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Thus, this force of over two hundred cavalrymen, who had mustered their remaining courage and wanted to vent their anger on Zhang Shan and his men, not only failed to achieve their goal, but also suffered another baptism of death from javelins.

In the end, fewer than a hundred riders remained standing.

Even the few dozen riders who remained had their morale completely shattered by these successive defeats.

Some stood there blankly, unsure of what to do.

Some looked at each other, their faces obscured by armor, yet their expressions were already overflowing with a sense of bewilderment and despair.

Most of them, however, did not linger for even a moment, following the example of the vast majority of cavalry, and quickly scattered and fled.

This situation was not unique to Zhang Shan and his cavalry team.

Instead, as the 360 ​​cavalry teams of 100 men each quickly dispersed, similar scenarios began to unfold in every corner of this wasteland.

Those teams that escaped the range of the Black Wind Army's death javelins at the first moment, or those that regrouped due to "inertia".

Or perhaps it is a new core that quickly coalesces during the escape, relying on the strong personal strength, prestige, or command ability of certain individuals.

Before they could fully gain momentum, they were pounced on by cavalry units of the "Black Wind Army" like hungry wolves.

They quickly showered death javelins onto their heads.

In terms of killing efficiency alone, this is also the best target for the "Black Wind Army" that has transformed into a wolf pack.

Compared to the scattered and fleeing soldiers, those who quickly regrouped naturally regained a dense and orderly formation.

For the "Black Wind Army," which is better at regional coverage than precision strikes, this is like the "prey" being delivered to their doorstep in the most considerate and appropriate way.

If you don't take a big bite, you'll be doing them a disservice.

However, not all enemy cavalry were fleeing.

Perhaps they were confident in their own strength, because the javelins that were thrown from about 500 paces away did not pose much of a threat to them.

Perhaps they were driven by an overwhelming sense of honor, or genuinely loyal and courageous individuals willing to die for Dong Guan's cause, or perhaps they were simply blinded by greed...

Regardless of the reason, there were always some iron cavalrymen who, against the "iron torrent" of scattered fleeing soldiers, would actively counterattack against the "Black Wind Army" cavalry that was continuously pursuing and hunting them.

However, doing so usually yields futile results.

Those who were lucky only made futile pursuits; their movements were even slower, and they couldn't get within three hundred paces of the more agile and nimble "Black Wind Army" cavalry.

In the hopeless pursuit, he could only slowly wear down his patience and squander the limited stamina of his Xuanyou horse.

Those less fortunate will suffer more powerful and accurate spear strikes, losing their lives in vain.

Of course, in such a massive battlefield, all sorts of unexpected situations can occur.

Whether by accident of being separated from their pack or by being caught off guard and attacked by the overwhelmingly powerful cavalry, people continued to fall and die in the relentless pursuit and attacks after the "Black Wind Army" dispersed into a wolf pack.

However, such damage is negligible on a vast, increasingly large battlefield with over 100,000 participants.

For the "Black Wind Army," this was still a complete and thorough victory.

Because of the large number of Azure Sea Sand Eagles scouting in the air, even if the scattered fleeing groups managed to escape dozens of miles away and manage to get out of the sight of the "hungry wolves," they could not escape the keen eyesight of the Azure Sea Sand Eagles high in the sky.

As the game progressed, the difference in physical abilities between the two mounts, both being Xuanyou horses, became increasingly apparent.

Both sides' mounts were becoming increasingly fatigued due to the continuous high-intensity exercise, and their speed gradually declined from its peak.

But it was precisely during this "ebb tide" that the advantages of the "Black Wind Army" cavalry were brought into full play.

Peak speeds are faster, maintained for longer, and the decline in speed due to fatigue is slower...

All these factors combined resulted in the Black Wind Army cavalry having a clear advantage over the enemy's iron cavalry as the game progressed.

Compared to the state of the Xuanyou horse, the morale of the enemy riders plummeted to rock bottom first.

My spirits were completely shattered.

Many cavalrymen, while fleeing, suddenly gave up.

He just stood there, with an attitude of "do whatever you want with me."

Some roared and turned back to their deaths.

It was only at this point that the "Black Wind Army" cavalry began to accept surrenders and prisoners.

