Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 701 A Magnificent Performance by a Powerful Archer
Arrows shot out incessantly, each one taking a life, and there were even many instances of two birds with one stone.

The bow made from the aerial roots of a banyan tree is incredibly heavy; it cannot be fully drawn without a force of over a thousand pounds.

To fire dozens of arrows in a short period of time requires not only immense strength from the archer, but also sustained arm strength.

The basic training for a strong archer is archery, specifically horizontal shooting, not projectile shooting.

The strength of a skilled archer lies not in the distance they can shoot, but in the power and accuracy of their arrows.

If it's a projectile shot, the advantage of using a powerful bow is its long range, while the power of the arrows is not much stronger than that of ordinary bows and arrows.

In contrast, the greatest advantage of a powerful bow lies in its ability to fire horizontally and at short distances.

At this moment, the strength of the archers is fully demonstrated. However, no matter what level of cultivation the enemy they encounter is, one arrow will surely kill them.

Whether they are ordinary martial artists or those who have acquired martial arts skills, it is difficult for them to dodge their arrows.

Even a martial artist at the ninth level of the Acquired Realm would inevitably suffer a complete defeat if he made a single careless move against a powerful archer.

Only innate martial artists have a chance to engage these powerful archers, because they can control their qi to form armor, which can block the archers' shots.

However, if one is only at the initial stage of the Innate Realm, facing such a group of powerful archers would be extremely dangerous.

Upon first entering the Innate Realm, one's true qi reserves are relatively small, making it difficult to maintain qi-based armor for extended periods.

If the enemy cannot eliminate all the archers in a short time, they will ultimately be riddled with arrows.

Standing on the arrow tower, Yang Mingzhi could clearly see the thousand combat teams surging towards the mountaintop like a tide. They were like the Grim Reaper, leaving corpses in their wake.

Jiang Fu, who was standing next to him, opened his mouth wide when he saw this scene, his face full of disbelief.

too exaggerated!

It’s unimaginable!
This is blatant slaughter.

It would be better if those barbarian tribesmen didn't show themselves, but if they did, it was almost certain that they would die.

"Second Master, this..." Jiang Fu opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to ask many questions, but when the words reached his lips, he didn't know what to ask.

Yang Mingzhi's lips curled slightly, and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

"Not bad, it wasn't for nothing that I trained them so hard for more than three years!"

It is actually quite rare to get Yang Mingzhi to focus on training soldiers, especially since he has been training for three years.

Now, watching the soldiers he trained display their might, Yang Mingzhi felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, and his whole being radiated joy.

In contrast to Yang Mingzhi was Bai Ning, who had just been awakened.

At this moment, Bai Ning was filled with panic and fear.

The screams of panic came like heavy blows to his heart.

"How many enemies are there? Where did they come from?"

He questioned them with fear and anger.

"do not know!"

However, this was the only answer he received.

do not know!
There are now more than 100,000 people in the entire banner area. No one knows where the enemy came from or how many there are. All they know is that the enemy who entered the banner area is very terrifying.

"Damn it!" Bai Ning was furious, but he was not blinded by fear and anger.

"Someone, quick, come with me to hold off those enemies!"

At this time, he had many warriors under his command. Not to mention the 30,000 to 40,000 able-bodied men in his territory, he also had nearly 10,000 elite troops around him. These elite Hu cavalry were his greatest reliance.

In fact, if he could organize these tens of thousands of elite Hu cavalry to counterattack at this moment, he might actually be able to stop those two thousand Shenmu soldiers.

But when he stepped out of his palace, he was shocked to find that he had fewer than a thousand people around him.

Moreover, he discovered that the enemy had already stormed into his capital city.

It's called a royal city, but it's really just a large palace and a few dozen rather exquisite and beautiful stone houses.

His capital city had walls, more than ten feet high, but such high walls obviously could not stop two thousand Shenmu soldiers.

Even the soldiers guarding the city walls could not stop the advance of the Shenmu warriors.

Because those soldiers dared not show their heads, for to do so meant certain death.

In a short time, the city walls were occupied by the Shenmu soldiers, and everyone in the royal city became their live targets.

