Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1445 - 1438: Cease Military Operations and Gather

Chapter 1445: Chapter 1438: Cease Military Operations and Gather

The secret to turning defeat into victory originated from a natural phenomenon, the impending rain.

The Demon Clan’s army was so eager to attack because the rain was about to start. Yichuan Long hesitated for the same reason.

The Demon Clan’s army had not yet developed cartridge technology like Earth, which made their firearms extremely dependent on the weather. Once they encountered such damp, rainy conditions, the efficiency of the Demon Clan’s firearms would drastically decrease.

Yichuan Long had clearly realized this, which is why he chose to engage the Demon Clan at such a moment.

On the side of the Demon Clan, Yunji was also aware of the weather condition. However, overconfident, she believed that the Demon Clan could crush the Yichuan Clan’s Nine Thousand Battalion before the heavy rain.

However, her calculation was clearly mistaken. Although the Nine Thousand Battalion lost two companies, the main force remained entirely intact. In contrast, the Demon Clan had recklessly lost many of their elite soldiers in dealing with the weaker troops of the Nine Thousand Battalion.

As the sound of rain gradually overwhelmed the cries of battle, Yichuan Long drew the treasured sword from his saddle and pointed it toward the Demon Clan, issuing a deafening roar, "The time has come, charge!!"

Under his roar, the Nine Thousand Battalion erupted in a roar that momentarily overshadowed the sound of the rain and explosions. The cavalry of the Nine Thousand Battalion, led by Yichuan Long, charged at the Demon Clan first, followed closely by the infantry.

"This is trouble, we need to pull back quickly!" Cheng Ziang put down his binoculars and nervously said to Yunji.

"Retreat, order a retreat to camp!" Yunji didn’t hesitate and quickly shouted to the messenger.

By then, the heavy rain poured down, rendering the Demon Clan’s muskets and cannons completely useless; they were forced to retreat. The morale of the Demon Clan’s line infantry, initially high, seemed to be extinguished by the heavy rain, leaving them somewhat disheveled. Fortunately, despite the retreat, the line infantry still maintained strict discipline.

The cavalry of the Nine Thousand Battalion first struck the retreating Demon Clan line infantry, immediately creating a huge gap. Following this, their cavalry continued to advance but was quickly stopped by the Demon Clan’s pikemen.

The Demon Clan’s pikemen had been specifically formed to counter the cavalry of the Dongsheng army but ended up playing a role in the battle against the Nine Thousand Battalion.

Though Yichuan Long led cultivated cavalry, they were all light cavalry, and the horses, untrained in cultivation, instinctively feared the long sharp pikes, causing their charge to falter.

The pikemen bought enough time for the troops in the rear, but those in the line infantry who were struck fared badly. It’s worth noting that the Nine Thousand Battalion deployed the most elite of the manorial troops, not all cultivators, but definitely incomparable to the hastily conscripted soldiers.

Still, the Demon Clan’s army displayed formidable combat prowess, even managing to have a few musketeers jointly kill a cultivator.

The heavy rain could not completely extinguish the fighting spirit of the line infantry. Even just to survive, they needed to fight fiercely, otherwise, they would succumb to the cavalry.

If through this war, Yichuan Long recognized the strength of the Demon Clan’s army, Yunji also witnessed the combat prowess of private soldiers from aristocratic families, indeed incomparable to that of the Dongsheng army.

"Mr. Cheng Ziang..." Seeing such a precarious situation, Zisu looked at Cheng Ziang with great expectation.

"Sigh, I know, leave it to us," sighed Cheng Ziang.

He naturally knew what Zisu was hoping for, but in such a situation, only they could try to resolve the crisis.

Thus, he, Hu Daoke, and Feng started organizing their Yuanzi guns, and after equipping them with cooling devices, they began firing towards the battlefield.

Amidst the dense sound of rain, the battlefield once again echoed with incessant booming noises. Accompanied by the booms, the Nine Thousand Battalion’s cavalry continuously screamed as they fell from their horses, which greatly boosted the morale of the Demon Clan’s army, for to them, the sound of cannons was the spiritual source that supported their continued fighting.

