumming began almost simultaneously with the advance.

The soldiers of the Two Guards drew their great sabers, charging down the mountain road. Two thousand men surged forward, shouting “Kill, kill, kill,” their voices echoing and intimidating the surroundings.

Zhi Ning, affected by the atmosphere, felt her adrenaline surge, her heart race, feeling her blood boil, and she also drew her long sword, charging down with Chen Mo.

Yuan Youchun’s Tiger Swift Army was largely killed by indiscriminate shooting from Chen Mo’s Two Guards. At first, he thought it was another ambush, but seeing Chen Mo’s troops charging down, Yuan Youchun angrily cursed:

“Chen Mo, you’re blind, even attacking your own people…”

Before he finished speaking, an invisible Sword Qi struck across, slashing at Yuan Youchun’s neck and shoulder junction, piercing the Innate Spiritual Qi like paper.

Blood spurted violently, splattering Bai Shu’s face. Seeing Chen Mo approach with his blade, Bai Shu was scared out of his wits, pointing at Chen Mo, “You, how dare you…”

Chen Mo didn’t stop, swinging his blade again, quickly sending Bai Shu to accompany Yuan Youchun.

“Kill them all, leave no one alive.” Chen Mo ordered.

“Understood.”

“Attack!”

“Chen Mo, if you dare kill us, the Commander will never let you off… Ah!” A personal soldier just spoke when Han Wu slashed his face, cursing, “You filthy thing, I’ve disliked you for a long time.”

After finishing, Han Wu didn’t stop, hacking the personal soldier’s face into an unrecognizable mess: “This settles my annoyance.”

So influenced by the atmosphere, even Zhi Ning killed two people, though recognizing one was not Tiger Swift Army, but an official soldier left her stunned.

“Never killed before?” Chen Mo cut down a Tiger Swift Army warrior trying to ambush Xia Zhining, then went over and patted her shoulder, “Don’t be dazed on the battlefield, or you might be the one dead.”

A quarter of an hour later.

“Rip…”

Sparks flew as torches lit up the mountain road. Soldiers of the Two Guards held sabers in one hand and torches in the other, clearing the battlefield.

“Kill the injured horses that can’t walk for army rations. Strip all the iron armors and take them, speed up.” Chen Mo saw the cavalry were equipped with fine iron armors, even the warhorses were armored, which explained how some survived the arrow rain during the charge.

“Understood.” The soldiers responded.

“County Magistrate, seven warhorses suffered only minor external wounds.” The accompanying military clerk stepped forward to report.

“Treat them and take them along.”

“Understood.”

“County Magistrate, found a map and two jade rings on him.” Han Wu searched Yuan Youchun’s corpse, handing the items to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo opened the map, discovering it was the map of Yu State, a rare treasure.

He pinpointed their current location on the map—Luqing Mountain.

Chen Mo gestured on the map, saying, “Someone come, help me report.”

A soldier arrived with paper and pen, standing by.

“Tiger Swift Army Leader Yuan Youchun, Commander Bai Shu, encountered an ambush by official soldiers, bravely resisted, failed to break out, ultimately died at Luqing Mountain…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep