Chapter 26: Spear in Hand, Charging Forward Without Turning Back

The slaughter in the Karluk camp continued.

Although caught off guard by the four-fortress coalition, the Karluks’ resistance had not ceased in the slightest.

A Karluk man lay in ambush on the ground. Seeing an opportunity, he leaped and knocked a young man off his horse.

Immediately after, the two began to roll and fight on the ground.

Just as the Karluk man gained the upper hand, pressing the young Han man under him and preparing to strike a heavy blow, his body suddenly stiffened.

Thwack!

An arrow shot from a distance, directly piercing the Karluk man’s neck. The front half of the arrow emerged from his throat, while the back half was still stuck in the back of his head.

Like a suckling pig about to be roasted.

The young man hastily wiped the blood sprayed all over his face and pushed the Karluk’s corpse away.

Looking up, he saw Li Xiao holding a bow and riding toward him.

“Da Long.”

The young man breathed a sigh of relief, his face full of relief after surviving a disaster. At the critical moment, his brother-in-law saved his life.

“Not hurt, are you? Brother-in-law!” Li Xiao rode up quickly and asked.

The young man in front of him, about twenty years old.

Was precisely Li Xiao’s brother-in-law, named Luo Meng!

His wife was Li Xiao’s eldest sister, Li Da Feng!

“I’m fine.”

Luo Meng spat out a mouthful of bruised blood onto the ground and shook his head: “Just got sneak-attacked by a Karluk, son of a bitch.”

Although a bit embarrassing, fortunately, his brother-in-law saved his life.

The Karluk just now was very formidable; if the fight had continued, Luo Meng would have suffered a loss.

“That’s good. Mount up, continue killing the enemy!”

Li Xiao nodded heavily, not wasting any more words.

He put away the bow and arrow and took out the cavalry saber again.

After all, in this dark night, using bows and arrows could easily hit one’s own people.

Spears and war sabers were more useful.

Luo Meng remounted, holding a spear, and followed not far behind Li Xiao, continuing to charge and kill.

Having been sneak-attacked just now, the young Luo Meng seemed to have become somewhat mature, becoming more cautious when charging past obstacles.

Pfft!

Wielding the spear, he directly pierced a Karluk hiding behind a tent.

“Kill!”

Luo Meng’s face was ferocious. Pulling out the spear, ignoring the fallen corpse, he continued to charge forward.

Seeing this, Li Xiao nodded secretly.

None of the men of the Northern Border were cowards!

Luo Meng just lacked experience and was prone to suffering losses!

But whether it was Luo Meng, Dahu, Erhu, or even Li Xiao himself, they had all grown a lot in this war.

Shedding their former immaturity and innocence, draping blood-stained battle robes over their bodies, spears in hand, charging forward without turning back.

On the battlefield, shouts of killing shook the sky, screams were continuous, and many Karluk women and children were frightened by the scene before them, crying and shouting constantly, adding a ruthless and tragic atmosphere to this battlefield.

Facing the strong raid of the four-fortress coalition, the Karluks in the camp were completely unprepared. They had long been routed, unable to organize effective resistance, and were divided, surrounded, and killed one by one by the four-fortress coalition.

In a short time, the four-fortress coalition had penetrated the Karluk eastern camp and killed their way to the northern camp.

Here too, it turned into a one-sided slaughter. Countless Karluks died under the blades of the four-fortress coalition in the darkness.

In the middle of the Karluk northern camp, there was a sheep pen surrounded by fences.

But inside were not cattle and sheep, but a group of people in ragged clothes!

There were men and women.

Looking around, there were several hundred people!

Among these people were Jin Prefecture Army soldiers captured by Aslan’s tribe in the Battle of the Northern Mountains, as well as the original Han people of Sanhe Fortress.

Many of their relatives had been killed by the Karluks; only these Han people who posed no threat were temporarily imprisoned.

Under the ravages of wind and rain, they didn’t even have a place to shelter. Wearing thin clothes, they could only huddle together for warmth.

Many were injured without treatment, and the corpses of the dead were fed to dogs by the Karluks.

The remaining people could only get a pitiful amount of food every day.

The Karluks did this to prevent them from escaping or rioting, and also to force these Han people to submit and surrender.

It could be said that these Han captives lived worse than livestock in the hands of the Karluks.

So when the sounds of killing, screaming, and galloping warhorses rang out from the eastern camp.

These captives instantly went into an uproar.

“Someone is coming to save us?”

“That’s right, someone has fought their way in!”

“It’s our people; I heard someone shouting!”

“Hahaha!”

“We’re saved, kill our way out!”

“Kill! Kill these Karluk sons of bitches!”

“Revenge!”

These captives were in rags, many injured, tortured by hunger and illness, shivering in the cold wind of the rainy night!

But at this moment, their hearts were fiery hot, their faces full of excitement, and some even had red eyes, tears flowing down!

They were Han people, but because of an inexplicable disastrous defeat, they were captured by the Karluks and suffered hardships in Aslan’s tribe.

Some couldn’t stand the torture and temptation and joined the Karluk rebel army.

But the persistence of those remaining was finally worth it.

