The encirclement gradually tightened. After the Xin Tribe's army launched one breakout attempt, its remaining forces totaled only around fifteen hundred men. Of the other four hundred or so, some had been captured by the Han Tribe during the breakout, while others had lost hope and jumped off the cliff.
The fifteen hundred men on the Xin Tribe's side had been successfully driven to the edge of the cliff. They had nowhere left to retreat, with a forty-meter-high precipice behind them. Worse still, the river below was packed with the Han Tribe's ships.
Right before their eyes, Han Army soldiers clad in iron armor and helmets, carrying huge shields and steel blades, had surrounded them layer upon layer. Looking down at their own hands, they had only a few wooden sticks and bamboo poles. Even weapons like stones had been discarded completely during the earlier breakout.
At that moment, everyone was filled with despair. In such a situation, even if they were extraordinarily brave and one man could fight ten Han soldiers, they were at a huge disadvantage without weapons. Facing the elite Han Army stretching beyond their sight, they could not even summon the will to resist.
They seemed to have only two choices now: either be killed by the Han Tribe or jump off the cliff and seek death themselves. There was practically no other option.
But at that very moment, the situation unfolding before them left them completely baffled. They had no idea what the Han Tribe was trying to do.
The Han Army, several times their number and already holding victory in its grasp, suddenly stopped on command when the distance between the two sides was still fifty meters.
"What are they trying to do? Are they going to shoot arrows at us?" A married youth