Phi-Fic Chapter 506: Human Shura
Chapter 506: Human Shura
In Huai County, which has become a battlefield, a thrilling tug-of-war has lasted for three days and three nights.
The thick and pungent smell of blood, like an impenetrable net, heavily enveloped every inch of land in this small town, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Han Qi held the bronze shield tightly in his hand. The continuous attacks over the past few days had made his knuckles numb, as if he had lost consciousness. Only the faint tingling sensation reminded him of the cruelty of the battle.
On the shield, three wolf-tooth arrows were viciously embedded in the carved Yazi beast head. The arrows were trembling slightly, as if they were demonstrating to the enemy, or as if they were telling about the fierce battle they had just experienced.
He clung to the base of the blue brick wall, and every step he took was like walking on thin ice. The soles of his boots were stuck with what he couldn't tell was thick blood or mud that had melted and mixed in the raging war. It made a creepy "sizzling" sound, as if the earth was groaning in pain.
Behind him, he suddenly heard the uncontrollable retching sound of a recruit.
Following the sound, I saw that the gutters of the entire Huaixian Street were filled with swollen and deformed corpses. Their faces had long been blurred and they emitted a disgusting stench.
The cruelty of the Huns was appalling. They even poured poison into the well water, turning this once peaceful and tranquil town into a hell on earth.
"Raise your shields!" Like a sudden explosion of thunder in the ears, the veteran's hoarse shout instantly broke the suffocating and dull atmosphere.
In an instant, thirty wooden shields covered with cowhide quickly moved together like well-trained soldiers, forming an extremely solid tortoise shell formation.
Immediately afterwards, a dense rain of arrows, like a swarm of locusts, hit the shields with a "crackling" sound. The sound was like a torrential rain, pounding madly on the dilapidated eaves, making everyone's eardrums hurt, as if they would be torn apart by the huge noise at any time.
Han Qi looked through the gap in the shield and saw with eagle-like eyes that the Huns' cowhide boots were moving quickly on the roof.
Those barbarians from the grassland, like savage robbers, cruelly stripped off the tiles on the roofs of the houses, and then built a triple barricade at the street corner with thick beams.
They looked down from a high position, their eyes revealing ferocity and greed, and they tried to use these obstacles to trap Han Qi and the others here.
The hands of the new recruit Chen San were shaking violently like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, and fear and hatred were intertwined in his eyes.
He clearly remembered that just three days ago, when Huai County fell, the Huns used this kind of barbed wolf-tooth arrow to ruthlessly shoot through his brother's throat.
His brother's wide-open eyes and the gushing blood became a nightmare that could never be erased from his heart.
At this moment, the elm crossbow he was holding tightly in his hand still retained the hot residual heat from just being fired. Just now, the rocket he shot from the second floor of the tavern successfully ignited the Huns' sulfur trap.
Suddenly, the pungent smell of burnt flesh, mixed with the strange "fragrance" emitted by burning human flesh, rolled and spread wildly in the narrow alley, making people almost faint, as if they were in the flames of hell.
With a loud "bang", as if the sky was falling and the earth was splitting apart, the shield formation on the left wing suddenly collapsed without any warning.
Han Qi caught a glimpse of a cold light flashing like lightning from the corner of his eye. It turned out that the Hun scimitar soldiers rushed out from the breach in the cellar like ghosts. Their iron-studded boots carried a thousand pounds of force, and they crushed the collarbone of a new recruit directly like a sledgehammer.
The crisp sound of bones breaking was particularly harsh in the noisy and chaotic battlefield, as if it was the wail of a shattered life.
The veteran reacted extremely quickly, drawing his sword without hesitation. The wavy pattern on the back of the sword shone with a chilling bloody light in the blazing fire.
His body was as fast as lightning, and with a swift thrust, he pierced the attacker's leather armor with incredible precision.
The warm intestines flowed out instantly. The bloody and cruel scene finally made Chen San unable to bear it anymore. With a "wow", he vomited everything left in his stomach.
