Chapter 201 Cavalry Maneuvering (2/2)
Zhang He grinned as he did not mind them. It was a good sign that they were not nervous anymore, and the morale was high.
”Men, let's go! Charge with me again!”
The ten thousand horsemen charged down the slope again. Because of the previous battle, there was nobody below the cliff, which gave Zhang He a golden opportunity to adjust the formation.
Zhang He rearranged the battalions into ten groups, a thousand horsemen per one unit. Each unit had a call sign of [Ghost One] to [Ghost ten] in order.
”We'll flank the enemies since the heavy cavalries are not there anymore. All units, follow me!”
Ten units of light horsemen rushed south toward the Imperial Army in front of the gate. It took them only a couple minutes to see the dense crowd of soldiers, turning their back at them. Their attention was on the wall as both Imperial armies were attacking Shangdang north gate at the moment.
”All units, form wedge formation. Five units, Ghost Six to Ghost Ten, stand by for order. Ghost One to Ghost Five, charge with me!”
Five thousand men and five wedged shaped formation rushed at the defenseless Imperial soldiers who revealed their back at them. The galloping sound of horse hooves echoed in the valley.
”What's that sound?”
”Isn't that our cavalry?”
The soldiers turned around to look back.
”That's not our allies! ENEMY ATTACKS!”
However, they were too late to react as Zhang He and his five thousand men were already 50 meters away.
*BANG*
*POEK*
*SOEK*
Each unit of 1,000-man dove into a square formation of 5,000 infantries. The five thousand men boldly collided with 25,000 footmen without fear.
The horses crashed with the soldiers, running them over. The spears of the horsemen pierced the unprepared men through their armors. Unlike the last time where Zhang He managed to charge 300 meters before he lost the momentum, the cavalries only managed to rush 10 meters and break half of the formation because they were stopped by the dense crowd.
*BWOOOH*
Zhang He did not hesitate to blow the horn and order his men to retreat.
”Withdraw! Scatter to the side and regroup at our previous position!”
*BWOOOH*
The horn was blown again.
”GHOST SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, CHARGE!!” Zhang He shouted with all the air in his lung while he galloped back with his men.
The standby troops on the back rushed in as they were called. The five thousand horsemen followed what the previous chargers did, running into the wrecked enemy formations.
This time, the formation collapsed as the horsemen brokethrough their lines and columns.
*BWOOOH*
”GHOST SIX TO TEN, WITHDRAW BACK AND REGROUP! GHOST ONE TO FIVE, FORM WEDGE AND STRIKE ONE MORE TIME!” Shouted Zhang He again.
…
…
Wang Kuang looked at the troops at the wall with worry. He had launched the siege as Zhang Yang ordered him to.
The siege was not going well as Wang Kuang had guessed as the number of ladders was too few. His soldiers could not secure a foothold on the wall at all. Thus, he resorted an attrition tactic by using the archers to shoot arrows to the top of the wall, hoping to decrease the number of the defenders.
After Zhang Yang left, only twelve 5,000-man-battalions were remaining. Because of the sudden siege order, he had sent three of the twelve platoons to the wall with ladders and a battering-ram. They were exchanging arrows and climbing the ladders now, and the number of his troops was decreasing quickly.
'One-fifth of the men is probably gone, but the enemies should have suffered some damages too.'
Wang Kuang looked at the battering-ram which had managed to station in front of the gate. It was a matter of time that the bronze gate would be pummeled and broken by the continuous wooden-log ramming.
'The ram is in position. There is nothing the enemy can do now.'
*BWOOOH*
Wang Kuang heard the sound of a horn from behind. He looked back and saw the white dust made by the horses from a distance.
”Damn it! What's that idiot is doing? Why are the enemies here!?”
The Henei Governor could not comprehend why the enemies could appear behind his army after Zhang Yang and his men had gone out to pursue them. He even took Wang Kuang's cavalry units and left him with only infantries.
Wang Kuang could see the commotion within the rear troops. The enemies had crashed with all five of his battalions.
”Feng Yue! Take two battalions and assist the rear troops!”
Feng Yue, a general of Wang Kuang Army, bowed and left with his lieutenants. Feng Yue managed to ride his horse toward a platoon of formation before he felt an earthquake.
From the top of the west cliff, a massive army of horsemen with odd outfits rushed down the mountain.
”Another ambush! Get ready! Spear-*BANG*”
A gunshot sound interrupted Feng Yue's words. The general's eyes turned blank and collapsed from his horse, revealing a hand, which extended out from a small oval void, with a strange black object with white smoke out of the muzzle. It had pointed behind Feng Yue's back of his head a moment ago.
The hand retracted back into the black space and disappeared into nothingness, stunning the onlookers to the point that they had forgotten about the rushing horsemen.