Chapter 793: North Liang's Four Battles (Part 1)

Hutou City in Liangzhou had unmistakably become a second Diaoyutai of the Central Plains.

The difference was that the first time, it was the Xu family's iron cavalry, sweeping across the Central Plains, that was stopped. This time, countless hooves of the Northern Mang cavalry were densely packed on the Longyan'er Plain outside the city.

Dong Zhuo, the Great King of the Southern Court, personally led an elite guard unit, inspecting a siege infantry division poised for attack in the rear. Beside the corpulent general stood a pair of distinguished young individuals. The young man, who appeared somewhat sickly, held multiple complex identities: he was the Spring Chief among the Four Great Khitan Chiefs of Northern Mang, the leading strategist of the Southern Court's military council, and "The Slow Diviner" from the Chess, Sword, and Music Pavilion. His most fundamental identity, however, was Tuoba Qiyun, the eldest son of Tuoba Pusa. The woman, recently stripped of her Summer Chief title by Zhong Tan, the vanguard general at Hulukou, was named Yelü Yuhut. This pair had almost succeeded in their plot outside Hulukou to trap Xu Fengnian, who had ventured deep into the borderlands between the two nations. Unfortunately, Yuan Zuozong arrived on the battlefield with his ten thousand Great Snow Dragon Cavalry, thwarting their plans and those of the Pacifying Edict.

Dong Zhuo pointed at Hutou City with his riding whip and said, "Hutou City, which outwardly boasted enough armaments and equipment to sustain a ten-year war, has run out of winches and wooden trebuchets in less than half a year. Most of its brick and mud trebuchets have also been used up, and countless iron 'owls,' 'crane spears,' and 'battering rams' have been cut down by our forces. Only three functional ballistas remain on the city walls, and damaged bows and crossbows have piled up like mountains. Of course, there are still plenty of medium to small foot-operated and light crossbows inside the city, and hundreds of thousands of arrows in stock. However, compared to Xiangfan City, which, despite having fewer than a hundred thousand armored soldiers, had three hundred thousand common people, Hutou City has a fatal flaw: too few people. Bows and crossbows are dead things; if they break, new ones can be brought from storage. But the Northern Liang border army in Hutou City isn't made of gods; their arm strength is far inferior to what it was initially. If you two have a chance to observe closely, you should see that most archers on the city walls have strong bandages wrapped around their bow-drawing arms. To put it bluntly, give me three more months, and I, Dong Zhuo, could swagger a hundred paces outside the city, and I doubt even a few master archers could pierce my armor and kill me."

Tuoba Qiyun, who emanated a faint medicinal scent, maintained a grave expression, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Having been personally stripped of her Summer Chief title by the Emperor, Yelü Yuhut had defiantly come to Hutou City "to clear her mind." She cast a playful glance at the portly general, whose reputation preceded him even in the distant royal court. At thirty-five, the Great King of the Southern Court commanded a million troops, a force comparable to that of the old King of Liang, Xu Xiao, and Gu Jiantang of Liangliao combined. It was this man who had insisted on attacking Northern Liang first, creating such a massive upheaval that both the Emperor and the Pacifying Edict bore immense pressure. As a result, only Yang Yuanzan on the eastern front could barely claim his merits offset his flaws; the other two battlefronts paled in comparison. Dong Zhuo himself was single-handedly stalled outside Liangzhou Pass by Hutou City. Even Liu Gui, who had only lost a few thousand men, was already being cursed like an old dog in the Western Capital's imperial court, yet for now, no one dared to impeach Commander Dong Zhuo. Yelü Yuhut was curious how long this fat man, who privately referred to the Emperor as "Emperor Sister," could hold out.

Dong Zhuo seemed to have casually mentioned three months, prompting a cold sneer in Yelü Yuhut's heart, as she was intimately familiar with court protocols. Had it come to the point where he needed her and Tuoba Qiyun to relay messages to certain individuals? Or perhaps the Emperor and the Pacifying Edict, who had placed immense hopes on Dong Zhuo, were beginning to lose patience?

Tuoba Qiyun finally spoke, "General Dong, I have been to the Northwest Grand Camp on Longyan'er Plain."

Dong Zhuo grunted in acknowledgment.

