Zhan Long
Page 811Chapter 811 - True Heavy Cavalrymen
We dashed down the road through the Xia Yu Army lands. As we continued forward, the fragrant scent of oilseed wafted past our faces. Glancing over the horizon, there were endless fields of crops. No matter the season, the fields were always in use. Moreover, it was now spring, just the season for oilseed flowers. I pointed ahead with my Dragon Reservoir Sword and shouted, “Notify all the troops to take care and avoid stomping on the fields!”
Han Yuan nodded, “Understood!”
One after another, the order passed down the ranks. The Royal Army Horsemen filed into narrow rows and stayed within the bounds of the little path, taking care to not step on a single crop. I could see in Han Yuan’s eyes that his respect for me had risen yet again. The warrior came from very modest roots, having grown up in a poverty-stricken village. Throughout his entire life, this must be the first time he had met a commander like me.
After another twenty minutes, the target on our map appeared before our eyes. It was around two thousand yards away from us. We were already past the military fields and had now entered a field blooming with flowers and willow trees. Glancing at the map, I noticed several small red dots in our vicinity. I raised my brow and said, “A small fishing village like this actually has scouts in the area? Looks like this really is Lucen’s headquarters!”
Han Yuan replied, “Lucen was a former general, and he must be used to the military lifestyle. Besides, if this is the location where he and the Dragonling Army conduct business, he must also be guarding against any threats and potential risks. It is only natural that he post some scouts in the area.”
I gripped my sword and ordered, “Spread out and clear out the scouts. We must not alarm them. I, for one, am not interested in fighting against this Lucen head on!”
“Yes sir!”
Han Yuan understood the underlying meaning to my command. Our mission this time was to ambush the enemy and make Lucen’s thousand man army surrender as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if we gave him a chance to prepare, the Royal Army would take heavy losses. While the Royal Army was strong, it was unlikely that we could leave a battle against a famous general unscathed.
When we were five hundred yards out, I spotted a young man sitting in the trees. He was donned in light leather armor, and he carried a bow in hand. He was clearly not one of the villagers, and he looked more like a scout from the military. I leapt up onto my horse, and snowflakes dispersed and surrounded the two of us. [Ice Wings] sprouted from my back and I sped right towards the little forest like a bolt of light!
Han Yuan and Xiao Lie raised their swords and charged after me. There were a total of seven scouts posted outside the village. We couldn’t give them the slightest opportunity to release a warning. Otherwise, our ambush would become a failure.
The young scout turned his head while sitting in the tree, but by the time he noticed me, it was all too late. His eyes widened and he shouted, “D*mm*t, why are the military dogs here?!”
Han Yuan and Xiao Lie were finishing up the scouts on both sides. The other four had been shot down by the Royal Army horsemen; their bodies looked like hedgehogs. Not a single one of them had the time to signal their friends in the village, much less send a report.
Lucen was truly a talented general. Even though he was now living in this hole, he was still constantly prepared to the point where he posted scouts at the gates. Unfortunately for him, the heavens were not on his side. It had just recently rained and grounds were muddy, softening the sound of the horse hooves.
……
We soon reached the outskirts of the village.
Xiao Lie glanced around and carefully observed the situation inside the village, “It looks like they already have some preparations in place!”
A few of the Royal Army Horsemen who were walking in front of the unit suddenly fell into the ground. Just as Xiao Lie had warned, there were traps set up all around the village. Han Yuan immediately reacted and shouted, “All of you, rush forward, we have to move fast!”
A dozen or so of the Royal Army Horsemen charged forward until they safely crossed the field towards the village without falling into a trap. However, once they reached the gates, hundreds of arrows flew at them, even killing the horses.
Han Yuan clenched his teeth, “Cavalrymen, charge!”
Behind us, a hundred or so horsemen carrying heavy shields charged forth. I also led a group of men and followed close behind. We moved swiftly, so there was no way Lucen would be completely prepared for this!
As I predicted, the first row of heavy horsemen successfully made it past the volley of arrows, deflecting all attacks. However, the arrows were rather chaotic, and they didn’t deal much damage and they certainly couldn’t pierce through the shields of our cavalry. Not far from us, I could see the small huts buzzing with activity. Quite a few of the fishermen’s clothes were unkempt. Rather, they turned out to be soldiers as they ran at us with swords. Even though they had prepared for situations like this, we still had the advantage in our ambush.
“Careful, they’re heavy armor cavalrymen!”
Han Yuan quickly countered the order, “Raise your shields and rush forward once you’ve determined my direction!”
