Chapter 36 - Casualties of the Cao Army (1) (1/2)
Chapter 36 - Casualties of the Cao Army (1)
Original by Bro Got a Gun, Translated by James
“Hungry. Starving.” Outside of Kaiyang, in the current of steel, an odor reeking of blood started spreading out.
“The Bing Province Wolf Cavalry troops?!” Old Cao abruptly ran to the observation platform. His eyes were almost popped out in shock. “Where did the cavalry came from?! Where did the horses came from?!” Lu Bu didn’t take a single horse with him when he fled from Xiapi. Majority of the war horses from Kaiyang was already pulled by Lu Bu to Xiapi. The remaining small amount of war horses were given away by Zang Ba. How could there possibly be all these horses now?!
An ocean of cavalries wider than the eye can see.
“Two horses per man, five thousand horses, three thousand cavalries?!” Xu Huang was certainly above all other Cao generals when it comes to cavalries. With a single view, he could already tell the situation.
“Three thousand cavalries?!” Only through great difficulty did Old Cao managed to grow a cavalry unit of five thousand. Now, more than half of these cavalries were here in Xu Province. They are precisely the three thousand Ferocious Cavalry. Cao Cao would be distressed to lose even a single one of them. That’s because a single one of these Ferocious Cavalry soldier cost as much as a whole infantry unit, a unit of heavy infantries.
And now, Lu Bu who was once a cornered beast had unexpectedly brought forth three thousand cavalries out of Kaiyang, the city that was soon to fall. And they’re heavy cavalries! Five thousand war horses! Cao Cao could tell that these five thousand war horses are not some inferior horses but instead genuine good horses!
Old Cao felt as if he was scammed. The opposing side was also heavy cavalries. Even if the Ferocious Cavalry are elites, there’s certainly still going to be casualties from the engagement against other cavalries. Not to mention, the opposing cavalries are their old enemy, the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry.
Say, if you Lu Bu had the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry in your hand, then you should’ve broken out of Kaiyang earlier. Instead you had to go and play a defensive battle in Kaiyang. Now that you cannot stop the city from being captured, you decided to play a final decisive battle. While Lu Bu you had lost Xu Province, Xiapi and was willing to put all your reserve in this major battle, Old Cao cannot afford to do that. These three thousand Ferocious Cavalry was as expensive as an army of a hundred thousand. If he were to lose them in this battle, then Old Cao would certainly grieve till death.
“Bing Province Wolf Cavalry?!” Cao Chun had already led the charge with the Ferocious Cavalry. Although he was surprised, he cannot stop. What the cavalries needed was high mobility. Only through high running could they annihilate their enemies with their speed.
He who is more brave shall win when met with his rival! This was a confrontation between two cavalries.
“Follow my lead! Sweep everything before us!” shouted Cao Chun. The Ferocious Cavalry troops that were following him too began to shout vigorously. Their horses began to increase their speed and further increase their speed and even further. They wanted to pulverize the enemies in front of them.
“So what if they’re the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry! Today, I, Cao Chun, shall let you know that the number one cavalry unit in the world is the Ferocious Cavalry! Lu Fengxian, prepare yourself!” said Cao Chun as he took the lead and advance toward Lu Bu.
“Prepare? Heh. It should be you Cao Chun and Cao Cao who should prepare yourselves! “ Lu Bu raised his trident against the sky and shouted. “Brothers, show these women what exactly our Bing Province Wolf Cavalry is made out of! Follow after me!”
“Hungry! Starving!” A group of starving wolves charged into the likewise battle-ready Ferocious Cavalry.
“Spears!” With a shout, Zhang Liao gave off an order and the spears that was originally pointed toward the ground were simultaneously faced forward. “Charge!”
“Pulverize them!” With an ominous glint on his face, Cao Cao began to squeeze his horse tighter.
[TL: I found out squeezing horse is the way to make horses run… not kicking them… oops]
“Sha!!!!”
The two currents of steel collided into each other.
The strength of cavalries was determined by their impacting prowess. The first row of the Ferocious Cavalry had collided with the first row of Bing Province Wolf Cavalry. Like the rest of the heavy cavalries in this era, the Ferocious Cavalry soldiers were armed with blades and spears. However, upon colliding with the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry, they noticed that their spears were a whole segment shorter than their enemy’s.
As the saying goes, the longer weapon wins the fight. The vanguards of the Ferocious Cavalry met with some rather unlucky fates.
“Die!” These Bing Province Wolf Cavalry Soldiers who have been besieged and attacked by the Cao troops all this time have kept within their stomach an immense amount of anger. Now that they have their horses, armors and spears, they were finally able to express their anger.
With great enthusiasm, they thrust their spears toward the Ferocious Cavalry.
“Pu pu pu!” One by one, sounds of armors being pierced through resounded through the battlefield. There were even some Bing Province Wolf Cavalry soldiers that were going so fast that they pierced through two or even three Ferocious Cavalry soldiers at once.
“Close engagement!” Cao Chun noticed the prowess of the spears that the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry possess and decided to tell his troops to engage in a closer range. No matter how strong the spears are, their usage is limited to long range. Once the distance between them decreased, the spears would only become obstructions. At that time, the Ferocious Cavalry would have the whole battle.