Vol 9 Chapter 106 (2/2)

“Yes!”

As I rode on, I saw our troops snaking into the forest, making a fair bit of noise as they did so. As expected, it is difficult to hide one’s presence in the forest without proper preparations beforehand.

I had heard the sounds of the enemy archers escaping deeper into the forest about several hundred meters in but there were no other sounds besides this. This means that we will not be able to know where the next ambush will come from. But if we do not deal with them first, we would continue to be hara.s.sed and suffer grave losses.

If my guess is correct, then the enemy troops should now be in the depths of the forest as that is the direction in which the archers retreated in. And so, if we continue in this direction, we will clash head-on with the enemy.

As I thought so, the grip on my blade tightened. With our current troop strength, I am hopeful that we can prevail in a head-on clash. The enemy should only number about 3,000 or so, half of which are archer units and half of which are infantry units.

*Shashasha*

The rustling and cracking of leaves filled the air as we continued to advance. At this time, we should probably be nearing where the archers were originally positioned.

“Lord Guan Yu, look!” Just then, the 3,000-man general beside me exclaimed as she pointed ahead.

…Un? Up ahead is?

“Jia.” I commanded as I swung the reins and galloped up to take a look.

All of a sudden, the scenery changed drastically and yellowing, branches soon gave way to a barren landscape. All the trees in the area had their branches chopped down, leaving just the trunks. This was obviously not because of a natural phenomenon. But now everything makes sense. No wonder the enemy had enough s.p.a.ce to fire that many arrows. And looking at the area, it seems like there were about 1-2,000 archers here.

But this leads to another problem. For such preparations to be made, there must have been ample time which means that these actions were not because they detected us. Could it be that Lord Xu Shu’s strategy was seen through?

“Mother, this is…” Just then, Guan Ping rode up to me.

“This is where the enemy was just now.” I said as I looked about…

Un? There are footprints? I used my blade to sweep the leaves aside and saw deep footprints in the dirt that seemed like whoever made them were heading straight ahead.

“The enemy has probably advanced in that direction.” I said as I pointed with my blade.

“Then we’re…” Guan Ping asked and trailed off.

The question that she did not complete was also one that I was wondering about. If we want to get to Fan city as soon as possible, we should meet up with Zhou Cang and rush there as soon as possible. Doing so is fraught with peril however so the best course of action is to eliminate the ambush as soon as possible before returning to our original plan.

If the enemy’s troops were numerous, they would have charged out to begin with. Since they did not, then that would mean that their troop numbers are insufficient. In that case, we should–

“Lord Guan Yu! The sounds of combat!”

“Un?” Just then, the sounds of slaughter could be heard from behind. Looks like Zhou Cang has started fighting on her side. Alright, in that case, we will–

*Sou* *Sou* *Sou* *Sou* *Sou*!

Un?! All of a sudden, the sound of bowstrings being released filled the air and when I looked into the distance, I saw a row of arrows shooting for us.

“Kuh!” I was unable to turn around in time to dodge it and had to cut down the arrow.

*Neigh*~~~ The horse shuddered and raised its front legs all of a sudden.

d.a.m.n it! Did an arrow hit my horse?!

I hurriedly grabbed the reins, hoping to be able to gain control–

“Mother! They’re coming again!”

What!? The 2nd volley is coming already?! How many archers do they have?

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