Chapter 2: The Stormy Weather of Yan and Zhao Section 4

  The weeds on both banks of the river have basically withered, and occasionally you can still see a small patch of light green, with a few light red dots scattered among them. The river is very wide, and the water flow is not urgent, but the wind has some chill, blowing on the sweaty body is very uncomfortable. The sound of the flowing water is soft, as if it's afraid to wake up the tranquility of this wilderness.

  The soldiers sat quietly on their horses, each looking very calm. As for the impending slaughter, as for the approaching death god, they seemed to be unaware of it, calm and composed, as if they were one with the heavens and the earth itself.

  Li Hong and Xiao Dao stood by the river, gazing at the pursuing soldiers who were gradually closing in from a distance.

  "Hei Zi, you are the best soldier I have ever seen." Xiao Dao said suddenly.

  Li Hong smiled, "Thanks. What's your plan for this battle?"

  "It's over." In Xiao Dao's mind, the 20 men charged forward to fight it out. How much time they could hold on was how much time they would get. Li Hong stopped him.

  Li Hong asked him: "What's wrong, do you want all twenty of us to be trampled into minced meat by the enemy's iron cavalry?"

  The little knife said helplessly: "Don't you have any way to save everyone?"

  Li Hong smiled, "Of course there is. But you have to listen to me once."

  "As long as it can save everyone's life, you can take mine too." Xiaodao said excitedly.

  Li Hong directed everyone to ride their horses to the riverbank.

  "Look, from the grassland to this riverbank, there is a clear slope of about one person's height within fifty paces. Don't underestimate this slight slope. Fifty paces can cause the enemy's horses to quickly lose speed and be unable to charge at us. And behind us is the Wet Water River. If they launch a forceful attack and don't have direct contact with us, in the situation where their horse speed is extremely fast, they will inevitably rush into the river. Unable to let their warhorses reach top speed, and possibly falling into the river, the enemy will definitely be unwilling to adopt a strong offensive."

  "We can't rely on cavalry to break through, so we have no choice but to adopt a positional attack. We're outnumbered, and naturally we still can't beat them. But we can think of ways to turn the enemy's numerical superiority into a disadvantage."

  The sound of horseshoes from the pursuing soldiers in the distance was like thunder, coming fiercely. Xiao Dao hurriedly cried out: "Hei Zi, quickly say what to do, the enemy is upon us."

  Li Hong glanced over unintentionally and continued to say to the soldiers surrounding him, "Everyone turn your backs to the river, divide the eighteen horses into pairs, form a semicircle, and set up a horseshoe formation. The thickness and radius of this horseshoe formation are just enough for us twenty people to defend. The enemy attacks, we defend, let's see who wins or loses."

  Li Hong glanced at everyone and smiled: "Understood?"

  The soldiers probably saw a glimmer of hope for survival, or drew strength from Li Hong's confident smile. They suddenly regained their spirits and shouted in unison: "Understood!"

  Everyone immediately followed Li Hong's request, tied the war horses together on the river embankment, and formed a solid fortress. Due to Li Hong's detailed explanation, the soldiers knew the strengths and weaknesses of both sides, so they were all confident, one by one spirited and vigorous, like living dragons and tigers.

  Li Hong continued to say to Xiao Dao: "As long as we hold on until tomorrow, we will be victorious."

  The little knife admired him extremely and asked in surprise: "Why?"

  "Tomorrow, their troops will set out from Honghuagou and officially launch the military operation to attack Lulong Pass. By then, we will no longer be important. If they haven't killed us by tomorrow, they will withdraw and follow the main army."

  "How can you be so sure they'll launch an attack tomorrow?"

  "Intuition." Li Hong said calmly.

  "What are you blindly guessing?"

  Li Hong looked at his anxious face and couldn't help but laugh. "I won't deceive you by reporting false military information. Of course, I will analyze the situation comprehensively."

  The little knife kicked him hard and scolded: "You scared me to death."

  The enemy's bugle sounded clearly in the ears of the two men. The enemy had finally caught up with them.

  The iron cavalry of the Wu army suddenly stopped about a hundred paces away. Their centurion also saw that the defensive formation set up by the Han people with their backs against the wet water was fundamentally impossible to charge with iron cavalry. However, they couldn't accept giving up the advantage of their cavalry and going into close combat with the enemy. Moreover, before approaching that strange formation, their own troops would certainly suffer heavy casualties on a slope nearly fifty paces away.

  The Wū Mǎn people hesitated on the grassland a hundred steps away. The soldiers in the cavalry formation slowly recovered from their initial tension, and they began to whisper to each other.

  Li Hong sat on the river embankment, observing the other party's movements from under the horse's belly.

  The Wū Mǎn people began to redeploy their troops. Before long, they started advancing steadily amidst the sound of cowhide horns.

  "Brothers, the Wuhuan are going to attack. Everyone get ready with bows and arrows. Remember, two people per group, one group is responsible for one person, absolutely do not let them break through the horse hoof formation."

  The soldiers were busy for a moment and then each found their own shooting position.

