Chapter 820
The Power of the Golden Swallow
Luoyan Valley is a valley outside Shexian County, named after the wild geese that often stop here during their southward migration in autumn.
The valley is long and narrow, with steep mountains on both sides and a narrow path winding through the middle, which is the only way to reach the grain supply route.
Agula's three thousand cavalrymen slipped into the valley like ghosts.
"General, the valley entrance is just ahead. After going out, travel another ten miles, and you'll reach the supply route," Borchu reported in a low voice.
Agula reined in his horse and raised his hand to signal the entire army to halt.
He looked around. The valley was deep and dark, with towering cliffs on both sides. It was getting late and the light in the valley was dim. He could only hear the sound of the wind and the occasional soft thud of horses' hooves on the gravel.
Not right.
It's too quiet.
Not even a bird chirped.
Agula's heart tightened suddenly—this was a sign of an ambush!
"Oh no, we've fallen into a trap! Retreat! Retreat now!" he roared, turning his horse around.
But it was too late.
Just then, a clear female voice came from the mountaintop. Although it was far away, it was clearly heard by everyone.
"Fire arrows!"
The next moment, countless dark figures suddenly emerged from the cliffs on both sides, the sound of bowstrings vibrating like a sudden downpour, and arrows rained down like locusts!
"Raise your shields!"
Agula reacted extremely quickly, raising the round shield beside his saddle almost the instant he heard the woman's voice.
But the cavalry behind him were not so lucky. When the first volley of arrows fell, screams and neighing of horses instantly echoed through the valley, and at least a hundred riders fell to the ground after being hit by arrows.
"Don't panic! Charge forward! Break through the valley!" Agula roared. Retreat was no longer an option; they had no choice but to break through.
The cavalrymen were, after all, seasoned veterans. After the initial panic, they immediately formed ranks and charged. However, they soon discovered that the entrance to the valley ahead was blocked by thick tree trunks and boulders!
"Dismount! Go up the mountain! Fight your way out!" Agula made a decisive move, abandoning his horse, grabbing his sword, and charging towards the hillside.
He knew that he was a sitting duck in the valley, and that only by rushing up the hillside and engaging the ambush troops in close combat would he have a chance of survival.
Bo'erchu followed closely behind, and his three thousand cavalrymen dismounted and surged toward the hillside like a pack of wolves.
On the mountaintop, Golden Swallow watched this scene with cold eyes.
"Put down rolling stones."
The order was given, and the boulders and logs that had been prepared beforehand crashed down from the mountaintop. The cavalrymen who were climbing had no time to dodge, and those hit were either killed or seriously injured, a truly gruesome sight.
But Agula was indeed very skilled. He walked on the steep slope as if it were flat ground, and with a few leaps he avoided several boulders. He was about to rush to the top of the mountain.
"Archers, concentrate your fire on that enemy general!" Jin Yanzi personally drew her bow and nocked an arrow, firing three arrows in quick succession, aiming straight for Agula's upper, middle, and lower flanks.
Hearing the sound of arrows piercing the air, Agula did not dodge, but instead wielded his scimitar, creating a curtain of light.
"Ding! Ding! Ding!"
With three crisp sounds, all three arrows were cut down!
Golden Swallow's pupils contracted slightly. What a fast knife!
In that brief moment of delay, Agula had already rushed to the top of the mountain. With a swipe of his scimitar, two Han archers fell to the ground.
Behind him, dozens of his most elite personal guards rushed up and engaged the Han army's ambush troops in battle.
"Protect the general!" Bo'erchu was covered in blood, whether his own or the enemy's, he brandished his scimitar and desperately protected Agula's flank.
Golden Swallow knew she couldn't let Agula gain a foothold, otherwise, if more barbarians rushed up, the advantage of the ambush would be lost.
"Azure Dragon Army, form ranks!"
With a sharp shout, three hundred female soldiers in red behind her quickly formed a peculiar circular formation. These female soldiers all wielded long and short swords, moved swiftly, and cooperated seamlessly with each other. They were the personal guards that Jin Yanzi had personally trained.
Agula immediately recognized the power of this circular formation—it was a perfect blend of offense and defense, without any weaknesses. But he had nowhere to retreat; his only option was to fight to the death.
"kill!"
He roared and charged into the circular formation, his curved blade slashing out like a bolt of lightning, aiming straight for the golden swallow at the formation's core.
Golden Swallow neither dodged nor yielded, and crossed her two swords to parry.
"clang!"
The loud noise was deafening. Jin Yanzi staggered back three steps, her arms going numb. She was secretly shocked: What incredible strength!
Agula was also slightly surprised. Although his slash was blocked, ordinary weapons would have been broken, but the female general's twin swords were undamaged, which was obviously not ordinary.
The two exchanged a glance, both seeing seriousness in each other's eyes.
"Golden Swallow?" Agula asked in broken Chinese. He had heard from his scouts that the only female general among the three main generals of the Han army was Golden Swallow. She was the commander of the Azure Dragon Army. It was rare for a woman to become the commander of an army, so Agula could remember her.
