Chapter 8: Gao Ping (2)

"Go!" Yang Biao shouted again, swiftly swinging his weapon in a left-to-right strike, which immediately pierced the waist of the cavalry on the right. The dull thud of the iron blade entering flesh sent chills down one's spine, causing muscles to tense up.

In the most appropriate moment of intuition, he suddenly realized that the wind had unknowingly turned into a tailwind, everything was so perfect, perfect to the point of being moving! Without hesitation and without any reason, "bang"! The violent sound of the strings rang in his ears

Surrounded by chaos, there were no soldiers cheering for him. At that moment, Guo Shao suddenly realized that his side had already been scattered by the cavalry charge, and he had been completely unaware of it until now. The troops had been divided into disorganized fragments by the impact, just waiting for the cavalry to descend from above and slaughter them! The surrounding sounds of screams, shouts, and the clamor of battle drowned out any cries for help or pleas for mercy; they were utterly ineffective. People surged like a tide, dust filled the air, and whether one trembled in fear or feigned composure, it made no difference.

The ground was trembling! Guo Shao felt his head swelling, buzzing with noise. "Damn it!" A loud shout struck him like a bolt from the blue, startling him back to his senses

Looking up, one could see a throng of people, with countless swords and blades flashing and swirling rapidly among the crowd. The entire expanse of the wilderness resembled a large pot of boiling water, with people struggling desperately like fish and shrimp in the scalding liquid. The dust in the air seemed to be tinged with a layer of blood mist, making the sun in the east appear hazy, as if a vibrant bloodstain were hanging above.

Guo Sha reached out from his shoulder and touched the two-stone strong bow used for rabbit hunting, a weapon he was incredibly familiar with. It suddenly gave him an intuition: today is the day to achieve great deeds! After years of suffering and countless dreams of anticipation, if he were to fail in this moment, he would surely regret it a thousand times over

Countless soldiers from the defeated Zhou army surged into the ranks of the Xiaodi army, causing chaos in the front lines under the command of Tu Shu. The Xiaodi army belonged to the Imperial Guard of the Front Palace and was considered an elite force, so it should not collapse at the first touch. However, the disorderly advance of their own troops had already diminished the momentum of their vanguard. Guo Shao recalled that the Battle of Gaoping was a victory for the Later Zhou, but he could not remember the historical details; yet, looking at the current situation, how could there be signs of imminent defeat?

The fierce general who charged left and right as if entering a realm unchallenged must be Zhang Yuanhui, a general of the Northern Han, who was unstoppable wherever he went. His elite guards, equipped uniformly with excellent armor on both flanks, were all exceptionally fierce, forming a protective circle around the central general. They were clad in heavy armor, and their horses were also covered in iron armor; most arrows shot at them were blocked by the guards and could not penetrate their battle gear.

At that moment, Guo Shao suddenly drew his bow swiftly, aiming the arrow at Yang Biao. "Bang!" The sound of the bowstring resonated without hesitation. In an instant, Yang Biao's face turned ashen. In the battlefield, arrows do not discriminate. This is what he himself had said.

Seeing this, Guo Shao quickly waved his hand to signal his soldiers to retreat. A large crowd was rushing south in a panic when suddenly a loud shout was heard, "If the imperial carriage is attacked, what use are we! Those who retreat shall be executed!"

Kill! Kill... The continuous shouts amidst the sound of galloping hooves surged like a tsunami, as countless heavily armored cavalry broke through the dust and swept forward. The disordered soldiers in front were sent into a panic, scattering in all directions to save their lives. The small infantry vanguard of Guo Shao's forces quickly fell into chaos, as the heavy cavalry tore through them from the front, causing the infantry to lose their formation instantly

However, he was very aware that this battle was crucial to the survival of the nation and had significant implications. If he wanted to rise in rank, the Battle of Gaoping was the best opportunity; he had already mentally prepared himself to seek a chance to achieve merit and stand out. However, this desire was soon overshadowed by an even stronger sense of fear and the instinct for survival.

