Translator: Bloodfalcon, Tchu
Editor: Scar
“The Ferocious Cavalry is finished!” Guo Jia observed the two cavalries’ fierce confrontation. It felt like two strong waves clashing with each other before the gate of Kaiyang. He knew that the Ferocious Cavalry would meet its demise. Their commander, General Cao Chun was dead. If he was beheaded in combat, then the Ferocious Cavalry’s fighting spirit and morale would still be high, since they were the cream of the crop. Their morale would still be at their highest because of the momentum even after their leader was gone.
However, that would be under normal circumstances. Guo Jia showed wry smiled. Cao Chun’s death was tragic and he died in a horrible state. He was pierced by a spear and stuck to the ground like a statue. The spear had his horse alongside him pinned firmly to the ground.
His face still showed the horror and fear he felt before death. His body indicated that he desperately tried to rush his horse to flee in order to escape the imminent death.
Is this a warning to other people to show them what would happen to those who oppose Lu Bu?!
“Lu Bu, Lu Bu!” Guo Jia muttered to himself. Can that man really stand alone against the world?
“Military Counselor, your orders?!” The other generals, including Xu Chu and Xiahou Dun were asking for Guo Jia’s next strategic move. Since Cao Cao had fainted, it rested onto Guo Jia as Vice-Commander to issue the orders.
“Right now?!” Guo Jia was at loss. He did not know what order would be wiser. He was currently in dilemma where he could not decide whether he should try to overwhelm Lu Bu’s army with his army of a hundred thousand men or whether he should sound the drums and order the retreat?
Guo Jia pulled himself together and came up with an idea. “Ready the Archers!” Guo Jia shouted with flickering gaze and waved his feather fan.
“Archer unit ready!” replied a general.
”Prepare your bow, target the cavalry in front of us with volley!” Guo Jia issued the order without any hesitation.
”Military Counselor, this?!” The cavalry in front of them were not only the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry but also their ally the Ferocious Cavalry. Even though the commander died, there were still one thousand of Ferocious Cavalry currently engaged in battle.
If the archers let loose those arrows, they won’t be able to distinguish between friends and foes. Everyone inside the Ferocious Cavalry, who were their brothers-in-arms and the elite units of the Cao army will be hit.
“Volley!” Guo Jia gave the order with a cold tone while looking at the generals.
“But!” There were still people who wanted to argue with his decision, but kept their mouths shut when they saw Guo Jia’s face became cold as ice. Even though Guo Jia was only a weak scholar compared to those generals who are used to fight bloody battles, he was a brilliant tactician who killed thousands of soldiers using his tactics. He therefore had even more blood on his hands than the generals.
”Archers ready your bow and target the cavalry in front of us. Volley!” The Archer battalion’s general shouted.
“Yes sir!” The whole archer battalion followed their commander’s order and pulled their bows. “Volley!”
“Woosh!” Arrows filled the sky like heavy rainfall and flew towards the cavalry. Normally, archers can only hit the outer layer of an army. But using volley fire, it changed the arrows’ angle. First, it shot towards the sky, afterwards it would fall vertically under the gravity and the force made it more lethal.
“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!” Loud screams could be heard accompanied with the sound of soldiers falling from their horses.
“Raise shield!” Zhang Liao gave the order.
The Bing Province Wolf Cavalry raised their large shields beside their saddles again which could completely protect them from the volley. However some of them still got hit by the arrows, because the soldiers of the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry also tried to protect their horses with the shield. If you combine the horse and the soldier, even the large shield could not cover every space.
From time to time, soldiers from the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry got hitby an arrow, but it was never critical. They were all trained men who suppressed their pain. Their eyes were shining and blood was flowing out of their mouths, raising their bloodlust to another level.
“Kill them!” One Bing Province Wolf Cavalry soldier eradicated an immense bloodlust in his eys. His horse was shot by several arrows. Even though the horse did not die on the spot, after this battle it could probably not be saved. It could only be killed and used as horse meat. For cavalrymen, their horses were almost as important as their own lives and like their brothers. Not to mention, they hear that Lord Liu Mang who saved their general almost died trying to bring back those horses. That was why the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry treasured them even more.
“Aaaahhhhh!” The Bing Province Wolf Cavalry were protected by their shields, but the Ferocious Cavalry were not so lucky. Since the arrowsshot through volley did not fly horizontally, their body armor could not stop it. One after each other the arrows penetrated them and massacred the Ferocious Cavalry armor like fish on a chopping block.
