novelden Chapter 2141 The dispute begins
Chapter 2141 The dispute begins
Ashina paused, his gaze sweeping over the generals: "I know some of you are worried this is a trap."
"That's right, it's very likely a trap! But so what if it's a trap? As long as our swords are sharp enough and our horses are fierce enough, we can trample the trap into the ground!"
"Now, I command—"
Ashina Dao pointed to the southeast, where the firelight was: "The entire army will charge in a wedge formation, directly penetrating the junction between the Chu army and the Northern Army!"
"After rescuing General Bald Hun, there's no need to linger in battle. Retreat to Blackstone Fortress immediately! Understand?"
"understand!"
"Alright!" Ashina charged ahead, "Follow me and kill—!"
The 40,000 cavalrymen set off again, this time not at a steady pace during a long march, but with all their might.
The sound of horses' hooves escalated from thunder to a tsunami, and the earth groaned and trembled under their iron hooves.
Smoke and dust billowed into the sky, obscuring the stars and the moon.
Ashina charged ahead, the night wind cutting like a knife against his face, but his heart was filled with only a burning fighting spirit.
Fifty thousand enemy troops?
He had experienced battles with even greater disparities than this.
The Chu army? The Youzhou army? They were just a bunch of Central Plains people hiding behind the city walls.
In open field battles, the Scorpion Clan's iron cavalry is invincible!
The twenty-mile distance was rapidly shortened during the full-speed charge.
The firelight drew closer, and the outline of the battlefield became clear—on a small hill, the Black Wolf Guard's tattered flag fluttered stubbornly in the wind.
The hill was surrounded by layers of enemy troops, like an iron barrel. Further away, Chu Xuan's golden royal banner and Su Tingmei's black banner fluttered in the night wind.
"General, look!" Hulun suddenly pointed to the flank of the battlefield: "There! The junction of the Chu army and the Northern Army!"
Ashina squinted and looked. Sure enough, at the junction of the Chu army's golden line and the Northern Army's black line, the forces were noticeably weaker and the formation was somewhat loose.
This aligns with his judgment—the two armies are under different commanders, and their coordination is bound to have flaws.
"That's it!"
Ashina's blade flashed: "All troops, listen to my command! Wedge formation, target the junction of the enemy lines—break through it!"
Forty thousand iron cavalry, like a giant black arrow, used Ashina as the arrowhead, fiercely shot at the weakest point of the battlefield.
The distance rapidly closed: five li, three li, one li...
They could already see the astonished faces of the soldiers turning around, and hear the urgent bugle calls coming from the enemy ranks.
Ashina grinned, revealing his gleaming white teeth.
Yes, that's it! Be panicked, be in chaos, and I'll show you the power of the steppe cavalry!
Three hundred steps, two hundred steps, one hundred steps!
“Shoot!”
Suddenly, a series of orderly commands rang out from the Chu army ranks.
It wasn't panic or chaos, but rather a calm and well-prepared command.
The next instant, Ashina's pupils shrank.
The ground suddenly flipped up on both sides of what appeared to be a weak joint!
Instead of traps, rows of barricades were pulled up from the shallow soil, their tips pointing diagonally, forming a suddenly appearing thorny defensive line.
At the same time, the Chu army and the Northern Army on both sides changed their formation simultaneously—not to collapse, but to close in like two wings, actually trying to trap the charging cavalry in a pocket!
"We've fallen into their trap!" Hulun shouted hoarsely.
But the arrow has already left the bowstring; there's no turning back.
Forty thousand iron cavalrymen crashed into the meticulously laid death trap with overwhelming force.
On the distant hills, when the besieged bald man saw the banners of reinforcements, he felt no joy, only a desperate roar:
"Ashina—don't come any closer—!"
The roar was drowned out by the thunder of iron hooves.
As midnight drew to a close, in the darkest hour before dawn, 40,000 iron cavalrymen plunged headlong into the long-awaited trap.