The success rate is surprisingly high.

If we start counting from when the "Black Wind Army" threw out the first wave of death javelins, less than an hour has passed.

From the sky, the battlefield begins to spread irregularly in all directions from the point where the two sides clashed.

This irregular diffusion trend is most pronounced in the eastward direction.

However, although the battlefield was constantly expanding in all directions, the Black Wind Army cavalry used their speed advantage to continuously suppress and interfere with the enemy cavalry's escape routes, preventing them from rushing straight in one direction. Instead, they had to flee in one direction while turning left, right, or even turning around to escape in another direction.

The purpose of doing this was twofold: first, to deplete the enemy cavalry's horsepower as much as possible, and second, to limit the scope of the battlefield as much as possible.

To prevent the entire battlefield from spreading "unrestrainedly" in all directions.

Because the Black Wind Army's disadvantage is its limited manpower, the larger the battlefield, the more difficult it is for the cavalry to coordinate and cooperate with each other, and the control over the entire battlefield will continue to decline as a result.

This complete control is lost once the battlefield exceeds a certain threshold.

When the Black Wind Army cavalry began to accept all surrenders and prisoners, the battlefield had expanded to a radius of hundreds of miles.

This is also the limit that the "Black Wind Army" cavalry can control.

Even so, the "Black Wind Army," which had already achieved a glorious victory, was unable to completely swallow up the 120,000 enemy cavalry.

If we broaden our perspective further, we can see that there are many "escaped fish" in the wilderness hundreds of miles away.

Some were simply lucky; the Black Wind Army, with its limited forces, never considered them as targets.

Some are simply too strong individually.

Some, on the other hand, wisely discarded all their armor and other unnecessary burdens during their escape, thus achieving a faster escape speed.

In fact, as long as you are lucky enough to escape the first wave of deadly javelins, and then make the decision to "discard your armor and weapons" immediately, you will most likely be able to escape alive.

Even if the pursuing "Black Wind Army" cavalry saw them, they would wisely prioritize those companions who were slower and more sluggish in their escape.

Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the fewest of these enemy cavalrymen who managed to escape fled to the north or west.

The number of people fleeing south was greater than those fleeing north or west, but it was still very limited.

The largest number of them fled eastward, in the direction of their main base.

Moreover, the cavalry that successfully escaped from other directions, once they realized they had completely shaken off their pursuers, would consciously begin to converge towards the main camp in the east. Because of this general trend, as the fleeing forces got closer to the main camp, the previously scattered groups began to gather again, and their size continued to increase.

Although exhausted, the riders, having survived the ordeal, found some solace in the sight of the ever-growing army around them, which had brought them to the brink of utter collapse.

Someone did some statistics and found that the size of the team had "easily" recovered to more than 10,000 cavalry, and the size of their cavalry continued to increase as they got closer to the main camp.

"At this rate, we should be able to gather 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry."

"Let's be optimistic. Once all the scattered troops return, we might be able to gather 30,000 to 40,000 cavalry." A former commander of 10,000 cavalry said to another commander of 10,000 cavalry beside him, half-jokingly and half-comfortingly.

This is also a very "interesting" phenomenon.

Among the 120,000 iron cavalry, the group that suffered the most losses was those whose cultivation level was below the Marrow Refining stage.

Within the pyramid-shaped iron cavalry formation, they were not only the largest in number, but also the weakest in terms of cultivation level, and wore the lowest quality armor.

Their adaptability, ability to escape... they are the worst in every aspect.

When a fatal blow comes, they are naturally the first group to collapse.

On the contrary, those with combat power above the Marrow Refinement level, especially those in the late Marrow Refinement stage, the peak Marrow Refinement stage, and even those with combat power at or above the First Realm Perfection level, can basically escape unscathed as long as they don't actively seek death.

This has created the extremely "interesting" scene we see now. Despite having just suffered a devastating blow, their average strength has actually increased compared to before their defeat.

The density of combat power above the Marrow Refinement level is unprecedented in Dong Guan's Xuan You Iron Cavalry since its inception.

This reality helped those who were in despair just moments before to cheer up a little.

Some who are more open-minded have even started to speculate on the future course of the battle.

