"Ah..." Before the scream could even escape his lips, Lu Xuan covered it. Only a pair of eyes, bloodshot with excruciating pain, were visible. His kneecaps were shattered, unable to support his weight. He slowly collapsed to his knees on the cold ground.
However, what pained him the most was that Lu Xuan did not kill him, but instead punched him so hard that he could not make a sound.
At that moment, another Ming soldier who had acted at the same time as Lu Xuan had already helped the two men who had fallen to their knees. As soon as they looked up, they saw Lu Xuan brutally beating the wild boar hide.
The already biting cold weather seemed to suddenly become even colder.
Lu Xuan picked up the spear from the ground, exerted force with his right hand, and the spear pierced through the Tartar's right leg, pinning him firmly to the ground. Only then did he turn to look at the three soldiers beside him. A snowflake drifted past Lu Xuan's face. The three then realized that their savior was a tall, handsome young man.
“Brave warrior. I am Lu Wenzhao, a sentry officer in the Western Route Army.” One of them immediately understood and introduced himself.
"My name is Shen Lian, a platoon leader in the Western Route Army," the other person introduced himself.
"My name is Guo Zhen, the military supervisor of the Western Route Army. I thank you for your rescue, brave warrior. May I ask who you are...?" The fact that he is a military supervisor indicates that the other party is a eunuch.
“My name is Lu Xuan. I was originally a hunter in the mountains. A few days ago, I was conscripted by the Ming army to work as a young man. But I didn’t last long before the Ming army was wiped out.”
Lu Xuan's words were dripping with sarcasm. There was nothing he could do; the Ming army had been defeated so quickly. The most infuriating thing was that Lu Xuan remembered that after all four armies had suffered utter defeat, Commander-in-Chief Yang Hao only then learned that battle had already broken out at the front...
At this time, the Ming army was arguably at its worst since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Meanwhile, the Later Jin Dynasty was experiencing a period of rapid rise. Nurhaci was a military genius rarely seen in a century. Given this disparity, how could the Ming army not be defeated?
Guo Zhen stepped forward and said, “Brother Lu, the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army, Du Song, has been killed in battle. Now the Western Route Army is in complete defeat, and I need to return to camp immediately to report this matter. I would be grateful if you could see me off, Brother Lu. Once we return to camp, I can offer you the position of captain.”
Squad leader and captain—both were junior officers in the Ming army. Even so, they were a huge temptation for ordinary people. But Lu Xuan ignored him and instead asked a question.
"Does anyone here understand Manchu?"
"......"
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Chapter 108 Isn't this normal procedure?
Lu Xuan's question startled the three of them. Lu Wenzhao and Shen Lian remained silent. However, Guo Zhen, standing to the side, spoke up somewhat cautiously.
“Sir Lu, I do know a little Manchu. But our most urgent task is…”
"Very well, come with me." Lu Xuan interrupted Guo Zhen directly. This caused the eunuch's expression to change slightly. The reason he was being so polite was because he was impressed by Lu Xuan's martial prowess and wanted a bodyguard. After all, the surrounding area was full of Tartars clearing the battlefield. He, as a eunuch, dared not run back alone.
Unexpectedly, this stubborn hunter not only didn't understand, but also dared to order him around. Guo Zhen immediately wanted to have the two soldiers subdue this madman. But then he saw Lu Xuan turn his head and look at Lu Wenzhao and Shen Lian.
"Clean up the battlefield, find useful equipment and rations. Bring their horses over."
Shen Lian and Lu Wenzhao instinctively followed Lu Xuan's orders and began preparing. Only then did they realize that they were actually obeying the orders of a hunter?
Although the other party was a hunter, his astonishing combat skills had clearly impressed the two veterans. Coupled with the subtle aura of authority emanating from him, this caused the two to instinctively obey his orders.