Indeed, the general was directly thrown off his horse. A cavalry unit that had advanced alone seemed to immediately lose its momentum, and the charge came to a halt, with some knights hurriedly dismounting to rescue their comrades. The fiercely burning battlefield was as if doused by a bucket of water.

After the standoff, no one knew exactly when the fighting began; it seemed that the slaughter had been ongoing from the very start. At the point of engagement between the two armies, countless soldiers and horses were thrown into chaos, and the arrows flying through the air resembled a torrential downpour suddenly unleashed on a clear day.

The speeding arrow, laden with hope and dreams, audibly sliced through the air, racing forward at high speed. Guo Shao seemed to hear a faint sound, amidst the swirling dust he could neither see clearly nor hear distinctly, yet he inexplicably felt that the arrowhead had pierced the flesh of that person's neck.

Yang Biao turned around and cast a complex glance at Guo Shao. Amidst the surrounding flashes of blades and swords, there was no opportunity to speak. Guo Shao looked at him and slightly nodded, and everything was understood without words

On March 11, the two armies encountered each other and finally set up their formations

The battle in the front has approximately reached a fever pitch, yet Guo Shao cannot see it, and the flames of war have not temporarily spread to this place. Only the northeast wind blows fiercely against him, with the howling sound carrying flying sand and stones, causing the gravel to strike painfully against his face, and the rising dust blown by the wind makes it impossible to keep his eyes open

On the uneven wilderness, one hundred thousand allied troops of the Northern Han and Khitan, along with tens of thousands of Zhou troops, spread out to the north and south, dark and dense like an ant swarm, and like towering waves stacked upon one another

Damn it! Guo Shaojian exclaimed in anger.

Suddenly, his left cheek felt a surge of heat. Turning his head, he saw a bloody arrowhead protruding from the neck of an acquaintance, with torn flesh still attached, blood splattering all over his head and face. Guo Shao stood there in shock, his throat involuntarily convulsing.

Raising his head in response to the sound, he saw not far away a general brandishing his sword, surrounded by armored cavalry. The defeated soldiers who were pushed forward were immediately cut down by several men. The army, filled with fear, halted their retreat. Guo Shao heard the term "Cheng Yu" and stretched his neck to look back, and indeed saw the flag of the Zhou Dynasty within his line of sight, the imperial entourage faintly visible among the thousands of troops!

The weather is clear, and the sun is shining brightly

Whoosh! The arrow, propelled by a fierce wind, flew towards Yang Biao's face from just a few steps away. The arrow nearly grazed his helmet! Yang Biao's pale face momentarily froze, and only then did he turn to look, only to see an enemy soldier standing behind him, both hands raised high with a long knife, an arrow embedded in his forehead. Then, he collapsed softly like a lifeless sack.

The enemy soldier was about to strike a second blow when he was immediately knocked off his horse by Yang Biao's long-handled iron sword. "Clang!" The heavily armored knight fell to the ground and could not get up. Guo Sha quickly jumped on him, stepping on his abdomen, and raised his shield sword to fiercely stab down at the enemy soldier's chest, targeting the exposed scales of his armor. The enemy soldier gaped in horror, his eyes wide with despair.

He hurriedly approached Guo Shao, "General Guo Ten, I ... ... " It seemed he wanted to say something, but at that moment, another rider charged at him recklessly.

At this moment, the voice of Huang Doutu was heard shouting: "Brothers, retreat one after another!"

