Time goes back to when Team A just started heading north.
The moment the Northern Di cavalry hit the Formation-Breaking Camp shield wall, Yelü Yun heard the most unforgettable sound in this life.
It was not like a collision of flesh and blood, but rather like the muffled sound of a thousand-jin hammer hitting pig iron. For the fifty or so horses in the front row, the front hooves of the horses jumped into the air the moment they touched the shield wall, and then fell heavily. The crack of the horse's neck bone was clearly audible. The knights on their backs were thrown out by inertia, and some directly hit the shield wall, breaking all their muscles and bones; some fell to the ground, and were trampled into pulp by the hooves of the horses coming from behind before they could get up.
But Formation-Breaking Camp's shield wall didn't move at all.
Those giant shields were seven feet high and three inches thick, with two hardwoods diagonally leaning against the ground behind them. Behind the shields were two rows of heavy armored infantry who held them firmly with their shoulders. Each man's iron boots were half a foot deep into the frozen soil. This was not being carried by humans, but by the entire military formation and the entire land.
"Gun-stab!"
From the gap in the shield wall, a two-foot-long iron spear suddenly stabbed out! It was not a random stab, but a neat and flat stab. The tip of the spear was designed to pick at the weak points of the armor such as the horse's belly, throat, face, etc. The first row of Northern Di cavalry were strung on the spear like candied haws, and the screams were drowned out by the sound of horse hooves as soon as they started.
The second row of cavalry was unable to retreat in time and crashed into the bodies of the first row of dead men and horses, causing the formation to become chaotic. At this moment--
"Mo Dao--cut!"
The shield wall suddenly opened a gap on both sides, and a door-wide sword was swung out from the gap! It was not a slash, but a sweep, specifically cutting the horse's legs. When the blade passed by, the front legs of the armored horse were broken at knee level. The horse fell down with a cry, and the knight on its back rolled to the ground and was immediately nailed to death by the replaced spear.
Yelü Yun saw it clearly from three hundred steps away, and his whole body was cold. He saw with his own eyes a Northern Di warrior leaping over the corpse of his comrade, raising his scimitar high, roaring and slashing at a giant shield - the blade collided with the iron shield, splashing a stream of sparks, leaving only a white mark on the shield. The spear thrust out from behind the shield easily penetrated his leather armor, entering from the chest and exiting from the back.
"Father!" Yelü Yun rushed to the center of the army with a trembling voice, "You can't fight like this! It's a wall made of iron! Our people are risking their lives!"
Yelü Hongshan sat on the chariot, staring at the battlefield with his gray-yellow eyes. He saw the cavalry in the front row falling like wheat, saw Formation-Breaking Camp's front line as stable as a rock, and saw his sons hitting the iron wall with their flesh and blood.
But he did not order a retreat.
"Send yourself to death?" Yelü Hongshan spoke slowly, his voice as hoarse as a whetstone, "In war, you are always sending yourself to death. The difference is, who can't afford it first?"
He raised his hand and pointed at Formation-Breaking Camp: "You see clearly - they only have five thousand people. No matter how thick their armor is and how sharp their swords are, people will get tired. It takes strength to wield a sword and hold a shield. How long can they hold up? One hour? Two hours? We have 50,000 cavalry!"
Yelü Yun said anxiously, "Fill it in like this--"
"Just fill it in!" Yelü Hongshan suddenly turned his head, his eyes bloodshot, "Exchange his fifty thousand lives for five thousand Formation-Breaking Camp! In exchange, Xinyang Pass is ours! If we can't exchange it, returning to the grassland will be a dead end - do you think Li Xun will let us go?"
He grabbed his son's collar, leaned in and growled, "Listen, Yun'er. When wolves hunt bison on the grassland, they don't rely on one wolf to kill the cow, but all the wolves take turns to bite until the cow bleeds dry and collapses to the ground. Now, we are the wolf pack, and Formation-Breaking Camp is the bison."
He let go of his hand and hissed an order to the messenger, "Command to the whole army: Those who retreat are from the Yi tribe! Those who charge first, whoever breaks Xinyang Pass first, will be rewarded with ten thousand cattle, one hundred catties of gold, and ten thousand households! Give me your life! You must also fill out a bloody road!"
The order was like a boulder thrown into the boiling sea of blood. The Northern Di cavalry was in despair at first, and then his eyes turned red when he was stimulated by the reward - ten thousand cattle, one hundred catties of gold, and ten thousand households. That is wealth that cannot be earned in a few lifetimes!
"For the grassland! For the king!"
I don't know who shouted this first, and then the entire cavalry camp burst into crazy roars. The cavalry in the rear row no longer cared about the corpses of their comrades, and rushed forward on their horses! Some even bypassed the chariot obstacles from the flanks, trying to break through the weak spots on the Formation-Breaking Camp wings.
The war situation entered the most tragic stage of consumption.
In front of Formation-Breaking Camp's shield wall, corpses had piled up into low mounds. The river of blood was not a metaphor - there was a real river of blood meandering on the permafrost, steaming, and solidifying into dark red ice in the cold winter. Every time a row of Northern Di cavalry fell, the Formation-Breaking Camp front line took a slight step back, not to be knocked back, but to regroup to avoid the piled corpses.
