In the blink of an eye, Northern Barbarian corpses littered the ground. The remaining three finally lost their nerve. Letting out meaningless cries of terror, they whipped their Warhorses and fled wildly.
"Chang Sheng! Keep your heart calm and your hands steady; keep your eyes sharp and your arrows accurate. Only by uniting Heaven and Man can you hit the mark every time."
County Captain Li drew his bow and nocked his arrows. Three long arrows pierced the air.
SWISH SWISH SWISH!
The three Northern Barbarians fleeing wildly to the west fell from their horses in response to the sound.
Chen Changsheng did not look at the enemies. Under County Captain Li’s divine Archery, such foes who had been terrified out of their wits and were fleeing blindly had absolutely no chance of survival.
He bent down and picked up a Barbarian’s Bow and Arrow from the ground. Raising his eyes to look at the Warhorses still running wildly in the distance, he held his breath and focused his mind. He drew the bow and nocked an arrow, lining up his eye, the arrowhead, and the target. Infusing his True Qi, he released his grip.
SWISH!
Accompanying the sound of the arrow piercing the air was the target’s agonizing neigh.
NEIGH!
Closing his eyes, Chen Changsheng silently pondered the feeling for a moment before opening them again. His long arrow now aimed at the ear of an even more distant Warhorse! With his extraordinary eyesight, the constantly twitching ear was clearly visible.
He let go. The arrow pierced the air, brushing right past the edge of the Warhorse’s bobbing ear. Taking a deep breath, Chen Changsheng nocked an arrow once more.
SWISH!
NEIGH!
"Haha! My good nephew, your comprehension is truly excellent! Your Archery has already reached the entry level. Practice more in the future!
"But for now, we need to round up the fleeing Warhorses. These things are quite valuable!"
This was the truth. In this chaotic world where human lives were cheaper than a dog’s, a single Warhorse was worth far more than a peasant from a remote mountain valley. This was especially true in the Great Yan Dynasty, which severely lacked Warhorses. If sold in places like Yang Province, a horse would be worth at least two hundred taels of silver. Even in You Province, which wasn’t too short on Warhorses, one could still fetch eighty taels of silver.
It was precisely for this reason that during the intense battle lasting nearly half a quarter-hour, Chen Changsheng had waited until the very last moment to kill two Warhorses! County Captain Li hadn’t harmed a single horse in the early stages, only hacking one Warhorse to death out of frustration at a critical moment!
Having fully reacted, Chen Changsheng ignored the gore covering the ground. Filled with wild joy, he looked at the Warhorses in the distance.
According to the Great Yan laws, any citizen of Great Yan who killed Northern Barbarians could claim all of their property. Bringing a Northern Barbarian’s head to the County Magistrate’s Office could be exchanged for five taels of silver.
In this battle, there were eight Northern Barbarians. Chen Changsheng had killed four. Not counting the currently unknown wealth on these Barbarians, just the heads and the Warhorses alone netted him one hundred and eighty taels of silver. Based on Chen Changsheng’s understanding of this world’s prices, regular Government Officials and constables in the county earned two taels of silver a month, which could support a family of seven. A shop assistant’s one tael of silver was enough to support a family of three. One hundred and eighty taels of silver would be enough to feed his family of five for ten years.
He had struck it rich! From now on, they would never have to eat that half-bran, half-flour mush and flatbread again! Pork, beef, mutton, and seasonings—they could eat them every single day!
Before chasing the horses, Chen Changsheng still had one crucially important thing to do, so he smiled and said, "Lord Li, I will first check if these enemies are truly dead!"
With that said, Chen Changsheng picked up a Waist Saber and walked past the Barbarians one by one, pressing down on their necks and delivering fatal strikes to each. Well, hacking off their heads! The key was to hold down their necks!
Wisps of scarlet Qi Mechanism flowed along his palm, entering his heart and sinking into the cauldron in his mind. Eight drops of Blood Essence acquired. Afterward, he casually touched the three dead horses and discovered that each contributed two wisps of scarlet Qi Mechanism. As for the five living Warhorses, most were lingering near the battlefield. The two that ran the farthest were only fifty zhang away. In less than a hundred breaths of time, the two Warhorses were brought under control by the duo and led back to the battlefield.
Tying the Warhorses to a tree by the road, Chen Changsheng shouted into the woods, "Fu Sheng, Chusheng, bring everyone over to help!"
