Tiger Guards

Chapter 653 Breaking Through the Middle Route
The white tiger-patterned banner continued to advance, while the battle flag bearing the inscription "Protector of the Qiang, Zhao" finally fell fifty paces away from the banner.

However, the elite cavalry of Longshang were brave and resolute, and there were still fearless knights who hid in the stirrups and reached out to grab the falling battle flag.

Before he could even stand at attention, Zhao Ji, noticing the flag swaying, instinctively shot an arrow.

The knight, holding his flag, was struck by an arrow in his right arm; half of the arrow pierced his upper arm. In excruciating pain, the knight dropped the flag, convulsed, lost coordination, and fell from his horse.

Yet people still went to pick up the battle flags. A powerful man from Tianshui, who had fallen from his horse after it was tripped, quickly walked toward the battle flags.

The man roared angrily in an attempt to suppress his inner fear, raising his battle flag and waving it back and forth to boost the morale of his comrades.

He was in danger of being knocked down and trampled by his knight companions who couldn't dodge in time, but the battle flag was very conspicuous, and the knights behind him barely managed to avoid it and pass by him on both sides.

Just as he was breathing heavily, feeling proud and pleased with his bravery, the advancing chariot convoy collided with the knight.

Besides the single sharpshooter on each chariot, the heavily armored chariot soldiers on the chariots consisted of two chariot soldiers in the front row who thrust with spears, and behind them, a chariot soldier with a halberd who was responsible for close-range blocking and restraining enemy cavalry; and on each side of the rear of the chariot, there was an armored soldier with a long halberd.

These long-spear soldiers either used their spears to push away enemy cavalry attempting to get close, or used their spears to hook and kill enemy cavalry that were about to pass by.

As for the driver, he wore half-body heavy armor and sat inside the carriage driving the vehicle, not participating in the battle.

During the campaign against the Hu, the chariot drivers suffered heavy casualties.

Such a master is very difficult to train; it cannot be formed in just six months of training.

Therefore, the front of the chariot had a small driver's cabin, and the driver was still wearing a primitive seatbelt, which firmly secured him to the seat.

Even if the vehicle overturns, these charioteers can safely exit the cabin.

The two sides collided, but the tanks continued to move forward, leaving Zhao Ji deeply shocked.

Before the collision, our side had shot down at least sixty enemy riders, and about one-fifth of the enemy riders fell from their horses!
Even so, these elite cavalrymen, composed of the best of Tianshui's powerful families, still maintained their fighting spirit... These were no ordinary enemy cavalrymen; they had to be eliminated!

Zhao Ji didn't have that much time and energy to carry out any ideological reform. How could these people who were destined to fall into lower social classes be easily reformed?
Even if they rise to high positions in the future, they will not think that it was because they were kind enough to let them go, nor that they were enlightened enough to promote them. They will only think that it was their talent and opportunity.

Faced with such an inconvenient group to modify, all Zhao Ji could do was use an even faster rate of fire to eliminate these ghostly figures shrouded in the shadows of the future!
“Kill~!”

An enemy rider, wearing two layers of armor and with a bulky build, charged diagonally forward, spear in hand.

He had been hit by two arrows, but they failed to penetrate and seriously injure his opponent.

He may have been injured, but the arrow failed to hit a vital spot.

Those who maintain their strength and morale even when wounded are the bravest.

Perhaps they wanted to take someone down with them before they bled out.

Facing the heavily armored knight who was about to close within ten paces, Zhao Ji drew his short bow to its full extent, turned it slightly, and decisively released it.

At close range, the arrow pierced through a gap in the opponent's armor, and a large amount of blood gushed out from the gap, emitting a cloud of white vapor.

Before the white mist had even dissipated, the lance that the heavily armored knight had been holding under his right arm slipped from his grasp and tilted to one side, pulling him off his horse along with the lance.

Behind him were seven or eight similar heavily armored knights; they charged slowly, but were the closest to the front.

The closest one was six steps away from Zhao Ji when an arrow pierced his face, killing him instantly. The lance he was holding was driven into the carriage by inertia, the slender blade penetrating more than a foot deep. A young Tiger Warrior who was tidying up arrows for Zhao Ji was unable to dodge in time and was stabbed in the waist and abdomen by the lance blade.

Apart from him tightly clutching his wound, everyone else in the car was busy fighting.

Another boy who was transferring arrows to facilitate Zhao Ji's rapid-fire discovered that the prepared spare arrows were gone. He then found his companion curled up in a corner of the carriage due to pain and blood loss, with blood gushing from his waist and abdomen soaking the surrounding area.

