Chapter 357: Preparing for War
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
On the plains, the two armies of Da Xia joined forces.
"As appointed by King Xi, I am Yuan, the commander-in-chief of the northern warzones!"
Fang Yuan raised the oracle and announced pretentiously.
"I am the leader of the northern army, Tong! I pledge my loyalty to you, Lord Yuan!"
A valiant looking man along with 1,500 of his men bowed and paid respects to Fang Yuan.
"We were ambushed by Hule Division previously! This is all we have left!"
In reality, the reason the two groups could merge seamlessly and why Fang Yuan could quickly hold authority over them was because Tong was also a dream master from the Realm Alliance!
Of course, Tong was of a much lower tier compared to Fang Yuan. He just entered the Illusionary Divine stage and was just defeated in a battle, hence, he was submissive to Fang Yuan.
"There's only so few people in the entire northern army?"
Fang Yuan furrowed his eyebrows.
Secretly, he sent a message to Tong, "Within Hule Division, are there any powerful person?"
"Lord, in the entire Hule Division, not including the other tribe members, there are already ten thousands of archers... Of course, to us, these normal people are no match for us. However, their shamans are pretty powerful, there are powerful demons helping them!"
Tong sounded like he was trying to please Fang Yuan and continued, "Looks like we have to activate the whole army and send our best people in order to suppress these rebels!"
"No need! Pass down my command, we will be deploying to the frontline immediately... No! Wait! Prepare our defences first!"
"You are saying?"
Tong was shocked, "The people of Hule Division are so daring that they dare to charge into our land?"
"Furthermore, other than that, your men have already lost their willpower to fight! Let's retreat and reconsolidate them!"
Just after Fang Yuan sent his command and the 1,000 soldiers finished arranging themselves, a black line appeared on the horizon. There were thousands of cavalry soldiers shouting and charging towards them.
"D*mn it! Another attack!"
Tong clenched his teeth at such a sight.
Obviously, Tong's badly defeated army would be conquered by this thousand plus strong cavalry.
Even the army trained by Fang Yuan was in a commotion after they saw this huge group of cavalry charging towards them.
"In ancient times, cavalries were unstoppable in the battlefield... Of course, currently, these people could not really be called cavalries, they were at most infanteers that rode horses!"
Fang Yuan easily recognised the difference with just a quick glance.
Saddles, horseshoes and such were still not invented yet. Their horse riding skills were extremely barbaric as they solely relied on the strength of their thighs. Those who were able to shoot arrows on top of the horses were the elite warriors amongst them.
Amongst this 1,000 plus men, there were at most 50 of such skilled warriors!
"Furthermore... they were not armoured! Even the horses were not armoured at all!"
Fang Yuan was very clear, if such cavalry dared to charge into the battlefield, once they hit against something, they would be smashed like eggshells! Hence, he was not bothered by them and hollered, "Prepare for war!"
"Defend!"
Wei commanded loudly.
"Defend!"
The Fang Mountain army was very disciplined. As the new soldiers saw the five-trooped commanders and ten-trooped commander were still calm and collected, the commotion quickly died down and they held their weapons tightly.
Indeed, when the 1,000 men strong cavalry saw the opposing army remained at their location, they stopped miles away from them. They then came down from their horses and began preparing their weapons for war.
Although the two sides were equally numbered, the cavalry rode on horses on their journey here, hence, they were still energetic. Naturally, they seemed like they could easily achieve victory.
Not only that, one group of hundred over cavalry soldiers left their big group and charged towards the rows of soldiers commanded by Fang Yuan.
"Woosh!"
The ten few people that led the pack shot numerous arrows towards the northern army.
More than ten long arrows flew towards Fang Yuan's army and hit a few of his soldiers. They immediately collapsed onto the floor and screamed in pain.
"There are only ten over horse archers? They must be the elites amongst the enemies' cavalry!"
Fang Yuan snorted and picked up his own large bow.
His bow was brought from Yang City. The body of the bow was very long and had a lustrous shine to it. The head of the arrow was crafted from steel while its tail was made from the tail feathers of geese. It was far more mightier looking than the bows used by the opponents!
As the horses galloped, the noise of the arrows shuffling was deafening!
The sound of the bowstring vibrating continuously was like that of a thunder! The cavalry soldiers on the opposite side fell off their horses one by one! Each shot of the arrow was extremely accurate!
After nine cavalry soldiers were shot dead, the cavalry shouted and dispersed as they returned back to their large group at the back.
"Lord, your archery is impeccable!"
As Tong watched, he clapped his hands and praised, "We have killed at least a few of their men!"
"No need for useless talk, fight!"
Fang Yuan raised his long sword and commanded, "Also, you, bring those warriors who are still brave enough to the frontline to fight!"
No matter how inexperienced Tong was, he was still a dream master. He could still defeat hundreds to thousands of enemies in a normal army.
"Yes, my Lord!"
Tong roared as he raised his weapons and charged towards the frontline with a group of soldiers.
"Kill them all!"
The two groups of armies got closer and closer. Suddenly, howls of agony could be heard from the opposite side.
"Clop! Clop!"
Dust flew everywhere as the horses trampled the earth.
