The light of the sword is like the moon reflecting on Kyushu

Chapter 2111 What to do?
Pang Shiwu stared at the man, expressionless. "You're not Tibetan! You understand Chinese!"

The man's expression immediately changed! But still clinging to a sliver of hope, he continued in Tibetan, "I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't know you! I know nothing! Please leave my shop!"

Han Yuan frowned and said, "Young Master Pang, can you be sure he's not Tibetan?" As someone who had lived in Tibet for many years and was an expert on Tibet, he was somewhat skeptical of Pang Shiwu's words. At least he couldn't be certain that the man in front of him wasn't Tibetan.

The man wore a long, right-fastening robe made of sheepskin, with a wide belt adorned with metal decorations around his waist, and a dark cloak woven from yak hair draped over his shoulders. He wore a wide-brimmed felt hat with the brim inlaid with turquoise and coral beads. He wore soft leather boots, and a weighing scale and a scripture pouch hung from his waist. His overall attire combined practicality—protection from wind and sand—with symbolic religious significance. This outfit was typical of a Tibetan merchant.

In addition, his skin was dark purplish-brown, almost indistinguishable from other Tibetans; his brow bones were steep and prominent, his eye sockets were deep-set, and he often had fine lines formed by wind and sand; his nose bridge was high like an eagle's beak, and the tip of his nose was hooked and drooping; his lips were cracked due to the dry climate, and he looked like a Tibetan no matter how you looked at him.

Pang Shiwu said, "What a coincidence! On the way to Tibet, I was particularly curious about the differences between Han Chinese, Tibetans, and Western Xia people. I summarized some differences myself and also consulted my elder brother. So, whether he is Tibetan or not, listen to what I'm saying, right?"

Han Yuan said, "Oh? Please enlighten me!"

Pang Shiwu said, "The Tangut people generally have round faces, high noses, deep-set eyes, and dark complexions. They can reach eight or nine feet in height and are quite tall. The Tibetans, relatively speaking, mostly have oval faces, deep-set eyes, long and straight noses with slightly hooked tips, high but not wide cheekbones, good facial definition, and thinner lips. The Han Chinese are more complex, with significant differences between the north and south. Those who grew up in the Yellow River basin generally have square faces, hooked noses, and thin lips; those who grew up in the Yangtze River basin generally have oval faces, flat or wide noses; and those from the southern Yue region generally have oval faces, prominent cheekbones, and thicker lips. This person's nose is hump-shaped." His wide nostrils are a clear characteristic of the Tangut people! He was wearing a hat, which concealed his skull and visually obscured his face, but a fake is still a fake! You clearly have a Tangut face, and you think you can fool people by wearing Tibetan clothes? Master Hanyuan, this reminds me of something that happened when I was a child. A dog stole someone's food and was being chased. Suddenly, it spotted a pile of firewood and pounced on it. Its head was inside the firewood, but its rear end was still sticking out! It couldn't see others, so it assumed others couldn't see it either! Isn't that ridiculous?

Han Yuan imagined the scene and couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Drilling without regard for your backside? Sticking your butt out like that? What kind of posture is that? It's just self-deception!"

Pang Shiwu said, "Yes, that's right! Self-deception! Covering one's ears while stealing a bell! Covering one's eyes while catching a sparrow!" He suddenly had a flood of ideas and recited all the idioms he had learned from his elder brother in the past few days! Actually, he just wanted to show off! He felt restless if he didn't show off what he had just learned!
Han Yuan was taken aback, and was also stirred up by the emotion. On a whim, he exclaimed, "Covering one's ears while stealing a bell! The Chu people are invisible, blinded by a leaf! This place has no silver buried!"

Pang Shiwu was taken aback, then laughed and said, "Ah Er next door didn't steal anything!"

Han Yuan and Pang Shiwu exchanged a knowing smile! How interesting!

Han Yuan laughed and said, "Young master, you are truly learned!"

Pang Shiwu immediately replied modestly, "Master, you are the one with the greatest knowledge!" He spoke modestly, but he couldn't hide the pride on his face!

Han Yuan thought to himself: Pang Shiwu is indeed a young man at heart, straightforward and honest. I was about to fight him, and he still had the leisure to play a word game with me! He has a childlike heart, which is rare! He knew that people like Pang Shiwu were simple-minded, loyal, and righteous, and were very worthy of being friends with!

He immediately looked at the Tangut man, his face instantly turning from cheerful to chilling: "Speak! Who sent you?" He had switched to Chinese! He was now intent on killing him! If this fake Tibetan continued to play dumb, he wouldn't be so polite!
The man continued speaking in Tibetan: "What did you say? I don't understand!"