Seeing that the other party was seriously injured and unlikely to survive, the boy who was transferring the arrows to Zhao Ji could only reach out and grab a bundle of arrows, pull it in front of him, and quickly grab a handful of arrows to hand to Zhao Ji where he was taking the arrows.

Zhao Ji fired another dozen arrows, and the elite cavalry from Longshang who had surrounded them were finally scattered. Only one foot knight remained, holding the title of "Protector of the Qiang, Zhao," and around him were a dozen or so men who had fallen from their horses but were not quite dead, barely managing to stand up and try to resist.

However, as the chariots rolled forward, the flag-bearing knight, struck by an arrow, swayed but still tried to wave the flag with all his might.

If he doesn't dodge or flinch, then the chariot in front of him has even less reason to dodge.

The chariots charged over the enemy, crushing other corpses and wounded enemy riders.

As Zhao Ji's chariot passed by, the flag-bearing knight had already been run over several times and was no longer able to move; the flag had also fallen from his hand and been discarded to the side.

Zhao Ji's chariot followed the blood-stained tracks of the chariot in front of him. The heavy chariot only swayed and rocked slightly as it rolled over the slightly elastic and cushioned corpses.

Only then did Zhao Ji realize that his personal guard had been wounded and killed. Glancing at the lance still nailed to the carriage, Zhao Ji reached out, grabbed it, and gently shook it from side to side. He then pulled out the eighteen-foot-long lance.

He raised the lance upside down, then switched to a normal grip and weighed the counterweight; it didn't feel quite right in his hand.

They saw that there were still wounded enemy riders on the road, sitting with their legs spread apart, holding crossbows that they had just strung with their feet.

Without a second thought, Zhao Ji raised his spear and threw it.

At a distance of about twelve paces, the powerful lance easily struck the opponent's chest and pierced through him. The man remained in the crossbow-holding posture, supported by the pierced lance, and died instantly.

"The body is weak."

Zhao Ji had only a similar thought before forgetting his previous battle experience. He calmly looked around and picked up a short bow again.

As he observed, the enemy cavalry, who had not yet joined the battle, began to collapse in a chain reaction on the fields on both sides of the road.

Before they even got close to the battle area, they saw the 'Protector of the Qiang Commandant Zhao' battle flag on the road being repeatedly shot down and never being able to stand up again, and most of the more than two hundred elite cavalrymen from Longshang were killed on the spot.

Therefore, the Qiang and Di righteous knights on both sides of the field turned and left.

After losing control of the central road, the other chariot and cavalry units following Zhao Ji's chariot could quickly advance south and then flank and encircle the Qiang cavalry on both sides.

That's how it is in lane. If the mid lane collapses, the flanks must retreat, otherwise they will inevitably be attacked from the sides and surrounded.

The initiative in the battle was thus completely shifted. Although Zhao Ji had better terrain for maneuver in the middle, he slowed down in order to facilitate the pursuit of the rebels on both flanks, and assisted the flanks in suppressing and attacking the routed soldiers, preventing the enemy from regrouping and restoring morale and organization.

As a result, some routed cavalrymen near the road ran onto the road and rushed south without regard for anything else, spreading the news that Zhao Ji had appeared on the battlefield.

As a result, Zhao Ji pursued for three or four miles and saw a group of Di rebels with less than a thousand men in front of him, but with three totem battle flags.

One totem banner quickly retreated south, while two totem banners lay fallen on the ground. From nobles to tribal warriors, everyone dismounted, knelt, and raised their swords above their heads, their surrender clearly evident.

Behind these nobles were ordinary Di people who had abandoned their spears and halberds, also kneeling in dense groups.

"I have no time to accept their surrender. Order them to clear the way!"

Zhao Ji shouted to the deputy driver, "You stay here to accept the surrender, collect the weapons, and then organize them to clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded of both the enemy and ourselves!"

"Here!"

The deputy commander was Hao Zhao, the commander of the Tiger Step Battalion, who was the same age as Zhao Ji.

After the campaign against the Hu, Hao Zhao was promoted three ranks and received two bars and two stars on his shoulder insignia. Unfortunately, his shoulder insignia were only of the ordinary Tiger Infantry style, not the Tiger Legion style.

The two shoulder insignia are similar; the Tiger Step Army's shoulder insignia features two crossed swords at the end, while the Tiger Warrior's features two swords.

After his rapid promotion to military rank, or perhaps due to age, Hao Zhao, who had always been as thin and tall as a bamboo pole, had become much stronger and more robust over the past year due to good food and drink, and was now more than two inches taller than Gao Yanglong.

(End of this chapter)