Chapter Thirty-Four: Heavy Cavalry

  On the vast empty ground, five troops of cavalry quickly gathered, each soldier selecting two of the best war horses. With the help of other soldiers, these one thousand soldiers soon completed their armor and equipment.

  Looking at the heavily armed heavy cavalry, all the cavalrymen were radiating a shocking gaze. When Chen Kefu was equipped with the armor alone, he still felt unable to withstand the shock that came from his heart. But when a thousand elite Broken Army Camp cavalrymen were all equipped with the armor, it was a black tide. Especially when the thousand elites of the Broken Army Camp rode on war horses equipped with horse armor, they were like tigers and dragons. Except for the war horses' legs exposed outside the protective cover, the entire heavy cavalry had no weaknesses exposed on the outside.

  Especially when each knight is equipped with a horse spear, it gives people a kind of momentum that sweeps everything before it. In the Great Sui, the horse spear was a very precious weapon on horseback. The production of a good horse spear requires nearly a hundred processes and takes several years to complete. Its price is also astonishing, and for any young master who practices martial arts, the first choice of weapons is this horse spear. As for ordinary people's children who practice martial arts, they can't afford such precious weapons at all.

  So from ancient times to the present, looking at a general's weapon can sometimes reveal his background. For example, during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao, who was born into a noble family, used a ma piao (a type of spear), while Zhang Fei used a long lance that was eight feet long. As for large knives and long spears, those were even more beneath the dignity of aristocratic families. Only the ma piao was considered an orthodox weapon. Although it was expensive, it was worth the price. The handle of the ma piao was made from a combination of materials and had undergone special treatment, so that when swords or knives struck it, they would only leave a small white mark. Unlike long spears, which were made from ordinary wood, such weapons could easily be cut off if one wasn't careful, and naturally wouldn't be looked upon favorably by aristocratic families.

  Nowadays, every knight of the heavy cavalry is equipped with a lance, one thousand lances. It's like in later generations, you're in a small town and suddenly see a hundred Ferraris parked together, making every warrior envy those knights holding lances. The best warhorses, the best armor, the best weapons, the strongest warriors, that's what heavy cavalry is all about.

  "Sir, although the heavy cavalry is powerful, but now you want to rush twenty miles, and the Goguryeo people have 80,000 cavalry. I don't think that your thousand heavy cavalry without a large army escort can defeat the Goguryeo people. Sir, unless we launch a full-scale attack, equip three thousand heavy cavalry, and deploy ten thousand civilian infantry in a phalanx formation to fight the enemy, there may be a chance of winning." Li Benlei was still unable to understand Chen Kefu's plan to engage in a head-on battle despite knowing that this battle could not be avoided. Even if they had to fight, couldn't they use light cavalry to harass the enemy?

  Chen Kefu wore a precious soft armor inside his magnificent imperial armor, and on top of that, he added a black cloak. Although he still looked majestic and powerful, the weight of over 70 pounds from the two sets of armor made him feel somewhat heavy.

  Chen Kefu, sitting on the green horse, smiled and said, "General, you don't have to worry too much. I know that this thousand cavalry, even if equipped with armor, will not be a match for the 80,000 Goguryeo cavalry. I'm not naive enough to think that one thousand can defeat eight million. The reason I insisted on equipping them with armor is that I plan to have these thousand men charge directly into the enemy formation and then rush into the valley. It's too dangerous for Yuwen Huaji to lead a thousand men in defending the valley against 80,000 Goguryeo people, so I plan to charge into the valley and defend it together with them. Anyway, by tomorrow, the reinforcements from our Great Sui will arrive, so we won't be in any danger. If we don't equip these armor, I'm afraid my thousand men won't be able to break through the Goguryeo formation."

  As soon as Chen Kefu's words came out, from Li Benlei to the old master and other broken army leaders all breathed a sigh of relief. They were really worried that Chen Kefu would become arrogant for a while, and if he really thought that this thousand heavy cavalry could break through Goguryeo's 80,000 cavalry, it would be a disaster. If they just wanted to break through the enemy formation and rush into the valley to help Yuwen Huaji hold on until the arrival of reinforcements tomorrow, then this was indeed the best plan. With two thousand elite troops guarding a mountain pass for one night, it shouldn't be too difficult.

  "Sir, this matter of charging into the fray is for us officers to handle. It's not fitting for you, as the commander-in-chief, to be doing this. Sir, the main camp still needs your leadership, please stay behind and guard the camp."

  "No need to say more, such an important matter, let me give it to you, I don't feel at ease. Wait until later when you study hard and read some books on military tactics, I'll let you lead a troop by yourself. Now just honestly follow behind me, if you're called again, you can stay here to guard the camp, I'll let others go with me." Chen Kefu glared at him fiercely, such a crucial battle, he couldn't possibly entrust it to Li Benlei, an old man like that, as for entrusting it to others, he indeed still had some misgivings. This broken army camp was his entire capital in this chaotic world, every bit of capital he wanted to cherish very much.