With a sharp crack, the man received a slap across the face! The burning pain filled him with shock and anger!
The opponent attacked without warning, striking as soon as they said they would, and so fast that he didn't even see who had struck him before the slaps were already delivered!

However, based on his intuition, he felt it was the boy in black!
He could sense that the Han monk's combat strength was at most at the peak of the eighth realm, which was about the same as his own!
But he couldn't fathom the black-clad youth's fighting strength!

Because he had no way of knowing how the other party was circulating their internal energy! All his attempts were like throwing a stone into the sea, silent and without any feedback!
He immediately panicked! Even if the opponent was at the peak of the ninth realm, he could at least glean some clues! But this young man seemed to have no internal energy at all!
Without internal energy, this is absolutely impossible!

Even if someone doesn't know martial arts or have internal energy, they can sometimes appear just as unfathomable as someone with extremely high martial arts skills and strong internal energy!

The man absolutely refused to believe that the black-clad youth had no martial arts skills whatsoever! This youth had just killed thirty blood-braided executioners!

The Blood-Braided Punishing Monk is the elite of the elite in Qing Tang City! Especially when thirty monks form a blood array, even the most skilled experts would find it impossible to escape!
So there is only one truth!
The black-clad youth's martial arts skills far exceeded his comprehension!

Four words!
Unfathomable!

Thinking of this, the man couldn't help but feel a little guilty! A wave of fear instantly washed over him!
Pang Shiwu stared into his eyes, "Since you're afraid of death, then just confess quickly. Don't wait until I lose patience and then regret it, it will be too late!"

The man immediately knelt down with a thud, pleading, "Young hero, spare my life!" He spoke in Chinese at this moment!
Han Yuan sneered: "You were faking it all along! What's your name?"

The man said, "Helian Tieshu."

Pang Shiwu asked, "Are you from Western Xia?"

"Yes!"

"Who is Helian Rongguang to you?"

"Helian Rongguang? I don't know him!"

"He is a general of your Western Xia, and you don't recognize him?"

"I've lived in Tibet for many years, and the generals of Western Xia were replaced every few years, so I really don't recognize them!"

"You're here on a mission?"

"Yes!"

"How many years have you been here?"

"Eight years!"

"It's been quite a while! I'm asking you, are there any evil places nearby, like blood sacrifice towers or other harmful places, or are there any places where young children or girls are kidnapped and held in captivity?"

Helian Tieshu said, “There are three similar places in Qingtang City. The first is the Lingtong Temple, a Bon religion temple. Nine-layered sandalwood cages are set up in the cave to prevent children’s souls from escaping. The cages are engraved with the ‘Spirit Devouring Curse of the Lord of the Corpse Forest.’ The kidnapped boys and girls are used to make ritual implements. The second place is called the Eagle House, a place for nobles to train slaves. Young boys and girls are locked on ‘eagle frames.’ During the day, their limbs are stretched to imitate the posture of flying eagles, and at night they are forced to drink a mute drug to prevent them from revealing secrets. The character ‘唃’ is branded on the shoulders of the young boys and girls! The third place is called the Ice Child Cave, where young children are imprisoned in water dungeons and immersed in ice water, while girls are locked in cellars. The only purpose is to stimulate their skin to become more resilient, just to make better human skin drums!”

Pang Shiwu frowned, his eyes blazing with murderous intent!
In an instant, the Tangut man felt a murderous aura envelop the entire world, and he was surrounded by the stench of blood, with nowhere to escape!
Fortunately, the boy didn't draw his sword! It seems the boy was angry about those three blood-soaked burrows!
He was a Western Xia person, so naturally he couldn't stand the bloody and evil practices of the Bon religion in Tibet! However, his mission was to infiltrate Qing Tang City in Tibet to gather intelligence on Tibet, and he couldn't act rashly and cause trouble for the Bon religion, as that would easily expose his identity!

Furthermore, he was also aware of his own limitations; challenging the authority of Bon religion alone would only lead to his death!
Pang Shiwu said, "You, lead the way!"

Helian Tieshu was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright!"

Outside Jinyang City, the Liao cavalry swept across the land like a torrent in the desolate countryside!
Not far ahead, Lin Yongpeng led three hundred light cavalry in a square formation, ready for battle!
Several vultures circled in the sky. They knew that another war was about to break out among the humans on this land, and after each major battle was the time for them to enjoy a lavish feast!
In the vultures' eyes, the 20,000 heavily armored cavalrymen surged forward like a black tidal wave toward the silver light ahead, and it was foreseeable that the silver light would soon be engulfed. The battle was about to end, and they would soon have a feast!
Lin Yongpeng silently estimated the distance between the two sides!
One thousand feet!

