Chapter 49: A Journey of Speculation (11)
As soon as Zakar's words ended, there was an uproar on both sides. Horse fighting is an ancient tradition of the Gatu, almost as old as their nomadic history. In other words, when the Gatu people were still living in the barren steppes of the outer continent, the tribal leaders began to intrigue around the "three groups of ten". Several tactics were developed, practiced, and subsequently used or discarded with victory as the sole measure. Before the invasion of Pande, the most effective strategy had basically been finalized and circulated among the tribes - the tricks that could be played by three groups of ten people were actually quite limited, and they were nothing more than making a fuss about the number and order. The tribes generally adopt a three-three-four or two-three-five, with the strongest horse trainers and escorts at the end. There was no precedent for a single man like Zakar to come up, and such extreme arrangements as one-four-five or one-five-four were extremely unpopular within Cato. The first array completely lost its meaning, not to mention that no Cato wanted to be the "one" who was bound to die. The man couldn't believe it at first, but when he came out of the ranks, he suddenly understood: "Zakar, you are so bold!" Dare to bring outsiders in."
"What's wrong? This Husardzor is a good friend of mine, and Gatu has always welcomed friends to our traditions. Zakar crossed his arms and calmed, "Or are you going to read some ancient ordinance that I don't know yet?" ”
The man's face was gloomy, and he was not stupid. The title "Husard" says a lot about it, and the tribal leader never gives it to outsiders lightly. Since Zakar dared to send someone to take the lead, it showed that this person's ability must be extraordinary, and it was not even ruled out that he would single-handedly kill three times. But the matter has come to this point, and the man has no other way but to send people to play. He took a deep breath: "The first batch, we will come out-"
A hand suddenly pressed on the man's shoulder, and the five fingers covered by the hand armor exerted a slight force, and cut off the man's follow-up speech: "Rearrange, remove all your people, and I will designate the candidate to fight." ”
The man stiffened, he was standing upright on the horse's back before, and suddenly his attitude became condescending, and he was trying to suppress his rough voice as much as possible: "However, Lord Zhu Da has explained to me-"
"No, but with all the things you have, are you worthy of competing with Zakar? If there are casualties, I will naturally report to Lord Zhu Da, and it has nothing to do with you. Now get out of here. The person said coldly.
"Yes, it's up to you." The man rode his horse and ran back into the encirclement.
At the same time, Zakar is further supplementing the rules of the race with Estheus.
"Bows and arrows are not allowed, as there is a high chance that the arrows will accidentally injure the horses and bystanders. I've heard from the elders of the tribe that in the past, when bows and arrows were not banned, unlucky eggs were often shot, and then it turned from fighting horses to war. Zakar unsheathed his saber and handed it to Estheau, "There are no other restrictions on weapons, as long as they are guaranteed to be stabbed in the body of the person - oh, and the lasso, my friend should not rush out of the battle first, I will send someone to get it." ”
"No," said Estheu, "the other side will never be without it." ”
"Amazing!" Zakar gave a thumbs up, then looked impatiently at the other side: "What is Mother-in-law doing-huh?" He let out a confused nasal voice, "Someone else?" ”
Eshyus looked along Zakhar's line of sight, and it was no longer the rough man standing at the head of the encirclement, but instead of a Gato rider wearing a pointed helmet, draped in extremely heavy metal armor, and the horse under his crotch was even more powerful. He didn't shout out how many people he was out of the line, but raised his fist and raised his thumb first and then his index finger. As he lowered his arms, two Gato riders, also dressed in armor, rode out with spears in hand.
Zakar's expression became solemn: "It's actually all Zhu Da's personal guards, that old boy is really willing to pay for his blood." These two people are both escort riders, and it seems that they are here to try their friends' skills, not good stubble, so be careful. ”
Eshu nodded, and gently squeezed the horse's belly forward. The three horses slowly circled around the herd of wild horses, maintaining a relatively constant angle to each other, and their steps presented a subtle and tense interlude. Both sides were tempted to make a move and did not take action immediately. The red stallion looked at Eshy for a moment, then turned his head to look at the two Juda's guards. It sensed the strange confrontation between the three of them, snorted slightly excitedly, and suddenly trotted in the circle. The balance of movement was abruptly upset by it, and neither Eshu nor the two guards expected that the object of their scramble would intervene so aggressively, and with an arrogant attitude of taking the initiative.
Seeing that he was close, Esher grabbed the belly of the horse and rushed straight to the stallion. The two people on the opposite side reacted synchronously, without any process of communication, but the two horses began to spread out and parallel in tacit understanding, coming towards Eschu from both directions, separating him from the stallion. The spears in their hands had an absolute advantage in length in the face of the saber, and the tips of the two spears had already stabbed one left and one right from a distance.
Eshu drew his saber and swung it in a wild arc, knocking the two spears apart one after the other. He originally wanted to cut off the spear shaft one after another with one sword, but the angle and distance of the opponent's spear were very tricky, and the part other than the spearhead would move to the edge of the blade's reach, and if Eshu cut the first spear, it would definitely be too late to cut the second one again.
The blow didn't work, and the two men decisively turned their horses' heads to distance themselves. But Eshy's movements are faster! He didn't just swing a knife. After passive defense, now he has to return the color. The sword light that splashed out of the first sword arc didn't seem to dissipate in the air, and it was immediately filled with the second, fuller sword light, followed by the third, and fourth! Ai Xiu's knife arm brought a vague afterimage, and at the same time, he tugged at the reins slightly, instructing the horse under his crotch to take small steps, tossing and turning in a very small space, expanding the angle of the slash as much as possible. For a moment, he was surrounded by the sound of the fierce wind brought up by the saber. Even though the two guards had withdrawn early enough, they were still too late and slow in front of Estheu. One of them was chased by the sword light, and he could only barely use the spear in his hand to block. However, the swift blade retracted at the last moment, sliding along the shaft of the spear, deftly severing the guard's grip. Ai Xian wanted to make up for another knife and ended in the other party's life, and the wind in the back of the wind suddenly started. Another guard went and returned, raising his spear and stabbing at the back of Eshy's head!
Eshu didn't look at it, he still swung the fatal knife with his right hand, and at the same time, his left hand released the reins and quickly lifted it, accurately locking the tip of the spear in his palm when the spear was about to stab, and then pulled it with force, and the guard was directly pulled from the horse with the spear, and his body was still in mid-air when he was cut by Eshu's throat. The guard was still dead when he landed, and his body was still struggling to move, but Eshu ignored it, kicked the horse in the belly, and continued to charge towards the stallion.
"Good!" Zakar was the first to cheer, and behind him was the cries of excitement and tsunami from the Gato cavalry. How well they fought in the first battle had the most significant effect on morale, and there was no doubt that Estheu put on a spectacular slaughtering show that was rarely seen on the prairie. From being caught in the middle to killing the two in just a moment, the blade rises and falls vertically and horizontally, which is the ultimate interpretation of violence.
It's amazing! On the other side of the encirclement, the man wiped the sweat from his forehead. Estheus was far more powerful than he expected. Not even Juda's personal guards were his enemies. But at the front of the line, the rider in the covered helmet was applauding softly. The fiasco of the first battle and the death of two guards did not seem to affect him at all.
"Remarkable." The rider looked at Eshu, bowed slightly, raised his fist, and raised three fingers, "Second batch, out of the ranks; The third batch, ready! ”