"Help!"
"Come..."
Whoosh!
Chen Tie slashed Fan Yu's neck with his knife. Fan Yu's body trembled, and blood spurted from the wound, splattering onto Chen Tie's face.
Fan Yu's eyes widened, his expression contorted in rage. He trembled on the ground for a while before finally dying.
"Ho... ho... ho..."
Chen Tie was breathing heavily, even more nervous than when he first went to the battlefield!
He stood there for a moment, then drew his knife and slashed down again.
Chen Tie slashed repeatedly until he completely severed Fan Yu's head before stopping.
Looking at the head on the ground, after the initial tension, Chen Tie felt a strange sense of pleasure!
The son of a son-in-law who had married into the family cut off the general's head!
It turns out that even these high-ranking figures can die if their heads are cut off.
Chen Tie stayed in the room for a while, and when he came out, he had a completely different aura than before.
On the other side, Song Qi turned to look in the direction where Fan Yu was being held.
"I think I heard the general shouting, did you hear that?"
"I think I heard that too."
"I didn't hear anything."
"..."
As the group discussed the matter, Chen Tie, still covered in blood, strode towards them carrying a knife.
"All hands, prepare!"
He shouted loudly.
All the militiamen quickly formed ranks and raised their spears, aiming at the guards surrounded in the center of the open space!
Song Qi and the others' expressions changed drastically. "What do you want to do?"
"Kill!"
Chen Tie pointed his knife forward and decisively gave the order.
All the militiamen raised their spears and began their charge!
With a look of despair, Song Qi roared angrily, "You dare kill government soldiers? Are you rebelling?!"
"Kill--!!!"
The questions were drowned out by the deafening sounds of killing.
Hundreds of spears thrust in from all directions!
These personal guards were unarmed and without armor, facing a militia that was fully armed, lined up neatly, and outnumbered them by a factor of two.
Even if someone knows some martial arts, it's useless in this situation; they'll only struggle a little longer than others.
The spear pierced flesh again and again, and screams, curses, and pleas for mercy mingled together!
Whether they resisted or knelt and begged for mercy, corpses fell one after another, and blood soaked the soil...
Even though the selected militiamen had prepared themselves mentally before coming, they couldn't help but hesitate and become sluggish at this moment.
"Don't stop!"
"Keep killing!"
"If they live, we die! Our families die too!"
Chen Tie kept shouting, ordering everyone to continue attacking.
"Can't we just kill Fan Yu? Why do we have to kill all those personal guards?"
This was a question he had asked Guo Jiwang before.
"Because many of these guards are also Fan Yu's relatives, they are his family. Killing Fan Yu and keeping these people alive would only be a disaster! Only when all of them are dead can we tell the outside world that they died at the hands of rebels."
This was Guo Jiwang's answer.
So even though he felt reluctant, Chen Tie kept urging everyone to kill with a cold face.
He must ensure that all of these personal guards are killed!
Nearly 25 minutes later, hundreds of corpses appeared on the ground. The strong smell of blood was nauseating, and some militiamen couldn't help but run to the side to vomit.
Chen Tie's expression was also grim, but he calmly issued orders for everyone to dispose of the bodies and clean up the bloodstains...
In another manor, Guo Jiwang waited quietly in his room.
He had long ago ordered all the militia members in the village who were unaware of the matter to be withdrawn, to be withdrawn far away, forming only an encirclement on the outskirts.
After waiting for an unknown amount of time, Chen Tie, reeking of blood, walked in from outside, stood before him, and bowed.
"Chen Tie has completed his mission!"
"They're all dead?"
They're all dead. Not a single one was left.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Guo Jiwang walked over and handed Chen Tie a flask of wine. "Have a sip."
Chen Tie took the wine jug, tilted his head back and took two gulps, then coughed violently.
Guo Jiwang patted him on the shoulder and looked into the distance:
"We've done everything we could; now it's up to him."
135 Ambush! Swordsman vs. Armored Warrior
Wu Shuangren led more than two hundred men on horseback, galloping along the official road. The horses' hooves kicked up large clouds of dust as they trod through the mud.
As he rode his horse, he recalled in his mind the map that Guo Jiwang drawn himself.
If the troops heading from Mist Hidden Temple Mountain to ambush Mount Liang were to take the official road, they would inevitably pass through Yi Prefecture City, making them easy targets for the enemy. Therefore, they had to avoid the official road.
There is a small path to the northwest of Mist Hidden Mountain that can bypass Yi Prefecture City and then rejoin the official road.
Without Guo Jiwang's map, Wu Shuangren wouldn't have known there was such a route to take.
At first, he didn't understand why the other party, who had been staying in West River County, was so familiar with the terrain of Jiannan Circuit.
Later, he asked Guo Jiwang, who said that he had traveled to various prefectures in Jiannan Circuit before taking office and was familiar with the terrain. When he arrived in West River County, he saw that there were many caravans coming and going at the West River Wharf, so he spent money to buy hand-drawn route maps from the caravans. He also spent money to repeatedly inquire with the caravan members and verify the information with each other.
