The female prisoner was fierce

The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became.

"drive!!"

He raised his right hand, holding the riding whip, high, and lashed it down hard again.

The horse, in pain, neighed and increased its speed by a third.

The twenty-mile journey was covered in less than a quarter of an hour by galloping at full speed.

at last.

When he could see the outline of Table Mountain in the distance, he hurriedly looked towards the South Gate.

The gates of the village were tightly shut, and flags were planted on the walls.

"Thank goodness, my territory is still here, damn it, I..."

Liu Xiuqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, before he could finish speaking, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

because.

Look closely.

It wasn't the black command flag of his Black Cloud Stronghold!

It's a red flag!

No, to be precise, it was just a piece of red cloth, with nothing on it, but it looked particularly striking in the gray and white night snow!

Liu Xiuqing's heart skipped a beat.

I had a very ominous premonition.

at the same time.

Behind him, more than a dozen guards also stopped.

Panting heavily, they followed Liu Xiuqing's gaze to Table Mountain, and then one by one they spoke up instinctively:

"Commander, that...that's our stronghold?"

"Commander, when did our village get this kind of flag?"

"Oh no, we've lost! Damn it, how could this be? In such a short time!"

The guards were dumbfounded, hardly believing what they were seeing.

Liu Xiuqing did not answer.

He stared intently at the red flag on the stockade wall, his teeth grinding together, and the veins on his right hand, which held the riding whip, bulged.

"Damn it!"

"You bastard surnamed Xiao, you're asking for it!!"

After all, he was the commander; how could he not know the current situation?

The thought of Black Cloud Village, which he had painstakingly built up over several years, being stolen made him so angry he felt like he was going to vomit blood!

"Damn it, even though I took three hundred elite soldiers out, I also left more than fifty behind as a precaution. How could I have failed to hold out in such a short time?!"

"How is that possible?!"

Liu Xiuqing simply couldn't believe it had been captured by force, so there was only one explanation: a traitor!

"Once I take back my stronghold, I'll skin you alive!!"

The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

However, after a brief moment of anger, Liu Xiuqing forced herself to calm down.

Having served in the border army and fought in battles, he knew that it was precisely in times like these that one must not panic.

"Monkey, go and see clearly what's going on on the stockade wall."

Suppressing his raging anger, he immediately gave an order to one of his personal guards.

"Yes, Commander."

The guard beside him swallowed hard, then steeled himself and crept over.

But not far ahead.

"ah!!"

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the cold, snowy night.

Then, the guard nicknamed "Monkey" quickly turned back from the narrow path ahead.

A crossbow bolt pierced his right arm, going right through the bone, and blood gushed out, steaming in the cold winter wind.

His face turned deathly pale, and he reported in utter terror:

"Commander, the stockade walls are full of women."

"There were about twenty or thirty of them, all carrying weapons."

"There were also a few with crossbows. Those crossbows are really powerful; they can shoot at least eighty paces. I was just trying to get a little closer, and I almost lost my life."

Liu Xiuqing looked at the sword wound on his right arm, and the scar on her face twitched.

It wasn't anger, it was shock!

Even in military camps, few people can achieve this level of force; at most, the bullet might pierce the arm, but it's impossible for it to go straight through.

Even the most powerful crossbows in the Great Wu Dynasty could not do that!

Suppressing his shock, he immediately asked:

"What kind of crossbow is that? Did you see it clearly?"

The subordinate, nicknamed "Monkey," endured the excruciating pain and replied:

"Reporting back to Commander, it's too far away to see clearly, but it's very strange, completely different from a normal crossbow."

Liu Xiuqing gritted her teeth:

"Go down and rest first."

monkey:

"Yes."

He immediately stepped aside and, enduring the pain, began to treat his wound.

Liu Xiuqing looked ahead again.

In the distance, the familiar South Gate now looked like a giant face, mocking him.

"Damn it, it's those women again! And that damn Xiao guy again!!"

"Despicable! Shameless! They actually planted a traitor right next to me!"

"Not content with taking advantage of our strength, Qinglong Village dares to steal from my Black Cloud Village! I'm not finished with you!!"

anger!

I'm so angry I want to eat people!

If Xiao Jianyang were in front of him, he would not hesitate to knock out his bone marrow and drink the water immediately.

"Commander, what should we do?"

At this moment, several guards behind him asked cautiously.

Liu Xiuqing suppressed his anger, his gaze icy, like a hungry wolf in the dead of winter, and said, enunciating each word clearly:

"wait!"

"Wait for Ma Sandao and the brothers to arrive!"

"No matter what, we have to take back my village!!"

He said this with an angry tone, but his voice was calm and barely fluctuating.

But his close guards knew that the calmer Liu Xiuqing appeared, the stronger his murderous intent was.

The last time he spoke in this tone was when he defected from the border army.

