bayedsolid Chapter 2241 Obstruction, Fight to the Death!
Chapter 2241 Obstruction, Fight to the Death!
"General! Flanking man! Large cavalry force!"
Just as the Chu scouts sounded their piercing warning, the muffled, thunderous sound of horses' hooves thundered in from the darkness on the left.
Immediately following, countless arrows pierced the air, whistling as they plunged into the advancing Chu army ranks, causing a commotion and screams of agony.
"Form ranks! Pikemen, face outwards! Shields, protect the flanks!"
Despite the danger, Xue Huaide remained calm, reined in his horse, and shouted orders to quickly switch his troops from marching formation to defensive formation in response to the cavalry charge.
But the enemy clearly did not intend to give them time to set up their formation.
Under Urhan's command, the eight thousand wolves, like a real wolf pack, did not immediately launch a desperate charge.
Instead, they split into several groups, rapidly circling the perimeter and constantly harassing the enemy with a barrage of arrows, searching for weaknesses in the formation, attempting to completely tie up the Chu army in place, or even separate them.
Xue Huaide was extremely anxious.
If we get bogged down by this cavalry, we might not even be able to protect ourselves, let alone support His Majesty. We must get rid of them as soon as possible!
Just then, a young and valiant general rode up to his side, his voice filled with anxiety and determination:
"Father! The enemy cavalry is powerful and intends to entangle and delay us! If they hold us fast, our army will be in grave danger and we will be unable to come to His Majesty's aid!"
The newcomer was Xue Dingshan, the valiant general and son of Xue Huaide.
He was only in his early twenties, but he had already made many military achievements. He wielded a halberd that resembled his father's style, and added a touch of youthful vigor.
Xue Dingshan pointed his halberd at the approaching and harassing Canglang cavalry, speaking rapidly:
"Father, please give me two thousand soldiers, half infantry and half cavalry! I will lead my troops to form a defensive formation here and hold out against these eight thousand barbarian cavalry!"
"Father, you must quickly lead the main force of 8,000 men, take a detour, and rush to Changtingpo! We absolutely cannot be held up here!"
"Nonsense!"
Upon hearing this, Xue Huaide was shocked and shouted sternly, "The enemy has eight thousand elite cavalry. How can your two thousand men possibly resist? This is suicide!"
He only has this one son, how could he bear to let him shoulder the responsibility of ending his lineage in such a desperate situation?
"Father!"
Xue Dingshan stood upright on his horse, his young face full of determination in the firelight.
"Your Majesty is in grave danger, and the fate of the nation hangs by a thread! How can you let personal feelings dictate your actions at this moment? I have been taught by my father since childhood to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. What is death to me?"
"Our troops are holding the road, relying on bows, crossbows, and spears; we may be able to hold them off for a while!"
"Every moment we delay increases the chances of Father and His Majesty reuniting! Father, please consider the greater good!"
Looking into his son's eyes, which were exactly the same as his own when he was young, but now burning with fervent loyalty and fearlessness, Xue Huaide felt a lump in his throat and his heart ached as if it were being torn apart.
He knew perfectly well that what his son said was the only way to break the deadlock and achieve the rescue objective.
But with two thousand against eight thousand, and the enemy's most skilled cavalry, it was clearly a situation with a slim chance of survival, or even no chance of survival at all!
The battlefield situation was changing rapidly, leaving him no room for hesitation.
In the distance, the attacks from the Azure Wolf Cavalry became increasingly frequent, and their own formation began to falter.
Xue Huaide abruptly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, all that remained in his eyes was the resolute determination of an iron-blooded general and a trace of deep-seated pain.
He slammed his hand heavily on Xue Dingshan's shoulder armor, his voice hoarse yet exceptionally clear:
"Good! My son... take care! You must... delay until your father and His Majesty reunite!"
"Order!"
Xue Dingshan clasped his hands in a fist salute, a smile of relief and satisfaction on his face, as if he had accepted not a mission to die, but an unparalleled honor.
Xue Huaide said no more, abruptly turned his horse around, and roared like a wounded tiger:
"Vanguard and Central Army, listen to my command! Follow me to turn southeast, bypass the enemy in front, and advance at full speed towards Changtingpo!"
"The rear guard is to be commanded by Xue Dingshan and to hold off the enemy on the spot! Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"
Upon receiving the order, the Chu army swiftly changed formation.
Xue Dingshan led two thousand infantry and cavalry, including several hundred cavalry, and quickly deployed in the middle and on both sides of the road, erecting shield walls, setting up spears, and positioning archers and crossbowmen, adopting a posture of defending and intercepting to the death.
Xue Huaide didn't even dare to look at his son again.
He spurred his horse and led his main force of eight thousand soldiers like an arrow released from a bow, bypassing the area where he was entangled with the Canglang cavalry, and galloped away without looking back towards Changtingpo in the darkness.
His silhouette appeared particularly heavy in the firelight, yet it carried an unwavering determination.
Behind him, Xue Dingshan watched his father disappear into the dust and took a deep breath.
He raised his halberd and, facing the oncoming horde of wolf riders like a black tide, let out a battle roar that shook the night sky:
"Soldiers of Great Chu! Follow me—fight to the death! Stop them!!!"
A brutal rearguard action suddenly erupted on this nameless wilderness!
Xue Dingshan's two thousand Chu soldiers, in the deepest darkness before dawn, were like a stubborn rock nailed to the wilderness, stubbornly blocking the first few rounds of ferocious charges by the eight thousand Canglang cavalry.
They did not simply hold their ground, but made full use of the cover of night and the terrain.
The road here is rather narrow, with muddy puddles and dense bushes on both sides after the rain, which is not conducive to large-scale cavalry maneuvers.
Xue Dingshan formed his infantry into a tight circular formation, with the outermost layer consisting of heavy shield bearers shoulder to shoulder, their shields deeply embedded in the soft, damp earth. Behind them, a forest of spears thrust out diagonally, forming a deadly thicket of thorns.
The archers were protected in the center and flanks of the formation, and were ordered to fire volleys, not for accuracy, but for coverage, to suppress the cavalry's charge.
He personally led several hundred cavalrymen as mobile blades, patrolling the flanks of the circular formation.
Whenever the Wolf Riders attempted to gather and break through a certain point, they would pounce out swiftly like venomous snakes, using offense as defense to disrupt their plans.
This hedgehog-like defense, combined with flexible counterattacks, made the Wolf Riders, who were used to open-field battles and overwhelming opponents with speed and strength, extremely uncomfortable.
The warhorses were afraid of the dense lances and shield walls, and their momentum was repeatedly thwarted. Many cavalrymen were pierced by lances in front of the battle lines or shot down by arrows from the enemy lines.
The slippery, muddy ground also slowed down the cavalry's movement. Some of the wolf riders who charged too aggressively even got stuck in the mud and became easy targets for the archers.
For a time, the eight thousand iron cavalry were held back by the two thousand infantry and cavalry, as if they were stuck in a sticky and dangerous quagmire, unable to break through quickly, and unable to split their forces to pursue Xue Huaide's main force that had gone far away.
Ulhan, who commanded the Canglang Cavalry, was furious. He hadn't expected the Chu army, which was outnumbered, to be so difficult to defeat.
Seeing that a direct assault would be too costly and slow to progress, he quickly changed tactics.
"Scatter! Spread out! Shoot them! Wear them down!" Urhan roared, brandishing his scimitar.
Instead of launching dense charges, the Gray Wolf Cavalry dispersed like a real wolf pack, using their speed and numbers to form a huge, fast-moving encirclement on the perimeter.