Nine hundred and fifty feet!
Nine hundred feet!
850 feet!
"preparation!"

Five divine crossbows were already aimed at Yelü Xiezhen, and the giant crossbows were already drawn to their limit! Upon hearing Lin Yongpeng's command, they merely gave a symbolic, slight shake, indicating that they were ready! The remaining 295 riders also raised their ordinary crossbows, though they didn't draw the bowstrings taut. While these stiff bows didn't have a short range, they were far inferior to the divine crossbows, with an effective range of only 300 feet!

"shoot!"

In an instant, five giant crossbows tore through the void and shot towards Yelü Xiezhen!

Yelü Xiezhen had already spotted the five Song archers wielding the Divine Arm Bow! He was quite knowledgeable about the Divine Arm Bow!

He was already prepared to defend himself even before the arrow was released! As soon as the arrow left the bowstring, he immediately ducked!

Five giant arrows grazed past the top of his head!

puff!puff!puff……

Five giant arrows pierced through dozens of Liao cavalrymen!

The Liao cavalry were known for their unity of man and horse and their unwavering resolve to never fall from their horses, so their formation remained intact and they continued their advance!

Lin Yongpeng knew that the Khitan people's soul binding to warhorses, the shamanistic view of "regarding death in battle as an honor" and the need for deterrence in actual combat—these three factors combined to ultimately create the phenomenon of cavalrymen dying on their horses without falling off!
His arsenic, my honey.

Lin Yongpeng viewed the Khitan soldiers from a soldier's perspective and greatly admired them!

Sometimes, only a worthy opponent deserves our utmost respect!

The Liao soldiers were of extremely high overall quality. Looking across the world, perhaps only the Luoyang Tigers of the Song Dynasty could be compared with them! Unfortunately, although the Luoyang Tigers of the Song army could be called the strongest infantry on land, just like the five elements, infantry is inherently limited by cavalry. The strongest infantry is no match for the strongest cavalry!

As for the Iron Falcon cavalry of the Western Xia, they relied too much on heavy armor and were clearly inferior to the Khitans in terms of individual soldier skills.

What struck Lin Yongpeng was that while the Khitan soldiers were as brave and ferocious as tigers and wolves in the face of the enemy, in the eyes of the people of their homeland, they were still just children! Full of youthful vigor, they were no different from the new recruits of the Song Dynasty—just other people's sons! In front of their families, they were obedient and filial children; in front of their neighbors, they were sunny and cheerful teenagers…

In the eyes of the Khitans, these cavalrymen who "did not fall from their horses" and continued to charge must have been like a group of moving tombstones. They would not feel fear, but only a sense of tragic grandeur!
These Liao soldiers, like the Song soldiers, should be seen by the people as heroes who sacrificed their lives for their country!

Unfortunately, fate is so cruel!
Heaven and earth are unkind and regard all things as stupid dogs!
Heaven sent all the passionate young men from all over the world to the battlefield, forcing these young men to kill each other! Countless vibrant lives were thus buried in foreign lands!
Lin Yongpeng couldn't help but sigh: This is the reason and driving force behind the necessity of unifying the Central Plains and the world! This is also why, although Lin Yongpeng despised Zhao Guangyi's fondness for married women, he still supported his campaign against the Northern Han and the unification of the world!
A voice kept echoing in his mind—stop the war! Stop the war!

The people of the world have suffered from war for too long!
But how can we stop the war?

The best solution is to stop the war with war!
To end the division and achieve unification as soon as possible, we must accelerate the elimination of the separatist regimes!

Otherwise, as Cao Cao said, "If I were to speak of this now as a sign of arrogance, wanting people to say everything they want, then I would be making no attempt to hide anything. If the country were not without me, I wonder how many people would claim to be emperors and how many would claim to be kings!"

If it weren't for Emperor Taizu's insistence on the southern expedition, the Central Plains would still be divided into ten kingdoms! Everyone wants to be emperor, but there can't be two suns in the sky, nor two rulers in a country. These people are evenly matched, and none of them can conquer the others, which leads to a long-term state of war between them!

Where there is war, people will die!
If you want to avoid war, there's only one way! All land under heaven belongs to the king! All people under the heaven are his subjects! There can only be one supreme ruler!
Just like during the reigns of Emperor Wu of Han or Emperor Taizong of Tang, there was no internal strife in the Central Plains, the seas were calm and the rivers were peaceful, and the world was at peace! Only then could the people truly live in peace and prosperity!

The sound of hooves thundered, and the Liao army was already within six hundred feet!

"Retreat!" Lin Yongpeng shouted!

