Chapter 37: Courage and Cowardice

  On the military road of the central army's camp, which was no more than a hundred feet wide, two cavalry forces with exactly opposite strengths collided heavily. For a time, the crisp sound of broken bones, the chopping sound of knives and guns entering flesh, the miserable cries of people on the verge of death, and the mournful neighs of horses mixed together, completely suppressing the humming sounds of over a thousand militiamen to the point where they were almost inaudible.

  If it is said that more than 270 cavalrymen were like a broad and thick shield sweeping in with fierce winds, then the over 40 densely packed golden soldiers were like an arrow shot from a divine arm or a bed crossbow. The "arrow" and "shield" collided violently, the "arrow" pierced through the "shield" and split it apart.

  The Jin army's cavalry seemed to be cut in two, and the Golden Army broke through the formation. Just this once contact, the Jin army's cavalry was reduced by almost a quarter, while the Golden Army's phalanx formation appeared to have narrowed by one circle.

  The already somewhat dry land was soaked and muddy again by the blood spring that splashed everywhere. The two cavalry troops galloped past each other, their hooves trampling the dead or dying bodies of men and horses, producing a series of bone-chilling cracking sounds. On the battlefield, broken long spears and curved knives were scattered all over, as well as shattered armor leaves. At a glance, most of them were the black armor of the Song army, while the white armor and fur hats of the Jin people were relatively rare.

  Di Lie, who was watching the battle unfold before him, couldn't help but take a sharp breath of cold air. Previously, he had also clashed with the Jin army's cavalry many times, but it wasn't like this - either sniping from afar with his rifle or recklessly throwing explosive packs, never giving the Jin soldiers a chance to show off their skills before they were all defeated. It felt quite easy and he hadn't experienced the might of what was said to be the strongest cavalry in the world at that time. But this time it was a clash between cold steel and cold steel, and only now did he truly feel a deep sense of it.

  A wave of cries and shouts came from behind, like a tidal wave. Di Lie didn't need to turn his head to know that the formation of the righteous citizens had been disrupted again. Squinting at the Jin army's iron cavalry about a mile away, he saw this powerful "vanguard" being swept by the shield-bearing cavalry, and it too lost nearly a quarter of its men, leaving only over thirty riders.

  This means that in this cavalry collision, our army lost sixty or seventy men, while the Jin army only lost a dozen or so... The ratio of forces was six to one, yet we were defeated by a force one-sixth our size. What kind of achievement is this? No wonder they dared to charge into an array of over a thousand with just thirty-odd cavalry, while our own thousand-strong army, although well-equipped and well-trained, mostly consisted of farmers who had just washed their feet and gone up to the fields; no wonder they were frightened like this.

  Di Lie, although he had no experience in combat during the Cold Arms Era, did not believe that thirty-odd cavalrymen could defeat a thousand-strong armed force and cause it to disperse. If every soldier had the courage to face the enemy head-on instead of turning their backs on them, then even if there were three hundred cavalrymen, what could they do?

  Di Lie raised his long spear and shouted again: "Soldiers, attention!"

  Yang Zhechong also clearly felt the crisis, and after staring at Di Lie's cold profile for a moment, he withdrew his hands that were about to grab the long spear. He snatched a long spear from a militiaman who was turning around to escape, stood shoulder to shoulder with Di Lie, and responded loudly: "Yang Zhechong of Dai Prefecture, reporting for duty!"

  Suddenly one person squeezed in between the two: "The wolf on the grassland, Ah Su is looking at the master!"

  Zuo Kai also gave up the hopeless formation, charged out from the rear, stood upright with his spear, and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Zuo Kai of Yi State, reporting for duty to your superior!"

  It should be said that Zuo Kai is not a person who dares to stand in the first row of infantry and confront cavalry. But as one of the leaders of this newly formed militia, he was well aware that if he turned around and ran now, not only would the beauty he had obtained be scattered, but also the merit he had gained by taking risks last night would be cancelled out, and it was even more likely that he would be killed or trampled to death in the chaos of war.

  No matter what the outcome is, it's not what Zuo Kai wants. He may not be a hero, but he's definitely a gambler. Last night, he won once and got beauty and status. Today, he has to gamble again. Win, keep everything; lose, die!

  Another long spear stood alongside two people, and a loud, sonorous voice rang out: "Temple Guardian Shi Zhihe, salute the superior officer!"

  People always have a mind to follow the crowd, especially when they see that this "crowd" is actually a group of high-ranking officials who should be hiding in the back and directing. The demonstration effect of the main general soon appears.

  More and more righteous civilians with a few drops of heroic blood stood beside Di Lie and others, although the formation was somewhat twisted and the spears were not neat, but those spearheads reflecting sunlight and shining brightly continued to extend...

  When Di Lie had nearly a hundred people gathered around him, the Jin army's iron cavalry also charged to within an arrow's distance. Between them, their hair and beards were clearly distinguishable.

  Actually, at this time, if a batch of bow and crossbowmen were arranged well, under a wave of shooting, the Golden Army would have to lie down at least half. Unfortunately, Di Lie's hands were a group of untrained - no, they had not received any training at all - civilians. They couldn't even form a simple formation, how could they be expected to follow orders, withstand the huge pressure, face the cavalry rushing towards them, and shoot arrows from their hands?

