Border Soldiers: My granaries are full of grain and meat, and I guard this region.

Inside the Ye Family Restaurant, the three women were each busy with their own affairs.

Yu Yourong came out of the kitchen carrying a tray, placed the cold dishes on the table by the window, smiled and nodded to the guests, then turned back to the counter to get the wine.

Ye Ling Shuang was chopping firewood in the backyard; she had chopped a whole pile of wood that morning.

Ye Zhiwan was flipping through the account book behind the counter, dipping her brush in ink and writing down today's expenses stroke by stroke.

"Qi wine sold out again today?" Yu Yourong glanced at the ledger as she passed the counter.

Ye Zhiwan hummed in response, without raising her head.

"The batch of wine my brother-in-law stored before he left sold out last night. I talked to the brewery and asked them to hurry up and restock by tomorrow morning. My brother-in-law said he'll be back in the next couple of days, so he should be able to make it in time for the opening of the Linzhao City store."

Yu Yourong nodded, about to say something, when her gaze inadvertently swept across the window.

The western sky was a clear, deep blue, without a single cloud or speck of dust, but she knew her man was in that direction.

Yu Yourong stared blankly for a while, then looked away and continued with her work.

Unbeknownst to them, a bloody battle was raging in Qijia Village, forty miles away.

At the entrance of Qijia Village, the second wave of attacks from the Rong cavalry arrived.

This time, Da Rong divided into three directions: a hundred cavalrymen pressed forward from the front, while fifty cavalrymen on each side circled around to the sides of the wall to launch a feigned attack, attempting to disperse Qi Feng's forces.

Qi Feng was not fooled. He ordered Liu Si to lead archers to guard the front wall, while he himself led twenty men wielding sabers to crouch behind the barricades without moving. He feigned attacks from both sides, allowing the garrison soldiers to deal with the attacks using stones and spears.

The moment the hundred riders charged to the barricade, another twenty swords swept out in unison.

This time it was faster and more ruthless than the first round. Qi Feng took action himself, severing the legs of two horses with a single stroke, dodging the fallen horses, and then delivering a finishing blow, killing the rider who had fallen off the horse.

The thirty archers on the wall unleashed three more volleys of arrows in unison.

The second wave of attacks was also repelled, but this time Qi Feng had a cut on his arm. The cut wasn't deep, but the blood was flowing out very quickly.

Qi Daniu handed Qi Feng a piece of cloth from the side. Qi Feng took it, wrapped it around his neck twice, and continued to squat behind the barricade.

He counted the people around him who could still stand up; there were still twenty, not one missing. But some people's wrists were already trembling, and some had splits in their hands, with blood dripping down the hilt of their knives.

A horse-slaying sword can cut three or four times, but a person's hand cannot withstand that many blows.

At this rate, their people will collapse before the sword even breaks.

The impact of cavalry was still too strong. Every time they used their sabers to cut off a horse's leg, they themselves suffered a considerable impact. Cutting off a horse with a saber was not without cost.

Qi Feng looked up at the sky; the sun was already beginning to set in the west.

He whispered, "There are three more waves of attacks before nightfall."

Qi Xiaoliu squatted down next to him and whispered, "Brother Feng, are the reinforcements really coming?"

Qi Feng did not answer immediately. Instead, he placed his sword across his knees, looked again at the cavalry formation in the distance, and spoke after a long while:

"Yes, but only if we're still standing here."

Qi Xiaoliu didn't ask any more questions, but simply gripped the slightly dulled horse-slaying sword a little tighter.

The cavalry in the distance regrouped, this time not splitting into three groups, but joining together again.

The second wave of attacks resulted in the loss of about forty men by the cavalry, but they still have over four hundred riders remaining, creating a heavy sense of pressure.

Four hundred riders, pressed down like a black tide under the setting sun, carrying an imposing momentum as they pressed towards Qijia Village once more.

Qi Feng stood up, pointed his knife at the ground, and shouted behind him, "Everyone, listen to my command!"

In an instant, the air at the village entrance seemed to be sucked out, and everyone tensed up, their eyes fixed on the cavalry in the distance.

The third wave of attacks was much fiercer than the first two.

The Rong cavalry changed their tactics, no longer rushing to charge, but instead unleashing a volley of arrows when they were eighty paces from the village entrance.

Arrows rained down from above the wall, embedding themselves in the wooden stakes of the chevaux-de-frise and scattering across the earthen mounds surrounding the wall.

Two arrows grazed Qi Feng's shoulder. Qi Feng quickly crouched down to dodge them. He heard a muffled groan behind him. Someone had been hit by an arrow, but he didn't turn around to look. His eyes remained fixed on the cavalry in front of him.

"Handmen wielding horse-slaying swords, crouch against the wall!"

Qi Feng roared, and the twenty men simultaneously shrank back an inch, pressing their backs against the earthen wall and lowering their bodies to the lowest possible position.

Arrows flew overhead, their sound of striking the earthen wall as dense as a downpour of rain hitting tiles, making a loud, clattering noise.

Qi Feng listened to the rhythm of the arrows falling to the ground, silently counting in his mind. As soon as the arrows slowed down, he immediately got up.

"kill!"

Qi Feng roared, and twenty horse-slaying swords simultaneously emerged from behind the barricades.

The cavalry charging forward did not slow down. The horses in the front rank, after having their legs cut off, crashed directly into the wooden stakes of the chevaux-de-frise. The stakes creaked and bent but did not break.

Several horses were tripped by the corpses of their companions; some tumbled off their backs, while others were trampled under the horses' hooves and died.

Qi Feng slashed down a horse in front of him, then glanced to the side and saw five riders taking advantage of the chaos to bypass the flank of the barricade and rush towards a gap in the wall.

The gap wasn't large, but it was big enough for a horse to squeeze through sideways, and the garrison soldiers guarding it were crouching against the wall, trembling with fear.

"Qi Shitou!"

Qi Feng shouted, pointed, and Qi Shitou looked over. Without saying a word, he drew his knife and charged.

When Qi Shitou rushed to the gap, the first horse had already squeezed in halfway.

Without hesitation, Qi Shitou swept his blade across the ground, severing the horse's front legs at the knee the moment it stepped into the village.

The horse crashed down, pinning the rider's legs beneath it. Before he could even cry out, the arriving soldiers pinned him to the ground with their spears.

The four riders behind were blocked outside the gap. Someone drew his bow and shot an arrow. The arrow grazed Qi Shitou's shoulder, leaving a trail of blood.

Qi Shitou gritted his teeth and did not back down. He blocked the gap, aiming the tip of his knife at the next horse that tried to squeeze in.

The trembling soldiers behind Qi Shitou, seeing his appearance, mustered their courage, gripped their spears, and rushed forward. Whenever a cavalryman tried to squeeze in, they charged straight at him.

After the fifth rider retreated, Qi Shitou slid down against the wall, blood flowing from the wound on his shoulder, but he ignored it, only staring fiercely at the retreating cavalrymen's backs and cursing.

The third wave of attacks on the main battlefield was also repelled.

Qi Feng squatted behind the barricade, panting heavily. There were three arrows stuck in the ground beside him. If Qi Daniu hadn't pulled him up, he would have been hit by these three arrows.

Qi Feng glanced at the people around him; this time, they had suffered casualties in the face of the Da Rong cavalry's attack.

The original twenty people are now down to eighteen.