Chapter 323: Capture the Thief and the King

Yuan Xi ordered the soldiers to set up a simple wooden platform for the archers to take their positions. He himself climbed up and took up a position.

Compared to close combat, Yuan Xi's other strength is his decent archery skills.

Archery is an essential skill for famous generals in ancient times. If you want to excel in it, you may need extremely high talent. But to get started, you can just use a bow and arrow.

Although the initial investment cost is not low, the trained archers are still very cost-effective.

No matter how skilled a general is in martial arts, he will always be extremely wary of bows and arrows. Whether he fights alone or against a group of people, it still depends on his personal bravery. A stray arrow shot by a soldier can accidentally kill a general on the battlefield.

Dahong was already ready at this time, and he led thousands of soldiers to climb the mountain and attack.

Seeing that the enemy was getting closer and closer using the cover of trees and was about to be within the range of bows and arrows, Yuan Xi thought that the Black Mountain Army was more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.

Not to mention that half of the people had died and had not yet completely collapsed, even the speed and secretiveness of the reinforcements that arrived later far exceeded Yuan Xi's expectations.

This made Yuan Xi wake up from his initial complacency. After all, Yuan Shao had tried his best but failed to completely wipe out the Black Mountain Army, which had been the overlord entrenched in Black Mountain for more than ten years!

Seeing that the enemy was within shooting range, he bent his bow and drew an arrow, then aimed diagonally upwards and let go. The arrow flew out, drawing an arc and falling downwards, with a "puff" sound, it brushed past the body of a vanguard soldier of the Black Mountain Army and was nailed into the ground.

The soldier was startled, raised his head and shouted a few curses, which could be heard from far away. On the battlefield where the only sound was the sound of climbing mountains, it was particularly clear.

Yuan Xi yelled, "Shoot!"

At his command, hundreds of longbows were drawn at the same time. With a loud bang, a dense rain of arrows covered the Black Mountain Army that was climbing the mountain.

The Montenegrin soldiers were caught off guard. Some of them were shot and screamed, losing their balance and tumbling down the hillside. The situation immediately became chaotic and they hurriedly looked for places to hide.

Then came another wave of arrows.

Dahong saw that the soldiers around him were being shot by arrows one after another, and the arrows from the opposite side seemed to be free, having been shooting for more than ten rounds and had not stopped yet!

He pulled out a feather arrow from the ground beside him, flicked the arrowhead with his fingers, and heard a clinking sound. He judged that it was a top-quality iron arrowhead and was quite heavy!

Damn it, the iron from these arrowheads can be made into a gun head. Is the Youzhou army so rich?

Da Hong shouted, "Use the trees to cover our approach and kill them!"

After hearing this, everyone tried to look out, but the wave after wave of arrows suppressed them and made them unable to move. Seeing their companions falling to the ground one after another, some people began to get scared and prepared to slowly slide down.

Seeing that Dahong was trapped halfway up the mountain, with no way out, Yang Feng said, "Let them come down."

Immediately, an agile messenger went up and found Dahong. Dahong heard it and said angrily: "If I come down, won't I lose face?"

"Tell Chief Yang to wait a moment and watch me!"

After saying that, he ignored everything and continued climbing with his soldiers.

After hearing the messenger's report, Yang Feng sneered, "Even if he could get up there, he'd be almost dead. How could he be so confused?"

"All the armored vanguards, follow me and bring them back!"

After hearing this, several leaders looked at each other, and saw that Yang Feng had already started climbing the mountain with his personal guards and wooden shields. They had no choice but to gather their soldiers with armor and shields and follow Yang Feng up.

Yang Feng held up the wooden shield, and arrows kept falling. Some hit the trees and the ground, some hit the armor and made a clinking sound, and some hit the wooden shield and made a heavy thumping sound.

When Yang Feng heard the shouting and killing sounds coming from the mountain, he realized that Dahong had already started fighting with the enemy. His face darkened. Was he losing his mind just to get the first credit?

But Dahong is a very brave man. He should be able to hold on before he leads his men up the mountain, right?

As his vision was blocked by the wooden shield, Yang Feng could not see the scenery on the mountain clearly. He had to walk up patiently. After a while, perhaps because the other party saw that his archery was not very effective, the arrows became sparse.

Yang Feng took the lead and led dozens of people to the top of the mountain. When she moved the wooden shield away and saw the scene on the mountain clearly, she was shocked.

There were not many Black Mountain soldiers left standing in front of him, and the ground was covered with dead bodies. Dahong's army was almost wiped out!

Before Yang Feng realized what was happening, the Youzhou Army rushed out from the side. Seeing this, Yang Feng quickly asked everyone to hold on. She threw away her wooden shield, raised her spear and rushed forward to meet the enemy.

After one encounter, Yang Feng discovered that this group of soldiers was no ordinary person!

The people at the front were holding large shields covered with iron sheets. Yang Feng stabbed several times, but was blocked every time. The other spearmen of the opponent took the opportunity to shoot through the gaps in the shields and stabbed down several of Yang Feng's guards.

Seeing this, Yang Feng turned around and came to the opponent's flank, only to find that several short crossbows had been raised and aimed at him!

Yang Feng quickly covered her head with her arm armor. She heard a series of clanging sounds and several crossbow arrows shot at her vital points. Fortunately, the armor blocked them and they did not penetrate.

But the others were not so lucky. They had much less armor than Yang Feng, and were shot by arrows in their limbs, heads and faces. They fell to the ground instantly. At such a close distance, they had no chance to react at all!

Due to this delay, several shield soldiers moved in front of Yang Feng and filled the gap.

