stonecrandall Chapter 912: Defeat Yi Xiaochuan and pursue?
Chapter 912: Defeat Yi Xiaochuan and pursue?
"Oh no! There's an ambush! Stop advancing! Stop advancing!" The junior officers roared at the top of their lungs, but their voices were drowned out by the neighing of war horses, the screams of soldiers, and the crackling sound of thorns being trampled and broken.
Just as this chaos reached its peak—
"Fire arrows!"
A cold and high-pitched command came from the depths of the thorn forest.
The next moment, countless cold stars whistled up from behind the dark woods and thorn bushes, shooting towards the crowded and chaotic cavalry team like a torrential rain!
puff!puff!puff!
The sound of blades piercing flesh was tooth-grinding. Lacking shields and limited maneuverability, the cavalry made perfect targets. Arrows easily pierced leather armor, even mail, and plucked them from their horses. Screams echoed, and the once majestic cavalry fell in droves.
"Hold on! Don't panic! Move closer to me! Raise your shields!" Yi Xiaochuan's eyes were bloodshot. He brandished his spear to deflect several arrows, screaming at the top of his lungs as he tried to rally the troops. He finally understood that he had fallen into Gao Yao's trap! This wasn't a retreat route at all, but a carefully chosen, deadly location for the cavalry!
However, it was too late to wake up.
After the rain of arrows, heavy footsteps and cries of killing echoed from all directions. Like ghosts emerging from hell, Gao Yao's southern infantrymen stormed out from every crack in the thorn forest and through the pre-planned passages!
They were obviously very familiar with the terrain here. They worked in groups of three or five, moving flexibly among the thorns and specifically attacking those cavalrymen who were trapped and whose movements were hindered.
The spearmen fiercely stabbed the horses' bellies, or stabbed the fallen knights from tricky angles. The sword and shield soldiers slashed at the horses' legs at close range, or blocked the cavalrymen's panicked slashes, then dragged them off their horses and hacked them to pieces.
The cavalry, despite their immense impact and height advantages, were completely unable to utilize them. The horses, unable to move forward in the thorny bushes, spun in panic, becoming a burden. The knights, brandishing their long weapons, were often entangled in the dense brambles or restrained for fear of injuring their own men.
It was a complete massacre, a nightmare for the cavalry!
Yi Xiaochuan's eyes were bloodshot as he watched his meticulously trained elite knights being dragged from their horses and killed like lambs to the slaughter. Blood stained the brambles red, and severed limbs were everywhere. The corpses of horses and men were piled together, a horrific sight.
"Gao Yao! Shameless villain! How dare you come out and fight me!" Yi Xiaochuan roared, and stabbed a Southern Territory swordsman who rushed in front of him to death with his spear, but he was immediately surrounded by more enemies.
His personal guards fought desperately to protect him, forming a crude circle to resist attacks from all sides. But the entire army had already collapsed. Fear spread like a plague. The cavalry at the rear could not see the tragic scene ahead, only hearing the horrific clashes and wails. They instinctively tried to retreat, but they collided with the troops further behind them, still pressing forward, further exacerbating the chaos.
"General! It's no use! Retreat! If you don't retreat, the entire army will be destroyed here!" A captain with blood all over his face rushed to Yi Xiaochuan and shouted in a crying voice.
Yi Xiaochuan looked at the hellish scene around him, his heart aching. He knew defeat was inevitable. This damned thorn forest had completely destroyed his cavalry. If he continued to resist, he would only be annihilated.
"Retreat! Retreat! Pass the order! The rear team becomes the front team and withdraw from this forest!" He finally gave the order to retreat with great difficulty.
However, how easy is it to retreat?
The narrow entrance was already blocked by fleeing soldiers, corpses, and frightened horses. The retreating troops collided violently with the unsuspecting troops still advancing, trampling countless people to death. Gao Yao's troops, however, seized the opportunity and launched a fierce attack, desperately pursuing the retreating cavalry and ruthlessly expanding their victory.
The retreat turned into a rout.
Yi Xiaochuan, protected by his personal guards, finally fought his way through a bloody situation and fled. Looking back, he saw his cavalrymen, like headless flies, desperately struggling in the thorn forest under the flames. They were divided, surrounded, and annihilated by the Southern Border Army. The proud cavalry banners fell in the mud and blood, trampled by countless feet.
"Yi Xiaochuan! Where are you going!" a stern shout came.
Gao Yao, surrounded by a group of generals, appeared on a slightly higher slope, with a cold and cruel smile on his face. He obviously did not intend to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Chase! Chase! Whoever kills Yi Xiaochuan will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins and be made a marquis!" Gao Yao pointed his sword in the direction of Yi Xiaochuan's escape and gave the order to pursue.
The new forces from the southern region, who had been gathering their strength for a long time, immediately rushed out like a flood, following the passages they were familiar with, and chased after them swiftly!
Yi Xiaochuan's defeated army fled in a desperate rout, pursued by ferocious and high-spirited pursuers. The cavalry, having lost their speed and formation, were even outmatched by the infantry in their flight. Men were constantly being overtaken and cut down, their horses collapsing from exhaustion, and the knights, forced to abandon their mounts and march, were subsequently hacked to death by the swords.
The pursuit lasted for more than ten miles!
The battle continued from the dark thorn forest until dawn, and the wilderness was littered with fallen corpses, abandoned horses, and discarded weapons and armor. Yi Xiaochuan's personal guards dwindled, and in the end only a few dozen remained, all wounded and in a miserable state.
Yi Xiaochuan didn't dare to stop and take a breath until he was sure that he had completely shaken off the pursuers and a small group of troops appeared in front to support him.
He looked around. The remnants of his defeated troops who had fled with him were sparsely distributed, their faces pale, their eyes filled with fear and the bewilderment of having survived. Of the 25,000 elite cavalrymen, how many would remain after this battle? 5,000? 3,000? Perhaps even fewer.
The light of the morning sun pierced through the clouds, illuminating his blood-stained face and broken armor, but it could not dispel the bone-chilling chill and great humiliation in his heart.
He was not defeated in the head-on charge, but was defeated by the seemingly insignificant thorns, defeated by Gao Yao's trick, and defeated by his own underestimation of the enemy and misjudgment.
"Gaoyao..." Yi Xiaochuan stared back in the direction he had come from, his teeth clenched so tightly that they practically drew blood. The thorn forest that had devoured countless of his brothers was like a permanent scar, branded into his heart and his military career.
This defeat not only caused heavy losses, but also severely hit the morale of the army and completely destroyed the imminent encirclement of Gaoyao.
The night was as dark as ink, and the cries of killing gradually died down. Only the lingering scent of blood and the cries of the wounded lingered on the wind, echoing the lingering echoes of the brutal ambush. Gao Yao stood alone at the edge of the thorn forest that had just devoured the hopes of Yi Xiaochuan's cavalry. His cold armor reflected the dancing flames, his face expressionless, only a fleeting glint of success in his eyes.
Everything before him, the corpses everywhere and the mess, was exactly as he had expected, exactly as he had expected.