As both sides had entered a chaotic fight, Cheng Ziang and others couldn’t dare to shoot directly into the military formations and could only lift their gun muzzles, shooting at those riding horses from the Nine Thousand Battalion.

These fellows, riding horses taller than two meters and being cultivators, were arguably the most ideal moving targets. Almost every shot they took resulted in a cavalry member falling off their horse, then quickly being stabbed to death as Demon Clan soldiers swarmed over them.

However, even when shooting at the cavalry, Cheng Ziang and his companions restrained themselves, fearing they might accidentally hit Yichuan Long. Cheng Ziang respected this man, and if possible, he preferred to defeat him in an honorable fight, rather than resort to such sneaky shots.

Although the trio’s shooting caused some casualties, it wasn’t enough to completely turn the tide of the battle. The situation now was that the Nine Thousand Battalion surged forward, encircling the Demon Clan’s line infantry and finally halted at the reinforcement line of the rear troops.

Indeed, being the elite of the Nine Thousand Battalion, these men’s combat strength was much stronger than the previously encountered groups. Although the Demon Clan’s army fought until they were exhausted, they still couldn’t push back these men, hoping instead for a breakthrough by the reinforcements.

If they abandoned the encircled line infantry, the Demon Clan’s army could indeed retreat at ease. But if Yunji really did that, the consequences would be too severe. It would turn the Demon Clan federation’s hard-fought slogan into a complete joke, and Yunji would never lead troops again, possibly even facing charges.

Therefore, no matter what, Yunji had to save the encircled line infantry. Whether or not she could save them was one thing, but at the very least, she needed to show the attitude of trying.

On the other side, the Advance Team’s trio also kept shooting, starting from targeting the cavalry to later indiscriminate firing wherever the Nine Thousand Battalion’s private soldiers gathered more densely.

The battle lasted for about an hour, and it wasn’t clear if it was because Yichuan Long realized the Demon Clan’s army was hard to conquer, or if it was for another reason. He chose to sound the retreat and was the first to lead the cavalry and disengage from the Demon Clan’s army.

In Cheng Ziang’s view, Yichuan Long’s reason for retreating at this critical juncture, apart from fearing the tenacious combat power of the Demon Clan’s army, was more importantly to give the Demon Clan’s army a way to step down.

Because through this battle, Yichuan Long also realized that the strength of the Demon Clan’s army wasn’t something they could withstand alone, and the primary plan now was to unite with the other two families to combat together. Reliance on a single family would result in too great a loss.

Indeed, the highest principle of military strategy was to win without fighting, and as a commander, how could Yichuan Long not understand this? If he could facilitate a reconciliation between the Yichuan Clan and the Demon Clan, he was very willing to try it.

After all, now that the Yichuan Clan and the Dangyang Family had completely fallen out, since the Dangyang Family believed that the Yichuan Clan had sided with the Demon Clan, it wouldn’t hurt to turn this conjecture into reality.

Of course, all of these were just Cheng Ziang’s speculations. But regardless, the Nine Thousand Battalion, on the verge of winning, chose a bold retreat, returning to their own camp.

At this moment, with heavy rain pouring down, the blood from the soldiers who died in battle mixed with the rainwater, forming a red stream on the ground. The Demon Clan’s line infantry ultimately met up with the support troops and began orderly retreating back to their own camp.

In this battle, the Demon Clan’s army suffered over a thousand casualties, while the Nine Thousand Battalion had less than five hundred. But after this battle, the fighting will of both sides had noticeably changed.

Before the battle, Yichuan Long was spirited and raided the Demon Clan’s army bases everywhere, forcing them to engage in a decisive battle. But after one fight, Yichuan Long realized the unstoppable force of the Demon Clan’s army and became more cautious.

On the side of the Demon Clan’s army, Yunji initially harbored unrealistic illusions, which were shattered in this rainy battle. Now, she no longer wanted to continue fighting against the Nine Thousand Battalion but preferred to seek new solutions.

Thus, the battle began hastily and ended just as abruptly. After the battle, both sides began to pull back to their original defensive lines. The Demon Clan’s army hadn’t defeated the Yichuan Clan’s Nine Thousand Battalion, and Yichuan Long hadn’t crushed the Demon Clan’s confrontational stance, putting both sides back at the starting line.