Chapter 795: North Liang Four Battles (3)

The Northern Mang cavalry, after successively sweeping through Wogong and Luanhe cities, found their advance decisively halted at Xiaguang City, which strategically controlled this vital pass outside Youzhou. Without breaching this pass and successfully invading Youzhou territory, all the cavalry of the Northern Mang's eastern front would be rendered useless.

Outside the city, two Northern Mang eastern front generals, closely guarded by over a thousand elite cavalry escorts, surveyed the battle situation on the city walls. The supreme commander, Yang Yuanzan, sighed, "As the ancients truly said, 'A journey of a hundred li is half over at ninety li.' Except for this city, Hulu Pass is already in my hands, but as long as Xiaguang City remains unbreached for a single day, we cannot engage those 30,000 You Cavalry in a decisive battle."

Zhong Tan, the vanguard general who had just been bestowed the title of Xia Nabo of the Royal Tent by His Majesty the Emperor, chuckled, "It must be difficult for the Great General, like leading a large brood of hungry fledglings, constantly clamoring."

The old general laughed, "Once we pass Xiaguang City, the entirety of Youzhou will be under our hooves. Then, seeking battle will be simple; opportunities for combat and military merit will be everywhere. How much one can gain will depend on individual ability."

Zhong Tan, who had personally fought on the city walls just yesterday, was still covered in the stench of blood. He spoke softly, "Now we just await Yan Wenluan to fill the breach in Xiaguang City with his Youzhou infantry. Otherwise, Xiaguang City won't hold for more than three days."

Yang Yuanzan sneered, "Xiaguang City is not Hutou City. The city is only so large; how many people can stand on its walls? Yan Wenluan can at most throw 6,000 men into Xiaguang City at once to defend it. Any more, and they wouldn't even be able to reach the walls, they'd just be a crowded mass watching the spectacle inside the city."

Yang Yuanzan gazed at the distant Xiaguang City, its fortifications already stretched thin, its large crossbows destroyed. Especially after their infantry had nearly dismantled Wogong and Luanhe cities, hundreds of trebuchets had been relentlessly hurling massive stones for days. So, this summer, Xiaguang City had seen much "rain" – a continuous shower of stones. Apart from the peripheral strongholds on both sides between Xiaguang City and Luanhe City, all other major and minor outposts had been cleared by the Northern Mang aristocratic private cavalry, who were desperate for military exploits. The Hulu Pass beacon towers, with their sparse garrisons, were undoubtedly the first to fall, quickly becoming prime hunting targets. Some larger fortified posts with slightly more abundant troops were also overwhelmed and breached after several, or even a dozen, private family cavalry forces converged. This action saved Yang Yuanzan a great deal of trouble.

With Wogong and Luanhe cities destroyed, Hulu Pass was now highly suitable for long-distance cavalry maneuvers. It could be said that once Yang Yuanzan's eastern army took Xiaguang City, not only would the gateway to Youzhou be wide open, but given the absolute numerical disadvantage of the You Cavalry, the Northern Mang eastern front could advance or retreat easily into Hulu Pass north of Xiaguang City, or even completely withdraw from Hulu Pass without difficulty. No matter how outstanding Yan Wenluan's infantry fighting prowess, could two-legged infantry outrun four-legged cavalry? Therefore, although Zhong Tan's infantry suffered astonishing casualties, with two or three thousand-man units collapsing almost daily, the old general, though outwardly frowning, was not overly worried. Deep down, he harbored a hidden trace of schadenfreude towards his old friend Liu Gui, who was in charge of the western front. At the time, the Western Capital had sent Liu Gui to Liuzhou, where the Beiliang border army had no natural strongholds to rely on, while tasking Yang Yuanzan with attacking Youzhou and leading his troops through Hulu Pass, a terrifying region rumored to be capable of burying 150,000 Northern Mang troops. Yang Yuanzan had certainly harbored resentment then, but looking back now, blessings and misfortunes were indeed intertwined, and heaven's will was unpredictable.

Zhong Tan's peripheral vision caught the old general's look of absolute certainty. The decorated vanguard general hesitated to speak, ultimately swallowing his speculation. To become the new Xia Nabo, displacing Yelü Yuhu in less than a year of military service, was due to a prominent "A-rank" aristocratic family magnate in the Western Capital's court, who said, "Zhong Tan alone saved our eastern army from losing 50,000 men in Hulu Pass. It is as if we gained 50,000 brave infantry, skilled in siege warfare. Why should he not be the Nabo!" Logically, a scion of the Zhong family, who had suddenly risen to the ranks of renowned generals like Xie Xichui, Kou Jianghuai, and Song Li of the Central Plains, should have been utterly complacent. Yet, Zhong Tan always felt that the Youzhou campaign was not so simple.

