"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Zhou Fugui, holding his spear and astride his horse, led five hundred elite cavalry, charging like a tempestuous storm towards the chaotic Hungarian soldiers under the command of the Left Great Chieftain Qiwu Han.
The quality of troops is more important than their quantity; a general relies on strategy, not just bravery.
A skilled attacker conceals their defense, making the enemy unaware of their intentions. The key to using troops lies in seizing the opportune moment, striking where the enemy is weak, identifying their vulnerabilities, and launching a sudden yet resolute attack. This achieves surprise and victory with minimal cost.
Qiwu Han's forces, having traveled a long distance, were a weary army. Zhou Fugui's troops, on the other hand, were well-rested. This was one factor. The second was that his troops were caught off guard. The slave army had set up an ambush in the maple forest, intercepting the Hungarians. Though they didn't defeat them, they exhausted them. As they fled the forest, they were met by Zhou Fugui's surprise attack.
Zhou Fugui had observed all this with his clairvoyance and understood it perfectly. On the vast, boundless grassland, his clairvoyance was even more effective.
Zhou Fugui's timing for the attack was impeccable. It must be said that Zhou Fugui was learning warfare by engaging in it. While he couldn't claim to be invincible, he was certainly among the best.
"Pfft! Pfft!" With two sounds, Zhou Fugui, capturing the leader first, unfurled his Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear and took his Moon-Chasing Bow. He galloped his horse, firing two arrows. One struck Sador's shoulder, and the other hit his right rib.
Caught off guard, Sador cried out, fell from his horse, and the Hungarian ranks, leaderless, became even more panicked.
The actual commander of the Hungarian army was this middle-aged general, whom Zhou Fugui had observed while in ambush.
"Kill!"
Zhou Fugui dismounted his Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear, gripped the reins with his left hand, raised the spear high with his right, pointed forward forcefully, and roared.
At this moment, Zhou Fugui's steed was at its fastest, its hooves a blur, nearly flying. The wind whipped Zhou Fugui's black cloak behind him, making it almost parallel to his body. Arrowheads whistled past Zhou Fugui's head and sides.
The Hungarians rained down arrows and stones, desperately trying to stop the attack of Zhou Fugui and his five hundred elite cavalry.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"White Tiger Camp!"
"Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories!"
Xu Mancang to the left, Xue Wentai to the right, Suo Dacheng and Pi E closely followed Zhou Fugui. Nearly two hundred Yan soldiers and three hundred carefully selected slave cavalry, a total of five hundred, raised their sabers and galloped forward.
Charging into battle, they roared with all their might. This was to boost morale, dispel fear, and intimidate the enemy.
Men were continuously shot from their horses, only to be trampled into mince by the hooves. But at this moment, who could care? As the saying goes, once the bow is drawn, there's no turning back. At this moment, there was only the path forward!
The more than five hundred riders, like a torrential downpour, charged towards the Hungarian army. The distance closed, and the panicked faces of the Hungarians were clearly visible.
"Bang!" With a loud crash, the five hundred iron cavalry collided with the Hungarian army like two surging torrents. At the point of impact, a dazzling light erupted, accompanied by the clanging of swords and the roar of battle. The thunder of hooves drowned out screams, gasps, and desperate roars.
"Hah!" Zhou Fugui grunted, using the momentum of his horse to thrust his spear, sending a Hungarian soldier flying ten yards away. He landed amidst the Hungarian ranks, knocking over several men, spitting blood, already dead.
"Formation Break!"
Zhou Fugui then roared, unleashing the spear technique personally taught by Huo Qubing. He wielded his Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear, its tip like scattered stars, thrusting towards the Hungarian soldiers.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
The sound of the long spear entering flesh was continuous. Seven or eight Hungarians were simultaneously impaled in the throat, falling with blood gushing from their necks. Until death, their faces displayed expressions of disbelief as they stared at Zhou Fugui.
"You dog thief!" A Hungarian general, seizing the moment before Zhou Fugui could recover his spear, urged his horse forward, roaring. With a contorted face, he swung his saber fiercely towards Zhou Fugui's head.
Zhou Fugui dodged to the side, shifted the Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear to his left hand, drew his heavy sword with his right, and with one strike, split the Hungarian general in half at the waist, sending him falling from his horse. The general's upper body rolled into the dust, while his lower half remained astride the horse, galloping further away – a terrifying and bizarre sight.
Zhou Fugui couldn't help but show a slight smile. He reined in his horse and charged forward and to the side. When he had watched Huo Qubing's spirit practice his spear techniques, he had seen heavy swords being used, but he hadn't inherited that skill. Although this Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear was not a long-handled giant blade, it was extremely sharp, capable of slashing, thrusting, hooking, and smashing. The Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear was originally not equipped with a sword; now, it could be used for both riding and combat, making it extremely handy.
Zhou Fugui charged towards the left with the Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear. The Hungarian soldiers on the left cried out and scattered, fearing they couldn't escape quickly enough, leaving a large open space.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Zhou Fugui was truly leading from the front, charging headfirst and proving invincible. The five hundred iron cavalry were instantly emboldened, spurring their horses forward, each one brave, each one eager.