Now Yang Feng understood that this formation of several people was quite skilled and highly targeted. On flat ground, they might be able to use cavalry to break through, but when fighting on the mountain, they could only charge headfirst!

She shouted, "Pull out the spear and stab the opponent's legs and feet!"

After hearing this, the Black Mountain soldiers half-crouched and stabbed the Youzhou soldiers randomly. Several of the Youzhou soldiers were shot and fell to the ground.

Several Youzhou soldiers immediately shouted, "Big shields fall to the ground!"

"Push forward!"

The shield fell down, with the bottom end pressed against the ground and pushed forward. Ring-handled swords and iron spears kept stabbing out from the gaps in the shield, forcing Yang Feng to retreat.

In such an uneven terrain like the mountain, this formation was like a hedgehog, making it difficult to start. Yang Feng was annoyed, he had never fought such a frustrating battle!

Seeing that Dahong had been surrounded in the distance, Yang Feng gritted his teeth and said, "Ignore them, attack with all our strength and rescue Dahong!"

When her men heard this, they roared in anger and rushed towards Dahong.

Over there, Tian Yu was commanding everyone and had surrounded Dahong, but in the distance, they saw a female general in fiery red armor leading her men rushing over.

When Tian Yu saw this, he drew out his ring-handled sword and went forward to meet him.

As soon as they started fighting, he realized something was wrong.

The female general on the opposite side had excellent spear skills. Although not as good as Zhao Yun, her spear movements were extremely tricky and secretive. Tian Yu's ring-handled sword was short against the long one, and for a while he was forced into a disadvantage!

Yuan Xi saw that the two sides were fighting in a mess on the wooden platform and bows and arrows were no longer effective, so he took his men to support Tian Yu.

Tian Yu was forced to retreat repeatedly by Yang Feng's spear. He saw Yuan Xi leading his troops over from the corner of his eye and said, "Be careful, this guy is quite skilled in martial arts!"

Before he finished speaking, Yang Feng turned the gun around and strode towards Yuan Xi!

This is the moment she has been waiting for!

When Yuan Xi saw Yang Feng rushing towards him, he began to retreat at an extremely fast speed.

Just like he had spies in the Black Mountain Army, the Black Mountain Army must have traitors in the Youzhou Army, so it was not surprising that his appearance and even other things were known to the Black Mountain Army.

This kind of thing cannot be completely checked, and there is no need to check it excessively, otherwise it will affect the morale of the army.

The two parties locked in a deadly battle had learned some intelligence about each other long before the war began, but of course there was also a lot of intelligence that they did not get.

Just like the time when Yuan Xi dispatched troops and the subsequent movements of Yang Feng's reinforcements.

Yuan Xi knew that the news of his dispatching troops would definitely be reported to the Black Mountain Army, and he could not hide it, so he used another method to prevent the news from being passed on.

As long as he ran fast enough, the news of his dispatch of troops would not have time to reach the Montenegrin Army.

He sent out his troops from his new city in the north, mobilizing a large number of idle mules and horses, and galloped all the way from Zhuo County to Changshan County, entered the northern pass of Taihang Mountain, and set up a camp halfway.

When the other side sees the village on the mountain, they will definitely attack and it is impossible for them to just ignore it.

Yu Digen, who was in the lead, was indeed ambushed, but what Yuan Xi did not expect was that the Black Mountain soldiers behind him arrived much faster than expected.

This showed that both sides had the same idea, but the mountain road was difficult for the Black Mountain Army to travel, and Yuan Xi's side used animal power. As a result, Yuan Xi gained a slight advantage.

But the other side will not sit still and wait for death. They have obviously already found out Yuan Xi's background. This female general in red armor is obviously coming for Yuan Xi!

Seeing the enemy rushing towards him, Yuan Xi raised the ring-handled sword in his hand and pointed it diagonally at the enemy. At the same time, he took several steps backward and was about to retreat into the camp.

His idea was very simple. If the opponent dared to come and kill him alone, he must have good martial arts skills. He would just run away and then retreat back to the camp. Let's see if you dare to chase him.

Unexpectedly, the female general on the opposite side suddenly accelerated her pace. With a few steps, she flexibly bypassed the soldier in front of Yuan Xi and rushed straight towards him!

Tian Yu who was behind was greatly surprised. He had noticed this female general before and thought judging from her movements she was at best a second or third rate expert. He did not expect that her pace would speed up several times faster than before!

Tian Yu then realized that he had been tricked!

Is it very likely that the other party was coming for Yuan Xi?

He hurriedly pushed away the chaotic soldiers around him and chased after Yang Feng, but he could not catch up with him for a while!

In the blink of an eye, Yang Feng was more than ten feet in front of Yuan Xi. Seeing that he was almost within the distance for him to draw his gun, he unexpectedly began to retreat quickly.

When Yang Feng saw Yuan Xi's steps, he was immediately surprised. The other party's few steps back mobilized all the strength of his ankles, calves, and even thighs, and his movements were as smooth as flowing water!

Yang Feng has practiced martial arts for many years, and he can tell at a glance that the opponent's moves were instructed by a master. This fierce tiger of the Yuan family is indeed quite skilled!

She accelerated her pace again, bypassed the two soldiers who came to block him, swayed left and right, and approached Yuan Xi again. One moved forward and the other moved backward, and the distance between them shortened by two feet again. She was already close enough to shoot and kill the other!

Yang Feng acted decisively, shook his hand, and the iron spear in his hand swung like a poisonous dragon, howling towards Yuan Xi's throat!