Bayan thought about it, and in the end, he was unwilling to retreat just like that. Fleeing without fighting was a huge humiliation to a Mongol warrior and Bayan would not take that.
“Gather our troops and get ready to face the enemy!” Bayan gave the order.
Zhang Hongfan was helpless and could only listen to the order.
The Mongols were said to be attacking Lin’an with the million army, but in truth, only around 600 thousand left their six bases. After the successive battles, they lost close to 100 thousand of them.
In the blink of an eye, apart from the 200 thousand troops defending the north side, each other side was left with 100 thousand troops.
This also meant that even if Bayan gathered up the entire south side army, he could only gather up 100 thousand men. Furthermore, the army had just backed down from the frontlines and returned to their camps. To gather them up once more was a hugely difficult matter.
As time was of the essence, Zhang Hongfan could only gather up ten thousand elite cavalry, which included the Personal Guards of Bayan and himself. If not, he would not even be able to gather up 10 thousand men.
“It’s enough!”
However, Bayan was really confident. In his eyes, as long as they fended off the first wave, the following troops would be able to gather up and surround the enemy.
Whoever wins or loses was still unknown.
Whilst Zhang Hongfan was busy gathering up men, Er’Lai’s forces had broken through the last pass. In the blink of an eye, Bayan and the others could see the enemy changing right at them with the golden dragon flag of Great Xia dancing in the wind.
Bayan was just about to order his troops to charge at them when a thin messenger suddenly ran out from the side, panting, “Commander, it’s an emergency. The east and west wings sent a warning that large amounts of cavalry have exited the city and are coming toward the south.”
“What?”
Bayan’s heart jolted; his expression changed, and his entire body stiffened up.
Looking at the visible enemy troops, Bayan’s face was extremely ugly. Even if he wanted to flee now, it was too late. In such a short time, even if the Mongol cavalry were well-trained, they were unable to turn around and retreat.
If they really did that, the moment the enemy troops caught up, they would be in chaos. To make matters worse, if they backed off now, the barracks behind them would fall along with them.
One bad decision would cause a full-scale collapse.
As expected from Bayan, who was a famous Mongol general. He quickly saw through the close knitted relationship between all of these aspects.
Helplessly, he could only grit his teeth and advance. As they say, ‘On a narrow road, the courageous will win.’ They could only defend against the first wave of enemy attacks and wait for the troops in the camp to gather up before they made any plans.
“All units charge!”
Bayan hurriedly gave the order.
All of a sudden, the rumbling of horse hooves sounded out, and the entire earth shook.
Under the cover of the orange dusk, the two cavalry armies charged at one another and were ready to fight to the death. Maybe it was an illusion, but at this point, even the dusk became evil and turned a blood red color.
Bayan did not charge forward. Instead, he stood on the spot and let his Personal Guards defend him. At the same time, he commanded the frontline troops and moved the backline to gather up at the south side.
The one leading the charge was a Mongol general. Meanwhile, Zhang Hongfan was ordered to gather the back troops.
Whilst charging, Er’Lai held his iron halberd. As he rode on Luosha, he gave out a smile that filled with bloodthirst. He aimed right at the enemy general, kicking Luosha lightly with his right boot.
When Luosha got the order, it suddenly increased its speed, swiftly proceeding forward. One man and one beast; they had a tacit understanding of one another.
Luosha’s charging speed obviously stunned the enemy. In a short while, Er’Lai swung his halberd in a well-trained manner. With a ‘Puchi!’, before the enemy could react, he was already slashed into half, blood splattering all over.
Luosha was drenched in blood, but it did not care. Its eyes gave out a red glow; this was a real fierce beast that only people like Er’Lai could make surrender.
During such a short engagement, Er’Lai easily killed the enemy general.
This time, the morale of the charging troops soared as they roared while they charged.
On the contrary, the prideful Mongol cavalry were stunned, as this was the first time they saw soldiers more brutal than them.
The Mongol cavalry were mostly light armored, and they were skilled at shooting on horseback. Be it attacking or retreating, they could shoot whilst riding. During the process of the battle, the arrow rain would never stop.
On the contrary, they were not that good at charging at enemy cavalry.
Not mentioning other aspects, but just the armor alone was a huge gap. Much less their curved knives, which could not compare to the horse lance of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps.
Just as both sides engaged, their relative strengths were evident.
Facing the charge of 30 thousand Great Xia Guards Legion Corps soldiers, the formation of the 10 thousand Mongol cavalry was thrown into chaos right away.
With Er’Lai as the head, the Great Xia iron cavalry cut up the Mongol formation and did not stop as they continued forward. As for the cavalry passed, the ones behind they would naturally take care of them.
One must not forget that behind him was 30 thousand Fallen Phoenix City cavalry and 20 thousand Great Song cavalry. Although they were not as skilled, they were good enough to handle the remnants.
