Mounted Infantry

Mounted Infantry

Early in the morning, the Wang Family Courtyard, occupied by the Rebel Army within the county town, was already bustling with people.

Martial Artist youths, having just gotten up and washed, were fully armed and jogging from their respective quarters to assemble in the front courtyard.

Under the command of the four captains who had arrived earlier – Ai Nengqi, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier – they quickly formed four small teams.

After a while, nearly ten large carriages, driven by over a dozen mess hall staff, entered the Wang Family Courtyard through the freshly opened main gate.

Breakfast time today was half an hour earlier than usual.

The reason was obvious: today was the first actual combat experience for these Martial Soldier youths in their lives.

For these new recruits, it was extremely important, a true milestone in their lives.

Including Li Dingguo, these Martial Artist youths were all feeling a bit nervous inside.

This was clearly visible from the tense expressions on their young faces.

Yesterday morning, the Great King had specifically said that their opponents this time would be a group of low-level Demonic Beasts.

As beginner Martial Artists, fighting against Demonic Beasts carried a high possibility of instant death if they performed poorly in battle.

Even with Li Dingguo's extraordinary mental fortitude, this was his first time preparing to experience true combat and killing, the kind where it was life or death.

It was impossible for these fledgling young Martial Artists not to be nervous at all.

Led by the four small team captains, Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, and the others, everyone was silent, their faces solemn.

Seeing the army's mess hall staff deliver breakfast, everyone lined up in order to receive their portion of Spirit Rice Meal and Vitality and Blood Soup, then quietly moved to the side and quickly finished eating.

After everyone had eaten their fill and returned their bowls and chopsticks to the mess hall staff, a series of hoofbeats came from the direction of the main gate.

The sound of hoofbeats this time was much denser than before.

Li Dingguo and the other new Martial Artist recruits looked up and saw a considerable convoy slowly entering through the courtyard gate.

Within this convoy, there were not many Martial Soldiers riding Spirit Beast Warhorses, only four riders.

The person in the lead was none other than Zhang Xianzhong, who had arrived with three trusted generals.

There were many carriages behind them, a good dozen large ones, driven by soldiers from the Rebel Army's Logistics Camp.

Clearly, they had brought some logistical supplies and were also preparing to haul back various spoils of war.

This team of Martial Soldiers, composed of these orphaned youths, going out of the city for actual combat experience, would definitely need to complete their first combat kill to be considered to have completed the mission.

The Demonic Beasts found and killed by the soldiers were no less valuable than Spirit Grass or Spirit Roots of the same level, so all the spoils of war naturally had to be brought back.

Demonic Beasts were not numerous near human settlements and couldn't be found just by looking.

The vast majority of Demonic Beasts of all levels basically lived in the spiritual lands of deep mountains, old forests, desolate swamps, rivers, lakes, and seas.

In this vast world, there were untouched primitive landscapes everywhere.

Most of the ecological environments had not been affected by humans, and the number of various large and small wild beasts was much greater than in Li Dingguo's previous life on Earth.

The various Demonic Beast tribes basically fed on different kinds of wild beasts, and most would not appear near human settlements.

There was no other reason; their food was abundant, and they lacked nothing to eat or drink.

Those treasure lands where large numbers of Demonic Beasts were entrenched were basically forbidden zones for ordinary humans; once they entered without permission, they would almost certainly never return.

For this first actual combat experience of the Youth Camp, Zhang Xianzhong personally went out of the city twice, spending two and a half days scouting, before finding suitable targets near the county town.

There were two targets: one was a mountain range where a small number of low-level Demonic Beasts lived.

The other target was a village that had been destroyed and occupied by ghosts.

Zhang Xianzhong planned to let these new recruits from the Orphan Youth Camp experience both Demonic Beasts and ghosts, two different mortal enemies of humanity, by personally leading them on two training expeditions.

After that, he would not personally lead the Youth Camp's actual combat training.

As the leader of a Rebel Army, he had too many things to worry about every day and couldn't accompany these young recruits all the time.

Only by letting these freshly minted young Martial Soldiers experience one bloody battle after another could they truly grow.

Otherwise, no matter how well these Martial Artist youths were protected, it would be useless, and they wouldn't be able to serve a purpose in the future.

If their luck wasn't good enough, and they died during the growth process, then they died; they weren't worth pitying.

He, Zhang Xianzhong, had done what he could.

Seeing these spirited Martial Artist youths already lined up and ready, Zhang Xianzhong, riding a Spirit Beast Warhorse, slowly came to the front of the crowd, facing everyone.

He waved his hand and directly shouted, "Without further ado, everyone first go to the stable and lead out your respective horses!"

"Then immediately form up and depart!"

This Youth Camp force was fully equipped with horses, precisely so they could practice their riding skills.

The difference was that only the four captains, Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier, each had a low-grade Spirit Beast Warhorse.

The rest of the Martial Artist youths had some selected ordinary horses.

The stamina and speed of these ordinary horses were stronger than the horses in Li Dingguo's previous life on Earth, but in this world, they could not be used as warhorses and could only serve as transportation.

With Zhang Xianzhong's command, Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier immediately led their respective team members in a quick trot towards the large stable on the side of the courtyard.

After their initial joint training, even when running, they maintained perfectly neat formations.

Zhang Xianzhong watched from the side, feeling quite pleased, and nodded.

This showed that the significant effort and resources he had invested in training these orphaned youths were well worth it.

Once these Martial Artist youths went through a few rounds of combat and quickly matured, they would be even stronger than the three hundred Veteran Camp soldiers currently under his command.

This wasn't just in terms of martial prowess.

Their loyalty was also incomparable to that of the rest of the Rebel Army soldiers.

In just a moment, the young Martial Artists, each leading the horses they usually used for riding practice, came out of the stables one after another. They equipped the saddles and rode them into the courtyard.

"Mount up!"

"Form ranks and prepare to depart!"...

Following the loud commands of the four captains, Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier, everyone quickly mounted their horses. With their main weapons in hand and bows and arrows on their backs, they swiftly began forming ranks.

Their movements were fast. In just a moment, they had formed four cavalry squads.

A faint, invisible Blood Fiend Qi permeated from the cavalry formation of these Youth Camp soldiers.

Compared to their previous infantry formation, they were like two completely different teams.

Although this cavalry team couldn't truly be called cavalry yet, only Mounted Infantry,

Their momentum was far beyond what the previous infantry formation could compare to.