Both troops rushed head-on toward each other like trains before colliding with great intensity. There were screams, blood, and iron fragments flying everywhere.
Yan Liqiang was like the sharpest blade among the Great Han Empire’s cavalry. Snowstorm Cloud charged ahead, unhindered by any Shatu soldiers who stood in Yan Liqiang’s way. None of them were able to withstand Yan Liqiang’s ability. With every sword gleam, their souls were harvested like wheat in the field. Every step Yan Liqiang advanced, he left a trail of Shatu corpses behind him.
Whoosh…! Another arrow came flying, released by one of the archers from the Shatu cavalry. He had been secretly aiming at Yan Liqiang from a distance, looking for an opening to make a merciless shot.
Tie Yunfei sent another Shatu soldier flying before he rushed over to Yan Liqiang while shouting, “WATCH OUT…!”
Trying to sneak attack on Yan Liqiang with an arrow? Was this soldier trying to wield the axe before Master Carpenter Luban [1]? It was impossible for anyone to achieve that a few years ago, let alone now.
Yan Liqiang just beheaded another Shatu soldier with his sword. While blood was still flying everywhere, he easily caught the arrow that was flying toward him from his rhinodrake steed, then threw it back with bare hands!
With Yan Liqiang’s great strength, he sent the arrow flying back at an even greater speed. It instantly pierced through the chest of the archer who made the shot earlier and also impaled another person behind the archer. The momentum of the arrow only ran out after hitting two targets.
Good heavens, was any human capable of such acts?!
The Shatu cavalrymen who were rushing toward this side were nearly scared sh*tless. Words couldn’t even describe the disparity between the parties’ strengths.
Yan Liqiang had just started his killing spree after throwing out the arrow. When he saw another Shatu soldier thrusting his spear at him, he grabbed the spear and reverse stabbed the soldier off his steed instead.
Although the Shatu cavalry was still forging ahead, they were moving too slow in Yan Liqiang’s eyes. They barely posed a challenge, making Yan Liqiang bored.
He let out a long whistle, leaped up from his rhinodrake steed with a sword and a spear in each hand, then stepped on the heads of the Shatu soldiers that were rushing toward him as he forged ahead…
The soldiers’ heads were crushed like watermelons under Yan Liqiang’s feet. he had only landed on them lightly and their heads were either crushed with brain juice splattering everywhere, or their necks snapped audibly as their heads were pushed into their chest cavities.
Those mounted Shatu soldiers were not even a match for Yan Liqiang’s. They couldn’t even see Yan Liqiang’s moving figure and any resistance they put up against him was futile. Yan Liqiang stepped on the Shatu men’s heads and moved forward like a bolt of lightning in the air. Cracking noises could be heard with every step he took…
Crack… crack… crack… crack… crack… crack…
As he moved forward, the Shatu soldiers fell one by one. The efficiency was so much higher compared to Yan Liqiang cutting them down with his sword. As he was rushing forward, the sword and spear in his hands weren’t idle either. His sword pierced or cut his enemies like a bolt of lighting, while he hit or thrust his spear at his enemies like a ferocious dragon. With arrows shooting from both sides, the advancing Shatu cavalry fell and paved a bloody path for Yan Liqiang…
Just when Tie Yunshan was worried about Yan Liqiang being hit by the arrow released by a hidden enemy, he didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to suddenly leave his steed and start a massacre by stepping on his enemies’ heads. In just the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang rushed several tens of meters ahead and no Shatu people were left standing in front of Tie Yunshan.
Tie Yunshan could be considered a veteran and yet, he had never seen a more valiant general than Yan Liqiang on a battlefield. It was also at this moment that Tie Yunshan started to wonder if Yan Liqiang could eliminate all the Shatu men alone without him and the troop behind him.
Yan Liqiang’s bold and powerful attack scared all the Shatu men out of their wits. They were already petrified when Yan Liqiang killed their leader with just an iron lance. As soon as they engaged him in a battle, the Shatu cavalry immediately realized how monstrous Yan Liqiang was. In front of someone like Yan Liqiang, they were like newborn lambs before a violent beast. They were barely an appetizer for him. How were they going to win a battle like this?
Watching Yan Liqiang charging forward among the spraying blood and miserable screams and seeing their comrades falling in succession, the others were extremely terrified. They instinctively spurred their rhinodrake steeds on as they tried to get out of Yan Liqiang’s way.
It would be possible to avoid if they were alone, but on a battlefield with so many people charging forward, how could they evade Yan Liqiang?
The Shatu cavalry’s formation was suddenly in disarray!
