Side Story Chapter 20: A Small Demonstration of Impressive Skill! The Battle of Feng Village!
A horseman galloped over and reported, “General, everything is ready.”
“Very good!” Blood Butcher said with satisfaction.
His mission was to go around to the rear of the Tang lines and strike directly at the interior, and it was an extremely important mission. If he succeeded, he would be promoted again, perhaps even becoming a subordinate under a Great General.
He suddenly thought of something, and called back the horseman who was heading back to the force.
“A few days ago, the scouts reported that some Third Prince arrived at the Tang army?”
The horseman said with a bowed head, “Yes. The newest reports say that this Third Prince has already arrived at the Longxi base. In addition, we have learned from our men in the capital that this Third Prince seemingly volunteered to come and deal with us.”
Blood Butcher savagely smiled as he coldly said, “Hmph, sending himself to death. These good-for-nothing Princes of the Central Plains are actually a good thing for us. Pass on my order. If you spot that Tang Third Prince, catch him alive. We can bring him back to the plateau and humiliate the Great Tang.”
“Yes!” the horseman replied.
Blood Butcher soon turned his horse and rode to his force of one thousand men, his voice resounding.
“Move out!”
……
It was night, and the moon was bright. The serenity of this quiet hour was disturbed by the thundering hooves of a brash force of Tibetan cavalry.
As they approached, their target was very clear: Feng Village!
There were many people living here, and quite a few were family members of Longxi soldiers. By raiding this place, they could deal the Longxi army a devastating blow.
At the head of the cavalry force, Blood Butcher led the charge, loudly ordering his men, “Faster! Let’s end this quickly and occupy this place. Don’t give the Tang any chance to report this matter.”
The Tibetan horsemen immediately picked up speed.
They were used to things like this. In their eyes, these Tang were just lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
But after galloping some distance, Blood Butcher looked at the nearby village and suddenly frowned.
“Something’s off.”
They were excellent riders, children of the wind, and Blood Butcher felt that something was off. This village was different from the others they had raided.
But this thought almost instantly passed, and Blood Butcher did not linger on it. He continued to lead his Tibetans in their charge.
They were striking right at the heart of the enemy and had kept their operation on Feng Village a top-class secret. Even his men only learned where they were going right before they left, let alone anyone else.
As for the Tang of Longxi… It wasn’t that he looked down on them, but many times before, they had tried to chase them down but hadn’t even been able to eat their farts, let alone catch up. There was no way the Tang would have been able to track them down.
“Hmph, I’m probably overthinking it.”
Blood Butcher mockingly laughed.
Rumble! The thundering of hooves grew louder and louder. But just as they were about to enter Feng Village, Blood Butcher finally realized what was wrong.
And he realized why he had been so uneasy.
Feng Village was too quiet!
Eerily quiet!
When they were still far away, the silence could be written off as everyone still being asleep. But now, they were less than five hundred meters from the village, their hooves like the rumble of thunder. Even the dead would have noticed.
Moreover…
Humans were one thing, but why weren’t the dogs barking?
One of the horsemen frowned and said, “Milord, something is wrong!”
Let alone Blood Butcher, even his subordinates had begun to notice that something was off.
Swish!
At that moment, the cold gleam of a weapon briefly appeared in Blood Butcher’s vision, and his face instantly paled.
“Not good! Ambush! Retreat!”
Blood Butcher’s heart almost jumped to his throat.
Whoosh!
All of the Tibetan horsemen instantly grimaced.
A moment later, before they could react, countless Tang soldiers poured out from the civilian homes, from the roofs, from the alleys… Like a rushing flood, they swiftly surrounded the Tibetan cavalry.
“How could there be so many Tang soldiers?”
The Tibetan cavalry were stunned by this sight, particularly Blood Butcher.
But Blood Butcher quickly got a hold of himself and coldly ordered,” “Don’t panic! Fight!”
These Tibetan horsemen immediately pulled out their sabers and prepared for battle.
Creakcreak!
At this moment, they heard a different sort of sound, and then they heard a shouted order from the distance.
“Release!”
By the time the Tibetan horsemen had realized what was going on, the sky had been blotted out by arrows.
“Take cover!”
“Tang archers!”
“Dodge!”
The Tibetans were stricken with fright and began to panic.
They were all saber-wielding horsemen, and because they were marauding cavalry that were meant for short battles, they wore light armor and carried no shields. As the rain of arrows descended, many of the horsemen were instantly turned to pincushions and killed on the spot.
Numerous Tibetan horsemen were felled by the arrows and shot down from their horses, and some of the horsemen were thrown off their saddles by their frightened and rearing horses and trampled to death on the ground.
“Damn!”
