Qin Official

The eagle is soaring high in the sky. When looking up from the ground, it looks like it is no bigger than its size. That is because it flies too high and looks smaller. If it lands suddenly, its speed will definitely catch people off guard. When it comes in front of you, it will flutter and spread its wings, which are as long as a horse!

It is the king of birds of prey in the desert. It flies high and fast. To hit the eagle, you need extraordinary archery skills. The Huns were nomads with their horses and bows bent. They were good at archery, but it was not easy to hit an eagle. Anyone who could hit an eagle was known as an "eagle shooter". That was what the Huns were most interested in. There is only one marksman among a thousand people.

The vulture shooter Ulan raised his head. One of his eyes was bright, but the other eye was tragically scarred. This one-eye was a gift from the Worshipful Eagle, and its hook-like mouth and knife-like claws were the most terrifying memories in Ulan's nightmares.

"No matter how powerful a vulture shooter is, he may be blinded by a vulture next time."

The shamans in the tribe sighed like this. They all thought that Ulan had lost the hunting ability he was proud of since then. But even if Ulan lost one eye, he was still the best eagle shooter in Helan Mountain! The remaining eye seemed to be as sharp as an eagle.

He knew very well why the eagle had been hovering over this area for a long time. It was because this was the sacred spring, the only place where humans and animals could drink water within half a day's journey. Wild beasts come here to drink water in batches, and the eagles have the opportunity to pounce on the petite foxes and squirrels. If they are extremely hungry, they will even prey on the herdsmen's sheep...

But within a hundred miles, there was not a single sheep or herdsman left.

After a difficult decision, the Huns abandoned Shenquan Mountain. They decided not to leave a piece of meat to the Qin people, and even threw in the drinking water with the carcasses of dead animals to contaminate it. Since the Qin people wanted to occupy the Huns' pastures, what would the Huns do? Not even left to them!

Except for Ulan the Condor Shooter and his dozens of warriors...

Wu Lan withdrew his gaze from Diao'er and looked down the cliff with one eye. Dozens of steps below their feet was the gurgling divine spring. Living water could not be completely polluted. The Qin army scouts who were cruising nearby walked around. After trying to get no results, I will definitely come here to drink my horse.

The eagle is waiting for its prey, and so is Ulan!

After waiting for a long time, finally, a group of Qin people climbed up at the foot of Shenquan Mountain. Their horses stayed at the foot of the mountain, and Wulan's horse was tied up in the forest. This group of Qin people must not have discovered it, otherwise they would not have discovered it. So calm, laughing loudly as he walked.

Pride was written on their faces. Since last year's defeat of the Huns and the beheading of a thousand people, these Qin people had underestimated the power of the Huns. When they came again, the scouts they sent became more and more courageous, and even ran two hundred miles to Shenquan. Mountain camping.

It's time to make them pay!

Wulan gestured to the Huns hiding in the woods, and began to slowly pull out an arrow that had been stuck in it for a long time.

The Qin people's scouts wore leather helmets and leather armor. The leather armor was two layers thick. The bone clusters and stone clusters posed no threat to them, but Wulan, as a vulture shooter, had the power to use metal arrow clusters!

The strong Xiongnu eat their essence, and the old and weak eat the rest. In the army, it is the strong who enjoy better equipment.

He revealed his figure from behind the tree trunk, put the arrow branch on the string, slowly pulled it open, and aimed at a Qin soldier who was squatting down to drink water...

Wulan's arrows and horses are very special. Without exception, the arrow tails are all decorated with carved wing feathers, and the horses' foreheads are also decorated with a circle of carved tail feathers.

He hoped that his arrows and horses could be as fast as an eagle!

And the fact is, this is also true!

A whistling sound came from the woods on the mountain. The Qin man subconsciously raised his head and saw a black spot quickly approaching. Then, the whole world turned into black and red!

He let out a huge scream! Then it stopped abruptly.

The people next to him only saw a broad arrow, half a foot long and as sharp as a razor, suddenly burst out from the back of his head. The arrow shot into his eye socket and passed through his skull. It turned bright red and was bathed in blood...

The water bag in his hand fell loose, Qin Zu shook his head and fell face down into the stream, blood dripping into the water.

