Chapter 36: Seizing the General Before the Formation

  Thank you for the reward from Stinky Egg Guardian Brother, thank you!

  The long summer night had finally passed, and a fish belly white emerged from the eastern horizon. Although the sun had not yet risen, the entire morning was already visible. The Goguryeo cavalry, who had been fleeing everywhere after being hit by the Sui army's heavy armored cavalry, finally saw clearly this cavalry that was like a messenger from hell. After such a long impact, this unit still maintained its triangular arrowhead formation and its swift and fierce charging speed.

  The earth was still shaking, the horseshoes were still flying, at the forefront of the Sui army's charging formation, a high black war flag fluttered in the wind on this blood-filled clear morning. The two words "Broken Army" on the black military flag were crystal clear. As the flag fluttered, all the heavy cavalry maintained their formation perfectly, constantly breaking through and continuing to break through those Goguryeo cavalry.

  Chen Kefu remained at the forefront of the impact formation, and he clearly saw the Goguryeo people gathering to form an infantry phalanx on the nearby hillside. He saw that the enemy had already begun to abandon their horses and form a long spear array, and as he watched those Goguryeo cavalrymen who had just been impacted by the iron-clad cavalry scattering in all directions in disarray, he couldn't help but look at the Goguryeo commander with newfound respect.

  Yizhi Wende came up with a way to break through the heavy cavalry, and Chen Kefu couldn't see that once these long spear arrays were formed, their current thousand men would not be able to charge at this array. If they charged hard at that time, they would only get trapped in the long spear array, and in the end, their own ending might be to fight until the last man, bleeding out the last drop of blood.

  One spear swept a cavalryman off his horse, Chen Kefu pointed at the Goguryeo people gathering on the mountain slope below and shouted, "Glory belongs to us! Break through the formation of the Goguryeo people and make them unable to form an array!"

  Glory belongs to us!!!!!

  Once again, a loud shout rose like a mountain call, and all the heavy cavalry began to lower their bodies, tightly holding the war horses, taking down the crossbows from behind, and shooting a round of crossbow arrows at the Goguryeo people who were still running away in front of them. In the high-speed impact, they solved those scattered soldiers who blocked the way of the impact, and the soldiers who broke into the camp collected their crossbows, re-held their lances horizontally, and launched a charge against the Goguryeo people who were still hastily forming an array.

  On the battlefield, it is a very difficult thing to let tens of thousands of people form an array, especially for troops that have just been impacted and scattered. If it were an excellent general leading a group of elite soldiers, it would still be possible to complete in a short period of time. However, at this time, Uei no Erizō was leading a large army of tens of thousands of people who had completely lost their morale after being impacted, and the entire infantry phalanx had not yet been arranged, while the Sui army's heavy cavalry was getting closer and closer to them.

  If it were just the 10,000 elite troops of Yuwen Shu, that would be better. However, the Goguryeo nobles' private soldiers who had fled in all directions after being attacked also joined in, as if they had found a haven. As a result, although more and more people gathered on the hillside, their formation became increasingly disorganized. Yuwen Shu understood that before the Sui army arrived, they would not be able to form a proper battle array.

  "Who among you dares to lead a team of brave warriors to block the Sui army and win us some time to set up our formation?" Wen De asked the gathered generals around him. Every general present knew that someone had to go and block the Sui army to buy them time to set up their formation. However, most of these people were nobles who had already been shocked by the Sui army's earlier charge and were still pale-faced, where did they have the guts to take the initiative to fight again?

  Yi Wende cast a somewhat disappointed glance at those generals, and as soon as they saw Yi Wende's gaze, they all lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.

  Everyone finally had no choice but to shift their gaze to another person, that is, the great general Daejoyeong who stood beside Yeon Gaesomun. He was the first brave warrior of Goguryeo and also the bravest general under Yeon Gaesomun's command, known as the Tiger General. When he was young, he was a hunter, and once while hunting in the mountains, he encountered a fierce tiger, and in the end, he killed the tiger with his bare hands, becoming a famous warrior throughout Goguryeo. He was later recruited into Yeon Gaesomun's army, fighting many battles without ever suffering a defeat.

  Jin Dalai's face was also pale like everyone else, although he had once fought bravely against fierce tigers. However, in that short period of time, he felt that the Sui army cavalry were a hundred times more ferocious than the tigers he had killed before. He really didn't have the courage to go up against such a group of people. But now, when everyone's eyes were on him, especially when Yizhi Wende also looked at him with hopeful eyes, he stepped forward with a tragic heart and said, "General, I am willing to lead my troops to go and fight against the Sui army."

  Upon hearing this, all the Goguryeo generals let out a sigh of relief, finally not having to face that damned terrifying Sui army head-on. Eulji Mundeok also laughed heartily, "Indeed worthy of being the first brave warrior of Goguryeo, General Gang, I order you to lead 5,000 cavalrymen to meet the Sui army in battle. However, remember one thing, your mission is to delay the enemy for a little while until our main force sets up its formation, so there's no need to clash head-on with them. Just wait until we're ready, and I'll make sure these 1,000 detestable Sui soldiers are all buried here."