Blood Butcher gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He had never experienced such a sharp and frightening offensive before.
It wasn’t like he had never fought with the Tang before, but this Tang force was more frightening than any division of the Longxi army.
Before even being able to attack, his army had essentially evaporated on the first contact.
Blood Butcher swung his saber and savagely looked around him.
Although he didn’t know who had planned this ambush, and though he knew that the situation was extremely dire, they still hadn’t lost. Based on past experience, he knew that if he could kill the Tang leader, he could turn defeat into victory and rout this Tang force!
“Found you! Eat my saber!” Blood Butcher’s eyes flashed as he spotted a vigorous and proud figure mounted on a horse in the middle of the Tang ranks. He immediately knew that this was his target, and made a flying leap from his horse, swinging his sword.
“Third Highness, watch out!” Cui Sheng, in charge of Li Taiyi’s safety, noticed this savage assailant, his face tightening as he pulled out his saber and stood in front of the Third Prince.
General Guo Dingguo had charged him with the Third Prince’s safety, and Cui Sheng would not let him down.
Cui Sheng focused his Stellar Energy, his body tensing as he awaited Blood Butcher’s furious attack.
But just when Blood Butcher had reached the zenith of his jump, Li Taiyi suddenly nocked an arrow to his bow. Swish! The arrow flew out like a lightning bolt.
Bang!
This arrow carried such force that it instantly pierced through Blood Butcher’s forehead, carrying his corpse backward ten-some meters before he finally hit the ground in a plume of dust.
Cui Sheng was dumbfounded. Even the Tibetan horsemen were so stupefied by this sight that they forgot about fighting back.
Feng Village became eerily silent, everyone staring in speechless wonder at that mounted figure in the Tang ranks.
The first reveal of the sharp sword had left everyone stunned!
Everyone had believed that this was a soft and fragile Prince, but with this one strike, he had shown a level of archery that only veteran officers possessed. Moreover, Li Taiyi was unperturbed, and he naturally exuded a sharp and chilling aura.
Li Taiyi scanned the battlefield and immediately gave his order. “Archers, volley!”
All of the archers came to their senses, nocking arrows to their bows and beginning to take aim.
Thwishthwishthwish!
The Tang had attacked so abruptly that the Tibetans had no chance to counterattack, and now that their commander was dead, their morale plunged. One after another, they were shot through by the Tang archers and brought down from their horses.
It seemed to the Tibetans that each arrow hit its mark, not a single one missing.
The Tibetan horsemen panicked even more.
“Return to camp! Return to camp!” someone shouted, and this became a sort of signal, all of the Tibetan horsemen immediately turning their horses around and fleeing in panic.
But the Tang did not give them a chance. The horsemen were barely able to make it two paces before they were pincushioned by arrows.
One hundred, two hundred, three hundred… In a flash, the Tibetan horsemen were cut down like weeds.
The Tibetan force of one thousand men was soon completely wiped out by the Tang archers. There was not a single survivor!
Wang Haibin rode over with several archers and reported to Li Taiyi, “Your Highness, they have been completely wiped out.”
“Not bad.”
Li Taiyi glanced at the archers behind Wang Haibin and nodded in approval.
Before coming to Longxi, Li Taiyi had ordered Wang Haibin to train these archers.
Although Ü-Tsang was located on the plateau, they were a nomadic people, warriors on horseback. The Great Tang’s strengths lay in infantry, and it was difficult for them to deal with cavalry.
But bows were long-range weapons, making them ideal for dealing with cavalry. Alas, the Great Tang had few talented individuals in this field, not enough for them to be a force on the battlefield.
Fortunately, Li Taiyi still had his experiences from his past life. Though it was a dark period of history for Li Taiyi, he had learned quite a lot of archery from the Turks.
How else would he have been able to strike the center of the target from a hundred paces away at the military examination?
Thus, when this archer unit was first established, Li Taiyi had passed down all his knowledge, which had resulted in today’s victory.
“Just who are you?”
The sun was beginning to rise in the east, and Li Taiyi turned his horse around and gave an order.
“Return to base!”
As Li Taiyi spoke, the Tang soldiers began to obediently carry out his orders, forming up into ranks and then setting off for the Longxi border base.
……
The sun had soon risen.
At this time, at the Ü-Tsang border base, groups of cavalry solemnly waited outside the camp. There was no sound except the whinnying of horses.
All of the cavalry were looking at the largest tent in the base, seemingly waiting for the man inside to give an order.
“I’ve been waiting all night! Why is there still no news from that Blood Butcher fellow? Is a puny Feng Village that hard to occupy?”
As they all waited, a furious roar came from inside the tent, making the entire base tremble.