  The Wumeng people advanced at an extremely fast pace, and in the blink of an eye, there were only eighty steps left. Xiao Dao urged, "Heizi, shoot!" Li Hong shook his head, "We have few weapons, we must use them sparingly. Wait until they get a bit closer."

  The Wū Mǎn people have begun launching long arrows. The Xiao Dao hastened, shouting loudly: "If we don't counterattack, we'll be shot to look like hedgehogs."

  Li Hong shook his head firmly, "Everyone be careful, if not, hide under the horse's belly. Quick, quick." After finishing speaking, he himself crawled over first. The soldiers' movements were faster than rabbits, in a flash of an eye, they all hid under the horse's belly.

  Long arrows whizzed in, making a strange and frightening cry, and arrived in an instant. Only the sound of "puff puff" was heard as the arrow cluster pierced into the war horse's body continuously. The war horses let out painful neighs one after another, becoming restless, some struggling to escape. However, the reins were all tied together, tightly grasped by the soldiers, and they couldn't run away even if they wanted to. The grassy riverbank was immediately filled with the enemy's long arrows.

  The Wū Mǎn people immediately launched a second round. Due to the proximity of both sides, the power of this round was greatly discounted, and many arrows were shot into the river.

  Li Hong was the first to shout out, "It's our turn now. Everyone fire horizontally, regardless of whether it's a person or a horse, shoot them all down."

  Twenty men stood in different corners, drawing their bows and nocking arrows. The Wuhuan cavalry urged on their horses, wanting to get closer to the enemy's horse array as soon as possible, so that the long arrows of the enemy would also lose their effective shooting distance. The Wuhuan people also wanted to shoot, but facing the tall war horses, even if they shot out arrows, they were just nailed to the war horses. Can't a hundred men deal with such a small number of people? No one thought it was impossible.

  In everyone's expectation, Li Hong finally shouted: "Shoot..."

  Within a distance of forty or fifty paces, the long arrows flew and it was all over in the blink of an eye. The Wuhuan cavalry were unstoppable, and immediately a large number fell from their horses. Several more horses were hit by arrows, and as they galloped forward in pain, they were shot down by even more arrows, and the riders on them naturally became living targets.

  More Wu army cavalrymen shouted and kicked their horses' bellies, continuing to charge up the slope.

  Li Hong shot out his tenth arrow. He saw that the Ulan soldier who was hit by the arrow was only ten zhang away from him, and the soldier's beard on his face was much less than usual, probably just a young man. One hand grasped the long arrow that pierced his chest, and one hand waved desperately in the air, as if to grab a lifesaving straw. His body stretched out on the back of the galloping horse, then leaped into the air and fell heavily to the ground.

  "Inner circle war horses lie down..." Li Hong turned his head and shouted loudly. Several soldiers standing beside the horse hurriedly held onto the reins, patting the horse's back with all their might. The warhorse obediently lay down. The enemy would soon be approaching, if they didn't block the space under the warhorses' bellies, the enemy's chances of launching a surprise attack would greatly increase.

  Li Hong saw the soldiers who had died in battle. Three men with multiple arrows in them lay on the open ground in the middle. Although they were shielded by war horses, brothers still sacrificed.

  The Wū Mǎn cavalry finally charged to the outer ring of the horseshoe formation after losing more than thirty soldiers.

  The Wuhuan people were at a loss. They were like having eaten a piece of beef bone. Although the delicious marrow was inside the bone, they needed to use something to crack the bone and suck out the marrow. Now the Wuhuan people didn't have sharp tools. They surrounded the enemy's formation on horseback, riding back and forth. Both sides occasionally shot arrows at each other, but there was no longer any threat.

  The Wuhuan people hesitated for a very short period of time, and then launched a fierce attack on the Ma Tuo array. They adopted a human sea tactic, with ten men in each team, quickly approaching the enemy formation, and then jumping from the war horse into the Ma Tuo array, engaging in close combat with the Han army soldiers.

  Li Hong had no choice. At this time, it was all about courage and perseverance, whoever could hold on to the end would be the winner. Li Hong shouted out: "Brothers, kill them."

  Xiao Dao shouted loudly on the left side of the formation: "Kill, kill them." A fierce hand-to-hand combat began.

  The Wuhuan people jumped down from the high air to attack, and they had to pay a great price. On the side of the Han army, it was just beginning with two or three people attacking one, several knives slashing from different angles, and no one could resist. Li Hong was the most ferocious, standing alone, and the Wuhuan people who jumped into his defensive area were all killed cleanly in mid-air, without even making a sound.

  The Wuhuan people did not retreat, still advancing in succession, continuing to approach the formation, continuing to jump inside, with more and more people jumping, becoming denser. The people inside the horse array also became more and more numerous. Seventy or eighty people, seventy or eighty horses, were all crowded on this narrow river embankment, tightly entwined together. Outside the formation, there were still a few Wuhuan people who simply stood on horseback, occasionally shooting a few cold arrows to suddenly attack the Han army soldiers inside the formation.

