Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 999: Chapter 701: The Terror of the Strongbowmen

As a Military Officer who has served in the Daning Guard on the West Road of Chongshan Town for twenty years, Jiang Fu has always studied the situation of the Wuliang Hu Clan to the west of Chongshan Town.

When it comes to the situation in Yemi City, he might know less, but as for the Hu Clan tribes around the Monghe Mountain, he is almost completely familiar, including the Tatar Tribe and Chi Ci Tribe.

Upon hearing Yang Mingzhi’s question, Jiang Fu quickly replied, “About fifty miles left, and at our current marching speed, we’ll probably reach the Mongke Tatar Tribe by early tomorrow morning!”

With that, he glanced back at the soldiers resting on their horses.

They had left the Daning Guard for three days now, and in these three days, they had galloped over five hundred miles, averaging two hundred miles a day.

This speed might not sound very fast, but don’t forget they are marching.

Two thousand soldiers, each with two horses, dressed in light armor, carrying weapons and provisions, galloping all the way.

The men can endure, but the horses might not necessarily be able to keep up.

Even though these warhorses are carefully selected, they are also quite exhausted by this point.

Yang Mingzhi also turned to look at the warhorses behind him, “It’s fine, they should be able to hold on for another day!”

To Yang Mingzhi, the warhorses are consumables; as long as they achieve the marching objective, exhausting thousands of warhorses is worth it.

Moreover, even if their warhorses are exhausted, it’s not an issue. Once they reach the Tatar Tribe’s flag territory, they can acquire more warhorses and replenish the missing ones.

“Pass down the order; rest for two hours and then continue the journey!” Yang Mingzhi said.

The soldiers received orders without any extra actions, pulling out dry food and water bags to fill their stomachs before lying directly on the grass to rest.

It’s not yet September, which is the most comfortable time around Monghe Mountain, not too cold or too hot, and not humid, so even sleeping outdoors won’t cause them to catch cold.

Two hours passed quickly, and the sky had completely darkened. Fortunately, the weather tonight was good, with a starry sky and a bright moon.

After tidying up their armaments, the soldiers silently mounted their horses and continued the journey.

Fifty miles is neither far nor near; traveling at night on horseback is much slower, but it’s only a bit over two hours.

Bai Ning did not expect the Chongshan Army to arrive so quickly, and while the Tatar Tribe was already preparing to block the Chongshan Town army, none of them anticipated an enemy raid tonight.

Therefore, despite arranging night watch patrols around the flag territory, they did not deploy many guards for the night.

The flag territory of the Tatar Tribe is a large village located at the top of a hill, the hill being not very high, only about a dozen feet, with extremely gentle slopes.

In the center of the flag territory is a relatively exquisite palace built entirely with gray-white stone.

From the palace outward are rows of stone houses and fences; stone houses for humans to dwell, while cattle and sheep are kept inside the fences.

At the hillside of the hill is another circle of stone walls, at a height of about two meters. This stone wall was not constructed to resist enemies but to prevent cattle and sheep from escaping, hence it’s not very high.

Of course, there are defensive facilities here as well; standing on the inner side of the stone wall are numerous two-zhang tall arrow towers, numbering over a hundred.

However, tonight there were not many people stationed on these arrow towers, approximately only two people per tower.

They weren’t focused on the outside but either squatting inside the tower dozing off or huddled together chatting idly.

And just outside the stone wall, a thousand meters away, shadows silently crawled up the hillside.

The two thousand soldiers from Divine Wood Island, consisting of one thousand elite archers and one thousand Sword and Shield Hands, formed into combat groups, each with one elite archer and one Sword and Shield Hand, the elite archer responsible for shooting, the Sword and Shield Hand responsible for protecting the elite archer.

Then they formed into ten-man squads, composed of five elite archers and five Sword and Shield Hands.

These formations are due to their real combat training conducted at sea.

The space on the ship is relatively narrow, not suited for overly large squad battles; the previous squads of Star Moon Island’s Navy were composed of five-man teams, now Yang Mingzhi simply changed it to two-man teams.

Combat method has been simplified, with the elite archers shooting arrows, and the Sword and Shield Hand surrounding the elite archer, providing support and protection.

The Sword and Shield Hand carries a round shield, about three feet wide, weighing around thirty pounds, heavy and extremely strong in defense.

One hand wielding the sword, the other holding the shield, the Sword and Shield Hands bent over, marching up toward the stone wall slowly, carrying two quivers on their back, with the elite archers beside them, also wearing two quivers around their waist.

The night was extraordinarily tranquil, the cold moonlight and the shining starlight spilled over, lending the green hillside a kind of gentle beauty.

Yet, this beauty was quickly shattered.

When the Sword and Shield Hands and elite archers were within a hundred meters of the stone wall, Yang Mingzhi waved at the signal soldier beside him, immediately disrupting the silence of the night with a distant horn sound.

The horn sound, low and deep, was particularly loud in the quiet night.

Following this, the soldiers no longer hid their figures, each rapidly sprinting toward the stone wall like agile beasts.

The soldiers stationed on the arrow towers within the stone wall heard the horn sound, some stood up in confusion to look towards the outside of the stone wall, only to be met with arrows piercing their throats almost as soon as they stood up.

In an instant, the Sword and Shield Hands had crossed the stone wall, charging into the Tatar Tribe’s flag territory.

Yang Mingzhi leapt gracefully, landing atop an arrow tower, looking toward the palace at the hilltop.

“Kill!”

The flag territory of the Tatar Tribe housed quite a population, probably around sixty to seventy thousand people, so the flag territory area is extensive, comparable to a county town.

Besides this, there are three villages surrounding the flag territory.

Simply put, within a ten mile radius, there reside over a hundred thousand members of the Tatar Tribe, among whom about thirty percent are young and strong adults.

Meaning Yang Mingzhi with two thousand men aims to defeat thirty to forty thousand young and strong members of the Tatar Tribe.

The young and strong of the Hu Clan are soldiers, once mounted on horseback, they become Northern barbarian, ready to charge and fight on the battlefield.

Against a force ten times larger, this is the battle faced by the two thousand soldiers of Divine Wood Island.

As the soldiers of Divine Wood Island entered the flag territory, originally silent flag territory quickly sounded with chaotic noise.

The sleeping Tatar tribal members were awakened, walking out of the stone houses in confusion to check the situation, only to be greeted by arrow shots as soon as they stepped out.

The soldiers of Divine Wood Island didn’t deliberately massacre the Hu Clan in the stone houses; their goal was clear, which was to head toward the central palace in the flag territory.

But if faced with emerging Hu Clan members, they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot them down.

The noise grew more intense, instantly transforming into waves of panic, like a massive stone thrown into a tranquil lake, creating numerous ripples.

“The enemies are here?”

“Run!”

“Attack!”

“Block them!”

In the depth of night, suddenly attacked by the enemy, the entire flag territory descended into chaos within moments.

Some attempted to flee, some tried to resist the enemies, while others fearfully hid indoors, not daring to come out.

Chaotic circumstances spiraled out of control, yet the assault of Divine Wood Island’s soldiers was remarkably swift.