Chen Changsheng and County Captain Li tacitly walked toward the enemies they had each killed, picking up Weapons and bundles, and stripping off a few pieces of clothing to toss to the three shivering women. By the time the bundles and Weapons were piled into two heaps, the young and strong men from Chen Family Village had arrived. Of course, they couldn’t let the dead horses go to waste. They skinned them, carved out the meat, and conveniently made a horse meat lunch.
After sorting through everything, Chen Changsheng found ten taels of Gold, two hundred and seventy taels of silver, a hundred strings of copper coins, two intact Great Sabers, one Long Spear, one Wolf Fang Club, and four Waist Sabers in the bundles. It felt so good to count the money! Over and over again! As for the other damaged Weapons, the remaining valuables on the enemies, and the dead horses, they were divided among the village’s young men.
After a brief inquiry, they learned that the three women were villagers from Guanchong Village in the western hilly region, where a mountain stronghold sat near the village. Last night, fifty of their strong men had been urgently conscripted by Chaoyang Town. This morning, the village was overrun by over three hundred Barbarians.
Chen Changsheng grew increasingly disgusted with that so-called big shot in Chaoyang Town. Even though he knew full well that without a Martial Artist holding the fort, Guanchong Village couldn’t have fended off an Attack from three hundred Barbarians even if they hadn’t lost those fifty men, he was still infuriated by this impromptu conscription. Get faster updates on novelping dot com.
Half an Hour later, the group entered Chaoyang Town.
Chaoyang Town was a town, but its palisade walls could completely rival the Ancient city walls from his past life. Three zhang high and one zhang wide, they were entirely constructed from bluestones weighing thousands of catties. Stretching three li in length and width, two thousand men were divided into two shifts to take turns providing Defense on the walls.
Chen Changsheng inwardly sighed with emotion. In this world, Martial Art flourished, and Martial Artists possessed formidable strength, which actually manifested in many ways regarding productivity. Just imagining an Innate Grandmaster casually exerting forces of over a hundred thousand catties, their Innate Qi Cuts Gold and Breaks Jade, one would know that constructing such a city wall was essentially no trouble at all.
For five consecutive days, Chen Changsheng led the young men of Chen Family Village in training until they took over the section of the wall to the left of the North Gate.
Soon, he had walked through the entirety of Chaoyang Town, except for a place in the Southwest that County Captain Li called a forbidden zone. Regarding this forbidden courtyard, rumors were flying everywhere in Chaoyang Town. Many people said a meteorite had fallen a few days ago, yet it hadn’t destroyed a single brick, tile, blade of grass, or piece of Wood in the courtyard. Chen Changsheng simply laughed off such logic-defying rumors, not taking them to heart at all.
During this period, although Northern Barbarian Cavalry constantly galloped around the town, not once did they dare to approach the walls. This left Chen Changsheng feeling both disappointed and relieved.
On the morning of March 15th, after handing over his patrol duties to County Captain Li, Chen Changsheng fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
CLANG CLANG CLANG!
The urgent ringing of the alarm bell jolted Chen Changsheng awake. Chen Changsheng leaped up, pushed open his door, and executed a Flying Sweep onto the city wall. Standing atop the North Gate tower, Chen Changsheng gazed as far as his eyes could see.
The beacon fires in the town had already been lit! To the east, west, south, and north—corresponding to the four city gates—clouds of dust and smoke rose from all directions. Even from the top of the tower, the tremors of the earth could be felt. This was the sign of a massive cavalry attack.
Soon, a figure landed beside Chen Changsheng, and County Captain Li’s voice rang out. "My good nephew! I’ve checked all four sides. There are at least three hundred cavalrymen in each plume of dust!"
Chen Changsheng frowned and asked with a hint of confusion, "Lord Li, the Northern Barbarian Cavalry are not adept at siege warfare. We have two thousand defenders. Where do they get the courage to assault the town?"
"I’m afraid a Martial Artist is leading them. They likely want to use Martial Artists to forcibly assault the walls, tear open our Defense, and then swarm in all at once!"
County Captain Li had clearly already given it some thought! His words made sense. The Northern Barbarians’ Martial Art was equally formidable. To dare mount an Attack on a walled town like Chaoyang Town, they definitely had something to rely on.
County Captain Li continued his analysis. "It’s already the fifteenth. In half a month at most, they will have to start withdrawing one after another, rushing to return to the northern grasslands before the ice melts."