The battlefield situation was ever-changing. As Guo Shao opened his eyes, he suddenly realized that the Zhou army's cavalry had already been defeated ahead! A large group of cavalry was running in the opposite direction, the sound of hooves thundering. The Zhou cavalry was fleeing in an organized manner. Before long, a deafening shout echoed, followed by countless infantry turning around and rushing this way, the crowd discarding their helmets and armor, completely out of formation, truly in a state of utter disarray

Guo Shaofang gazed out, seeing a forest of long weapons and iron armor, with dust swirling so thickly that the beginning and end were obscured. Being amidst it all, he was completely unaware of how the Zhou army was deployed; as a general, it seemed unnecessary to know. He only understood that they should be positioned behind the right flank of the Zhou army

The scene before me is unbearable to witness ... Guo Shao practiced for four years, from the age of fourteen to eighteen, dedicating more than six hours each day to the art of archery: nocking the arrow, aiming, and persisting; it was a tedious and arduous journey, undeterred by wind and rain; at least a hundred repetitions of several movements each day, totaling over one or two hundred thousand repetitions? All of this, just to end up on the battlefield, to be pierced by an arrow or struck down by a sword?

At that moment, someone shouted loudly: "The first fierce general of the Han army, Zhang Yuanhui, has arrived! Who will fight for the emperor?"

Guo Shaoxing exclaimed excitedly, "The one who kills Zhang Yuanhui is Guo Shao from the Xiaodi army!"

The mournful and powerful sound of the horn, along with the countless black dots in the sky, heralded the commencement of the Northern Han army's attack. Amidst the dust and the sounds of battle, the thunderous hooves of horses echoed, as if ten ambushes and thousands of troops were charging from all directions, instilling fear and trepidation even before the enemy was visible

The troops gazed toward the front lines and indeed saw a fierce general from Northern Han leading heavily armored cavalry charging forward, directly penetrating deep into the Zhou army's formation. The dust raised by the cavalry spread like a violently burning fuse, threatening to ignite the entire battlefield

In a moment of haste, Guo Shao instinctively dodged backward while grabbing the bow in his hand to block. With a sharp sound, the bow was split in two. Without hesitation, Guo Shao discarded the broken bow and smoothly drew his dagger.

The back on the battlefield can only be entrusted to trusted brothers

Guo Yang Er and the *Tushuren* immediately took a defensive stance, without discussion or hesitation, completely in unison

Having endured the high mountains and long roads, it is only for the clash of arms that we meet. Gaoping, in the distant past during the Warring States period, was also known as Changping. It is a place that the Qin general Bai Qi and the soldiers of the Zhao army, said to number four hundred thousand, will never forget until death. The natural landscape of this place is inherently a battlefield, and it is likely that the Battle of Changping occurred more than once.

He looked up and immediately felt a chill run down his spine, as if someone had disturbed a hornet's nest in the sky, or like a swarm of locusts had descended, consuming everything in their path. In an instant, the sound of "clanging and clattering" echoed as if hail had begun to fall, and people kept collapsing.

The person shouting loudly is Yang Biao, who is not far away. Yang Biao has a conflict with Guo Shao, but at this moment, seeing a familiar face brings a sense of comfort to Guo Shao; after all, he is one of his own! ... Yang Biao brandished a long-handled iron knife, forcefully parrying the cavalry's saber strike, the heavy steel clashing and sending sparks flying ... Unexpectedly, this fellow is so fierce, actually daring to confront heavy cavalry with just his infantry single-handedly.

The low spirits have inexplicably reignited. The emperor is nearby; will he observe the performance of the soldiers

Guo Shao fixed his gaze on Zhang Yuanhui among the cavalry, nocking an arrow feather and gently drawing it back on the bowstring. The iron cavalry had finally entered the shooting range to his side, at the optimal angle

When he threatened to stab someone in the back, he became a threat to others. No one in this world truly fears anyone else; inflicting a thousand wounds on the enemy also results in eight hundred wounds to oneself. Everything comes at a cost

The tendon was forcefully pulled apart, the bowstring taut in the air. In this moment, Guo Shao felt an extraordinary length of time; he could clearly sense his own breathing, his eyes, the arrowhead, and the target aligned in a straight line, seemingly merging into a single entity. Guo Shao felt as if he had transformed into Zhang Yuanhui, rhythmically rising and falling with the warhorse, able to feel the direction of the horse's charge.