Then, Xu Chu dismounted and stomped on Rigeler's chest.
"Fool, you've been captured!"
Rigeler coughed up a mouthful of blood in great pain.
He lay on the ground, his vision inverted, seeing the Crusader forces fleeing.
"Don't let them escape! Fire the arrows!" a general from the Great Xia Dynasty shouted.
The next instant, a large group of nomadic-style horsemen galloped past.
The horse archers gripped their bowstrings tightly, deftly nocked their arrows, and at a command, they released their fingers in unison, sending the arrows soaring into the sky.
These arrows, like shooting stars streaking across the night sky, carried a deadly threat as they hurtled towards the fleeing Crusaders.
Arrows rained down like a storm, as if the sky had been torn open, revealing the hidden dangers within. Each arrow traced a graceful arc through the air before piercing the bodies of the unsuspecting crusaders.
The fearless Tang Dynasty heavy cavalry, their faces covered in blood, had eyes that shone with an indomitable spirit to fight to the death, and they kept brandishing their blood-stained weapons.
Crusader soldiers fell in droves, their blood pooling beneath them in a gruesome and bloody spectacle. The sounds of fighting and the clashing of metal weapons were deafening; the entire battlefield seemed to be submerged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a chilling and terrifying sight.
Although the Crusaders had begun to rout, the Tang Dynasty's Xuanjia heavy cavalry did not cease their pursuit. They chased after the fleeing enemy, relentlessly pursuing and killing them.
The night was as dark as ink, and the wasteland gradually disappeared into the vast shadows.
In the distance, a long horn blast broke the silence, then faded into the depths of the night, leaving only an echo lingering over the empty plains.
Lin Mo sheathed the Dragon Slayer Sword and turned his gaze to the figure rushing towards him in the distance.
Xiang Yu, Xu Chu, Yue Fei, Qin Liangyu, and others rode their horses at full gallop, raising clouds of dust in their wake. They were covered in blood, their hair and beards disheveled, yet they still held their weapons.
The group reached Lin Mo's side. Xiang Yu, slightly out of breath, said, "Reporting to my lord, as per your orders, I deliberately cleared a path to the east. Saladin, Amun, and the other enemy troops have already fled the battlefield from the east."
Bobwin and his crusaders, following their lord's orders, retreated south!
Lin Mo nodded slightly, looked into the distance, and said in a deep voice, "Well done! Let's call it a day. We've already killed quite a few of them. Let's rest for a day and continue the pursuit tomorrow!"
"My lord, why did you let them head south?" Qin Liangyu asked.
“Saladin will only have a chance to turn the tide if they head south!” Lin Mo replied. “If they go west, they might escape back to Qiuz. Going to Qiuz territory would be disadvantageous for our army!”
The vast desert separating Qiuzi from Daxia would put them at a significant disadvantage if their supply lines were too long.
Let them flee south, give them a glimmer of hope, and then crush that hope.
This is what Sun Tzu's Art of War meant when he said, "To attack a city is the lowest form of attack; to attack a mind is the highest form of attack!"
"Then, such a vast desert..." Qin Liangyu asked again.
"I have only instructions!" Lin Mo replied. "Qin Liangyu, you stay. Everyone else, leave!"
Everyone nodded, "Yes, my lord!"
After everyone else left, only Lin Mo and Qin Liangyu remained.
"Qin Liangyu, quickly lead three thousand nomadic-style cavalry archers to engage Saladin's forces," Lin Mo ordered. "Remember, do not launch an attack rashly, but also do not let them escape!"
"Yes, sir!" Qin Liangyu immediately understood. "This subordinate will leave markers along the way to guide you, my lord!"
"Okay, go ahead!"
~~~
Under the cover of night, bonfires had already been lit in the Crusader camp.
Bathed in the intense heat of the flames, Raymond's face appeared as pale as snow. The scorching heat of the flames seemed unable to warm his heart, which was gradually losing its warmth.
A bloodstained Crusader general knelt on one knee and reported the battle situation to Raymond and Bobwin.
His eyelids slowly drooped, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly, as if carrying a heavy sorrow: "Your Majesty, according to rough estimates, in today's battle, more than 20,000 Templar Knights have died heroically, and more than 10,000 Hospitallers have been lost."
The infantry suffered even heavier casualties, numbering as high as 80,000.
There were very few archers left.
Including other troops, the total number of casualties reached approximately 150,000…
His voice choked with emotion, a slight redness welled in his eyes, and his tone trembled more and more. His cold fingers also trembled slightly, whether from exhaustion after the battle or from the fear instilled in him by the enemy, he could no longer tell.
Raymond frowned deeply. After listening to his subordinate's report, he lowered his head heavily, his fingers unconsciously pinching his brow, as if trying to alleviate his inner anxiety. Strands of disheveled hair fell across his forehead, adding to his weathered and weary appearance.
Bob Wynne, standing to the side, put on a new mask, so no one could see his expression.
But his hands were clenched into fists, and his body was trembling.
Through the mask, a low, deep breathing sound could be heard.
Inside the main tent, the other Crusader generals also lowered their heads and fell into silence.
In a single day, they lost a third of their troops!
Even more devastatingly, the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller, the Crusaders' proudest orders, were almost completely annihilated.
Of the remaining cavalry, half were free knights.
The so-called Free Knights are actually mercenaries.
They had no fiefs, no lords; they worked for whoever paid them.
As for the Crusader infantry, they faced the vast wilderness, under the iron hooves of the Bactrian cavalry and the arrows of the Hu-style archers.
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