The night was as dark as ink, so thick that the halos of the torches on the beacon tower at the Yizhou border were swallowed up by the darkness, leaving only a few scattered spots.

Sentry Xu Sandan tucked his hands into his sleeves and stamped his feet back and forth. The whistling cold wind outside the beacon tower mixed with the howling of wolves reminded him of the sound of the corpses hanging on the old locust tree at the entrance of the village swaying in the wind when the southern barbarians invaded the year before.

"What a horrible weather! It's already spring and it's still so cold..."

He muttered and stretched out his hand, moving closer to the torch stuck on the wall of the beacon tower, hoping to get some warmth. His eyes inadvertently looked outside, and suddenly his movements froze.

In the dark forest, there were dots of red light moving around, like countless blood-red eyes blinking in the night.

Xu Sandan's throat tightened and he was unaware of the cold wind blowing on his face.

Then the red lights became denser and denser, gradually forming a winding fire snake, accompanied by a low and rich humming sound that pierced through the night. It was not the sound of the wind, but the unique bull horn of the southern barbarians.

At this moment, the life-threatening sound was becoming clearer as the fire snake approached.

"Barbarians! The barbarians are coming!" A roar broke the silence, and Xu Sandan staggered towards the beacon tower.

The crisp sound of the flint hitting the flint exploded in the darkness, and the first flame licked the resin-soaked woodpile, and the flames rose instantly.

The entire beacon tower was boiling at this moment, and one sentinel after another lit the beacon to convey information.

The moment the flames were lit on the beacon tower, the border town in the distance awakened like a sleeping beast.

"General, the southern barbarians are coming!"

In the barracks under the city wall, the personal soldiers broke open the door of Wang Hu's room and reported in a hurry.

Wang Hu was already dressed and said in a cold voice, "Why are you panicking? This is not the first time we've fought against the Nanman. Just respond according to your usual training."

As Wang Hu spoke, he walked out with his sword in hand. He quickly climbed up the city wall and saw fire in the distance approaching this side rapidly.

On the city walls, teams of border troops were in position, torches illuminated the surroundings, and all kinds of defensive supplies were ready.

Wang Hu looked at the border troops who were on high alert, then looked at the approaching southern barbarians, a sneer appeared on his face, and he thought these southern barbarians were really stupid.

Why blow the horn if we want to attack at night? Isn't it obvious that they should be on guard?

Of course, without the horn, the Nanman would not have been able to successfully launch a night attack. Such a large-scale operation could not be concealed from the sentries on the beacon tower.

What are these southern barbarians doing? They didn't attack us when there was famine, but now they come.

There were faint sounds of swords clashing and screams in the distance, and Wang Hu knew that it was the Nanman who sent out troops to attack the five beacon towers.

Fearing that the guards of the five beacon towers would not survive, Wang Hu tightly grasped the hilt of his knife, stared at the approaching flames, ready to fight at any time.

At the city gate, a team of border troops also gathered. Military Marquis Bian Xiang saw the fire outside through the gap in the city gate, and a hint of heat appeared in his eyes.

Here we come!

The Southern Barbarians have indeed arrived!

The time has come to make a contribution.

…

Three hundred steps away from the border town, Agulli stopped. The firelight reflected the indigo tattoo on his face. Looking at the defenders on the city wall who were ready for battle, a cold murderous intent flashed in Agulli's eyes.

They, the Southern Barbarians, had originally no intention of being enemies with the Jing Dynasty. After all, the other side was powerful and they were willing to submit. However, after the Jing Dynasty moved south, they increased taxes, which made them miserable and they rioted several times.

In order to sanction them and force them to surrender, the Jing Dynasty blocked trade, causing the quality of life of the Southern Barbarians to further decline. Not long ago, when Alimu went to trade with the Han people in exchange for some food, not only was the price driven down, the Han people also mixed sand into the food.

Moreover, they massacred people from one of their small tribes. Agulli was a warmonger and he could not tolerate this. I will hunt them tonight and make these Jing people pay for their blood debt with blood.

"attack!"

Agulli spat out a word indifferently, and suddenly the low and deep sound of the horn rang out again, and rows of southern barbarian warriors came forward. They were wearing rattan armor unique to the southern barbarian land. This kind of rattan armor was made of wild vines unique to the mountains. After being processed, it was soaked in tung oil for 49 days.

The rattan armor is light and hard. It can not only effectively defend against arrows, but is also difficult to penetrate even by swords and spears. When paired with a rattan armor shield, its overall protective performance exceeds that of the Jing Dynasty's second-level armor.

After all, the second level armor only protects the chest and back, and the sides and ribs are weak points.

At this moment, many soldiers in rattan armor rushed forward towards the city wall. They had been holding a grudge for a long time. Not only did they not trade with them, but they also attacked their tribe and even spared no three-year-old children.

Jingren must pay the price!

"shoot!"

Wang Hu looked at the rattan armor soldiers rushing towards him and spoke coldly.

Buzz——!

The air trembled, as if thousands of thunders roared simultaneously. It was the sound of countless strong bows being pulled to their full length and released. Countless arrows shot downwards like meteors.

The soldiers in rattan armor all raised their shields to block the arrows. Many arrows hit the shields and were either bounced off or penetrated into the shields. Even if they hit the bodies, they were protected by the rattan armor.

Wang Hu frowned when he saw this. The equipment of these barbarians was different from before. He had never seen such shields and armor before.

There was a proud look on Agulli's face. The method of making this rattan armor was discovered by his sister Aina from an ancient book. In the past, when they plundered the border, they were most afraid of the enemy's bows and arrows. Countless people were shot and killed by bows and arrows in their attempt to climb the wall.

Although they are good at making weapons, they are not good at making protective gear. They only wear leather armor, which is easily penetrated by arrows.

After making the rattan armor, he tested it and found that nothing could penetrate the rattan armor except a three-stone strong bow. And those who could pull the three-stone strong bow were rare.

It took the Nanman people two whole years to make 50,000 sets of rattan armor, and now they are finally put to use.

"Hit it hard for me!"

Seeing these southern barbarians carrying ladders and starting to climb, Wang Hu's voice was cold, and immediately rolling stones and battering rams were thrown downwards, and at the same time, kerosene was poured down. Almost instantly, flames started burning, and the southern barbarian warriors screamed. The rattan armor on their bodies was not afraid of swords and guns, nor arrows, but was afraid of fire.

Wang Hu's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw this. Using kerosene to defend the city was just a basic operation, but he didn't expect it to be so successful.

Looking at the barbarians below who were turned into fire men one by one, Wang Hu laughed loudly. Agili's face turned pale when he saw this scene.

At this moment, Wang Hu felt a pain in his waist, and his laughter stopped abruptly. With disbelief and horror in his eyes, he turned his head to look behind him.

His personal guard expressionlessly thrust a dagger into his waist.

"you……"

Wang Hu never thought that the personal soldiers who had followed him for many years would actually attack him.

The other soldiers were also stunned. After they realized what was happening, they rushed towards the soldier, but Wang Hu had already fallen in a pool of blood.

"Quick, take General Wang down to treat him."

A guard shouted.

At the same time, a dramatic change occurred at the city gate. Bian Xiang and his men attacked another military marquis and his subordinates without any warning. They quickly killed them all and then opened the city gate.