Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 3: Galloping Through Bingzhou, Troops Depart from Hedong Chapter 86: A Single Arrow Takes a Life

The sudden enemy attack changed the expression of King Xiutu.

The sound of hooves and footsteps around him, along with the arrow that seemed to point directly at him, closed in on his location.

Having grown up in the frequent battles of the grasslands, he could not mistake the number of people approaching.

This was a force of at least a thousand, and this thousand was certainly not the beginning.

Yet, such a force attacked suddenly, as if without any warning.

He was furious. Were the cavalry he had stationed at the Yanshan Pass and on the grasslands all blind?

But whether these people were blind or not, he now had to face the situation of being attacked by a large enemy force.

The arrow shot was at best a hundred paces through the willows, but the next moment…

No, he had already seen the cavalry charging towards him behind the blazing bonfire!

He also heard the cries of despair from his own side.

“Panic not!” King Xiutu shouted loudly, his voice carrying the strength of a grassland nomad, enough for everyone present to hear his call. “Do you not have weapons in your hands?”

Indeed.

Although it was a celebration, it was also a rallying of troops. According to the customs of the Xiongnu, there were no restrictions on carrying weapons, so they were not surrounded unarmed.

As King Xiutu spoke, someone signaled for the horses to come.

These enemies came suddenly, but they could still fight back.

King Xiutu’s words immediately calmed them down.

As the people below the platform drew their swords and formed ranks, King Xiutu’s peripheral vision caught sight of the Han captives bound and lying there. Due to the sudden commotion, they had turned from despair at being used as sacrifices and food to a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

This expression was clearly illuminated by the bonfire.

King Xiutu’s anger surged, and he immediately wanted to execute these people to rally his troops’ fighting spirit.

However, as he took three steps forward and swung his sword, he felt a sudden instinctive reaction to danger.

He instinctively stepped back a few paces, just in time to see an arrow flying towards him and embedding itself in the ground before him.

This was not the same arrow that had earlier severed the flagpole.

But this was clearly not the point at this moment!

Had he been even a moment slower, he would have died here.

In the lingering fear of his narrow escape, he saw the owner of the arrow leading a cavalry charge towards him.

The tall warhorses from Bingzhou leaped over the surrounding barriers and flags, the general on horseback imposing, and the following cavalry were no ordinary troops.

His guards, holding shields, rushed forward, and the sound of arrows hitting the shields echoed, as these cavalry shot arrows towards his direction while riding.

Almost simultaneously, another cavalry charged from a different direction.

This was not a shooting cavalry but a spear cavalry!

The spear cavalry on horseback!

The newly formed defensive formation collided with such a cavalry, as fragile as a paper city wall, easily pierced. The leading general’s spear moved like a gust of wind, the spear tip reflecting a spark from the bonfire, unstoppably piercing through the chest of the nearest man, and as it was withdrawn, it seemed to carry a trail of fire due to the blood.

He looked towards the arrows and shields on the high platform, and at King Xiutu surrounded in the middle, a youthful face flashing with a sense of freedom.

“Wen Yuan! Are you yielding the credit?”

Before his words faded, he turned his horse directly towards King Xiutu.

The row of spears, which had already slain many of King Xiutu’s skilled men, almost formed a silver wave of surging tides, or perhaps it was just the speed of their movement that created such an illusion.

But whether it was an illusion or not, in the face of such terrifying deterrence, King Xiutu had no doubt that even with his row of guards and iron shields, he could not stop the advance of these spearmen.

King Xiutu understood a few words of Han language and could tell from the words spoken that these two were competing for the credit of taking his head.

But he had thought that the young general, who was said to be yielding the credit, would also charge forward in anger, and the discord between the two forces competing for credit might give him a chance to exploit. Instead, he saw the young archer turn the tip of his arrow towards another direction, aiming at the nobles of King Xiutu’s tribe.

They were clearly dividing their tasks!

Zhang Liao’s practical experience on the borders of Bingzhou might not have yet reached his later prowess, but it had at least taught him one thing: coordination in battle is far more important than competing for the first credit.

Qiao Yan had also said on their way here that the competition for King Xiutu’s head must not affect their command of subordinates.

So, since he was one step away from success, why not let this opportunity go to someone else.

