Chapter 692: Chapter 287: Cloud Dragon Army’s First Battle, Zhou Yuan’s Bloody Struggle, Decisive Victory and Unexpected Windfall (Part 2)
When Zhou Yuan was only fifty meters away from the deep gully, he could already see clearly a large number of fully armed soldiers continuously climbing up from the bottom of the gully using ropes, then joining the ranks of archers.
The arrow rain became even more fierce, and the soldiers from Long Mountain hiding behind the ten carriages were so suppressed they didn’t dare to lift their heads.
“Song Ning, Li Yuankai, organize the army for a counterattack, don’t worry about me!”
This scene undoubtedly made Zhou Yuan even angrier. After giving the order to Song Ning and Li Yuankai behind him, he immediately charged forward thirty meters with his broadsword.
In the last twenty meters, Zhou Yuan didn’t continue to charge but leapt into the air, raising his broadsword high and slashing down toward the enemy’s arrow formation.
However, strangely, not a single soldier who was shooting arrows looked up at him; they all kept staring intently in the direction of the convoy, mechanically repeating the shooting action, continuing to suppress the Long Mountain army.
“Someone!”
Zhou Yuan was no novice. With experience in hunting and leading troops, he immediately judged that someone was guarding the arrow formation when he saw the soldiers’ reactions.
But the problem was, when his broadsword was only seven or eight meters away from the front-line soldiers, still no one came out to stop him.
“Playing tricks!”
Zhou Yuan gritted his teeth, his strength of Eleven Zong suddenly erupted, and the broadsword continued to slash down toward the front-line soldiers.
Swoosh……
It’s coming!
Zhou Yuan’s brow twitched sharply. The snow in front of the soldiers suddenly exploded, and a huge snow mist, more than ten meters high, burst forth.
Subsequently, a golden giant more than three meters tall stood up fiercely from it.
Clang!
The Sword Puppet’s four-edged arm collided with Zhou Yuan’s broadsword, creating a loud boom that shook it back three to five meters.
“Captain Zhou, long time no see.”
Behind the Sword Puppet, Xia Chuan, wearing light gold armor, walked out slowly. After retracting the Sword Puppet’s arm, he looked at Zhou Yuan with a slight smile.
Zhou Yuan withdrew his shocked gaze from the Sword Puppet, looked at Xia Chuan, and asked in a low voice, “Minister Xia, attacking Long Mountain for no reason, have you Great Xia considered the consequences?”
“Reconnaissance Camp and Mo Blade Camp, continue suppressing with arrows. Horizontal Blade Camp split into two lines and bypass the north and south, encircle the Long Mountain army!”
Xia Chuan gave a clean and sharp command, answering Zhou Yuan’s question.
Almost all the soldiers of the Cloud Dragon Army below Changbai Gully had climbed up the ropes.
The Long Mountain convoy was located on the west side of Changbai Gully, so the starting position of the army coming up from the bottom of the gully was directly to their east.
After Xia Chuan issued his command, Liu Yuan led the Reconnaissance Camp and three Mo Blade Camps, a total of four hundred people, to continue suppressing the Long Mountain army with strong bows from the front;
The six Horizontal Blade Camps divided into two lines, shooting arrows while circling north and south, trying to encircle the Long Mountain convoy.
The Long Mountain army was not foolish either. When the Horizontal Blade Camp circumvented north and south, they quickly set up bows and arrows to counterattack, attempting to prevent them from reaching the sides.
However, their counterattack was not only slow but also chaotic and inaccurate due to the continuous suppression from Liu Yuan’s four hundred men at the front.
Clang… Clang…
Xia Chuan did not idle. After ordering Liu Yuan, he controlled the Sword Puppet to continue entangling with Zhou Yuan.
The Sword Puppet’s limbs fiercely collided with Zhou Yuan’s broadsword, and just the shockwave alone collapsed all the accumulated snow on the west side of Changbai Gully into the deep gully.
From the initial battle it was clear that his basic strength was inferior to Zhou Yuan’s, so at most he could only entangle, and even that was challenging.
Bang!
With a diagonal slash, Zhou Yuan forced the Sword Puppet back more than three meters. He seized the momentum without giving respite, caught sight of Xia Chuan behind the Sword Puppet, and leapt bodily, aiming his broadsword straight at Xia Chuan.
He clearly understood the principle of capturing the ringleader first; instead of dealing with the troublesome Sword Puppet, it was better to directly target Xia Chuan who controlled it.
Unfortunately, his plan quickly fell through.
The Ghost Head Great Saber and a spear flew from Xia Chuan’s left and right sides from behind, not only utilizing Zhou Yuan’s broadsword but also cooperating with the Sword Puppet to send Zhou Yuan flying more than twenty meters away.
“Peng Bo, Chen Yingyuan!”
Zhou Yuan immediately recognized the owners of the two weapons. Taking advantage of the momentum of being struck away, he ran straight toward the convoy without looking back.
Evidently, when Chen Peng appeared, Zhou Yuan realized that he not only couldn’t deal with Xia Chuan, but he would also be in danger if entangled with the three of them.
So he chose to retreat, joining the Long Mountain army in facing the enemy.
“Smart, but a bit late!”
Xia Chuan immediately saw through Zhou Yuan’s intention. After a cold sneer, he controlled the Sword Puppet along with Chen Peng to give chase.
At the same time, he loudly ordered all the Cloud Dragon Army soldiers:
“Narrow the encirclement, discharge your iron arrows, and deploy the Mo Blade Camp first!”
Long Mountain soldiers had all retreated behind the four-wheeled carriages by now.
As more and more iron arrows from the six Horizontal Blade Camps shot from the north and south, the soldiers at both ends of the convoy began to converge toward the center.
Soon, all the soldiers gathered on the west side of the three central four-wheeled carriages.
All the wooden boxes on the three carriages had long been pierced by those iron arrows. Weapons and armor were scattered everywhere, fortunately, the carriages were made of iron and could withstand the iron arrow barrage.
Song Ning and Li Yuankai were not foolish either, having long commanded the remaining soldiers to overturn the three iron carriages, using the cargo side as shields to form three iron walls, blocking the enemy’s iron arrows.
This method proved effective, and casualties immediately halted.