"After this defeat, Youzhou cannot withstand it."

"I hope Your Majesty can bear such a terrible loss."

...However, we managed to gather as many troops as possible despite the relentless pursuit.

It would be completely unreasonable for them to get angry at us again.

"After we return this time, we must persuade the emperor to immediately move to Xuanzhou and take everything we can with us, especially the troops gathered in Youzhou."

If we gather all the troops within Xuanzhou and add the 30,000 to 40,000 cavalry we brought back, we can barely manage to gather a little over 100,000 Xuanyou Iron Cavalry.

With the navy blockading the waterways, stabilizing Xuanzhou for the time being shouldn't be a problem. "Someone said optimistically.

Some people are optimistic, while others are pessimistic.

"You can amass nearly 100,000 Xuanyou Iron Cavalry? What good is that?"

Isn't this experience enough to explain everything?

The enemy has already mastered a method specifically designed to counter us. In the face of those terrifying javelins, the Xuanyou Iron Cavalry are nothing more than a bunch of stupid sitting ducks.

"Besides getting beaten and dying, there's nothing else they can do!"

These words caused the spirits that had just begun to revive in many people to begin to wane once again.

Some people even felt resentful that they were "born at the wrong time".

Before today, they all had this confidence in their hearts—the Xuanyou Iron Cavalry was the strongest field army in the world!

If they were to meet in the wild, the Xuanyou Iron Cavalry could sweep aside all the powerful armies in the world.

From Dong Guan, who single-handedly created this powerful army, to every commander, to every rider and soldier, there was a shared vision—

They wielded an indestructible and all-powerful blade, which was still being continuously forged and refined.

They were confident that such a sharp blade would one day be tested and smash across the land.

The reason we waited until this year to take action was never because the blade itself wasn't powerful enough, but because we were worried that other supporting aspects wouldn't keep up.

But now, their "peerless divine weapon," forged over decades from top to bottom, has been rendered useless by a special attack weapon specifically designed to counter it, before it has even been truly unsheathed.

The dreams of countless people, decades of hard work, all gone in an instant.

Let alone Dong Guan, even they, who didn't feel the urge to vomit blood?
The feeling was as if someone had spent decades cultivating a peerless martial art that could sweep across the world.

As a result, just when he had mastered his superb skills and was ready to make a big splash, he was killed at his doorstep by an unknown young man with a kitchen knife.

As everyone immersed themselves in this fantasy, a wave of negative emotions, like the collapse of three rivers and the overflowing of five seas, began to spread throughout the group.

Just then, someone suddenly burst into laughter.

After everyone's eyes turned to him, he said:

"Have you noticed that that terrifying throwing technique is only most effective against iron cavalry!"

Once we also remove our armor and fight as lightly as they do, the enemy cavalry's advantage gained through superior throwing skills will actually diminish!

Upon hearing him say this, many people's first reaction was that this guy was just spouting nonsense and only meant to comfort them.

We must not let the morale of the people, who are on the verge of falling apart, completely collapse.

However, some intelligent people, inspired by these words, began to think deeply.

Soon, people began to show expressions of sudden realization.

Then, those who hadn't yet figured it out, reminded by their companions, gradually came to their senses.

The reason behind this is actually quite simple.

Since the armor no longer offers any advantage against the enemy cavalry's deadly throws and has become a pure burden, then it's best to take it off.

In this way, both sides have returned to the same level in terms of flexibility and agility.

At first glance, the enemy's javelins still seemed like a deadly threat.

However, if we look at it from a different perspective, we'll find that we can also use the same methods to retaliate!

Admittedly, our side doesn't possess the same terrifying throwing technique as the enemy, which can easily tear through even the armor of the Xuanyou Iron Cavalry.

However, the enemy cavalry were not wearing armor either.

To be precise, there was absolutely no defense whatsoever.

In other words, as long as a javelin or other weapon can be thrown five or six hundred paces away, it is enough to pose an equal threat.

Even if its power is weaker, it poses a limited threat to those riders.

However, for the largest Xuan You horses, the damage caused by a simple throwing knife and a terrifying javelin is actually about the same!
If you can reach it, you can hurt it!
In a sense, both sides have become "fragile." (End of Chapter)