Chapter 38: Fierce Battle (2)

  When the two cavalry units were more than 50 meters apart, Jamukha and Khulan suddenly dispersed, each leading a unit of 100 men to charge sideways. Even the brave but less wise Khulan knew what would happen if they crashed into a large cavalry formation with guns. It seems that human bravery has its limits, no matter who it is.

  Two hundred-man teams, like two comets, swept towards the two wings of Du Bing's cavalry, but the comet tail inevitably crashed into the gun array, and blood flowers flew one after another. In just this moment, Zamukha's near-guard light cavalry was knocked down by more than 30 people, and Du Bing's soldiers also suffered seven or eight casualties under the opponent's desperate impact.

  Zha Muhe drew his iron arm bow, firing a string of arrows in rapid succession, knocking down several soldiers on the flank. The rear soldiers were intimidated by Zha Muhe's fierce killing aura and involuntarily reined in their war horses, while Zha Muhe seized this rare opportunity to quickly pass through the side wing of Du Bing's cavalry phalanx.

  Qian Buli, who was watching the battle from the arrow tower, sighed and stomped his feet. The effect of the surprise attack was too good, far beyond his expectations. If those cavalrymen could be a little braver, just a little bit, they could delay for a while, and then the lightly armed Zhamuhe would be surrounded by the infantry troops that arrived later. Even if Zhamuhe had supernatural powers, he couldn't escape the fate of defeat!

  Wang Rui, who was standing behind Qian Bu Li Shen, also let out a sigh. He could see very clearly that if the cavalry on the flank had bravely charged forward with their guns, they would have definitely been able to hold off Zha Mu He. Alas... This was truly a case of being off by a hair's breadth but losing by a thousand miles. What a pity for the commander's clever plan!

  "Sir, if we also have a great general commanding the flanks, we will definitely be able to kill Jamukha!"

  "This has nothing to do with whether or not there is a great general in command, but rather that they have yet to learn what true iron and blood are!" Qian Buli replied expressionlessly. If it were because his own strategy had gone wrong, Qian Buli wouldn't be so angry. This time, it was purely because his subordinates were incompetent in battle and missed a good opportunity. The feeling of having no choice but to be gloomy was unbearable for Qian Buli.

  "Sir, look! The infantry is starting to charge!"

  General Ren saw that Zhamuhe was about to leave the battlefield, and in his anxiety, he no longer cared about maintaining a neat formation. He waved his familiar copper rod and rushed forward with big strides. The infantrymen following General Ren also surged forward, as if they were racing.

  "What a mess! It's too late, pass the order, sound the horn and retreat!" Qian Buli saw that in front of Zhamuhe's large camp, a black line had already pressed forward, obviously the left-behind imperial guards' light cavalry was rushing up to support their Khan. At this time, disordering the formation was no different from seeking death.

  Qian Buli's command was a step too late, Zhamuhe gazed at the disorganized infantry formation, a cold smile spreading from the corner of his mouth. From the start of the battle until now, he had been on the defensive. How could he possibly let go of such a good opportunity?! Zhamuhe led his troops in a horizontal charge, the hail of arrows began again, and his guards also put down their bows, shooting arrows at Ren Jun's infantry like raindrops.

  The distance was too close, and almost at the same time as the bowstring sounded, the arrow arrived in front of them. The infantry under Ren Shuai's command immediately fell down in a large area. The neatly lined up infantry should have been one row of spear soldiers followed by one row of sword and shield soldiers. Whenever the enemy attacked with arrows, the sword and shield soldiers would take the lead to provide cover for the spear soldiers, while the third row of archers would start counterattacking. Qian Buli, in order to command more conveniently, called out all the archers to form a special arrow camp, so that the front row of spear soldiers and sword and shield soldiers had more room to maneuver, without having to cause unnecessary casualties to protect the archers. However, this approach had a weakness: if the formation became chaotic, the soldiers would be in a situation where they were beaten while being unable to fight back.

  Qian Buli's face turned red with rage: "Wang Rui, go command the archer camp, squeeze them out for me!!" Seeing that the enemy's reinforcements were about to arrive, if they continued to fight in disorder, it would be a test of the soldiers' bravery, which was precisely what Qian Buli was most worried about.

  Zhamuhe's consecutive pearl arrow aimed at Ren Shuai, but three arrows in a row were knocked down by Ren Shuai with a familiar copper stick. Zhamuhe knew that the enemy general was somewhat fierce, so he concentrated his attention on ordinary soldiers. As soon as Zhamuhe's fingers moved, a soldier would cry out and fall to the ground. Just when he started killing, he suddenly heard the whistle sound from the south camp. Yesterday's encounter with Geli had already given Zhamuhe experience, and as soon as the whistle sounded, he immediately turned his war horse and rushed into the diagonal direction.

  Du Bing heard the sound of horseshoes coming from behind, he divided his cavalry into two groups, one chasing Jamukha and the other chasing Jelme, coordinating with the arrow camp's covering fire, forcing Jamukha to leave the battlefield. Pursuing and shooting was a good thing, but the cavalrymen took off their bows and aimed at the back of the near guard light cavalry, however, compared to horseback riding, the warriors on the grassland were very familiar with direct shooting, side shooting, and back shooting, both sides shot each other for a round, neither gaining an advantage over the other.

  Du Bing led the cavalry to retreat slowly into the main camp, while Zhamuhe, Xianhan and Chahar also gathered together on the opposite side. Zhamuhe still had more than 50 people left by his side, but Xianhan only had four people left. The difference in command ability between the two was quite significant.

  Money can't be separated, don't want to continue fighting, Jamukha couldn't bear it. Although in the later period he showed his own grassland eagle hero style, but in the early period he was calculated too miserably. Jamukha led the near guard light cavalry left and right around, wanting to find a suitable opportunity, but Du Bing's defense is very strict, plus the south camp occasionally shoots out one after another arrow rain, Jamukha still can't find an opportunity.

  People from the south are really rich! Looking at the arrows scattered on the ground, Zha Muhe couldn't help but smile wryly. This time, in order to launch a surprise attack on Xueyuan City, Zha Muhe had used up all his hidden resources. Each of his elite light cavalrymen was equipped with only 100 arrows; if his subordinates dared to waste arrows like this, he would have whipped them with his horse whip long ago.

  Until the camp gates of Nanying closed, Zhamuhe had not found an opportunity. Looking at the exhausted and disheartened faces of the Imperial Guard light cavalrymen, Zhamuhe's heart was exceptionally heavy. However, the defeat also made him more determined to get rid of the enemy commander. Two defeats had already explained everything - failure could be forgiven under certain circumstances, but this time he had been extremely vigilant yet still fell into the enemy's trap. Zhamuhe knew that he was not a match for that person! For Zhamuhe, who took unifying the continent as his only dream in life, this was absolutely unbearable!