The two sides took their stances and began to charge on horseback. Dongfang Jibai launched the first attack, thrusting her spear directly at Long Qie's chest plate. I had experienced her strength before; it was no ordinary power. Even though Long Qie wore a heart-guard and possessed the Iron Shirt technique, he absolutely could not withstand this spear thrust head-on. If he did, not to mention Long Qie, it was uncertain whether his mount could even bear the impact.
Long Qie indeed did not try to withstand it directly. He raised his spear to block, deflecting the tip of Dongfang Jibai's spear. He then swept his great spear horizontally, aiming for Dongfang Jibai's waist. Dongfang Jibai quickly withdrew her spear and held it upright to block. This exchange involved no finesse, only a direct clash.
Although Dongfang Jibai blocked the force of Long Qie's spear, her red-tasseled spear was swept so close to her body that its shaft struck the belly of her horse. The warhorse, in pain, took several sideways steps before steadying itself.
Long Qie let out a hearty laugh. The two warhorses brushed past each other, swapping positions. They then turned their mounts to face each other again, much like the dramatic reenactments in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. Was this Zhao Yun fighting Zhang Fei? No, the difference in their strength was too vast. It was more akin to Zhang Fei fighting a common soldier of Cao Cao's army.
However, the battle had concluded at this moment.
Li Yuanba strictly followed my orders. Without waiting for the two sides to fully determine a victor, he suddenly drew two Desert Eagles from behind him and rushed towards Long Qie's drum.
Long Qie was indeed a master strategist of the underworld. Sensing the disturbance behind him, he immediately turned his head and saw it was a stable boy sneaking up with two peculiar objects in his hands. Long Qie's great spear swung back, and with two sharp clangs, it precisely struck the two Desert Eagles in Li Yuanba's hands, sending them flying.
Just as the Desert Eagles took flight, BANG!
A crisp sound exploded across the battlefield.
After deflecting Li Yuanba's dual pistols, Long Qie attempted to stab him again, but Li Yuanba dodged and leaped backward.
Long Qie turned his head, looked down at his soft armor beneath his ribs, which was smoking, and then looked bewilderedly at Dongfang Jibai opposite him. He saw her red-tasseled spear planted in the ground, and in her hand, she held the same strange contraption that Li Yuanba had, its muzzle also smoking.
"What kind of hidden weapon is this..." Long Qie exclaimed in surprise.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Dongfang Jibai fired her twin spears in rapid succession, releasing three bullets. One missed, but the other two struck Long Qie's chest again. One of them likely hit a nerve near Long Qie's arm, causing his great spear to clatter to the ground. Before it could fall, Li Yuanba charged forward along the ground, caught the spear, leaped into the air to a height of over three meters, and with an aerial reverse-spear technique, thrust the spearhead into Long Qie's chest cavity, following the wound Dongfang Jibai had created.
The entire battlefield, with hundreds of thousands of people, fell silent. Only the rustling sound of the falling snow being blown by the wind on the ground could be heard.
A few seconds later, the female commander reacted, shouting loudly, "Marshal Long!"
Immediately, she raised her arm, and hidden darts whizzed from her sleeve towards Dongfang Jibai, who was closer to her. However, Dongfang Jibai evaded them by sidestepping.
Li Yuanba flew over, intending to finish off the female commander, but Dongfang Jibai stopped him. "Yuanba, no need for slaughter. Let's go."
Li Yuanba returned and kicked Long Qie's corpse off his horse – a somewhat insulting act. Then, riding abreast with Dongfang Jibai, they returned to the city of Sanyin Hall.
The Sanyin Hall army, only then, seemed to snap out of their stupor and began to celebrate the princess's might, perhaps having disbelieved their own eyes moments before.
I did not celebrate. We had only dealt with Long Qie; the two hundred thousand troops outside the city remained untouched.
A troop of cavalry emerged and carried Long Qie's body back to their camp. The female commander disappeared into a large tent. The rebel army did not retreat and instead made camp. Snow had begun to fall, indicating a heavy snowfall was coming. They likely intended to wait for the snow to stop before attacking the city, or perhaps they were waiting for Haya Chaku's reinforcements.
Reinforcements must not be allowed to arrive. Those one hundred thousand troops were said to be very strong. If their numbers swelled to three hundred thousand, it was estimated that even if Bai Jingang joined the fray, they would be difficult to repel. Bai Jingang could only be used once, and that too for a surprise attack. Although Bai Jingang was massive and incredibly strong, he certainly couldn't withstand the rebel army's ballistae. Those weapons had a range of nearly five hundred meters, and their arrows were as thick as spearheads, capable of piercing through elephants and rhinos, let alone a gorilla with less formidable natural defenses.
No, I had to go and see. I needed to ascertain how far Haya Chaku's rebel forces were from here before I could make any plans.