Sweep Yuan

Chapter 115 Slaying Generals and Seizing Flags to Determine Victory

At Chenshi (7-9 AM), the sunlight pierced through the cold fog, casting warmth upon the Huaihe River basin and dispelling some of the winter chill; however, it could not dispel the desolate atmosphere that stretched straight to the sky along the Luqian River.

The two armies of Shi Shan and Dong Tuanxiao, totaling nearly 17,000 men, formed a battle formation and faced each other.

Both armies had a large number of new recruits, and it was the first time that both commanders had deployed such a large formation. To prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the chaos during the formation process, both sides consciously kept their distance, with the two armies about two arrow-widths apart.

"Beat the drums! Advance slowly!"

Thump—thump—thump—thump—thump…

Although the Red Flag Battalion arrived later, they completed their formation ahead of the government troops. At Shi Shan's command, the war drums beat and the entire army slowly started moving in time with the drumbeats.

The strongmen of the Mountain-Pulling Battalion were clad in heavy armor. With each step they took, their iron shields slammed into the ground, the sound echoing across the surrounding area.

Each Class B battalion was arranged in rows, with large shields forming a wall on the outside, long spears forming a forest in the middle, and crossbows ready to fire on the inside.

On the right rear side of the main formation, Fu Youde, the commander of the Zhenshuo Battalion, rode on horseback, constantly monitoring the enemy's left flank and the movements of his own army's various second-class battalions.

The elite cavalry patrolled the flanks like ferocious beasts ready to devour their prey, prepared to tear open the weak points of the government troops' formation at any moment.

On the banks of the Luqian River, more than 10,000 government troops formed a great formation, which looked like a dark cloud pressing down on the city from a distance, and was quite intimidating.

Upon closer inspection, the village militiamen who had been working with hoes just a few days ago were driven to the front lines. Although there were many of them, their faces were ashen, their mouths were dry and their throats were tight, and their hands holding knives and spears trembled uncontrollably.

The central cavalry stood silently at the rear of the main formation, their breath condensing into frost when their horses snorted.

Dong Tuanxiao sat high on his warhorse, unmoving, with a large black flag hanging behind him, fluttering in the wind and revealing the six embroidered gold characters on the flag: "Dong, General Manager of Jining Road".

As the war drums sounded from the opposite side, the Red Flag Battalion soldiers advanced like a wall, stepping to the beat of the drums. Dong Tuanxiao's heart suddenly tightened.

The local militia were too numerous and had not received specialized training, so they could not possibly advance as a unified force in step with the drumbeats like the bandits. Their movements were uneven, with some moving faster than others, causing their formation to become scattered.

However, forming a battle formation with their backs to the river does not mean passively waiting for the enemy to attack while standing by the water.

Only by advancing forward can the local militia's taut nerves avoid snapping completely; only when the army advances and spreads its wings can it easily flank the enemy; only when the rear of the formation is cleared can the cavalry gallop freely and attack the enemy's weak points.

"Beat the drums, advance!"

The war drums sounded, and the government troops began their main formation.

The shouts of the local militia, from the commanders of ten thousand and a thousand households, rose and fell, faintly drowning out the sound of the war drums. Some militia began to make meaningless shouts, as if responding to the orders of their commanders, or perhaps trying to intimidate the enemy army, or simply to embolden themselves.

Before they had gone ten steps, more and more local militiamen began to shout, becoming increasingly excited and gradually converging into a noisy ocean of sound.

Amidst the roars, the various militia groups advanced at varying speeds, and their formations gradually became scattered.

It must be admitted that although most of the government troops were a motley crew, the chaotic shouts of nearly 10,000 people were indeed quite frightening. Faced with such a terrifying sound wave, some of the new recruits were inevitably disturbed.

"stop"

Shi Shan immediately issued the order to halt the advance. As the commander's flag was raised and the horn sounded to signal a halt, each battalion followed suit and sounded its own horn.

Fortunately, the two armies were still some distance apart, and the sound of the government troops was somewhat diminished, not enough to affect the sound of the Red Flag Battalion's drums and bugles.

During daily training, as battalion-level and above units advance as a whole, they will stop and adjust according to the formation. Under the command of the officers of each unit and squad, the slightly messy formation will be quickly restored, and the new recruits who are new to the battlefield will gradually find their familiar rhythm and their tension will ease.

On the other hand, the government troops in the southwest were becoming increasingly disorganized, and Dong Tuanxiao's expression was also rather grim.

