Catching Monsters

Chapter 513 A Great Victory is Imminent
In an instant, five thousand cavalrymen galloped past, raising clouds of dust in their wake. Before long, darkness fell, and the five thousand cavalrymen were about to arrive.

From a distance, one could see an endless rebel army of more than 200,000 people.

At this time, the rebel army was preparing to set up camp. Upon noticing the approaching cavalry, the soldiers on guard quickly sounded the horn.

After the bugle call for the enemy attack sounded, the news quickly reached Wang Longzhi, Xiao Min'er, and others in the center of the army.

"What? A cavalry force of about five thousand men is charging from the west?" Wang Longzhi's expression changed slightly upon hearing the news.

At this time, the tent he was in was almost set up.

"How could there be a full five thousand cavalrymen?"

Five thousand cavalrymen is by no means a small number. Xiao Min'er, standing beside her, slowly said, "The Zhou court is taking this battle very seriously. Five thousand warhorses are probably all the Zhou court can muster in such a short time."

Xiao Min'er frowned and said, "We can't let the cavalry charge. Quickly, hide the chevaux-de-frise among the troops. As soon as they stop the warhorses, kill them on the spot."

At this point, it's too late to place a large number of chevaux-de-frise. However, if the chevaux-de-frise are placed in the middle of the army, they will collide with the enemy as long as the warhorses keep charging.

"drive!"

Xu Xiaogang's 5,000 cavalrymen quickly charged to the west side of the more than 200,000-strong army, and then, without slowing down, they charged directly into the enemy camp.

Five thousand cavalrymen, a dark mass, galloped in, displaying an unstoppable momentum.

Xu Xiaogang rode his horse and quickly knocked over two soldiers blocking his way. The horse's momentum did not diminish, and it continued forward.

With such a large-scale cavalry charge, there was practically no need for mounted soldiers to kill the enemy.

The sheer chaos caused by the trampling of charging warhorses was enough to give the enemy a hard time.

However, after a period of charging, many rebel soldiers in front also held rattan shields and spears in their right hands, inserting the ends of the spears into the mud behind them, waiting for the warhorses to charge up so they could aim their spears at the horses.

The power of a warhorse charging forward is such that if it crashes into a spear, it will die.

This is also one of the few ways that infantry can deal with cavalry in open terrain.

In an instant, countless warhorses fell to the ground, and the swords and blades of the surrounding rebel soldiers swiftly slashed at the fallen soldiers.

"drive!"

Once the cavalry charge was stopped by the infantry, the next step was to withdraw and launch another charge.

While fending off the spear thrusts from the surrounding rebels, Xu Xiaogang also ordered a retreat, preparing for the next charge.

Soon, the cavalrymen retreated, leaving behind corpses scattered everywhere.

Xu Xiaogang glanced at the scene and saw that in this single charge, their 5,000 cavalrymen had lost nearly 700 men.

Of course, the enemy's casualties would naturally be much higher than theirs.

After riding five miles away, everyone turned their horses around again, preparing to charge.

Just before the second wave of attacks was about to begin, Xu Xiaogang looked at Qin Hong, who had been closely following him. He wiped the blood from his face and said in a deep voice, "Eunuch Qin, you don't need to protect me anymore. Find a way to get into the army and find Wang Longzhi."

"Then, Qi Da, all of you Imperial Guards, await Eunuch Qin's signal."

"It would be best if Eunuch Qin could successfully kill Wang Longzhi, but it would be even better if Wang Longzhi had a master protecting him."

"You shall follow the signal and go forth; your objective shall be to kill Wang Longzhi."

Qi Da and his group of Imperial Guards suffered limited casualties, as these Imperial Guards were all top-notch experts with martial arts skills.

Even against such elite soldiers, they are capable of taking on five or ten opponents at once.

Upon hearing this, Qin Hong frowned slightly and said to Xu Xiaogang, "Lord Xu, if I leave, what about your safety...?"

"Killing Wang Longzhi is the most important thing." Xu Xiaogang took a deep breath and said, "Don't worry, Eunuch Qin, the men of our Zhenguo Duke family don't die so easily on the battlefield."

