Chapter 72: Who is the Inside Collaborator
The first row of soldiers withstanding the impact of war horses, pulled out their waist knives and stabbed at the weakest part of the horse's throat. Fresh red horse blood splattered on their faces. The frenzied war horses raised their hooves high, kicking many Eastern State soldiers until their intestines were torn apart. Some soldiers were crushed by the shields behind them due to the excessive impact force, but they still held their long guns firmly in place, exhausting their last line of life to block the advance of the Parthian cavalry.
But the war horses' impact was too powerful, and many soldiers in the first row failed to withstand the galloping hooves. The second-row soldiers immediately took on the role of the first row, also using long spears to block and kill from behind. Meanwhile, hundreds of knife-wielding men burst out of the gaps between the Eastern State troops.
They somersaulted under the tall war horse, their agile bodies dodging the horse's four hooves as they thrust their steel blades deep into the horse's belly and stirred. The war horse let out a mournful whinny, and the pressure on the long spear soldiers increased even more, but they knew clearly that if this pressure was blocked, it would be an instant thing, and if it couldn't be blocked, the whole army would be annihilated.
They had no way out. As members of the military, they deeply understood the responsibility they shouldered for their comrades-in-arms, and this also doomed the Brazilian cavalry to never be able to break through their formation.
Those low-profile attacking soldiers who killed the horses were Zhang Ren's specially trained rolling knife hands, selected for their thinness and agility. The hooves of the Brazilian army stopped in front of the elite troops of Dongzhou, and the impact was completely blocked. The rear team pressed the front team, and a large number of knights fell over.
The rolling earth and the hands of the horsemen were under each warhorse, and the knights had no choice but to retreat. Although a small number of soldiers were unfortunately trampled by the horses' hooves, they also got their due revenge. The warhorses with blood flowing from their bellies threw off one knight after another, and the Brazilian army's cavalry was flying in the wind and rain.
The rear cavalry finally stopped the horse's hooves and stabilized their formation, while the front team's horses and knights were mixed together in chaos. The number of knights who died under the guns of the Dongzhou soldiers was limited, but the number of knights who were trampled to death by the horses' hooves or mistakenly killed by their own comrades was countless.
Liu Zhang and Fa were playing Go amidst the neighing of war horses, concentrating on their game as the earth shook and the pieces jumped about on the board.
A thousand cavalry charge, not only failed to break through the Dongzhou army formation, but almost immediately after the collision, all collapsed, more than half died in the chaos. After the charge was blocked, the cavalry was in disarray in front of the Dongzhou army formation, trampling each other. These new recruits saw their bloodied comrades and instantly collapsed, no one knew who led the way, the remaining cavalry turned around and retreated like a flowing river.
Wang Xu did not let them off, with a long knife raised high, the Dongzhou army's arrows poured down like rain from the sky to the ground towards the cavalry. The remaining hundreds of cavalrymen were almost wiped out under several waves of arrow showers.
The long wind blows over the war flag, and the battlefield is desolate.
The cavalry retreated, revealing the Eastern State army's formation, which was covered in corpses with intestines spilling out and blood flowing everywhere. However, the formation of 1,000 Eastern State soldiers remained unmoving as a mountain. All the Brazilian military leaders and soldiers who witnessed this scene were shocked. Despite being surrounded by 10,000 troops and attacked by cavalry, they didn't budge, killing or wounding thousands of their own infantrymen, while nearly annihilating the entire cavalry force of 1,000 men.
The Brazilian army, with only 7,000 men left, faced the Eastern State troops of less than 700 people, all of whom showed a look of fear on their faces. Looking at those blood-stained long guns, they seemed to see devils, and the bloody atmosphere filled the entire battlefield.
The battlefield fell into a stalemate, with tens of thousands of people locked in a standoff against just a few hundred, and the former still shrouded in the latter's killing intent. Pang Xi gripped his sword hilt tightly once again, while Qu Tian took a deep breath, her eyes wide with wonder. What kind of troops were these? If there were tens of thousands of them, they could conquer the entire world.
Pang Tong urged the infantry to continue attacking Liu Zhang's main camp, but the small Eastern Chu army formation stood like a great mountain on the spot. Although they were also suffering, being flesh and blood, under the arrow rain of the Western Shu army, almost all of them were wounded, the fierce battle had been going on for more than two hours, the constantly flowing fresh blood made many soldiers gradually lose their strength, but they knew that the commander-in-chief was in the formation, still relying on instinct to persist in the fight.
