gnovel Chapter 61 The Eastern Barbarians Charge into Battle, Qin Forest's Copper Wall
Chapter 61 The Eastern Barbarians Charge into Battle, Qin Forest's Copper Wall
Beneath the central banner, Helan Cangfeng was already fully armed and ready.
The magnificent, gilded, and gem-encrusted beast-patterned armor reflected a cold and arrogant light in the dim morning light, while the snow-white fox fur on the back of the shoulders moved without wind.
He sat upright on a strong horse from the west bank of the Yellow River, shading his eyes with his hand and gazing southward.
The Xia army camp on the opposite bank was silent and its formation was impeccable, but in Helan Cangfeng's eyes, it was nothing more than a desperate bluff, the last stubbornness of lambs to the slaughter.
A hint of undisguised contempt played on his lips, as if he could already see 300,000 iron hooves trampling through the flimsy defenses and drinking from the waters of Youzhou City.
He abruptly drew his ruby-inlaid curved sword from his waist, the blade pointing towards the south bank, his voice slightly shrill with excitement:
"Issue the order! Bayan, the vanguard on the left flank, leads 20,000 iron cavalry from the Ula tribe, and Timur, the vanguard on the right flank, leads 40,000 infantry and cavalry from the Khorchin tribe. Immediately build a bridge to cross the river and crush the summer dogs on the south bank for me!"
The rest of the troops, bows drawn and swords unsheathed, await the vanguard's breakthrough before the entire army surges forward, leaving no survivors!
"As you command, Commander!" Bayan and Timur, who had been waiting impatiently, responded with a roar, their eyes burning with a desire for merit and plunder.
Bayan roared, like a raging bear, and swung his massive, awe-inspiring axe through the air:
"You wolf cubs of the Ula tribe! Follow me, let's cross the river! We'll cut off that brat Tian Heng's head and use it as a chamber pot! We'll plunder money! We'll plunder grain! We'll plunder women! The first one to charge into the Xia army's ranks, I'll reward him with ten slaves and a hundred sheep!"
The 20,000 Ula cavalrymen let out wild howls, urging their warhorses forward like a black torrent bursting its banks, rushing towards a section of the river upstream where the current was slightly slower. Their hooves flew, trampling mud and snow from the riverbank.
Timur, however, appeared more astute. He reined in his horse and quickly gave orders to his generals:
"Have the infantry quickly set up the pontoon bridge! The cavalry must be ready; once the bridge is open, we'll cross! Tell the men that Bayan, that brute, only knows how to charge head-on; for skillful breaking through enemy lines, we, the Khorchin, will do the work! The first to scale the bridge will be richly rewarded!"
Forty thousand Khorchin tribesmen moved at the order. The infantrymen, carrying crudely made planks, ropes, and even dismantled tent poles, charged toward the riverbank with shouts.
The cavalrymen, meanwhile, were organizing their ranks and checking their bows and arrows at the rear, their eyes fixed on the simple bridge that was gradually stretching towards the center of the river.
In an instant, dozens of "ferry crossings" started construction simultaneously along the riverbank that stretched for several miles.
Shouts, chants, the clanging of planks, the hammering of stakes, and the rubbing of ropes mingled with the roar of the river, creating a chaotic and frenzied pre-battle symphony.
Soldiers were shoving and shouting at each other in a scramble for a spot on the bridge, creating chaos.
The pontoon bridge swayed precariously in the rapids, and people kept slipping and falling into the water. Their screams were instantly swallowed by the waves, but the people behind them still pushed forward with red eyes, afraid that if they fell behind, someone else would steal all the credit.
On the opposite bank of the river, the Great Xia army was arrayed.
The 50,000 elite Southern troops, like 50,000 cast-iron statues, had already completed their formation in the darkest hour before dawn.
At this moment, they stood silently on the slightly higher hard ground behind the riverbank. Their heavy armor absorbed the morning light, presenting a somber dark color, like a steel forest rooted in the earth.
There was no commotion, no disturbance, and even the warhorses seemed to understand the gravity of the battle, only occasionally snorting.
Only the banners fluttered in the rising morning breeze, and the faint friction of armor from breathing could be heard.
General Qin Lin, the Tiger General, stood on his horse beneath the banner bearing the character "Xia," clad in polished black iron mountain-patterned armor, with a scarlet cloak draped over his side.
He was not wielding a long weapon, but rather a pair of four-sided gilded maces.
His gaze, steady as a rock, slowly swept across the steel wall before him, composed of countless helmets, shields, and spear tips. His voice, though not loud, struck the hearts of every soldier like a heavy hammer.