It took several years to create that map.
Wu Shuangren abandoned his thoughts and quickly led his team into a small path.
The road passes through a sparse bamboo grove; it is narrow, only wide enough for one horse to pass.
The queue slowed down and formed a long line.
Wu Shuangren ordered a break every half hour. After an hour, the group emerged from the bamboo forest and returned to the official road.
To the left of the official road were rolling hills covered with low shrubs. To the right was a dense forest with thick trees and lush foliage that blocked out the sky, making it impossible for warhorses to run and perfect for an ambush.
Wu Shuangren led the team a little further, then, estimating the time, reined in their horses and stopped.
"Everyone, change into your armor, grab your weapons, and nock your crossbows!"
Wu Shuangren turned around and gave the order.
In the end, the more than two hundred people split into two groups, one in front and one behind, and led their warhorses into the jungle.
A little over 15 minutes later, dust rose up ahead.
The Mount Liang forces have arrived!
Wu Shuangren climbed a large tree and looked out from among the branches and leaves. He could clearly see the Mount Liang troops walking towards him.
The formation was uneven and crooked. The personnel's clothing was not uniform, and most of them were not wearing armor.
Seeing this, Wu Shuangren breathed a sigh of relief.
Of these 6,000 Mount Liang men, probably less than 1,000 were truly elite.
A moment later, the vanguard of the Mount Liang forces passed through the area where Wu Shuangren was lying in ambush.
He didn't rush to act. He waited a while until the vanguard had completely passed his ambush point and the wagons loaded with provisions were visible in the ranks. Only then did he draw his bow and arrow, Traits onto a man wearing leather armor and riding a horse on the official road.
Whoosh!
The arrow pierced the air and struck the man on horseback squarely in the neck, knocking him off his horse.
"Release the arrows!!"
Wu Shuangren roared.
In the next instant, bowstrings twanged in unison in the jungle, and hundreds of arrows pierced through the branches and leaves, raining down on the enemy on the road!
These hundreds of men were all Wu Shuangren's personal guards. Some knew how to shoot arrows, while others carried powerful crossbows, ensuring they could launch an attack at the first opportunity.
The rain of arrows struck the front of the enemy ranks, and more than a dozen men immediately fell to the ground. Some clutched their necks, others were shot in the thigh, and they lay on the ground screaming in agony.
Two more warhorses were hit by arrows, and they roared and went berserk, throwing their riders off their backs!
Wu Shuangren had given prior instructions to prioritize shooting enemies wearing armor, so this volley of arrows was concentrated on those in the ranks wearing leather armor.
"Enemy attack--"
"I've been hit by an arrow!"
"Raise your shields! Raise your shields!"
The procession on the official road was thrown into chaos as if by an invisible hand!
Wu Shuangren fired three arrows from the tree, killing three enemies in succession.
Then he jumped down from the tree, landed steadily, picked up the longsword stuck to the side, and pointed it forward:
"Kill them all!"
He was the first to rush out of the jungle, followed Xu Yu by Xu Yu, and then thirty-eight guards in infantry armor rushed up the official road with him.
Wu Shuangren charged out from the middle to front of the enemy ranks. He brandished his longsword, and with two strikes, two heads flew off. He then led a group of heavily armored guards into the enemy ranks!
Screams, cries of alarm, and the clashing of weapons exploded out.
They were hit by a volley of arrows and before they could react, a group of armored enemies charged out from their flank. These Mount Liang soldiers had not received much training and were mostly bandits. At this moment, they all chose to flee.
Thus, Wu Shuangren and his personal guards successfully cut the enemy's front and rear ranks into two separate sections!
Only then did the militiamen who had been lying in ambush at the forefront rush out of the forest and quickly form a battle formation at the very front of the Mount Liang troops.
Even Wu Shuangren's personal guards were not skilled in mounted combat and archery, not to mention that half of the militiamen could not ride horses.
Therefore, this ambush was destined from the very beginning to be a fight of foot against foot!
The militiamen lined up in ten rows, with the front row holding shields and the back row holding spears.
Of these one hundred men, half were Wu Shuangren's personal guards, wearing lamellar armor taken from Fan Yu's personal soldiers, and stood in the front rows.
The men marched in unison toward the enemy's vanguard!
Seeing a forest of spears thrusting towards them, and knowing that the enemy was all clad in iron armor and clearly an elite force, the Mount Liang warriors at the forefront almost instinctively retreated, not daring to engage in battle!
Wu Shuangren had already led his men to change direction and attack from the rear of the Mount Liang vanguard.
The enemies wearing leather armor had already been targeted by crossbow bolts, and most of them had been killed.
As for iron armor, it's not something you wear all the time while marching, so almost no one in this Mount Liang group was wearing iron armor when they were attacked.
At this moment, Wu Shuangren and his group were facing mostly unarmored enemies!
So they achieved the same crushing effect that Bai Jinhuan and his men had shown at the Yi Province docks, and soon they carved a path of corpses and blood on the official road!
In an instant, the vanguard of Mount Liang, numbering over a thousand, was attacked from both sides.