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Chapter 200
Chapter 200 - Baptism of Zhang He
The northern mountain areas of Shangdang was full of tall hills, high cliffs, and steep mountain ranges. Shangdang City wall was built using the geography of nature as its advantages. The north wall edges embedded into the mountain cliffs as if it was part of the environment.
The sloping cliffs on both sides of the valley were steep and taller than the wall. The rock within the cliff revealed the age of these mountain ranges as they were here for hundreds of thousands of years.
The width of the valley was over 500 meters. This path led to the northern Nie Country, the only county between Jinyang and Shangdang City, and it was a hundred kilometers in length.
If any onlooker visited this gate from the outside, they would think that this was a check-point within the valley road instead of a city wall.
...
Before the Imperial Troops arrived and formed the formations, Zhang He guided his 10, 000 light cavalries to the top of mountain cliff on the north-eastern side, the opposite cliff where Lu Bu and his men stationed.
Zhang He remembered that along the road to Hu Gate, eastern side of Shangdang City, there was an access path toward to the top of the hill which could lead to the northern cliff.
Secondly, even though the height of the cliff was over ten meters, there was a slope that horses could rush down to the ground level, and this slope located a kilometer away from the north wall.
Using his memories to the fullest, a secret path that Zhang He could use it to ambush the Imperial forces appeared in his mind. Without delayed, he entrusted the garrison and the defensive tasks to Ju Shou as he found an opportunity to strike at the enemy's vital spot.
While he was leading his men toward the slope, he saw another army on top of the opposite cliff. Their number was massive which intimidated Zhang He. However, he remembered that there would be allies in the vicinity to help them. He thought that these men should be Jinyang Army in disguise.
The pupils of Zhang He expanded. Like a shutter of a camera, he recorded the picture he saw into his brain before he left to join his men, who were still climbing the mountain from the eastern path.
It took them twenty minutes to reach the northeastern cliff where Zhang Yang Army stationed.
"Five 1, 000-man platoons, take out your crossbows and stand by. Once you see the signal, fire at will until you're out of arrows. The other five thousand, follow me! We'll attack their flank!"
All horsemen carried Tong's signature repeating crossbows with them. Below the cliff where the horse archers stationed, two of Zhang Yang square formations was a hundred meters away from the mountain, and each company consisted of 5, 000 men. Ten thousand men of the Imperial force were in their range, offering themselves as juicy targets for archers.
Zhang He guided the remaining horsemen, rushing to the slope he had found. On his way, he did not look at his front, he gazed at the Imperial Army below the cliff, trying to record everything he saw into his brain.
As soon as they reached the pathway down to the ground level, they discovered that the reserve forces were working in the area, cutting woods and crafting ladders per Wang Yun's instructed.
Seeing the golden opportunity, Zhang He unsheathed his sword and pointed to the sky, gesturing his troops to get ready to charge down the cliff.
The soldiers looked at their general in nervousness. They had never had experiences with mountain warfare or had tried to ride a horse down from a steep slope.
"Don't panic. Don't worry. Anyone that isn't confident in yourself, you can remain here. But know this, I'll be charging down with you all! I'll be the first who leap down from the cliff!"
Zhang He consoled his men, and his eyes looked at the 5, 000 men as if they were his children.
"G-General."
Zhang He smiled brightly without speaking anything. From pointing his sword to the sky, he swung it down and pointed his sword forward.
"With me!"
Zhang He kicked the sides of his horse and galloped to the direction of the slope. Without hesitation, he directed his horse to rush down, galloping downward.
Seeing their brave general leaping down the cliff, the soldiers followed after Zhang He by instinct and forgot the initial fear of height. Their mind went blank as the sensation of riding down the slope was similar to a ride in a roller-coaster. It pressured them at first, but it turned into pleasure in a few seconds. By the time they sobered from the new stimulation, their horses were already running on the ground below the cliff.
"KILL!"
The voice of Zhang He alerted them, made them realized that they were still on a battlefield.
"KILL!"
"KILL!"
"SHAAAAA!!"
The sobered soldiers raised their weapons and followed after their general. The troops formed a wedge formation as they charged, galloping toward the group of workers.
"Eh?"
"What!?"
The Imperial reserves did not have the time to react. After they heard the warcry for a few seconds, the horsemen already reached them.
*SEOK*
*PAKK*
*SWUA*
The warhorses collided with the unprepared reserved soldiers while the cavalry spears pierced through the bodies of unlucky soldiers.
The first wave of horsemen did not manage to kill everyone as some of the soldiers managed to duck or dodge the weapons and the horses.
The second wave cavalries did not let these lucky soldiers escape. They thrust their spears toward the nearest survivors who slipped through the first line gaps.
