The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 801 The Final Battle on the Grasslands
Chuluo Khan kept his eyes fixed on the Sui army's formation, but he failed to notice the Sui army's most powerful long-range weapon.

In other words, they didn't see any archers or crossbowmen; their opponents were directly facing the Sui army's heavily armored infantry.

Chuluo Khan was secretly pleased. Perhaps the tactics of the grasslands had greatly reduced the lethality of the enemy's arrows, so the enemy simply abandoned them.

But Chuluo Khan was still not entirely at ease, so he decided to test the waters first.

He glanced back at the soldiers who were ready and decisively ordered, "Order the 10,000th cavalry to prepare for attack!"

“Woo—woo—”

A deep horn sounded across the grassland, excited warhorses snorted loudly, spears were raised with a whoosh, swords were drawn, and the Turkic army launched its attack.

The 10,000 cavalrymen launched their first probing attack, like a raging torrent bursting forth from a breached dam, charging fiercely towards the Sui army.

The Sui army remained as still as Mount Tai, not moving an inch. Only the crossbowmen slowly raised their crossbows, extending them into the air at a 30-degree angle. There were five rows of crossbowmen, each row two steps apart. They would fire when the enemy was 250 paces away, attacking the enemy in five rounds.

The thrower prepared to fire, but the enemy charged closer and closer, their galloping horses forming a black wall of horses.

Li Jing's brows furrowed even more deeply. What was the enemy doing sending only 10,000 cavalry? Did they intend for the Sui army to devour them piecemeal? Impossible. They couldn't be unaware of the Sui army's formidable heavy infantry, yet they sent 10,000 cavalry to their deaths.

Li Jing vaguely realized that the enemy's tactics were not so simple, and that they were most likely cavalry sent to probe.

Li Jing stared intently at the main force of the Turkic army three miles away. He gritted his teeth and said, "No arrows or grenades are allowed to be fired, and no throwing soldiers are allowed to throw them either!"

The crossbow bolts were slowly lowered; the five thousand powerful bolts remained unfired. The enemy continued their advance, now two hundred paces ahead. At this moment, the Turkic commander leading the first wave of the attack roared, "Kill!"

The 10,000 cavalrymen suddenly accelerated, galloping rapidly towards the Sui army's formation.

Li Jing shouted, "Heavy infantry, engage in battle!"

Ten thousand heavily armored infantrymen raised their long-handled swords, crouching down. The ten thousand incredibly sharp swords were pointed at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, their hilts pressed against the ground.

Chuluo Khan was overjoyed. The enemy had no bows or crossbows. He brandished his sword and shouted, "Main force, prepare to attack!"

"Woo-wu-wu-"

The bugle sounded again, and the warhorses of the main force of 80,000 Turkic cavalry pounded the ground powerfully, as if dark clouds were gathering in the sky, preparing for an attack.
At this moment, the vanguard of 10,000 cavalry had already reached the front of the Sui army's main formation, with the heavily armored infantry bearing the brunt of the attack.

They were met with an overwhelming charge of ten thousand Turkic cavalry. The first thing they encountered was a barrage of short spears whistling through the air. The sharp spears could not penetrate the heavy armor of the Mo Dao soldiers. They formed a tight human wall, using collective strength to resist the first wave of Turkic attack.

With a deafening roar, a massive wave crashed down like a raging torrent, sending shockwaves scattering in all directions. Dozens of Mo Dao soldiers were knocked over, but the Mo Dao soldiers in the back immediately filled their gaps.

The heavy infantry commander, Xiao Tiancheng, roared and slashed down with his gleaming broadsword, splitting a cavalry centurion and his horse in two. Blood splattered, internal organs rolled out, and the stench of blood and gore filled the air.

The heavily armored infantrymen wielded their long swords, their incredibly sharp blades cutting down soldiers and warhorses, causing heads to roll and blood to flow like rivers. Behind them, the Turkic army hurled countless short spears at the Mo Dao troops, as dense as a torrential rain, but these sharp spears still had no effect whatsoever.

The heavy infantry's formidable fighting power inflicted heavy casualties on the Turks. The soldiers were all tall and imposing, and their gleaming broadswords seemed to be the natural enemy of cavalry. It was clear that the Turkic cavalry had suffered heavy losses and could not break through the formation of 10,000 heavy infantrymen.

But Chuluo Khan remained unmoved. He had originally planned to sacrifice 10,000 cavalry as a prelude to cover his main force of 80,000 troops.

"Woo——"

The bugle call to attack sounded, as if the winds of war had suddenly shifted. The main force of the Turkic army launched its attack. The bugle calls resounded through the sky, and the sound of horses' hooves rolled across the plains like thunder. Eighty thousand soldiers surged out. Chuluo Khan brandished his sword, pointed ahead, and roared hoarsely, "Charge!"

