Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 245 Breakout
The sky grew brighter and brighter, and the sun, as red as a chicken egg, slowly rose from the horizon, crossing plains, hills, lakes and seas, and finally arrived in the world.

As soon as it jumped up, it saw this scene: on the vast plain, countless grass soldiers were surrounding a cavalry force in the middle. Strangely, this cavalry force should have had enough time to slip through the gaps in the formation, but every time it got there, it would turn its horse around and go back.

Under a crimson Flying Tiger banner, Liu Xin was watching the sun rise from the horizon. The warm sunlight dispelled the cold and stretched his shadow longer and longer.

When he led the Flying Tiger Cavalry to Zhongdu, he passed by his former hometown, but it had become ruins. He didn't know if his fellow villagers were all dead, had fled to other places, or were still in the ranks of the Grass Army.

At this moment, Liu Xin led his warhorse, his two-zhang-long spear planted in the grass. This spear was a gift from the lord, given to him by the lord after he earned military merit during the Battle of Caozhou.

Yes, it's that kind of top-quality lance that costs two hundred strings of cash.

He gazed ahead and saw countless bandits swarming towards him, though they were not moving very fast.

Liu Xin truly didn't want any of his fellow villagers in that group; otherwise, it could only be considered their bad luck. Compared to repaying the lord's kindness and making his own contributions, those villagers he had almost forgotten didn't seem so important anymore.

The enemy's army was still advancing, but because they lacked enough flags and drums, their ranks were moving in a crooked and haphazard manner.

At this moment, about ten riders galloped up from the front, led by Zhu Jing, a captain of the Flying Tiger Army.

Since the magistrate's fellow townsmen were all transferred to other posts, they have made rapid progress and are now cavalry generals in the Flying Tiger Army.

Just now, Zhu Jing led about ten riders to patrol the western side to test the grass army's offensive.

At this moment, he rushed over, circled around on horseback, and then loudly reported to Liu Xin:
“Deputy Capital, the enemy forces to the west are weak, and their arrows are feeble and ineffective. If you want to break through, I suggest you go this way.”

Liu Xin nodded and looked to the west. There, a dark mass of people pressed forward like ants. Although there was no formation, there were many soldiers in armor. The sun was rising in front of them, and the sunlight shone on the soldiers and armor, making them gleam.

Upon seeing this, Liu Xin's heart tightened, realizing that there were also elite enemy troops guarding this side.

However, he is not in a hurry now. If he wanted to break out, he would have done so long ago. The reason he waited until now is to wait for dawn.

Among the instructions sent by the magistrate, the most important one was that he and Geng Xiaojie must delay the battle until dawn.

As for why, the magistrate didn't say, but Liu Xin could guess.

Clearly, the lord's intention was not merely to defeat the bandit army, but to completely annihilate them on this battlefield.

Night raids cannot accomplish the mission of annihilation.

Moreover, at night, the enemy's ruffians and their commanders had no identification, so even if the militia encountered them, they wouldn't know who they were.

So the battle would only begin when dawn broke and these bandit leaders raised their own flags.

At this point, Flying Tiger and Flying Leopard had completed their mission of drawing the enemy out to attack. Now, they would be tasked with containing these bandit troops, waiting for the magistrate to arrive with the main force to annihilate them.

However, the combat readiness of the Flying Tigers and Flying Leopards is not good at this time.

First, there's the condition of the warhorses. Although he's already given them a break, they can't recover so quickly after running all night.

Then there's the issue of the organization of each team, which will be quite chaotic because after a long night raid and the successive defeat of several bandit groups, the teams have scattered.

Although there were copper whistles to pinpoint locations, the system was disorganized.

Some teams have only a dozen or so people, while others have seventy or eighty.

So just now, the Flying Tiger Cavalry was working hard to reorganize, but they haven't fully recovered yet. But now the enemy has pressed forward, and they have to take the initiative to attack. Otherwise, their room for maneuver will become smaller and smaller, which will not be conducive to the cavalry's performance.

In addition, the knights suffered significant equipment losses.

Although the Flying Tiger and Flying Leopard units together have a total cavalry strength of 500, they are not directly involved in the battle.

They had already fought several battles, and their weapons, including lances, swords, bows and crossbows, arrows, maces, and short axes, had suffered heavy losses. So even though Liu Xin saw that the enemy army to the west was not well-organized, he was still unsure of what to do.