Hundreds of horses were freed from their halters. After they were viciously whipped, the leading horse led the herd of horses towards the northern army. Their strength was unstoppable, it was like a mighty flood!
"Great!"
Fang Yuan could not help but to clap his hands at such a sight.
The horses were no longer protected and most of their cavalry soldiers were either severely injured or had died. By using the horses as a direct formation that charged towards them, once such a formation was defeated, Fang Yuan's army would immediately emerge victorious!
Such a formation was similar to military tactics recorded in history, particularly Tian Dan's Fire Cattle Columns and South Asia's elephant cavalry!
"Sadly... their attempt was pathetic!"
Fang Yuan waved his arms and instructed, "Bring on the fire-spitting soldiers!"
"Yes, my Lord!"
100 soldiers carrying wooden tubes came forward and as they pressed the trigger, large amounts of flames were spat out.
Greek fire! Liquid fire! The hidden weapon of the ancient Byzantine people was displayed for the first time in this realm!
"Swooosh! Swwwooosshh!"
The horses neighed and scattered away messily.
The glow of the fire, the loud noises and the burning flames made the horses uncomfortable and panicky.
Furthermore, these ancient horses were not as mature as horses used in wars in the future. They were not tamed and were easily disturbed, they could not remain calm in all sorts of situations.
As the horses were terrified, not a single horse dared to continue charging towards the flames. Most of them fled away to the sides and some even galloped back directly towards the front of Hule Division's army.
"Kill them all!"
The people of Hule Division were not stupid, they immediately commanded their soldiers to utilise all their weapons.
Bows, arrows, copper swords, dagger-axes, et cetera... they wielded all sorts of weapons as they commanded their horses.
However, the horses had already lost their sanity after being scared by the flames. They charged forward crazily with great momentum and inertia, wreaking havoc all over the battlefield. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere, it could not even be discerned whether they were from humans or horses.
"Charge!"
Fang Yuan naturally did not let such an amazing opportunity slip, he immediately commanded his army to charge forward. The 100 soldiers who carried the wooden tubes seared anyone they came across even as they tried to escape.
"Kill them all!"
In the army, five to ten soldiers formed a section which viciously murdered the Hule soldiers.
Compared to the Hule Division, their soldiers were scattered all over the place. Each of their soldiers fought alone bravely, the difference in militant skills between the two sides was evident.
"After all, this is still the barbaric period and their soldiers valued bravery. But, that's useless...! Times are changing, if they don't keep up with the trend, they can only be left behind mercilessly!" Fang Yuan thought as he sighed.
Fang Yuan then grabbed his iron sword tightly and strode forward.
The enemies' soldiers were mostly defeated, it was now the time for Fang Yuan to strike!
"Die!"
Opposite him, a few shamans chanted as they shook the blood-red coloured spiritual drums with their hands.
An unpleasant gust of air swept across the corpses on the floor. Blood and water gathered and formed monsters immediately. These monsters rampaged all over the battlefield.
"Kill them all!"
Fang Yuan strode forward and swung his sword. There was a fiery glow that sparkled on his forehead, in the area above his brows.
"Wuuuu! Wuuuuu!"
These bloody beasts collapsed at once and turned into black blood. Fang Yuan continued forward and arrived in front of the shamans.
"Protect the shamans!"
A few soldiers from the Hule Division shouted. However, under Fang Yuan's swords, they were severed into two pieces.
"Leader Mu would seek vengeance for us!"
Two of the young looking shamans stared at Fang Yuan with extreme enmity and hatred, as though they wanted to bite Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan did not hesitate and annihilated them with his sword.
"The shamans have died!"
Seeing such, the Hule Division soldiers who were still defiantly resisting just now immediately fell apart. They fought against each other for the horses and began fleeing away.
"No need to chase them!!!"
Fang Yuan immediately ordered, "Clean up the battlefield, set up the tents, build up the defences and prepare for the big war!"
"Lord? What you meant is...?"
Tong came over to stood beside Fang Yuan. Although his body was stained with blood, his expression seemed happy.
"Their frontline soldiers have already arrived here, their main body will definitely reach here in two days!"
Fang Yuan shook his head slowly, "If they know we have thousands of people, what will they do?"
"Of course they would destroy this remaining strength of ours! From then on, the north of Da Xia would be free rein to them! They would then charge towards Yang City!"
"Hence... we will be preparing for war right here!"
Fang Yuan directly commanded, "At least we still possess some firsthand advantage here. We can dig more trenches, store more food, build our earth walls higher..."
"1,000 against 10,000?"
Tong was speechless, he rolled his eyes and continued, "Are you confident?"
"No, it's 2,500 against 9000!"
Fang Yuan corrected Tong's mistake and replied, "Unless you think you still can escape?"
"Haha! Great, I will take this gamble with you then!"
If it was any other normal general, he would not be able to convince a subordinate he just newly met even if he was extremely charming or had an impressive character, especially to one that almost died just moments ago.
However, Tong was not any normal person too! As a dream master, even if the army was fully defeated, there was still a chance for him to escape.
Furthermore, dying in this realm was like losing in a round, it was nothing much actually.
Two days later.
Near 10,000 cavalry soldiers charged to the battlefield and saw numerous structures made out of earth. There were even trenches that surrounded the entire area.