novelAbuy Chapter 26 The Divine Arrow's First Display of Power
Chapter 26 The Divine Arrow's First Display of Power
Hundreds of corpses were piled up haphazardly, including women, children, and even infants, all in extremely gruesome condition.
Each civilian was stabbed multiple times, some even dozens of times, clearly indicating they were tortured to death.
Some women, disheveled and with their genitals in disarray, had been violated before their deaths.
The blood had not yet congealed, indicating that the person had only been dead for a short time.
"Damn murderers! They are unworthy of being my army, yet they have committed the massacre of the common people. I will not forgive them!" Liu Bang rode his horse beside the pile of corpses, witnessing the horrific scene, and gritted his teeth in fury.
"Is this the army you've brought forth?" Liu Ying glanced at Liu Bang, sneering, "They've burned, killed, looted, and committed every imaginable atrocity. How are they any different from bandits?"
"Ying'er, stop talking nonsense," Lü Ze scolded. "Defeated soldiers are unrestrained and capable of anything. It's no wonder they're not the King of Han's fault."
"Men, find them and bring them here. I'm going to kill them!" Liu Bang roared menacingly.
"Yes," Tian replied.
He had gained Liu Bang's trust and had become one of Liu Bang's confidants, leading troops to protect Liu Bang. However, because he was a survivor of the massacre, he hated these massacres the most and wanted to arrest people himself.
"Tian, take men and find them. Make sure not a single one is missing," Liu Bang said through gritted teeth.
"Yes, sir." Tian accepted the order.
"Wait a minute," Liu Ying stopped her.
"What do you want?" Liu Bang asked, displeased.
"In the Battle of Pengcheng, you lost 560,000 troops, and there must have been quite a few defeated soldiers who fled back." Liu Ying analyzed: "Among these defeated soldiers, there must have been quite a few who committed heinous crimes. Arresting a group of them like this will not help."
"Good!" Lü Ze nodded in agreement, then looked at Liu Ying and asked, "Ying'er, what do you think we should do?"
Liu Bang looked at Liu Ying without saying a word.
"I think we should mobilize all our cavalry, set out ahead, and conduct a thorough search. If we encounter any perpetrators, we should execute them on the spot," Liu Ying said, expressing his thoughts. "Furthermore, you need to rally your defeated troops and regroup. This is also an opportunity that we cannot miss."
"Excellent!" Liu Bang nodded emphatically, deeply agreeing.
Liu Bang currently only has a little over 11,000 troops in Dang Commandery, and he needs a large army to regroup. Gathering the defeated troops is of paramount importance.
Of course, not all of these defeated soldiers can be kept; they need to be screened, and those who have committed serious crimes should be executed in order to restore military discipline and allow the defeated soldiers to regain their fighting strength.
"Good!" Xiahou Ying agreed.
"Good!" Lü Ze echoed.
Liu Bang ordered all the cavalrymen in the army to assemble. Liu Ying was quite surprised when he saw this: "Is that all? How many cavalrymen are there?"
"A total of over two hundred and forty, all of them are here," Lu Ze said.
"Of the eleven thousand troops, only a pitiful two hundred and forty were cavalrymen, fewer than the cavalrymen Zhongli Mo chased after us." Liu Ying was utterly speechless.
Liu Bang shrugged and said, "We're short of horses, there's nothing we can do."
"Short of horses?" Liu Ying stabbed Liu Bang in the back: "Xiang Yu returned from Qi with 30,000 elite cavalry. That's just what Xiang Yu brought back from Qi. There must have been more cavalry in Qi, making a total of 40,000 to 50,000 cavalry. You're telling me you're short of horses and can't even muster a cavalry force?"
"You..." Liu Bang's eyes widened, furious.
Liu Ying once believed the claim that the Han Dynasty had a shortage of horses, and that officials could not ride in carriages to court but could only ride in oxen or horses. However, after witnessing Zhongli Mo leading hundreds of elite cavalry to pursue and kill Liu Bang, he began to have doubts about it.
After learning that Xiang Yu had defeated Liu Bang's 560,000-strong army with 30,000 cavalry in the Battle of Pengcheng, he no longer believed this claim.
It can only be said that Liu Bang had few horses, not that the Han Dynasty had few horses.
If the Han Dynasty truly had too few horses, as historical records state, how could Xiang Yu have had so many elite cavalrymen?
"Tian, lead them to find the defeated soldiers and bring them back to me," Liu Bang glared at Liu Ying and said to Tian.
