Chinese Generals Summoning System

Chapter 50: Both Captured

Zhang Shuo, the Ninth Leader of Yanwang Ridge, had his long axe knocked out of his hands the moment he clashed with Hua Xiong. Zhang Shuo was momentarily stunned—but on the battlefield, there was no room for such a lapse! Hua Xiong, however, didn’t hesitate. After knocking Zhang Shuo’s long axe away, their horses happened to cross paths at that very moment. Hua Xiong suddenly reached out a hand, yanking Zhang Shuo toward him and pinning him horizontally across the back of his own warhorse. In truth, Hua Xiong could have easily finished Zhang Shuo off with a single stroke of his sword. However, he noticed that Zhang Shuo was a strikingly handsome young man who appeared to be quite skilled in martial arts—his lord had even said his skills were no worse than Liu Pi’s. Hua Xiong deeply admired his lord’s discernment, and in that instant, he felt a genuine desire to nurture this talent. Zhang Shuo, dragged over by Hua Xiong and pinned against the horse’s back, finally came to his senses. Just as he was about to struggle, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck and lost consciousness. After knocking Zhang Shuo unconscious with a single blow from the flat of his sword, Hua Xiong immediately swung his blade at the other bandit cavalrymen. From the moment Hua Xiong engaged Zhang Shuo to the moment he captured him alive, it all happened in the blink of an eye; the other bandit cavalrymen didn’t even have a chance to come to Zhang Shuo’s rescue. Meanwhile, on the other side, Cheng Yi was locked in combat with Yang Hongtao, the Tenth Leader of Yanwang Ridge. In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged more than a dozen blows. Yang Hongtao grew increasingly alarmed as the fight continued; this imperial army commander’s martial arts were far beyond his own capabilities. If he kept fighting, it might not take many more exchanges before his life was in danger. Yang Hongtao immediately decided to retreat. Yang Hongtao glanced at the battlefield out of the corner of his eye, and his expression suddenly changed. Only then did he realize that his brother-in-arms, Zhang Shuo, appeared to have been taken alive by a commander of the imperial army, while he and Zhang Shuo’s cavalry had been cut down and lay strewn across the ground. Seeing Zhang Shuo captured, Yang Hongtao could no longer think of fleeing. He feinted a thrust at Cheng Yi, then spurred his horse toward Hua Xiong, determined to rescue Zhang Shuo. After all, the two of them had entered Yanwang Ridge together and were the closest of friends; they had sworn brotherhood long before they became chieftains of the stronghold there. After Hua Xiong captured Zhang Shuo alive, some of Zhang Shuo’s most trusted cavalrymen immediately launched a frenzied attack on Hua Xiong. However, wielding his great sword with lightning-fast strikes, Hua Xiong quickly cut down several bandit cavalrymen. Just then, Hua Xiong heard a shout: “You bastard, let my brother go!” Hua Xiong glanced to the side and spotted another bandit leader among the cavalry, spurring his horse toward him. Hua Xiong first struck down the bandit rider in front of him with a single blow, then swiftly flipped his broadsword and swung at Yang Hongtao with lightning speed. Yang Hongtao hurriedly blocked the blow with his iron spear, but Hua Xiong’s strike carried too much force, and Yang Hongtao hadn’t mustered enough strength to withstand it. As a result, Yang Hongtao was instantly knocked off his warhorse by Hua Xiong and crashed to the ground. After hitting the ground, Yang Hongtao sprang back to his feet in a single bound, but Cheng Yi’s iron halberd was immediately pressed against his neck. Cheng Yi said to Yang Hongtao in a deep voice, “If you want to live, don’t move a muscle. Drop your spear!” A person’s appearance matters a great deal. Like Zhang Shuo, Yang Hongtao was also a strikingly handsome man. Although they were enemies, Cheng Yi couldn’t bring himself to end Yang Hongtao’s life with a single thrust of his spear. Moreover, the remaining bandit cavalry had already been routed by Hua Xiong and his men, leaving neither Cheng Yi nor Yang Hongtao surrounded by any other bandit horsemen. Hearing Cheng Yi’s words, Yang Hongtao clenched his teeth tightly, preparing