Chapter 67: The Ambush at Great Yang Village

The Jie sentinels stationed outside Great Yang Village also caught sight of the charging escort troops. A horn blast immediately pierced the air, and the Jie soldiers who had been frantically pillaging the village dropped their stolen goods and rushed toward the outskirts in swarms.

A burly chieftain was already burning with rage because the villagers had vanished into the tunnel network, leaving not a single shadow behind while costing him over a dozen men for no good reason. Seeing the Great Xia army charging toward him now, he instantly decided to vent his blind fury upon these soldiers.

"Truly courting death! Little ones, slaughter this pack of two-legged sheep and leave no survivors!" At the chieftain's command, the Jie soldiers mounted their steeds and charged straight at Zhou Hu and Wei Xiang. In their eyes, these Great Xia people were utterly vulnerable. Even clad in heavy armor, they remained mere lambs awaiting slaughter. In past years, the Great Xia forces had always cowered behind city walls, not daring to step a single inch outside even when taunted right beneath the gates of Yancheng. Yet now, they actually had the audacity to venture out into the open fields.

Zhou Hu closely gauged the closing distance between the two forces. Given the rapid speed of the charging cavalry, he could not wait until they were at point-blank range to fire, or the crossbow bolts would simply land behind the enemies. Estimating that the distance was nearly right, Zhou Hu gave the order: "Fire!"

Two hundred crossbow bolts angled forward through the air. Moments later, thirty Jie soldiers in the vanguard were struck and crashed to the ground, while the cavalrymen directly behind them failed to brake in time and piled over the fallen horses.

Suffering heavy losses from this unexpected ambush, the Jie chieftain roared at the top of his lungs, "Quickly loose your arrows! Shoot!"

Because ordinary bows had a shorter effective range than crossbows, the Jie soldiers had not loosed their arrows beforehand, intending to wait until the distance closed. Yet they never dreamed that the Great Xia army would actually fire crossbows from horseback. Amidst the sudden panic, shouts of "Charge!" and "Kill!" echoed wildly.

The two cavalry forces quickly clashed. The Jie chieftain swung a massive saber with vicious intent, aiming straight at Zhou Hu's head. However, before the blade could descend, Zhou Hu thrust his spear forward with explosive force, piercing directly through the chieftain's chest. The impact lifted the chieftain backward off his mount, sending him crashing heavily into the head of a horse belonging to another Jie rider behind him. The sudden impact threw the animal completely off balance, causing it to crash to the ground. The rider atop it was violently unseated and trampled to death by the hooves of the horses thundering behind.

The Prince's elite guard possessed extraordinary martial prowess and were fully protected by heavy armor, rendering them utterly fearless. They adhered to a single principle: you swing your weapon, I swing mine, relying purely on superior equipment to crush the enemy head-on. Within a single exchange, the majority of the Jie soldiers were either dead or severely wounded. In contrast, only a dozen or so guard troops had been unseated by collisions, and though injured, their lives were secure.

Zhou Hu and his men swiftly wheeled their horses around and charged at the scattered Jie soldiers once more. By now, the Jie troopers realized they were facing a small, highly elite unit that could not be overcome by brute force; continuing the fight would yield no advantage, especially with their chieftain dead. Their only viable tactic now was to employ hit-and-run harassment. Abandoning all thoughts of a prolonged engagement, they whipped their horses into a gallop and fled into the distance, continuously drawing their bows to shoot backward over their shoulders. Although the arrows dealt little damage when striking armor, hitting a horse could prove fatal.

Seeing this, Zhou Hu immediately issued new orders: the flank units were to continue the pursuit, while the central unit was to dismount and use crossbows to pick off the fleeing enemy. Over a hundred soldiers pursued from the flanks, while those in the center dismounted instantly, braced their boots against the stirrups of their crossbows, and strained with all their might to draw the strings. Since the distance was still within seven hundred meters, crossbow bolts would invariably travel faster than running horses. With a single volley, dozens of Jie soldiers were either struck and tumbled from their saddles or thrown as their mounts were shot beneath them. Three breaths later, another volley was loosed, dropping a dozen more. The remaining dozen or so soldiers managed to escape beyond the effective range. Being lightly armed cavalry, it was difficult for the guard troopers to overtake them. After pursuing for a short distance, the soldiers ceased the chase, dismounted, and used their crossbows to systematically eliminate the remaining targets. In the end, only a single enemy managed to flee far beyond range.

Wei Xiang and several guard brothers strode forward with sabers drawn, showing not a shred of mercy as they finished off any twitching Jie soldiers still drawing breath.

Meanwhile, Zhou Hu led men to tend to the wounded brothers. A dozen men had sustained injuries, mostly from collisions or being trampled by horses, but fortunately, all of them survived.

Spotting some local transport, Zhou Hu turned and commanded one of the guards: "Liu Zi, scour the village and find some ox carts or horse-drawn wagons."

"Understood, Captain!" The guard called Liu Zi rallied a few men and dashed into the village.

Just as everyone was cleaning up the battlefield, Qin Fang's deputy commander, Hao Tong, finally arrived with the city defense garrison. Taking in the scene before him, he instantly gnashed his teeth in profound frustration and regret for not having arrived sooner. Yet this could hardly be blamed entirely on him; the soldiers under his command had only learned how to ride horses a month or two prior. Treating them as true cavalry was an impossible stretch—they were essentially just infantry who moved slightly faster. They lacked the rigorous training of the prince's guards, who could charge fiercely on horseback and form cohesive battle arrays on foot, standing as the absolute elite among elites. After all, protecting the imperial family admitted no carelessness; every single man was handpicked from thousands.

"Damn it all, you bastards always show up just in time to miss the feast!" Hao Tong cursed furiously at the soldiers behind him.

Seeing this, Wei Xiang chuckled and bantered, "Brother Hao Tong, why don't you leave your post and come serve under my command at the yamen? I'll make sure you get a hot meal, how about that?"

Hao Tong retorted irritably, "Old Wei, don't let your tongue slip while boasting like that. Serve under you? What can mere yamen runners possibly accomplish? If I were to transfer anywhere, it would be to the Prince of Yan's estate."

"Hey, who are you looking down on? To tell you the truth, our yamen brothers slew at least eighty enemies today—if you don't believe me, ask Captain Zhou," Wei Xiang said with a triumphant swagger.

"Go on and blow your horn. You lot? Hmph."

As the two men bantered, Liu Zi returned from the village leading two ox carts. The heavily wounded guard soldiers were hoisted aboard, and leaving Hao Tong and his men behind to comfort the villagers and deal with the corpses, the rest hastily hurried back toward Yancheng.