  Jindalai, riding on horseback, felt a sense of "the wind is blowing gently, the water is cold, the brave warrior has gone and will not return". Never mind, let's just consider it as a way to repay the great general's kindness. Jindalai raised his wolf-toothed club towards the sky, "Young men, the great general has promised that this time, each of you who goes into battle will be rewarded with 100 heads of cattle and sheep, 10 slaves, and 10,000 pieces of silver. If you cut off a single head of a Sui cavalryman, you will receive an additional reward of 100 heads of cattle and sheep, 10 slaves. Young men, wealth and glory are within your grasp, follow me to kill!"

  Under the heavy reward, there must be brave men. Goguryeo's trick is still effective. The Goguryeo cavalry, who were originally afraid to advance, now had a desperate desire to flee after hearing about such generous rewards. As long as they don't die this time, regardless of whether they kill the Sui cavalry or not, the reward will be enough for them to live a comfortable life for the rest of their lives.

  "Kill!" Under Gindaeryuk's leadership, five thousand Koguryo people once again desperately charged towards Chen and his men.

  The heavily armored cavalry of the Broken Army Camp charged forward without fear towards the approaching Goguryeo people, their goal was the valley ahead, with only one tactic: charge, charge and charge again until they broke through all the Goguryeo people in front of them. If they were to be entangled, a thousand brothers of the Broken Army Camp would fall here.

  The two cavalry forces clashed again, but unlike the previous surprise attack, this time the Goguryeo people were no longer panicked and instead began to engage in guerrilla warfare. When they missed a hit, they would often dodge first and then start attacking again. In order to counter the heavy armor of the Sui army, these Goguryeo people also started equipping themselves with many blunt weapons such as wolf-tooth clubs and large axes.

  The Pojun Camp was still advancing, but the knights were constantly falling under the wolf-toothed clubs and double-handed heavy axes of the Goguryeo people. Chen Kefu looked at his personal guards who had fallen down one after another, with sparks almost bursting out of their eyes. These were the bravest soldiers in the Pojun Camp, and as long as they stayed by his side for a while longer, they would be demoted to lower-level military officers, but now they were dying one by one here.

  Chen Kefu ignored the Goguryeo cavalry that retreated to both sides after one blow, and instead stared intently at the large Goguryeo army below the mountain slope in front of him, where they were still gathering and deploying, and had not yet completed their deployment.

  Geumdalae was indeed the first brave warrior of Goguryeo, and the soldiers of the broken army who died under his giant wolf-toothed club had already been several, basically all being smashed to death. No matter how thick the armor on their bodies was, they couldn't withstand the huge impact of the dozens of kilograms of wolf-toothed clubs hitting their heads. Even a number of Goguryeo warriors had begun to gather around Geumdalae, gradually holding back the advancing tide of the broken army.

  The wolf-toothed club in Kendarai's hand was now stained red, with some white brain matter still stuck to the nail heads. At this point, he had lost all fear, and what remained was only a kind of madness in war, swinging his wolf-toothed club wildly. Kendarai loudly shouted in his half-familiar Central Plains language, "Come on! I am Kendarai, the first brave warrior of Goguryeo, who dares to fight me?"

  In the chaotic battle, Kendarai's loud voice was particularly loud, and even those Goguryeo cavalrymen who were still afraid of heavy cavalry couldn't help but burst out laughing. The entire Goguryeo cavalry's morale rose significantly.

  Chen Kefu gritted his teeth, saying nothing, but his eyes were fixed intently on the arrogant man. With a slight touch of his legs, Qingtiao accelerated again, its four hooves pounding the ground as it charged straight at the Goguryeo cavalryman blocking their path, sending both horse and rider tumbling to the ground, where they were trampled by the heavy falling hooves.

  After the cavalry fell, Chen Kefu and Jindalai finally faced each other. Jindalai looked at another Sui army cavalry rushing in front of him, and said with disdain, "Another one coming to die, haha, let me send you to the west." After finishing speaking, he swung that huge wolf-toothed club, and it came crashing down. However, there was no expected scene of brains bursting out. He only felt a black shadow flashing by his side, and the Sui army knight had already flashed past his side.

  Two horses crossed, Chen Ke Fu held the horse spear level, he wanted to use this huge impact force to directly pierce his opponent. The two horses passed by, Jindalai missed a hit and quickly became alert, seeing the incoming horse spear, hastily made an iron plate bridge, leaning back and lying down on the horse, letting go of this fatal blow.

  Just as he thought he had dodged the fierce blow, Qingyu suddenly raised its head again and struck a fierce blow to the horse's flank of Jindalai's mount. Although Jindalai's mount was also an excellent warhorse, it was completely unarmored, and facing the sudden attack, it was instantly knocked off balance by the massive impact force, letting out a mournful whinny as it fell over, throwing its rider off before he could even dismount. The guards who had been protecting Chen Kefu rushed forward on horseback, trampling Jindalai into a pulp. Chen Kefu didn't even bother to look back at the guy again. For Chen Kefu, his goal was the gathering place of Goguryeo.

  To break through the enemy's camp and advance into the mountain valley, they had to constantly attack the enemy's main force, causing the Goguryeo people to disperse. The enemy had over 700,000 troops, even if they were just waiting to be killed, these 1,000 men wouldn't know when they could finish them off. They had to keep attacking, not allowing the Goguryeo people to regroup, until they completely shattered the enemy's morale, and only then would they have a chance to break through and charge directly into the mountain valley in the back.

  Brothers...