Their own troops were able to obey orders, but even if the commands could be transmitted through the noisy shouts, the various commanders and captains probably wouldn't be able to stop the extremely excited local militia quickly.

It's more likely that some of the local militia received orders to stop, while others continued advancing blindly, making the formation even more scattered.

Knowing that this situation would be extremely physically and mentally draining, they could only grit their teeth and let the local militia continue forward.

Observing the unusual behavior of the government troops, Shishan simply ordered his army to stop and rest, waiting for the enemy to get closer.

As the distance between the two armies gradually closed, the local militia, led by the impatient ones, marched faster and faster. Just as they were about to cross the "center line" of the battlefield, some archers stopped on their own initiative and drew their bows to shoot arrows—but the distance was still too far, and the arrows could not reach the other side at all.

However, this action was not intended to kill the enemy, but to determine and mark the range of crossbows; the Red Flag Battalion on the other side was doing the same thing.

The local archers discovered a problem as they drew their bows: the rising sun was right behind the Red Flag Camp.

Shooting arrows into the glaring sunlight doesn't actually have much of an impact, since the damage comes from the rain of arrows thrown out, so there's no need to worry about aiming; however, the rain of arrows thrown by the Red Flag Battalion on the other side will be "hidden" in the sunlight, making it much harder to defend against.

Some of the more astute local militiamen slowed down to conserve their energy—they were about to enter the range of the Red Flag Battalion's archers, and lacking the protection of large shields and armor, they could catch their breath before sprinting again and perhaps avoid another volley of arrows.

Most people were still blindly rushing on their way, which made the already somewhat chaotic formation even more scattered.

The central army of the government forces was composed of the most powerful local militia under Miao Daheng, and their formation was the most disorganized. Although he sent his personal guards to shuttle through the ranks to remind each unit to maintain consistency, it had little effect, which made Dong Tuanxiao shake his head.

"Sizhong, the bandit leader is cunning and is using stillness to control movement. For now, we probably won't have a chance to lure his guards away. Your unit should focus on stabilizing the main army's formation—anyone who dares to retreat or hesitate to advance will be killed!"

With the two armies about to clash, any fancy strategies become pale and powerless; the only thing left to do is to out-destroy and out-endure the damage.

The government troops outnumbered the rebels several times over. A one-for-one, two-for-one, or even three-for-one exchange wouldn't be a loss. As long as the local militia were intimidated by bloodshed and forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the rebels, theoretically the rebels should be the first to give out.

"I will finally understand!"

The local militia lacked bows and crossbows, and none of their units had organized archer units. Once they were within range, some of the militia archers stopped and began firing. The Red Flag Battalion also unleashed their first volley of arrows almost simultaneously. "Archers, prepare! Fire!"

The orders were issued by the commanders of each battalion. With thousands of men in formation and the battlefield in chaos, Shi Shan could no longer direct specific tactical actions.

The sound of arrows piercing the air converged, faintly like the buzzing of a swarm of bees. The villagers suddenly saw countless arrows rising up opposite them, only to disappear into the blinding sunlight, their trajectories impossible to discern.

Boo hoo hoo hoo——

"ah!"……

As the arrows rained down, the running villagers fell like ears of wheat battered by a storm, blood splattering everywhere, their cries of agony echoing across the land.

The Red Flag Battalion had limited bows and crossbows, so this volley of arrows only caused a few hundred casualties, which was manageable compared to the total number of government troops.

But the local militia, new to the battlefield, had never seen such a terrifying scene.
A few were terrified and turned to flee, only to be mercilessly slaughtered by the cavalry; others stopped in a daze, as if sleepwalking; but many more sped forward, hoping that the gods would protect them and help them get through this death zone.

The saying goes that one should not shoot more than three arrows when facing an enemy, but in reality, it's even less.

After firing a volley of arrows, Shishan gave the order for the entire army to advance—the wedge formation only had the power to penetrate when it was in motion; as for how many arrows the archers could fire while in motion, that was no longer important.

At this moment, the arrows from the local militia began to fall one after another. Most of them landed outside the formation, while the arrows that were lucky enough to land inside the formation mostly struck the iron shields and armor, making a clanging sound.

Only a very few arrows hit human bodies, and the unfortunate ones who were hit by the arrows let out a wail before being pulled to the inner side of the formation by their comrades to prevent them from being trampled.

"assault!"

The elite cavalry was the first to engage the enemy. Li Wu spotted a gap on the right flank of the government troops and charged in.