Xue Wentai, the great monk from Guanzhong, astride his horse, leaped down. Before his horse even landed, Xue Wentai had swung his saber, cleaving a Hungarian soldier from his horse. His ferocity was astonishing, no less than Zhou Fugui's.
Xu Mancang was equally unstoppable, hacking with his saber as if no one was there.
Suo Dacheng, Bai Mawu, and other Yan soldiers swarmed forward, plunging into the Hungarian ranks, slashing and killing. Blood flowed like a river, and severed limbs flew about, carving a bloody path through the crowd.
The beast tamer An Minghai was also brave, and he harbored an ingrained hatred for the Hungarians. He plunged into the Hungarian ranks like a madman, slashing and killing without regard for his own safety.
"Dong... dong... dong..."
Just then, the ground seemed to tremble. An incredibly sturdy and fierce general, wielding two pestles in each hand, galloped forward, like the reincarnation of King Weituo.
The Kunlun slave Pi E was too massive to ride a horse, or rather, he hadn't found a steed that matched him. He could only walk, yet he moved with the force of a charging horse, not much slower than Zhou Fugui and the others on their mounts.
"Thwack!" With a sound, Pi E's right pestle descended, splattering blood. A Hungarian soldier attempting to sneak attack Zhou Fugui from behind had his head smashed to pieces by the pestle, like a rotten watermelon. Red, white, and black goo smeared his neck, the severed end resembling a meat patty. Pi E's left pestle descended, smashing half of a Hungarian soldier's body to pulp. Human tissue sprayed out in a gruesome manner, truly a horrific sight. Such carnage caused the Hungarians attempting to flank Zhou Fugui to cry out in fear and flee in all directions.
Among the world's ferocious beings, none could compare to Pi E!
Although the Hungarian forces numbered nearly five thousand, Zhou Fugui's Yan and slave troops numbered less than three thousand. However, whether it was generals like Zhou Fugui, Xue Wentai, Xu Mancang, and Pi E leading the charge, or brave warriors like Suo Dacheng, Bai Mawu, and Suo Dacheng pushing forward, everyone fought without fear of death. They routed the Hungarian army, which suffered greatly in morale and was on the verge of collapse.
Zhou Fugui personally led his five hundred elite cavalry in two charges, breaking through the Hungarian formation. The slave army in the maple forest was instantly emboldened, shouting and charging towards the Hungarian army.
"Demon! Demon! Run!"
Someone in the Hungarian ranks shouted in terror, causing the already wavering Hungarian army to completely lose its morale and any ability to resist. In a disorganized rush, they scattered in all directions. Many Hungarians even re-entered the forest, feeling that compared to the demons like Zhou Fugui, the maple forest was comparatively safer.
Seeing the Hungarian soldiers in utter rout, Qiwu Han, who had been frozen with fear, suddenly found some courage. He waved his saber and shouted, "Warriors of the Great Hungarian Empire, do not fear! Those who flee in disorder shall be killed without mercy! Kill, let us break out and head towards the direction of the Left Great Cavalry Inspector, Xu Bu Liang. If we find them, we will be safe."
Qiwu Han had originally believed that with his "powerful" forces, he could have easily annihilated these "Ding Ling" bandits. However, he now realized something was amiss; the attackers did not seem like Ding Ling people.
Qiwu Han never imagined that he and his army would be defeated by such bandits. At this moment, with his army in disarray, the savior he hoped for was none other than the Left Great Cavalry Inspector Xu Bu Liang, whom he had previously looked down upon.
As Qiwu Han roared fiercely, dozens of guards immediately stopped fleeing, gripped their sabers, gritted their teeth, and growled their assent, escorting Qiwu Han towards the northwest.
The northwest was the direction from which the Hungarian Left Great Cavalry Inspector Xu Bu Liang had come. Qiwu Han regretted the distance that had opened between them...
"Whoosh!" Just then, an arrow flew in, striking Qiwu Han in the shoulder. Qiwu Han cried out and tumbled headfirst from his horse.
Zhou Fugui arrived with his men, first killing several stubbornly resisting guards. The rest, terrified, no longer dared to resist, discarding their weapons and looking at Zhou Fugui and his men with ashen faces.
Zhou Fugui then rode forward, pointing his Sky-Shaking Dragon Spear at Qiwu Han, who was writhing and howling on the ground.
"General, General Zhou, do not spare his life!" At this moment, Ye Guanti rode over, shouting loudly as he ran.
"Why?" Zhou Fugui turned to Ye Guanti and asked with a knowing smile.
"To defeat... Xu Bu Liang, all are... on this man's body!" Ye Guanti, out of breath, panted as he spoke to Zhou Fugui.
"Guanti wishes to employ a stratagem?" Zhou Fugui asked with a smile.
"Indeed!" Ye Guanti said with some concern, "Two armies, only one defeated, this is not complete victory!"
Zhou Fugui nodded and smiled, saying, "The task is not yet complete, brothers must still strive!"