Chapter 20: Strong Boy

"call out--"

There was another blast, and an Arapaho fell from his horse, a spear in his hand falling to the ground as he died.

Ma Shao then drove his horse forward, leaned over and picked up the spear.

If it was an Indian stone spear, he certainly would not be interested. Almost no one was willing to fight with a stone spear, as it was used to pierce fish.

But the spear head in front of him was made of metal, most likely steel, with a single-sided blade, long and sharp, or in other words, the spear head was essentially a bayonet.

The bayonet was apparently obtained from the white man and tied to a stick by the Arapaho to transform it into a spear. The steel spear still had some practical value on the battlefield.

Ma Shao looked around, searching for the next target.

But the result was nothing. The battle near the Sleeping Bear Clan was basically over. The Arapaho's offensive line was severely torn here, and the gap of defeat was spreading westward.

Upon seeing this, Ma Shao also turned west and, together with his tribesmen, attacked the remaining Arapaho people.

"Woo-hoo-woo-hoo--" the whistling sound resounded around again.

The Black Blade shuttled quickly in the night, and Ma Shao kept shooting arrows at its back. Almost every arrow hit the enemy, and few of them missed.

"Ah!" Suddenly a scream came from not far away. It sounded somewhat familiar, and startled him who was concentrating on hunting the enemy.

He quickly followed the sound and soon saw that Long Stick was struggling with an Arapaho on the ground. During the struggle, the Arapaho's stone axe hit Long Stick's shoulder, causing him to scream.

The long stick is in a very dangerous situation.

The strong enemy pinned him down, the stone axe pressing ever closer to his neck.

He tried his best to hold the opponent's hands to prevent the stone axe from hitting his neck, but the injury to his shoulder made his resistance even weaker.

The stone axe was already one centimeter away from his neck. If the Arapaho exerted a little more force, he would be able to cut his aorta, and the ruptured blood vessel would take his life in an instant.

A cruel smile appeared on the Arapaho's face, and Longstick seemed to have seen the scene of his own death in his pupils.

"Wow——"

Blood splattered, staining the long stick's face.

Changgun initially thought it was his own blood, but soon realized that it was not. He hastily wiped the hot blood from his eyes and then looked carefully.

It turned out to be a sharp metal spear that pierced the Arapaho's head through the temple!

"You..." Changgun turned around and saw Ma Shao holding a spear, and hesitated for a while, "You, what's your name?"

Ma Shao: "…"

"Oh, by the way, your name is Ma Shao." Changgun suddenly remembered, a trace of embarrassment flashed across his face, "Thank you for saving me."

"Where's your horse?" asked the horsewhistle casually, as he thrust a spear through the Arapaho's head and looked around.

"My horse is dead." Long Stick panted to calm his emotions and the pain from his wounds.

Ma Shao took a look at his injuries, bent his bow and aimed his arrow at a certain place in the night: "Go to the back and rest, this battle should be over soon."

Before he could finish his words, there was a "whoosh" sound, and an almost invisible enemy with a long stick was shot off his horse by a powerful arrow.

Then Ma Shao picked up his spear and charged at the nearest enemy. Immediately, under the huge impact, the sharp spear pierced through the enemy's back in one fell swoop, revealing its sharp edge in the blood blooming on his chest!

This is the power of the stirrup.

It is almost impossible for cavalry without stirrups to charge with a spear.

Only when equipped with stirrups can cavalry engage in high-intensity close combat and better utilize the power of the galloping warhorse without having to worry about being thrown off or knocked flying.

Soon, Ma Shao killed several more Arapaho.

Changgun stared at this invincible brave figure in a daze, almost forgetting that Ma Shao was just a thirteen-year-old boy who had just entered the battlefield...

Just as Ma Shao said, the battle was coming to an end and would be over soon.

The Arapaho's night raid was quite sophisticated and did catch the Apache off guard, but they obviously did not anticipate the existence of the Sleeping Bear Clan.

At least, they certainly did not expect the existence of such a ferocious Sleeping Bear Clan.

The Sleeping Bear Clan had only twenty warriors, but their actual fighting power far exceeded this number, so that they quickly tore through the Arapaho offensive like a sharp knife soon after the battle began.

The Arapaho were thus put in a disadvantageous position, and ended their attack in disgrace and defeat.

Most of the time, the Apaches were at a disadvantage in conflicts with the Arapaho, so many Apaches were quite excited when they saw the retreating Arapaho and took the opportunity to pursue them.

"Woo-hoo-hoo!"

The wilderness was still filled with screams, but they were only those of the Apaches. They were the cheers of the victors.

Many people went to chase the Arapaho, but Ma Shao, the undisputed MVP of this battle, just stayed in the camp, silently looking at the night in the north.

There was no joy of victory on his face.

Long Stick covered his injured shoulder, walked up to him and asked, "What's wrong? We won, but you don't look happy at all."

"This is indeed a victory, but it is also a failure." Ma Shao looked at the corpses scattered around the camp.

After this battle, the total population of the Indians decreased by another 100 or 200 people, and their disadvantage to the colonists increased slightly. In his view, this was certainly a failure.

But he didn't go on.

The Arapaho and Apache were now at war, and in the eyes of many Apaches the Arapaho were more hateful than the white man.

To talk about uniting the Arapaho at this time is sheer wishful thinking. Not only is it meaningless, it will also draw abuse from the tribe members.

"Actually, I understand what you mean." Long Stick's words surprised Ma Shao. "White people are the real enemy. We should put aside our hatred and unite, just like what the Black Panther advocated."

Ma Shao nodded, but then changed the subject: "It's not easy to let go of hatred."

"Indeed." Long Stick was silent for a moment, "What do you think we should do?"

"Only the victor can calmly let go of hatred." Ma Shao thought there was nothing to worry about. "Defeat the Arapaho first."

After hearing this, Changgun was lost in thought for a while, until he felt a pain in his shoulder, causing him to gasp: "Hiss..."

Ma Shao looked at his wound, thought for a moment and asked, "Do you have any wine?"

"liquor?"

"Yes, wine." Ma Shao added, "I mean strong liquor brewed by white people."