"There is an enemy!"

This group of Qin cavalry should be Rong people. They shouted loudly in Rong language and picked up their bows and arrows or crossbows to fight back, but countless arrows had been shot out in the mountains and forests...

Wulan gritted his teeth, opened his one eye wide, and shot arrows mercilessly, just like the Qin people who burned down his tribe by the river half a year ago, killed all the tribesmen, and then blinded the survivors. ruthless!

In the end, even his poor little son died, with a piece of eagle feather in his hand that Ulan had put in his hand before he left.

He wants revenge. One hundred people from the tribe died, and he will shoot one hundred Qin people to death in return!

Someone around Wu Lan also fell to the ground due to the Qin people's counterattack, and the cries of pain could not be heard. If the eagle flying in the sky lowered his head, he could see that the water of the divine spring was dyed red...

…

Heifu and Fusu left Xiaoguan in early May and arrived at Huamachi City in the middle of May. They had 15,000 soldiers and 15,000 civilians. They used this as an advance base. Heifu immediately sent out scouts and cavalry to head west. Spread hundreds of miles away.

Fighting outside the fortress, the area is open, and the sharp-eyed Huns can catch a glimpse of the dust raised by the opponent's army from a few miles away. They roughly estimate the enemy's strength and our weakness, and quickly escape. Therefore, decisive battles with thousands of troops are rare. A battle can only be achieved through repeated attempts to lure the enemy, show weakness, and outflank him.

But battles between hundreds or even ten scouts took place every day in this vast wasteland. However, the Qin people invested more scouts and fewer Xiongnu. The Qin cavalry was well-equipped while the Xiongnu only had short swords and bone arrows. Therefore, the Qin cavalry probably ended up winning.

But there are always exceptions. When Heifu led 10,000 soldiers to Shenquan Mountain, two hundred miles west of Huamachi, Fu Zhi, the pioneer, came back with shame, saying that he was a scout exploring the mountain. , was attacked by the Huns and suffered heavy losses!

"How many people died?"

Heifu frowned.

“At first, only a dozen people died, but when they heard the sound of the trumpet, the rest of the scouts who came after hearing the news surrounded the Huns, but they might as well have fallen into their trap and met hundreds of their horsemen. After the battle, hundreds more died. "

The corpses were placed beside the holy spring, half of them died in hand-to-hand combat, and half of them died from arrows. The cavalry commander Yiqu Bailang was squatting on the edge, inspecting their wounds.

Fu Zhi's eyes turned red and he clenched his fists tightly: "Among them, ten people from the Liangjia Zijun's Paoze died!"

The three hundred good men in Beidi County are the elites who have been trained by Heifu for a long time. They are all well-equipped and skilled in bow and horse. Although this group of people was a little immature when they first went out to fight, they can be put to great use this time to replenish new troops. After recruiting soldiers, the number also expanded to one thousand.

Ten people were killed in one fell swoop, which was a huge loss.

Heifu felt a little distressed. He looked around and asked, "Where is Qianghua?"

The last time Fu Zhi and Qiang Hua fought, they were both promoted to officials due to their merits. Now each has command of five hundred cavalry, and they are divided into left and right wings to explore the enemy's situation.

"Qianghua learned that the scouts had suffered such heavy losses, so he led five hundred cavalry to drive away the Huns who had set up an ambush here."

According to Qin law, if the losses are more than the gains, the general will be punished. Qiang Hua probably wanted to make up for it.

"I'm afraid it's going to be bad."

Yiqu Bailang on the side finally spoke up. He pulled out the arrow cluster from someone's neck and said seriously: "It's an iron cluster that is extremely rare among the Xiongnu!"

"Generally speaking, Xiongnu herdsmen only have bone and stone clusters. Those who can own copper clusters are at least ten people long. Those who can own iron clusters are hundreds or thousands of people long. And the feathers on this arrow shaft are not ordinary. The feathers of a goose are actually extremely rare eagle feathers!”

"There is only one kind of person who can decorate arrows with eagle feathers, the eagle shooter!"

