Chapter Seventy: The Moment of Advance and Retreat

  Saito Asashin's troops were arrayed in a dense, three-line rifle formation.

  The long spear held by the Later Zhou military had a composite structure, with oak wood as the core and wrapped in bamboo strips. The blade was flat and slightly shorter than the three-span spear of the Takeda clan.

  Although they were all temporarily recruited ashigaru, the gun ashigaru of the Echigo army had undergone collective training. The ashigaru knew that when facing enemy cavalry charging, they should kneel on the ground in a row, place their long spears beside them, and wait for the enemy to arrive. When the enemy approached, grasp the long spear, aim the spearhead at the horse's abdomen. After the spearhead pierced the warhorse's skin, it was absolutely impossible to pull it out immediately, and they had to persist!

  Saito Asanobu's archer unit stood at the forefront, waiting for Li Xiao's cavalry to enter the range of their bows. They first received a baptism of arrow rain. As the vanguard general, Li Xiao naturally received special attention from the enemy's archers.

  Li Xiao raised both arms and swung his spear, turning in a big circle, and with one breath, he deflected the seventeen or eighteen arrows that were shot at him. Here Li Xiao had to be grateful, thinking back to when the old veteran had painstakingly taught him how to use the large spear to deflect arrows, it was indeed correct.

  After brushing aside the arrow shafts in one breath, Li Xiao continued to charge forward on horseback, but not everyone had Li Xiao's good luck. After two rounds of arrows were shot, several Wada family cavalrymen were pierced by multiple arrows and fell to the ground along with their horses.

  Because the Takeda cavalry charged at such a high speed, the Shiba army's archers did not have time to shoot their third round of arrows and retreated behind the gun ashigaru.

  The performance of Li Xiao just now, the gun foot of Saito Choshin's team naturally saw it with their own eyes. Faced with such a brave and fierce enemy, even the warriors from Echigo who were good at martial arts prepared for a desperate battle against him at this moment.

  Li Xiao stared at the two rows of Vietnamese soldiers in front of him, and he also had a few points of apprehension in his heart. He knew how much strength he had. The bloody battle just now relied on Li Xiao and Kajima no Kata's bravery to take the lead, such an invincible duo, even Kikusaki no Kata, who was known as the number one warrior in the seven counties of Vietnam, was cut down from his horse.

  The cavalry behind, though not numerous, consisted of small flag cavalries familiar with bows and horses, as well as Takeda Shingen's mounted samurai, these warriors were naturally more valiant and skilled in battle than the Echigo ashigaru and the allied forces of Kōzuke daimyos.

  At this moment, facing the dense array of guns, Li Xiao couldn't help but think of the scene in the movie "Braveheart" where the British king's army led a cavalry charge and was killed by William Wallace's Scottish peasants with long spears.

  Now, it's too late to turn back. Li Xiao furrowed his brow and accelerated the horse's speed towards the enemy line less than 10 meters away. Just then, a bowstring sounded from behind, and three Vietnamese soldiers in front of Li Xiao suddenly clutched their throats with their hands, blood spurting out as they fell to the ground with half an arrow shaft stuck in them.

  Li Xiao didn't need to think to guess that it was the little banner behind Yu Mei who had shot three arrows in one breath, killing three ashigaru and creating a gap in the gun array of the Echigo army standing in front of Li Xiao.

  Li Xiao would never let go of this good opportunity. He let out a loud shout and, on horseback, leaped into the gun formation of the Yue army.

  The nearby Vietnamese soldiers were shocked by Li Xiao's horse jumping, and before they could react, Li Xiao's spear swung a big circle in the air. The spearhead pointed to the place where seven or eight Vietnamese soldiers fell under Li Xiao's spear.

  Boom!