"Yes, sir." Tian accepted the order.
"I'll handle this," Liu Ying said, stopping him.
"You're going?" Liu Bang was surprised.
Lu Ze shook his head.
Xiahou Ying agreed or disagreed.
"When it comes to riding and archery, who can compare to me?" Liu Ying said proudly.
"Excellent!" Liu Bang's eyes lit up.
If Liu Ying hadn't instructed him in archery, severely wounding Zhongli Mo and forcing back Xiang Yu's pursuers, he would have been captured alive. If Liu Ying had led this cavalry, they would certainly have achieved great things.
"Good!" Xiahou Ying agreed.
Although Lü Ze did not witness it firsthand, he had heard Xiahou Ying mention it and had no objection.
"Prince, how old are you? How dare you claim to be skilled in riding and archery?" Tian retorted, unconvinced.
"Excellent!"
"Excellent!"
More than two hundred cavalrymen echoed in unison.
They completely looked down on Liu Ying, who was only a child, thinking he was so good at riding and archery.
"You don't believe me? I'll show you what true archery skills are." Liu Ying knew very well that he had to demonstrate his extraordinary horsemanship and archery to subdue these cavalrymen; otherwise, they wouldn't listen to him.
"I'd like to see for myself," a cavalryman said with a smirk, completely looking down on Liu Ying.
"I'd like to see for myself too," another cavalryman said, equally disdainful.
Of the more than 240 cavalrymen, not a single one respected Liu Ying.
"What's your name?" Liu Ying asked the first cavalryman who had mocked him.
"I dare to inform the prince that my name is Li Bi." The cavalryman clasped his hands in a salute.
"And you?" Liu Ying asked, seeing his second cavalryman mocking him.
"I dare to inform the prince that my name is Luo Jia." The cavalryman clasped his hands in a salute.
"I'm too young to draw a strong bow, and I can't shoot very far. I can only shoot within an arrow's reach. You two go and find a spot within that range and mark it. I can hit it with one arrow," Liu Ying said to the two.
"One arrow's distance?" Li Bi's eyes widened as he looked Liu Ying up and down, completely incredulous: "Your Highness, please don't joke. Only a strong man can shoot that far."
"Good!" Luo Jia agreed.
In that era, due to limitations in bow-making technology, an adult could only shoot an arrow one arrow's distance, which was about sixty meters. Liu Ying was only seven years old and as thin as a stick; it was impossible for them to believe that Liu Ying could shoot an arrow one arrow's distance like an adult.
"Just do what I tell you to do." Liu Ying rolled her eyes.
"Since the prince insists, we won't stand on ceremony." Li Bi and Luo Jia exchanged a glance, their lips curling up in a mischievous smile.
Liu Ying waved his right hand, and the two men clasped their fists in a salute, exchanged a glance, and rode away. When they reached a point an arrow's length away, they tore off a small piece from a leaf as a marker.
Liu Ying was most skilled at archery and horsemanship, but he lacked a bow. So when he arrived in Xiayi, he ordered people to make him a short bow and matching arrows.
Seeing that the two had marked the spot, Liu Ying took off his short bow, drew an arrow from his quiver, nocked it on the string, gripped the string with his right hand, pointed the arrow upwards, pulled back, drew the bow to its full extent, and decisively released the string.
"Prince, are you still breastfeeding?"
"With a shortbow? Haha."
The cavalrymen saw this and laughed mockingly.
Liu Bang was rude to his subordinates, and similarly, his subordinates had little respect for him, thus daring to openly mock Liu Ying.
"It looks quite convincing." Li Bi saw this and chuckled inwardly.
"Why bother shooting from below? Does he know that shooting from below is much more difficult than shooting from the ground?" Luo Jia mocked.
The two men, who were laughing, suddenly saw an arrow fall from the sky, heading straight for the leaf they had marked, piercing it precisely like lightning.
"This..." Li Bi was dumbfounded.
"This..." Luo Jia was speechless.
"Haha, missed."
"Prince, is this your archery skill?"
"We've seen it all."
The cavalrymen, thinking they had missed, loudly mocked Liu Ying, their laughter echoing through the sky.
"Excellent archery!" Li Bi rode his horse to the leaf, stared at it with wide eyes, and saw that the leaf had been pierced right through.
"What excellent archery skills!" Luo Jia rode over at full speed, and upon seeing it, he exclaimed in admiration.
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"He couldn't possibly hit it!"
The cavalrymen heard it, but still didn't believe it.