Under a large locust tree, as battle loomed, the soldiers of the Dragon Swift Camp made their final preparations before the expedition…
The first order of business was to relieve themselves.
It would be difficult to do so once the fighting truly began.
"Sizzle!"
Xiahou Yuan's four sons gathered. Xiahou Heng, as the eldest, calmed his three younger brothers. "This is our first battle since joining the Dragon Swift Camp. If we don't achieve merit, we must at least survive!"
The words had barely left his mouth…
Xiahou Ba was the first to object. "If we don't strive for merit, if we don't bring glory to our family name, then why join the Dragon Swift Camp? In this battle, I, your brother, will charge at the forefront! Even if I am wrapped in horse hide upon death, I shall not regret it!"
"Second brother speaks wisely…" the third son, Xiahou Cheng, began. "Not strive for merit? Joining the Dragon Swift Camp would invite ridicule!"
He had shot a tiger at the age of sixteen… In both martial skill and courage, he was of the highest caliber.
It was the fourth son, Xiahou Wei, who frowned slightly.
"Two thousand against seven thousand… I heard the military order is to annihilate the enemy within half an hour. Can this… be achieved?"
Undoubtedly, Xiahou Wei was the most level-headed of the four brothers.
He knitted his brows. "Xi Liang is throwing its full force at us. If this devolves into a stalemate, the enemy forces will be endless, while our own army…"
He spoke the plain truth…
Should the battle enter a stalemate, the enemy would only grow in number, and their Dragon Swift Camp, no matter how valiant, would be gradually depleted, leading the situation to a severely disadvantageous direction.
It was highly probable that everyone would be left here.
As he spoke, a veteran of the Dragon Swift Camp overheard their conversation.
"Hahaha…" the veteran laughed, as if mocking these "rookie eggs…"
"You should be grateful. Out of three thousand against one hundred twenty thousand, you are one of these three thousand Dragon Swifts…" Saying this, the veteran pointed behind him. "Hurry and collect your equipment. For this battle, the Marquis of Southern Hunt has permitted the use of those 'divine artifacts'!"
Divine artifacts…
Indeed, in the Dragon Swift Camp, besides fine steel war halberds and fine steel armor, there were also divine artifacts.
Xiahou Heng quickly urged his brothers to go and collect them…
It was a set of "iron horse stirrups…"
And a wooden horse saddle!
It must be known that the use of iron horse stirrups and wooden horse saddles for the entire Dragon Swift Camp's equipment was unprecedented.
Previously…
To help Dian Wei defeat Lu Bu, Lu Yu had equipped Dian Wei's horse with these alone, and the effect was remarkable…
However, because these iron horse stirrups and saddles were too easily imitated, if Yuan Shao got wind of them and forged them in large quantities… Cao's army would face a cavalry force capable of mounted archery at Guandu!
This would be extremely disadvantageous…
It must be understood that whether a cavalry unit could engage in mounted archery, and whether they were skilled in it, represented a vast difference in combat power!
According to Lu Yu's plan, unless… in a crucial major battle, and Cao's cavalry had already become the foremost in the land, only then would these iron horse stirrups and saddles be fully promoted.
Fearless of imitation!
Now…
The time had arrived.
Of course… for the knights of the Dragon Swift Camp, their riding skills were already outstanding, but riding skills were one thing, and mounted archery was another matter entirely.
Throughout the Han dynasty, few people were skilled in mounted archery, except for the barbarians who grew up on horseback…
Even among generals, those with a recorded history of "mounted archery" could be counted on one hand.
The use of iron horse stirrups and wooden horse saddles was intended to solve this problem.
It must be known that a triangle possesses stability, and the pivot points formed by the hips and thighs would allow the Dragon Swift knights on horseback to feel as if they were walking on flat ground!
"This…"
Xiahou Heng had not yet figured out how to use this contraption.
Old soldiers had already equipped his horse with the saddle and stirrups. As Xiahou Heng mounted, they handed several burly soldiers a brand new heavy crossbow…
Speaking of crossbows, this was a skill that all in the Dragon Swift Camp had to master, from the Zhuge repeating crossbow to the smaller Zhuge divine crossbow… proficiency was required.
However… this crossbow seemed different from the previous ones.
"This is the Divine Arm Crossbow, recently forged by the workshop. Its effective range on the battlefield is three hundred forty paces! However, it is too large and requires transportation by horse-drawn carriage!"
What…
Hearing the description of the Divine Arm Crossbow, Xiahou Heng gasped.
Three hundred forty paces?
How… how was this possible?
It must be known that the most powerful crossbows previously had a range of no more than two hundred paces. Lu Bu's archery at Yuanmen, though powerful, could not reach three hundred paces.
Three hundred forty paces… this crossbow was capable of changing the battlefield and its very landscape!
Of course…
Xiahou Heng was surprised, but the other soldiers of the Dragon Swift Camp were not. In fact, within each company, there were already quite a few who had tried this "Divine Arm Crossbow" in advance…
To say it was three hundred forty paces was conservative!