The thought of the so-called Northwest Grand Camp immediately nauseated Yelü Yuhut. "Grand Camp"? It was merely a dumping ground for the sick and the dead! The Southern Court had accumulated twenty years of power, pouring all of it into offense, especially siege equipment. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to produce nearly a thousand trebuchets of all sizes in one go. However, Northern Mang had never been adept or particular about treating battlefield casualties. Under the blazing sun, Yelü Yuhut, clad in magnificent golden armor, was already drenched in sweat. She possessed an innate yearning for war, for the thrill of exchanging lives on horseback, for the penetrating sensation of an arrow piercing an enemy's skull. Yelü Yuhut was accustomed to death, but even with her steadfast resolve, she almost vomited upon arriving at the Northwest Grand Camp. Cartloads of bodies dragged from the battlefield were unceremoniously dumped into prepared pits, while wounded soldiers lay nearby, possibly wailing in agony. Many, disfigured and mangled by defensive city weapons, desperately begged for a quick death.

At that moment, Tuoba Qiyun stood at the edge of a new pit, already piled with seven or eight hundred bodies, and asked the soldiers responsible for sprinkling lime for a basin. Yelü Yuhut, her mouth and nose covered with a thick cotton cloth, watched as the Spring Chief expressionlessly scattered handfuls of lime.

She suddenly realized that she, who had been more hard-hearted than any草原 warrior since childhood, felt an unprecedented sadness after witnessing that scene.

Tuoba Qiyun's thoughts jumped sharply, and he slowly changed the subject, saying, "General Dong, you were eager to attack Northern Liang, but you've been slow in attacking Hutou City."

The inherent resilience and combat habits of nomadic peoples meant that Northern Mang's low demand for provisions far exceeded the imagination of Central Plains cavalry. At the very least, Northern Mang still did not lack provisions. However, if they had launched their southern campaign during the autumn, when horses were fat and strong, Northern Mang would have had more leeway in the current stalemate. Tuoba Qiyun didn't want to speak with too much hindsight, especially since Dong Zhuo and the Pacifying Edict had their reasons for marching south in early spring. What Tuoba Qiyun truly wanted to convey was the latter part of his statement: if Dong Zhuo's eastern front had attacked the city recklessly from the start, taking Hutou City in one decisive push, the situation wouldn't be so difficult now. This wasn't Tuoba Qiyun accusing Dong Zhuo of not trying hard enough to take Hutou City; in fact, Dong Zhuo's deployments were flawless. However, as the Great King of the Southern Court and the commander of a million-strong army, Dong Zhuo was expected to deliver more decisive victories as a matter of course.

Dong Zhuo nodded, "Initially, I suspected that besides the few thousand elite cavalry reported by intelligence, there was a hidden heavy cavalry unit within Hutou City. For instance, the six thousand Iron Buddhas formerly under Dian Xiongnu, later assigned to Qi Dangguo. I even suspected that at least one of Northern Liang's two true heavy cavalry forces, totaling around nine thousand men, was concealed within Hutou City. I believed that since Chu Lushan dared to place the Protectorate behind Hutou City at Huaiyang Pass, he surely intended to engage me in a head-on battle. A major battle, involving both light and heavy cavalry, was expected to occur south of Hutou City and north of Liuyaping Pass."

Dong Zhuo said in a deep voice, "Until that ambush battle, where everyone had their own agenda, I first used four thousand cavalry as bait at Yazhi Slope. As expected, Wei Liang, the commander of the Fuling military outpost, greedily advanced, and his formation was broken by eight thousand ambushing cavalry. If not for that young Northern Liang captain, Qifu Longguan, who ruined things by being too courageous and stubbornly creating a breakthrough for the Fuling cavalry, then Northern Liang's ambushing forces would have entered the battlefield on time, and my Dong family cavalry would have moved in unison. Ultimately, on that battlefield, I would have been able to lure out the forces from both Fuling and Liuyaping military outposts, along with the active forces from Huaiyang Pass, and even the Hutou City cavalry. This would have led to a cavalry exchange between our two sides. Even if I, Dong Zhuo, suffered greater losses, as long as the mobility of the Northern Liang cavalry defense line south of Hutou City was destroyed, whether or not Hutou City was taken would no longer be an issue."

Dong Zhuo self-deprecatingly remarked, "Perhaps many in the Northern Liang Protectorate will curse that young captain, Qifu Longguan, for misplacing his effort, but in reality, he allowed Liangzhou to narrowly escape disaster. A single Hutou City isn't terrifying; what's terrifying are the flexible cavalry units behind it that aim not to kill enemies but merely to tie them down. I, Dong Zhuo, am now unsure whether I overthought things, or Chu Lushan was simply lucky, or perhaps he just thought even further ahead than I did."

Yelü Yuhut frowned, "Why can't we launch a full-scale assault, attacking both Fuling and Liuyaping outposts simultaneously? We have an overwhelming numerical advantage anyway; it's a wasted opportunity if we don't attack!"

