Yan Liqiang didn’t even bring his own weapon during his patrol to White Stone Pass this time. He left both his Dragon Spine Steel spear and hundred-picul strong bow at home. Even so, after knowing the situation at Wind Border Stockade, Yan Liqiang made up his mind to f*ck the enemies over without any hesitation.
The size of the cavalry from White Stone Pass was about 1,300 men. Yan Liqiang led five hundred guards himself. Among these five hundred men, four hundred of them carried war bows while the remaining one hundred carried crossbows. The two parties together totaled up to 1,800 men, about three battalions of mounted soldiers.
The thirty-jin iron lance was light like a straw in Yan Liqiang’s hand. Although it wasn’t handy, it was still better than having nothing.
As the rhinodrake steeds galloped on, the mountains on both sides grew further apart from each other. The moment they rushed out of the narrow mountain pass where the White Stone Pass was, the landscape immediately opened up in front of Yan Liqiang’s eyes, revealing the Gulang Plains before him. It felt liberating to be there on a sunny day.
As the sounds of iron hooves thundered behind him, an unspeakable feeling surged in Yan Liqiang’s chest as he led the troops into the Gulang Plains for the very first time. At this moment, he felt like he was transported back to the time when he first fought the Blackwind Bandits while escorting Sun Bingchen back to the Imperial Capital. His adrenaline was pumping as he became intoxicated with excitement. Even the wind that blew against his face had the smell of steel and blood, which fired him up.
This is how a Han Chinese man should be!
Yan Liqiang was in love with this kind of feeling. It was at this point that he knew that he would be inseparable with this feeling for the rest of his life.
“Brothers! Today is the first time that we, the Great Han Empire’s men, openly ride into the Gulang Plains in our armor ever since the Shatu Seven Tribes occupied the Gulang Plains. The Protectorate General is leading us into a battle against the Shatu people. Do not be terrified and bring shame to the other men in the Northwestern region! Let’s harvest more Shatu heads today and we’ll feast tonight!” Wamg Naiwu raised the sword in his hand while he shouted, spurring the other soldiers on. Everyone was ignited.
Yan Liqiang had seen Wang Naiwu once during the opening of the Protectorate General’s Office. Back then, his first impression of this Barack General from Pingxi Prefecture was that he was a rather crafty man. Seeing him again today made Yan Liqiang realized that Wang Naiwu was also an emotional man. Apart from his craftiness, he also seemed to have an intrepid side to him.
The party galloped along the ridge where Mount Qiyun and the Gulang Plains met. A distance of several tens of li wasn’t really considered far to the soldiers on rhinodrake steeds. Everyone even controlled the speed of their steeds during the journey instead of letting them run freely. This was one of the cavalry battle techniques — the real power of steeds should only be released to its full potential at the sight of enemies.
After making it past a hill, Yan Liqiang was the first to spot the Shatu people who were more than a thousand meters ahead of them, as well as the Wind Border Stockade which was on fire.
The valley entrance was surrounded by about two thousand Shatu mounted soldiers. Most of them were only waving their weapons around while gleefully watching two groups of mounted archers shooting flaming arrows at the gates of the stockade village. They didn’t seem to be very tense.
The gate, watchtower, and some houses within the stockade village were on fire. Everyone in there was in disarray. Many were trying to put out the fire while some retaliated by shooting arrows from behind the stockade fence. There were casualties on both sides. Since the Shatu people outnumbered them, they were at an advantage for being able to stay on the offensive. At this moment, the people in the stockade village could only rely on were the sturdy stockade fences they built with wooden stakes. One could easily imagine the outcome if the fences were breached by those Shatu people.
Apart from the Shatu men who were shooting flaming arrows, two other groups of mounted soldiers were riding back and forth outside the stockade village. Huge stone mills were tied to their armored rhinodrake steeds with ropes and being pulled along at high speeds. When the Shatu people reached the wooden stockade fence, they cut off the ropes and released the stone mills that were rolling at maximum speed while they rode off to the sides. The huge stone mills rolled toward a sturdy stockade fence and crashed into it. The wooden stakes, which had been driven into the ground, were either chipped off or even broken from the impact, revealing a gap behind.
Now, the stockade fences were already crumbling and very badly damaged.
The most infuriating thing was how those Shatu cavalrymen put the tied up and gagged Han Chinese people in front of their saddles. By using them as shields, the archers inside the stockade village didn’t dare to open fire for fear of harming the innocent. Yet, the other party continued ramming against the crumbling stockade fences with stone mills.
An elderly Han Chinese man, who was pressed against the steed as a human shield, tearfully watched as the Wind Border Stockade burned. He wanted to scream for the people in the stockade village to open fire, but he had been gagged by the Shatu people so he couldn’t scream even if he wanted to. In the end, when those Shatu people were going to charge toward the stockade fence again, the elderly man pushed his head backward as hard as he could and hit the Shatu man behind him on the nose. This caused both of them to fall off the rhinodrake steed together.
The Shatu man who fell off the rhinodrake steed shrieked in anger, then drew his blade and slit the elderly man’s throat without even thinking. As blood spurted out, the elderly man collapsed.
A pained cry rang out from within the Wind Border Stockade in the distance. “Grandpa…!”
Whoosh…!
An arrow came flying from inside the Wind Border Stockade. The Shatu soldier who had just sheathed his blade after killing the elderly man was shot to the ground by a piercing arrow through his throat.
Even so, the casualties on both sides didn’t disrupt the Shatu’s offensive rhythm. Flaming arrows were still being shot toward the stockade village in a steady stream. The huge stone mills were still colliding against the stockade fences.
The Wind Border Stockade would be breached soon.
An arrow from afar knocked a Shatu soldier off his steed. The others looked at the arrow which had embedded itself in their comrade’s back, then instantly turned their head around. They then discovered that there were Han Chinese troops closing in on them. They came from the mountain ridge in the distance, and were only a thousand meters away. When the Han Chinese troops charged toward them aggressively, the Shatu people who were attacking the Wind Border Stockade immediately fell into a panic…