But the retreat became smaller and smaller. The arms of the soldier wielding the sword began to tremble, the shoulders of the soldier holding the shield were numb from the shock, and the soldier stabbing the gun slowed down.
Yelü Hongshan saw it. His skinny fingers clenched the handle of the knife tightly, and his knuckles turned white.
"It's almost..." he murmured, "It's almost..."
He raised his right hand, ready to order the Chinese army to press forward - as long as there was a gap in the Formation-Breaking Camp, even if it was only ten steps wide, 50,000 cavalry could rush in like a flood that burst a dike and overwhelm the entire Great Xuan army formation.
But at this moment, the battlefield situation changed subtly.
Some Northern Di cavalry who were afraid of Formation-Breaking Camp and eager to perform meritorious service began to slip through the gaps in the chariot barrier, trying to attack Formation-Breaking Camp from the flank. This was originally a risky move - there were a large number of archers covering the flanks. But the excitement of the bounty made them lose their minds. More and more cavalry followed suit. The entire cavalry camp began to spread to both sides, and the formation gradually became looser.
On the Chinese military command platform, Li Xun put down Thousand-Li Mirror. There was no expression on his face, only the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
"It's time." he said.
The commander of the soldiers was stunned. "General, Formation-Breaking Camp has been fighting hard for an hour and a half, should we let the reserve team--"
"It's not the reserve team." Li Xun said slowly, "It's the 'big gift' given to Yelü Hongshan."
He turned around and spoke two words to the herald behind him:
"Smoke."
Three red sounding arrows soared into the sky, exploding into a dazzling red light under the lead-gray sky.
The next moment, a scene happened that made everyone in Northern Di feel heartbroken.
Behind the chariot barrier, behind the originally empty sidecars and damaged siege equipment, densely packed figures suddenly stood up!
Not hundreds, not thousands, but a full 20,000 people!
They wore the same dark black armor as Formation-Breaking Camp, and held the same spears and swords as Formation-Breaking Camp. Even the standing formation and the posture of holding the shield were exactly the same! These 20,000 people were like a torrent of steel pouring out of the ground, slowly pressing forward from both sides of the battlefield, forming a huge "concave" shaped encirclement with the five thousand Formation-Breaking Camp in the front!
The Northern Di cavalry, which was trying to break through from the flank, ran into the steel city wall that suddenly appeared.
"Trapped...Formation-Breaking Camp?!" a captain exclaimed, "They still have reinforcements?!"
"Twenty thousand... twenty thousand Formation-Breaking Camp!" The other centurion's voice changed its tone.
Panic spread like a plague among the Northern Di Cavalry.
Originally, they had asked them to use thousands of lives to fill the five thousand Formation-Breaking Camp, but now there are twenty thousand more? How can we fight this? What should we use to fight?
"Retreat! Retreat!" I don't know who shouted this first. It was like a spark falling into a powder keg, instantly detonating the entire cavalry camp's mentality of collapse.
Those in the front row wanted to retreat, but those in the back row were still charging forward, and those in the middle were huddled together. Some people turned their horses and ran back, not caring about any military orders or rewards. The supervising team slashed down a few deserters with their swords, but more deserters came, and even slashed at the supervising team with their swords - the instinct of survival overcame the fear of military law.
Yelü Hongshan stood up suddenly, and the chariot swayed.
"Impossible!" he roared, "Li Xun Where did the twenty thousand Formation-Breaking Camp come from?! This is impossible!"
He didn't believe it. It took Northern Di five years of hard work to develop two thousand Iron Pagoda. How could Li Xun have five thousand Formation-Breaking Camp on the front and at the same time hide twenty thousand? This is against common sense and goes against all the logic of food, equipment, and training!
But on the battlefield, the collapsed cavalry did not think about logic. They only saw the black steel walls pressing in from both sides, heard the screams of their comrades being cut off by Mo Dao, and smelled the overwhelming smell of blood.
"Your Majesty! Look!" Helian Zheng suddenly pointed at the "Formation-Breaking Camp" on the flanks, "Their armor... the reflection is wrong!"
Yelü Hongshan squinted his eyes and took a closer look - something was indeed wrong. The armor of the five thousand Formation-Breaking Camp on the front was a matte deep black, which was the color obtained after repeated forging and quenching. But the armor of the twenty thousand on the flanks actually had a slight reflection under the gloomy sky, and the gaps between the armor pieces were even larger...
"It's fake!" There was a buzz in Yelü Hongshan's head, and he understood instantly, "A is a thin piece of iron painted black! The gun and Mo Dao are also the same thing! Li Xun This old fox--"
He roared and tried to give orders to stabilize his position, but it was already too late.
Once the panic spreads, it is like a wildfire on the grassland that cannot be extinguished. The cavalry in the front row saw the rear row fleeing and thought that the line was broken, so they also fled. The infantry in the rear saw the cavalry fleeing, and the morale of the army was completely shattered. The entire Northern Di army, from cavalry to infantry to auxiliary troops, began to retreat in full.
