YM778.TV Chapter 331
Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Tong, and all 60,000 troops of the Immortal Legion exited Luo Yang before 9 AM . As Tong could not use his inventory, they decided to abandon all unnecessary weapons, food, and other supplies .
Upon leaving the city, Jia Xu ordered the forced-march right away, rushing to the north toward the yellow river . Meanwhile, he ordered the soldiers reserves to hire the local people .
These local civilians would ride their carts and wagons filled with real food supplies and stones toward Hulao Gate, and they would head to Ye City to the north . In other words, they would be their dummy troops .
Moreover, Tong, Jia Xu, and Xun Yu did not allow any soldier to travel on foot . Instead, each horse they had carried two soldiers, galloping through the farm and marchland as fast as they could .
Wagons and carts with supplies and reserve soldiers were following behind the trail in snail speed, but they were there for a reason .
Each of them had prepared a fast horse for their escape in advance .
Within the haystacks on the wagons and carts, they hid all of their explosive gunpowder and Tong’s leftover crude oil barrels in there . Once they lighted the fire on the haystacks, chaos would be ensured .
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Although Tong’s movements were swift, they could not escape the eyes of Yuan Shao . Because of the large army, even a common soldier in the coalition army knew that they had mobilized .
Tao Qian moved first since he had sent his men to prepare for his withdrawal from the coalition since last night . Unlike Tong, Tao Qian’s 30,000 soldiers left Luo Yang using the east gate, heading toward Hulao Gate directly .
As a veteran old fox, Tao Qian said to Yuan Shao before his departure, "I shall head out first to chase after Zhang Tong . "
The minor lords admired how prepared Tao Qian was, so none of them expected that Tao Qian would retreat instead of chasing after Tong .
However, Yuan Shao and Tian Feng did not believe Tao Qian . Moreover, they planned to kill him first!
A fast horse messenger was sent to Hulao Gate, where Yan Liang and 50,000 soldiers of Yuan Shao were fortifying . The content of the message was straightforward, "Tao Qian is a traitor . Kill him on sight!"
While they were at it, Yuan Shao, Tian Feng, and Wen Chou took the remaining 50,000 soldiers to chase after Tong at the north gate . The time of their departure was 10 AM .
As for the rest of the minor lords, they followed after Tao Qian to reinforce Hulao Gate, thinking that Tong might choose to use this road to return to his territory .
The chase had begun!
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10 AM .
Yuan Shao sent Wen Chou ahead with 30,000 heavy cavalries, hoping to catch the straggler from Tong’s retreating soldiers . On the other hand, he and his 20,000 infantries would follow the trail from behind .
Even though Tong had departed the city more than one hour ahead of them, the foot soldiers always traveled slower than the horsemen . Wen Chou and Yuan Shao thought that Tong could not go very far with those infantries .
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10 . 10 AM .
The fast-horse scouts of Wen Chou detected the haystack wagons moving north in a snail speed . They went closer to inquire about Tong’s army, but they met with something unexpected .
*BANG*
One of the soldiers shot them in the head with Tong’s handgun, which Tong had entrusted his spare guns and bullets to the soldiers .
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
More bullets flew at the scouts, which killed seven out of ten riders instantly . The remaining three rushed back to the main cavalry unit in a panic .
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10 . 15 AM .
The three survivors reported their finding and the incidents to their commander right away .
"That’s Zhang Tong’s favorite sorcery! Has he even taught his men!?"
Wen Chou had goosebumps since he was shot once before .
Undaunted, Wen Chou bellowed, "Give chase! Kill all those stragglers!"
"SHAAAA!!" (Kill!)
The massive army of horsemen accelerated their pace!
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10 . 25 AM .
The 30,000 riders reached the haystack wagon caravan . Upon seeing the haystacks, Wen Chou immediately called for stopping the troops .
As an elite general, he would be a fool if he did not recognize how Tong could use those wagons .
"Do not attack! Those wagons are commonly used for fire tactic . They will burn those wagons to stop us!"
The riders pulled the reigns as soon as they saw the command flags . The entire legion stopped further away from the haystacks .
Wen Chou looked at the banners and flags of his army, checking the wind direction .
The wind blew from the east to west, which they were not precisely under the downwind .
"We’ll detour around those guys! Circle around them toward the east and shoot fire arrows at those haystacks!"
Wen Chou voice was loud enough for Tong’s soldiers around the wagon to hear .
Realizing that their plan had been exposed, all soldiers of the haystack wagons got on their horses and fled from the location, leaving the traps behind .
A minute later, Wen Chou’s men sent fire arrows at the wagons, igniting the fire .
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
The wagons exploded because of the crude oil and the gunpowder!
Looking at the destroyed traps, Wen Chou snorted, "Zhang Tong is getting desperate! Hurry and give chase . We’re following those fleeing men!"
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11 AM .
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and their 3,000 remaining soldiers from the previous fight followed after Yuan Shao, exiting the north gate .
Because Liu Bei overslept and Guan Yu had difficulty controlling their new spirit who had the same appearance with himself, they finished the preparation late .
Zhang Fei also awakened an angelic soul because of Jiang Man’s [Kindness] . He woke up from the long, unpleasant dream, wanting to vent his frustration .
Liu Bei had not discovered the newly acquired power of his brothers yet . Meanwhile, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei did not have anyone to guide them about their soul of virtue, so they kept their mouth shut .