Eighty thousand cavalrymen swept across the land, causing the earth to tremble.

Li Jing, staring at the ever-growing enemy main force, shouted an order: "Prepare to fire the arrows and grenades!"

Five thousand archers swiftly raised their crossbows, the cold arrowheads aimed at the sweeping Turkic army, the crossbowmen constantly adjusting their firing distance through the lookout. "Three hundred paces... two hundred and fifty paces..."

"Fire!" Li Jing gave the order to fire. The first volley of a thousand arrows soared into the air, disappearing in an instant, rushing into the enemy ranks with a whistling sound. The Turkic cavalry reacted extremely quickly, scrambling into their horses' bellies.

"Boom! Boom!"

A series of violent explosions rang out among the cavalry, interspersed with the screams of countless soldiers and the neighing of warhorses.

The stingers were so dense that the Turkic soldiers and their horses couldn't dodge them. They were all struck by the stingers, and countless soldiers fell from under their horses' bellies, trampled into a bloody pulp by the raging horses.

Then came the second, third, fourth, and fifth rounds, with a deluge of arrows and thunderbolts whistling through the air, exploding among tens of thousands of soldiers, the poison nails so dense they made it hard to breathe.

The Sui army used a five-round firing method to make the poisoned nails strike the enemy more effectively.

The Turkic army suffered extremely heavy casualties; the first volley of arrows cost nearly 20,000 men with poisoned nails, but the effects were not immediately apparent.

At the same time, the throwers hurled the iron fire mines, and five thousand iron fire mines exploded in front of the ten thousand Turks, which was much more powerful than throwing short spears.

After a thunderous explosion, only less than 3,000 of the 10,000 cavalrymen remained, fighting fiercely against the Sui army's heavy infantry.

Chuluo Khan's face turned deathly pale as he watched helplessly as large numbers of warhorses and cavalry fell to the ground, the poison gas flowing rapidly through their blood beginning to take effect.

All the warhorses and cavalrymen struck by the poisoned nails fell to the ground, writhing in agony on the ground less than a hundred paces from the Sui army.

At this moment, the Sui army launched its second volley of arrows and grenades. This time, five thousand arrows and grenades were launched at once, rising into the air like a swarm of locusts and densely attacking the Turkic cavalry behind them.

All the Turkic cavalrymen screamed in terror.

They were only three hundred paces away from the Sui army's position. Three hundred paces would only take a dozen seconds for the powerful Turkic warhorses to cross, but these short three hundred paces became the source of nightmares for hundreds of thousands of Turkic cavalry.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen appeared so weak and vulnerable in the face of five thousand arrows and grenades. In the violent explosion, hundreds of poisoned nails were powerfully ejected, and none of the cavalrymen and warhorses within three zhang of the cavalry survived.

Poisoned nails pierced through the leather armor and went straight through the bodies of the Turkic soldiers. The deadly poison flowed rapidly in their blood, and the extreme fear and stinging pain caused many of them to faint.

Before long, 25,000 cavalrymen were thrown about, their horses neighing and falling, their bodies riddled with holes from which blood gushed, struggling on the brink of death.

The first batch of poisoned warhorses died foaming at the mouth, with soldiers dying in the same agony beneath them.

The powerful arrows, thunderbolts, and poisoned nails not only pierced through the cavalry and their horses, but also threw the tens of thousands of cavalry behind them into chaos. The Turkic cavalry in the rear suffered a huge blow to their morale. In an instant, all the Turkic cavalry were in despair, turned their horses around, and fled for their lives at all costs.

"Eternal Heaven!"

The distant Chuluo Khan witnessed the power of the arrows and thunderbolts with his own eyes. He screamed in terror. When Ashina Danai had described the power of the Sui army's arrows and thunderbolts to him, he felt that Ashina Danai was just shirking responsibility. But now, he saw this terrifying scene with his own eyes.

More than half of the 80,000 elite Turkic cavalrymen were killed or wounded in two rounds of powerful arrow and torpedo attacks by the enemy. In just 300 paces, not a single one of them could break through, and the first 10,000 cavalrymen were all killed by the Sui army's heavy infantry.

The enemy army retreated, and Li Jing brandished his sword and shouted, "Cavalry, attack!"

The two legs of the "只"-shaped formation were 40,000 cavalry, with 20,000 on each side.

"Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Amidst the fierce sound of war drums, Yuchi Gong and Su Dingfang each led 20,000 cavalrymen in a massive attack on the retreating Turkic cavalry.

Twenty miles away, Pei Xingyan was leading an army of fifty thousand men, waiting for the defeated army to arrive.

(End of this chapter)