Una crossed his arms and laughed loudly, glancing at the cavalrymen on the other side who were now in a stalemate, and exclaimed, "That's great!"
Qiu Su's mind raced. "Let's have a one-on-one fight."
"Major General Ji!" He Zhuo exclaimed in surprise.
"Alright, shall we have a sword fight?"
Qiu Su swallowed hard. "Compare to a horse."
"Horses?" Una smiled, his eyes narrowing. "How would you compare them?"
"It runs faster than a horse."
Hearing the barely concealed tremor in Qiu Su's voice, Wu Na smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. But there's one condition: if you lose, you must come back to Wusun with me."
What if you lose?
"Ji Heng!" He Zhuo rode over, glaring at him angrily, "The war hasn't even really started yet, what's your rush? We haven't lost a single soldier."
Qiu Su shook her head. "We can't catch their horses. If they go to Tara and Yingluo, how can we stop them?"
Qiu Su gripped the reins tightly, lowered her eyes, and said, "You won't say anything either. I was so naive. I thought this formation could protect me, but it couldn't defeat the enemy."
He Zhuo reached out to pull on the reins in Qiu Su's hand, but Qiu Su pulled on the reins and they went their separate ways.
Una laughed loudly, "If I lose, you can do whatever you want."
Qiu Su frowned and said, "If you lose, you will never invade these villages again."
"make a deal."
Qiu Su turned her horse around, but He Zhuo quickly blocked her way, gritting his teeth and saying, "Don't make me resort to violence!"
Qiu Su looked at the blood on the faces of the cavalrymen, and one of them, who had a broken arm, remained silent, still sitting upright on his horse with one hand holding a knife. She smiled at He Zhuo and said, "Foolish, how could I lose?"
"They're all riding Akhal-Teke horses!"
Qiu Su patted the Siqiong beneath her, "It's a BMW too."
He Zhuo reached out to grab Qiu Su, but Qiu Su dodged again. He waved to the menacing cavalrymen and said, "This young general will compete with Wu Na in horsemanship. You all heard Wu Na's promise. Be a witness and see if he can keep his word and never invade our dynasty."
Wu Na raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Ji Heng? You just said you wouldn't invade the villages here. But that's fine too, if you come back to Wusun with me, you won't set foot here either."
Qiu Su pursed her lips, turned her horse towards the camp, and said with a smirk, "From here to my tent, if you catch up with me, you win. Considering your horse is better than mine..."
Una interrupted her with a laugh, "If I enter the camp, won't I be captured? The price would be too high."
"Fair play? No."
Una stroked his chin and pointed to a tree not far ahead, saying, "How about this, the destination is not fixed, you can run wherever you want, as long as I catch up with you, I win. That tree, I'll chase you there."
Qiu Su frowned as she looked at the tree, which was only a dozen or so feet tall, and asked, "How long is considered the end?"
"Half an hour." Wu Na patted the horse beneath him. If things were normal, it would only take a quarter of an hour to wear down Si Qiong's stamina, and he would catch up soon.
"Ji Heng!" He Zhuo blocked her way again. "You can fight on horseback, but we'll fight here too."
Qiu Su reached out her hand, and He Zhuo quickly grasped it. Qiu Su tightened her grip and smiled, saying, "Trust me this once, okay?"
"not good!"
Una smiled with her arms crossed, her eyes shining even brighter.
“I’ll start counting. It doesn’t matter if you don’t run. Just come back to Wusun with me.”
Qiu Su pursed her lips, flung her hand over the reins, and spurred her horse forward. He Zhuo tried to follow, but was pulled away by the person beside him. The horse neighed, and He Zhuo glared, "Let go!"
"Sima is giving the young general a chance to prove himself. He ran towards the camp, and General Qin is personally leading troops to wait ahead. There will be no problem."
He Zhuo raised his whip to strike, but the cavalryman pursed his lips and refused to let go, lowering his voice to say, "Sima, think carefully about General Ji's responsibilities. This place cannot be without Sima's orders."
He Zhuo was furious. Seeing that Wu Na had already laughed and chased after him, he quickly whistled to let Xiao Qiu follow.
Qiu Su was practically lying on the horse's back, listening to the whistling wind in her ears, her mind blank. Finally, she couldn't help but turn back, only to see Wu Na not only getting closer but also drawing an arrow and aiming it at Xiao Qiu again. Qiu Su was furious and roared back, "You dare hurt it! You, a general of Wusun, are actually picking a fight with a dog!"
Una whistled, and the arrow veered off course, shooting out with a thud. Although Xiao Qiu darted to the side, the arrow still landed firmly in front of her foot as she landed.
