The sudden appearance of "Qin King's Battle Song" and "Proclamation to Pacify the Rebellion" caught Chang Chenghu, the deputy general of the Yunhui Army, and his more than 10,000 troops off guard.
Many Yunhui soldiers were still so immersed in the shock brought by the faint echo of "Qin King's Battle Song" on the city gate tower that they forgot to put on their armor, mount their horses, and prepare for battle.
Even the deputy commander Chang Chenghu was somewhat stunned, secretly marveling at Chen Huai'an's move, which was equivalent to 100,000 elite troops!
By the time he realized what was happening, Chen Huai'an had already led the eighteen riders of Longcheng across the drawbridge, followed by three thousand Polu Army cavalry.
Clang, clang, clang!
The thunderous sound of horses' hooves approached from afar, shaking the ground both inside and outside Dragon City.
In the blink of an eye, the two armies were only a thousand paces apart.
At full speed, the two sides would be engaged in close combat in just a dozen breaths, leaving Chang Chenghu and the 10,000 vanguard troops of the Yunhui Army little time left.
Chang Chenghu hurriedly spurred his horse around and brandished his whip to mobilize his troops to form ranks and meet the enemy.
"Anyone who doesn't want to be trampled to death by warhorses, stand your ground! No matter how fast your two legs are, they can't outrun the four legs of the enemy cavalry's warhorses. If you lose your footing, you're doomed!"
"The shield bearers stand at the very front of the formation, while the spearmen, using their shields as a defensive line, raise their spears and stand firm, not daring to retreat even a single step."
"Archers, get back to work and fire arrows to wear down the enemy cavalry! Buy our cavalry time to armor themselves, mount their horses, and engage the enemy!"
"The Left and Right Guards are responsible for supervising the army; anyone who deserts in the face of battle will be executed without mercy!"
Chang Chenghu rode his horse back and forth in the Yunhui Army formation, issuing military orders directly to the combat troops and personally commanding the Yunhui Army to form a battle formation to meet the enemy.
Now, even the vanguard infantry of the Yunhui Army, who were terrified by the oppressive force of the three thousand Dragon City Iron Cavalry charging at full speed, could only grit their teeth, close their eyes, and form a battle formation with shields and spears to deal with the charging Polu Army cavalry, leaving their lives to fate.
The archers in the Yunhui army finally fired their first volley of arrows at the oncoming Longcheng cavalry in a moment of haste.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Arrows rained down on the rapidly moving Dragon City cavalry like a storm.
However, the vast majority of the arrows drifted to Java, with only a few striking the Polu Army cavalry, leaving a white dot on their armor and helmets before disappearing.
Unless crossbow carts are used to fire arrows at the cavalry, it would be extremely difficult for the Yunhui Army's archers to penetrate the well-equipped Longcheng Iron Cavalry by manpower alone.
At this point, the distance between the two armies was less than two hundred paces.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Another wave of arrows came.
However, this time the rain of arrows was aimed at the Yunhui army formation.
It was the Polu Army cavalry that retaliated against the Yunhui Army's archers during a high-speed charge, using their crossbows to exchange fire with the Yunhui Army's archers.
As the last cavalry force in the Po Lu Army, the equipment of these three thousand Dragon City Iron Cavalry was extremely sophisticated.
In addition to wearing black armor for protection, he also carried a crossbow that could shoot 200 paces, a lacquered spear for long-handled combat, and a short-handled longsword for short-handled combat.
In addition, there were also weapons specifically designed for striking and breaking through enemy lines, such as pecking tools, hammers, axes, and whips.
In comparison, the Yunhui Army's vanguard troops were far inferior in terms of weaponry and equipment.
Especially for infantry used for battlefield attrition, apart from a few soldiers equipped with infantry armor, the vast majority of soldiers only had a piece of cloth armor or cotton armor, which was not enough to stop the arrows fired by the crossbow.
Although the arrows fired by the Polu Army cavalry using crossbows while moving at high speed had lost their accuracy, they were still a significant blow to the Yunhui Army infantry who were stationary.
After a volley of arrows, hundreds of Yunhui Army infantrymen fell to the ground, their fates unknown.
The distance of two hundred steps was covered in the blink of an eye.
In the blink of an eye, the two sides exchanged two volleys of arrows.
The next second, a tall, golden figure broke through the hastily formed shield and spear formation of the Yunhui Army infantry. Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin, riding on a golden-armored yellow horse, took the lead and charged into the enemy ranks.
The halberd held out horizontally with one arm didn't even need any extra movements. The sheer force of the momentum generated by the yellow horse's full-speed charge was enough to amplify the halberd's power tenfold. With a single strike, it pierced through three soldiers and brought down dozens more.
Immediately afterwards, Chen Huai'an shook his arm forcefully, causing the three ghosts hanging on the halberd to fall off.
With a powerful swing, the halberd drew a fan shape in the dense enemy ranks, sweeping away dozens of enemy soldiers who had gathered around.
