Tiger Guards

Chapter 513 Solving the Western Front
Before long, the Xianbei cavalry, heading south, galloped lightly across a distance of more than three miles.

However, Zhao Ji had no intention of confronting them. He led his iron cavalry to stand still, while behind them were two suicide squads of a thousand men each, one yellow and one white, riding eastward.

The sleds and armored vehicles moved in single file and soon joined the eastern battlefield.

Meanwhile, the Xianbei cavalry on the eastern battlefield also charged south.

Looking at the Xianbei cavalry formation that was beginning to surge four or five miles to the northeast, Zhao Ji felt that the more he fought, the more passive he became, as if he could not kill them all.

There was nothing he could do about it; visibility was impaired during the night battle, and he couldn't use his personal martial prowess to significantly demoralize the Xianbei people.

In other words, the five or six thousand, or even more, Xianbei cavalrymen who are now launching the charge are still in high spirits, filled with a desire for victory, rather than fighting perfunctorily.

Zhao Ji turned his head to look at the Iron Knights behind him. Not to mention them, he would feel sorry for even the ordinary Tiger Infantry soldiers who died in battle.

The centurion of the iron cavalry rode forward: "Grand Marshal?"

"Follow me, don't fall behind."

Zhao Ji gripped his sword tightly, turned and looked ahead: "Quickly defeat them. The Xianbei central army will not be able to react in time. Our army will take advantage of the situation to launch a surprise attack and we will surely win."

"The turning point to victory is right in front of us!"

Zhao Ji raised his sword high and lightly kicked the horse's belly. The iron cavalry behind him accelerated, forming a wedge formation with Zhao Ji as the vanguard.

The Xianbei cavalry were barely able to control their horses' speed, attempting to maintain a neat charging formation.

Upon seeing over a hundred Han cavalrymen charging in, the warriors of the Xianbei cavalry could no longer restrain themselves. They spurred their horses and accelerated, attempting to be the first to engage the Han cavalry.

Thus, the Xianbei cavalry formation formed four or five salients, each accelerating and unwilling to fall too far behind.

At this moment, the two suicide squads of a thousand men each from the Qing and Hong Banners, led by Li Ying, also emerged from the western gap, assembled independently, and lined up in formation facing northeast.

Seeing that Zhao Ji's hundred cavalrymen were outnumbered, Li Ying hesitated for a long time before finally shouting to his men, "In accordance with the Grand Marshal's order, the entire army shall advance eastward to crush the enemy cavalry to the east!"

Having said that, Li Ying whipped his horse and drove the sled chariot eastward.

The sled teams also sped up... Most of them lacked enthusiasm for rescuing Zhao Ji.

At this moment, Zhao Ji once again held his breath and focused his mind, gripping the double-edged sword with both hands and pointing it forward. The double-edged sword vibrated gently and dissipated the force as the warhorse swayed.

Opposite him was a Xianbei warrior, also dressed in full armor, his lance steadily aimed at Zhao Ji's chest, the blade swaying rhythmically and slightly with the horse's movements.

Without any hesitation, the two sides collided.

Zhao Ji reacted faster and adjusted his weapon more precisely. He parried the opponent's spear with his horse-slaying sword, accurately pierced the opponent's eye socket with his face armor, and quickly and smoothly slammed it in, cutting off half of the head. After that, the horse-slaying sword pulled the opponent's face armor away and quickly swung, piercing the neck of another Xianbei armored knight.

The armored knight reacted quickly, discarding his lance and grabbing the hilt of the horse-slaying sword with both hands.

But as the blade of the horse-slaying sword pierced his neck first, his hands immediately lost control. After passing Zhao Ji, his entire body lost its balance and fell off the horse, where he was quickly trampled by the Xianbei cavalry that came from behind.

None of the Xianbei armored knights at the forefront of the battle could withstand Zhao Ji's sword strike. He used a double-edged horse-slaying sword because of its wide attack range!

Whether it's slashing on foot or thrusting and slashing on horseback, it can be fatal in one strike!
Behind Zhao Ji, the centurion of the Iron Cavalry held a long spear. Zhao Ji dealt with the troublesome and fierce enemy cavalry, while he occasionally thrust and attacked those enemy cavalry who passed by and failed to seize the opportunity to attack.

These Xianbei cavalrymen, unable to attack Zhao Ji head-on, tried to get as close as possible, their outstretched arms piercing the voices of the knights behind Zhao Ji.

Both sides thrust at each other, and if the thrust hits, given the armor-piercing power of the cavalry spears, blood will inevitably be drawn in a head-on confrontation.

However, the Xianbei cavalry misjudged Zhao Ji's assault capabilities, resulting in them being unable to react in time when adjusting their attack angle.

In the fleeting moment between them, there was only one chance to make a move.

The Iron Knights had long been trained in this area, and were almost in a state of using stillness to control movement. The Xianbei armored knights who passed by on both sides did not react in time, and the Iron Knights were able to strike calmly.

