These small-scale engagements, unlike the direct charges of large armies, better showcased the martial arts and horsemanship of the participants.
The distance of a hundred meters was covered in an instant as both sides met.
"Yang Jiye, do you remember who my father is!"
Yelü Xiuge shouted, his great saber cleaving directly towards Yang Jiye's head.
But Yang Jiye neither dodged nor parried. His golden saber swung upwards from below, aiming for Yelü Xiuge's left leg.
An inch longer is an inch stronger. The nearly three-meter-long saber made Yelü Xiuge dare not be careless. If he didn't change his move, he feared his left leg would be lost before he could strike.
He quickly withdrew his saber to block, but how could a hasty change of move withstand Yang Jiye's retaliatory strike!
*Clang!*
The two sabers clashed, emitting a dragon-like roar.
Yelü Xiuge staggered, nearly being knocked off his horse by Yang Jiye.
"Who your father is, you should go ask your mother!"
Before he could regain his balance, She Saihua, who was beside Yang Jiye, thrust her spear.
Xiao Tianzuo and Xiao Tianyou, the two brothers, immediately moved to intercept, but were blocked by Yang Yanping and Yang Yanding, the two brothers.
Yelü Xiuge instinctively grabbed the horse's mane and pulled hard, his upper body leaning low over the horse's back, narrowly dodging the fatal spear thrust.
Yang Jiye and She Saihua did not stop to entangle further. Instead, they turned their horses and continued to charge along the outer flank of the Liao generals' formation.
In cavalry charges, both sides used the wedge formation. In this way, it was as if the Yang family generals were pierced through the middle by the Liao army.
This formation was the most effective for cavalry charges during a large army advance.
But in this situation, Yang Jiye's choice was undoubtedly the most correct.
The Liao army, still maintaining its wedge formation, had only five soldiers on each flank exposed, yet they had to withstand attacks from the ten Yang family generals in turn!
Li Shimin, seeing the change in formation, nodded with satisfaction. He then grabbed Zhao Guangyi by the scruff of his neck and said,
"Zhao San'er, take a good look. How does this compare to your 'Quelling the Barbarians and Securing Peace' formation?"
Zhao Guangyi, a scholar by birth, loved studying formations to prove his mastery of military affairs.
He not only studied them himself but also liked to bestow these formations upon commanding generals.
He would also send supervising officials along, instructing the commanding generals to strictly adhere to the formations during combat.
His most prized formation was precisely the 'Quelling the Barbarians and Securing Peace' formation that Li Shimin mentioned.
The entire formation required 140,000 infantry and 1,440 war chariots. Once deployed, the formation had a perimeter of 20 li and a width of 17 li.
If this were in a later era, any fool would know this was a joke.
An army of over a hundred thousand men fighting according to a formation—before the enemy could even arrive, the army itself would have descended into chaos!
"You, you, how do you know about my formation, which I haven't even completed yet?" He stared blankly at Li Shimin, his heart filled with disbelief.
Could it be that what he had said before was true, that these people were all gods descended from the heavens?
Li Shimin scoffed and glanced at him, "Not only do I know about your incomplete formation, I also know how many concubines you will marry in your lifetime and how many children you will have!"
"I even know exactly when and on what date you will meet Yama!"
"So, do you want me to tell you?"
"If it weren't for your grandson, I would have dealt with you the moment I met you!"
"Do you really think that spear thrust was something you managed to dodge by chance?"
Zhao Guangyi asked cautiously, "Then, how many more years can I live?"
Li Shimin chuckled, "Heh~ You really want to know when you're going to die?"
"Then I'll satisfy your curiosity. You have only eleven years of lifespan left!"
"That works out to less than four thousand days and nights."
"How about that? Surprised? Unexpected?"
In truth, Zhao Guangyi regretted asking that question the very next second. Hearing now that he only had eleven more years to live before kicking the bucket made him feel incredibly conflicted.
The unknown is terrifying, but when it comes to lifespan, the unknown is bliss.
A broad-minded person might simply smile and not take it to heart.
But for someone as deathly afraid of death as Zhao Guangyi, from this moment on, he would be preoccupied with how many days he had left each day.
This feeling was agonizing.
Four thousand days, one "session" per day, would only amount to four thousand "sessions."
No, if he factored in days when he felt unwell or was in a bad mood, there might not even be two thousand sessions left.
He stood there blankly, involuntarily beginning to calculate in his mind how to spend the remaining days to avoid losing out.
At this moment, the Yang family generals and the Liao generals had completed their first round of engagement.
The two sides retreated from each other. At the spot where they had clashed, six Liao generals lay dead on the ground.
In contrast, on the Yang family's side, only Yang Yanhui, Geng Jinhua, and Hua Jieyu sustained minor injuries.
The difference in strength between the two sides was immediately apparent.
After turning his horse, Yang Jiye pointed his golden saber at Yelü Xiuge, "Two nations are at war, each fighting for their own lord. Regardless of who your father is, dying on the battlefield is no one else's fault!"
"If you know what's good for you, quickly drop your weapons and surrender. Perhaps our Emperor will grant you an official position, considering your status as the Great Prince of the Northern Court."
"Hahahaha! Surrender? Dream on!"
Yelü Xiuge let out a cold laugh and, with his subordinate generals behind him, charged towards the Yang family members once more.
Sabers and spears clashed, warhorses crossed. After two more rounds of engagement, only Xiao Tianzuo and Xiao Tianyou remained among his subordinates.
The fleeing Liao troops from the periphery, facing the threat of machine guns and rockets, were forced to retreat back to the battlefield.
They formed a ring around the outside, appearing to surround the Song army within. However, not a single one dared to launch a counter-attack.
This battle had completely shattered their fighting spirit. Their only desire now was to survive!
Yelü Xiuge still wanted to resist. He spurred his warhorse for a final charge, but the next moment, a blade suddenly pierced through his chest from behind.
"Urgh~~~"
He struggled to turn his head and saw Xiao Tianzuo holding the hilt of the blade, looking at him.
"You, you, you~~"
No matter how he thought about it, he never imagined he would be stabbed from behind by one of his own men.
Xiao Tianzuo forcefully drew out his long saber. Yelü Xiuge fell heavily from his warhorse, his eyes staring blankly at the sky.
A generation's war god of the Liao Dynasty, perished!
Following this, Xiao Tianzuo and Xiao Tianyou dismounted their horses, dropped their weapons, and knelt on the ground.
"We surrender!"
*Clang!*
The Liao soldiers, seeing Yelü Xiuge killed and the two who held positions second only to him choosing to surrender, followed suit. They dropped their weapons and knelt on both knees.
Zhao Guangyi stared dumbfounded at the scene. A thousand men defeating twenty thousand Liao soldiers, and moreover, preventing the routed soldiers from scattering and fleeing—this was something unprecedented in history!
Although he was a scholar by birth, he also knew how difficult it was to rally routed troops.
"Slap!"
Li Shimin slapped him from behind, then looked at him with disdain.
"What are you thinking about? Hurry up and issue military orders!"