Over forty thousand Dongye Army troops launched a fierce assault on the Ning Army.
In truth, this was the first time since the Ning Army had formed into a fighting force that they had fought a defensive battle in the open field against an enemy that vastly outnumbered them.
They had fought while outnumbering the enemy before. But facing the genuine possibility of encirclement in these circumstances — that was a first.
At this moment, every single soldier in the Ning Army — not one of them showed even the faintest trace of nerves.
Tang Pidi had once stood on the drill field and said to every one of them:
*To face battle without fear is already three parts victory. To face battle without breaking ranks is another three parts. You are all elite soldiers — and that is three parts more.*
*Whether we fight or not, we already have nine parts victory.*
“Arrow formation!”
Li Chi gave the order.
All archers began forming up. Each Ning Army bowman found his position in the shortest possible time.
Every man moved in almost exactly the same way — like one soldier split into countless copies, all performing the same motion at once.
Take position, form ranks, quiver placed at the feet within easy reach.
In the distance, the dense mass of Dongye Army soldiers charging forward seemed to already see victory within their grasp, whooping and hollering as they ran.
“Range arrow!”
Li Chi gave the second order.
The first rank of archers immediately raised their bows. A line of arrows with red-dyed feathering snapped forward all at once in a single clean sweep.
The arrows traced a perfect arc through the air, then a line of them planted themselves in the earth.
That was the maximum range of the arrow formation.
Li Chi called out loudly, “Why do they dare to charge toward us?”
Without waiting for anyone to answer, Li Chi continued, “Because they are not yet afraid. Because they do not yet know the Ning Army’s power.”
Li Chi drove his long blade into the ground and reached up to take his war bow.
“For many of you, this is your first battle. Do you know what matters most in your first battle?”
“In your first battle — tell the enemy, and tell yourselves: in ground warfare, the Ning Army has no equal!”
“Hoo!”
“Hoo!”
“Hoo!”
Three battle cries.
On the other side, Chang Xing had broken away from the main infantry force with all the Dongye Army cavalry and was pressing toward the vanguard troops.
He was a cautious man, and not one to lightly put himself in danger.
But forever hiding — how could he ever achieve the sky-swallowing ambition in his heart?
Besides, killing Li Chi was a temptation he simply could not resist. Jizhou’s greatest power — people everywhere said it was Prince Ning, Li Chi. If this battle destroyed Prince Ning, would his name as the Prince of the Northern Frontier not be known throughout the land?
The cavalry thundered forward, rapidly outpacing the infantry behind.
Wu Naiyu — bound to a horse — was carried along with them. He seemed to have no choice in the matter.
Chang Xing glanced sideways at him, his tone icy. “Even though you opened your mouth to speak this time — I still intend to kill you. You showed me such contempt before. Even if I spare your life, I’ll make sure you understand what it means to be awed.”
Wu Naiyu looked back at him, and said nothing.
His arms were bound — for now he could only be carried forward by the horse.
Chang Xing didn’t even worry about Wu Naiyu trying to jump and save himself — behind them was a full column of cavalry, and if Wu Naiyu jumped, he would be trampled to a pulp in an instant.
“Report!”
A scout came galloping back from ahead, his face bright.
He reined in before Chang Xing and saluted. “My lord, General Wan Zai and General Xiao Mao’s forces have caught the Ning Army — the fighting has begun.”
“Excellent!”
Chang Xing’s excitement surged. “How far from here?”
The scout replied, “Less than twenty li. Pass around the tree line ahead and you’ll be able to see them.”
“Follow me and charge through!”
Chang Xing waved his hand, and the cavalry accelerated again.
Wu Naiyu, seated on his horse, had no hands to hold the reins as the horse raced forward — he was tossed and buffeted like a small boat riding great waves.
And yet no matter how great the waves, he remained above them. Seemingly buffeted — and yet controlling the horse perfectly with only his legs.
“Chang Xing.”