Yang Mingzhi and Jiang Fu flew over and witnessed the most tragic scene.

In front of the palace gates, nearly a thousand elite Hu tribe soldiers stood blocking Bai Ning's way.

Then, like harvesting wheat, one by one, the elite Hu tribesmen fell, and like peeling an onion, layer after layer.

At first, these elite Hu tribesmen had the courage to charge towards the city walls, but they soon discovered that all their struggles were in vain.

Bai Ning watched as the warriors in front of him fell one by one, and the rest began to scatter and flee. His face turned pale with panic.

What terrified him even more was that his master, the strongest in the Tatar tribe, a half-step Xiantian expert, also fell to the terrifying rain of arrows.

His master charged the furthest and was almost at the city wall when, just as he was about to leap onto it, two enemies wielding round shields jumped up and caught him in their arms. His master froze, and a flurry of arrows pierced his head and neck.

Bai Ning finally panicked and stumbled back to the palace.

Hundreds of elite Hu tribesmen also fled into the palace with him.

The heavy palace doors were closed in a flurry of activity.

Yang Mingzhi sneered when he saw this.

To think that a palace gate could stop the powerful archers he had trained was simply wishful thinking.

The next moment, a rain of arrows fell on the palace gate like boulders, making a series of thuds.

In the blink of an eye, the heavy palace doors shattered. Even the heaviest palace doors are just made of wood; an arrow shot from a powerful bow possesses immense force. The palace doors could block one arrow, but could they stop ten?
Arrows shot into the hall, taking lives with them.

Subsequently, hundreds of Shenmu soldiers rushed into the main hall.

As mentioned before, the combat training of these Shenmu soldiers is based on fighting on warships, and they are best at fighting in confined spaces.

The cramped space inside the main hall not only failed to effectively stop the Shenmu soldiers from killing, but also restricted the deployment of the Hu tribe's elite troops.

In a short while, the hall was filled with corpses, and the battlefield shifted from inside the hall to the stone houses behind it.

Bai Ning was not dead yet; he escaped through the back door of the main hall, but he was only a moment away from death.

Bai Ning fled frantically, but the entire city wall was occupied by the Shenmu soldiers. Most of the two thousand Shenmu soldiers were shooting and killing the Hu tribes inside and outside the city from the city wall, while a small number of Shenmu soldiers rushed into the city and began a massacre.

Their killing seems simple; regardless of age or gender, it's just a matter of one arrow. If one arrow isn't enough, they'll shoot another.

Bai Ning tried to run away, but he quickly ran out of steam.

An arrow pierced his back, and the next moment he collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.

In the chaos, no one cared about his death.

Even the Shenmu soldiers who shot him only glanced indifferently at his corpse before turning their attention to other targets without hesitation.

Death and chaos continued, but the battle had taken on a different form.

The archers and swordsmen began to spread outwards from the royal city at the center of the flag territory. They took up high ground in ten-man squads and indiscriminately shot down anyone they could see.

At this moment, all the gates of the banner territory were opened, and countless Tatar tribesmen fled the banner territory in a sorry state.

The army was defeated like a mountain!
When panic sets in, most people are left with only the thought of fleeing for their lives.

This banner has a population of over 100,000. Even if they stood together and were shot at by the archers, the archers would not be able to kill them all, because the archers did not have that many arrows.

No one thinks about these things now, and they can't even imagine such a thing. They don't even know how many enemies there are. They only know that the enemy is terrifying, and they only think about escaping the banner land where their ancestors have lived for generations.

Time passed second by second, and the chaotic atmosphere gradually subsided. As the first light of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, the entire Qi region finally returned to the quiet of the previous night.

Within the vast territory of the banner, the number of people became sparse. Apart from the Shenmu soldiers searching everywhere, there were almost no other figures to be seen.

However, amidst this quiet, occasional piercing cries for mercy and screams of agony could still be heard.

Not everyone escaped, nor were all of them shot dead. Some people in the banner area were still hiding in their homes, and the Shenmu soldiers were eliminating the remaining survivors.

