Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 18

  Iron Wolf let out a furious roar: "Full speed." The sound of the horn exceeded one after another, surging in the empty sky. Suddenly, three thousand troops shot out from behind Gong Sunhu's troops, with ten people as a team, killing sounds shaking the sky, and rushed towards the left wing of the Changluo tribe's army.

  The enemy commander immediately ordered the sounding of the battle horn, and with a fan-shaped inward formation, launched a charge like a flood, towards the Iron Wolf Army.

  Gongsun Hu's remaining 400+ men were immediately surrounded by the 1,000-strong enemy army from both flanks. The middle army of the Changluo tribe suffered heavy casualties, with over 200 men retreating with Ke Zhi. Gongsun Hu's vanguard had already been pinned down like a nail in the heart of the Changluo tribe's main force due to the rapid movement of both sides.

  Duan Song was still two hundred steps away from Gong Sun Hu.

  The Iron Wolf's troops suddenly came into contact with the left wing of the Long Deer tribe. The sound of long spears piercing flesh, the whistling of long arrows tearing through the air, the clear clashing of war knives, the cracking of bones as blades chopped into flesh, the heart-wrenching screams, the dull thud of warhorses colliding violently, the angry roars of soldiers, all kinds of sounds intertwined together, producing a massive rumble. The charge began.

  The Iron Wolf's troops were like a wooden stake, being hammered into the enemy's left wing one after another. The enemy's fan-shaped formation could not be opened too wide, fearing that it would affect the space of the central battlefield. But once it failed to quickly encircle the Iron Wolf's column, it would be dragged down by its own formation. Now the situation on the battlefield was very unfavorable for the left wing.

  Kerzheit's original plan was to launch a defensive campaign, judging that Murong Feng would lead the main force to attack the central army, disrupt the command system, and then expand to both wings, aiming to open up the center and trigger a full-scale explosion. Therefore, following conventional rules, he emphasized one wing, blocked the central army, enveloped the heavy wing, and supported the auxiliary wing. With encirclement as the battle center, the best formation was the fan-shaped array. But Tie Lang was much more cunning. His strategic intention was simply to hold down the enemy's main force, disrupt the battlefield, and disrupt the enemy's command, rather than aiming for annihilation.

  The two armies' commanders differed greatly in strategy, causing confusion for the defending side.

  The three thousand strong army of Iron Wolf formed a long and thick impact formation, turning the enemy's left wing two thousand troops' encirclement action into a mysterious reverse pursuit. The soldiers who tried to encircle the iron wolf cavalry from behind were thoroughly dispersed by the endless long queues. In order to gain speed, the front-line soldiers did not even contact the opponent, but only bowed their heads and ran wildly, determined to circle around the enemy's back. The rear soldiers desperately supplemented from behind to protect the increasingly thin queue. As a result, a strange scene appeared on the battlefield: three long dragons were showing off their skills on the left wing of the battlefield, swimming vigorously.

  The Iron Wolf's troops were in the middle, thick and long, desperately advancing forward. The left and right sides of the Iron Wolf's troops were the main forces of the Long Deer tribe's left wing, which had been divided into two halves by the Iron Wolf, with a thin and long formation, desperately killing in the opposite direction to achieve the intention of encirclement. However, the encircling troops were far from being as long as the advancing troops. Because they had to leave behind heavy troops to block the enemy's breakthrough formation. Once the formation was broken through, the encirclement would be out of the question, and if the enemy had more people, it might even lead to a counter-encirclement. This was the current situation.

  Duan Song's troops were still a hundred paces away from Gong Sun Hu. The giant fire-red eagle flag in the team fluttered in the wind as the team moved at high speed, and the speed of the team had reached its limit. All the cavalrymen lay flat on their horsebacks to reduce the resistance that affected the running speed.

  The timely replenishment of the thousand-strong army, although it affected the situation on the left-wing battlefield, quickly stabilized the central army. Especially for Gong Sunhu, it was fatal. All around were dense enemies.

  Gongsun Hu cut down an enemy with a mighty swing, then turned around and roared loudly: "Form the array! Form the array!" He cut down another enemy, and again raised his head to shout at the top of his lungs: "Form... the... array..."

  At this time, Gongsun Hu was like a tiger trapped in a cage, more like a lion enraged. His bravery and fearlessness made many enemy soldiers feel timid and dare not get too close, lest they be hunted down. The goose formation behind Gongsun Hu had already been destroyed, and the soldiers were fighting in groups of three or five against several times their own number of enemies. Gongsun Hu's roar awakened the horn blower closest to him, who, under the cover of three comrades, blew the horn with all his might, "Hoooo..."

  The enemy soldiers immediately understood their intentions, and once they let these people gather together, killing them would result in more casualties. So everyone disregarded their lives, rushed forward together, with swords, guns, spears, axes, and long arrows all calling out at the same time. The horn-blowing soldier was hit by three arrows, still tightly hugging the horse's head to blow the last sound, and then was shot through the throat by an arrow, the long arrow piercing through his neck and fiercely nailed to the horse's head, one man and one horse crashing to the ground.

  The soldiers immediately fought back the enemy around them and joined forces with Gong Sunhu, who had killed his way back to support them. They immediately formed a circular formation like a bucket. The remaining troops were more than 200 people. This powerful charging team, their significance on the battlefield is to fight for their lives, to win greater victories or more survival opportunities for their own army. In all battles, their mortality rate was the highest, even to the point of complete annihilation.

  But that is glory. In the end, everyone will die, and to die for glory is to die in vain. The Xianbei people revered bravery, and this idea was deeply rooted in their minds.

  The right wing of the Changluo tribe's army has unfolded, closely adhering to the flank of the central army, and from time to time using the long arrows in their hands to launch surprise attacks on Gongsun Hu's vanguard.