Dong Zhuo merely smiled, offering no explanation. Tuoba Qiyun shook his head, "It's not that we can't go all out, but it wouldn't be very meaningful..."

Just as Tuoba Qiyun was about to explain the intricacies of the situation to Yelü Yuhut, Dong Zhuo galloped his horse along the rear flank of the infantry formation towards a dust-covered convoy. The centurion responsible for overseeing the removal of battlefield corpses, upon seeing the Great King of the Southern Court, quickly dismounted and reported the battle situation to Dong Zhuo. It turned out these bodies had been dragged from tunnels leading into the city. While Northern Mang's trebuchet assaults had intermittent pauses, this "underground" siege tactic had never stopped, yet it consistently yielded no significant results. Aside from an initial force of five hundred men who managed to enter Hutou City but were quickly intercepted and killed by patrolling armored guards, the rest died in narrow underground skirmishes or were easily trapped and killed at tunnel entrances by prepared defenders. It was known that Liu Jinu, the defending commander, had been well-prepared, having preemptively dug over a dozen deep pits, each three zhang deep, at various strategic points within the city. Soldiers with keen hearing were stationed in these pits, enabling them to detect any movement by Northern Mang miners or armored soldiers within hundreds, or even a thousand, paces, and seize the opportunity immediately. Subsequent actions, whether digging horizontal tunnels for ambushes or using windmills to fan thick smoke and lime, were easily executed.

That centurion, having lost an arm during an ant-swarm assault, had been moved to a second-line position to oversee this task. After reporting the general situation and the death toll, the one-armed man's eyes were slightly red, and he lowered his head, softly saying, "Great General, with sixteen tunnels dug so far, and this latest group, nearly five thousand of our brothers have died underground. Is it worth it? It would be better to die battling on the walls of Hutou City."

Dong Zhuo said indifferently, "You may go to the Northwest Grand Camp."

The one-armed centurion raised his remaining arm to wipe his eyes, then mounted his horse and led the convoy, laden with corpses, slowly away.

An unbidden surge of anger flared in Yelü Yuhut's chest. Taking a deep breath, she asked the Great King of the Southern Court, "When Northern Liang attacked Xiangfan City in Qingzhou back then, they were experts at digging tunnels. Since they knew how to attack, naturally, they wouldn't be novices at defense. Moreover, the several thousand Northern Liang cavalry inside the city, who have been resting and preserving their strength, have clearly not even ascended the city walls. Even if a few hundred men made it alive into the city, what difference would it make?"

Dong Zhuo smiled, seemingly deliberately avoiding mention of the five thousand dead who had achieved nothing. He said, "Two days ago, a cavalry unit inside the city was forced to ascend the walls to participate in the defense. Their dismounted combat ability truly surpassed that of the exhausted infantry by a significant margin. I originally had two centurions who had already led their men up the city wall; their forces were separated by only four hundred paces, and they were just a hair's breadth away from securing a foothold on the wall."

Dong Zhuo pressed his thumb and forefinger together, "Just that little bit."

Tuoba Qiyun said helplessly, "That tiny bit of opportunity came at a huge cost, as General Dong ordered each of our centurions to fight until their casualties reached nearly four hundred men before retreating."

Dong Zhuo chuckled, "That's not even half, is it?"

Yelü Yuhut asked impolitely, almost accusingly, "May I ask, Great General, how many草原 warriors have died by their own people's blades?"

Dong Zhuo thought carefully and replied, "Three centurions, and many more centurions. Including common soldiers, if I remember correctly, up to yesterday, there were two thousand seven hundred people."

Yelü Yuhut angrily exclaimed, "Aren't you afraid of causing a mutiny?!"

Dong Zhuo retorted, "Killing so few cowards who flinched in battle will cause a mutiny?"

Yelü Yuhut sneered, "Indeed, General, you command a hundred thousand nearly undamaged Dong family private troops, and you yourself are a brilliant general, meticulous in strategy. You will certainly be able to nip any uprising in the bud."

Tuoba Qiyun interjected, "That's enough."

Yelü Yuhut bit back her words. Seeing the Spring Chief's displeased expression, she finally ceased provoking the Great King of the Southern Court, whom she considered unworthy of his title.

The two riders bade farewell to Dong Zhuo and departed.

Yelü Yuhut turned her head, looking at the stout figure still halted on his horse. She murmured, "This fat man, he's just average at leading troops, but he's truly capable as an official. Even with the war at this stage, he doesn't forget to follow someone's wishes, gradually eroding the strength of the nomadic Siti factions beneath Hutou City. A centurion expends the direct forces brought from his tribe. Under rapid rotation, where will the subsequent troops come from? Either they're supplemented from Southern Court military outposts, diluted with 'sand' – meaning, unreliable elements – or two remnants are simply mixed together. If he continues fighting this way, how can a great Siti not become a minor Siti?"