The strategy of besieging the enemy stronghold and attacking reinforcements has officially begun.
When 40,000 iron cavalrymen crashed into the suddenly erected barricade like a black tidal wave, time seemed to slow down in Ashina's eyes.
He could see the dark reflection of the sharpened wooden stakes smeared on them, reflected in the eyes of the warhorses in the front rank—it was poison.
Once the barricades were visible, the subtle tremors in the arm muscles of the Northern Army crossbowmen as they calmly pulled the triggers.
You can see the Chu heavy infantry closing in on both sides, every detail of shields clashing against shields and spears protruding from the gaps.
trap.
A carefully prepared, patiently awaited, and fatally devastating trap.
"General! We're surrounded from both sides!" Hulun's roar exploded in my ears.
Ashina's mind raced in a flash.
Retreat? If 40,000 cavalry suddenly turn around while charging at full speed, they will only trample each other and their formation will collapse.
A forced charge? The barricades and crossbows would be enough to inflict heavy losses on the vanguard.
He has no choice.
"The whole army obeys the order——"
Ashina's voice ripped through the night sky, drowning out the thunder of iron hooves: "Warrior formation unchanged! Charge!"
"Charge them?" The lieutenants were horrified.
"Yes! Run them over!"
Ashina's eyes burned with a frenzied flame: "The barricades are just put up temporarily, the foundation is not solid! Fill them with horse carcasses! Use blood to wash them away!"
This is the most savage, cruel, and effective tactic on the grasslands—driving a path with one's life.
The first rank of cavalrymen crashed into the barricades.
The warhorse neighed mournfully, and the rider took flight.
The stake pierced the horse's belly and broke, but more warhorses followed suit.
Some cavalrymen threw lassos the moment they fell from their horses, entangled the barricades, and pulled with all their might; others simply jumped off their warhorses and charged at the barricades with their bare bodies, hacking wildly with swords and axes.
"Release the arrows!" A cold voice rang out from the Youzhou army formation.
Su Tingmei sat upright on her horse, her black robe fluttering in the night wind.
He lightly raised his feather fan, and three thousand crossbowmen behind him simultaneously pulled the trigger.
Arrows rained down like locusts, covering the charging cavalry vanguard.
Screams, horse neighs, and the sound of bones breaking mingled together.
But the Scorpion Clan's iron cavalry did not stop charging; instead, they became even more frenzied amidst the bloodshed.
They were truly using the corpses of their comrades to pave the way, truly using blood to lubricate the gears of progress.
"What a fine Ashina!"
Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes from the other side of the formation: "As expected of the second fiercest general of the Scorpion Clan."
"Unfortunately, fierce generals often die the fastest." Su Tingmei waved her feather fan again.
The second line of defense was raised—not barricades, but iron chains.
A thick iron chain, about the size of a bowl, sprang up from the ground, three feet off the ground, and stretched across the battlefield.
The charging warhorses' leg bones struck the iron chains, producing a series of crisp cracking sounds.
But Ashina had already foreseen this.
"Rope-cutting team! Charge!"
Three hundred specially prepared light cavalrymen split off from the formation, their saddles adorned with specially made thick-backed cleavers.
Ignoring the rain of arrows, they rushed towards the iron chain, their blades flashing.
Amidst the flying sparks, the iron chains snapped one by one.
The cost was that almost all three hundred riders were wiped out.
"Third team, prepare." Su Tingmei's voice remained calm, as if she were watching a game of chess.
This time, it was an oil jar falling from the sky. The earthenware jar was launched from the catapult, exploded among the cavalry, and the thick black oil splattered all over the men and horses.
The rocket then landed, and flames shot up with a "boom".
The inferno spread across the battlefield, devouring lives.
The warhorses bolted in terror, and the knights rolled and screamed in agony amidst the flames.
Ashina's warhorse was also set on fire.
He roared, leaped off his horse, charged forward on foot, and slashed with his long sword, splitting open a burning Youzhou crossbowman.