Now finally waiting for the arrival of their compatriots, they were saved, but as men of the Northern Border, they wouldn’t beg for pity!

They would use their own hands to take revenge!

The captives rioted!

A scarred man led the charge out of the sheep pen. They tore down wood to use as weapons and launched a counterattack against the Karluks.

“Kill!”

The man looked ferocious and crazed, stabbing a Karluk with the sharp end of a piece of wood.

Pfft!

The wood penetrated an inch into the Karluk’s body and couldn’t go further, but immediately after, attacks from other captives arrived.

This Karluk was soon beaten to death by random sticks!

The man picked up the Karluk’s curved saber, threw the spear to the person beside him, and mounted the Karluk’s horse.

He shouted loudly to the many captives: “Kill our way out!”

They wanted to cut off more Karluk heads to avenge their dead compatriots and lost dignity!

…

Meanwhile, inside Sanhe Fortress, Aslan, who was fast asleep, was awakened by the sound of the iron hooves of the four-fortress coalition.

He opened his eyes abruptly and sat up from the bed.

Turning to look inside the room, that woman was still lying on the ground motionless, like a dead person, lifeless.

But Aslan didn’t care about this anymore; his face changed drastically at this moment.

Hearing the increasingly clear roar of warhorses in the distance, and the screams of herdsmen in the camp outside.

Aslan was furious, his eyes splitting with rage. Ignoring putting on clothes, he grabbed his weapon and rushed out of the house.

Shouting loudly: “Enemy attack!”

“Get up quickly, enemies are coming!”

“Mount horses!”

“Follow me to kill our way out.”

Blame the bad weather tonight; the sound of thunder and rain masked the roar of warhorses.

Plus, Aslan’s tribe was preparing to attack Hedong Fortress tomorrow, so the tribe members slept relatively soundly tonight.

Completely unexpected that enemies would appear late at night, and they only discovered it when the enemies were right in front of them.

“Damn it.”

Aslan mounted his horse angrily without even having time to put on clothes.

His mind constantly guessed where the enemies came from.

The Jin Prefecture Army had been wiped out by them; it couldn’t be the Khitans.

The Eastern Capital Army couldn’t arrive so fast either.

So, it was either those Han people from the south or people from the other two Karluk tribes.

Because Karluks never had friends, and even among the various Karluk tribes, internal strife was greater than unity!

If the Moman tribe and Qibi tribe attacked him, Aslan wouldn’t be surprised at all.

“Simply seeking death. I will cut off all their heads and make them into wine cups!” Aslan roared angrily in the dark night.

At this time, facing the raid of six hundred iron cavalry and the riot of captives in the camp, the northern Karluks, attacked from front and rear, had collapsed rapidly.

Unable to organize any effective resistance, they were completely slaughtered one-sidedly.

Blood stained the land of Sanhe Fortress red; screams and cries were everywhere outside the fortress.

The spear in Li Xiao’s hand was soaked in blood; this was already the third spear he had changed.

Riding his warhorse into the Karluk northern camp, the sharp spearhead directly pierced a Karluk woman holding a curved saber.

In war, there are no men and women, only enemies!

“Kill into Sanhe Fortress!”

Li Xiao pointed his spear into Sanhe Fortress and shouted loudly.

Immediately, he led the Hexi Fortress crowd to charge toward Sanhe Fortress.

Although the fighting in the northern camp was still ongoing, the fate of these Karluks was sealed, facing a one-sided massacre.

Now, only inside Sanhe Fortress were there still Karluks.

Those were the nobles of the Karluk tribe; killing them would count as eliminating this Karluk tribe.

“Charge in!”

Luo Meng, Dahu, and the others followed beside Li Xiao, shouting with ferocious faces.

Everyone was covered in blood and even minced meat, looking completely like rakshasa demons who had fought their way out of Asura Hell.

Rumble rumble rumble!

A large number of troops from the four fortresses charged into Sanhe Fortress with Li Xiao and the others. Warhorses galloped and roared, exuding terrifying momentum in this dark night that chilled people’s hearts.

Just as Li Dashan said, to attack Sanhe Fortress before, the Karluks had filled many moats on the north side of Sanhe Fortress, and many battlements had been pushed down.

Now, it was just convenient for the four-fortress coalition’s attack.

Iron cavalry rushed into Sanhe Fortress like a giant wave. Killing was underway; screams and roars rose one after another. This was a bloody massacre!

Whenever they saw a Karluk, even if not holding a weapon, as long as they had the ability to threaten them, the four-fortress coalition would only swing their butcher knives.

In terms of individual combat capability, Han people were not inferior to Karluks at all. Even in this situation of a night raid, Han people were even stronger.

Under the continuous charge of the four-fortress coalition, fewer and fewer Karluk soldiers dared to resist.

They couldn’t distinguish how many enemies there were at all; it seemed as if shouts of killing were coming from all directions.

The Karluks inside Sanhe Fortress were in panic, with no will to fight. Many even thought about fleeing quickly with their families.

Sounds of hacking and screaming were everywhere in the city, and the neighing of warhorses was endless.

The Karluks retreated steadily; their morale had completely collapsed.

(End of this chapter)