He meant to force the enemy's concealed Desert Cavalry to reveal themselves early. After mustering his men, Shen Zaitian advanced toward the battlefield.
Those orderly square formations were like solid blocks of square-cut steel moving across the plain, shaking the ground with thunderous footfalls. Even the air seemed to grow hot from the soldiers' burning blood. Amid unrestrained cries of slaughter, the Cangling Army's reinforcements soon reached the central battlefield and joined the incomparably savage struggle.
"Quick! Get forward! Move!"
Chen Dazhuang shoved the soldiers forward one after another and roared, "Anyone who takes a step back dies without mercy!"
The Cangling Army could hardly be called weak. Clad in iron armor, they resembled men of iron, yet each wave that advanced was smashed dead. The heads protected inside their helmets burst along with the helmets themselves, red and white blossoming in the air like flowers.
Some Self-Defense Army soldiers had even broken the shafts of their war hammers, while others had battered countless notches into their axe blades, even twisting them out of shape.
The Self-Defense Army squeezed every last shred of strength from their bodies. The Cangling Army still refused to retreat, and with the arrival of reinforcements, their strength began to grow.
On the battlefield, everyone knew that cowardice meant death and retreat meant defeat.
Moreover, military orders had come down: anyone who retreated would certainly die. Their only choice was to charge forward; only by killing the enemy could they survive. For a time, they showed every sign of overwhelming the Self-Defense Army.
Until Shen Zaitian's men swept into them.
Shields in their left hands and blunt weapons in their right, they broke into a jog as they approached the battlefield, then charged into that Asura Purgatory. The moment the foremost men entered, they were like