"Okay." Qin Hong nodded slightly in agreement.

Immediately afterward, Xu Xiaogang brandished his sword and roared, "Charge!"

The second wave of the offensive has begun.

As dusk approached, Wang Longzhi continued to issue orders, dispatching elite troops to reinforce the west. "One charge has caused us nearly six thousand casualties." Wang Longzhi frowned as he looked at the battle report, but he was well aware of the situation.

With 5,000 cavalrymen charging in such a round, only 6,000 were killed or wounded, which is already quite good.

This was still an army of over 200,000. The number of people was simply too large. After the cavalry charged a certain distance, they would stop and be blocked by the human wall of rebel soldiers. After losing momentum, their power was limited.

If this cavalry force could charge straight through the main army in one go, flanking and continuously attacking.

That's how you can inflict maximum damage on cavalry.

At this moment, a general rushed over from a distance and hurriedly said, "General, the man who led that cavalry charge is Xu Xiaogang."

"Xu Xiaogang? Did you see clearly?" Upon hearing these three words, Wang Longzhi frowned slightly.

The general nodded repeatedly and said, "When I was still in the capital, I saw him twice at the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment venue), so I shouldn't be mistaken."

Wang Longzhi said slowly with a calm expression, "He does have quite the courage, as the commander-in-chief, he actually led the troops to charge personally."

"We must capture Xu Xiaogang alive." Wang Longzhi paused. "If we really can't capture him alive, I'll take him dead."

"Yes." After receiving the order, the general's eyes lit up, and he quickly turned and left.

At this moment, although the entire army was able to barely cope with the cavalry charge led by Xu Xiaogang, it was actually in a state of considerable chaos.

It was getting dark, and many soldiers had begun to light torches for illumination.

"It's getting dark." Wang Longzhi looked up at the sky and said in a deep voice, "It's probably going to be difficult to get through this night smoothly."

Xiao Min'er, who had been silent all along, suddenly raised her head and whispered to Wang Longzhi, "Longzhi, let's prepare to attack Daqiu City again by the light of the moon!"

Xiao Min'er was not prepared to sit idly by and wait for her death. After dark, with Xu Xiaogang's cavalry constantly harassing her, not only would her casualties be heavy, but the chaos and trampling caused by the soldiers would likely result in even greater losses.

Upon hearing Xiao Min'er's words, Wang Longzhi's expression changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "It is unrealistic to organize a siege during a night march."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Min'er frowned, took a deep breath, and said, "Is there any other way? If we just sit here and wait to die..."

"Don't worry about it, Min'er." Wang Longzhi patted her shoulder and said in a deep voice, "I'll figure something out."

Soon, many torches and bonfires were lit.

Without tents, the temperature dropped sharply at night, but there was no time to set up tents.

Because Xu Xiaogang's cavalry was still charging, after dark they lit bonfires and torches, which made it easier for Xu Xiaogang's large cavalry to attack.

……

On the dark plains, Qin Ziliang's 30,000 Zhenchi soldiers and Zhang Han's 30,000 rebel troops were locked in a fierce battle.

In the darkness, the glint of swords flashed incessantly.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but overall, the Zhenchi Army was superior.

At this time, the 30,000 troops led by the rebel Zhang Han had suffered more than a third casualties.

In cold weapon warfare, a casualty rate of one-third means that the morale of the troops is about to collapse.

Zhang Han also personally took up a long sword and went into battle to kill the enemy.

Amid the chaos, some of the rebel soldiers on the fringes had reached their physical and morale limits and began to flee into the distance.

On the battlefield, if anyone takes the lead in turning around and running away, it will trigger a chain reaction.

In addition, it was nighttime and time was tight, so no supervisory team could be arranged.

The rebel forces also began to scatter and flee, unable to hold out any longer.

Upon receiving news that 30,000 rebel troops were collapsing, Qin Ziliang's eyes lit up. If he could defeat these 30,000 troops, he could then pursue them and attack the main rebel army.

A resounding victory is within reach.

(End of this chapter)