Yang Yuanzan suddenly pointed towards the rapidly deteriorating situation on the city wall, showing no alarm but rather delight. He laughed heartily, "Zhong Tan, look! Yan Wenluan finally can't sit still. I thought that old man had dug some extraordinary pit for us within Youzhou territory. Unexpectedly, this is all the composure he has. What a disappointment, truly a disappointment!"

When Zhong Tan saw the brutal fighting on the Xiaguang city wall, he finally felt a sense of relief.

Xiaguang City's geographical location was uniquely advantageous, holding the only vital pass in Hulu Pass through which large-scale cavalry could enter. Thus, battles here were always head-on clashes; any attempt at surprise attacks by either side would be foolish. Zhong Tan's eastern infantry had recently been continuously pouring onto the city walls. Yesterday, Zhong Tan himself led 800 death-defying soldiers in an assault, only to be forced off the walls after half an hour of fierce fighting. When the main battleground of a siege shifts from scaling walls to close-quarters combat on the wall, it often signifies that the city's fall is imminent. Perhaps knowing that Xiaguang City was on the verge of collapse, this was the first time Yan Wenluan's veteran infantry appeared on the Hulu Pass battlefield. Zhong Tan galloped forward. Without the threat of wall-mounted ballistas, and given Zhong Tan's martial prowess and iron armor, he did not fear the sporadic long-range shots from the few skilled archers on the city wall.

Zhong Tan looked up and indeed, a large contingent of Youzhou veteran infantry was reinforcing the city wall. They were clad in typical "Yan Zha Armor," meticulously crafted by official Beiliang artisans. This armor consisted of 1,500 finely forged iron plates, densely connected with tough leather straps and rivets, weighing over sixty catties. It was no less formidable than the elite heavy infantry Great Halberdiers of the former Western Chu. Moreover, Beiliang men were naturally more robust than Western Chu soldiers. Yan family infantry, clad in heavy armor and wielding long spears, forming ranks to resist cavalry, had previously achieved astonishing results against Western Chu cavalry during the Spring and Autumn Wars. Heavy infantry, emerging with the birth of the Da Feng Dynasty and the formation of the Nine Kingdoms during the Spring and Autumn period, was a peculiar kind of soldier born out of necessity as large-scale cavalry, especially steppe cavalry, became increasingly unstoppable on the battlefield. The principle was that since infantry could not match cavalry's mobility, they would simply abandon all mobility and adopt a static defense. Of course, heavy infantry was not originally a precious troop type for city defense, not simply because using infantry against infantry was overkill, but because heavy infantry was too cumbersome for close-quarters combat on the narrow, critical space of a city wall.

However, the four hundred Northern Mang daredevil soldiers who had already reached the Xiaguang city wall were almost entirely cut down by the Yan Zha armored infantry in an instant.

Zhong Tan turned to a messenger and said in a deep voice, "Tell Zheng Lin to lead 2,000 cavalry to cover the retreat of our siege infantry."

On the city wall, life and death were decided instantly.

The Northern Mang infantry were already nearly exhausted. One of them still managed to deliver a powerful, fierce blow, but it was casually parried by the well-armored Yan family heavy infantryman who simply raised his left arm. The veteran Yan family elite soldier continued his charge, his right hand's 'Liang' blade instantly piercing the chest of the leather-armored Northern Mang barbarian. With a powerful momentum, he slammed the Northern Mang soldier against the outer wall. After quickly pulling out his blade, he gripped it with both hands and powerfully swung upwards, tearing a strip of flesh from the waist to the shoulder of another Northern Mang barbarian who had attempted to cut his face, revealing a deep, bone-visible gash. Gory blood splattered all over the heavy infantryman's face, making him look exceptionally savage.

A Northern Mang soldier was directly thrown out of the city from a breach in a ruined section of the city wall.

On the Xiaguang city wall, armor clanged.

One after another, bloodied Northern Mang soldiers' heads were simultaneously thrown down from the city wall by the hulking armored soldiers.

All the soldiers who had reached the wall were wiped out without exception. The Northern Mang siege soldiers, hearing the retreat drums, hurriedly pulled down their scaling ladders. Above them, heads and bodies continuously crashed down, along with a rain of arrows unleashed by archers who had returned to the city walls.

This rain of blood and arrows was Xiaguang City's most powerful answer to the "rain curtain" created by the Northern Mang trebuchets earlier.

For the first time, Xiaguang City, whose gates had been tightly shut until now, actively raised its main gate, and a large force of heavy infantry surged out.

On the city wall, the Youzhou heavy infantry slid down the scaling ladders, initiating a one-sided slaughter of the Northern Mang soldiers who were too slow to retreat.

Like a flood pouring out of the city, Northern Mang infantry continually "drowned" in the blood.