“Exactly.” Golden Swallow brandished her twin swords and said, “So, are you going to surrender, or fight me?”
Agula looked at Jin Yanzi and said, "Hmph, no one among the Mulan people has ever surrendered."
“Fine, Agula, then today this Luoyan Valley will be your burial ground!” said Jin Yanzi.
"Arrogant!" Agula laughed in fury, and slashed out with his scimitar once more. This time, the blade was even more ferocious, the wind howling as it sliced through the surrounding vegetation. The Gale Blade Technique, honed in the desert, was now displayed to its fullest extent in his hands.
The sword flashes were so dense and impenetrable that Golden Swallow dared not take them head-on for a moment.
Seeing this, Jin Yanzi frowned slightly. The next moment, her figure darted back as lightly as a swallow, and at the same time, the short sword in her left hand flew out, heading straight for Agula's face. This was her signature move, "Flying Swallow Spin," with a thin chain attached to the end of the short sword, allowing it to be retrieved at any time.
Agula dodged by tilting his head, the short sword grazing his cheek and taking a strand of hair with it. Before he could retaliate, the short sword arced through the air and attacked from behind!
"A mere trick!" Agula didn't even turn his head, and with a backhand slash, he knocked the short sword away. But in that instant, Golden Swallow had already closed in, her right hand holding a long sword aimed straight for his heart.
The combination of these two swords, one long and one short, is incredibly skillful. The long sword is used for close combat, while the short sword is used for thrusting attacks. One is for offense, and the other is for defense, complementing each other perfectly.
Agula barely managed to turn to the side, the tip of his blade grazing his ribs, spraying blood. He roared, his left fist slamming heavily into Golden Swallow's shoulder. Golden Swallow couldn't dodge in time and took the blow head-on. "Bang!"
Golden Swallow flew backward, and when she landed, she rolled to dissipate the force, but blood was already seeping from the corner of her mouth. At this moment, the hair tied up on her head was shaken off, and her long hair flowed freely. Combined with her armor, she looked quite heroic and dashing, perhaps not much less so than the ancient Mulan.
Golden Swallow wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes bright and captivating. Then, she swung her twin swords, mother and child, and shouted, "Again!"
She then fought Agula again.
The two exchanged blows for dozens of rounds, and both were injured.
Meanwhile, the Han army and the soldiers of the Golden Horde were also fighting fiercely all around. The valley was filled with the sounds of battle, and every moment someone fell into a pool of blood, never to rise again. War is cruel, and death is inevitable. At this time, one side attacked and the other defended, and the casualties gradually increased.
Bo'erchu led dozens of his personal guards and desperately tried to get closer to Agula, but the Azure Dragon Army's circular formation was like an impregnable wall, blocking them and preventing them from joining their commander!
However, Bo'erchu was also a fierce warrior. Charging left and right, he actually managed to reach Agula. At this moment, Bo'erchu shouted:
"General! We'll protect you as you break through!"
He was covered in wounds, yet he fought to the death, proving himself to be a truly valiant general.
Agula forced Jin Yanzi back with a single strike, then looked around and his heart sank to the bottom.
Of the three thousand elite cavalry, less than a thousand were still standing, and they were divided and surrounded. Without the advantage of their warhorses, these elite cavalrymen were no match for infantry in ground combat. At this moment, they were defeated one by one by the Golden Swallows, suffering heavy casualties.
Agula's heart bled as he watched his soldiers fall one by one. These were his brothers who had fought alongside him in countless battles. They had faced life and death together, and were invincible in Europe, but today they had all died tragically at the hands of the Han Chinese.
It's because he's an incompetent coach!
Agula felt deeply remorseful. What a desolate wolf! Today, he's been beaten to a pulp!
"Borshu, you lead the men to break through to the west, I'll cover the rear!" Agula cried out inwardly, but his eyes showed a hint of determination.
"No! The general must go first!"
At this moment, Bo'erchu slashed down a Han soldier who was charging forward recklessly and shouted urgently.
"This is a military order!" Agula roared, slashing down two Han soldiers who charged at him with a single blow. He yelled at Bo'erchu, "Tell the commander that the Han army was prepared. Shexian is not to be taken! Let's go!"
"General!"
"This is a military order. Do you want to disobey?"
Agula roared and issued military orders in the name of the commander-in-chief.
Upon hearing this, Bolshu's tiger-like eyes filled with tears.
"Ah~"
With a shout, he slashed wildly with his scimitar, killing several Han soldiers. He knew he couldn't delay; this was no time for sentimentality. Military orders were absolute and could not be disobeyed!
At this moment, he stamped his foot and said, "Take care, General!"
Then they dashed down the hillside, gathered their remaining troops, and charged towards the gentler slope to the west.
The Han army's ambush troops were mainly deployed on the east and north sides, while the western side was slightly weaker, and they managed to break through a gap in the defenses.