“Military Counselor?!” The generals who were watching on the side almost exploded in fury. Their own soldiers were dying like flies from friendly fire. Rage could be seen in their eyes. If Xu Chu did not stand in front of Guo Jia, the generals from Xiahou family would probably go mad.
Guo Jia stared blankly at the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry in front of him. “Large shield, spears, horse, what kind of cavalry is this? Is it a heavy cavalry?” Guo Jia hesitated. If it was a heavy cavalry it would be impossible to reach this kind of speed. Heavy cavalry could only do few assaults while wearing heavy armor, afterwards both horses and men will succumb from the fatigue.
The Ferocious Cavalry were already at their last breath. They wore heave armor and were already exhausted. The men and their horses were so tired that some even collapsed under the fatigue. However the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry did not had any signs of exhaustion and their horses were full on vitality. How could this happen?
Guo Jia did not understand this anymore.
Seeing the Ferocious Cavalry taking countless casualties, Guo Jia’s heart became soft. “Issue the retreat order to the Ferocious Cavalry!” Guo Jia did not give the order to march the whole army of hundred thousand soldiers. He knew that if he moved the whole army, he could easily overwhelm Lu Bu with number. However to destroy this heavy cavalry in front of him, Cao Cao’s army would at least suffer a minimum of 30.000 soldiers. During the siege they had already suffered 20.000 casualties. If another 30.000 would be added to their loses, even if they would have conquered Xu Province, they would not be able to defend it anymore. Not to mention there is another beast lurking in Hebei.
“The Cao Army is retreating?!” Lu Bu looked over to the command platform. Cao Cao was already gone and only a scholar was remaining there. This should be Guo Jia, the legendary genius?
Lu Bu gave a cold laugh. Let me, the God of War test the ability of the legendary genius.
Lu Bu waved his trident and signaled his Bing Province Wolf Cavalry to release the remnants of the Ferocious Cavalry. Lu Bu had already lost interest in them. Cao Cao’s Ferocious Cavalry were elites. Their abilities before were roughly the same with those of the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry. But now, the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry had changed. The soldiers from the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry who survived under the siege of Cao Cao’s army became the cream of the crop. Every one of them would be equally matched in prowess to other captains.
Coupled with excellent horses, spears, heavy armors and giant shields that Hanyang brought, it could be said that the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry had currently no equal match.
“Hanyang?!” Lu Bu frowned. While fighting the Ferocious Cavalry his thoughts were constantly with Liu Mang whose life or death was still unknown.
“Cao Cao! Cao Mengde?!” Lu Bu’s eyes irradiated a strong killing intent. “Don’t you want this Lu Bu’s life? Now come and taste this tiger’s counterattack!”
“All units prepare to counterattack!” Lu Bu shouted while wielding his trident.
The Bing Proving Wolf Cavalry did not hesitate but quickly regrouped. The opponent was an army of a hundred thousand. Even the current elite Wolf Cavalry could not break through and might even perish while fighting inside this army. However, no one questioned Lu Bu. Someone who could compare to Lu Bu in leading a cavalry had not been born in this world yet.
“Lu Bu? What do you intent to do?!” Guo Jia watched how Lu Bu let the crippled Ferocious Cavalry flee and how he was charging directly towards his army.
”A army of three thousand attacking an army of one hundred thousand?!” The fighting spirit erupted in Guo Jia’s eyes. “it is time to remove the teeth of the tiger!”Guo Jia waved his command flag and the war machine made of a hundred thousand soldiers began to move.
”Shield formation at the front and spear unit behind them. Archers at the back!” When cavalry lost their mobility they would be as good as dead.
Guo Jia and Lu Bu both had prepared for the decisive battle.
“Humph?!”Lu Bu sneered. Gou Jia, ah Gou Jia, in scheming and planning, I Lu Fengxian am not your equal. However on the battlefield, I will teach you a lesson!”
“Flank, aggressive formation!” The Bing Province Wolf Cavalry suddenly made a huge turn and was speeding past the Cao army’s flank.
Attacking the flanks? Do you really think that I Guo Fengxiao’s reputation were some hollow words?” Guo Jia observed how the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry was moving at a high speed towards the Cao Army’s flank and commanded “Flank tight formation! Spearmen advance!” Guo Jia waved again the flag and commanded “Arches prepare yourself. Target the Bing Province Cavalry’ horses, rapid fire!”
” Guo Jia noticed it at the first glance. Aiming for the soldiers who were heavily armored was useless, but if they shot the horses the riders would be thrown off and squashed to death.
“Lu Bu, come and show me your skill!”