Yelü Yuhut's face was grim, and she gritted her teeth, saying, "This is all the influence of those Central Plains remnants in the Southern Court. The Zhao family of Liyang used Guangling Province to reclaim military power from local vassal kings and generals. We're no different, are we? Every single草原 Siti leader here is being bled dry. Even if we eventually break through Northern Liang and enter the Central Plains, how many of our own people will we have left?"

Tuoba Qiyun chuckled, "You complain too much, you'll break your heart."

Yelü Yuhut glared, "You can still laugh?! Do you think your Tuoba clan can stay out of this?!"

Tuoba Qiyun shook his head, smiling silently.

The fat general, alone amidst his elite guards, gazed towards Hutou City. In his view, the siege infantry surged forward like an endless tide. Then, after the tide crashed against the city walls, sending up spray, it crept upwards.

He beckoned to a young accompanying strategist from the military council and said, "Issue the order: One, cease all tunnel digging starting today. Two, the infantry is to intensify its siege efforts. During the day, they may only withdraw after suffering over half casualties. At night, withdrawal is not contingent on battle losses; each centurion only needs to maintain the attack below Hutou City for one hour. Three, send word to Xijing: all families in the Southern Court, regardless of their family name—be it Jia, Yi, Bing, or Ding—and who are above a certain rank, must hand over all their stored alcohol to treat the wounds of the Eastern Front army's casualties. Remember, *all* alcohol from *all* families in the Southern Court. If anyone is found to have secretly kept even one jar, once confirmed, their family's rank will be demoted from 'Jia' to 'Yi', and so on. Four, tonight I will summon all commanders of ten thousand and centurions on the Eastern Front who are not currently on the battlefield."

The strategist quickly departed to relay the military order.

Dong Zhuo said in a deep voice, "Yelü Chucai!"

A burly captain, temporarily serving as the head of the elite guard unit, quickly rode closer. This time, the military general, who was both a member of the Northern Mang royal court and the Great King of the Southern Court's brother-in-law, dared not smile playfully. Whenever his brother-in-law called him by his given name, it meant something serious was about to happen. Yelü Chucai's sister was Dong Zhuo's eldest wife; although also of the Yelü clan, she was of a much nobler lineage than Yelü Yuhut. However, compared to their reported idler brother Yelü Dongchuang, who had gone to Liyang in the Central Plains, the two siblings were further from the seat of power. Yelü Chucai had never harbored such ambitions; he had always wanted to be a pure military general, galloping on the battlefield. With Dong Zhuo as a much-to-his-liking brother-in-law, he had been in his element within the Dong family army in recent years. However, in this southern campaign against Northern Liang, his usually accommodating brother-in-law stubbornly refused to let him be the vanguard, which deeply hurt Yelü Chucai. Even when Dong's personal army recently went to Liuzhou, he wasn't involved. Yelü Chucai had been as resentful as a widowed woman during this period.

Dong Zhuo glanced at his brother-in-law and said with a smile, "I have a task for you, but the journey is a bit far. Will you take it?"

Yelü Chucai cautiously asked, "Will there be military merits?"

Dong Zhuo replied, "Not necessarily."

Yelü Chucai decisively said, "Then I'm not going!"

Dong Zhuo laughed, "That's fine if you don't go. You'll still have a chance to attack the city tomorrow anyway. I'll just find someone else."

Yelü Chucai was confused, "Attack the city?"

Dong Zhuo nodded, "I'm entrusting you with my Dong family's twelve thousand infantry. You will begin attacking Hutou City tomorrow."

Yelü Chucai's mouth dropped open in astonishment; for a man of his build, it was truly a gaping maw, miles apart from his sister's delicate beauty, truly not looking like they were born of the same parents. Yelü Chucai's eyes suddenly burned with fervor. No longer calling Dong Zhuo "brother-in-law," he respectfully exclaimed, "Great General! This humble general is from the cavalry. Asking me to dismount and attack a city... I've made up my mind, I'll take the first task instead!"

Dong Zhuo gazed at him, calmly stating, "I'm giving you all eighty thousand of the Dong family's cavalry. You are to rush to Hulukou as quickly as possible. Although I've already arranged for men to watch that area, I'm still not at ease. Also, before you leave, write a will. If you die, I'll have an explanation for your sister."