Even if the stab misses, the person behind can follow up with another stab until the opponent is hit.

The Xianbei cavalry that participated in the charge may have numbered three thousand, but in reality, only about three hundred Xianbei knights were able to encounter Zhao Ji's hundred-cavalry force during the charge and have the opportunity to attack each other, which could not have exceeded four hundred.

In this way, Zhao Ji's 100 cavalrymen broke through the enemy lines, and every one of them was covered in blood.

Zhao Ji reined in his horse, raising his sword high in his right hand to signal for a regrouping. He now enjoyed a rare moment of peace; the battlefield's clamor had largely subsided. Casually scanning the surrounding iron knights, he couldn't discern their injuries, and many were unaware of their own wounds.

Seeing that the Xianbei cavalry had slowed down and their rear guard had become the front guard, and that they were all accelerating to pursue them, Zhao Ji was clearly very dissatisfied and wanted to completely annihilate his side.

"They're really resilient."

"follow me!"

Zhao Ji shouted through his mask and led the charge in the southwest direction. The Xianbei cavalry turned around and accelerated in an attempt to intercept him.

More and more Xianbei cavalrymen turned their horses around and stopped obeying their previous orders.

The Xianbei cavalry almost split into two groups: the majority pursued Zhao Ji's hundred cavalry, while a smaller group continued their charge southward, attempting to ram the Qing and Hong Banner daredevils charging eastward.

The daredevils retaliated with crossbows from their sleds, and the Xianbei cavalry pursued them relentlessly.

Although they would encounter arrows and crossbow bolts during the pursuit, they were confident in their destructive power and believed that once they caught their target, they could kill them instantly.

Meanwhile, the Qiang infantry were engaged in fierce fighting with the infantry of Xu Huang and Zhang Liao who were marching north, and the two clashed and fought in chaos.

The vanguard infantry abandoned their sleds and used various flails of different lengths and spiked clubs to attack the Qiang people's contradictory formation.

Especially with the extended flail mace, even if it's blocked, it can still hit something wet and warm when it's smashed down on someone's head.

The elite Qiang soldiers in the front ranks suffered heavy casualties, and the vanguard infantry advanced slowly. The Qiang soldiers in the rear had gaps and open spaces where they could rotate shifts.

As the Qiang troops continued to retreat, the gaps within their ranks dwindled until they became crowded together.

At this time, no Qiang person dared to retreat.

Even if you just want to create distance to facilitate rotations, any retreat will arouse suspicion from friendly forces.

At that moment, Zhao Ji's 100 cavalrymen accelerated and charged, crashing into the rear of the Qiang army's formation. The impact and trampling caused chaos among the Qiang infantry.

"It's the Grand Marshal!"

The advancing infantrymen shouted slogans, and many of them no longer held back their energy, unleashing a powerful breakthrough in an attempt to join forces with Zhao Ji. The Qiang soldiers were forced to retreat.

In less than four or five breaths, more than a thousand Xianbei cavalrymen, who did not care about the lives of the Qiang people, also charged in.

The Qiang troops in the rear immediately collapsed. Before they could retreat, Zhao Yun, who was carrying out a large-scale flanking maneuver, broke through hundreds of Xianbei cavalry who were trying to intercept him, and his thousand cavalry also charged in fiercely.

Zhao Yun's infantry, riding sleds, attacked from the west, cutting off the Qiang soldiers' retreat route to the west.

The fleeing Qiang soldiers could only escape to the east, where there was no pressure or obstruction. At this time, two thousand-man squads on the flank of the central army, which had been on guard, also joined the battle.

More than 10,000 Qiang soldiers were thus surrounded on all sides and crowded together. In the middle of the crowd, the iron cavalry and Xianbei cavalry were still ramming and squeezing each other, and more and more Qiang soldiers were knocked down and trampled.

The cries of agony were deafening, drowning out the shouts of killing.

At this moment, Zhao Ji repeatedly struck the horse-slaying sword, each strike plunging a Qiang man into a deep sleep.

Now Zhao Ji doesn't even feel the cold; instead, he feels a kind of heat.

Soon, the Qiang people found the breach in the southwest and fled in large numbers towards it, no longer blocking or resisting the Han infantry advancing north.

The Han infantry rushed to join Zhao Ji and then fought north, hacking and slashing at the Qiang soldiers and Xianbei cavalry.

In the midst of the chaos, the Xianbei cavalry could not withstand the casualties and fled to the southeast through the widening gap.

During their escape, they still didn't care about the Qiang people's feelings, either charging at the fleeing soldiers or killing any fleeing soldiers who blocked their way with a spear.

When the battle around Zhao Ji ended, the corpses piled up under his mount's feet, leaving almost no room to step.

Blood flowed and accumulated, but there wasn't time for it to freeze!

As the Qiang infantry suffered a major defeat, the Qiang cavalry, which had been entangled with Xu Huang and Zhang Liao's cavalry, also retreated.

(End of this chapter)