He laughed heartily, “Yield it is! You take this achievement first and then come boast to me!”

The target of this cavalry archer unit immediately shifted from King Xiutu to others, and the sudden arrow attack caused a dozen of them to fall dead on the spot.

Almost simultaneously, the cavalry spear formation led by Zhao Yun stepped onto the protective shields.

King Xiutu did not hesitate to jump down from the back of the high platform, intending to use the time the shield bearers bought to quickly mount his horse and return to battle.

He also saw that the spear-wielding young general’s target had shifted to clearing these shield bearers first, seemingly giving him a chance to regroup.

But as soon as he mounted his horse and gathered with the other King Xiutu warriors who had also called for their horses, even before they could form a charging formation, they collided head-on with a third cavalry force.

And coincidentally, this was a force most suited to counter the Xiongnu cavalry.

These cavalry did not wield spears or long swords, but hook sickles.

Under the leadership of a young general, as King Xiutu saw it, the hook sickles struck out, and at the first clash, the sound of horses’ mournful cries filled the air.

He hastily turned his horse but could not avoid the horse’s leg injury, which caused it to go berserk and throw him off.

Fortunately, being a tough-skinned man, he did not faint immediately from such a wound but was helped up by his King Xiutu warriors. During the cavalry clash, or rather the overwhelming charge, he managed to escape a bit further.

However, at this moment, he heard an unusually dull sound.

Like a heavy thunder rumbling on the ground.

Thud!

Then a second sound.

A third.

…

This was not a sound coming from one direction but, like the footsteps and hoofbeats he had first heard, coming from all around, forming a terrifying sound that enveloped them.

As the enemy approached, he finally saw them.

They were dressed in ordinary, tight-fitting clothes, with not many wearing armor, but as they uniformly closed in towards the center, it was impossible not to feel panic.

In the heavy night, this special way of closing in made it difficult to discern how many there were and how much force they had.

King Xiutu could only see his compatriots trying to break out of the encirclement, colliding with these seemingly ordinary soldiers, desperately trying to escape.








It turns out that their fighting spirit is not as high as the enemy’s.

This is a scene he never expected to see.

But how could he know that these White Wave Bandits were only thinking of taking the heads of the Xiongnu to earn a chance to redeem themselves and join Leping.

So these seemingly ferocious Xiongnu are just stepping stones in their eyes.

Just kill them!

As these White Wave Bandits approached, King Xiutu finally saw the most striking figure in the group.

Compared to the cavalry that appeared earlier, this young woman in tight clothing, though riding a horse, was slowly advancing with the infantry, exuding the calm demeanor of a leader.

She was not within the light of the bonfire but stood under the moonlight and starlight.

Even though King Xiutu had never seen a woman as a leader among the Han people, it didn’t stop him from immediately recognizing who the leader of this strange army was.

She quietly watched as King Xiutu, after escaping death three times, gathered some men again, and then her gaze fixed on him.

Just as most of the Xiongnu couldn’t understand her command to “follow me to kill the enemy,” she also couldn’t understand the wolf-like howl King Xiutu let out.

But it probably meant something like “capture the leader first.”

But could he really do it?

Qiao Yan gave another order to Xu Huang and raised her bow again.

With King Xiutu’s eyesight and the distinctive color of the white-feathered arrow, he could tell it was the same arrow that had previously shot through the outer flagpole.

That arrow had once been a signal for their attack, and now it was aimed directly at his head.

The trouble was, he no longer had his shield-bearing guards around him, and he couldn’t guarantee that he could rely on instinct to escape from such a cold and precise shot.

Moreover, the threat to him wasn’t just from this arrow.

The Han army was advancing all around.

These infantry soldiers were no less threatening than the cavalry.

Strangely, he and his newly gathered followers felt that there was also a wild, untamed bandit-like aura emanating from the enemy.

So much so that in this clash, he couldn’t sense much of an advantage in strength or morale on his side.

It made his plan to capture and kill the enemy leader feel like jumping around in a tightly sealed cage.

And now, the leader he called the “king” had drawn her bow to its fullest.

King Xiutu had a bad feeling.

The situation had come to this, yet between them stood Dian Wei’s close-guard formation!

Especially Dian Wei.