If a cavalry left their formation, slowed down, and were filled with fear, they could only bring out half of their combat power at best.
On the other hand, morale was high among the White Stone Pass cavalry when they saw Yan Liqiang’s performance. With them moving even more fiercely, the gap between both parties’ strengths became even more significant.
Yan Liqiang lost count of how many Shatu people he had killed. In just a flash, he was the first to penetrate the Shatu cavalry’s formation.
When Yan Liqiang fell from midair, Snowstorm Cloud rushed to below him like a bolt of lightning to ensure his safe landing.
…
That was the first time both cavalry engaged each other in a battle, and the Shatu cavalry had suffered heavy losses in the first round. They were utterly defeated.
Both parties intersected each other’s formations. The Great Han Empire’s cavalry was still crowded with minimal loss, but the Shatu cavalry instantly thinned out.
The remaining men in the Shatu cavalry were panting heavily, unable to recover from their shock. Before they could even react, a torrent of arrows rained down on them again. That caused many Shatu men to fall off their steeds again, and things became even more chaotic for them.
The five hundred cavalry archers under Yan Liqiang flanked the Shatu cavalry again after making a big round. Both parties had just disengaged close quarter combat when the cavalry archers seized the opportunity to follow up with a coordinated attack. One round attacks was enough to take out another one or two hundred men from the remaining Shatu cavalry.
By now, the remaining soldiers had lost all their fighting will. Without any orders, each and single one of them spurred their steeds on. Another torrent of arrows rained down on those with slightly slower reactions. Many of them let out miserable screams as they were shot down. It was then that everyone in the Shatu cavalry was finally able to react and started to flee for their lives…
“Tie Yunshan, you bring a battalion of men with you and provide support to the Wind Border Stockade. Wang Naiwu, you follow me to chase after those Shatu dogs. Don’t let any one of them escape…!” Yan Liqiang immediately gave the order when he saw the Shatu men starting to flee.
The battle at the Wind Border Stockade was still raging on. When the Han Chinese at the Wind Border Stockade noticed a big troop of Shatu soldiers starting a fight over here, they came rushing out from the stockade village too and fought the several hundred Shatu men surrounding outside the village.
“Yes!” Tie Yunshan accepted his orders, then made a whistle. About five hundred men instantly split up from the cavalry and rode fiercely with Tie Yunshan to the Wind Border Stockade. Yan Liqiang turned around, led the remaining soldiers, and gave chase to the Shatu cavalry they were fighting against earlier.
The Shatu cavalry was destined to be doomed today. At a time like this, it wasn’t easy for them to escape even if they wanted to…
That was because both parties were fighting on the plains at the foot of Mount Qiyun earlier. By the time the Shatu people wanted to escape, they realized that Mount Qiyun was on their left and Yan Liqiang’s five hundred cavalry archers were on their right. Behind them were the troops that Yan Liqiang led to chase after them. The battlefield’s terrain and the Great Han Empire’s cavalry blocked their way in three directions like a pocket, leaving them with no choice but to ride forward.
When the Shatu people were riding forward, the five hundred cavalry archers on their right side also rode forward with matching speed and both parties maintained a distance of sixty or seventy meters apart. As the Shatu cavalry galloped, Yan Liqiang’s cavalry archers attacked in a composed manner from the side, easily shooting down every Shatu cavalryman from their steed as though they were the hunters hunting down a hare or antelope. Yan Liqiang’s troops caught up to those who were slightly slower and easily cut them off their steeds.
After running several li, the fleeing Shatu cavalry realized that it was impossible to shake off their pursuers this way and all they were doing was just making themselves a target. If they were to continue in this direction, they would be forced to enter White Stone Pass, where there was no chance of survival. Hence, the Shatu soldiers grit their teeth as they changed their direction and rode toward Yan Liqiang’s cavalry archers as an attempt to break free from their enclosure.
Upon seeing the Shatu cavalry changed directions, the five hundred cavalry archers also did the same to maintain the distance between them while still firing arrows at them…
It was at this moment the Shatu cavalry realized that the five hundred cavalry archers from the Great Han Empire were their worst nightmares on the battlefield. They couldn’t lay a finger on them, but the cavalry archers could shoot their allies down from afar…
Yan Liqiang chased down the Shatu cavalry with his men for over twenty li. Aside from a very few smarter Shatu soldiers on powerful rhinodrake steeds who managed to escape, most of them were vanquished by Yan Liqiang’s men while they were in the process of escaping. Hence, it could be concluded that the Shatu cavalry was obliterated in this battle.