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Noon
Wen Chou finally caught up with the retreating Immortal Legion as they could see the trail of dusk from the horizon .
They were only one kilometer apart!
The leading commander of the legion, Tong, glanced at his radar map .
They were 15 kilometers away from the Yellow River where Tong and Li Feihong designated as the rendezvous point .
Tong turned around to look at his men . Because each warhorse carried two or three soldiers, including their armors and supplies, they could not outrun even the cavalries that traveled light .
The average galloping speed of Tong Army’s warhorses was 25 to 30kph while Wen Chou’s horsemen rushed at them with over 40kph in speed .
At this rate, Wen Chou Army would reach the tail of Tong Army within a few minutes before Tong could even reach the rendezvous point!
Without a choice, Tong glanced at Xun Yu, who also had the same idea as Tong .
Xun Yu immediately sent his SOS to the clan chat .
Xun Yu: "Sir Li, change of plan . "
Xun Yu: "Yuan Shao moves faster than we thought, we need to stand and fight . "
Tong: "We’re 15km south of the rendezvous point . "
Tong: "Send the reinforcement south . We’ll buy times and wait for you . "
Li Feihong: "Roger that!"
Zhang He: "Understood!"
Zhang Liao: "I’m on it!"
Because Tong was feeling groggy after the sudden relapse of soul injuries, Xun Yu took over the control of his army .
"Set up the array! Get into formation! We’ll stand and fight over here!"
Infantries got off the horses . They carried their spears, shields, and repeating crossbows to form ranks, facing south .
All horsemen formed their formation at the flanks of the foot soldiers, getting ready to charge at the oncoming enemies .
Within three minutes, more than half of the soldiers got into formation .
The 30,000 soldiers separated into six platoons and stood in groups while the other 30,000 unorganized soldiers were forming ranks behind the completed formations .
During these three minutes, Wen Chou Army had stopped chasing and arranged their formation as well . Instead of making square formations of many platoons, Wen Chou united all units and formed three horizontal rows of horsemen .
He planned to charge directly at Tong’s unprepared soldiers .
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12 . 05 Noon
Wen Chou finished the preparation first .
*BWOOO*
He blew the signal horn, ordering the charge!
"SHAAA!" (Kill!)
All heavy cavalries roared as they charged . The three long lines moved in like a wave to the stacked formations of spearmen and knights .
Xun Yu, who was taking charge, did not panic . Instead, he laughed as if he rejoiced to see Wen Chou charging at them like this .
"I’ve trained and fed these soldiers for years, so I can use them in one battle! Don’t ever think that you can rush us . Spearmen, Typhoon Maze Formation! Archers, fire at will!"
Rain of arrows covered the sky in the next few seconds after Xun Yu’s command . The first barrage pinned down several unprepared horsemen of Wen Chou, but they could not stop his charge .
Xun Yu cried again, "All cavalry units, destroy their flanks!"
Signal flags waved, and the horsemen detached from the flanks, rushing at Wen Chou Army’s flat wings .
Meanwhile, all platoons opened a gap at the center of their square formation and raised their shields and spears upward, making a leaking spear wall formation .
Wen Chou saw the shifting in their spearwall and wanted to stop the charge . However, they were already at the 20-meter range, which was too late for another maneuvering .
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
Gunshot sounds came from all 1,000-man commanders in the spearwall formation, and more cavalries were thrown off their horses .
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
*BOOM*
The heavy cavalries collided with the spearwall, and the chaos started . Both sides began killing and struggling in a melee fight .
However, because of the leak in the spearwall formation, several thousand horsemen disregarded the frontal collision and tried to break the arrays of the enemy’s platoons .
Upon entering the leaking areas, another slanted line of phalanx formation awaited for the stray cavalries . Inside the square platoon, a clear path led to the inner space of their array .
"Shit! Breakthrough their array! Ignore the shieldsmen and aim for the others!"
The thousand-man commanders of Wen Chou tried to avoid the inner shield and spearwall . As soon as they turned around, the path that they had entered was blocked by their own soldiers as more of their allies thought that they had broken through the enemy’s formation .
They had no choice but to proceed forward!
The horsemen rushed into the trap formation, trying to find another opening to breakthrough .
Their objective instantly changed from crushing the enemies to surviving!
Had anyone looked at the scenes from above, they would be able to see that the horsemen were running within the circular maze made by the infantry platoons!
Four units of 5,000 spearmen each transformed into four grand mazes which trapped Wen Chou’s horsemen inside!
As Wen Chou’s soldiers proceeded forward, spearmen inside the gap threw spears and shot arrows at them in a close range, killing the passing riders one by one .
Soon, they galloped through the maze inside the pre-made gaps and made it through to the rear .
Without realizing it, a platoon of 5,000 heavy cavalries that rushed into the leaked path was left with 2,000 soldiers from the short few minutes of the combat .
Yet, these surviving 2,000 riders could only kill a handful of the spearmen!
This incident did not happen to only one cavalry unit of Wen Chou . Three other groups also suffered the same fate because of these mazes .
Furthermore, more platoons of reserve troops shifted their formation and were surrounding them as they managed to get out .
Wen Chou was also trapped like the others . He gazed forward after he had managed to scrap himself from one of the mazes .
"T-This stratagem!?"