At this moment, Liu Xin couldn't help but wonder if his first time leading the Flying Tigers into battle would result in total annihilation.
He quickly shook off this terrible thought, and then Zhu Jing pointed to the northeast and shouted:
"Deputy Commander, Flying Leopard and his men have started their charge!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Xin glanced at his resting subordinates around him. There were about a hundred of them, while the remaining hundred had just gone out to harass and were no longer capable of fighting.

He touched the warhorse's neck and found it covered in a thick layer of sweat. Seeing that the horse's four hooves were trembling slightly, Liu Xin's heart also pounded.

With a pursed lip, Liu Xin glanced to the west again and saw several large flags about to wave. Then the enemy troops suddenly accelerated.

He glanced one last time at the northeast and saw that even more Flying Leopard Knights had slipped through the gaps in the battle lines and disappeared.

Liu Xin put the helmet on his head, then took a deep breath, held it, took another deep breath, and finally exhaled slowly.

Then he mounted his horse and shouted:

"I am the Flying Tiger Cavalry!"

"Huh!"

"I am the Flying Tiger Cavalry!"

"Huh!"

After a burst of encouragement, the hundred or so cavalrymen behind him also mounted their horses.

They arranged themselves into a simple formation, with thirty riders carrying lances at the front, forty mounted cavalry with bows and arrows in the middle, and the last thirty riders carrying only swords or maces at the back.

After lowering the ear flaps of his helmet, Liu Xin pulled out the lance from the ground, tucked it under his arm, and then roared:
"Flying Tiger Cavalry, attack!"

After roaring, Liu Xin urged his warhorse forward and charged fiercely towards the enemy army to the west.

At this moment, a hundred elite cavalrymen charged fearlessly behind him, while Zhu Jing and the others who remained to rest could only pray silently.

……

Twenty li away from Zhongdu, Zhao Huai'an led his mule and horse army at full speed.

Suddenly, Zhao Huai'an seemed to hear a sound. He listened carefully and quickly recognized it as the rumbling of war drums.

Standing on the carriage, Zhao Huai'an carefully discerned the direction of the sound, then suddenly shouted at He Wenqin, who was speeding alongside the car:

"Go tell Generals Wang and Han to turn around immediately, a little further east!"

Upon receiving the order, He Wenqin immediately led several cavalrymen to the front, where Wang Jin and Han Qiong's troops were located.

Meanwhile, Wang Jin, who was leading the team, heard the drumbeats earlier. Without waiting for the magistrate's order, he immediately ordered the troops to turn around and rush towards the direction from which the drumbeats were coming from.

By the time He Wenqin caught up, Wang Jin had already completed the turn of his cavalry. Hearing that the magistrate's order was the same as his own, Wang Jin loudly addressed He Wenqin:

"It will be dawn much earlier today, and Flying Tiger and Flying Leopard must have already launched their attack. I suggest that you divide your forces, with me leading my troops to rush northeast, while Han Qiong leads Ba Shan to continue north."

He Wenqin shouted loudly:
"Wang Du, I will take this message back immediately."

Having said that, He Wenqin turned his horse around and galloped back to the magistrate's carriage. Meanwhile, as soon as He Wenqin left, Wang Jin loudly gave the order:
"Keep going! Towards the Northeast!"

When He Wenqin brought Wang Jin's suggestion to Zhao Huai'an, Zhao Huai'an was standing on the carriage tearing apart beef jerky, and it was the hardest kind that gets stuck in your teeth.

It wasn't that Zhao Huai'an was hungry, but rather that he was a little sleepy.

That's why he came up with this idea: chewing beef jerky.

Anyone who has ever had food stuck between their teeth knows that even if you're sleepy, you'll still remove the food from between your teeth before you can fall asleep.

Relying on this crooked method, Zhao Huai'an mustered his strength, and then he saw He Wenqin rushing over and shouting:

"My lord, the king intends to divide his forces; he will go to the northeast, while we will continue north!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Huai'an slammed his hand on the carriage and cursed:

"Old Wang is at it again, making the same old mistakes. How many men does he have? The enemy commander-in-chief must be located in the northeast. What kind of defensive force is that there?"

But it was too late to say that, because based on his understanding of Wang Jin, the old Wang must have already led his troops to the Northeast.

