Chapter 1599: Punish No Matter How Far! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The Turkic golden eagles also had a ‘surveillance language’, with different calls carrying different meanings. This golden eagle’s cries were short and rapid, carrying a hint of panic. Something had clearly happened.
“What’s going on? Why is the golden eagle in such a bad state?”
“Where are the eagle trainers and the scouts on the ground? Why is there no trace of them even though the eagle has returned?”
The joyful and celebrating Turkic camp was suddenly surging with unease, and the crackling of the bonfires now sounded particularly loud.
Everyone instinctively felt that something was wrong, but their minds were still rejecting the idea.
Their camp had scouts patrolling around it night and day, extending as far as eighty li. It was impossible for there to really have been an incident.
Creee!
Just when everyone was still clinging to a small sliver of hope, a second sharp cry broke through the colds. It was even sharper and more resounding than the cry of a gyrfalcon.
Whoosh! A bird that was far smaller than a golden eagle flew out of the clouds, and then it slammed like a meteor into the golden eagle.
There was a plaintive screech as the golden eagle plunged like a stone, slamming to the earth with a bang. In the air, an explosion of feathers gently drifted to the ground.
Buzz!
For a moment, the camp was absolutely still, as if time had stopped, but then, boom! The camp exploded into an uproar. As for the Turkic captain, his eyes went wide and he shot to his feet, his body trembling like it had been struck by a lightning bolt.
“Enemy!”
A loud cry resounded in everyone’s ears, but it had not come from the camp. Seven to eight hundred meters away, a bloodstained Turkic horseman was frantically riding in the direction of the camp.
He was urgently shouting, but a moment later, phweee! There was a sharp whistle and then an arrow came from behind and pierced the Turkic soldier through. With energy to spare, the arrow continued into a banner within the camp.
Thumpthump!
First, the Turkic horseman slid from his horse like a punctured bag with a thud, and then the banner in the camp snapped in response.
“Stand ready! All soldiers, stand ready!”
A panicked cry cut across the camp like an arrow.
The Turks who had been celebrating and drinking just moments ago immediately panicked, even knocking over the bonfires in their haste. At this time, the large bowls they were using to drink wine fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
All the twelve thousand Turkic soldiers became vigilant, charging up to their posts in full armor, unease in their eyes.
In just a few moments, the camp had become a fortress. Turkic master archers stood on sentry towers, their bowstrings pulled and arrows nocked as they nervously surveyed their surroundings.
Rumble!
A few seconds later, the earth began to shudder.
“Look over there!” A Turkic sentry on a tower pointed, his voice frantic.
As everyone stared in shock, a black flood emerged on the horizon, approaching the camp with horrifying speed. And in the middle of that black tide, they could see a yellow war banner with the word ‘Tang’ emblazoned upon it flapping in the night wind.
“This is impossible!”
The Turkic captain and his soldiers were in disbelief at this Tang army that had appeared out of nowhere. Whether it was the Qixi Protectorate or Beiting Protectorate, they were surrounded by spies and scouts.
But so many spies and birds had failed to stop these Tang.
This Tang army was like a pack of ghosts, appearing with no warning whatsoever.
The air was tense in the Turkic camp, countless sword tips pointed at the Tang, but none of this could stop that horde of black-armored cavalry.
“Which one is Hulugan?”
A shout rumbled over the camp like a peal of thunder.
The entire Turkic camp was quiet. A moment later, that voice spoke again, repeating the same words in Turkic.
Before this Hulugan could speak, a voice arose from the southern part of the camp. “Who is it? Who dares to act so brazenly in front of my Turkic army?!”
The soldiers parted, allowing a stalwart Turkic general with a vicious temperament and a large saber at his waist to walk out.
“Which one is Hulugan!?”
The leader of the Tang force appeared to not hear, once more coldly and viciously repeating the demand.
“Impudent!”
Ashide was infuriated. As the leader of the vanguard of the Turkic Black Wolf Army, Ashide had fought countless times with An Sishun’s Beiting Protectorate army, and no army had ever dared to act so arrogantly before him. And Ashide could see that while the Tang force seemed impressive, it couldn’t consist of more than four hundred people.
He had twelve thousand soldiers under his command, thirty times their number. And yet this tiny force was acting so high and mighty!
Ashide gestured, and a moment later, two wolftooth arrows flew from the two sentry towers near him.
This was an elite force of the Black Wolf Army, so Ashide had many Turkic master archers under his command. These wolftooth arrows possessed immense might and speed, and when they were fired, they created sonic booms and left long white trails in the air. In the blink of an eye, they had reached the Tang commander.
Boom! Boom!
But before those two arrows could impact, two arrows were fired in response, and the four collided in the air and blew each other to pieces.
“Ah!”
The Turkic camp exploded with calls of alarm, everyone stunned by this sight. Even Ashide couldn’t help but widen his eyes in shock.
Each Turkic master archer had gone through special training, and they possessed extraordinary eyesight and strength. But to strike two arrows in the night at their tips was not a feat that these master archers could accomplish.
The opposing archer possessed an absurd mastery of archery.
Before Ashide could respond, thud! Thud! The two Turkic master archers who had fired the wolftooth arrows were themselves struck by an arrow each. The immense power in the arrows carried them off the sentry towers and down to the ground, by which time they were already lifeless corpses.
In the distant Tang force, two Tang horsemen put away their bows.
Ashide nastily scowled.
“Bastard!”
His fists popped as he clenched them. No one had ever dared to act so brazenly before him. These Tang had truly gotten too bold.
“The Turks on the other side, listen well. We are soldiers serving the Great Tang’s King of Foreign Lands. Soldiers in your ranks were responsible for exterminating a village of four hundred on the border of the Great Tang. His Highness knows of this matter and had sent us to punish them. Right now, I will give you two hours to hand over Hulugan and all the other Turks who took part in this incident.
“If we do not see them within two hours, all of you will endure the rage of the Tang Empire!”
After saying this, the Tang commander turned around and left with his black-armored cavalry, which maintained their orderly formation as they vanished into the night.
Whoosh!
The winds howled, causing the black wolf war banners to dance, but at this moment, the air in the camp was still and oppressive.
The rumor had turned into reality. The Great Tang’s new War God truly had dispatched soldiers to seek justice for the slain villagers. Even though they had taken so many precautions, all of them had been useless.
This force of four hundred had managed to reach their camp undetected to convey the message of their master.
At that moment, all of them felt a deep shock and fear.
“Milord!”
In the northern part of the camp, those Turkic horsemen who had massacred the villagers turned ghastly pale and looked toward Hulugan.
They had believed that they had done the deed without leaving any evidence, and they were confident that the ‘friendly relations’ between the two countries would keep the Great Tang from doing anything to them. But in such little time, the Great Tang had managed to send this elite force of soldiers.
And what frightened them even more was that King in the faraway capital of the Great Tang. For him to be able to follow the clues to their camp was impressive enough, but he even knew the name of Hulugan.
After a few rounds of questioning, the entire camp came to know the names of the soldiers in this squad of raiders.