  The battle was extremely fierce. Li Hong had already been squeezed out of the area he was defending by the Wuhuan soldiers. If there were a few more Wuhuan people, they could push open the gap in the horse hoof formation and let the waiting Wuhuan people rush in. Li Hong was anxious, abandoned his defense, and launched a fierce attack, no longer caring about his own life or death, like a ferocious tiger, he charged directly into the midst of the Wuhuan people, and with one knife, struck down the big man who held the reins with both hands from behind.

  The dagger let out a loud roar, exerting great force to stab the enemy's chest, but immediately felt a sharp pain in his back. Then he saw a bloody battle knife bursting out of his chest. The dagger smiled helplessly. Da Tou was furious, and with a torn heart, he shouted: "Dagger..." He no longer cared about the battle knife that had stabbed him, and the long sword in his hand directly pierced the enemy's armpit. At the same time, the enemy's knife chopped into Da Tou's chest, making a dull cracking sound. Meanwhile, Zheng Xin's sword almost simultaneously cut off the enemy's head, with blood splashing everywhere and a mournful cry ringing out.

  Wu Ba saw his comrades fall one by one, anger made him lose his mind, and his eyes turned red. The long sword in his hand had no moves left, he grasped the hilt with both hands, just chopping, chopping. Two knives chopped on his back, but he didn't feel anything, and he inserted his long sword into the enemy's chest. An arrow shot towards him, piercing straight through his heart. Wu Ba fell down, along with the enemies he had killed.

  Li Hong chopped down the enemy rushing towards him with one knife. He felt that he couldn't hold on much longer. The ferocity of the Wuhuan people had exceeded his imagination. They charged forward without regard for their lives, regardless of how many casualties they suffered. In this small formation, there were already countless corpses, so dense that there was no room to insert a foot. Some were even piled up in heaps of several bodies. Li Hong saw that Xiao Dao was dead, and the other three Wu Chang had also died, leaving only four soldiers still fighting back. Outside the formation, more than twenty enemies were preparing for their final charge.

  Just then Li Hong heard the sound of horseshoes, dense horseshoes. Then it was the cheers of the Wuman people. The enemy's reinforcements had arrived.

  Li Hong was desperate. This battle was a million miles away from his own predictions. The tenacity and bravery of the Wuhuan people, who fought with their lives, gave them victory. Even if it was a miserable victory, it was still a victory. They would rather die in battle than give up the attack like cowards guarding their prey. Attack, continuous attack, they destroyed the lives of the Han army soldiers and also destroyed the strongholds of the Han army soldiers.

  The final blow, just one more blow and everything will be over.

  The arrival of reinforcements greatly stimulated the remaining Wuhuan cavalry. They were probably afraid that their merits would be taken away by others, and immediately launched a final blow.

  Looking at the enemy rushing in like a tide, Li Hong shouted loudly to the remaining soldiers: "Go, go quickly, from the river!"

  No soldier listened to him. Everyone was still fighting like a madman. Li Hong retreated quickly, and he saw Zheng Xin. Zheng Xin was surrounded by three or four enemies and was in imminent danger. Li Hong flew out with his small axe, picked up a knife from the ground with one hand, and killed two people at the same time with both knives.

  "Go, get down!" Li Hong shouted at him. Zheng Xin nodded subconsciously, pulling out his long sword from the enemy in front of him, bringing out a burst of fresh blood. Li Hong dodged the hacking of the enemy behind him, his eyes clear and hands quick, his left-hand knife smoothly inserted into the chest of an enemy who was sneaking up on him, while his right-hand knife blocked a slashing attack from the right side. Li Hong abandoned the knife stuck in the enemy's chest, his left hand pulling down a small axe from the corpse of an enemy soldier on the ground, swinging it round and heavily chopping at the back of the enemy's thigh. The enemy let out a blood-curdling scream and fell flying backwards.

  Li Hong and Zheng Xin back to back, quickly moved towards the riverbank. At this time, the other three warriors in the array had been surrounded by the Wuhuan people like wolves and tigers, and were chopped down on the ground.

  A dozen or so Uighur men flew at them.

  "Go first." Li Hong shouted, suddenly turned around and rushed up. Zheng Xin didn't dare to hesitate, under Li Hong's cover, ran two steps quickly, jumped high into the air, "splash" sound, plunged into the icy river water.

  Li Hong exerted all his strength, displaying his divine might, and killed three men in a row. The Wuhuan people became even more frenzied, recklessly charging forward with their lives on the line, determined to kill him and not let another one escape.

  Li Hong didn't want to escape, he simply couldn't get away. These furious men were so angry they could have swallowed him whole. Li Hong was forced to retreat step by step until he backed into the icy river water.

  Li Hong continued to retreat, retreating faster and faster.

  Wu Wanren reacted, this person also wanted to escape by borrowing water. The several soldiers standing on the shore immediately took down their bows and arrows, drew their bows and shot. Li Hong shouted loudly, exerting himself to throw his war knife at the archers on the shore.

  The battle knife whizzed through the air and flew away quickly.

  An archer had just raised his bow when he saw a bloody battle knife flying towards him. He was so frightened that he cried out, but it was too late to dodge. He watched in horror as the knife pierced his chest and penetrated deep into his body.

  Li Hong sank into the river water.