The 2,000 Northern Mang cavalry closest to the city wall, receiving Zhong Tan's command, began to accelerate their charge, launching volleys of horse archery. Their goal was to provide cover for their retreating infantry while simultaneously suppressing the Xiaguang City infantry from forming ranks outside the city. At the same time, the infantry archers on the city wall, whose range was greater than that of horse bows, decisively ceased firing at the Northern Mang infantry and turned their attention to the Northern Mang cavalry who were harassing the heavy infantry coming out of the city. Zheng Lin, the cavalry general, raised his arm and paused. His cavalry stopped advancing and began to slowly retreat fifty paces. Most of the arrows from the city wall fell on the ground within these fifty paces. Zheng Lin, turning his horse back, surveyed his surroundings, feeling somewhat frustrated. Aside from the siege infantry who were frantically retreating to the flanks of the cavalry, the real culprits hindering more of his cavalry from reaching the battlefield were precisely the nearby infantry formations that were supposed to be responsible for the subsequent siege. Otherwise, if his 2,000 cavalry could have blocked the city gate, given Xiaguang City's current lack of crossbows and bows to pose a significant threat, then even if 4,000 cavalry couldn't completely prevent the infantry from leaving the city, they could at least prevent them from comfortably spreading out their formation.

Zheng Lin's cavalry unit was an elite force of the eastern front. Except for their spears, which they had temporarily not carried as they hadn't anticipated a charge, they possessed both horse bows and foot bows. Various other weapons like lassos and throwing axes were also abundant. They all wore chainmail, which was a lavish expenditure compared to the ordinary leather armor of steppe cavalry.

Zheng Lin's unmoving cavalry stood out remarkably amidst the surging, retreating Northern Mang infantry.

Soon, several reinforcing cavalry units struggled through the infantry to reach them, totaling around 3,500 cavalry. However, battle opportunities are always fleeting. The Youzhou infantry, with the skilled assistance of nearly a thousand auxiliary troops responsible for logistics, had already calmly formed a dense, hedgehog-like formation outside the Xiaguang City gate. But for some reason, this infantry unit did not deploy the standard anti-cavalry defenses in front of their lines: wooden chevaux de frise, caltrops, and abatis. Zheng Lin couldn't help but feel a bit strange. Xiaguang City was, after all, the last major stronghold in the Hulu Pass defense line. Even if they never intended to sally forth with infantry to counter cavalry, they should at least have symbolically stocked these common military provisions in the city. Zheng Lin smiled; "no obstacles" was even better. Those large abatis with four slanted logs and holes for iron spears, and the simpler kind of abatis that the scholarly military strategists had explained countless times, made cavalry generals like Zheng Lin's scalp tingle just hearing about them.

Zheng Lin carefully observed the Youzhou infantry's troop distribution. It was indeed as the erudite military strategists had described: the strongest, most robust shield-bearers, almost human height, stood in front, their razor-sharp long spears angled forward from between their shields. Above the wicker shields and iron wall, multiple rows of a "spear forest" formed, capable of sending chills down the cavalry's spines even in midsummer. Behind them was a formation of axe-bearers, abandoning their 'Liang' blades for large axes, followed by archers who could draw their bows and strike the enemy earlier than cavalry, and finally waist-cocked crossbows and foot-levered crossbows, which had an even longer range than infantry bows. Zheng Lin instinctively raised his buttocks off his saddle, trying to see more clearly, but it was difficult to discern any further hidden intricacies of these veteran Yan family infantry.

A cavalry thousand-commander from the Northern Court Steppe, who had come to Hulu Pass, chuckled and asked, "General Zheng, what do you say? Shall I lead my troops in a charge first? It would be good to test their strength."

Zheng Lin looked at the young thousand-commander, the eldest legitimate son of a Great Xidi who occupied vast, fertile grasslands in the north. He was young and impetuous, having achieved many military merits in the previous sweeps of beacon towers and fortified posts around Luanhe City. Now, he was just waiting to break through Xiaguang City and go on a killing spree in Youzhou territory. It was said that this youngster had already discussed with a group of Northern Court noble youths of similar backgrounds that once they entered Youzhou, they would ignore all other places and focus on the region called Rouge Prefecture. The breathtakingly beautiful women there made even men from Liyang's Central Plains salivate. They planned to first select a few hundred of the most beautiful for their own enjoyment, and sell the rest of the women from Rouge Prefecture to the various Xidis of the steppe, thereby gaining both money and favors.

As a scion of a prominent 'B-rank' family from the Southern Dynasty, Zheng Lin had little affection for these Xidi descendants from the Northern Court. In the past two decades, there had been countless instances of minor Northern Court nobles lording it over others in the Southern Dynasty's Western Capital. Yet, Zheng Lin still shook his head, "That 4,000-man infantry unit is Yan Wenluan's veteran Youzhou infantry, the core of his direct lineage. We must not charge recklessly. General Zhong merely ordered me to cover the infantry's retreat, not to greedily advance for merit."

