Chapter 44: The Strange Army's History of Breaking Through the Siege

  Shi Jin turned his head and looked back, his heart sank again. Behind him, more than a hundred cavalrymen were rushing over, not just to cover up the defeat of the Huayin County government army, but simply to kill anyone they saw, beheading whoever they met. With only his own two legs, how could he escape?

  Shi Jin saw the deputy general charging in front of him, and with a swift stroke of his halberd, it came crashing down towards his face. At this critical moment, Shi Jin dared not be careless, and hastily drew back his spear to parry, using the move "Divine Dragon Turns Its Head" just in time, barely managing to block the halberd. Taking advantage of Shi Jin's slight retreat, the deputy general charged forward on horseback, already galloping over ten zhang away.

  Shi Jin narrowly escaped, but the killing move of the cavalry behind him was also approaching his front. Shi Jin's hand grasping the long gun tightened, and his eyes stared intently at the cavalry rushing towards him. Shi Jin waited for an opportunity, swung the long gun in front of him with all his might, and with two neighs, the two horses that rushed to Shi Jin's side immediately lost their forelegs. The two riders on horseback, who were about to stab Shi Jin with their guns, also lost their balance and fell off.

  Before Shi Jing could catch his breath, the following cavalry rushed up close, each holding a long spear from top to bottom, looking at Shi Jing to split. Shi Jing saw it in his eyes, and the long spear came alive in his hand, like a long snake coming out of a cave. Before the spear even split, Shi Jing seized the opportunity and poked the man's heart with one spear. The spear pierced through armor and flesh, all at once. Immediately afterwards, Shi Jing's two hands were inserted, and he lifted the man up hard and threw him forward.

  It was too late, the cavalry's spears were already approaching, and it was only because everything came too suddenly that they didn't think that Shi Jing could still spear someone in such a fast impact. They galloped at high speed, wherever they went, where could they stop their feet, even the long gun couldn't block, the cavalry's body had already crashed into them horizontally.

  The sound of several horses falling to the ground, mixed with the cries of pain from the soldiers. Shi Jin knocked down several of them in front, and as the horses galloped past him, he quickly jumped up and grabbed onto one of them. Shi Jin had originally planned to use this opportunity to get away on horseback, but unexpectedly, the military horses were too tall, and his jump wasn't enough to mount it.

  Shi Jin was good at being quick and nimble, and with one hand he grabbed the horse's saddle, his foot about to step on the stirrup. But unexpectedly, this horse ran extremely fast, and at this moment it jumped to avoid a small pile of corpses on the road ahead. The hind legs exerted force, and Shi Jin was tossed around, one foot stepping on empty air, and he was dragged along the ground with one hand tightly grasping the saddle.

  Shi Jin's feet touched the ground, and he was suddenly scorched with pain. Shi Jin didn't care about the long gun anymore, and without thinking, he directly threw it away, freeing his hands to grab onto something to pull himself up onto the horse.

  But with half his body hanging like this, his own arms couldn't stretch up even an inch. Fortunately, after a massacre on this street, corpses were scattered all over the ground, and Shi Jing's legs kicked against the bodies, so he wasn't too restricted.

  The war horse had Shi Jin hanging on its right side, perhaps feeling uncomfortable, wanting to shake him off, and galloping wildly. Shi Jin was dragged by the saddle and tilted to the side of the war horse, with more than half his body rubbing against the ground. The war horse galloped wildly to the right, dragging Shi Jin along, who was also battered and bruised all over his legs.

  But Shi Jin didn't dare to let go, the cavalry behind him was coming too fiercely. He could deal with the few in front of him, but if he continued to play it cool, he would really be "cooled" to death. At this moment, although being dragged by this beast, it was a bit unbearable, but at least he could save his life, and as soon as he rushed out of the battlefield, he could escape safely.

  At this moment, Li Desheng's cavalry vanguard regiment also slowed down after rushing through more than half of the street. The Huayin County government army, which had been split open several times in the middle, saw that the arrogant cavalry was now at its last gasp, and seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack. Without the command of the county lieutenant and the battalion commander, hundreds of people were already killed in a hurry, and they didn't care about tactics or formation, throwing their heads and shedding hot blood, all going out with abandon.

  Li De-sheng's cavalry vanguard had also fought on the battlefield several times, but they had never seen such a desperate way of fighting. Looking at those men who were either holding wooden knives or long spears and wearing official army uniforms, each one was killing with red eyes. Li De-sheng became cautious and led his troops to turn their horses around again and launch another charge.

  But the officials and soldiers of Huayin County saw through his intentions. As the saying goes, "a dog relies on its master's power", and these cavalrymen relied on their horses' strength; without their horses, they were nothing to be feared. So the officials and soldiers of Huayin County did not tolerate them turning back, each holding a long spear and beckoning to the cavalry from afar. One spear thrust killed or knocked someone off their horse, while those wielding wooden swords struck even faster, advancing on the fallen with a single knife; such was the seamless coordination.

  They were fighting here, but Shi Jin was chased by the beast all the way to the right and ran to the edge of the battlefield. At this moment, Shi Jin's legs had been numb from the collision, and it would be a problem if he could stand up in a while.

  Just as the war horse broke out of the encirclement, one of the soldiers fighting on the periphery caught sight of Shi Jing. This acknowledged "troublemaker", who was now being dragged to the ground by his horse, immediately attracted the attention of five or six soldiers. With a shout, they rushed after the horse, chasing it down.

  That war horse rushed out of the periphery, all the way dragging Shi Jin into another connected street. The officers and soldiers saw that Shi Jin was being dragged in this manner and knew he couldn't escape, even if he did run, he would probably be dragged to death on these bluestone slabs. Therefore, these people held onto the idea of "killing him while he's still alive, and dissecting his corpse after he's dead", and chased after him from a distance without stopping.

  Shi Jin strained every nerve to straighten his legs with the force in his hands, but after a while, his wrists and arms began to ache. Despite this, he still couldn't avoid grinding against the stone slab. Shi Jin stiffened like this, looking at the pursuing soldiers behind him, and his heart was terrified. If this had happened earlier, it would have been easy to take care of them with one slash of his knife. But now, after being tormented by these four-legged beasts all along, his legs were numb, and from his right fingertips to his shoulders, everything ached. Now he could barely hold on, and if he couldn't hold on for another moment, he would fall off. At that time, his limbs would be unable to move, and those following bastards would chop him into minced meat.

  Shi Jin's mind was now as twisted as a tangled rope, and he didn't know whether to hope the horse would run faster and shake off the pursuing soldiers behind him or slower so that his battered body could feel better. In short, it was all self-inflicted suffering!