Both were veterans, and they quickly searched through the corpses, finding several intact willow-leaf daggers. Shen Lian, on the other hand, obtained a bundle of crossbow bolts from some of his comrades. He had a hand crossbow and needed to replenish the bolts. Lu Xuan, meanwhile, stripped the armor off several dead Tartar cavalrymen and put it on himself.
"Everyone put on the Tartar armor."
Only then did Shen Lian and Lu Wenzhao vaguely guess what Lu Xuan was planning. Their expressions changed drastically. Even as battle-hardened veterans, Lu Xuan's actions were simply too fantastical.
"Brave Warrior Lu, what do you intend to do?" Lu Wenzhao asked cautiously. He was exhausted and out of strength. He was also afraid of angering this ruthless man who had single-handedly tortured the elite Tartars like dogs.
"Go to the Tartar camp."
"Sir Lu, there are only four of us..."
“That’s enough. This is the main battlefield. The Tartars’ main camp should be further back. But the surrounding area is full of scattered cavalry clearing the battlefield. This means there is likely a temporary camp nearby for these cavalry to rest. They fought all day yesterday and then cleared the battlefield overnight. Now, they should be exhausted and ready to return to camp.”
Lu Wenzhao admitted that Lu Xuan's words made a lot of sense. But as he said before, there were only four of them.
"I don't need the three of you. I can manage on my own. You just need to carry my extra equipment. Swords, bows and arrows, bring as many as you can."
Lu Wenzhao and Shen Lian exchanged bewildered glances. They couldn't understand what the hunter was up to. Could it be that he planned to raid the camp alone?
Just then, Lu Xuan's ears twitched.
"Someone's coming. About two miles to the northeast." He said, taking the bow and bundle of arrows Shen Lian had just found. He tested them. Lu Wenzhao and Shen Lian looked northeast together, but they heard and saw nothing. Only after a dozen breaths did they faintly hear the sound of hooves as six cavalrymen emerged from the distant woods.
But had the hunter already heard this before? The two looked at Lu Xuan in confusion. They saw Lu Xuan carrying a bow and walking towards them.
"Are you crazy? Those are elite Tartar cavalry." Despite Lu Xuan's astonishing display of martial prowess, neither of them believed he could withstand six elite Tartar cavalrymen head-on, especially given their heavy armor.
Lu Xuan ignored the two of them. He reached out and pulled back the bow. Then he pursed his lips; it was too light. He needed to carefully control the force.
A few breaths later, the six elite cavalrymen had closed to within a hundred meters. Lu Xuan calmly nocked an arrow. He released it, and as expected, it went astray. There was nothing he could do; he wasn't quite used to such a light bow.
However, after the test firing, it was time for the main event. At this moment, Shen Lian and Lu Wenzhao also caught up. Having already been discovered by the Tartars, the two of them, showing loyalty, decided to fight alongside Lu Xuan to defend against the enemy.
However, the next second, Lu Xuan fired again. Before the two beside him could react, he had already released six arrows in quick succession. The six arrows fell to the ground in a volley. However, the longbow in Lu Xuan's hand also cracked and broke. All six knights were heavily armored. He had fired each arrow at the bow's maximum force to ensure it could penetrate their armor. But as a price, the bow was completely destroyed.
He casually tossed aside the longbow in his hand. Lu Xuan turned around and saw two people staring at him in disbelief.
"What are you standing there for? I'm a hunter, isn't knowing how to use a bow and arrow basic skill?"
Shen Lian: "......"
Lu Wenzhao: "..."
"Two of them aren't quite dead yet. Go and bring them over. While you're at it, take off their equipment and see which parts are usable." Lu Xuan ordered matter-of-factly, as if he hadn't seen their gazes.
The two men instinctively drew their swords and rushed toward several Tartars who were lying on the ground groaning in pain not far away.
A quarter of an hour later, the four had packed their equipment. Shen Lian and Lu Wenzhao even found four powerful bows for Lu Xuan, as well as five bundles of nearly two hundred arrows. As for the two Tartars who weren't quite dead yet, they were completely dead.