Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 791 - 650: Final Battle 7_1

Chapter 791: Chapter 650: Final Battle 7_1

As more than two hundred thousand troops from the army of Weisuo collapsed on the riverbank, Earl Chengyi, Li Chengji couldn’t help but gaze with great surprise towards the north.

He never ever imagined that the Shenji right and left camp under Li Xuan’s command would have such power.

"What a sharp artillery, what an exaggerated firing speed!"

Li Chengji’s close assistant, ’Transport Army’s Canjiang’ Ou Chen, also wore a face of shocked stupor: "Li’s nephew’s judgement is correct, this kind of power, this kind of fire rate, is already enough to support the entire method of firearm warfare, other things seem redundant.

In front of such powerful army, I feel all the tactics and strategies of this world are outdated. Li’s nephew—"

Ou Chen originally wanted to say ’Li’s nephew’, but he felt it was inappropriate halfway through his speech.

Although he was indeed Li Xuan’s elder, their two families had old ties, but he could no longer see Li Chengji’s son as a junior.

"Marquis of Guanjun’s strategy is also extremely sharp! That Liang Heng is considered a famous general of this generation. He has defeated Meng Wu in the past, even Khan Yexian of Vala has suffered losses in his hands.

But today’s battle, my goodness! Every move he made was within Marquis of Guanjun’s expectations. It’s just like a child’s play, always toying with Liang Heng, the famous generals of ancient times were no better than this."

"It’s too early to say that now, after all, Liang Heng’s Iron Cavalry is still there!"

Li Chengji turned his eyes forward as he spoke, finding that the battle situation in front of his own transport army camp had started to ease.

Although the rebel army’s offensive was ongoing, the force of the offensive was no longer as strong as before.

Earlier, Liang Heng had withdrawn forty thousand from the direction of the Transport Army camp, which had already greatly relieved the pressure on the Transport Army.

The collapse of more than two hundred thousand soldiers from the army of Weisuo was like pulling firewood from under the pot, causing the morale of the Forbidden Army to fall to the floor.

Li Chengji took one look, he didn’t see many Forbidden Army soldiers fighting to the death.

He completely put down his worries and then turned all his attention to the northern battlefield.

Li Chengji still frowned: "These thirteen thousand Iron Cavalry should not be underestimated. Liang Heng is a famous cavalry general. If he can’t stop these Iron Cavalry, no matter how beautiful his previous battles were, it won’t help."

’Transport Army’s Canjiang’ Ou Chen couldn’t help but laugh: "Since Marquis of Guanjun knew each step Liang Heng would take, how could he forget to calculate the Iron Cavalry that Liang Heng held? Don’t forget the Chengde battle before, Marquis of Guanjun was able to directly resist the tens of thousands of Pi Room Iron Cavalry, and finally emerged victorious.

Brother Li, your family’s Kylin is a real seed of a famous general! Brother Li, rest assured."

He had originally doubted Li Xuan’s victory in Chengde was a fluke, but today, after witnessing with his own eyes the scene of the Shenji Camp’s crushing more than two hundred thousand soldiers of the army of Weisuo, he didn’t think so anymore.

Li Chengji actually agreed with Ou Chen’s words, but without seeing the actual defeat of the Iron Cavalry, he still couldn’t be completely assured.

He did not reply, because at this moment, the formation of the Shenji right and left camps had been completed, and the distance between the thirteen thousand Iron Cavalry personally led by Liang Heng and the soldiers of the Shenji Camp was less than a mile.

"Is this the square formation?"

Li Chengji couldn’t help but stare intently, he thought today’s battle will depend on whether Li Xuan’s Shenji Camp can resist this thirteen thousand Iron Cavalry.

He also wanted to know, what secret does the ’square formation’ Li Xuan promoted so vigorously in Shenji Camp hold?

※※※※

Zhang Yue was full of confidence about this battle.

To understand the essence of the entire method of firearm warfare, he had specifically asked Li Xuan for permission and took on the on-site command of the ten square formations in the Central Army.

