Huo Shengnan smiled. "Then I'll give them a hand!" She took an Iron-Bodied Slingshot from her leather pouch and picked up a grape-sized pellet. Taking aim at the enemy standard-bearer, she fixed her eyes on his mount and fired when the moment was right.
The pellet shot out with a whoosh! Although the two sides were half a li apart, a distance ordinarily beyond the range of a slingshot, Huo Shengnan's weapon was specially made. Moreover, since studying the Sun-Shooting Scripture, she had learned to channel her internal power into her pellets, multiplying their range. The pellet struck the standard-bearer's mount squarely in the rump.
The horse screamed and galloped forward at full tilt. Before the Western Sichuan standard-bearer even understood what had happened, his horse was carrying him away at breakneck speed. He gripped the reins with one hand and held the great banner high with the other. After all, carrying and protecting the banner was his duty; he could not simply drop it under any circumstances.
The Western Sichuan soldiers had no idea what had happened. Seeing their standard-bearer suddenly charge ahead, they all whipped their horses into a desperate gallop after him.
Hu Xiaotian and Huo Shengnan could not help laughing at the sight, and even Zhuge Guanqi smiled. Sometimes, it seemed, the most effective solution was simply brute force.
The agreed meeting place for the four parties was called Green Grass Garden. Though its name sounded elegant, the place itself hardly lived up to it. The open expanse consisted entirely of yellow earth, with not a blade of grass in sight. Only a few trees stood forlornly there, and those had long since died. Black Sand City had suffered droughts both last year and the year before. This year, however, the winds and rains had been