"Kerosene tank!" The flag officer on the watchtower shouted the warning at the top of his lungs, his voice filled with undisguised fear.
Immediately afterwards, six clay pots, trailing billowing black smoke, fell straight down from the three-story watchtower like meteorites.
Han Qi was quick-witted and quick-handed. He grabbed Chen San tightly and rolled him into the stone horse trough on the side of the road with all his strength.
In an instant, the exploding flames, like a devil's giant mouth, mercilessly engulfed the three heavily armored soldiers.
The seams of their armor were filled with butter, and now they were like lit torches, struggling and screaming in pain in the sea of fire.
The shrill cries sounded like a lament from hell. The wild laughter of the Huns echoed freely from behind the barricades, blending with the piercing, tooth-grinding sound of iron scraping against bluestone. It was a merciless mockery of life, a chilling feeling.
Chen San suddenly looked nervous and tightly grasped the old soldier's wrist guard, his voice trembling like a leaf in the cold wind: "Uncle Qi, listen!"
Amid the sharp whistling of arrows piercing the air and the miserable and desperate wails of the dying, the dull sound of wheels rolling over broken bricks could be faintly heard.
Han Qi's pupils suddenly shrank and he was horrified!
That was Bingzhou's earliest custom-made four-wheeled artillery carriage. It required eight sturdy and strong war horses to pull the Zhenyuan General Cannon, an oversized Tiger Barrel shotgun. Yet, they actually risked pushing it to the front line of this narrow and cramped street fighting.
This means that the next battle will be even more brutal and tragic.
"Those bastards are finished." The old soldier grinned with his bloody teeth, revealing a fierce and resolute smile. Suddenly, he stood up straight and used all his strength to smash the shield against the nearest window frame.
In an instant, wood chips flew and drifted in the air like snowflakes.
Thirty shirtless strongmen from the supply battalion, their faces flushed and veins bulging, were struggling to pull the artillery carriage with the winch.
The Taotie pattern carved on the barrel of the Tiger Jar cannon was now covered with brain matter and minced meat, appearing particularly hideous and terrifying, as if the Taotie was opening its bloody mouth to devour all life.
Chen San saw that the gun carriage's shield was densely packed with seventeen or eighteen arrows, and the hemp rope used to tow the carriage had long been soaked in blood and turned dark brown, as if silently telling of the cruelty and brutality of the battle.
The Huns' horns suddenly changed their tune, as if they sensed the approaching danger.
Twenty warriors in heavy armor pushed open the burning stakes like ferocious monsters. On the iron spikes of the maces in their hands hung half of someone's intestines, which swayed with their movements like flags of death.
The long sword in Han Qi's hand had already cut into countless gaps, as jagged as saw teeth.
Without hesitation, he snatched the enemy soldier's bone hammer and smashed the third enemy's head. The head exploded like a watermelon, and the brains splattered everywhere.
At this moment, he heard the gunner's bell-like roar drowning out the clamor of the entire battlefield: "Shotgun shells loaded!"
This roar was like a battle horn, inspiring the fighting spirit of every soldier.
The muzzle of the Tiger Barrel gun slowly lowered, and the baggage soldiers quickly and nervously mixed iron sand, broken plowshares and coffin nails into the silk medicine bags.
Chen San's eardrums seemed to be shattered and bleeding in this tense and depressing atmosphere.
He watched helplessly as the Xiongnu soldiers at the forefront suddenly stumbled, their bodies swaying like candles in the wind—it turned out to be the government army's hook-and-sickle spearmen who had descended like divine soldiers from the sky.
Leaping down from the eaves on both sides, sixteen sharp sickles stretched out at the same time like poisonous snakes, accurately hooking the enemy's shin armor.
The cold light of the sickle flashed with the breath of death in the sunlight.
"Release!" With this order, the whole world seemed to fall into a strange silence in an instant, and then there was a terrifying sound like thousands of crows flapping their wings frantically.
At this moment, the blue brick walls of the entire Huaixian Street bloomed into blood-red flowers.