Seeing this, Jin Yanzi was about to order a pursuit when Agula pounced like a mad tiger, his blade flashing like a net, tightly binding her.
"Your opponent is me!" Agula roared, slashing wildly with his long sword, making no attempt to defend himself—a fight to the death.
Seeing this, Jin Yanzi had no choice but to fight back with all her might, charging towards Agula with her mother and daughter swords.
The two clashed again, their swords flashing and the battle fraught with danger. It was a fight to the death. If Agula dared to fight so desperately, what did Jin Yanzi have to fear? You must know that for a woman to stand firm in the army, she must be even more ruthless than a man. Therefore, Jin Yanzi attacked Agula with her twin swords like a madwoman.
The two fought again.
On the other side, Bo'erchu led more than two hundred riders to finally break through the encirclement and disappear into the twilight forest. Before leaving, he looked back at Agula and Jin Yanzi, who were still fighting fiercely, and stomped his foot angrily: "Go, go quickly!"
They just ran away.
The remaining hundreds of Golden Horde cavalrymen in the valley, surrounded by the Han army, either died in battle or surrendered, and the fighting gradually subsided.
When the last stubborn Hun fell, the valley suddenly fell silent, with only the groans of the wounded and the crackling of the flames. The wild cats and beasts around had long since fled in terror; the sight of humans fighting terrified them.
Golden Swallow and Agula had already exchanged over a hundred blows, both bearing numerous wounds. Agula had a deep, bone-revealing wound on his left arm, from which blood was gushing out; Golden Swallow's right shoulder had been dislocated after being struck by the back of a blade, leaving her only able to wield the knife with her left hand, significantly weakening her and clearly indicating that she was on the verge of defeat.
"You've lost." Golden Swallow said, panting heavily. She was injured, but her eyes were fixed on Agula like those of a wild beast.
Agula leaned on his sword, looked around, and gave a bitter smile. Of the three thousand elite cavalry, he was now the only one left by his side.
The afterglow of the setting sun spilled into the valley strewn with corpses—the men who had followed him in his campaigns across the land. He had been defeated, utterly defeated. He had never imagined he would be defeated, let alone by a woman.
"Defeated...defeated, defeated by a Han woman! How laughable, how pathetic!" he murmured, then suddenly threw his head back and laughed, his laughter as shrill as an owl's. "But I, Agula, would rather die in battle than live a life of dishonor!"
Before he finished speaking, he lunged forward, completely abandoning his defense, and slashed his curved blade straight at the top of Golden Swallow's head.
This is a suicidal fighting style.
Golden Swallow's eyes narrowed. Without flinching or dodging, she thrust out her longsword with her left hand, striking first despite being behind, aiming for Agula's heart.
Just as the two were about to perish together, Agula suddenly changed his sword technique, switching from a slash to a sweep, and the blade slammed heavily into the side of Golden Swallow's sword. Golden Swallow was already exhausted, and with this blow, the longsword flew out of her hand.
Agula used the force of the blow to fly backward like a bird, plummeting straight towards the cliff!
"Not good!" Jin Yanzi instantly realized that Agula had no intention of dying together with others. He had already planned his escape route—below the cliff was a rushing river, and he was gambling on a sliver of hope!
She rushed to the edge of the cliff and saw Agula's figure tumble in the air several times before falling into the rapids below and being swallowed by the river in an instant, disappearing without a trace.
Seeing this, the deputy general of the Azure Dragon Army rushed over and said:
"General, should we give chase?"
Jin Yanzi gazed at the rolling river, remained silent for a moment, then shook her head and said, "He was so badly injured, and he jumped off such a high cliff. He had a very slim chance of survival."
"Moreover, the river is swift. By the time we rush down, he will probably have been swept dozens of miles away and we won't be able to catch up."
She turned around, looked at the corpses scattered across the valley, and slowly exhaled: "Clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded. Send a messenger on horseback to report to the commander-in-chief that the crisis in Shexian has been resolved and Agula's three thousand elite cavalry have been wiped out."
“Na Agula…”
"Report the truth: Agula has fallen off a cliff and is seriously injured; his fate is unknown." Jin Yanzi looked westward, towards Daoma Pass. "After this defeat, Subutai will have no strength left to attack our supply lines in the short term. Daoma Pass should be breached."
Dusk completely enveloped Luoyan Valley. Han soldiers began to clean up the battlefield, while Jin Yanzi stood alone on the cliff edge, her red dress fluttering in the evening breeze.
She knew the war was far from over. Although Agula had been defeated, Subutai's main force was still intact, and a bloody battle was still needed at Daoma Pass. But at least tonight, she had secured the Han army's supply lines and protected the lives of millions of soldiers.
In the distance, the sky in the direction of Daomaguan was faintly glowing red; it was unclear whether it was the sunset or the flames of war.
Jin Yanzi gripped the knife in her hand and muttered to herself, "The whole army rests and prepares to escort the grain supplies to Daoma Pass."
"Yes, sir!" (End of Chapter)