  "Tell the commander of the right wing troops," Ke shouted to the messenger, "the whole army will be divided into two parts, front and back. As soon as the enemy's rear army enters the central army's territory, immediately deploy from the front and back of the central army to encircle them, and make sure to surround the enemy's rear army."

  Kuang Ju saw that the situation on the battlefield was not very good, and his face was extremely tense.

  "Look, no Iron Wolf, Gongsun Hu, Duan Song, and no Murong Feng. The General's final blow will reduce us all to nothing." Feng Lie pointed at the battlefield with a smile.

  Kuang Ju looked at him with disgust, "Do you like death so much?"

  "Yes. I must die here, to die on this battlefield." Feng Lie nearly crazily opens his arms wide, shouting towards the bloody battlefield.

  Duan Song was fifty paces away from Gong Sunhu.

  Duan Song's face, which had always been smiling, was no longer smiling. After he and his men withstood the arrow rain that wasn't extremely dense, they finally saw Gong Sunhu's figure. He immediately sat up straight on his horse, and in the thunderous sound of horseshoes, loudly shouted: "Divide... lines..."

  The troops originally formed a line of twenty men, but after hearing the charge, they suddenly changed formation to ten men per row, dividing into two routes, just like a tree trunk split in two by an arrow, clean, simple and swift.

  Duan Song raised his war knife high in the air, swinging it wildly as he shouted loudly: "Hū jiǎo... hū jiǎo..." A thousand soldiers echoed his cry, their knives flashing brightly in the air, "Hū jiǎo... hū jiǎo..."

  Both troops did not have long spears, and immediately engaged the enemy. Duan Song's war knife danced like chopping vegetables, every swing brought up a streak of fresh blood. Due to the rapid impact speed of Duan Song's troops, the entire enemy army that was facing them head-on was immediately defeated, just like a person being hit by a heavy punch in the chest and abdomen, instantly curling up in pain. The Longluo tribe's army was hit, painfully folding its waist. The two troops were like two whirlwinds drilling into the enemy's central army, and then charged forward bravely.

  The right wing of the Changluo tribe was divided into two armies, upper and lower, which began to carefully encircle from the front and back.

  Iron Wolf looked at the small mountain and saw that there were many people on the mountain pointing and gesturing towards the battlefield. Although he couldn't see specific individuals, he knew that there must be Qiu Ju among them. The soldiers in front suddenly let out a loud cheer. They had finally broken through the left wing enemy's blockade.

  Iron Wolf rode out in front, charging out of the crowd. He looked back at both sides and saw that the enemy was like a group of gamblers who had lost their eyes or like a pack of vicious wolves who had been robbed of their prey, rushing up with great momentum to fill this gap. Iron Wolf shouted loudly: "Divide and surround, divide and surround! Brothers, kill!" The bright horn sounded immediately across the battlefield.

  In the midst of the giant dragon's transformation, a series of horn sounds echoed. The two small dragons that had been moving in opposite directions suddenly burst out from the middle of the large dragon, cutting off the two slender dragons that were moving in the same direction as themselves. At the same time, the head and tail of the giant dragon also burst out with two small dragons moving in opposite directions. After the two small dragons in the middle cut off the left and right slender dragons, they split again into two and merged with the small dragons that had burst out from the head and tail. The left and right slender dragons were immediately cut into four pieces. Moreover, it was possible to be surrounded at any moment.

  "Feng Daxia, are you waiting for my entire army to be annihilated before sending reinforcements?" Qu Que's left wing was being divided and surrounded, his heart aching with anguish, he roared at Feng Lie who sat on the ground.

  "The iron cavalry tactics of the Eagle Tribe are indeed the best among the Xianbei. Kuo Zui thought he was superior, making Tie Lang his slave. But after today's battle, Kuo Zui has become the biggest joke in the world, defeated by his own slave on the battlefield." Feng Lie said with a loud laugh.

  Qian Ju's face twisted with rage, he drew his battle sword and shouted: "Feng Lie, are you going to send out your troops or not?"

  Feng Lie glanced at him sympathetically and said, "So you're an amateur when it comes to fighting. Don't worry, the two armies are currently evenly matched, and it'll probably take another hour or so before we can tell who's winning."

  "Huh." He suddenly seemed to have discovered something, and said to Que Yu, "Iron Wolf has already completed the encirclement. How can this kid still be like a madman, disregarding his life and launching a crazy attack? Is it really true that there is no reinforcement?"

  "In the middle battlefield, your troops have already gained the upper hand." Feng Lie pointed to the battlefield and said to Quan Ju, "Gongsun Hu's more than 200 men are in the center, and your central troops have surrounded him. And Linghu tribe's Duan Song has also surrounded your central troops from the outside. Your troops were hit too hard by his impact, suffering heavy losses. Fortunately, Ke Zui did not order the right-wing troops to timely supplement and block, otherwise there would be no good situation now. Your right-wing troops have surrounded Duan Song's troops. This layered encirclement is the most consuming of troop strength. You must immediately command the right-wing troops to solve Duan Song at all costs. Otherwise, once Duan Song breaks through the inner circle and joins forces with Gongsun Hu, the advantage will no longer exist."

  Kuai Ju Zou said, "If you don't send troops out again, I'll order a retreat. I'm done, going back to the Changluo tribe."

  Feng Lie laughed, "Since you're looking for death, what am I afraid of? If you order a retreat, I'll wipe out all 5,000 people and horses from the Changluo tribe today. Let's have an internal conflict first, then let Generalissimo take all the benefits."

  Kuang Ju's desperate cry echoed: "Feng Lie, you're crazy!"