Chapter 490: 490

The battle was brief yet bloody . It started off with the archers among the one thousand men from the Transportation Office’s cavalry getting killed one after another in an ambush . The cavalry was trapped in the valley while being attacked by the archers from both sides of the valley . The entire battle was like a massacre .

The cavalrymen were like wild beasts trapped in a metal cage, while their enemies thrust their spears at them through the gaps between the bars from outside until they were about to die from severe injuries . The entrapped wild beasts could not strike back; they could only snarl and howl in agony .

The metal cage’s exit was a one-hundred meter sloping hill . The cavalrymen from the Transportation Office tried to escape from that slope but were unsuccessful, for God had only given them a very short time to escape . The moment Yan Liqiang killed their Chief Patrol Examiner Qu Mingcheng and picked up his Horned Python Bow again, their chance to escape was gone .

Arrows that poured like raindrops formed an invisible wall on that slope . Those who tried to escape through that slope were eventually severely injured by the wall ahead of them . They howled in grief and pain as their hopes in escaping were crushed…

By the time the last person from the Transportation Office’s cavalry fell to the ground with more than ten arrows sticking in his body, the carriages which blocked the path on both sides of the valley were still ablaze . The entire process lasted for only fifteen minutes .

The ownerless rhinodrake steeds were roaming about in the valley among the twilight while whinnying . Corpses with many arrows sticking out of them could be seen everywhere on the slope .

The archers and crossbowers were stunned by the scene in front of their eyes . The victory came to them so easily that for a moment, it all just felt as unreal as a dream to them . The two hundred of them ambushed a thousand people, but the battle ended with no casualties from their side . It was indeed an unbelievable miracle that even they themselves couldn’t believe their own accomplishment .

Those who participated in the battle just now were so shocked that no one could speak at the moment . The battlefield was in complete silence for half a minute .

“Everyone, gather all your weapons, pack your quivers, and go down with me! We do not want to leave any survivors! If you see someone without an arrow in their vital body part, shoot them again from a distance before you approach them and stab those with an arrow in their vital body part with your knife!” Zhou Yong shouted the orders with his deep voice . He waved his hand, then led everyone down the hill from both sides of the valley and started cleaning up the battlefield .

Yan Liqiang put down the Horned Python Bow in his hand . He stood on the hill as he calmly watched the scene in the valley . His face showed no traces of excitement or happiness — a trace of helplessness and pain flashed across his eyes instead . Those who had fallen were his enemies, yet they were also the people of the Great Han Empire . Perhaps not all of them were heinous and deserved death, but he had no choice in a situation like this . If he didn’t get rid of them, then these people would hurt more people when they entered Pingxi Prefecture .

“We…we’ve won…!” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng came over and looked at Yan Liqiang who stood on the hill silently watching the scene below in the valley . Although they were close with Yan Liqiang, they could still feel his lofty aura and the faint splendor shrouding him that made them truly revere him .

This was the first time the two of them ever witnessed Yan Liqiang’s performance on the battlefield . Truth be told, Yan Liqiang had frightened the two of them because they never thought that he was already this powerful . Yan Liqiang had only used three techniques to kill Chief Patrol Examiner Qu Mingcheng of the Northwestern Transportation Office . The first technique injured Qu Mingcheng when he was charging toward Yan Liqiang and made him retreat in defeat, the second technique injured Qu Mingcheng who was retreating again to stop him, and with the third technique, Yan Liqiang’s spear severed the powerful martial lord’s soul in the wilderness .

Yan Liqiang had used up at least ten quivers of arrows that were placed in front of him . Every arrow from those quivers struck a person down there . It was safe to say that Yan Liqiang had wiped out a third of his enemies . Every time Yan Liqiang drew his bow, four people would be struck by an arrow . The powerful bow which no ordinary person was able to draw was like a toy to Yan Liqiang . He could draw the bow for an unlimited number of times without feeling exhausted . It was indeed terrifying to have such a person on the battlefield . Yan Liqiang was equivalent to four powerful expert archers, and this was one of the reasons why there were no casualties on their side .

Yan Liqiang only stopped shooting when there were only around three to four hundred men left in the Transportation Office’s cavalry . He held his bow and quietly watched the two hundred men that he brought along with him crush the remaining struggling enemies with their arrows .

“F*ck!” Yan Liqiang swore . At this moment, perhaps swearing could help him vent a bit of his pent up anger .

Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng were a little shocked to hear Yan Liqiang curse out loud . Shi Dafeng scratched his head as he didn’t understand why Yan Liqiang was still unhappy with their victory . Only Shen Teng who took a glance at the corpses lying around the valley was able to vaguely guess why Yan Liqiang was unhappy, “Liqiang, we can only prevent this from happening again when we are truly powerful . Just like Teacher Shi said, there’s no need to blame yourself on the battlefield…”

“I’m not blaming myself… It’s just that… Never mind, forget it…” Yan Liqiang shook his head and took a deep breath . His eyes shone with determination once again as he glanced in the direction of Yin Provincial City, “Let’s hope that this time Jiang can wake up…”

“There is no way for him not to wake up . I reckon that he will be scared out of his wits . Even if he still has men in his hands, he wouldn’t dare to deploy them to Gan Province again . Someone should be coming to make peace soon!”

“Yes, let’s get prepared . We should head back to Pingxi Prefecture…”

Around ten minutes later, the battlefield was cleared . Yan Liqiang and the other two hundred people climbed onto their rhinodrake steeds and carriages, then shortly disappeared into the hills .

The sun had set completely and darkness started to shroud the land . The flames on the burning carriages at the valley only gradually died out two hours after Yan Liqiang and the rest left .

On the way back, Yan Liqiang remained silent while riding on Snowstorm Cloud as he pressed on . However, he realized that everyone else was looking at him in a new light, including Zhou Yong and Chang Kuan . The gazes that the men directed at him were filled with revere, admiration, and faith as one would have for their commander or leader . At the same time, they were also undergoing unprecedented changes . The sharp aura they were exuding was a mixture of self-confidence and formidability .

Zero versus a thousand!

This miraculous battle, which no one would probably believe if it was recorded in the books, had brought about huge changes and impacted everyone .

On the next day, the remains of the Transportation Office’s thousand-man cavalry were discovered before Yan Liqiang and his troops even returned to Pingxi Prefecture . The news instantly sent shockwaves across the northwestern provinces .