Three hundred light cavalry immediately turned around and galloped away!
At first, the warhorses were too fast to catch up, so in the blink of an eye, the Liao cavalry had closed to within 300 feet!
Lin Yongpeng shouted, "Ready!"

At this moment, all three hundred archers on horseback turned their upper bodies around, raised their bows, and aimed behind them, including the five divine-armored archers!

"shoot!"

In an instant, arrows flew like locusts, raining down from the sky!
This time, they were carrying only black gold armor-piercing arrows, which instantly pierced through the heavy armor of hundreds of Khitan cavalrymen. However, these Khitan cavalrymen simply pulled out the arrows, bleeding profusely, and roared to the sky! Some Liao cavalrymen who were hit in vital areas were already dead, but their bodies remained upright on their horses, continuing to charge alongside their comrades!

The Liao army's iron cavalry swept in like a raging tidal wave, making the situation even more suffocating!
Lin Yongpeng knew that if the Liao cavalry caught up, they would all be crushed into mincemeat! So he urgently ordered, "Turn left!"

Three hundred light cavalry suddenly made a sharp left turn. The Liao cavalry had too much inertia and charged straight ahead, exceeding the planned route by more than ten feet before turning back to continue the pursuit!
This sudden change of lane to the left slightly increased the distance between the two sides, and the Song cavalry took the opportunity to increase their running speed, so the distance between the two sides no longer narrowed and remained relatively stable.

But Lin Yongpeng knew that this balance would not last long before it was broken, and in a dozen or so breaths, the distance between the two sides would shrink again! After all, the Liao army's warhorses were far superior to the Song army's warhorses in terms of explosive power and endurance!
So after galloping for hundreds of feet, he urgently ordered a "right turn." The three hundred light cavalry suddenly turned right, leaving the Liao army ten feet behind!
During this time, the Song army fired several more volleys of arrows!
He also took the divine crossbow from his horse and aimed it at Yelü Xiezhen!

Even Zhao Guangyi didn't know that Lin Yongpeng had secretly hidden a divine arm bow!

Although riding on horseback was a bit bumpy and affected aiming, it didn't stop Lin Yongpeng!

Lin Yongpeng once won first place in the military archery competition and was promoted! It was then that he officially became an officer from an ordinary soldier! However, the emperor at that time was still Emperor Shizong of Zhou!

Horse archers shooting arrows while on horseback was a basic skill of soldiers in the Zhou Dynasty, and of course, this skill was continued by Zhao Kuangyin in the Song Dynasty!
Horse archery is a mandatory test for cavalry and a highlight of the annual competition.

While the jolting motion on horseback can affect a cavalryman's shooting accuracy, this is not a problem for soldiers with solid basic skills! Capturing targets while in motion is routine for them; they constantly adjust their posture and always seize the opportunity to lock onto their target! And that opportunity only takes a fleeting moment!
Lin Yongpeng is naturally better able to seize such fleeting moments, because it is the result of genius plus hard work! He has both talent and the ability to endure hardship, so mastering it is a piece of cake after thousands of hours of practice!
whoosh-

The giant arrow pierced the sky, heading straight for Yelü Xiezhen!

Yelü Xiezhen had naturally noticed Lin Yongpeng long ago!

That Han Chinese general possessed a terrifying, almost demonic aura! The bloodthirsty, dangerous aura emanating from him was also the strongest!
So the instant Lin Yongpeng loosened his grip and the arrow left the bowstring, Yelü Xiezhen immediately bent down again!
The giant arrow grazed his scalp again, and behind him came another series of thuds and muffled groans from the heads and tails of several people!

Yelü Xiezhen suddenly straightened up, a bow now firmly in his hand! Whoosh—an arrow shot out!
Lin Yongpeng instinctively ducked down, but unexpectedly the arrow was shot at his horse!
puff!
The arrow struck the horse's ribs and emerged from its body!

It was an armor-piercing arrow too!
The warhorse, in pain, galloped wildly, spurting blood from its ribs!
Lin Yongpeng was shocked!
If this warhorse gallops at such a frenzied pace, it will probably bleed to death in less than ten zhang! What should we do?
The other Song Dynasty cavalrymen also noticed that Lin Yongpeng's warhorse was injured, and a shadow fell over many of them!
Song dynasty cavalry, once heavily armored, could not sustain long-term warfare, let alone maintain their mobility! Therefore, for the sake of maneuverability and flexibility, Song cavalry had to abandon heavy armor defense. But this sowed the seeds of today's problems!

With their commander's horse about to die, he himself is very likely to be captured alive. What should they do next?
(The image above shows a Song Dynasty polychrome porcelain piece—also known as a red and green polychrome porcelain style depicting the Year of the Rat.)