Chapter 156: Luck Crushing, Hidden Arrow Attack
"Quick! Move faster!"
"Don't make any noise. From now on, no one is allowed to speak!"
"Everyone, stay on your armor and don't dismount! The enemy is coming, be ready to attack at any time!"...
Behind a mound about five miles away from the destination, the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion of the Fuxing Army, who had just arrived here, quickly lined up and waited for orders under the leadership of officers at all levels.
Although this small mound is neither high nor low, nor very big, it is just enough to block the view of all enemies looking from the front.
In the past ten years, for the Tatars who were marching normally within their own sphere of influence, unless it was a war, the scouts responsible for alerting would generally only wander around their own troops and rarely advance more than several miles.
This time they were going to complete a big deal with the Fan family, not to go to war. With such a powerful cavalry here, on the prairie outside the Great Wall, they were convinced that no Ming army would dare to launch a surprise attack on them.
Over the past decade, except for Cao Wenzhao who led his troops out of the border a few months ago and destroyed several Tartar tribes south of the desert, all border troops in the northwestern border area of the Ming Dynasty have been hiding inside the border, adopting a strategy of strict defense. There is no other army that dares to go out of the border and attack.
Even these border troops did not have the courage to go out and harass the Tatars.
Especially in the spring of last year, after Huang Taiji personally led his army to defeat Ligdan Khan, he also broke into the area from the northwestern border to Xuanfu!
The first time the Later Jin Tartars invaded the Ming Dynasty, they were unstoppable and marched straight into the capital city with ease, rubbing the face of the entire Ming Dynasty to the ground!
Since the beginning of this year, various rebel armies have emerged in the two northwestern provinces of the Ming Dynasty and the situation has become increasingly fierce. The Ming court has been unable to take care of itself.
I heard that even Cao Wenzhao, who was guarding the border, was recently transferred to suppress bandits. How could the Ming army dare to come out and attack?
The Holo tribe, which has always regarded the southern part of the Dongtao Plain as its sphere of influence, now really does not take the Northwest Frontier Army of the Ming Dynasty seriously.
Those government troops basically often default on their military pay, and cannot even provide food and clothing for most of the military households. How could they dare to come out and offend me?
It's already very good that these grassland warriors don't cause trouble for the Ming border troops.
The Ming border troops that were once so powerful have long lost their spirit because of the increasing corruption of the current government. Most of them have become useless and are vulnerable.
If we exclude the existence of Li Dingguo's special team, this would have been the case in the established history for the following years until the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.
This shows that the Tatars’ current thinking is absolutely correct and it is an indisputable fact.
No one would have thought that since the beginning of autumn this year, an outlier like Li Dingguo would appear. He did not take the great reputation of the Tartars seriously at all and actually dared to lead a newly formed army to go out of the country in order to live and work in peace.
"Liang Hetang, Huang Zhanglong, Tang Guangqiang, Li Mei, each of you should lead your own team and wait here, ready to attack or retreat at any time."
Behind the mound, Li Dingguo, with a newly selected elite team, gave careful instructions to several combat battalion commanders on the scene.
"I will take Xiao Douya and a dozen archery experts in the army, and take the only dozen mid- and high-grade spiritual bows and arrows we have. We will go three miles forward and hide, and implement the sneak attack plan!"
"The Tartar army is about to arrive. Without further ado, I will start the action immediately! Send someone to observe the results of the battle and make emergency responses in a timely manner!"
After saying that, he turned around and took Xiao Douya and a dozen of the strongest archers in the army, and walked towards a low bush overgrown with weeds beside a small lake in front of them, and leaped away.
These soldiers, carefully selected by him, had the lowest level of cultivation at the second peak of martial arts. They were all archery geniuses who stood out from the first and second batches of martial artists' selection and training.
They all held medium-grade spiritual bows and arrows, and only Li Dingguo and Xiao Douya each had a pair of high-grade spiritual bows and arrows.
Xiao Douya's archery progress has been very good recently. He has reached the peak of great success and is only one step away from perfection.
The top-grade spiritual bow and arrow she carried on her back, and the top-grade spiritual mace in her hand, were both obtained from the Tartar general Niulu Zhangjing Yanzha in the battle of Lijiabao.
The people in their group who were in charge of using spiritual weapons and sharp arrows to launch sneak attacks had cultivated the Yunlong Nine Turns Technique to at least the minor success level. It was no exaggeration to say that they could walk on snow without leaving any trace.
They were seen flying rapidly, and when they landed on the ground, their toes lightly touched the tips of the grass growing on the ground, and then they flew up again, leaving no trace wherever they passed.
Li Dingguo also deliberately emphasized this detail to them in order to minimize the chances of being discovered by the Tatars.
Not only that, under Li Dingguo's special instructions, everyone put their practiced breath-concealing and concealment techniques into full use, trying their best to restrain all their breath so as not to be sensed by the enemy.
Everyone was moving very fast. After just a dozen breaths, they had arrived at a bush that was perfect for hiding and would not affect their archery.
"You should choose a hiding place as soon as possible. From the moment the Tartars appear, you must control your breathing. We warriors can hold our breath for half an hour without any problem."
"In short, everyone should try every possible means to increase the success rate of this sneak attack."
Li Dingguo gave instructions to everyone, and then he and Xiao Douya found an excellent hiding place nearby. They quickly hid their bodies and prepared to use their spiritual weapons and bows to launch a sneak attack.
"Da da……"
It was a coincidence that just when they had all hidden themselves and were ready to take action at any time, a large cloud of dust flew up in the distance and the sound of dense horse hooves rang out continuously.
A dozen Tatar scouts rode their horses quickly and arrived at the small lake. They looked around briefly and then turned their horses around and left.
