After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"You dog Tartars!"

Yu Yantan, covered in blood, gripped a broadsword in both hands, his feet in straw sandals sank into the mud, and cried out in grief and indignation.

"Go!" one of the men in front of him shouted, turning around to pull Yu Yantan away quickly.

"Are you sure you can leave?!"

The Eight Banners soldier on horseback raised a fine knife and cursed fiercely.

They were less than ten feet away from the three fleeing thieves. There were eleven thieves who escaped in total, eight of whom were killed, leaving only these three.

If it weren't for the difficulty of navigating the night road, their own blurred vision, and the fact that these people kept hiding in the woods, and that their arrows had already run out during the chase, they would have caught up long ago, taken their heads, and returned to report.

Even so, the matter has come to an end.

Yu Yantan roared, "Brother Zhao, Fourth Master Liu, you go first! I'll cover the rear!"

The young man, in his early twenties, had three knife wounds: two on his back, one on his chest, and an arrow had torn his clothes on his left arm, leaving a horrifying bloody gash.

"Hey!"

The Eight Banner soldiers at the front let out a shout and rode up on their horses.

The horse was panting heavily, its white breath rising in the moonlight.

"Ahhhhh—"

Veins bulged on Yu Yantan's neck as he opened his mouth and shouted, gripping the broadsword tightly with both arms.

The Eight Banner soldiers, eager to gain military merit ahead of others, wore armor.

Clatter, clatter, the horse's hooves pounded through the mud as it came.

A cold glint flashed.

"when!"

The fine knife clashed with the crude broadsword.

Yu Yantan felt a sharp pain in his hand as his broadsword was slashed open, causing him to fall backward, his chest gaping open.

The Eight Banner soldiers raised their swords and slashed at the chest of the exhausted bandit who was off his horse.

Fighting such scoundrels is such a simple and easy matter.

If the arrows are not all used up, one arrow is enough to kill.

If you have a long spear or lance, you can kill someone with a single thrust.

With a three-barreled gun, one shot could kill them. Even without gunpowder, you could just smash their heads with the three-barreled gun, and none of them would survive.

Since they weren't facing the Southern Dynasty or the Rakshasa, his cavalry didn't fire their three-eyed guns.

It's not advisable to use long spears and lances at night, lest one accidentally injure a fellow soldier.

He could only use a waist knife.

He parried the blow with a single strike.

He deflected the opponent's broadsword.

With another slash, he killed the opponent.

Such movements are already muscle memory and do not require any fancy moves or skills.

How could the simple knives these farmers used to use for cutting grass be a match for the fine knives made by the imperial court?

The Eight Banner soldiers sighed inwardly. Why would they choose to rebel when they could live a perfectly good life?

He gripped the knife and slashed down.

The blade was only inches away from Yu Yantan, whose arms were limp from the impact of the blow.

"Donkey ball!"

The middle-aged man who had just told Yu Yantan to "go" did not run away. He cursed loudly, ran back a few steps, and thrust his spear into the abdomen of the Eight Banners soldier.

The meticulously crafted iron spearhead left a mark on the opponent's armor.

In the blink of an eye.

The Eight Banners soldier was jolted by the spear, his sword was momentarily blocked, and Yu Yantan cried out "Ouch!" and staggered back a few steps, narrowly avoiding the blow.

The elite cavalrymen on horseback glared.

He chuckled and raised his hand again.

The middle-aged man cursed again, "Donkey's balls!"

Put away your gun.

Press down on the gun barrel.

And then it happened again.

The spear tip thrust straight at the face of the Eight Banners soldier!

"hiss!"

The Manchu soldier tilted his head to avoid the spearhead.

With a swift swing of his right arm, he slashed at the gun barrel with the knife, "Clang!"

The middle-aged man stumbled, his gun flying backward and exposing his back.

"hiss!"

The Eight Banners soldier swung his sword down!

The blade sliced ​​across the opponent's back.

Blood splattered in the cold, pale moonlight, and the middle-aged man groaned before collapsing into a pool of blood.

"Brother Zhao!"

Yu Yantan's eyes were bloodshot, and he let out a loud cry.

From the moment Brother Zhao saved his life with his gun to Brother Zhao's death, the entire process took no more than two breaths.

"Aaaaaaahh ...

He gripped the broadsword tightly with both hands, preparing to strike again.

At this time.

A "Hey!" sound came from behind.

Yu Yantan's heart skipped a beat, a chill ran through him. He turned around and saw a rider had already rushed to Master Liu's place. After killing Master Liu with a single blow, the rider jumped down and was cutting off Master Liu's head.

"Ahhhhh—"

Yu Yantan shouted unconsciously, tears streaming down his face.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

He turned around and saw the same Manchu soldier slashing at him with his sword again.

"Dead..."

"I'm doomed..."

Yu Yantan was momentarily stunned, and he could no longer lift his broadsword to parry.

Blocking it won't help.

There are already four heads tied to the horse of the Eight Banners soldiers opposite. Adding my head and Brother Zhao's head, the enemy should have six heads in total.

"Ah... I'm going to die..."

Yu Yantan opened his mouth, but no sound came out of his throat.

It was at this moment.

"when!"

The sound of weapons clashing rang out.

Yu Yantan's throat bobbed.

The Manchu soldiers' swords were blocked by a long spear.

"Brother Zhao..."

A thought flashed through Yu Yantan's mind subconsciously.

"Brother Zhao?"

"Brother Zhao isn't dead?"

But when his eyes stiffened and then quickly moved over, he saw an unfamiliar face.

The owner of the face had thick eyebrows and big eyes.

His arms were as hard as iron.

He's raising his spear with both hands!

"rise!"

The man shouted loudly!

As if overturning a small mountain, the man used both arms to forcefully parry the Manchu soldier's single sword.

Yu Yantan was still in shock.

The Eight Banners soldiers roared angrily, "Who?!"

The owner of the gun, however, had a somber look in his eyes. With a flick of his left hand, he sent the gun spinning rapidly forward, straight to the chest of the Eight Banners soldier.

The man gritted his teeth again, thrust his right hand forward with a short burst of force, and pulled back with his left hand, using the tip of the spear as a blunt weapon, and smashed it into the chest of the Eight Banners soldier!

"puff!"

A muffled groan.

Yu Yantan glanced sideways and saw that the Eight Banners soldier opened his mouth, and his gleaming white teeth were already soaked with blood.

"You wicked thief!"

With a loud roar, the Eight Banners soldier grabbed the reins with one hand, ready to retreat first and then charge forward as a cavalryman!

It's too late.

In the brief moment that he clashed with the spear's owner, dozens of people rushed out from the side.

Before the seven or eight cavalrymen could react and try to spur their horses, the group's weapons struck the horses' legs.

In an instant, men and horses were thrown about, and the horses neighed loudly.

Although the armored cavalrymen fell off their horses, they did not show much fear. They just shouted, knowing that once they formed a battle formation, they could easily kill all the people in front of them.

But the dozens of people in front of them seemed to have anticipated this, quickly cutting through the battlefield and constantly slashing at each other with their knives, separating seven or eight people.

The Eight Banners soldiers before Yu Yantan were the same.

Several men sprang out from behind the burly man wielding the gun. One of them slashed the horse's leg with a knife, and the horse, in pain, immediately knelt down.

The Eight Banners soldier on horseback cried out as he fell off his horse.

The burly man snorted, raised the shaft of his gun, and slammed the tip down, striking the other man's hand holding the knife.

Just as the Eight Banners soldier cried out in pain, "Ah!"

Someone stepped forward, ripped off the helmet from the man's head, and slit his throat.