Qu Fei was horrified: Retreat!
However, before they could move, countless arrows shot out from the forest.
The Quzhao soldiers were already standing in a dense formation, so almost none of the arrows missed their mark.
The arrows from the forest seemed endless, continuing to rain down with incredible speed and devastating power.
Batch after batch of Quzhao soldiers fell.
Qu Fei's eyes nearly split open in rage. He swung his long blade so fast it formed an impenetrable shield: Retreat! Scatter! Take cover, take cover!
He fought as he retreated, not forgetting to protect Qu Mu, whose martial skills were relatively weak.
Clang, clang, clang! He deflected an unknown number of arrows, and the two finally retreated behind a large tree.
Panting heavily, Qu Fei cursed angrily at the outside: You Han thieves, come out and fight if you have the guts! What kind of skill is it to use dirty tricks?
In the dense forest on the hillside, one or two hundred meters away from the Quzhao soldiers, Jiang Jin's eyes were indifferent. She aimed her Dragon Plume Crossbow at the Quzhao soldiers who were still frantically looking for cover, and pulled the trigger.
The Dragon Plume Crossbow had a shooting range of over 500 meters. At a distance of one or two hundred meters, the arrows were extremely fast, with higher accuracy and greater power.
Thwack.
It claimed the life of yet another soldier.
The Quzhao soldiers were actually not weak; they were just caught off guard.
Once they reacted, they quickly looked for cover to hide themselves.
Jiang Jin looked from afar at the ground covered in corpses, as well as the wailing Quzhao soldiers who were about to become corpses. This single round had claimed the lives of five or six hundred Quzhao soldiers.
She waved her hand.
The Dragon Shadow Guards immediately scattered in all directions, looking for ambush targets. When it came to jungle warfare, they were not afraid in the slightest.
For several months during the winter, they had been trained half to death by their Lord in the Gesi Mountains. It should be known that back then, the mountains were covered in white snow that reached waist-high.
Compared to back then, the current environment was like heaven and earth.
Jiang Jin slung the Dragon Plume Crossbow over her back and drew the Tang sword from her waist. The hunting time had begun.
Qu Bai sat in his tent, feeling restless.
Qu Cong walked in briskly: General, Han civilians have been discovered in the Gesi Mountains.
Qu Bai raised his eyes: The Gesi Mountains?
Qu Cong nodded: Yes, some soldiers just saw figures moving in the Gesi Mountains, so they went to investigate and found nearly a hundred Han civilians.
Because Gefeng possessed crossbows with an ultra-long range, the besieging Quzhao army did not dare to get too close to Gefeng City. They could only scout and patrol around the perimeter of Gefeng City.
The expression on Qu Bai's face became strange: Where did these Han civilians come from? Catch them and interrogate them.
Qu Cong's expression was complicated: We didn't catch them. The Han people ran too fast and disappeared into the deep mountains at once. We didn't have enough manpower at the time and didn't dare to go deep. Should we send people to continue tracking them?
Qu Bai lowered his head in thought. He couldn't help but feel that the appearance of these civilians at this time was too coincidental.
Qu Cong hesitated for a moment and said: Could it be related to the people who stole the grain?
Qu Bai tapped his fingers on the table and, after a moment, ordered: Send 500 men to take a look.
Not long after, a team of 500 men headed from the Quzhao camp toward the Gesi Mountains.
Gefeng, North Gate City Tower.
Yun Ci watched the Quzhao soldiers enter the Gesi Mountains. He knew that it wouldn't be long before a hunt took place in the mountains.
Yao Ji was waiting for them with his soldiers. Barring any accidents, this team of Quzhao soldiers would not be coming back.
The younger generation is formidable. He sat in his wheelchair and gently pressed his own legs, feeling a bit regretful.
Otherwise, he would have really liked to try the guerrilla warfare and jungle warfare the Lord talked about.
Currently, the military strength of Gefeng was only over 2,000. Relying on the advantage of the city walls, if the enemy were to attack the city, it was highly possible to defeat and annihilate the Quzhao siege soldiers.
After all, they now had the barbican, the Eight-Ox Crossbows, and the Dragon Plume Crossbows—these great weapons of slaughter.
But since the Quzhao people did not attack the city, these divine weapons naturally had no place to be used.
Using two thousand people to fight head-on against twenty thousand—as long as one wasn't an idiot, they wouldn't do such a thing.
It wasn't to say they would definitely lose, but even if they won, it would be a pyrrhic victory. Human lives in Gefeng were extremely valuable because their population was small.
There was no need to risk human lives in a head-on clash.
The Lord's guerrilla warfare was very effective: divide and conquer, gradually consuming the military strength of Quzhao.
In just two days, the Quzhao soldiers had decreased by over 1,000.
No, adding today's casualties, it would be three to four thousand men.
At this time, Zhou Sui walked over: Why did you come up here?
Yun Ci smiled: I haven't moved around in a long time, so I came up to take a look.
Zhou Sui followed his line of sight and immediately understood his thoughts.
To be honest, he also really wanted to participate in the battle, but Gefeng City had to be guarded by someone. After all, no one could guarantee that Qu Bai definitely wouldn't attack the city.
We still need to speed up the production of the Eight-Ox Crossbows and Dragon Plume Crossbows, he couldn't help but urge.
Currently, only the Dragon Shadow Guards were equipped with Dragon Plume Crossbows. If every soldier in the Jinyang Army could have one, with each crossbow capable of firing 20 arrows in succession...
For over 2,000 soldiers, that would mean more than 40,000 arrows shooting out almost simultaneously. They could directly charge over and slaughter the 20,000 Quzhao soldiers outright.
Yun Ci felt helpless: Do you think I don't want to speed it up? The procedures are cumbersome, and the requirements for materials are high. Being able to produce over 200 of them in a few months is already the result of giving it our all.
Zhou Sui also knew the situation of the armory. Although the armory had expanded a lot and recruited many people.
In order to improve production efficiency and guarantee product quality, Jiang Jin had arranged for each group of people to handle a single step in the process.
But both the Eight-Ox Crossbow and the Dragon Plume Crossbow had very high requirements for raw materials and complex procedures; they were not easy to make.
We don't have enough manpower. Our territory is still too small, Yun Ci sighed with emotion.
The craftsmen in the armory were divided into several groups. They had to make bows and crossbows, craft arrows, and forge weapons like matching swords.
Zhou Sui comforted him: Don't worry, the Lord has her own plans.
The warm midday sun sprinkled into the dense forest, leaving mottled shadows.
Qu Fei, however, could not feel the warmth of the sun. Listening to the miserable screams of the soldiers, he only felt a bone-piercing chill.
Throughout the morning, he had organized several retreats, all of which ended in failure. These Jinyang Army soldiers were like maggots attached to the bone; no matter where they went, someone would beat them back.
Yet even now, they still didn't know the exact locations of their enemies. The shooting range of the Jinyang Army's repeating crossbows was too far. They had swords and bows, but nowhere to use them.
What was even more fatal was that a large number of traps had been set in this mountain. One careless step, and they would fall victim to them.
At this moment, he finally realized the truth. How was this the lair of the grain thieves? This was clearly a lethal trap aimed specifically at them.
Today, he had brought nearly two thousand men. He didn't know exactly how many had been killed, but he estimated it was probably more than half.
Qu Mu's right arm was injured. He tore off a strip of cloth and tied it up, but a lot of blood still seeped through.
We're surrounded. He panted heavily. The severe pain and massive blood loss made his face pale, and his vision darkened in waves.