  Turning his head to look at the old man with white hair, he said, "From now on, we won't have any problems. The most dangerous place is actually the main camp. What if the Goguryeo people divide their troops and attack the camp? With only 2,000 soldiers, you, sir, will be in the greatest danger. If it's impossible to defend, take your men and break through to Liaodong or Xin City. As long as we still have our military flag, I believe that sooner or later we will be the first army to attack Pyongyang."

  "Sir, you don't have to say anything more. Although there are only two thousand soldiers, I still have these tens of thousands of civilians. My people are in the camp, waiting for your return, General." The old man said firmly.

  The summer breeze blew through the forest, blowing into the camp, and Chen Kefu's thousand heavy cavalry flags were blown to make a rustling sound, fluttering in the wind. The large flag clearly showed a big "Chen" character. Behind it was an even larger flag with two large characters "Po Jun" embroidered on a black background.

  The southern gate of the main camp had already been cleared, and a wide path was opened up. The blocked gate was reopened, and two thousand soldiers from the broken military camp and many civilians gathered in front of the gate, silently gazing at this iron-clad cavalry. All the soldiers and civilians who looked at this cavalry felt a surge of passion and pride in their hearts. This is the iron-clad cavalry of the Great Sui, this is the invincible army of the Great Sui.

  Chen Kefu raised the spear that Yang Guang had given him high, and in order to make a secret night raid, Chen Kefu put on a black cloak over his silver armor. As I raised my spear, the black cloak fluttered in the wind, and a strand of red tassel on the helmet floated gently.

  "Glory belongs to the strong, let the heavy cavalry of Great Sui's iron hooves resound again in Liaodong, and make the barbarians of Goguryeo tremble on the ground! Glory belongs to us! The Broken Army Camp will surely win!"

  A thunderous shout rose like a mountain, "Glory to us, the Broken Army Camp must win!" The shouts of tens of thousands of people all carried a heroic confidence, an unstoppable momentum. A thousand Broken Army Camp iron-armored cavalrymen galloped forward, charging towards the 80,000-strong Goguryeo army twenty miles away.

  Twenty miles outside the valley, Yuwen Shide was furious as he looked at another general kneeling in front of him. He had not long ago defeated the army of Yuwen Shu and Yang Yichen who were advancing east to Pingyang after being repelled at the Duck River, and then followed them secretly all the way north. Originally, he wanted to sneak into the city of Liaodong and wait for the opportunity to mature before launching a surprise attack on the Sui Emperor's imperial camp outside the city with the garrison inside the city.

  However, just as he was leading the last 80,000 mobile cavalry of Goguryeo not far from Liaodong City, he received a message that made him extremely angry. The new city had fallen, and the 20,000-strong garrison had been completely wiped out. What made him even angrier was that King Gao Qi, who was defending the new city, had surrendered to Sui. Moreover, on this very day, three other cities near the new city had also fallen into the hands of the Sui army. This was the first major defeat for Goguryeo in decades. In the past, when Goguryeo fought against Sui, although they had suffered losses, they had never been defeated like this before, losing their city and troops while the enemy suffered only a hundred or so casualties.

  Fortunately, the scouts brought him good news later. The Sui army that broke into the new city now had only 3,000 soldiers and horses, escorting more than 10,000 Goguryeo prisoners and 600,000 to 700,000 civilians to Liaodong. Upon receiving this information, he immediately dispatched a vanguard of 3,000 men to rush over and have them investigate the enemy's situation first.

  What made him even angrier was that when he arrived with his large army, he happened to see a Sui army had annihilated his vanguard of three thousand men. Within a few days, he suffered consecutive defeats, and this time the enemy directly devoured his three thousand troops, which was something he could not tolerate at all. He decided on the spot to temporarily annihilate this Sui army first, and then wipe out that defeated army completely.

  The plan was not bad, but in the blink of an eye, almost a whole hour had passed. Outside the narrow valley, piles of Goguryeo soldiers' corpses were already stacked up, yet their army of over 700,000 was still blocked outside the valley.

  The fourth thousand-strong army that had retreated without success was already in front of him, and General Yue Wende glared at this defeated army. At present, his elite troops were all left in the Pyongyang area to defend against the Sui army's navy. Most of the people he brought this time were private soldiers of the nobles, although they also participated in the conquest of small nations such as Khitan and others in Liaodong many times, but compared with his direct subordinates, they were still far behind. It was okay to fight a winning battle, but once they encountered a tough opponent, the morale of these people would drop by more than half immediately, and they would lose all their will to fight.

  "Bring me that coward and have him beheaded. Order the next thousand to attack, I want them to take the valley within an hour. If they fail, he will serve as an example." Such a thousand-strong unit attacking one after another was indeed helpless, even with his army of over 700,000 men, only one thousand could fit at the entrance of the valley. Faced with this situation, he could only add oil to the fire, one thousand at a time. The best strategy would have been to send a detachment to guard the valley entrance while taking his main force to destroy Chen's large camp, but as the revered war god of Goguryeo, he couldn't bear the fact that 700,000 men couldn't break through a valley guarded by only a few hundred men.