This small lake has an excellent location and environment. It is estimated that it was a place where the Tatars often came to rest during their marches.
As Li Dingguo had expected, the rapid decline of the Ming Dynasty over the past decade or so had caused these Tartars to develop a habit of arrogance in their own territory.
Li Dingguo and the others used their full power of concealment and breath-holding techniques, holding their breath, like wooden figures, and began to wait quietly.
In less than a quarter of an hour, five thousand Tatar cavalry had arrived at the edge of this small lake with abundant water and grass.
The leading general waved his hand and said something, and the Tartar soldiers began to dismount one after another, taking their spirit beasts and war horses to the lake to drink water and wash. These operations were what the cavalry had to do when they were resting.
The cavalry soldiers have to take good care of their war horses first before they can drink water and eat.
Even the dozen or so Tartar generals were no exception. They led their spiritual beasts and war horses to the edge of the small lake, and while they lowered their heads to drink water, they drew water to help them wash their bodies.
"God help me too!"
"Go!"
At this time, Li Dingguo looked at the Tartar commander who was only a mile away from him. He was holding a bucket and fetching water to wash his top-grade dragon-scale horse. The best opportunity for a sneak attack had arrived!
He had already made an agreement with the soldiers here that he would be the one shooting the first arrow in this battle.
After he shoots the first arrow, the rest of the archers will then shoot at their respective targets.
Li Dingguo's current Thunder Archery technique has been cultivated to the highest level of perfection, and he is only one step away from entering the realm of perfection.
He can now do it easily: eyes follow heart, heart follows hands, hands follow arrows, and arrows lead to the enemy's death!
Now, Li Dingguo can complete a whole set of shooting actions from the moment he locks on the enemy without even taking a breath!
At the moment when the Tartar commander was carrying a bucket of water and preparing to wash his mount, Li Dingguo circulated the energy and blood in his body, amplified the power of the top-grade spiritual bow in his hand to the maximum, and shot the arrow with all his energy and spirit, like lightning!
"Whoosh!"
This top-grade spiritual arrow is so fast that it is actually faster than lightning.
The moment it was shot, it had reached the target's throat, directly piercing the throat of the unsuspecting Tatar commander!
The powerful impact brought by the spiritual weapon arrow actually tore his entire neck apart. His head with an expression of disbelief rolled to the ground, still blinking with his mouth wide open!
He could never have imagined until his death that he, a well-known figure even in the Holo tribe with a strength of one million people, would one day die from a hidden arrow!
If you can stay a little more vigilant, sense the danger in time, and instantly activate your true qi to protect your body, you can completely avoid this disaster.
It can be said that Li Dingguo's sneak attack this time was purely a gamble on luck.
As a result, his luck was so good that he won the bet with a success rate of less than 10% for the sneak attack!
“Swoosh!”…
After Li Dingguo fired the arrow, the archers who were lying in ambush nearby, including Xiao Douya, shot out the arrows they had been preparing for a long time.
"An enemy is attacking!"
"Lord Mandaan was hit by an enemy's hidden arrow and was shot dead in a surprise attack!"
"General Gru and General Langley were also shot dead by the enemy's hidden arrows!"...
The spiritual arrows shot by Xiao Douya and the other dozen people did not miss the target and all hit their targets.
Among them, three Tartar generals who had reached the third peak of martial arts were lucky. When they lowered their heads to pick up something, they happened to avoid their vital points and thus escaped the disaster. They were only seriously injured but not shot to death on the spot.
But even so, this sneak attack was a huge success!
Especially the Tartar commander who was at the fourth level of martial arts. He was unlucky today and was killed by Li Dingguo's extremely lucky arrow, thus eliminating the fatal threat to himself and the Fuxing Army in one fell swoop.
Not surprisingly, this Tartar army fell into chaos as almost all of its leading generals died instantly!
"kill!"
"Everyone, charge directly into these Tartars! Try to kill all the third-level martial arts masters first!"
"I will first seize those dozen dragon-scale horses and cut off their escape route!"
As soon as Li Dingguo succeeded in his sneak attack, he shouted loudly and ordered Xiao Douya and the others to attack immediately!
He quickly put on the spiritual bow and arrow, picked up the high-quality spiritual spear on the ground beside him, and used all his strength to perform the Yunlong Nine Turns Technique.
His figure turned into a flash of lightning, and in the blink of an eye he rushed to the side of the somewhat panicked top-grade dragon scale horse.
"Whoosh!"
Li Dingguo did not stop for a moment and quickly jumped onto the back of this top-grade dragon-scale horse. As expected, he quickly tamed it.
Then he spurred his horse and galloped towards several Tatar generals who were shouting loudly and preparing to gather their soldiers to launch a counterattack.
Li Dingguo was also a veteran of the battlefield. He knew that the key to victory in this battle lay in whether his assault team could kill all the Tartar's expert generals as quickly as possible.
By then, the Tatars, having lost their commander, would inevitably suffer a disastrous defeat and flee even if they had two thousand elite soldiers!
"Da da……"
At this time, Tang Guangqiang, Liang Hetang, Huang Zhanglong, Li Mei and other combat battalion commanders received the urgent report from the scouts in time, and immediately led their combat battalion soldiers to launch an all-out charge towards the battlefield here!
The distance of only five miles was crossed in just a moment under the feet of the spirit beast warhorse charging at full speed!
"Kill! Kill all these Tartars!"
"Try not to hurt these spiritual beasts and war horses. They are our spoils of war!"
"Hurry up and stop those Tatars who have already mounted their horses. Don't let them gather together!"...
In an instant, the area around this small lake was filled with deafening shouts of killing, the sound of people talking, the neighing of war horses, and it was plunged into a bloody storm!
(End of this chapter)