The thousand-commander chuckled, "Whether it's greedy advancement for merit can only be judged after I've lost. Every one of my thousand steppe lads is an elite cavalryman who could practically crawl under a horse's belly as if it were child's play. General Zheng, since you don't dare to charge, just stand by and watch my vanguard attack."

Zheng Lin replied expressionlessly, "Oh, then this general shall quietly await your victory report."

The young thousand-commander burst into laughter, taking the lead and charging towards the heavily defended infantry formation.

The thousand cavalry formed up in five rows of two hundred, with significant gaps between each row. The front two rows consisted mainly of the taller "heavy cavalry," each wielding either their original long spears or iron spears captured from Beiliang fortified posts. Their armor was also superior to that of the latter three rows, and they rapidly advanced. This type of cavalry charge, executed with great familiarity by steppe peoples, had a simple yet flexible formation. It had achieved unparalleled victories against Central Plains infantry during the late Da Feng Dynasty, leaving the Central Plains engulfed in conflict. Whenever they were about to collide with Central Plains infantry, the latter three rows of light cavalry would suddenly accelerate their charge, bursting forth through the gaps in the heavy cavalry, either unleashing dense arrow volleys with horse archery or throwing short spears. If the enemy infantry formation maintained its stable ranks, the heavy cavalry would not rush to charge, instead curving around to flank the formation. The light cavalry would follow in sequence. If no opportunities were found on the flanks of the infantry formation, they would return to their original positions, repeating the process until the infantry formation wavered and a slight opening appeared. Then, the heavy cavalry would launch a truly devastating, powerful charge, carving out a breakthrough for the light cavalry behind them.

The steppe cavalry, who once galloped freely across the Da Feng Dynasty's territory, had greatly enhanced their armor and weapons thanks to the various benefits brought by Hongjia's Northern Flight.

Unfortunately, the enemy this thousand-man cavalry unit faced was Yan Wenluan's heavy infantry, the Beiliang border army.

It was not the "decorative pillow of a dynasty" that some aristocratic scholars had boasted about as "all previous dynasties perished from weakness, only the Da Feng perished from strength."

When it was discovered that only a thousand cavalry were charging alone,

This infantry formation made a shocking move, violating conventional military strategy by voluntarily dropping their shield wall and spear forest, which were the essence of an anti-cavalry formation.

Between just 300 and 100 paces,

Under the devastating barrage of powerful arrows and crossbow bolts, the thousand cavalry, who had been shouting loudly, were sent tumbling, men and horses falling, leaving over six hundred riders on the ground.

What followed was also completely contrary to military texts: the main infantry formation did not continue to launch large-scale volleys of infantry arrows. Instead, they precisely shot down the few dozen skirmishers who tried to escape the frontal engagement, while the front ranks raised their shields and spears anew.

It was as if they were saying, "Cavalry charge? Then please, come!"

Upon discovering their thousand-commander impaled by an arrow through the chest, the remaining 300-plus Northern Mang cavalry charged forward like madmen, heedless of their lives, crashing into those sharp chevaux de frise spears.

After the impact,

The entire infantry formation remained as solid as a rock!

Before the shields,

Among the long spears!

All three hundred-plus Northern Mang warhorses, without exception, were instantly impaled by two-and-a-half-zhang long spears!

On the Xiaguang city wall, a short, one-eyed old man, accompanied by Youzhou General Huangfu Ping and Administrator Hu Kui, both high-ranking Beiliang officials, never once glanced at the Northern Mang cavalry's suicidal charge. Instead, he looked further north, beyond Hulu Pass, and muttered to himself, "In three days, all four cavalry units should be able to enter Hulu Pass, right?"

Outside Hulu Pass, 20,000 Youzhou cavalry were divided into two. General of the Vanguard Cavalry Shi Yulu and General of the Swift Cavalry Fan Wenyao each led 2,000 cavalry further north, tasked with disrupting supply lines in Longyao Prefecture and ambushing scattered cavalry units.

You Cavalry Deputy General Yu Luandao personally led 16,000 cavalry, awaiting the arrival of two other cavalry units, whom the Youzhou cavalry would then escort.

Although the combined numbers of these two cavalry units barely exceeded half of the You Cavalry,

Yu Luandao showed no resentment whatsoever.

Two days later, a 10,000-man cavalry unit was the first to separate from the main army and charge into Hulu Pass.

Dilapidated strongholds, deserted beacon towers.

The landscape was scarred.

A strong wind swept through Wogong City, no longer a city, like a weeping lament.

This 10,000-strong cavalry did not stop at Wogong City. As they rode past, all the cavalrymen spontaneously drew their Beiliang sabers and raised them high.

The Great Snow Dragon Riders.

They advanced south in silence.