In the distance, a group of the Danyan soldiers began rushing towards us with heavy shields and spears in hand. Once they set down their shields and created a wall, they immediately began launching their spears at our horsemen. They were more like steel lances than spears. Since most of a spear’s body was made of wood, it was very easy for cavalrymen to knock them out of the air. However, it was a different story for lances. The only problem was that they required too much steel to make, so it wasn’t a standard weapon.
Just the fact that Lucen had managed to obtain enough steel in such a small fisherman village was enough to demonstrate his depth and skill.
Han Yuan personally led the unit of cavalrymen in the charge. They managed to break through the first layer of defenses among the enemy Shield Spear units. However, while in the process, quite a few of our cavalrymen and horses sustained injuries. Even losses were sustained by the second layer of defense. Han Yuan swung his long spear, throwing one of the enemies into the air. After he pulled his spear out, he stabbed it into another soldier and instantly killed him.
The cost of building up a heavy cavalry was incredibly high. From training costs to battle horses, armor, and equipment, just one heavy cavalryman cost 5 to 8 times that of a normal spear soldier. Lucen’s choice of battle was an impressive trade-off. If he managed to fight this battle at one spear soldier for each cavalryman, then he’d have made it big time. Even if it was just a two to one or a three to one ratio, he’d still be profiting.
Unfortunately, this kind of trade-off only worked in margins. Against a large scale cavalry unit like the Royal Army, Lucen’s couple hundred long spear soldiers were nothing.
Finally, after the Royal Army lost around twenty cavalrymen, we charged through the enemy defenses, leaving five hundred corpses in our wake.
I pointed i the distance and commanded, “Han Yuan, take a thousand men and seal the ports. Make sure you don’t flash the Royal Army flags. We’ll take Danyan Village without a sound!”
“Yes sir!”
Han Yuan lead his men over while Xiao Lie and I continued with our fighting. As they fought, I sent another order, giving my men the option to capture enemy combatants alive. After all, this was the utmost amount of mercy that the Royal Army could give.
In the midst of the clash, I heard the sound of hooves down the little street through the village. I looked over only to see a unit of horsemen arriving to my surprise. They were all dressed in standard equipment, each carrying a halberd and a small shield. A tube of arrows, a longbow, and a battle axe hung from the saddle of the horses. Their red armor looked to be expertly made and didn’t look to be much weaker than that of the Royal Army.
Xiao Lie roared, “Lucen, weren’t you once a man of the military? Why would you dishonor such a reputation and lower yourself to the level of the Dragonling Army? Do you even understand how many innocent lives were taken by their hands? Do you know just how many villages have lived in fear of their terror all these years?”
“But of course.”
Lucen’s voice was a chilling calm, “So what of that. What do they have to do with me?”
“Keng!”
I pulled out my Dragon Reservoir Sword and cracked my whip, “Let’s not waste our breaths…. Prepare to attack and take Lucen’s head!”
The soldiers behind me whooped and began preparing their [Charge]. Lucen raised his shield in preparation with a smile, “Alright, then let me show you little princelings of the Royal Army what a true Heavy Cavalryman of the empire is really like!”
The horses whinnied and the decisive battle began!
I could tell that as Lucen directed the charge, he shifted his shield forward quite a bit. Furthermore, the front row of cavalrymen maintained a strong line, maximizing the momentum of their impact.
In the blink of an eye, the two sides clashed. “Peng peng peng!” The shields rang from impact. I let my Zhen Yue Blade fly out into the air, splitting the two forces. I activated [Black Tortoise Realm] simultaneously, decreasing the enemy’s movement speed. I swung my Dragon Reservoir Sword, throwing a [Seven Star Fragment Slash] into the mass of soldiers. As all of this happened, my [Ice Spear] raged through the enemy lines, freezing the soldiers in their tracks, giving my soldiers an opportunity to attack.
With this one clash, the Royal Army did take some losses. I could see spears plunged through quite a few of them. Once their spears left their hands, Lucen’s horsemen would pull out their battle axes and begin slashing at us. This took out dozens more of our horsemen. The battle axes had extremely high killing potentials, and they were very portable and versatile. Lucen was quite the strategist.
Even so, the gap in our numbers was too great. After the first charge of two thousand Royal Army Horsemen, Lucen was left with a little over twenty men. Furthermore, Lucen’s own health had dropped quite a bit after fighting with our soldiers. He was a Demon Harvest tier demi-BOSS, the same power ranking as Han Yuan. There was no way he’d be able to take on so many attacks at once.