Chapter 691: Chapter 287: Cloud Dragon Army’s First Battle, Zhou Yuan’s Bloody Struggle, Decisive Victory and Unexpected Windfall
"Once we start circling around, find a chance to leave the group!"
The army of Long Mountain had already stopped, and after a rest, they were preparing to head south. Behind the ninth large cart, Li Hu quickly whispered to Yang Zhong beside him.
Yang Zhong glanced at the deep ravine less than half a mile ahead, knowing this was the only opportunity, he immediately nodded in agreement.
Throughout the journey, the two were always looking for a chance to leave the convoy, but Zhou Yuan kept urging them, watching too closely, making it impossible to find an opportunity.
The team was finally resting, and beside them was a deep ravine.
It was indeed a good opportunity.
"Alright, let’s move out!"
With an order from Zhou Yuan, the army, having rested for about ten minutes, started to turn and circle south along the Changbai Gully with ten large carts in tow.
The convoy moved south for half an hour and traveled less than a kilometer when they could already see the end of Changbai Gully from a distance.
"Why haven’t those two returned yet?"
Zhou Yuan, on the flank of the convoy, turned to look behind, his expression angry.
Song Ning and Li Yuankai had been gone for over forty minutes.
Does it really take that long to find someone?
Zhou Yuan frowned, suppressing his anger, then turned to look at the vast snowfield ahead of the army, his expression eased considerably.
Most of Longyou is flat and the visibility is wide open, especially in Changning, where aside from this ravine, you can’t even find a snow hill to hide.
Besides, Hou Hu had already joined forces with Long Mountain; right now among the forces in Longyou that could threaten the Longyou Army, there were basically none left.
Long Mountain had long sent scouts to probe Great Xia’s situation. Although Great Xia’s strength was decent, left in Longyou were just two thousand ordinary Earth-digging Realm individuals.
If these few dare to ambush, Zhou Yuan would actually be pleased.
"Surely they wouldn’t hide the army in the ravine?"
Zhou Yuan turned to look at Changbai Gully not far to the east, his brow slightly furrowed, hesitant for a moment before walking over.
Better safe than sorry!
At this moment, the army was marching south along the ravine, about two to three hundred meters away from the west side of Changbai Gully. Zhou Yuan soon approached within a hundred meters.
The Cold Resistance Level has sensing abilities. As he was just over a hundred meters from the ravine, Zhou Yuan slowed his steps, holding his breath to sense the situation over there.
But right at that moment, a loud shout came from the rear of the army.
"Capital Commandant, there’s an issue. We searched all along Changbai Gully and couldn’t find Cheng He and Li Yuanqing. Just now, we found signs of a scuffle beside the ravine."
It was Song Ning’s voice!
Upon hearing, Zhou Yuan’s brows furrowed deeply. He immediately turned his gaze and noticed the army moving a little more ahead, getting closer to the nearest point to Changbai Gully, only a hundred meters away. He instantly realized something, his face suddenly changed with alarm, shouting loudly: "Stop, everyone stop, quickly stop..."
"Fire arrows!"
Whizz...
An Iron Arrow suddenly shot from the direction of Changbai Gully towards the convoy.
Whizz... Whizz... Whizz...
Immediately afterward, dozens, over a hundred Iron Arrows, simultaneously shot towards the direction of Long Mountain Army’s convoy.
The sound of Iron Arrows breaking through the air was almost simultaneous with Zhou Yuan’s urgent call.
Hence those in Long Mountain Army’s convoy had no time to react.
Thunk... Thunk...
These Iron Arrows, whether in accuracy or power, far exceeded Long Mountain Army’s expectations. The actual number of arrows in the first volley wasn’t large, barely two to three hundred arrows.
Yet all two to three hundred arrows, without exception, hit the targets.
Even most of the Iron Arrows accurately pierced through the soldiers’ faces, arms, or waists, disabling these crucial parts which had no Iron Armor protection.
The convoy, formed by ten large carts, had a length of at least two hundred meters. Over a thousand soldiers were already widely dispersed. Hit by this arrow rain, their formation scattered even further.
"Ambush, ambush, quickly hide behind the carts, quick quick quick!"
"On the Changbai Gully side, ready your bows and counterattack, quick quick!"
Of course, Long Mountain soldiers weren’t that foolish either. Quickly, the squad leaders reacted, starting to organize the army to use the four-wheeled carts as barriers to dodge Iron Arrows, then indicating the enemy’s position, signaling everyone to take out bows to retaliate.
Though they were newly formed soldiers, their equipment standards were as per the Longyou Army’s regulations, including thirty-stone strong bows, hundred forged weapons, and war armor, all were equipped.
Whizz whizz whizz...
Unfortunately, they seemed to have little chance to counterattack.
Arrows shot continuously from the direction of Changbai Gully, and as time passed, the number increased, even some extremely powerful arrows appeared, capable of piercing their Iron Armor.
"Stop, you damned bastards!"
Zhou Yuan reacted extremely fast; the moment the "fire arrows" command sounded, he was already braving the arrow rain, shouting angrily as he charged towards Changbai Gully.
He saw clearly, the moment the command was issued, over a hundred soldiers clad in light gold armor suddenly emerged from the west side of Changbai Gully, wildly shooting towards Long Mountain convoy.
The opponents indeed hid the army at the bottom of the ravine!
At this moment, Zhou Yuan’s heart was full of regret, regret for not scouting the situation beneath Changbai Gully in advance, but there was no time to regret now. He could only continue pushing forward against the arrow rain, attempting to reach those soldiers currently shooting, to disrupt their Arrow Formation.
Thirty-stone strong bows shooting a small-scale arrow rain wouldn’t be enough to cause the thousand-strong army to collapse. The convoy would quickly form its positioning; the key now was to scatter the hundred-plus opponents, and then prevent enemy soldiers from continuously climbing up from the ravine.