At this time, those Iron Cavalry were passing under the Baiding Bridge. Their horse hooves hit the ice, thundering like a stampede, shattering the ice wherever they went.

The charge of that mass of black armored cavalry came rolling in, their momentum was like a mountain collapsing.

Yet within the Central Army ranks, from Zhang Yue to the lowest ranking soldier, no one panicked. All their actions were calm and composed.

For the Shenji Camp soldiers who had experienced the battle of Chengde, this scene was child’s play.

Compared to the charge of the 270,000 Pi Room Iron Cavalry, these more than 10,000 Iron Cavalry really didn’t amount to much, they couldn’t even stir a ripple in their hearts.

"First row, raise your guns! Aim forward, fire together!"

As Zhang Yue’s command sabre came down, thousands of Shenji Camp soldiers along the line fired at the same time. Their gunfire caused hundreds of knights to fall from their horses.

This was just a small section of the Central Army. In this slanting formation, sixty-nine Line Column Formations fired a total of fourteen thousand lead bullets, causing at least seven hundred Iron Cavalry to fall off their horses, making the ice surface a mile away a scene of carnage.

The dragon-blood warhorses and earth dragons carrying their riders fell heavily onto the ice. Those with good luck could still survive, but those with bad luck were trampled into a pulp by the Iron Cavalry behind them.

"First row retreats to reload, second row move forward, raise your guns! Aim! Fire!"

The whole battle line again echoed with ’bang bang bang’ rumbling noise, and countless blue smoke rose from the front of the Shenji Camp formation.

All the soldiers’ actions were like machines, fast, accurate, constantly repeating back and forth.

After the second row finished firing, the first row also just finished reloading.

Zhang Yue once again wielded his command sabre: "First rank, move forward, raise your guns! Aim! Fire!"

It seemed as if he was repeating the previous instruction, with no change at all.

But there was a lot to it. Firstly, the timing of the gunfire was very important. Zhang Yue needed to judge when to fire to cause the maximum damage and maximum obstruction to the enemy.

Secondly, he needed to control the rhythm. The ’two-stage firing method’ needed to maintain continuity.

By the fourth round of shooting, they were no longer able to aim accurately.

Because the whole front of their battle line was covered with thick blue smoke, blocking their view. The soldiers of the Shenji Camp could only rely on the commander’s orders and fire in the direction of the target.

At this time, the commander’s ability to sense the situation is very important. Zhang Yue had to discern the state of the enemy cavalry opposite them through a layer of blue smoke and make the best decision.

At this moment, Zhang Yue was calm and collected on one hand and exceptionally excited on the other.

Because the ’Arrowhead Formation’ of the cavalry opposite had gradually disintegrated under their gunfire and no longer had its previous strict formation.

Zhang Yue liked this feeling. Commanding a large army on the battlefield, exchanging blows with tough opponents, deciding who was the superior force.

At this moment, a messenger rode by on his warhorse, and his voice echoed in the distance.

"The Marquis of Guanjun has ordered! All soldiers affix bayonets! The Marquis of Guanjun has ordered! All soldiers affix bayonets!"

The ’Rune Flintlock Rifled Gun’ used by the Shenji Camp was designed by Leng Yurou. When the bayonet is attached, it does not interfere with firing, but it does affect the loading speed and shooting accuracy.

Therefore, Li Xuan did not issue this command until the Iron Cavalry on the opposite side was less than fifty yards away.

All the soldiers continued with their calm demeanor, steadily fixing their bayonets onto their guns.

When they had affixed their bayonets and raised their guns again, the forest of gun blades under the morning sunlight reflected a piercing cold light.

"Charge!"

At this moment, the tens of thousands of soldiers from the Shenji left and right camps roared in unison, their spirit like a rainbow, their murderous intent soaring to the skies, shaking heaven and earth.

Upon seeing this scene from afar, Minister of Revenue, Xiao Ci’s, face turned purple, and it felt as if his heart had been heavily hammered, and he was trembling with shock.