  It would take a madman like Dili to make such a crazy decision, sending a group of untrained militiamen out to fight the Golden Soldiers in a pitched battle.

  "Bayonets aligned, butts to the ground!" Di Lie slanted his long spear, fiercely stabbing the tail into the earth, and then used his left foot to hold it in place. These basic movements of the long gun soldiers against the cavalry were still told by Yang Zhechong, and he was instructed by him to guide the crowd of righteous people.

  The enemy cavalry had charged within ten zhang, and a strong killing intent was pressing down on them.

  "Hold steady, hold steady, don't move." Di Lie was also facing such a fierce warhorse for the first time, his heart almost jumping out of his throat. Several times he wanted to stretch out his hand and throw out the last tactical grenade in his pocket, but he still resisted this great temptation. His hot weapons were limited, there would always be a day when they would run out, if there wasn't an army that dared to fight, what could they rely on to win battles in the future? The power of gunpowder was indeed strong, but it was still people using it, and the outcome of war would forever depend on people, not just one or two powerful weapons.

  Fight! No matter what price is paid, a battle must be fought. If this pass cannot be crossed, there will be no hope of becoming an army forever.

  When everyone was staring with wide eyes, gritting their teeth, and holding their breath as if on fire, waiting for the moment when the fierce waves would crash against the reef. The golden armor and iron cavalry suddenly turned their horses' heads to the right, brushing past the gun array with a swooshing sound, almost grazing the tips of the guns as they whizzed by in front of Di Lie and the others, circling around to the side of the gun array.

  At the forefront of the cavalry was a heavily armored golden knight, wearing an iron helmet and chainmail armor, with a fine steel breastplate underneath. The horse he rode was also equipped with tough leather gear.

  The only heavy armored golden rider among the thirty or more riders almost charged to the tip of Di Lie's gun. When the cold gray pupils under the iron helmet collided with Di Lie's fiery eyes, the heavily armored golden rider already knew that this man in front of him would absolutely not retreat. The result of the collision was either you die and I live, or you live and I die; there would be no second outcome.

  The heavily armored golden rider and Di Lie locked eyes for a moment, then suddenly tightened his legs around the horse's belly and turned to leave right in front of Di Lie's gun tip. The distance between them was so close that the left shoulder of the heavily armored golden rider's Flowing Gold Swallowing Beast armor scraped against the gun tip, producing a trail of sparks that dazzled the eyes.

  Di Lie had a premonition that this heavily armored golden rider was the commander of these thousands of golden soldiers, Ma An Gu Xin! At this moment, he had an urge to thrust his spear and make a fierce stab. Although he hadn't practiced much, relying on his own bayonet fighting skills, he had an 80% chance of pulling the enemy general off his horse.

  But Di Lie still resisted the great temptation, once he did so, all the soldiers who looked up to him would instinctively follow suit. This way, what was originally a tight gun array would become chaotic - these militiamen who only relied on temporary bravery could already form a passive defensive gun array with difficulty, if they took the initiative to attack, I'm afraid the enemy wouldn't even have time to react before their own formation became disordered, and the enemy would take advantage of the opportunity.

  Di Lie's spear finally didn't pierce through. With a cold glance at the back of the heavily armored figure, Di Lie believed that whether it was Gong Xin or Xiao Zhuo, today they would not escape death!

  The dust that filled the sky turned everyone into mud people, but no one bothered to brush off the dust on their bodies, they stared at each other in shock and amazement, their joy and incredulity at having narrowly escaped death were written all over their faces.

  "Indeed, they are light cavalry, not iron floating diagrams. They dare not crash into the gun array and can only use the sideways blow of a whip to attack from the side. Brave master, you rely on your ferocity like a wolf king, leading these wolf cubs with sharp teeth and claws to strangle the enemy's offensive!"

  Zuo Kai took a deep breath, stamped his feet and smiled: "Not bad, they are not the so-called 'Iron Floating Map' heavy armored iron cavalry. If they force their way through the array, even if they break through this array, they will not have many people left in the end. The Jin people won't do it with such a two-loss method..."

  Di Lie interrupted him coldly: "Two failures are not worth mentioning, what do they want to do?"

  Yang Zhe's face changed color as he exclaimed: "This is bad, our rear troops..."

  Over a hundred gunners gathered around Di Lie and others, mostly from the group of righteous civilians who had previously defended the East Gate, were among the most daring in this crowd of thousands of captives. Having also experienced a battle with the Khitan army before, they had seen bloodshed and were even more convinced by Di Lie's astonishing tactics and bravery in leading his troops into battle, which was why they came forward to fight alongside him.

  Behind the row of guns, seven or eight hundred young and strong militiamen were in a state of confusion, each holding spears and wearing armor, with bows and shields at the ready, their equipment as good as that of the Imperial Guard of the Song Dynasty, but like a beehive that could explode at any moment, just waiting for a slight external stimulus...

  More than thirty Jin soldiers bypassed the gun array, tacitly sheathing their swords and bows. On the violently shaking horseback, they steadily drew their bows and nocked arrows, with the arrowheads pointing directly at those densely packed civilians who had excellent armor but lacked tactical awareness and combat courage...