At this moment, Zhao Huai'an did not hesitate and gave the order:

"Immediately order Han Qiong to go and provide support. We will take Feilong and continue north to support Feihu and Feibao first."

He Wenqin loudly acknowledged the greeting, and then ran over to Han Qiong's side.

As the drumbeats from the northeast grew louder and louder, Zhao Huai'an couldn't help but curse again:

"Damn it, brothers, what are you waiting for? Faster, faster! As long as the horse isn't exhausted, run it like it's going to die!"

As a result, the already fast mule caravan sped up even further.

……

The rapid, increasingly intense sound of the brass whistle grew louder and louder.

Suddenly, a whooshing sound rang out, and the Flying Tiger Knight, who had just been blowing the whistle, was struck by three arrows and fell from his horse to the ground.

At this moment, Liu Xin, the spearhead of the entire team, held a two-zhang-long horse spear in his hand, and the armor on his body kept making sounds, which were the sounds of arrows being deflected.

The arrows from the west were indeed relatively weak, just as Zhu Jing had tested, but some of them were sharpshooters who used bows with a draw weight of over two stones and fired thickened armor-piercing arrows.

Those on our side who were just shot and fell from their horses were all thanks to these people.

At this moment, horns sounded from within the enemy ranks, and Liu Xin saw a crossbow team advancing from the rear. However, due to the chaotic formation of the grass army, they were blocked at the back.

At that moment, Liu Xin spurred his horse and roared:
"Hurry, hurry!"

The rapid sound of hooves drowned out his roar, but the knights behind him were hot on his heels.

At this moment, the warhorses flew almost skimming the ground, with only their diagonal hooves touching the ground each time. The less than one hundred riders galloped like an arrow and then slammed into the chaotic formation of the grass army.

The cavalry consisted of only a hundred riders, but just how powerful were they?
When the enemy troops were unable to organize their infantry and spear formations, Liu Xin charged forward with his horse spear.

The two-zhang-long lance pierced the chest of the enemy soldier in front in an instant. The huge inertia and the elasticity of the lance caused the enemy soldiers behind him to fall to the ground while the man was still impaled on the lance.

Human strength is completely insufficient to withstand such an impact, not to mention that most of these peasant soldiers are starving people who don't know when to eat.

Thus, Liu Xin alone easily tore through the formation in front of him, creating a large gap in the narrow queue.

Behind him, less than a hundred cavalrymen charged in, shattering numerous lances in the first instant. The Flying Tiger Knights then drew their swords and maces and began to smash downwards.

Each strike took a life, and amidst cries of agony, Liu Xin led his Flying Tiger Cavalry deeper and deeper into the enemy territory.

But at this moment, Liu Xin realized something was wrong. The enemy's formation was thicker than he had anticipated. If he continued charging like this, without the speed of his horses, it would be a dead end.

So Liu Xin roared, knocked one of his men away with his spear, and then gripped the shaft with both hands and began to sweep wildly.

After clearing a space, Liu Xin shouted hoarsely:

"Follow me, head this way."

Then he chose a corner of the formation and charged diagonally towards it.

However, not all the cavalry behind him could make such a turn, especially those in front, which continued to crash into the ranks in front.

Without Liu Xin, a fierce general, to lead the charge, this group of Flying Tiger Army cavalry quickly became unable to advance. Then, countless hands reached out from all directions and pulled these cavalrymen off their horses.

Even some warhorses were overturned by the frenzied grass army, and then countless swords, fists and feet came crashing down on them.

Hearing the familiar screams behind him, Liu Xin's eyes filled with tears, but he still steeled himself and led the remaining Flying Tiger Cavalry to break through the encirclement.

After they broke through the encirclement and left, on the bloody western battlefield, countless soldiers held up the severed limbs of the fallen Flying Tiger cavalry, shouting and cheering.

But the next moment, the Flying Tiger Cavalry that had just broken through attacked again.

This time, behind them, countless cavalrymen were leveling their lances and beginning to gallop at full speed.

At the same time, the sharp sounds of suona horns and brass whistles resounded from all directions of the battlefield, while the thunderous hoofbeats of horses shattered the earth like a landslide or a tsunami.

At this moment, looking at his fallen comrades, Liu Xin, his eyes bloodshot, charged forward and roared:

"You little rascals, your yay's here!"

"kill!"

　I'm asking my family for monthly votes, tomorrow will be even more exciting!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)