Let's turn our attention back to the battlefield of Mengjin!
At this moment, Liu Wei, leading seventeen riders from Yanyun, charged down the hill at lightning speed.
Yuan Shao's private army, a hundred Wuhuan cavalrymen, led by Murong Ping, also left Yuan Shao's side and headed straight for Liu Wei.
"What! They're actually from another race!"
As the two drew closer, the faces of the hundred Wuhuan cavalrymen became clearer.
High cheekbones, deep-set eyes, a large nose, and a stubble beard—he looks like someone from another race.
This immediately excited Liu Wei and the Seventeen Riders of Yanyun.
The Wuhuan were originally part of the Donghu people. During the Western Han Dynasty, the Wuhuan established contact with the Han Dynasty and assisted the Han Dynasty in fighting against the Xiongnu on several occasions.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wuhuan became an important ally of the Eastern Han Dynasty, jointly resisting the invasion of the Xianbei.
However, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wuhuan were repeatedly conscripted to fight, which aroused dissatisfaction and eventually led to their participation in a rebellion.
Liu Yu asked Liu Wei to go to Youzhou to quell the rebellion, mainly the rebellion of Zhang Chun from Yuyang.
Two thousand Wuhuan cavalry were conscripted to Liangzhou to quell the rebellion of Beigong Boyu and Bian Zhang. However, the imperial court withheld military rations, and Zhang Chun took advantage of the Wuhuan people's discontent to rebel.
Later, when Yuan Shao took control of Ji Province and dominated Hebei, he maintained a long-term alliance with the Wuhuan people.
He died of illness after spitting blood after the Battle of Guandu. His eldest son, Yuan Tan, still maintained close ties with the Wuhuan people. It took Cao Cao several years to pacify Yuan Shao's three sons, and finally, he fought a great battle against the Wuhuan cavalry at Bailang Mountain.
Zhang Liao beheaded the Wuhuan king Tadun, thus becoming famous overnight and demonstrating his true colors as a great general.
Unexpectedly, at this time, Yuan Shao made contact with the Wuhuan people and recruited Wuhuan cavalry as mercenaries!
Although there were only a hundred people, they actually appeared around the capital of the Han Dynasty. Liu Wei decided that he would not let them go!
"Kill them all, leave no one alive!"
Liu Wei pointed his sword forward and upward, and the seventeen Yan Yun riders closely guarded his left and right sides, like a dark cloud, sweeping towards the Wuhuan cavalry.
"middle!"
Murong Ping, the legendary archer, would certainly not lead the charge.
He lay prone on his warhorse, hidden among the Wuhuan cavalry, already holding the eagle-shooting bow in his hand.
The bowstring of this archery bow is made from the sinew of a giant python from the Wuhuan Mountains.
Soak it in snake oil for forty-nine days, then take it out and expose it to the sun for sixty-four days, and finally freeze it in the snow and ice on the top of Wuhuan Mountain for eighty-one days!
In short, it's incredibly powerful and can shoot extremely far!
It should be comparable to Lü Bu's Dragon Tongue Bow and Huang Zhong's Ten Thousand Stone Bow.
Just as the two sides charged and were about a hundred paces apart, Murong Ping decisively struck, firing an arrow in Liu Wei's direction!
Meanwhile, the other Wuhuan cavalry had already taken out their bows and arrows and were shooting at the enemy.
The cavalry of the three captains of the Northern Camp might not be able to accurately shoot from horseback, so they endured the Imperial Guard's crossbowmen reaping lives from horseback.
But these Wuhuan cavalrymen were different. They grew up on horseback, and sometimes, for long-distance raids and battles, they ate, drank, relieved themselves, and even slept on horseback.
The man and the warhorse were almost inseparable.
Shooting on horseback is as easy as eating a meal.
One hundred arrows flew towards Liu Wei and the other eighteen people like locusts.
The seventeen riders of Yanyun observed carefully and immediately waved their black cloaks, which swirled above their heads, and the incoming arrows were swept away by the cloaks!
Good heavens, so the cloaks of the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun have such a use.
I thought those black cloaks were just for showing off!
After all, standing in the strong wind with a cape on, the look is quite cool and stylish.
With them using their cloaks to knock down the arrows, Liu Wei was quite at ease among them!
However, Liu Wei's eyes narrowed!
No, one of the arrows was sharp and cunning, silent yet filled with murderous intent.
The seventeen riders of Yanyun were completely unaware of the danger; only Liu Wei, after practicing the secret manual given to him by Yao Guangxiao, realized its power.
"They have sharpshooters!"
In a flash, Liu Wei shouted, and the horizontal sword in his hand, bearing the broken and unyielding stance, stood in the very center of his body.
No sooner said than done.
An arrow pierced through the gap between the cloaks waved by Yan Da and Yan Shisan beside Liu Wei, and shot at Liu Wei at an incredibly tricky angle.
Clang!
Liu Wei focused his mind and blocked with his sword!
The arrow rubbed against the horizontal blade, producing a metallic clang and sparks flying.
Even though Liu Wei's martial prowess had already reached the level of a first-rate low-ranking general at the time, it was still quite dangerous for him to withstand this arrow.
Even Liu Wei himself felt there was an element of gambling involved!
The arrow landed, and the sword in my hand was still buzzing. Upon closer inspection, I could see a white spot left on the blade!
It should be noted that this horizontal sword was made during the Tang Dynasty using the techniques of refining steel and local quenching, along with complex processes such as clay tempering and steel-cladding.
The steel-wrapping technology was invented after a deep study and understanding of steel.
The main method is to sandwich softer low-carbon steel into a V-shaped, hard high-carbon steel.
A sandwiched steel structure consists of two layers of low-carbon steel sandwiched between a piece of high-carbon steel.
Both techniques embody the fundamental principle of "using the best steel on the blade" in crafting superior swords, and also give the steel blades excellent toughness.
As a result, the Hengdao became one of the finest swords in the world at that time.
Furthermore, the material used for the horizontal blade is the world's finest steel—Damascus steel.
It is made of high-grade steel and through complex processes.
The process used for the Mo Dao (陌刀) is more complex.
Currently, the troops under Liu Wei's command that possess top-tier weaponry are the two thousand Xuanjia cavalry stationed in the Western Regions and the one thousand Modao battalion commanded by Li Siye stationed in Zhangye.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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