This general killing operation had Er’Lai as its core. Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo had instructed that whether they could successfully kill Bayan or not depended on Er’Lai.
Er’Lai did not want to disappoint the king.
After tearing up the enemy defenses, be it Er’Lai or Luosha, they were both covered in blood. They looked like devils that had crawled out of hell, looking really evil and scary.
Er’Lai did not care. His eyes focused on the front as he swiftly searched for his target. Very quickly, under the protection of his Personal Guards, Bayan, who was fleeing, entered his field of sight.
“Haha, Bayan do not think about leaving. I am here to take your life!”
Er’Lai’s eyes lit up. The Luosha he was riding on did not need him to give commands at all. It charged forward.
…
Bayan was riding or horseback. Looking back, his face was extremely ugly. He did not expect the enemy to be so strong and tear through their defenses in just one round.
This had never happened in any previous battle.
This time, Bayan was really terrified, and he did not dare to stay for any longer. Under the protection of the Personal Guards, he fled and was prepared to gather with the main force.
Who knows how many troops Zhang Hongfan had managed to gather up?
As this very moment, a roar sounded out from behind him. In the game, Gaia had its own translation software, which was why Bayan was able to understand Er’Lai. His face turned uglier and uglier.
As one of the rare few great generals in the Mongol army, Bayan did not lack the courage to fight the enemy. He wanted to immediately turn around and fight the big man behind him.
However, as a commander, his rationality reminded him that he could not do that. Bayan could only whip his horse and quicken his escape.
Helplessly, the faster Bayan fled, the faster Er’Lai chased.
The Mongol war horses were not that big and were famous for their stamina. However, in terms of speed, they were not any better than the Great Xia Qingfu Horses that the Guards Legion Corps used.
On the contrary, they were slower because the Qingfu Horses were known for their speed.
Seeing that Bayan was in his sights, Er’Lai could not hold it back, so he immediately activated his specialty. Hence, the wind like Great Xia Army sped up, catching up to Bayan at a visible rate.
When Er’Lai saw that, he could not help but grin. He was not far from completing his mission.
At this very moment, the sound of horse hooves spread out from the front. Zhang Hongfan’s men had arrived. Before they arrived, an arrow rain had covered the heads of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps.
Shooting arrows to attack while traveling was the specialty of the Mongol cavalry.
When Bayan saw that, he left out a comfortable sigh of relief. He smiled with a look of escaping death. If he was really caught by the enemy, no matter how strong he was, he would probably die.
When Er’Lai saw that, he was filled with unhappiness. He did not want to give up. The enemy’s arrow rain was really strong, causing men and horse to flip.
Zhang Hongfan’s goal was simple. He wanted to use arrow rain to prevent the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps from advancing and save Bayan.
“No, we cannot give up like that.” Er’Lai was not a person who gave up easily, and his eyes had a sharp glow to them, “All units, speed up!”
What an Er’Lai.
At the key moment, he advanced instead of retreating, staying at the front of the formation.
Seeing their Legion General being so valiant, the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps blew up. All of them roared, tossing their lives behind their heads as they charged forward.
This time, Zhang Hongfan and Bayan were totally stunned. They had never seen a unit like this that did not care about their lives.
“Quick, protect the commander!”
Zhang Hongfan did not dare to take it lightly as he charged forward.
If Bayan died, based on Mongol military rules, even if Zhang Hongfan survived, Kublai Khan would cut off his head. Hence, no matter how difficult it was, Zhang Hongfan had to save him.
Zhang Hongfan reacted quickly but Er’Lai was even quicker.
In just a few blinks of an eye, Er’Lai finally caught up. He raised the halberd in his hand and chopped down.
“Protect the commander!”
When Bayan’s Personal Guards saw that, they all jumped in front of Bayan and formed up a human wall.
‘Scoff!’
Er’Lai’s expression did not change. He coordinated with Luoshan so that when the halberd landed, so did a head. Even the strong Bayan Personal Guards were no different from schoolboys in front of Er’Lai.
At this point, the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps had caught up.
When Er’Lai saw that, he did not waste any more time, going around the Personal Guards and continuing to chase.
It seemed like Bayan was about to gather up together with the main force.
Er’Lai did not waver, and Luosha could feel the desire of its master. Although it had been charging for such a long distance, it increased its speed once more.
With a ‘Hu!’, Luosha jumped up, taking Er’Lai and landing right behind Bayan.
“Commander, be careful!”
When Zhang Hongfan saw that, his eyes widened.
Bayan instinctively turned around, only to see a black halberd getting bigger and bigger in his eyes.
‘Puchi!’
Before Bayan could react, his brain was cut by a halberd.
Blood splattered, brain juice flowed.
‘Honglong!’, Bayan fell off his warhorse. A general of a generation died just like that.