The wave line to the last wave sealed the fate of the smart enemies, who lied down in prone to dodge the spears. The heavy horses stomped on the bodies of the corpses and the survivors, crushing their bones.
After they charged forward for 300 meters, the horse momentum began to die down.
There were over 10, 000 reserve troops scattering about in the vicinity, yet Zhang He could not kill all of them with a single charge even though they did not fight back.
*BWOOOH*
Zhang He blew a horn to get the attention of his troops. During the horse charges in the middle of a chaotic battlefield, it was easy to lose oneself in the killing and forget one's surroundings. Zhang He knew about this fact from a scroll he read in Ye City, so he had prepared a countermeasure for this occasion.
"Disengage! Pull back! Follow me!"
The horsemen snapped back from their sense from the sound of the horn and listened to the command. They stopped charging and turned their horses around, running back and heading toward the direction that Zhang He was pointing.
The reserved troops of Wang Yun, who survived the onslaught, looked at the leaving cavalries in fright and relieved. However, their nightmare was not over yet.
From two hundred meters further away, Zhang He stopped and turned around. He shouted.
"Reform the formation! Form four wedges and one square, one platoon for one group!"
Instead of using the previous formation, which they grouped together in bulk, Zhang He separated his troops into five platoons. Each platoon consisted of one thousand men, and the lieutenants took their men and formed rank, getting ready for another charge.
'The bulk charge isn't efficient in an ambush. I'm still inexperience!'
Zhang He was learning as he was commanding his troops. All tactics and strategies he had learned from Ye City library were being revised in his brain. Combining with his photographic memories of the enemies' previous known location, Zhang He pictured a 3-D map within his mind.
"The square formation, head north. There's another slope that horses can climb on your right side. You will notice it when you see it. Get on the cliff and regroup with the others. Tell them to start shooting until they run out of arrows!"
"Four wedges, charge with me again!"
Four thousand cavalries rushed toward the panicking troops again. The untrained soldiers did not know what to react in a situation like this. They ran away and screamed in chaos.
The spears of the two thousand horsemen caught the running soldiers, skewered the Imperial soldiers without resistance.
While the four platoons of Zhang He chased after the fleeing soldiers, the lieutenants of Wang Yun Army came with a battalion of spearmen. The combat infantries could be seen a hundred meters away from the charging troops.
'This should be their rearguards spearmen I saw earlier. The number should be around one thousand. '
Zhang He thought as he peered at the incoming force with the corner of his eyes. 'They don't have shields, so I can exploit this. '
The general blew the horn again, "Pull back and regroup! Form line!"
Zhang He galloped back another one hundred meters. He stopped his horse and turned around, which his men also used the general as their landmark as the center of the formation. The four thousand men regroup as four straight lines formation.
The spearmen saw that the horsemen stopped and reformed their ranks. They stopped chasing and set up a spear-wall formation facing Zhang He and his troops.
"Call the reinforcement! Hurry!"
"Spear wall! Get ready to defend!"
The lieutenants of the spearmen shouted, which Zhang He and the horsemen also could hear it as the distance between them was 150 meters away.
"Crossbow!" Zhang He shouted.
The cavalries switched their weapons from spears to crossbows. They loaded the clips and aimed at the front without Zhang He's further instruction.
"Fire!"
Five thousand crossbows fired the first volley. The arrow wall was so dense that the Imperial spearmen looked at them with awe before the arrow rain pierced their bodies.
With a single volley, the spearmen unit collapsed and routed. Only a dozen lucky soldiers survived by using their friends as shields.
"Withdraw! We're going back to the top of the cliff. Follow me!"
On the way when he was scouting the Imperial Army, he saw several groups of heavy cavalries, donned in full bronze armors. Since Zhang He's unit was entirely light horsemen with light armor, they would not be a match in a melee fight with these groups. Therefore, Zhang He chose to play it safe by avoiding direct confrontation with the enemies.
'Treat my soldiers as if they were my sons! I won't let a single of them die!'
...
Meanwhile, the other platoon of Zhang He's men reached the troops on top of the cliff. They managed to pass the order. The one thousand horsemen, who leaped down the slope earlier, also joined ranks with the standing-by battalions.
"Get ready!"
"Aim!"
"Fire at will!"
The six thousand men launched several volleys at once upon Zhang Yang's men below the cliff. Because each repeating crossbow clip contained 10 arrows, 60, 000 arrows poured down on the 10, 000 unaware soldiers.
The Imperial soldiers, who were targeted, screamed in fright. They tried to run away from the arrow rain, but there was no space that the arrows did not cover. Each soldier pushed and shoved the others to protect themselves in a panic, creating a chaotic scene.
The first clips of ten arrows were emptied within half a minute. However, it was enough to cripple two platoons of ten thousand men.
| ← Ch. 199 | Ch. 201 → |