The elite cavalry was like tigers among sheep. Wherever their iron cavalry went, the local militia who stood in their way were broken, their bones shattered, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere. In a very short time, they broke through the right flank of the Crane Wing Formation, which was closing in on the Red Flag Camp.

Li Wu immediately turned his horse around and charged into the enemy formation again, preventing the nearby militia from filling in, driving them back and completely disrupting their formation.

"Kill!"

In the central army, due to the disorganized formation of the local militia and their lack of coordination, there was no phenomenon of spears clashing and overlapping when the two armies clashed.

Hu Dahai roared and instantly sent two men flying with his twelve-foot iron spear. He then charged directly into the scattered enemy ranks. With his strong armor and heavy body, he could easily defeat his enemies with his thrusts and rams. It was as easy as a hot knife through lard, and his charge was unimpeded.

The local militia were intimidated by his imposing presence and dared not stop him. Instead, they avoided the sharpest points of the Red Flag Battalion's formation and attempted to attack the soldiers behind Hu Dahai.

The ordinary soldiers of the Red Flag Battalion certainly didn't have Hu Dahai's skills, but the outer layer of large shields and iron armor, the middle layer of long spears, and the rear layer of crossbows firing in rapid succession were not something that the scattered local militia could break. They left behind a pile of corpses, but only caused very few casualties to the enemy.

They either forced the Red Flag Battalion to halt its advance or forcibly broke through its tight formation.

"Quick, stop him!"

Miao Daheng chose the former.

He spent all his wealth to gather nearly a thousand men, and used this as capital to command the surrounding villages, gaining a total of four thousand local militia. He was granted the position of commander of ten thousand households by Dong Tuanxiao and entrusted with the important task of leading the central army. He thought that with his strong military force, he could exhaust the bandits to death.

However, in front of the armored giants at the forefront of the enemy ranks, the army that Miao Daheng was so proud of collapsed as quickly as paper. They couldn't even slow down the enemy army for a moment, let alone stop them.

His eyes were bloodshot with rage. He was heartbroken over the loss of his family's wealth and unwilling to accept defeat. He immediately led more than three hundred relatives and soldiers straight to Hu Dahai, trying to interrupt the enemy's offensive.

"idiot!"

Dong Tuanxiao gripped the whip tightly with his five fingers. He was a veteran of many battles and could tell at a glance that although Miao Daheng was heavier than Hu Dahai, he was no match for the latter. He cursed inwardly that if this fellow died, the central army would surely collapse; but if the retreat was ordered, the encirclement from both flanks would be in vain.

Now, with the arrow already on the bowstring, the only hope is that Yu Sizhong will defeat the enemy chief first.

Behind the left flank of the government troops, Yu Sizhong also saw that the Red Flag Battalion cavalry had already set out. He quickly gathered his troops, bypassed the left flank, and headed straight for the enemy's banner.

"Tartar general, do not flee!"

Fu Youde had been keeping a close eye on the movements of the government cavalry and guessed Yu Sizhong's intentions. He ordered the archers of the Zhenshuo Camp to turn around and fire their bows.

"Fire arrows!"

Yu Sizhong ducked and raised his shield to dodge the rain of arrows, but thirty or forty cavalrymen around him fell. However, the cavalry charged at incredible speed. Before the enemy archers could fire a second arrow, his troops had already bypassed Zhenshuo Camp and headed straight for Jiaowei Camp.

Fu Youde cursed his carelessness inwardly, but did not pursue the enemy cavalry—the enemy's left flank had already taken advantage of the cavalry drawing away the arrow rain and quickly charged forward.

"Feng Guosheng is here! Traitorous general, come and meet your death!"

Central Army of the government forces.

Miao Daheng went against the flow of the fleeing troops and met the vanguard of the Red Flag Battalion. Even though Hu Dahai was still more than ten steps away, he could feel the terrifying power of the enemy coming with immense force. Just being stared at by him was like facing an ancient behemoth. Suddenly, he felt his scalp tingle and his legs tremble.

What am I supposed to do?

Startled, Miao Daheng instantly sobered up. What power and wealth, what service to the court?
Nothing is more important than my own life!
While the man was still in a daze, the armored giant had already rushed close. None of the relatives in front of him could withstand a single shot. Death was so close to the tycoon that his body reacted faster than his brain. He immediately threw down his weapon and rolled to the side.

"Hero, spare my life!"

(End of this chapter)