"Soldiers! Beneath our feet lies the sacred land of China, a land passed down from our ancestors, a land we cannot afford to lose! Behind us lies the homeland of Youzhou, upon which countless elders depend for their livelihood! And across the river..."
He suddenly pointed his golden mace at the misty north bank, his voice rising abruptly, like the clang of metal on metal.
"They are the wolves of the Eastern Barbarians who slaughtered our border towns, killed our compatriots, and trampled our mountains and rivers! Today, the banks of the Onon River will be their burial ground!"
Our Great Xia Imperial Guard, having received the nation's great favor and been trained for a thousand days, now is the time for our troops to fight! As long as the battle is fought, we will fight; if we die in battle, we will die! Even if we fight to the last soldier and shed our last drop of blood, we will never allow a single barbarian to cross this river and trample on an inch of our divine land!
Gentlemen, is it possible to do this?!
Qin Lin's skill "Copper Wall" activated
Strength: 105, Command: 98, Intelligence: 88, Politics: 85
Copper Wall: A fortress of copper and iron, indestructible.
Effect 1: When activated, Strength and Leadership increase by 2 points.
Effect 2: When defending, soldiers' morale increases and the commander's morale increases by 2 points.
Effect 3: Iron Wall, when activated in conjunction with the Iron Wall skill, seals the first effect of the opponent's command skill.
"Currently, combat strength has increased by 2, and leadership has increased by 4. Combat strength is 107, and leadership is 102."
"As long as we're here, we'll stay! We'll fight to the death!!!"
Fifty thousand soldiers roared in unison, their voices like thunderclaps from a clear sky, forcefully dispersing the thin mist on the river and soaring into the heavens! Every face, obscured by the shadow of their helmets, was etched with determination and fearlessness.
The front-line swordsmen and shield bearers slammed their massive, half-person-high iron shields into the ground. The mortise and tenon joints on the edges of the shields clicked together with a series of rhythmic "clicks," instantly forming a seemingly endless metal wall.
Between the shields, a twelve-foot-long infantry spear protruded like a poisonous dragon, its tip pointing diagonally forward, its cold gleam forming a thorny thicket of death.
Following the spearmen were two rows of crossbowmen, their feet on the crossbow arms, their powerful crossbows already drawn and strung, the bolts gleaming with a cold, poisonous blue light in the morning sun.
Further back, the archers had already nocked their arrows, their eyes sharp as eagles.
In the midst of the battle, new recruit Li Jianyuan gripped the long spear in his hand, which was much taller than himself, his knuckles turning white from the force.
He just turned twenty-five this year. He comes from a border town in Youzhou. His hometown was once robbed by a small group of Dongyi people, and his parents managed to escape.
Facing such a large enemy force, my heart pounded wildly in my chest, a mixture of fear, hatred, and a strange surge of passion.
Beside him stood Wang Zhong, a veteran with a gruesome old scar running from his brow bone to the corner of his mouth. He reached out his rough, calloused hand and patted Li Jianyuan's shoulder armor heavily, his voice hoarse yet steady:
"Kid, keep your eyes open and your hands steady. As long as the shield wall doesn't fall, the sky won't collapse."
Follow my rhythm. I'll stab the left, you cover the right. Remember, stab the throat, the face, the belly—stab wherever there's no armor! Don't panic, just treat it like stabbing a straw man!
Li Jianyuan nodded vigorously, took a deep breath of the cold air carrying the smell of river and rust, and fixed his gaze on the swaying river mist and the faintly visible dark shadow of the pontoon bridge ahead.
The Dongyi army's river-crossing operation proceeded amidst chaos and scrambling. About half an hour later, the pontoon bridge where the Bayan tribe on the left flank was located was completed first.
It was nothing more than a raft made of ropes strung together and hastily fixed to wooden stakes on both banks, swaying and bobbing in the rushing river like the gait of a drunkard.
"Men, charge! Kill all the southern dogs!" Bayan, who had been waiting with bloodshot eyes, did not hesitate when he saw the situation. He spurred his horse and charged onto the creaking pontoon bridge.
Bayan
Strength: 105, Command: 88, Intelligence: 76, Politics: 69
The heavy warhorse stepped onto the bridge, causing the pontoon bridge to suddenly sink, the river water almost overflowing the planks. But Bayan ignored it all, brandishing his axe, roaring like a human bear as he charged toward the opposite bank.
Behind them, the Ula cavalry let out wild howls and rushed onto the pontoon bridge. The bridge could not bear the weight and groaned painfully. Cavalrymen and their horses were constantly pushed into the river and disappeared into the water in the blink of an eye, but the fervent momentum of the charge did not diminish in the slightest.