to take the risk of turning against his own side and striking back. But just then, Hua Xiong spurred his horse up behind Yang Hongtao, leaned forward, reached out, and hoisted Yang Hongtao onto his own horse, pressing him sideways against Zhang Shuo. Yang Hongtao struggled briefly,Hua Xiong struck him across the back of the neck with the edge of his hand. Yang Hongtao’s vision went black instantly, and he passed out. “These two bandit leaders are both skilled fighters and handsome men—it’s a real waste that they’ve become bandits. I’ll take them to our lord first; you lot keep charging toward the camp the bandits are building!” Hua Xiong shouted to Cheng Yi. “All right! Brothers! Charge!” Cheng Yi roared, spurring his horse forward alongside the other four generals to continue their assault on the bandits’ camp under construction. Hu Hai, the Third-in-Command of Yanwang Ridge, had been watching the clash between the two sides’ cavalry with confidence, but his expression suddenly changed drastically. To his shock, the Ninth-in-Command, Zhang Shuo, had been captured alive in a single move by a fierce general from the opposing imperial forces, while the Tenth-in-Command, Yang Hongtao, was also engaged by another fierce imperial general and quickly found himself at a disadvantage. The cavalry under the command of these two leaders were swiftly cut down by several fierce generals of the imperial forces. Hu Hai immediately rallied the 26 cavalrymen under his direct command, along with the 20 cavalrymen assigned by the First Leader, Feng Kun. At the same time, he ordered several commanders of the bandit infantry to immediately form a defensive formation to guard against a charge by the imperial cavalry against the main camp. However, by the time Hu Hai charged toward the battlefield where the two sides’ cavalry were clashing with his 46 horsemen, the unconscious Zhang Shuo and Yang Hongtao had already been taken by Hua Xiong toward the first checkpoint of Weihu Fortress. As for the 49 cavalrymen under Zhang Shuo and Yang Hongtao’s command, more than half had been slain, and the remaining cavalry had already fled back to the front of the camp under construction. Upon seeing Third-in-Command Hu Hai leading the camp’s remaining cavalry out to charge, these returning cavalrymen did not even dare to follow Third-in-Command Hu Hai to face off against those government cavalrymen once more. They had lost all courage to fight again; those imperial cavalrymen were simply too fierce. Slaughtering them, mere foot soldiers, was far too easy—it was simply beyond the capabilities of soldiers of their rank! Hu Hai, leading 46 cavalrymen, soon clashed with the five imperial soldiers—Cheng Yi, Han Tao, Liu Pi, Dong Xian, and Lei Bo. This time, Cheng Yi went head-to-head with Hu Hai. When Liu Ji saw that Hua Xiong and Cheng Yi had captured alive the two bandit leaders—whose combat prowess reached that of third-rate generals—he immediately began to harbor some ulterior motives. After all, these were third-rate generals in the real world, and judging by their appearance, these two bandit leaders were only about twenty-three or twenty-four years old; perhaps their combat prowess still had room to improve. However, upon seeing another group of bandit cavalry charging out of the camp under construction, Liu Ji immediately shifted his attention to them. Spotting the bandit leader at the front, he promptly had the system scan his stats. Hu Hai: Strength 76, Intelligence 57, Leadership 64. He hadn’t expected that Yanwang Ridge would not only produce two third-rate generals but also a second-rate one. Liu Ji immediately raised his assessment of Yanwang Ridge by another level in his mind. Liu Ji said to Chen Hao, who was standing beside him, “Quick, take a few men to assist Hua Xiong. Tie up those two bandit leaders securely—my lord has a use for them!” Chen Hao, who always obeyed Liu Ji’s orders without question, immediately led a squad of soldiers down the stone steps to the stone wall of the pass. There was another squad of soldiers guarding the wooden gate in the stone wall; upon seeing Chen Hao and his men running down, they promptly opened the gate again. By then, Hua Xiong, carrying the unconscious Zhang Shuo and Yang Hongtao, had already arrived at the base of the pass’s stone wall.