"Alright… hurry up and prepare, General Cao Xiu will be mustering the troops shortly!" the veteran reminded Xiahou Heng.
Xiahou Heng still felt it was unbelievable…
Gazing at the Divine Arm Crossbow, he felt the stability and firmness in his feet and beneath his hips… This feeling was as if the incredibly complex battlefield and the incredibly perilous slaughter had been simplified to the extreme.
Divine artifacts… were these the so-called divine artifacts?
He murmured to himself.
Rumble rumble…
The sound of ten thousand horses galloping on the earth grew louder!
Although the enemy was still five li away, the faint sound of hoofbeats, when heard, made it difficult not to imagine… the scene of the enemy's ten thousand horses charging.
An immense pressure…
And on this side…
Below Cao Xiu, Gongsun Zan, Qu Yi… along with the two thousand Dragon Swift knights, their faces showed no fear, only indifference!
Everyone was eagerly anticipating…
Anticipating defeating an enemy several times their own number…
For a time, everyone was filled with patriotic fervor!
The two thousand Dragon Swift cavalry… had long since become united, and in this battle, they were determined to bring fame to the name "Dragon Swift" once more!
"Dong dong…"
The sound grew louder.
"Nuo!"
Cao Xiu drew his sword and slowly raised it. "If we achieve a great victory, Commander Lu has invited everyone for drinks!"
Cao Xiu's voice was not loud, but in the quiet clearing, everyone heard it clearly.
"Nuo…"
"Nuo!"
…
…
On the ancient camel bell trail from Luoyang through the Three Commandaries to Anding City, a carriage was speeding along.
"Why the rush?"
A gentle female voice emanated from the carriage… seemingly asking the person driving the horse.
The driver was Yang Xiu…
"The war has already begun. If we are any later, I fear more people will die, and even my teacher might be in danger!"
This…
Hearing the words "teacher," the woman inside the carriage clearly froze, biting her lip slightly.
This woman was naturally Xiahou Juan…
Inside the carriage, besides her, there was a trusted attendant… and a middle-aged man lying flat. The man looked very weak. Although he was breathing, he showed no signs of waking.
He was Ma Teng…
At Yang Xiu's insistence, ever since the Xi Liang army retreated westward, they had been secretly making their way to Anding City. Because they were acting in secret, they avoided all main roads.
As for the reason for doing so…
"Dezu… can he… can he truly stop this war?"
After a long period of thought, Xiahou Juan asked softly…
Yang Xiu's gaze became much firmer. "Believe me, as long as he is alive, whether he wakes up or not… he will definitely… definitely be able to stop this war!"
"And we… we will ultimately turn the tide!"
The determined voice soon disappeared amidst the sound of hoofbeats.
Yang Xiu's eyes were cold, yet… this coldness was tinged with much decisiveness and resolve!
It's possible…
It will definitely be possible!
…
…
A gust of wind swept across the sandy terrain of Xi Liang. The few sparse trees swayed erratically, and dry leaves were blown into the air.
The sound drew closer…
Silhouettes appeared amidst the sand dunes. They rode warhorses and wore fine steel armor.
In front of the silhouettes, an endless stream of people appeared. They were like a black tide, continuously emerging from this direction.
The former… were the two thousand knights of the Dragon Swift Camp.
The latter was the seven thousand elite cavalry of Xi Liang, led by Ma Dai, a mixture of Qiang and Roman descendants!
At this moment, all the soldiers of the Dragon Swift cavalry closed their eyes, as if conserving their energy, or perhaps to savor the air at this moment, to enjoy the last moments of peace before the slaughter.
"Charge!"
"Kill!"
Cao Xiu opened his eyes and, with a roar, the two thousand-strong Dragon Swift cavalry army moved. All the cavalry charged forward, their gazes fixed ahead, on the enemy four times their number.
In this battle… there was no retreat!
The military order above was to annihilate the enemy within half an hour, because only then would the enemy's support troops have no time to arrive.
Or rather, such a complete annihilation, like sweeping away fallen leaves in autumn, would crush the enemy's confidence psychologically, making them fear and hesitate to advance!
But… under normal circumstances, fighting in this kind of open sandy terrain, two thousand against eight thousand, managing to hold out for half an hour would already be a miracle.
"Dong dong dong…"
Hoofbeats pounded the ground, creating a thunderous roar.
The cavalry of both sides drew closer and closer…
From a thousand paces, in a single day, it became eight hundred, six hundred… five hundred paces!
As this distance continued to shorten, the pressure between them intensified…
The air seemed to freeze, and it was only at four hundred paces that…
"Prepare!"
Cao Xiu shouted, and the Dragon Swift Camp responded, scattering to the sides. Behind the Dragon Swift cavalry… the Divine Arm Crossbows appeared.
This artifact, invented by Li Hong during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song dynasty, with a bow length of "three feet three inches" and a string length of two feet five inches, and a maximum range of over three hundred forty paces, had now appeared several centuries earlier.