Yelü Chucai, famous throughout Northern Mang for his cynical playfulness, grinned. He clenched his fist and pounded his chest heavily, "Great General, if... if I, your humble general, don't return, and don't get to see the children of the Great General and my sister, then tell them later that their uncle's only regret was not being able to let them ride on his neck."

Dong Zhuo hesitated, "If your presence or absence at Hulukou makes no difference, don't be a hero. Since you like children, go get married and have your own."

Yelü Chucai nodded and rode away.

Dong Zhuo remained motionless. No one could hear the fat general's soliloquy as he repeatedly muttered a number, "Thirty-eight, thirty-eight..."

In Hutou City, the most towering lookout towers and arrow towers on the northern side became prime targets for Northern Mang's trebuchets. However, the building where Commander Liu Jinu was located was further back, so the trebuchets posed no fatal threat. Instead, it was the Northern Mang master archers who had participated in the siege and gotten close to the city walls who took pride in hitting that building with their arrows. Although it wouldn't be counted as a military achievement, they would be treated as heroes after withdrawing from the battlefield.

Liu Jinu stood beside a table on which a map of Hutou City was spread. The map already marked various battlefield details, such as the extent of wall damage, areas where ballistas had been lost, and dangerous battlements that had been hastily repaired multiple times. Liu Jinu stared at the northeastern section of the city's defenses. After the ballistas here were the first to be completely destroyed, Northern Mang had, over the past five days, focused on increasing the density and intensity of attacks in this area, while not abandoning their assault on the due north. A large number of siege engines began to be shifted and concentrated from the northwest to the northeast.

A patrolling captain strode into the tower, laughing loudly, "General, these Northern Mang barbarians truly don't learn! Today, over seven hundred more 'rats' died; a small half suffocated, and when this humble officer led men down, we butchered the rest with little effort. As per usual, that tunnel has been completely sealed by us, and the nearby area will have two tunnel experts and a cavalry unit monitoring it day and night."

Liu Jinu nodded, then looked up and asked, "Have all the Da Lei curtains, hung outside the city gate towers and watchtowers, been used up?"

Da Lei was a special soft curtain used in the Central Plains for siege defense. Woven tightly from coarse hemp and coated with fire-resistant mud, it was highly effective against projectiles and fire arrows. Although Hutou City's walls were exceptionally sturdy, without a large number of Da Lei curtains to cushion the immense impact of flying stones, repairing Hutou City would not be so easy now.

A deputy general helplessly replied, "Yes, we didn't expect these barbarians to bring so many trebuchets. Fortunately, General, you had early preparations, otherwise, it would have been truly precarious. Furthermore, our water skins are running low. Not just at the city gates, but various sections of the city walls are also causing headaches. Water sources aren't an issue; it's just that the water skins made from cattle and horse hides and internal organs can't keep up. Those barbarians are desperately pouring oil onto the city walls, accompanied by arrow-fire like a rain of fire – they're truly insane. Thankfully, our mud-covered brooms for fire defense can be reused."

Liu Jinu, who hadn't closed his eyes for two days and two nights, picked up an arrow from the table and handed it to a captain beside him, saying, "All of you, take a good look."

The arrow, retrieved from the city wall, was passed around. Liu Jinu said, "Northern Mang's siege forces used to have such arrows, but not on this scale; they've only started appearing in large numbers in the last two days. Previously, half of the arrows matched the current configuration of Northern Mang's elite cavalry, with elongated arrowheads designed to penetrate our Northern Liang armor. However, the other half were mixed with old-fashioned bronze-cast arrows and iron-cast arrows derived from the Great Feng Dynasty, all uniformly flat and four-edged. Now, it's different; they are more refined and specialized, with even bodkin arrows and iron-spined arrows appearing."

Liu Jinu put down the arrow. "The reason I bring this up is that, considering the recent continuity of Northern Mang's siege, I dare assert that Northern Mang is taking a breather, much like grandmasters in a martial arts duel. Before Northern Mang launches its next wave of attack, this will be an opportunity for us—though, of course, it could also be a trap. Regardless, we should attempt it once. That's why, these past few days, I deliberately sent cavalry to the city walls for reinforcement. While giving the defending infantry a chance to rest, my main goal was to allow our cavalry to sally forth unexpectedly."

A captain responsible for guarding the city gates, whose head had been split open by a Northern Mang barbarian two days prior, asked, "Do we need our infantry on the city walls to cooperate and fight more fiercely?"

Liu Jinu shook his head, "No need, to avoid gilding the lily."

Liu Jinu slowly closed his eyes, unsure if he was utterly exhausted and had to rest for a moment, or if he was searching for a military opportunity in his mind.