The strong stench of blood filled the fresh morning air. The corpses lying haphazardly seemed to be draped in a soft veil under the morning light. The morning dew stained the blood, making the patches of crimson even more vibrant.

The gentleness of the morning and the bloodshed of the battlefield intertwine to create a strange scene. From afar, it is all about the beauty of the morning, but only upon closer inspection will one discover a heart-wrenching tragedy.

Yang Mingzhi stood on the roof of the royal palace, facing west and looking down at the bloody battlefield below, a smile he could hardly suppress on his face.

For him, this was not a cruel thing, but a magnificent performance.

He prepared for this performance for three years, working tirelessly day and night. Now, he finally took his work to the stage and performed a magnificent show unlike any other.

"Second Master!" Xue Fuyang greeted Yang Mingzhi with clasped hands.

Xue Fuyang, Xue Ping's second son, previously served as a squad leader in the Shenmu Island navy and is now a captain under Yang Mingzhi.

The thousand archers and the thousand swordsmen and shieldmen were organized into two battalion commanders, Yu Zhangshu and Xue Fuyang.

"Okay!" Yang Mingzhi responded.

"Reporting to Second Master, in this battle our army suffered four serious injuries and thirty-two minor injuries, with no casualties!" Xue Fuyang said in a light voice.

"Four people were seriously injured?" Yang Mingzhi asked.

"Yes, four swordsmen and shieldmen were severely injured while blocking the enemy. Three of them suffered broken arms, and the other suffered internal injuries. I have treated their injuries and given them medicine. I estimate they will recover after a month of rest!" Xue Fuyang said.

Yang Mingzhi nodded slightly. With two thousand men fighting against one hundred thousand, no one died and fewer than forty were wounded. Such a record was nothing short of miraculous.

It may seem illogical at first glance, but upon closer examination, it is not incomprehensible.

Firstly, this battle was a night raid, and the Tatars failed to organize an effective resistance, resulting in a one-sided massacre from the very beginning.

Secondly, the strong archers' advantages were too obvious. Their long-range shooting was powerful, and even a half-step Xiantian master died under the rain of arrows, not to mention the other Hu tribe elites, who could hardly get close to the strong archers.

Moreover, even when they get close to the archers, they are still blocked by swordsmen and shieldmen.

Whether they were swordsmen and shieldmen or archers, they all possessed cultivation levels of at least the fifth level of the Acquired Realm.

The fifth level of the acquired realm is not considered powerful, but as long as they are not facing innate martial artists, they have some room to maneuver.

Just like when they were attacking the royal city, the half-step Xiantian martial artist tried to get close to the archer, but the two swordsmen and shieldmen just crashed into him without any skill.

Their task was not to kill the half-step Xiantian martial artist, but to hinder his attack.

The time doesn't need to be too long; just a moment's pause is enough for the archer to seize the opportunity and deliver a fatal blow.

Of course, the two swordsmen and shield bearers also paid a heavy price. With their fifth-level Acquired cultivation, they went head-to-head with a half-step Innate expert. Even though they were holding iron shields, their arms were still broken.

But without a doubt, they blocked that half-step Xiantian expert, causing him to die under the rain of arrows.

Furthermore, this was the first time the powerful archers had appeared, and the Tatar tribe was not only completely unprepared, but also had no idea how to deal with them in their haste.

If the Tatars had known about the strength of the archers beforehand, they might have been able to mount a powerful counterattack.

In the end, Yang Mingzhi had almost all the advantages of timing, location, and popular support in this battle.

At that moment, in the dead of night, the Tatar tribesmen were suddenly awakened and easily panicked.

The terrain was advantageous; there were many buildings within the banner's territory, which might seem to limit the archers' shooting, but in reality, those stone-built houses were the archers' most effective barrier.

In terms of personnel, compared to the chaotic Tatar tribe, the two thousand Shenmu soldiers cooperated well, were well-organized, supported and coordinated with each other, and acted very quickly.

Due to various factors, the more than 100,000 people in this banner area were unable to form an effective fighting force and were completely slaughtered by the archers.

(End of this chapter)