That time, he personally killed three comrades who came to stop him, one of whom was an old brother who had followed him for five years.

Time flies.

Half an hour later, Ma Sandao arrived with a large group of men.

More than 280 people ran 20 miles of mountain road, and they were all exhausted like dead dogs. As soon as they arrived at their destination, they collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, and were almost completely exhausted.

Ma Sandao was covered in sweat. He ran to Liu Xiuqing's horse and knelt down on one knee with a thud.

"Commander, I am late. Please forgive me."

Liu Xiuqing had already dismounted and answered upon hearing the voice:

"Let the brothers rest for half an hour. After half an hour, let's attack."

Ma Sandao:

"Yes, Commander, then..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly realized something was wrong:

"Attack the stronghold??"

I was completely stunned for a moment!

But, true to his reputation for rising through flattery and keen observation, he immediately understood and loudly replied:

"Yes, Commander!"

Pass the word down immediately.

Sometimes, it's best not to ask certain questions, because the answer is already hidden in the words themselves.

only.

When Ma Sandao looked towards the south gate of Black Cloud Village, he couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt:

"How could the counterfeit have changed hands in such a short time?"

"Unless... there's a traitor!"

Besides this reason, in his view, there could be no other possibility.

……

Meanwhile, atop Table Mountain.

Xiao Jianyang had already led Lin Qingxue and the female soldiers to the South Gate.

Standing behind the stockade wall, I peered down the mountain through the gaps in the crenellations.

The wind and snow subsided considerably, and visibility increased from over 100 meters to over 200 meters, allowing a clear view of a large, dark mass of people at the foot of the mountain.

Three hundred people, exactly as expected.

Unfortunately, the snowy night made visibility poor, so we couldn't see the specific situation clearly.

Currently under observation.

"Lord Xiao."

Defang and Li Tiezhu rushed over from not far away and stood beside him.

"What are the statistics?"

Xiao Jianyang quickly inquired.

"They're out."

Defang answered first:

"There are still about forty sisters who can fight. The weapons and armor from the warehouse have already been transported up."

This was the order Xiao Jianyang had just given. Since those armors were useless in the warehouse anyway, they might as well be brought to the front lines.

Li Tiezhu followed up with his report:

"Reporting to Lord Xiao, only 8 men remain in the archery team, but each of them is equipped with a good bow and an average of 50 arrows."

Xiao Jianyang nodded, a cold glint flashing in his eyes:

"Well done. Tell everyone that tonight is the battle that will make the Xiao family's women's army famous. Tell everyone to get ready."

"Also, send someone over to transfer seven people from Beizhai, leaving three to defend the area."

The two answered in unison:

"yes!"

The voice just fell.

"Lord Xiao, they've started to move."

Lin Qingxue, who had been standing beside him, immediately pointed to the foot of the mountain.

Xiao Jianyang immediately looked over upon hearing the sound.

Sure enough, the crowd at the foot of the mountain began to move!

It split into three strands!

One group remained in place, probably the supervisory team.

The other two groups, one after the other, crept along the narrow path towards the village gate.

Each group consists of about one hundred people, spaced about fifty steps apart.

"This is going to be a war of attrition."

Xiao Jianyang immediately made a judgment in his mind.

The first wave rushes in to wear down the defense, and the second wave follows, giving the defenders no chance to breathe.

A very standard siege tactic!

Liu Xiuqing, the border army commander, had indeed fought in battles.

in fact.

This is the only way to fight in this terrain.

Having made his judgment, Xiao Jianyang immediately gave the order:

"Pass down the order."

"Fire when the bows and crossbows are close enough, and release the arrows only when they are within sixty paces."

"Guerrilla, prepare all the remaining thunderstones and logs."

"Everyone, obey my orders. Without my command, you are not allowed to fire a single arrow or throw a single stone."

Defang:

"yes!"

Li Tiezhu:

"yes!"

Lin Qingxue:

"Yes, sir!"

Immediately begin to prepare with tension.

With the addition of 7 female soldiers from the direction of Beizhaimen.

On the stockade wall.

At this moment, nearly forty female soldiers gripped their weapons tightly, their eyes filled with fighting spirit, showing no fear or apprehension whatsoever.

Having just been tempered by the bloody battles at Qinglong Village, and now with the great advantage of the terrain...

The advantage lies with me!

Therefore, there is no reason to be afraid!

However, I was still a little nervous.

After all, the number of defeated soldiers down the mountain was seven or eight times theirs, and they were all seasoned veterans who had fought in battles, unlike Xu Batian's rabble from Qinglong Village.

On Xiao Jianyang's side.

He picked up the rotary crossbow at his waist, narrowed his eyes, his killing intent chilling, and muttered to himself:

"Come on, let me see just how much you deserters from the border are really made of!!"

……