Liu Jinu suddenly opened his eyes, placing both fists on the table. He stared at the two eager cavalry captains from within the city, "Northern Mang's cavalry, responsible for protecting and supporting the infantry's flanks, have become complacent from long periods of idleness. Tonight! This very night, station two thousand cavalry behind the North Gate. After sallying forth, charge and kill indiscriminately. One thousand cavalry each at the East and West Gates will attack the flanks. Remember! You have only half an hour. I will give these three cavalry units a maximum of half an hour. Regardless of how many Northern Mang infantry they kill, they must immediately return. Absolutely no prolonged fighting or refusal to retreat. After half an hour, Hutou City will open its gates again."

Liu Jinu suddenly called out to the two captains who were leaving after receiving their orders, "Tell the men beforehand: perhaps Northern Mang won't even give Hutou City the chance to open its gates again!"

A tall, white-haired captain nodded, "Understood!"

The two cavalry captains, separated by a generation, walked out of the room. The younger captain furtively glanced behind him, then asked the old captain, "Old Commander, what do you say? Do we really need to spell it out?"

The old man stopped, gripping the railing with both hands, silent.

The middle-aged captain understood, and no longer spoke. He actually felt the same way himself.

The old man turned and smiled, "Little Song, although our ranks are the same, you served as a corporal under me for three years. Never mind being a captain today, even if you were a general, you'd still be my soldier. So for this sortie to kill the enemy, I'll go, and you stay in the city to continue overseeing cavalry matters."

The middle-aged captain turned and walked away, "Then I'll go reason with General Liu."

The old man kicked the fellow in the backside, gently laughing and scolding, "Get back here! Let me finish speaking."

When Captain Song turned around again, the old man pointed north and softly said, "I have only one son and one daughter. My son died in the heart of Northern Mang in the first year of Yonghui. My son-in-law, who was also a corporal under me back then, later died eight years ago outside Liangzhou Pass. Fortunately, I have grandchildren now, so the He family's lineage hasn't broken. But the feeling of a white-haired person burying a black-haired one is truly unbearable."

The old man chuckled, "I know you competed with my son-in-law back then and resented that I chose him over you. That's why, all these years in Hutou City, you haven't stopped trying to outdo me. With my temper, thirty years ago, I would have beaten you till you picked up your teeth from the ground."

The middle-aged captain rolled his eyes and muttered, "Could you really beat me?"

The old man didn't bother to argue with the young man. He sighed sincerely, "Not counting all those years of campaigning across the Central Plains, I've been rooted in Northern Liang for almost twenty years now. I have a home, and the days have been peaceful. Even if relatives have died, the children can still wear mourning clothes, unlike the turbulent Spring and Autumn era of my youth, where the living struggled more than the dead. When I, an old man, occasionally return to my hometown, I see the children practicing calligraphy every day; their posture is quite proper, holding the brush more skillfully than I, their grandfather, can wield a spear. Listening to them read aloud from outside the study, this era in Northern Liang is truly good."

The old man patted Captain Song's shoulder, "Such a good era, every extra day is a blessing. As for me, whether the city gates can open a second time tonight or not, I don't plan to return. If you make me dismount and fight the Northern Mang barbarians on the city wall, I won't kill many. It's better to kill more on horseback. Little Song, now that I've said this, will you still try to compete with your old commander to sally forth?"

The middle-aged captain slowly clasped his hands in salute, but many words remained unspoken.

The old man burst into hearty laughter and strode away.

However, he then received a kick on his backside from the man named Song. The latter dashed down the stairs like a gust of wind, only leaving behind a shout, "Old Commander, since I couldn't steal your daughter back then, I swore I'd kick you once in this lifetime! Don't be angry!"

The old man patted the armor on his back and laughed, "You little scoundrel! Good thing I didn't choose you as my son-in-law back then."

Northern Mang attacked the city day and night. Outside the city, huge, neatly arranged bonfires burned on the battlefield.

Both the Liang and Mang forces, inside and outside Hutou City, had long grown accustomed to it.

It was the hour of midnight.

In Taoist alchemy texts, it was considered "the beginning of yang, the time of ignition."

On the three plazas directly leading to Hutou City's three gates, a cavalry unit at each began to don their armor. Long spears hung from their saddles, and Liang sabers were at their waists; they carried no bows or crossbows.

The old general leading the northern unit reached out and gripped the long spear he had seized from a Western Chu general at Xilei Wall years ago. He smiled and said, "Old fellow, you haven't been wronged since you took my family name, He, have you?"

