Chapter 1541 – Attacking Nie Liang and Yang Tao, Sword Aimed at the World (79)
Timing for mobilizing troops is crucial; too early and they won’t be ready, too late and you’ll miss the best opportunity.
Qi Guanrang, with his wealth of experience, certainly knows how to gauge it well, especially with Wei Ci and the wise elder Sun Wen in tow.
“Stay alert; the enemy is likely to make a move soon,” Wei Ying said, his expression serious.
“The military adviser said… they would strike at this time?” The general was first taken aback, but quickly grasped the situation. He tightened his grip on his weapon and declared thunderously, “Rest assured, military adviser, if they dare to attack, they will not return!”
Wei Ying replied, “Of course, they will strike. Otherwise, once our supplies arrive, they won’t be able to hold their ground, and their morale will collapse.”
While a retreat can soothe the soldiers and maintain their spirit and formation, if it happens again, positions will be dire.
Wei Ying had every reason to believe this was Qi Guanrang’s final chance to act.
Sure enough, there was movement at the city gates, several doors swung open, and soldiers surged out like a tidal wave.
Cavalry and chariots led the charge, moving swiftly and quickly closing the distance, looking to crash into the ranks. Wei Ying ordered the archers forward to engage the enemy, setting up barricades to hinder the cavalry’s advance and directing the archers to fire arrows.
Cavalry has always been a thorn in the side of lords, and with both heavy and light cavalry under Jiang Pengji, they had their strengths, making their combination tricky. Heavy cavalry would charge and break formations, while light cavalry would use their speed to encircle the enemy, forming an unbeatable duo.
Though barricades could cause trouble for cavalry, they were not fatal.
Jiang Pengji’s heavy cavalry was equipped with heavy horses, clad in thick armor, which she had refined multiple times, making them nearly invulnerable. Every joint was concealed, the armor was nearly half a finger’s thickness. Unless the enemy archers were exceptionally skilled, able to hit the eyes of a mount or a rider from a great distance, it would be hard to inflict lethal damage. Their armor was crafted from bronze or fine iron; ordinary arrows couldn’t pierce such formidable defenses.
To put it bluntly, Jiang Pengji would call these heavy cavalry a bunch of iron turtles, slow-moving with no other flaws.
When thousands of heavy cavalry charged, they could even send barricades flying.
However, heavy cavalry had distinct weaknesses: poor durability, questionable endurance, and slow speed.
If they got entangled by the enemy, they were as good as lambs to the slaughter.
Light cavalry sacrificed defense for speed, moving like the wind, currently the most agile unit known.
Wei Ying had researched Jiang Pengji and was well aware of her trump cards. Seeing both heavy and light cavalry deployed, he knew Qi Guanrang and the others intended to settle things decisively. Thus, he was extra cautious. He coordinated commands, but battlefields change rapidly, relying largely on the commander’s performance. General Nie observed the heavy cavalry wanting to be armed to the teeth and immediately adapted his tactics.
“Chop their horse legs, stab their horse eyes!” The general was no novice with cavalry; while they seemed fearsome, if you kept them from charging in formation, they lost most of their threat. “Lasso them; focus on the enemy cavalry’s arms and heads!”
Heavy cavalry on horseback was terrifying, but once dismounted, they were less of a threat. Burdened by their hefty armor, it drained most of their energy. If heavy cavalry fell from their mounts, they lost their speed and power, making them easier to kill.
Of course, that was the theoretical tactic.
In practice, there’s a huge gap between theory and reality; the heavy cavalry don’t operate solo but move in groups!
The combined weight of a rider and horse is about 800 to 1000 kilograms, while an Asian elephant weighs between three to five tons. When heavy cavalry charged en masse, they ignored the enemy’s barricades, charging through a hail of arrows. There’s no way a few dozen soldiers could stop them!
Breaking through the barricades and charging into the crowd, the first unlucky soul was smashed, their ribs fracturing, their head splitting open; they were as dead as could be.
The cleavers wielded by the heavy cavalry were specially made, broad-bladed with long handles, sharp enough to sever heads like cutting tofu. Over a thousand heavy cavalry surged through as if in an empty field, brushing off any light resistance they encountered.
The heavy cavalry’s performance was stellar, and the light cavalry wouldn’t fall behind.
Cavalry, especially light cavalry, had one aggravating quality: they would strike when they wanted, but by the time you wanted to retaliate, they’d already bolted far away. How could two-legged soldiers compete with four-legged horses? Even worse, they were swift-moving live targets, hard to aim at.
Archery isn’t something easily mastered; those skilled marksmen capable of hitting every target can’t remain ordinary archers for life.
Most of the time, archers just shoot arrows towards the enemy’s direction, causing indiscriminate damage through a rain of arrows. If one arrow missed, fire off a few more; even a blind cat can catch a rat now and then, and some arrows will inevitably find their mark.
Qi Guanrang sending out light and heavy cavalry to take the lead wasn’t to send them as fodder to clash head-on with the enemy.
He knew the most valuable troops under their lord were these very cavalry.
Both men and horses need to eat; every competent cavalry soldier was trained at great expense.
The primary goal of cavalry in battle is to exert psychological pressure on the enemy, causing them to falter.
At the same time, it buys time for subsequent reinforcements to arrive.
Keeping the enemy unstable and delaying until the main force pushes through.
However, the enemy also had cavalry; the Nie Clan was richer than Jiang Pengji, with a sizeable cavalry force as well.
Qi Guanrang noticed the enemy stabilizing and beginning their counterattack, immediately ordered a retreat to minimize losses.
Light cavalry swept the area, blocking enemy pursuers while heavy cavalry covered the retreat.
Losing even a few of these golden nuggets would sting.
“Kill!”
Seeing this, Wei Ying’s expression turned icy.
The battle raged on as dawn began to break on the horizon.
The two armies clashed through the night, with both sides maintaining high spirits, fiercely entangled from the start, fighting for life and death.
The Nie army was bolstered by a small victory, their morale soaring, while Jiang Pengji’s troops were confident, fighting with fervor.
At the same time, Jiang Pengji and her remaining soldiers were striking down Fan Chen’s forces.
Originally, Fan Chen had about two to one odds over them, but now their numbers had evened out.
“Pah!”
Spitting out a mouthful of residual blood, Jiang Pengji revealed a sinister grin.
This night had been truly satisfying; in front of her were enemies, all around, heads rolling, and importantly, no one could outdo her.
“It’s been a while since I felt this good while killing!”
Bai Ning was getting on in years and had also sustained serious injuries; after a long night, fatigue showed on his face.
Hearing the lord’s words, he couldn’t help but chuckle weakly.
If they were to count the corpses on the battlefield, a third of them would likely have fallen to her blade alone.
Under her divine blade, no one was left alive; if she struck, it meant death, each blow aimed at the enemy’s vital points.
“Fortunately, it’s our lord,” Qin Gong couldn’t help but comment, “If it were the enemy… it would likely be a nightmare.”