"Don't mess up! That's a lie!" Helian Zheng rode upstream in the rout of the army, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Come back! Come back everyone!"
But no one listened to him. A stray arrow hit his horse, and the horse screamed and fell to the ground. Helian Zheng rolled to the ground, and just as he was about to get up, he was swept back by the fleeing crowd. He saw cavalry slashing their own infantry blocking the road with their swords in order to escape; he saw infantry throwing away their weapons and taking off their leather armor, just to run faster; he saw the supervisory team being overwhelmed by deserters and hacked to death with random swords.
The army was defeated like a mountain.
Yelü Hongshan stood on the chariot, looking at the scene in front of him, trembling all over. It was not fear, it was anger, it was unwillingness, it was the despair that five years of hard work had been wasted.
"Father!" Yelü Yun rushed over, his face covered with blood and tears, "Let's go! If you don't leave, it will be too late!"
Yelü Hongshan slowly turned his head and looked in the direction of Xinyang Pass. Through the wind and snow, he could see the Xuanzi flag flying on the wall, and could imagine the expression of Li Xun standing on the command podium at this moment.
This defeat was not due to military strength, not to courage, but to strategy, and because Yelü Hongshan once again underestimated Li Xun.
"Your Majesty!" Night Scouts commander Dugu Xiao rushed forward on horseback, followed by more than thirty elite Night Scouts, "I will protect you and retreat northward! Leave the green mountains behind--"
"Don't worry about running out of firewood." Yelü Hongshan finished the second half of the sentence for him, his voice was terrifyingly calm.
He took one last look at the battlefield. It had become a hell of Shuras. Northern Di Erlang's corpses were piled up like a mountain. His blood melted the snow and formed a red stream on the frozen soil. Formation-Breaking Camp-The five thousand true Formation-Breaking Camp, had already begun to advance forward, Mo Dao was waving, harvesting the broken troops who had no time to escape. Twenty thousand fake Formation-Breaking Camp were outflanking them from both wings. Although their armor was thin and their swords were dull, with the strength of their numbers, they were more than enough to chase down the deserters who had no fighting spirit.
Defeated. Completely defeated.
Yelü Hongshan took a deep breath, and the breath surged in his chest, carrying the smell of blood and rust. He turned around, got off the chariot, and got on his horse.
"Let's go."
Speak out one word and there will be no nostalgia.
Dugu Xiao's thirty or so cavalry Night Scouts escorted Yelü Hongshan, Yelü Yun, and the old military doctor who had been following them. They broke away from the Chinese army and galloped north. They chose the path with few people and avoided the mainstream of the defeated army - the route of the defeated army would be exposed and the speed would be slowed down.
Behind us, there were loud shouts of killing coming from the direction of Xinyang Pass. That was when the Great Xuan army began a full-scale counterattack.
Yelü Hongshan didn't look back. He just held the reins tightly, digging his nails into his palms and bleeding.
Next time I come to Xinyang Pass, I don't know whether I am still alive or not.
Xinyang Pass podium.
Li Xun put down Thousand-Li Mirror and sat down slowly. At that moment, this experienced general looked a little stooped, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
"Win." He murmured.
The commander of the soldiers could not hide his excitement. "The general has a brilliant plan! Twenty thousand suspected soldiers defeated the Northern Di cavalry without even using a single soldier!"
"It's not that every soldier is wasted." Li Xun shook his head, "Formation-Breaking Camp fought hard for an hour and a half, and the casualties will not be less than a thousand. Those children... are all good."
He paused, and when he stood up again, his back straightened. "Order: All cavalry and infantry, attack on all fronts. Don't pursue the main force of the broken army, and attack their organic units - if the commanders and centurions are still gathering, break them up. Let Northern Di never be able to organize a decent army in ten years."
"Yes!"
"In addition, order two thousand fine cavalry, led by Brigade General Zhao, to pursue Yelü Hongshan along the route where Yelü Hongshan is most likely to retreat. You don't have to be sure that you can catch up, but you have to hold on and don't let him return north easily."
"As you command!"
Orders were passed down one after another. The Great Xuan military formation surged out from Xinyang Pass like a flood. The cavalry galloped across the plains, dividing, surrounding, and annihilating the remaining Northern Di troops that were still resisting. The infantry followed up, cleaning up the battlefield and taking prisoners into custody.
When the sun set in the west, the snow stopped. The setting sun was like blood, shining on the battlefield littered with corpses, reflecting a strange luster.
Li Xun stood alone on the edge of the podium, looking to the north. There, the outline of the Wula Mountains was looming in the dusk.
This battle has been won 90%.
"Zhenwei..." He whispered to himself, "The last 10% is up to you."
The cold wind blew by, blowing his gray temples. For the first time, this veteran who had guarded Northern Frontier and defeated Yelü Hongshan three times felt the fatigue that penetrated his bones.
But if this battle is successful, Northern Frontier will be safe for at least twenty years.
He turned around and walked off the podium. His steps were steady, as usual.