When the creaking sound of the main gate slowly opening reached them, the old man abruptly spurred his horse, beginning the charge.

To coordinate with the sally of the three cavalry units, especially the one from the north, and to avoid premature detection, a barrage of arrows from the North Gate's city wall specifically targeted the Northern Mang barbarians near the gate just before midnight.

So, when the unprepared Northern Mang infantry realized the city gate was actively opening, they were momentarily bewildered. Even the roving scouts responsible for overseeing the battle, who usually patrolled several hundred paces behind the city wall, didn't immediately react. It was only when they personally saw a torrent of cavalry pouring out of the main gate with a roar that the scouts were stunned. However, some quickly wheeled their horses around, frantically whipping them as they galloped away through a deliberate gap left between the three large infantry formations.

As they turned to relay this urgent military intelligence, the Northern Mang soldiers near the city gate were either smashed in the head by a single spear thrust from this cavalry unit or sent flying backward by a direct spear impact.

Cavalry facing unformed infantry, in reality, cut people down like a scythe harvesting wheat.

If fully armored cavalry units were to charge head-on, both sides could leverage the immense inertia of their charging warhorses, causing significant damage to the long spears themselves and the riders' arms. But now?

The old captain, who was intimately familiar with battlefield combat, focused on his breathing from the start, neither hurried nor slow. He would never rush like a hothead, eager to kill dozens of enemies in one breath. Nor did he excessively pursue the charging speed of his warhorse. As leaders of a wedge-shaped cavalry unit, all should act this way; otherwise, it would disrupt the entire unit's offensive rhythm and could even lead to the cavalry formation splitting apart. Although this might be negligible in a cavalry-versus-infantry situation, the old man, as a seasoned Liangzhou border cavalry captain who had fought on horseback for most of his life, naturally acted this way.

To the right of the city gate, a thousand-man unit of Northern Mang barbarians was in the midst of an ant-swarm assault on the wall. The thousand-man unit behind them had not yet advanced to rotate in for the siege. To the left, coincidentally, the forces of two centurions were in the process of handover.

The old captain said in a deep voice to his cavalry deputy, "Each of us will lead a thousand cavalry to break through the formation. You, circle the city laterally!"

The two thousand cavalry quickly split to the left and right, like a stream flowing around a rock.

The old man led one thousand cavalry directly towards the intact Northern Mang thousand-man unit.

Six or seven Northern Mang soldiers, clad in leather armor, saw that escape was impossible. Gritting their teeth, they charged forward, brandishing their sabers.

The old captain charged straight through. The tip of his long spear angled slightly downward, aimed at a Northern Mang soldier's neck. The immense penetrating force lifted the soldier, who was raising his saber high, directly off the ground. Just before the spear was about to pierce the enemy's neck, the old man imperceptibly loosened his grip on the spear with both hands. The next moment, he quickly re-gripped the shaft, shifting his hold by less than an inch. Yet, this tiny, brief release of the spear allowed the old man to shed fifty to sixty percent of the resistance caused by the spear's killing thrust.

The old man gently pulled his long spear backward, extracting the spearhead from the corpse's neck, and continued his charge forward.

This was a valuable experience the old man had accumulated in his youth as a member of the Xu family's iron cavalry, battling across the Central Plains, breaking infantry formations with cavalry. The younger generation of Northern Liang cavalry knew this trick, but generally didn't need to use it; after all, Northern Mang also had cavalry, rendering such "flashy but impractical" tricks unnecessary. However, at present, it was highly significant. In such a situation, where a smaller cavalry force was assaulting a large infantry formation, the later the spear was released, the more enemies would naturally be killed.

Those six or seven Northern Mang soldiers were ridden over and died instantly.

Soldiers further away on both sides, after this thousand-man cavalry unit swiftly unfurled its charging formation, also could not escape their fate.

The most tragic one, after narrowly dodging the spear of one cavalryman, was immediately struck dead by the warhorse of the second Hutou City cavalryman right behind.

In the eyes of the thousand-man infantry unit nearby, they saw this wedge-shaped cavalry unit that had sallied from the city almost instantaneously arc around and extend its frontline into a rank of over a hundred riders.

A Northern Mang centurion roared, "Front ranks, raise shields! Archers, prepare!"

The old captain scoffed. "No spear-wielding chevaux de frise, no heavy armor. You think two or three scattered rows of shield bearers can stop my Northern Liang cavalry's charge?"

"I, He Lianshan, am an old Northern Liang veteran who has even charged through the elite halberdiers of Western Chu!"

"Haven't you been very diligent in your siege efforts for the past half year?"

