Chapter 300: He’s Back
The surface of Yunluo River was originally quite spacious, but under the current circumstances, the previously ample river space was insufficient for the warships’ maneuvering.
Each of the Rongdi warships could accommodate over nine hundred men and was massive in size. Under the overwhelming pursuit of Great Chu army cannons and arrows, the surviving forty to fifty Rongdi warships frantically turned around. During the turn, the warships continuously collided with each other, appearing extremely disheveled.
Chunyu Hanfeng held Tantai Yi steady on the deck and quickly scanned the river surface, seeing the Great Chu army in relentless pursuit behind them.
“Damn it, Long Yu is leading the Great Chu army to cross Yunluo River!”
Disregarding his status, he gritted his teeth and cursed Long Yu viciously.
Tantai Yi groaned and spoke through intense pain: “Your Majesty, please calm down.”
Hearing his weak reminder, Chunyu Hanfeng finally suppressed his rage.
“Military Advisor, are you alright?”
Seeing that he had dispelled the suspicion in Chunyu Hanfeng’s heart, Tantai Yi weakly curved his lips.
“I won’t die yet. Your Majesty, I haven’t betrayed you. Please believe me.”
Earlier, Chunyu Hanfeng had indeed suspected that Tantai Yi had leaked the cannon blueprints to Long Yu. However, since this person had risked his life to save him, he now had no reason to harbor further suspicions.
Someone willing to sacrifice their life to save him – how could they betray him?
“This king believes you. Now the most important thing is to find a way to block the Great Chu army and retreat successfully.”
Tantai Yi steadied himself against the mast.
“I have a way.”
“What way?”
Tantai Yi turned toward the cabin and ordered: “Pass down the order – bring out all the black wooden chests from the cabins.”
Every warship had a black wooden chest stored in its cabin. Those black wooden chests were meant to block the Great Chu army.
At Tantai Yi’s command, soldiers quickly moved all the black wooden chests from the cabins onto the decks.
Chunyu Hanfeng was completely unaware and looked at the black wooden chests with puzzled eyes.
“Military Advisor, what’s inside these chests?”
Tantai Yi had a black short flute tucked at his waist. He took out the flute and ordered: “Open all the chests.”
“Yes!”
The soldiers below all obeyed, opening all the black wooden chests.
Flutter flutter!
The moment the chests opened, Chunyu Hanfeng heard fluttering sounds similar to birds spreading their wings.
In the next instant, he saw hundreds and thousands of black bats burst from those wooden chests, spreading their wings and rushing toward the misty river surface.
The river surface was instantly covered in darkness.
Then, the flute sound began.
Those black bats, influenced by Tantai Yi’s flute music, went mad, flapping their wings and rushing toward the pursuing Great Chu army warships.
The Great Chu army continuously fired arrows, but the black bats flew extremely fast and moved with great agility, making them difficult to shoot down with arrows.
In moments, that dark mass surrounded the Great Chu army warships. The bat swarm screeched chaotically, attacking the Great Chu army with bites and tears.
“Ahhh!”
Great Chu soldiers bitten by the bats screamed, then foamed at the mouth, fell backward onto the deck, and convulsed continuously.
Long Yi quickly surveyed the soldiers lying on deck convulsing, while wielding his sword to protect his master and frowning: “Master, these are poisonous bats.”
Seeing more and more soldiers falling with heavy losses, and the poisonous bats still attacking frantically, Long Yu gripped the Cangming sword and had to abandon pursuing the Rongdi army first.
“Stop the pursuit. Deal with these poisonous bats first.”
At his command, the Great Chu army changed their attack target, beginning to swing their swords to kill the poisonous bats and firing arrows at those frenzied creatures.
The Rongdi army finally got a chance to breathe.
Taking advantage of the Great Chu army dealing with the bat swarm, Chunyu Hanfeng waved his hand decisively and unwillingly ordered a rapid retreat.
One hour later.
The surface of Yunluo River finally calmed down, though countless black bat corpses floated on the water. The river was stained red with blood, and even tonight’s river wind carried a bloody smell.
In this battle, the Rongdi’s eighty thousand cavalry lost more than half their number, while Great Chu’s fifty thousand army suffered less than ten thousand casualties. They forced Rongdi Chunyu Hanfeng to flee in panic – a great victory.
Yan Xiaosi waited anxiously at the camp. Finally hearing the victory horns from the Great Chu army side, her heart filled with excitement. She mounted Red Cherry and headed straight for Yunluo River.
Long Yu led the army back in triumph. Seeing the person riding Red Cherry from afar, he touched the ground lightly, rose with the wind, and in moments landed before that person.
That person smiled slightly and quickly pulled the reins to stop Red Cherry.
“You’re back.”
“Yes, I’m back.”
Their question and answer was like the everyday greetings between an old married couple.
Yan Xiaosi’s gaze circled around him, seeing the silver armor stained with blood, she frowned.
Seeing her frown deepen, Long Yu climbed onto Red Cherry’s back, wrapped his arms around her waist, turned the horse around, and quickly explained: “I’m not injured. This is someone else’s blood.”
Yan Xiaosi turned sideways on horseback, examining his armor and checking him over. Finding only minor scrapes, her heart finally settled.
Being cared for so much by someone he liked, Long Yu felt warm inside.
“You were so worried about me.”
“Of course. If you died, the people of Xize County would be finished.”
Long Yu suddenly loosened the reins, his body went limp, and like a collapsing mountain, he crashed down onto Yan Xiaosi.
Yan Xiaosi was nearly pressed down onto Red Cherry’s back by him.
Red Cherry very spiritually stopped moving. She quickly supported herself with one hand on the horse’s back while steadying the man with her other hand, then turned to look at him.
The man had his eyes closed with obvious bloodstains on his face.
“Long Yu, Long Yu, what’s wrong?”
Hearing her call his name so anxiously, Long Yu’s lips curved smugly, and he opened his eyes to meet her gaze.
“Aren’t you very nervous about me?”
Yan Xiaosi was furious.
This man had actually pretended to faint to tease her. Just now, for that instant, she was truly frightened.
“Long Yu, is this fun?”
While the man was feeling smug, she suddenly pushed him hard off the horse, and he fell on his bottom onto the grass by the riverbank.
“If you like pretending to faint and play dead so much, continue pretending.”
Yan Xiaosi huffily patted Red Cherry’s rump. Under her intimidation, Red Cherry abandoned His Highness the War King and galloped away.
His Highness the War King sat on the grass, glancing at the main force catching up behind him, and awkwardly touched his nose.
Fortunately, after returning to the military camp, Yan Xiaosi didn’t continue being angry with him.
In this battle, there were too many wounded soldiers. Yan Xiaosi, Murong Qinjian, and other military doctors and medical workers were all busy treating the wounded, with no time to be angry with him.
Nearly six thousand died and about one thousand were wounded.
Among the thousand wounded soldiers, a few were injured by arrows, but most were bitten by poisonous bats. Long Yu ordered that these thousand wounded be concentrated in several spacious military tents for convenient treatment.