  Li Xiao's war horse heavily fell to the ground, shaking the nearby Yue Houzu lightly at the bottom of his heart. Then Li Xiao shot two guns and knocked down two Yue Houzu who were about to stab his horse's abdomen. Next, Dao Sheng followed closely behind Li Xiao and killed him, with a large chopping knife in his hand, continuously falling, four Yue Houjun gun feet lightly blood and flesh flying horizontally, corpses and heads scattered, being beheaded on the spot.

  With the efforts of Li Xiao, Dao Sheng Meng and Xiao Yu Mei, they managed to open a gap in the Saito Choshin army. The Takeda cavalry rushed up, like a long dragon killing its way in.

  Saito Asashin's squad in formation.

  On the mountain slope behind the military camp.

  The generals of the Echigo army stood behind Uesugi Kenshin, their necks stretched out one by one, watching the battle between Li Xiao's Takeda cavalry and Saito Tomonobu's troops. When they saw Li Xiao and his men break into Saito Tomonobu's troops, several Echigo generals let out a sigh of regret, or clenched their fists to vent their discontent.

  "Your Excellency, it seems that Saito Toshinobu has been defeated again by the great general of the Takeda clan." Kiso no Yoshitaro said harshly from the side.

  Uesugi Kenshin glanced at Oni no Shima Mitsutaro and smiled, saying: "Mitsutaro, you're too impatient. Shiba Akatsuki is not someone who can be defeated so easily. Look, Shiba Akatsuki has started to counterattack."

  After killing another Vietnamese soldier, Li Xiao killed the entire Matsumoto Choushin squad in one breath. Now riding on horseback, he can see the flag of Takeda Shingen's main camp on the mountain slope.

  However, when Li Xiao looked back, he found that only a few riders were following behind him, and even Island Sheng Meng did not follow.

  Li Xiao's expression changed, he pulled the reins tight and stopped his horse, turning around to ask the Takeda cavalrymen following behind him: "Where are the others?"

  That Takeda cavalryman was taken aback by Li Xiao's sudden question, then pointed his bloody katana towards the depths of the formation.

  Only to see the Takeda cavalry, with their four-leafed flags inserted on their backs, surrounded by a group of black-clad ashigaru foot soldiers, were encircled by Shiba Tomonori's troops and trapped in the formation. They were clearly at a disadvantage, under the siege of the long spear array, and from time to time, people fell off their horses with gunshots.

  "Bastard." Li Xiao couldn't help but curse, this Saito Toshinobu was clearly planning to separate Li Xiao from his cavalry and then annihilate the Takeda family's cavalry in the formation.

  "Want to go back and kill again?"

  Li Xiao thought to himself, and suddenly looked at the few cavalrymen who had followed him out of the formation. They were now covered in blood, panting heavily, clearly exhausted. It was indeed a difficult situation, if he asked them to turn back and fight again, it would be hard for them to hold on. Even Li Xiao's own chestnut-colored horse looked listless, snorting weakly several times.

  Is Li Xiao going to return to the main camp like this, and then abandon Shima Katsutoyo, Obata Yumi, and a group of cavalrymen who followed him into the fray, leaving them to fall into Saitō Toshinobu's army without any regard?

  Absolutely not!

  Li Xiao, who was still able to support himself with his own strength, fought again without much problem. Then he looked at the few cavalrymen and said loudly: "Who among you is willing to follow me in killing our way back into the enemy's formation?"

  Several cavalrymen exchanged a glance and nodded together, indicating their willingness to go.

  Without any grand words, Li Xiao only felt a warmth in his heart, and he turned the horse's head back towards the army formation of Saitō Toshinobu. He took a deep breath, patted the horse's flank heavily with the gun butt, and the chestnut-colored horse let out a painful whinny and started galloping furiously.

  Several samurai cavalrymen of the Takeda clan also followed Li Xiao and turned back to kill.

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  Haha, thank you to yesterday's Ya Zhuo Lun, Mizuo Yohei Sei, and Jun Ning for the three book friends' rewards. By the way, I'd like to ask for a recommendation vote.