And its first use on the battlefield… no one knew its true power!
However… ancient texts recorded it thus:
– "When the Jin soldiers arrived, they wore heavy armor, their hooks interlinked, advancing in a line. Lin's troops fired volleys of arrows, raining down like rain, and the fallen lay piled high."
This was an account from the "History of Song," describing how the Jin army suffered heavy casualties and piled up like mountains under the devastating impact of the Divine Arm Crossbow.
Now…
"Shoot…"
With Cao Xiu's shout, countless Divine Arm Crossbows fired simultaneously.
In contrast, the mixed legion of Romans and Qiang led by Ma Dai… evidently did not take this sudden appearance of large contraptions seriously.
Indeed, in this era, with such massive "mechanical crossbows," everyone's inherent perception was that…
Accuracy was low…
And range was short, hence… after the Warring States period, they were rarely used on the battlefield.
If the "Divine Arm Crossbow" were replaced by a "Thunderbolt Catapult" at this moment, the Xi Liang army might have shown a modicum of fear, but now…
"Charge the entire army!"
"Capture Lu Yu! Better to break one finger than injure ten!"
Capture the leader, capture the king! Ma Dai was determined to charge straight through to the Dragon Swift Camp's encampment.
However…
His voice had barely fallen when, with a "whoosh," the sound of wind splitting was heard, and massive arrows… imbued with soaring momentum, shot forth.
Right before Ma Dai's eyes… he saw a personal guard pierced by an arrow, but the arrow's power was undiminished. Then came the second, the third…
It was difficult to imagine that an arrow could pierce three people in succession.
And its force remained, until… after knocking over a group of cavalry, the arrow finally fell into the yellow sand, but… beyond the yellow sand, it was already a patch of crimson, gushing blood.
This…
Before Ma Dai could react.
The second arrow, the third arrow… countless crossbow bolts shot forth…
And for a fleeting moment, these dense, thick, and large arrows reminded Ma Dai of the "Qin Crossbow" mentioned in military texts…
The reason the Qin people were formidable lay in their powerful crossbows. Often, before the men arrived, the crossbows did; the passage of Qin crossbows brought annihilation…
But at this moment, the pressure from these huge arrows was perhaps… far greater than that of the Qin crossbows.
"Rumble rumble…"
"Dong dong… long!"
Amidst the violent sounds, ranks upon ranks of Xi Liang soldiers fell…
Especially that… that legion of Roman descendants.
Their shields… their formation, their tactics… seemed useless against these powerful crossbow bolts, and they fell instantly… meeting their doom!
"How… how could it be so far…"
"And the power… is still so great!"
Ma Dai shouted in disbelief…
This completely defied common sense. Normally, as the distance of the shot increased in the air, the power should decrease. This was what the Xi Liang cavalry called the dissipation of "momentum."
But now…
Gulp…
Ma Dai instinctively swallowed. Seeing more arrows shooting towards them…
"General!"
A group of personal guards blocked Ma Dai. They raised their shields… forming a shield formation.
However… under the immense power of the Divine Arm Crossbow, these giant shields were shattered and fell!
Rumble rumble…
Rumble rumble…
Like meteors falling from the sky, in just a moment, the entire seven thousand-strong legion was riddled with holes!
"Kill!"
"Annihilate!"
At this moment, Cao Xiu let out another roar.
Almost instantly, the Dragon Swift cavalry, who were positioned on the flanks of the Divine Arm Crossbows, moved. Their fine steel halberds were raised, and in mid-air… countless crescent slashes fell… the riddled Roman legion… was immediately sent flying.
More than ten horses collided with each other.
Every armored soldier of the Dragon Swift Camp… their gaze was always fixed forward…
– Under the dark and windy night, kill and seize the banner!
This vast plain, for a time, became a stage for the two thousand Dragon Swift cavalry to showcase their prowess. In contrast, the disorganized Xi Liang army, how could they have expected their arrows to be so powerful, and their charge so fierce!
Chaos reigned… screams echoed everywhere!
"Kill kill kill kill…"
The battle had devolved into a one-sided slaughter. The Dragon Swift cavalry fought in an orderly fashion. Each enemy was struck by a single halberd, aiming for vital points. Death was the only objective, with no delay.
And Cao Xiu, Gongsun Zan, and Qu Yi had all gone completely mad with killing…
Every Dragon Swift cavalryman was fighting like a berserker!
They wielded their halberds like gods of war, killing… charging forward, fearlessly killing… carrying the "unbeatable myth" of the Dragon Swift cavalry, carrying the invincible message of the Dragon Swift Camp, and charging down! Daifeng Novel Network
"Ah…"
"Kill! Ah!"
Under the moonlight, only the bloody battlefield could be seen… a one-sided slaughter echoed like the most tragic, wailing requiem.
The saying goes – better to break one finger than injure ten!
These Romans…
– They would never return!
…
…