CHAPTER 407: CHAPTER 39 CHARGE!_2

Whenever military conflict arose in any part of the empire, the Imperial Guards would leave the capital to quell the rebellion.

However, Emperor Taizong’s northern expedition first sent the elite Imperial Guards to their deaths in one fell swoop, turning them into "Yinlang."

Second, prolonged peace gradually led to the decay of the Imperial Guards.

Even though there hadn’t been a large-scale war between Yan and Qian for almost a hundred years, the Imperial Guards of Qian State had deteriorated to the point that they couldn’t even quell the empire’s internal rebellions.

When the Tusi rebellion first broke out in the Southwest, the Imperial Guards were initially the main force to suppress it, supplemented by the West Army Division. Unexpectedly, the Imperial Guards, numbering over one hundred thousand, were ambushed by Wolf Land Soldiers in a valley. This led to a complete collapse at the time. Seeing the incompetence of the Qian State military, the observing Tusi chieftains, who had been waiting, promptly joined the rebellion, plunging the Southwest into utter chaos.

Both the Zu family army and the West Army Division rose from the ashes of the Imperial Guards. When the central army couldn’t fulfill its responsibilities, the rise of regional military governors becoming powerful was an unavoidable outcome.

Naturally, within these regional military commands, situations where soldiers didn’t recognize their generals, and generals didn’t know their soldiers, would not occur.

Zu Dongcheng’s palms were soaked with sweat. He knew that whether his Zu family army could truly rise to prominence depended on this very move! Since the Yan Army chose their side for a breakthrough, then let them try! Let’s see if you Yan people truly have the stomach for it!

"Beat the drums!" Zu Dongcheng ordered.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

The war drums thundered, and the Zu family army began to adjust their formation to the beat.

Zu Dongcheng had faith in his command ability, believing it to be no worse than that of the Yan barbarian commander opposite him.

But he didn’t know that the Yan Army across from him... had no commander at all.

At this moment, the six thousand Iron Cavaliers of the North Defence Army that had charged out from both flanks had reached a certain distance. All the knights began to draw their bows and nock their arrows.

"WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!"

A deadly rain of arrows was launched from both flanks. The knights, while drawing and loosing arrows from horseback, kept their legs clamped to their mounts, their center of gravity perfectly balanced with the galloping warhorses.

Numerous spearmen on the formation’s periphery were instantly killed or wounded. Inevitably, the two flanks of the formation began to be compressed inward.

Men are all afraid of death. They had already been terrified by the enemy cavalry’s charge. Now, as arrows rained down, they instinctively fell back a little, and then a little more.

"Fire!" Zu Dongcheng commanded, and the archers and crossbowmen within the formation began to counterattack.

The North Defence Army knights didn’t evade the arrow rain as they had during the previous probing attack. Instead, they continued to advance. Now that they were closer, they no longer needed to arc their shots but could aim directly.

For a moment, the casualty rate within the Zu family army escalated rapidly, especially among the spearmen on the periphery. They had no shields, and their armor offered little protection. They fell one by one, like statues being shot down.

This was the cruelty and ruthlessness of war, yet it was unavoidable. Without the spearmen holding the line on the outer periphery, they would be unable to withstand the subsequent cavalry charge.

However, the North Defence Army also began to suffer casualties. Knights were shot from their saddles, or their mounts were struck by arrows, tumbling to the ground.

But these two divisions of North Defence Army knights didn’t slow their charge. Instead, they continued to close the distance, drawing and loosing arrows as they rode.

This was an exchange of lives, a test of raw courage!

Unhorsed knights who survived the fall quickly regrouped and fired their arrows, doing their utmost to cover their fellow soldiers.

Closer, closer, closer still.

Very close!

"Change formation!" Zu Dongcheng ordered.

The shield-bearers began to fall back as axemen and swordsmen moved forward, preparing to meet the cavalry’s charge. Simultaneously, the siege crossbows within the formation began to take aim.

The advantage of the siege crossbows was their long range and great destructive power, but their drawback was a slow reloading speed.

"THWANG! THWANG! THWANG!"

Each bolt loosed from a siege crossbow was accompanied by a spray of blood.

Nevertheless, what shocked Zu Dongcheng was that the cavalry from both flanks, having already closed the distance, surprisingly wheeled their horses around at the very last moment.

This rapid cavalry turn was a maneuver that tested the troops’ coordination and discipline, as well as the riders’ horsemanship. The slightest misjudgment could lead to riders colliding, causing a chain reaction and bogging down the entire unit.

Zheng Fan had seen this type of tactic before. When Liang Cheng led his troops, he had used his barbarian cavalry in a kiting maneuver to eliminate a convoy’s escorts with minimal casualties.

On the outer edge of the wheeling maneuver, several hundred riders from each flank chose not to follow the main body. Instead, they charged directly into the enemy formation.

Turning a large cavalry force required space, and their sacrifice would create that space for their fellow soldiers. Besides, they were already too close; reining in their horses to stop now would mean being quickly riddled with arrows like porcupines.

So, it was better to use their extreme momentum to crash straight into the enemy!

"CRUNCH! SQUELCH! THUMP! THUMP!"

Warhorses were impaled on long spears, knights unseated one after another. Yet, driven by powerful inertia, both men and their mounts crashed deep into the Zu family army’s formation.

The formations on both flanks were instantly breached, creating two large gaps.

"HISS..."

"HISS..."

Sharp intakes of breath were heard from both sides, almost simultaneously.