The Eastern State Army finally withstood the Brazilian new recruits. In the face of intense killing intent, the Brazilian army slowly revealed a hint of fear. No matter how much the officers urged them on, they refused to take another step forward.
The momentum here directly affected the battle between the two armies, Zhang Ren led thousands of elite soldiers to fight more bravely, while the Brazilian army in front could no longer muster up their initial enthusiasm for battle.
"What's going on?! What's going on?!" Pang Xi roared, seeing his tens of thousands of troops being blocked by just a few hundred people. His anger was uncontrollable, and he shouted: "Jiang Yan, bring up the elite soldiers, establish a vanguard team! Anyone who dares to show fear or retreat will be executed immediately."
Jiang Yan wanted to say something, but seeing Pang Xi's angry expression, he didn't say it in the end and left with his guards.
Pang Xi was left with only a few loyal guards, and Qu Tian stood beside him, sword in hand. Qu Tian's face was calm as water, but his hand gripped the hilt tightly.
Qū Tián was able to calmly analyze the situation on the battlefield, although the Brazilian army had not broken through Liu Zhang's main formation, they still held the advantage on the battlefield. Páng Xī was just because of his anger and confusion, when he calmed down, the number of troops far exceeded that of Liu Zhang, and the possibility of winning was still very great.
A figure kept emerging in his mind, a calm face covering the struggle in his heart, the sword slowly coming out of its scabbard inch by inch.
"Let me do one last thing for you, I hope he will be better to you than I was."
Qu Tan drew out his treasured sword, its cold light shining on Pang Xi's face. Pang Xi was shocked: "Qu Tan, what are you doing?"
"Take your life." Qu Tian coldly shouted, and with one sword, he stabbed towards Pang Xi. A guard immediately blocked him, but who could be Qu Tian's opponent? With one kick, the guard was kicked flying. Before Pang Xi could even escape, a long sword had already slashed across his throat. Instantly, blood flowed like water, and his eyes stared at Qu Tian until death, never understanding why Qu Tian would kill him.
Several other bodyguards rushed forward, Qu Tian swung his sword and killed them all, stabbing them to the ground. Qu Tian cut off Pang Xi's large flag with one sword, gathered all his strength and shouted loudly: "Listen up, Brazilian generals and soldiers! Pang Xi is dead, surrender to the governor, those who surrender will not be killed."
The Brazilian army, which was in a fierce battle, saw its commander-in-chief fall down, and upon hearing the sound of the qin, became greatly disordered. Zhang Ren took advantage of the situation to launch a pincer attack, and the elite Brazilian army collapsed instantly, with the entire army routing.
Zhang Ren ordered Lei Tong to lead the cavalry in pursuit of the rebel army, while he himself led his troops to attack the besieging Brazilian new soldiers. The Brazilian new soldiers had already lost all will to fight, and seeing the bloody Eastern State Army array in front of them and the tens of thousands of troops behind, they knew they could not escape, so they dropped their long spears and knelt down to surrender.
Liu Zhang and Fa Zheng finally stood up from under the dimly lit shield, their whole body aching, took a look at the battlefield, and said to Zhang Ren who was rushing over: "General Zhang, you're amazing, winning so quickly."
Liu Zhang had originally thought that he would have to wait until nightfall for a result, but unexpectedly the Brazilian army had already completely routed in less than three hours.
Zhang Ren bowed and said, "I am ashamed to say that it seems like there was an internal conflict in Pang Xi's army. One of his generals killed Pang Xi and cut down the great banner. The Ba Xi army's morale collapsed, which is why they were defeated."
Liu Zhang led the generals to where Pang Xi died, and apart from Pang Xi, there were 17 or 18 corpses scattered all over the ground. All of them had been trampled by defeated soldiers until they were covered in blood and their bodies were mangled beyond recognition. Zhang Ren walked forward and took a look, then pointed at one of the corpses and said to Liu Zhang: "Judging from the position of these corpses, it seems that all these people were killed by this one person."
"He is the insider arranged by Miss Huang Yue."
Liu Zhang said slowly, "Huang Yue mentioned in the letter that she would arrange for a clansman to persuade Pang Xi to go to war and take advantage of the opportunity to assassinate Pang Xi. This should be that Huang clan youngster."
