knife

Chapter 76 Who is the hunter and who is the prey

Yan Dong is the kind of person who has undergone all kinds of rigorous, even extremely harsh, training since childhood.

A large family is extremely cautious about who will lead the family in the future.

An ordinary person is useless simply because they will never have a chance to rise above their circumstances and will be enslaved by others.

But if the leader of a large family is incompetent, he will bring about the downfall of the entire family and cause the family line to be cut off.

Naturally, more than one person received this kind of training.

There were knives and whetstones inside.

A whetstone is naturally used for sharpening knives.

However, sometimes the whetstone is too thick and the knife is too thin, and the knife ends up breaking.

However, this was actually a pleasant surprise for a large family.

As a knife, it naturally receives more care and resources during this process of tempering. The fact that it was defeated by the whetstone despite having all the advantages only shows that the whetstone is extremely useful.

Indeed, this is the case. Generally speaking, the family that is the last to rise to power tends to prosper.

As the eldest son of the Yan family in this generation, Yan Dong was naturally the one who took the knife.

His knife was so sharp that he wore down all the whetstones.

Such a person is naturally quite shrewd.

Whether it's martial arts, strategy, or military talent,

He can be considered the best choice.

In this operation to eliminate the wolves, the intricate trap he set up was virtually flawless. His initial plan was to surround the wolves at Mao'er Mountain and then annihilate them in one fell swoop.

Over the past few days, despite his attempts to break through enemy lines, the wolf has been forced step by step into this pre-arranged position.

The goal was achieved, but the harsh winter was now fearful.

In warfare, what you fear most is not being fearless or having a large number of troops; what you fear most is having every move calculated by the enemy.

When others are fully aware of your thoughts, but you remain completely oblivious,
Then failure would be a foregone conclusion.

Everything the enemy on Mao'er Mountain is doing right now only proves one thing.
That is, they anticipated what the harsh winter was going to do, and therefore made targeted deployments.

The wolf is the bait!
Almost as soon as Yan Dong saw all this, the word "bait" kept ringing in his mind like a loud bell, making him feel dizzy.

retreat!

The word "harsh winter" almost came out of my mouth.

But he swallowed the words back before he could say them.

With the enemy situation unclear, who is manipulating all of this?
Where are the enemies?
More than 20,000 Yan troops have been arriving here in an endless stream since yesterday. They include cavalry, infantry, and baggage trains, all with the aim of eliminating the Wild Wolves.

But now the wolves are still swaggering around on Mao'er Mountain, while their own army is about to retreat. Anyone with a brain knows that something big has gone wrong.

Retreat is no easy task.

What would happen if the enemy hiding in the shadows suddenly appeared?
He looked up at Mao'er Mountain.

The next moment, a resolute look appeared on his face.

"Prepare for the attack!" He gripped the hilt of his sword and shouted sternly, "Take Mao'er Mountain in one hour!"

With few other options, his first priority was to eliminate the wolves in front of him, then set up a defensive formation using Mao'er Mountain as a base. He believed he could hold out for a while, regardless of who the enemy was, and that Baoping City would be able to quickly mobilize to rescue him once they received the news.

If you can hold out long enough, there is a very high chance of turning the tide.

After all, this is still on their own territory.

The smoke of war soared straight into the sky, and the heat wave brought by the raging flames forced even the bitter winter to retreat. With the sound of horns and the booming of drums, troop after troop of soldiers began to move in an orderly fashion and approached Mao'er Mountain.

On Mao'er Mountain, Gu Xiaoman stood with her legs spread apart at the highest point, gazing at the enemy below, with He Li and Zhu Zhe by her side.

"Yan Dong is a formidable general. These days, he has turned several of my hairs white. I almost didn't make it to Mao'er Mountain before he took care of me halfway there!"

"Like grasshoppers in autumn, they won't be able to hop around for much longer!" Zhu Zhe said. "No matter how powerful a general is, once he dies, he's no longer powerful."

"He's probably caught wind of something!" He Li pointed to the banners below and said, "Commander, have you noticed? Yan Dong is moving his central army to the front. If the first to attack are his most elite troops, it can only mean that he's guessed we're just bait. So he wants to take out the bait first, and then turn back for the final battle!"

“If he still can’t figure it out by now, then it’s not worth all this trouble of digging a pit for him!” Gu Xiaoman said. “However, even a cornered beast will fight. An army that knows it is facing a desperate situation will either be demoralized and routed, or it will fight to the death. It seems that Yan Dong is prepared to fight to the death. We will have to hold out for at least half a day.”

"Commander, I think we need to be prepared to hold out for a longer period of time," Zhu Zhe said.

"Why do you think so?"

"That Xiao Changche isn't our friend. Wouldn't it be better if he deliberately arrived a little later, so that we and the Yan family could fight to the death?"