A sense of despair was spreading through his body.

This was not only because of the morale of the soldiers in the Shenji Camp, but also because of their heavy casualties in this short distance.

At least five thousand soldiers had fallen on the charge, knocked down by gunfire and chain rounds. The eighteen thousand cavalry from Jizhou, who attacked from the side, reaped at least seven thousand of their knights.

When they had charged to about fifty yards from those square formations, only about ten thousand of the original twenty-two thousand cavalry remained.

Of those, less than eight thousand Iron Cavalry in full armor remained.

"Commander Liang!" As Xiao Ci galloped on his horse: "The situation is not looking good, I see many people fleeing from behind—"

It was particularly those knights from the Jingying and the army of Weisuo, who had scattered and were running towards the shore.

"Ignore them!"

Liang Heng’s face was ashen, but his heart was not surprised at all.

In this era, if a general army suffered over ten percent casualties, they would start to flee or throw in the towel.

Even the Jingying elites could only withstand one or two out of ten casualties.

But today, the number of knights who fell on the ice exceeded ten thousand, reaching a colossal fifty percent! It would be strange if these people didn’t desert.

Fortunately, the remaining eight thousand Iron Cavalry in full armor couldn’t flee.

Every single one of the horses and riders were dressed in heavy armor, and at the high speed charge of the warhorses, it was impossible to turn around.

So these Iron Cavalry had barred their own escape route and now only had one way to go- the path that Liang had taken to darkness.

There was a streak of cruelty in Liang Heng’s eyes: "Minister Xiao, we can’t afford to look back. Our only chance of survival is to fight to the death and flatten these rebels!"

As Liang Heng finished speaking, his warhorse suddenly accelerated, charging towards the square formation with weapons raised, making the formation as solid as a wall!

Liang Heng had experience with attacking infantry formations, and he found these Square Formations not only laughable, but absurd!

They didn’t have shield bearers to steady the formation, they didn’t have long spears over ten feet long to resist the charge, they didn’t have heavy weapons to deal with Iron Cavalry.

Were they just relying on those firearms with bayonets affixed to resist his Iron Cavalry’s charge? It was simply laughable!

As the distance between both sides swiftly closed in, an excited flush returned to Liang Heng’s face.

But just as he was preparing to forcefully break into the enemy formation, he saw two ironclad puppets drop from the sky, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Those were, in fact, Li Xuan’s ’Fumo Vajra’ and Leng Yurou’s ’Kongque Qianji’

Liang Heng didn’t care about these two heavenly-level puppets, he was confident that he could easily crush them.

That was until Liang Heng saw two five-color light auras being emitted from these two puppets.

"The Secret Technique of Kongque?"

Liang Heng was startled and he immediately gave up his warhorse and dodged by catapulting into the air.

Those four Fourth Order ’Great Five Elements Magnet Miejue Needles’ swept through everything with an unstoppable force, instantly pulverising Liang Heng’s war horse and Minister of Revenue Xiao Ci’s body, before instantly piercing through Liang Heng’s Primordial Spirit.

But, at this point, Liang Heng couldn’t care less about his own safety, as what he saw from the sky left him in despair.

As the entire line of the Shenji Camp, sixty-nine square formations, and tens of thousands of firearms fired simultaneously when the enemy was ten yards away, the seemingly invincible and unstoppable eight thousand Iron Cavalry, only a very few of them actually hit the blade formation.

The rest of them, just like a stream, dispersed into the gaps of the square formations, and then they lost all their strength to fight back.

Liang Heng’s pupils instantly contracted: "Is this the Square Formation?"

He had already understood the mystery of these formations and predicted the fate of the several thousand Iron Cavalry.

Just as Liang Heng had anticipated, the fully armed, powerful knights fell one by one under the crossfire of the Square Formations, spilling their blood on the battlefield.

In less than thirty breaths, there wasn’t a single knight standing upright in the ranks of the Shenji left and right camp!