Qiu Su gritted her teeth, pulled out the dagger strapped to her calf, leaned back, and plunged it into Si Qiong's rump. Si Qiong neighed and suddenly accelerated, almost throwing Qiu Su off the horse. Qiu Su gripped the reins tightly, her legs trembling, and with all her might, she climbed back onto Si Qiong's back, clutching the horse's mane and closing her eyes.
Let fate decide. Siqiong seems to be General Qin's horse. She poked its rear end; will General Qin hold a grudge? Sigh, it would be better if he just chased her away.
Xiao Qiu couldn't keep up with the horse's speed, so she stopped, panting, and spun around twice, groaning and extremely anxious.
Siqiong was a good horse, and a spirited one at that, but it still couldn't compare to Wuna's chestnut Akhal-Teke horse behind it. After taking that blow earlier, Siqiong had left it behind, but in just a quarter of an hour, Siqiong had clearly lost its previous speed, while the horse behind it was getting closer and closer, its speed undiminished.
Wu Na looked at Qiu Su, who was clinging to the back of Si Qiong, and said loudly, "You haven't even mastered horsemanship, yet you dare to compete with me in horsemanship. Are you bold, or have you taken a fancy to me and are you planning to return to Wusun with me?"
Qiu Su remained silent with her eyes closed. Wu Na kicked the horse's belly, and the horse quickly caught up, reaching out to grab Qiu Su. Qiu Su, with a sudden burst of courage, flipped over and hung on the side of the horse, one leg slamming into the ground. She dragged herself for a while before managing to lift herself onto the horse's back. The horse, Si Qiong, veered off course due to Qiu Su's force. Perhaps realizing that running straight ahead wouldn't be advantageous, it turned and galloped down a hillside.
Siqiong charged into the bushes, slowing down considerably. The hillside wasn't sparsely wooded; it was mostly bare rock, and even in the denser areas, the ground was bare and offered no cover. Qiusu glanced at Wuna, who had also leaped in, gritted her teeth, dismounted, whipped Siqiong to make it run away, and then climbed to higher ground.
Wu Na stopped his horse and looked at Qiu Su, who was only climbing steep sections, and said with a smile, "Miss, please state your name."
...
"No need to climb so fast, I haven't dismounted yet."
Qiu Su was no longer listening to him. The moment her heel hit the ground, her entire calf felt like it was broken. She dragged herself along the ground for a short distance, her shoe flying off. Barefoot, with her heel blistered and peeling, she only knew to climb upwards. She would rather die than fall into his hands. This was no longer about the herders in the other village; it was about her own life.
Una dismounted, flicked his whip, a fleeting smile in his eyes, followed by the excitement of encountering prey.
"Young lady, how did you end up in the Yibei Camp? Didn't that dynasty say that any woman who entered the camp would be executed? Was that your lover just now?"
Una laughed, tucked the riding whip into his waistband, rubbed his hands together, looked around, and chose a gentle spot to head up the mountain.
"Half an hour, half an hour, half an hour..." Qiu Su panicked and kept repeating the time. She desperately climbed up and peered down to see Wu Na looking up at her and laughing. She was so frightened that she quickly lay down on the stone wall.
"Get out of the way!" Qiu Su pursed her lips, glancing up at the path Wu Na had chosen, then at the BMW grazing at the bottom of the slope. Shaking her legs, she continued climbing, choosing an angle where she would disappear from Wu Na's sight in a few steps. Qiu Su lay still on the rock face for a moment, then, hearing Wu Na's footsteps continuing upwards, she slowly slid down. At the steepest part, she suddenly stood up and ran down, rushing to the BMW and, ignoring its resistance, mounting it.
Wu Na laughed loudly and jumped out from behind the big rock, looking at Qiu Su and saying, "You clever little thing, you even know how to steal my horse."
Qiu Su's hands trembled so much that she could not hold the reins tightly. Seeing Wu Na approaching with a smile, the horse under her became much more stable. She gritted her teeth and repeated her old trick, stabbing the horse's rump with her knife.
Una's expression changed; her previous teasing was replaced by ruthlessness. BMW raised its front leg and neighed, its body rising almost vertically. Just as Qiu Su thought she was about to be thrown out, it suddenly darted out of the woods and back onto the grassland.
Qiu Su forcefully dragged the BMW towards the camp, but before she could get away, Wu Na pounced on her like a hawk. Qiu Su screamed and stabbed at Wu Na with her dagger. Wu Na couldn't stop in time, and a deep cut was made on the back of his hand.
Qiu Su, like a madwoman, stabbed the horse's rump again. The steed, unable to withstand the pain, bolted forward. Wu Na's eyes flashed with increasing ferocity. He put two fingers to his lips and whistled. The galloping horse abruptly stopped. Qiu Su's attempts to stab the horse's rump again only resulted in it rearing up, kicking its back, and neighing. Qiu Su's hands were marked with bloody welts from the reins, and her hands went numb, causing her to be thrown from the horse's back.