Gu Xiaoman grinned: "You're overthinking it. If Xiao Changche were that kind of person, would it be worth all these years of effort to cultivate a relationship with him? This man is very principled; once he says he'll arrive, he'll arrive early, never late." "I hope I'm just being cynical," Zhu Zhe said, "The sooner he arrives, the more of our brothers can be saved!"

He Li patted Zhu Zhe on the shoulder and laughed, "We just need to do our own thing. Commander, I'll hold off the first wave, but you have to keep a close eye on Yan Dong. That guy is at the eighth level of Xuan Yuan. If he goes in personally, I can't handle it. You'll have to go."

Gu Xiaoman stroked his neatly trimmed mustache and smiled, "Don't worry, leave this person to me."

Snow is falling!
Blood is flying!

Zhu Zhe drew his gun, but the gun was gripped tightly by the other man's hands. The gun was stuck in the man's sternum and he couldn't pull it back. At that very moment, another enemy roared and leaped up, his long sword leaving afterimages as it slashed straight at Zhu Zhe's head.

Zhu Zhe released his grip, but instead of retreating, he retaliated, crashing straight into the enemy ranks. He no longer had his spear, but now he wielded two rare and unusual weapons rarely seen in the martial world – the Mother-and-Child Mandarin Duck Axes.

Yan's general missed his first attack and watched as Zhu Zhe charged into his own ranks and wreaked havoc. Ignoring the danger, he drew his sword and charged at Zhu Zhe's men.

He didn't care how many people died.

The Yan family can afford to die.

Down the mountain, the Yan family had 20,000 followers, while how many people did the Wild Wolves have?
one thousand?
two thousand?

That won't be any more.

With a single slash, a bandit was split in two before him. He grinned, and amidst the blood mist, raised his sword again and brought it down heavily.

With a clang, my hand trembled violently, and I almost lost my grip on the steel knife.

As the blood mist dissipated, a large, fat man appeared before them, wielding a massive axe in both hands.

"Your fat grandpa is here!" With a loud shout, the fat man swung his two axes, one on the left and one on the right, in a cross shape.

He took a step back, and the two axes just barely passed by. He breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then a sharp pain shot through his waist and abdomen. Looking down, he saw a rope dart stuck right in his lower abdomen.

The rope taut, and with a whoosh, the rope dart flew back and landed in the hand of a thin figure behind the fat man.

The general cried out in pain, his eyes flashing with cold light as two large axes came at him once more. This time, however, he could not dodge them.

With two swings of his axe, he instantly cleaved the Yan family general into three pieces. Lü You burst out of the blood mist, crashing straight into the attacking Yan family army like a red demon god.

There were no special techniques or rules; caught in the midst of a chaotic battle, he relied solely on his physical strength.

Driven by two large axes, the Third Battalion of the Human Battalion launched a counterattack and immediately routed the Yan family army.

Down the mountain, Yan Dong slowly put on his helmet.

Just now, all the mysteries have finally been revealed.

His scouts brought back news.

Xiao Changche's iron cavalry has arrived.

Three thousand iron cavalrymen were mobilized in full force.

We headed straight for Mao'er Mountain.

We are less than twenty li away from here, which means we will arrive in no time.

"Yan Chun!" he shouted sternly.

"Big brother!" His younger brother Yan Chun stepped forward in response.

"You command the infantry here and continue the attack. Take Mao'er Mountain at all costs, then use it as a stronghold to establish a defensive position and wait for my return!"

"Yes, sir!" Yan Chun asked, "Brother, where are you going?"

"Xiao Changche is here, I'm going to go and meet him!"

"What?" Yan Chun was stunned.

"Everyone says that Xiao Changche's three thousand iron cavalry are invincible throughout the world, and even the Northern Yuan cavalry dare not directly confront them. Today, I want to see for myself." Yan Dong mounted his horse, spear in hand, ready to go.

"Brother!" Yan Chun grabbed his horse's reins: "Are you really going to go head-to-head with Xiao Changche?"

Yan Dong took a deep breath: "Second brother, haven't you realized yet? This is a trap specifically set for our Yan family. The only way to break this trap is to confront it head-on. If we win, the trap will naturally be broken."

"What if I lose?"

"If we lose, it's all over!" Yan Dong pulled on the reins and spurred his horse forward, followed closely by thousands of cavalry. "He has three thousand, but I have five thousand. We're not necessarily going to lose! Besides, I believe my father's personal guard is on its way. The outcome is still uncertain! If you can quickly take Mao'er Mountain, you can slowly advance your troops towards me. If we can win this battle today, then there will be no more Xiao Changche in this area beyond the Great Wall."

Watching the departing cavalrymen, and then looking back at Mao'er Mountain standing before him, Yan Chun grabbed his helmet and slammed it to the ground before striding forward.

"Follow me!" he roared.

On the mountain, Gu Xiaoman reached out and grasped the knife handle. With a clang, he pulled the knife from its sheath stuck in the ground.

(End of this chapter)