Chapter 420: Siege (3)

After the Navy on the two Boats steadied their vessels, they began their attack without hesitation, tying Bombs to Arrows and firing them with Giant Crossbows; they did not seek precision, only distance, for as long as the distance was sufficient to land them in a crowd, they could inflict enough damage.

Although Baoxi and his men reacted quickly enough, they still could not outrun the Arrows, and after several loud explosions in succession, a whole stretch of men lay on the ground.

Even Baoxi felt a burning pain in his shoulder, and his ears were ringing.

Fortunately, his Soldiers quickly helped him up and continued to run, stopping only when the attacks from Huaxia could no longer threaten them; Baoxi's hearing gradually recovered, but he still felt a buzzing, so he slapped his ears a few times in succession.

The Soldier beside him saw that the Tribal Chief's shoulder was bleeding, so he quickly and gently unfastened Baoxi's upper garment, removed that small object, and then hurriedly found water to rinse the wound.

Baoxi did not care about his wound at this moment; he had been injured many times over the years, so he could endure this bit of pain, and instead, he reached out to pick up the fragment that had been thrown on the ground.

The fragment was caked with blood and something like ash burned by fire, so he could not tell what it was, but the scent it carried made him feel very familiar.

He brought it to his nose and sniffed it carefully, but he still could not recall what it came from, though he felt he had smelled it before; at this time, the smoke from afar gradually drifted over, and the air carried more of this scent—it was not exactly foul, but it was not good either.

Baoxi was still carefully recalling what could have produced this, when a Soldier beside him asked in confusion: "Why does this smell a bit like Sulfur?"

Baoxi suddenly realized; no wonder he was so familiar with it—it was Sulfur. Now the smell matched the thing in his mind, but this also caused Baoxi to have even greater doubts: why would that Huaxia thing, which was like thunder, have the smell of Sulfur? Could it be made of Sulfur?

This thought of Baoxi's lingered in his mind; over the years, Huaxia had traded Sulfur with their Suiren Tribe intermittently, and each time the amount was particularly large, yet they in the Suiren Tribe only knew that Sulfur could be lit, and that it burned with a blue flame and smelled very bad.

Huaxia's previous explanation for the use of Sulfur was only that it could repel insects, and after they tested it and found it indeed had this effect, they believed it to be true; but now, thinking about it carefully, could repelling insects really require so much Sulfur? Could the population of Huaxia be larger than that of their Suiren Tribe?

If Huaxia was using Sulfur to make this kind of Weapon, then everything could be explained; however, their Suiren Tribe had not only traded Sulfur to Huaxia, but also many strange things that they themselves had no use for—could it be that Huaxia was using all those things to make these incomprehensible items?

Baoxi felt somewhat panicked; at this moment, he could no longer see what the situation was on the opposite bank or what the scene looked like, so he looked at the more than ten thousand men he had left and gave the order to retreat.

Upon hearing the order, everyone was astonished, but inwardly they were very happy, because if the Soldiers on the opposite bank could not take down Huaxia, they would be the next batch to go over, and they, too, would likely not succeed.

But their arrival this time seemed to have only losses and no gains; not only were they returning without success, but it could even be considered a panicked flight, yet since the Tribal Chief had spoken, they had neither the power nor the reason to object.

So, after hurriedly packing up their supplies, they left without looking back, returning along the path they had come.

Meanwhile, the Suiren Tribe troops who were attacking had been scattered after the frontal assault by the Huaxia Soldiers; the men on the ground were no match for the Huaxia Soldiers at all. They attacked with a Spear or an Axe, but even if they landed a hit, it caused no damage, whereas they, if touched by a Huaxia Weapon, would immediately lose their ability to fight.

Some Soldiers tried to discard their Weapons and squat on the ground, hoping to be spared, but the Huaxia Soldiers did not know what to do because they had not received orders on whether to kill those who surrendered; in the end, they thought about it and decided to kill them anyway, as it would be safe either way.

At this moment, Baifeng, who was watching the battle from the city wall, shouted loudly: "Do not kill the captives, just keep an eye on them!"

The Soldiers looked up, saw the King had given the order, and breathed a sigh of relief, directly sparing those who had surrendered.

The Soldiers who were still resisting saw that they would not die if they surrendered, so the moment a Knife was about to strike them, they threw away their Weapons, covered their heads with their hands, and squatted on the ground.

The Huaxia Soldiers were suddenly stunned; they were just about to strike when the enemy did this.

As everyone observed this situation, and given the vast disparity in their strength with no possibility of winning, they surrendered one after another, and the battlefield instantly fell silent.

When Baifeng looked again, Huangpin had already disappeared; he did not know when he had run off, but he definitely had not died, as the Huaxia Soldiers had not yet attacked that position.

Baifeng knew that person could not be left alive, so he hurriedly ordered Chi to take two teams and pursue them lightly, telling them to just have their teammates remove their armor on the spot.

After receiving the order, Chi hurriedly began to remove his armor, but just as he had finished halfway, he suddenly looked up and asked Baifeng: "King, what does 'that person' look like? I didn't see him!"

Baifeng hurriedly added: "He is the Leader of these people!"

Chi still felt he was unclear: "I really didn't see what that person looked like."

Baifeng let out an "Aiya" and had to shout to Chi: "Don't worry about what he looks like, just search both sides of this river! As long as it is a member of the Suiren Tribe, that is the person I want you to find!"

Only then did Chi nod repeatedly, and then he said to the Soldiers he had chosen: "Split into two groups, one group goes upstream, and I will take men to search downstream; as long as we find a living Suiren Tribe enemy, that will do."

Baifeng stopped worrying about Chi; at this moment, there were no living enemies left on the city wall, and although a portion of the enemies had climbed up, the Soldiers were now bloodthirsty and panting heavily.

The Suiren Tribe Soldiers who were climbing up were now also discouraged; there was no movement above, and those below were either dead or had surrendered, so there was no point in them hanging on any longer. Thus, after signaling to the Huaxia Soldiers aiming their Weapons at them below that they wished to surrender, they threw their Weapons and Shields directly to the ground and climbed down one by one.