Chapter Twenty: Fierce and Tragic

  Ye Er and Han Shuxiao nodded and then shook their heads.

  Yang Chengfeng smiled slightly and beckoned to several guards to protect the two women. He walked over to Shen Yuehua's side and ordered, "Lusaka, Sun Yingjie, you two each lead fifty elite cavalrymen on separate routes to harass the enemy cavalry with hit-and-run tactics. The rest of you form a circular formation, with the halberdiers in front and the archers behind."

  At the command of Yang Chengfeng, Lusaka and Sun Yingjie each led fifty iron cavalry to gallop to the left and right wings. The other four hundred soldiers immediately formed a circular formation, with two hundred halberdiers outside, followed by one hundred spear holders, and then one hundred archers.

  Cavalry warfare is different from infantry, and the distance of 1,800 meters is approaching in the blink of an eye. Lusaka and Sun Yingjie each led fifty iron cavalry to gallop out quickly, seeing the enemy approaching within shooting range, putting down their weapons, drawing bows and arrows, urging horses to slant upwards, not facing the enemy's front, but towards the outer circle, maintaining a certain distance. When the two armies were close to 100 meters, they opened their bows and shot arrows, each shooting two arrows before turning their horses away from the enemy's main force, not making contact, turning sideways, walking and shooting on the sides. They shook left and right on horseback, sitting or lying down, left or right, but the bows and arrows in their hands never stopped firing, unfolding a mobile arrow shooting within a radius of ten miles, circling around, at the same time they didn't have any distinction between the two teams, as long as the distance was enough, no matter which team's enemy, after a round of horse shooting, they would turn sideways and leave, never engaging in close combat with the enemy.

  Ma Hu saw this and was furious. The enemy had only a hundred cavalry, yet in one confrontation they had made him lose dozens of his carefully trained elite personal guards.

  "Matt, Manny." Mahler shouted.

  "Mate was dressed in a fur coat, his face slightly dark, with a robust and well-proportioned physique, riding a yellow horse, holding a long knife. Next to him, Mani was also wearing a fur coat, with fair skin, medium build, slightly chubby, riding a white horse and wielding a long spear. Both of them were spirited and eager for battle."

  "Mahrt, Mani, take a hundred cavalry and annihilate them." Mahrt turned his head to instruct the two guards beside him.

  "Yes, young master." Matt and Manny responded in unison, each leading a hundred iron knights towards Lusaka and Sun Yingjie.

  "Soldiers, kill the people in front of you! I, Marquis Ma, will reward you with one hundred taels of gold and three beautiful women!" Marquis Ma shouted loudly, leading his remaining cavalry to charge towards Yang Chengfeng's location.

  Thousands of cavalry rushed forth, and in an instant the winds and clouds changed color, shaking the earth.

  "Archers, prepare! Spearmen, prepare!" Yang Chengfeng gazed coldly at the charging Ma Family Iron Cavalry, his face displaying an unprecedented solemnity. The Ma Family Army was indeed renowned for a reason; their momentum was in no way inferior to that of the Mongolian Iron Cavalry. Turning to look at his guards, he saw no signs of panic on their faces, and Yang Chengfeng nodded in approval.

  "Five Hundred Steps"

  "Four Hundred Steps"

  "Three Hundred Steps"

  "Two Hundred Steps"

  "One hundred steps..."

  "Release the arrows!" With Yang Chengfeng's command, in an instant, a rain of arrows shot out from the circular formation, like a burst dam flooding the Ma family's iron cavalry in front, washing them clean. Afterwards, dozens of wooden spears were thrown out one after another, stabbing to death those who had escaped the crossbow arrows. In just a moment, hundreds of corpses piled up outside the circular formation.

  Yang Chengfeng's personal guard archers were all divine marksmen. After the first wave of arrows, a second wave was launched, shooting all the arrows at the Ma family cavalry rushing from afar. Dozens of riders fell off their horses, but the Ma family iron cavalry was the elite among the cavalry and did not retreat quickly to avoid the remaining cavalry, instead charging forward without regard for their lives.

  In an instant, the powerful Ma family cavalry was only ten steps away from the circular formation. Yang Chengfeng's guards could clearly see the ferocious faces of those Ma family riders.

  "Draw your swords, prepare!"

  "With swords held forward and archers firing at will!" Under Yang Chengfeng's command, the Imperial Guard formed a circular formation that continued to advance forward.

  The saber made its debut in this world, and as the Imperial Guard advanced, the saber became a demon for the Ma family cavalry, with one slash of the saber often cutting off two horses. With the archers behind the saber soldiers occasionally shooting cold arrows, the Ma army suffered heavy losses.

  "Hurry, hurry and kill them, hurry, hurry!" Mahler shouted wildly, his eyes red with rage as he saw his own elite guard suffering heavy casualties.

  Ma Che didn't understand how Yang Chengfeng's guards, without long spear troops, could withstand his cavalry charge, and those damn archers were so accurate that almost every arrow hit a cavalryman.

  "Second Master, this won't do! The enemy's damned greatswords are too powerful, our knights can't even get close to them." A horseman from the Ma family guard rode up beside Marquis Ma and said.

  "Damn it!" Ma He looked in Yang Chengfeng's direction with a vicious gaze and said, "What do we do now?"

  "Second Master, we can first not launch a charge against them and have an archery competition with them." The guard coldly said while looking at the location of Yang Chengfeng and his group.

  "Ride and shoot?" Mach number was taken aback, then burst out laughing: "Alright, alright, you win. Pass the order, cavalry stop charging, surround them and ride while shooting."

  The guard who came up with the Mach number idea heard the order of the Mach number, and a strange color flashed in his eyes. Then he quietly retreated and left the battlefield when no one noticed.

  Coldly watching Ma's army change formation, Yang Chengfeng's mouth corner revealed a hint of cold smile, "Change formation!"

  As Yang Chengfeng ordered, the first row of halberdiers retreated, and the second row of halberdiers put down their halberds and raised a large shield as high as a person, forming an impenetrable shield array.

  "Your Highness, this won't do! We should quickly dispatch someone to break through the siege and ask for reinforcements from Wuwei!" Shen Yuehua said to Yang Chengfeng.

  Yang Chengfeng smiled slightly and turned to Shen Yuehua, "Don't worry, yesterday I secretly arranged for 5,000 light cavalry troops to be on standby nearby. They will arrive within an hour."

  Shen Yuehua stared at Yang Chengfeng in shock, "Your Highness, could it be that you...you know..."

  Yang Chengfeng fell silent and turned his head towards the battlefield.

  Shen Yuehua didn't have a deep mind, but he also knew what to ask and what not to ask. Yang Chengfeng didn't say anything, naturally there was Yang Chengfeng's reason, so he just continued to pay attention to the battlefield.