One man on horseback charged straight into the enemy ranks, as if entering an empty field.
"kill!"
Following closely behind were the eighteen riders of Longcheng, clad in silver armor and wielding longswords. They all spurred their horses and brandished their swords, leaping into the air and charging into the enemy ranks.
Wherever the blade passed, death and injury followed, and blood splattered everywhere.
"kill!"
Finally, three thousand Polu cavalrymen brandished their weapons and charged into the enemy ranks.
Although they lacked the agility and martial arts skills of Chen Huai'an and the Eighteen Riders of Longcheng, they could not directly leap into the air on horseback and break through the enemy formation.
However, as the last cavalry in the Po Lu Army, these three thousand knights were all veterans who had fought many battles, and their cooperation with each other on the battlefield was already superb and skillful.
The Polu Army cavalrymen, wielding weapons designed to break through enemy lines, were the first to swing their weapons at the Yunhui Army infantry's hastily assembled cavalry formation using shields and spears.
In just one round, the Yunhui Army's defensive formation was smashed into pieces, leaving it in ruins.
Next, the Polu Army cavalry, spearmen, who had been brought in to reinforce the Yunhui Army's defensive line, which had been torn apart by pecks, hammers, axes, and whips, unleashed a flurry of spear thrusts like dragons, instantly throwing the Yunhui Army infantry, who were trying to regroup and block the Longcheng Iron Cavalry's offensive, into chaos.
Finally, the Polu Army cavalry, wielding short-handled long swords, effortlessly charged into the enemy ranks.
The soldiers wielded their short-handled longswords, slashing and hacking away. Where the blades flashed, screams and wails rose and fell, blood and dust splattered everywhere, and headless corpses collapsed to the ground with resentment.
The superior horses were used against the inferior horses, and the cavalry against the infantry.
In the first round of the campaign against the Yunhui Army, Chen Huai'an led the Polu Army on a southern expedition to quell the rebellion. With negligible casualties, he severely damaged the vanguard of the Yunhui Army, annihilating over a thousand enemy soldiers.
No fewer than thirty Yunhui Army bandits died under Chen Huai'an's halberd, and countless others were seriously wounded.
However, this is only the first round.
In the heat of battle, Chen Huai'an will use his hidden strength—hidden from learning martial arts since he was three years old and having sought out renowned masters—to show everyone in the Great Xin Dynasty what it means to be "the bravest of the Prince of Jin, the bravest of the three armies"!
Let's get back to the main topic.
Using the time gained by the sacrifice of thousands of infantrymen of the Yunhui Army, Chang Chenghu finally reorganized his more than 4,000 cavalrymen, put on their armor, mounted their horses, and formed a battle formation to meet the enemy.
At this moment, looking at the battlefield where there were many dead and wounded, Chang Chenghu, the deputy commander in charge of the troops, was still in shock.
Especially after witnessing firsthand the performance of Chen Huai'an, the useless heir who had been ridiculed by the generals of the Great Xin Dynasty for years as "a tiger father and a dog son, weak and powerless," in fighting on horseback, he felt a chill of fear.
This Chen Huai'an is incredibly patient. He's been pretending to be a good-for-nothing for over ten years. Just yesterday, I, the general, publicly berated him as a good-for-nothing in front of everyone at the Prince of Jin's residence, yet he didn't utter a single word.
It seems that this fellow had long ago decided to raise an army and rebel.
Looking back now, it's fortunate that the imperial edict arrived so suddenly yesterday; otherwise, Chen Huai'an would have already lost his head long ago, without Pang Xianchu even having to lift a finger.
But now, the four thousand Yunhui Army cavalry are ready to go, and it's hard to say who will win against Chen Huai'an's three thousand Polu Army cavalry.
The four thousand fully armed cavalry behind him were Chang Chenghu's source of courage and confidence.
In that instant, the wind stopped, the rain ceased, and Chang Chenghu felt he was back to normal.
The weapon he used was a horse lance, about 14 feet long and weighing about 100 pounds. It was a standard long weapon for mounted combat for generals of the Xin Dynasty.
Chang Chenghu rose from a stable boy during the reign of Emperor Zhenwu (Zhao Mang) to his current position as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Northwest, not simply through flattery and smooth talk.
He wielded his horse spear with great skill on horseback, and many enemy generals died under the spear of Chang Chenghu.
With his spear in hand and four thousand Yunhui Army cavalry in reserve, Chang Chenghu was determined to test Chen Huai'an's mettle on horseback.
Even if we cannot defeat Chen Huai'an, we must not allow him to come and go freely in the Yunhui Army's formation right under our noses.
The best course of action is to keep him and his three thousand Polu cavalry outside the city until reinforcements arrive.
Chang Chenghu faced Chen Huai'an, who was more than a thousand paces away. He pointed his spear and shouted, "Pass down the order: whoever kills the bandit chieftain Chen Huai'an will be rewarded with ten thousand gold pieces and be enfeoffed as a marquis with ten thousand households!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
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