Chapter 63: Chapter 62: Ambushed Chapter 63: Chapter 62: Ambushed “Report, sir, cavalry on the left are charging at us!”
Yang Mingwu hadn’t even tightened his reins when he hurriedly shouted.
“How many cavalry?” Yang Zhenshan stood up swiftly and asked.
“About two hundred cavalry!” Yang Mingwu replied.
Yang Zhenshan’s expression grew solemn, and he immediately shouted: “Call everyone back, prepare for battle, prepare for battle!”
During breaks, Yang Mingwu and Yang Mingzhi would take turns scouting the surroundings.
In fact, without Yang Zhenshan’s orders, the scouts around them had already started to retreat.
With shouts rising one after another, the coolies who were resting immediately became flustered.
“Don’t panic, place the carts on the periphery as barriers, soldiers in front, coolies behind, form a Round Formation and prepare for battle!”
The coolies were in disarray, but the soldier from Linguan Castle did not falter; nearly two months of training had ingrained obedience to commands in their minds.
No sooner had Yang Zhenshan given the command than the soldiers began to busily take action.
Despite the urgency, they quickly completed a semi-circular Round Formation with the carts.
Yang Zhenshan stood on his horseback, scanning his surroundings.
They were on the river beach, with the Songyuan River to their back, and a cloud of dust to the west, the sound of galloping hooves growing louder as they approached.
Their numbers were not small, close to a thousand people, but among them, eight hundred were coolies, and only about a hundred soldiers under Yang Zhenshan’s command and two squads led by Zhao Desheng were viable fighters.
“Backed into a final stand!”
Yang Zhenshan looked at the shimmering Songyuan River behind him, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.
With Northern barbarian cavalry attacking from the front and the river tens of feet wide behind them, they had no route for retreat, leaving only the option to fight desperately.
Soon the Northern barbarian cavalry rolled in, stopping at a distance of about one mile from the river beach.
Upon seeing the Northern barbarian cavalry, both the soldiers and coolies behind Yang Zhenshan began to breathe heavily. Faced with the ferocious Northern barbarian cavalry, everyone felt immense pressure.
The soldiers from Linguan Castle were originally refugees; they had been chased around by the Northern barbarian cavalry.
As for Zhao Desheng’s soldiers, they were not refugees, but neither were they elite troops; elite troops wouldn’t be left with the Supply Team.
Regarding the coolies, they were the remaining able men from various garrison fort military households, as regulated, military households provided one able man for army service as a small flag soldier. Another was to follow with the main army as support.
At this moment, these coolies were the selected remaining able men from military households across Chongshan Town. Although they came from military families, they had not undergone military training and were no different from ordinary peasants.
Yang Zhenshan watched the opposing Northern barbarian cavalry calmly; the basic military unit of the East Sea Hu Clan was the Niu Lu, which typically comprised around three hundred able-bodied men and was led by an officer called Niu Lu E’zhen.
And before them now was a cavalry unit of the Niu Lu, numbering between two hundred to three hundred.
Turning his gaze from the enemy, Yang Zhenshan then focused on his own side.
The soldiers from Linguan Castle had made their preparations for battle; using carts as barricades and small flags as units, they stood in formation solemnly in front of the coolies, creating a quiet vacuum-like buffer zone.
Perhaps their hearts harbored panic and unease but after two months of training, they had become accustomed to standing silently and erect.
The distant Northern barbarian cavalry paused briefly, seemingly discussing something, but they soon charged again.
Without any exchange of words, both sides brutally collided amidst the heavy and solemn atmosphere.
Hooves thundered, arrows flew, and the Round Formation was soon filled with screams.
The Hu Clan excelled at mounted archery; before the riders could reach, their arrows struck first. The coolies, without any armor, were unable to fend off the arrows and could only shiver behind the carts and supplies.
At the same time, the soldiers from Linguan Castle also counterattacked, but their response was sparsely delivered.
Linguan Castle has ten small flags; each has only two archers, meaning there are no more than twenty archers in total.
Faced against two hundred Northern barbarian cavalry, the twenty archers were naturally suppressed to the point where they couldn’t even lift their heads.
Fortunately, the soldiers were clad in fine cotton armor; although suppressed, there were no significant casualties.
Yang Zhenshan had no time to pay attention to the civilians behind him; when the Hu cavalry approached the cart, his two short spears already furiously shot out from his hands.
The terrifying power sparked two sharp whooshing sounds, the short spears like thunder, viciously piercing the chests of two Hu cavalry.
The gleaming spear tips carrying crystal clear droplets of blood came out the other side, and then stabbed into the shoulders of two other Hu cavalry.
This was the terrifying aspect of throwing short spears.
The stronger Yang Zhenshan’s strength, the greater the power of his thrown short spears.
The power of a thrown short spear was not limited by bows and crossbows, which is why Yang Zhenshan had always been unwilling to practice archery.
The Hu cavalry was blocked outside by the carts, but carts are not castle walls. They could block charging warhorses, but not the Hu Clan riders on the horses.
Many Hu Clan riders jumped straight from the horses onto the carts, engaging in combat with the soldiers.
However, they seemed to have underestimated their enemy.
As soon as they jumped onto the carts, they were met with glinting, cold spear lights.
“Kill!”
With the roar, several bloody holes appeared on the bodies of the Hu riders.
“Dad!”
Just as Yang Zhenshan had thrown all the short spears behind him, suddenly a tragic scream came from not far away.
Yang Zhenshan looked towards the sound, his pupils suddenly dilating.
He saw Yang Mingzhi being flung out like a sack, followed by soldiers who had been fighting behind the cart flying out with the cart.
It was a burly man about 8 feet tall, wielding a long halberd, who had actually flipped over a cart loaded with grain and fodder.
Seeing the burly man rushing towards the formation, Yang Zhenshan quickly went to block him, but before he could get there, Yang Mingwu stepped in front of the burly man first.
“Die!”
The long spear thrust forward, like a rainbow piercing the sun, aiming straight for the man’s throat.
The Hu man dodged to the side and raised his long halberd to block Yang Mingwu’s long spear.
Bang! The two collided fiercely.
The Hu man was tall and sturdy, and Yang Mingwu was built like a bull, the two together in combat looked like two giant beasts fighting.
After three exchanges, neither had gotten the better of the other.
Seeing this, Yang Zhenshan stopped moving forward and turned to charge outside the formation.
In this situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, he can’t just hide within the formation.
Their only advantage might be himself.
Because he is a Postnatal Martial Artist, and it seems the enemy does not have one.
That tall and sturdy Hu man should be about the same as Yang Mingwu, both are Body Refining Realm Martial Artists.
However, Yang Zhenshan was not at all worried about Yang Mingwu, as Yang Mingwu’s strength was truly astonishing, and his abilities were also above Yang Mingzhi’s.
Yang Zhenshan leapt up, stepping on carts and jumping out of the Round Formation.
The long spear danced like a dragon, within three meters, everything became a death zone.