His long halberd and demon-like slashing were enough to make anyone believe that he could protect Qiao Yan like an iron fortress, leaving no chance for anyone to break through.

So when the arrow’s tip gleamed in the moonlight, he suddenly had a strange illusion.

Wasn’t this exactly what he had done to the Han people in Guyang City?

They surrounded them, making escape impossible. A few brave ones tried to attack him, but they were stopped at a distance, and he shot them down one by one, as if hunting in a field.

But now it was reversed—

He was the prey being targeted!

This reversal filled him with extreme humiliation.

But this was exactly what Qiao Yan wanted to see.

She glanced at Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, and Zhang Yang, and seeing that all three of them tacitly left the task of killing King Xiutu to her, as if killing a king with a king was the most appropriate action at this moment, she didn’t hesitate in her actions.

The arrow was on the string.

The bow was in her hand.

King Xiutu wasn’t the first person she had practiced her archery on.

Her earlier act of shooting through the flagpole was enough to prove that in this nighttime celebration environment, there would be no misfires.

And the massacre she had witnessed in Guyang City, the murals she had seen on Guyang Road, along with the anger that had been fermenting in her heart during these two days of marching, were all ready to burst out at this moment!

Her jade ring hooked the bowstring, and her eyes locked onto King Xiutu, who was trying to dodge the arrow.

But in this instant, her mind was still exceptionally clear, driving her body to release the arrow the moment King Xiutu tried to move.

So what both Qiao Yan’s side and the Xiongnu saw was King Xiutu seemingly delivering himself to the tip of the arrow.

The white-feathered arrow pierced through his head, leaving only the fletching stuck in his forehead.

The arrow through the head was a fatal shot.

As King Xiutu fell, he seemed to finally remember a saying.

One Han is worth five Hu.

The sounds of battle around them gradually weakened.

With King Xiutu already dead, the Xiongnu were increasingly losing their courage, while their opponents were growing fiercer.

This made them even more powerless against the oncoming enemy.

Until the last Xiongnu fell, Qiao Yan slowly rode her horse to King Xiutu’s corpse.

This king, who had been pulled down from the pinnacle of his dreams, still had an expression of extreme despair and fear on his dead face.

But compared to the Han people who had died in Guyang City, or those who had been treated as toys or food, his death was somewhat merciful.

Thinking of this, Qiao Yan glanced at the boiling cauldron on the high platform.

For a moment, she regretted not making him experience what it felt like to be boiled alive like fish in hot water.

But a warning bell rang in her heart, reminding her that humans are still humans, and she must not cross her own moral line!

Especially, she must not set a precedent for such barbaric retaliation.

She closed her eyes and pondered for a moment, and when she opened them again, her gaze was clear.

However, while throwing someone into a cauldron was not acceptable, it didn’t mean she couldn’t make a sufficiently intimidating move.

Especially when she thought of the man-made damage on the inner Great Wall outside Guyang City, a cold light flashed in her eyes.

She really needed to make people fear her!

Not just the Xiongnu forces north of Yinshan, but also those who dared to act within the Great Wall.

She glanced around, confirming that there were no more living Xiongnu here, and everyone’s eyes were now focused on her as the leader. She then ordered in a deep voice, “Cut off the heads of all the Xiongnu here.”

Cut off their heads to build a pyramid of skulls?

No!

Shouxiang City was outside Yinshan. If they only built a pyramid of skulls here, how could certain special audiences see it?

If she wasn’t mistaken, the damage on the Great Wall was done by the already assimilated Southern Xiongnu!

They were dissatisfied with the imperial conscription order and intended to act against the Chanyu Qiang Qu, chosen by the Protector-General of the Southern Xiongnu, and guiding the Xiongnu forces outside the pass was indeed a reasonable move.

But without evidence, and given that they had already “submitted” to the Han, Qiao Yan could at most exterminate this gathered force due to the Xiongnu’s clear crimes, but she absolutely couldn’t rashly attack the Southern Xiongnu.

But how about letting them see the fate of their companions and the bloodlust of the Han people?

“Hang their bodies on Shouxiang City, and their heads—”

The faces on these heads were enough to identify them as Xiongnu, not Han.

“Tie their heads to the sides of your horses and shoulders, and we will return singing, passing through the Southern Xiongnu territory in Xihe Commandery!”