"Today, my Hutou City cavalry will teach you a lesson!"

As his cavalry unit suddenly accelerated,

First, the elite Northern Liang cavalry in that leading row, using their peripheral vision, successively increased their speed, swiftly maintaining a nearly perfectly straight and flawless front line.

And the cavalry behind this row did the same.

All thousand cavalry acted in this manner.

This was the Northern Liang Iron Cavalry!

The old captain casually parried an incoming arrow. As for one that struck his shoulder armor, he didn't even bother to deflect it.

The moment cavalry and infantry met, the world seemed to fall silent.

One after another, the great Northern Liang warhorses leaped high. Above that line, above the heads of the kneeling, shield-raising Northern Mang soldiers in the front row, it was a truly magnificent sight!

When the hooves finally thundered down in unison, it was the time of death.

A Hutou City captain of astonishing strength violently thrust his long spear into the chest of a Northern Mang archer in the back row, dragging the gushing-blood corpse backward as it slid. The spearhead, having passed through the first chest, then struck the abdomen of a second Northern Mang soldier in the same row. The cavalry captain suddenly pushed the spear, then released his grip. The moment his warhorse charged between the two bodies, the captain bent down and gripped the spearhead, pulling it out of the corpses in one swift motion. Like a telepathic understanding, his Northern Liang warhorse suddenly exploded into an astonishing second charge, violently knocking away a third Northern Mang barbarian who was attempting to slash at his master's arm.

The thousand-man infantry formation, consisting only of a few shield bearers, a certain number of archers, and most climbers with sabers, and lacking any substantial depth, was simply ridden over by those thousand men and thousand horses.

Over nine hundred Hutou City cavalry did not stop.

They paid no heed to the Northern Mang thousand-man unit, strewn with dead and wounded.

They continued to charge towards the second infantry formation, a thousand paces away. Unlike the first chaotic one, the archers in the next formation had more ample opportunities to launch volleys. The centurion had even urgently brought in nearly a hundred shield bearers from the rear, sparsely interspersed with a dozen or so largely useless long spears – a true challenge for a centurion forced to improvise at the last minute. However, further in the distance, a nearby flanking cavalry unit had already begun rapidly reinforcing them through gaps in the infantry lines.

The old captain, with the arrow still lodged in his shoulder, began to intentionally or unintentionally slow his horse, breathing gently with the rise and fall of the saddle.

The old man's gaze swept past the second infantry formation, looking further into the distance, while his peripheral vision noted the movements on both flanks. The Northern Mang cavalry unit on the right flank, rushing to the rescue, numbered around two thousand men.

The old captain shouted loudly, "Break through the left half of the infantry formation ahead, then just charge to the left, leaving that Northern Mang reinforcement cavalry unit eating our dust!"

Less than five hundred paces away, this cavalry unit began to accelerate its charge.

The front line began to shift to the left.

After several waves of dense arrow rain, seven hundred Hutou City cavalry, thinning half of the infantry formation, successfully charged to the left. This time, they crashed into the third large formation without reservation.

After the initial impact, except for fifty to sixty cavalry who still held their long spears, this cavalry force, as if entering an unmanned territory, all began to switch to Northern Liang sabers.

However, this time, abandoning spears for sabers, the devastation inflicted upon this Northern Mang infantry formation was even more exaggerated than when the Northern Liang cavalry had broken through the second formation earlier.

Most of those long spears had pierced the chests of Northern Mang infantrymen.

The Liangzhou cavalry had an iron rule: any spear or lance dropped before switching to a saber, if it didn't kill an enemy, would be counted as no merit after the battle!

In the glow of the night fires, this vast expanse of gleaming, snow-bright saber blades was exceptionally striking!

Even Commander Liu Jinu, high up in the tower within Hutou City, could see it perfectly clearly.

This cavalry unit, including Captain He Lianshan, had no intention of returning to Hutou City alive. Liu Jinu knew this even more clearly.

Liu Jinu and the captains who had been discussing strategy inside the tower now stood at the railing.

Liu Jinu showed no sorrow on his face, only silently thought, "Go well. Later, brothers, we'll all find the Great General and drink underground."

Liu Jinu turned and limped back inside the tower.

He remembered that time, when the young vassal king, covered in blood, returned to Hutou City with twenty-odd Wu family swordsmen. The young man casually asked him a question: if Northern Liang were gone, would the Central Plains be indefensible?

Liu Jinu's answer to the young man was no. In just twenty years, the Central Plains' spirit of courage remained. When the day came where there was no retreat, many would discover that they too could be fearless and face death with equanimity. Just