Hei Fu had also heard of the name of the Huns' vulture shooters. He heard that only one vulture shooter could be born among a thousand people. They were not nobles, but they were more respected than the nobles. They were heroes worshiped by the Huns. His arrows were always on target. The last time he fought with the Xiongnu, although it was a chase battle and the Qin people won a one-sided victory, many people were shot back by an eagle archer who had eagle feathers on his horse head and eagle feathers on his arrow tails. kill.

Today, from Huamachi to Shenquanzhang, the Huns have completely withdrawn. Not a single herdsman or sheep is left, but the vulture shooter appears here again. He is probably a scout who stayed to monitor the movements of the Qin army...

At this time, there was a noise, someone was shouting, someone was calling for a doctor!

Heifu quickly took the generals over to take a look, but it was Qiang Hua who had gone to chase the Huns and was waiting to come back. They looked like they had experienced hard battles. There were hundreds of bloody heads of Huns hanging in the bags on their horses. However, the five hundred Huns did not come to report their merits happily. Instead, they were carried on the cart with expressions on their faces. Painful, he was hit deeply by an arrow in the shoulder and the blood was flowing...

Heifu immediately asked a doctor to treat him and asked others for details.

One of the cavalrymen said: "Commander, our five hundred cavalry caught up with the two hundred Huns and fought fiercely with them, killing a hundred of them. The rest of the Huns scattered. The five hundred saw more than ten Huns fleeing to the southwest. Among the people, the leader of the horse was wearing an eagle feather as a crown, and the arrows he shot were all golden clusters of eagle feathers. Knowing that he was the eagle shooter, he chased a hundred horses and fought with him. Unexpectedly, the eagle shooter retreated after fighting. Every shot was sure to hit, wounding more than ten people and injuring five hundred masters. We had killed all his subordinates, but we could not capture the vulture shooter alone. He escaped into the forest, and when we searched again, there was no trace. Five hundred masters were injured. Heavy, can only come back..."

"Comparing cavalry and archery with the Huns is like using your own shortcomings to attack their strong points!"

Heifu regretted a little, because he wanted to wait until the decisive battle to use it as a secret weapon to catch the main Xiongnu force by surprise, so he did not let the Qin cavalry scouts be equipped with high-saddle stirrups. If there was such a thing, Qiang Hua and the others would be as powerful as a tiger. How could they let the vulture shooter escape? He also hurt many people.

"It seems that it's time for the cavalry to equip them with this thing!"

Only high-saddle stirrups can allow cavalrymen from farming areas who have not practiced fighting on horseback for a few years to compete with nomads who have grown up on horseback. And with the new tactics they have practiced hard for a year and a half, they can give them a big challenge. surprise!

Heifu also made up his mind that in this battle, the Xiongnu must be completely defeated, making them suffer more heavy losses than in history! It was so bad that it could never come back.

Although Qiang Hua was injured and the vulture shooter escaped, these forward scouts who penetrated dozens of miles to the southwest also brought back good news.

While searching for the vulture shooter, they actually encountered friendly forces!

"General Li from Longxi has marched to the entrance of Qingshan Gorge! His scouts have arrived dozens of miles away to contact our army."

This is a happy event. This time, Longxi and Beiland are fighting in coordination. They are marching from two directions to attack the Xiongnu's Helan pastureland and wipe out the area.

"But General Li's scouts also said that since crossing Wushui and entering the Huns' territory, they have not seen a single herdsman or a single cow or sheep. The Huns also polluted many water sources with dead animals."

"Strengthen the walls and clear the country? What are the Huns trying to do..."

Hei Fu frowned. When Li Mu used this method to deal with the Huns, the Huns also used this method to deal with the Qin army's attack? However, it is said that in history, Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty fell victim to this trick and died of the disease after drinking poisonous water. I don’t know if it is true or not, or just don’t be careless.

It's a pity that the Yellow River is too wide and too big for the Huns to pollute. What's more, unlike the Huns who can't dig wells, the well-drilling technology in the Central Plains is quite mature. Heifu also requires the generals to drink hot water as long as they can. officer.

After Heifu thought for a while, he wrote a letter and asked the hundred generals to lead a hundred people to the west again and handed it to the Longxi Army.

"I would like to make an appointment with General Li. On the first day of June, the two armies of the Beidi and Longxi fronts will meet victoriously by the river!"