Wu Naiyu suddenly called out.
Chang Xing immediately looked over.
Wu Naiyu smiled and said, “You press forward in such urgency — is it because you also understand the importance of capturing the leader to break the whole?”
Chang Xing, seeing him suddenly speaking amicably, assumed he was trying to ingratiate himself.
He gave a cold snort. “Even if you’re trying to beg for your life right now, I won’t let you off so easily. Your contempt toward me before — even if I don’t kill you, I’ll make sure you understand the meaning of reverence.”
Wu Naiyu said, “You think that right now, seeing you intend to kill me, I’m wagging my tail and begging for mercy?”
Chang Xing said, “If you wag your tail and beg — does that mean I won’t kill you? That depends on how well you wag.”
Wu Naiyu laughed heartily. “You, my friend — I was just trying to tell you about the importance of capturing the leader to break the whole.”
Chang Xing snapped, “I don’t need you to tell me.”
Wu Naiyu seemed rather pleased about something.
Because the letter someone had written to him had said: when the day comes that the Ning Army appears outside Dongye City, that will be the day of Chang Xing’s death.
The man who wrote the letter was named Tang Pidi. Wu Naiyu had never met him.
But from the very first letter, reading between the lines, Wu Naiyu had known that this Tang Pidi was a rare and exceptional talent in all the world.
At that very moment, Tang Pidi was personally leading six thousand precision cavalry from the flank — sweeping around to the side and rear of the Dongye Army cavalry.
But the Ning Army cavalry moved faster.
How could the horsemanship of these Dongye cavalry soldiers compare with the Nalan riders who had grown up living on horseback?
“My lord — cavalry approaching from the left rear!”
A Dongye general in the rear column spurred his horse frantically and finally caught up to Chang Xing.
Chang Xing immediately looked left and back. The cavalry force had nearly closed with his column’s rear.
In an instant, Chang Xing knew he had been outmaneuvered.
He spun and looked at Wu Naiyu in a fury. “You treacherous wretch — you dared to set me up!”
Wu Naiyu said, “And what right do you have to call anyone else treacherous?”
Chang Xing instantly drew his blade and brought it slashing down toward Wu Naiyu.
Wu Naiyu threw both legs into the horse’s flanks, sending the animal lurching sideways — the blade sliced through empty air.
Chang Xing immediately shouted, “Shoot him down!”
His personal guards immediately unslung their repeating crossbows and leveled them at Wu Naiyu.
Wu Naiyu’s arms tensed — crack — and the rope binding him snapped apart. He twisted sideways and hung off the side of the horse.
Many men had him in their sights. The bolts were about to sweep through in a dense volley.
Wu Naiyu hung from the side of the galloping horse, both feet planted against its belly as though squatting there.
Wu Naiyu smiled and said, “You’ve carried me this far — allow me to spare your life.”
Then both hands seized the saddle and wrenched with full force. The horse was pulled sideways and fell, crashing to the ground.
At the same moment, Wu Naiyu used the momentum to launch himself into the air, grabbed hold of a nearby rider, and flipped onto the man’s back.
The horse he had been riding let out a single anguished cry as it hit the ground — but it had only fallen. It had not been struck by even one bolt.
Wu Naiyu grabbed the man in front of him and flung him outward, smashing him into the nearest rider and knocking that man down too.
He yanked hard on the reins, and the horse surged away into the distance.
“After him! Kill him!”
Chang Xing screamed, his face twisted out of shape entirely.
At that moment, Tang Pidi’s Nalan iron cavalry came crashing into them.
At this speed, the Nalan riders on horseback didn’t need their hands on the reins at all.
Every rider sat with their upper body perfectly upright. None of them were seated fully in the saddle.
As the horse surged and bounded beneath them, their legs flexed continuously up and down — yet their upper bodies remained almost completely still.
This meant that when they drew their bows to aim, it was as steady as standing on flat ground.
Arrows flew one after another, each one finding its mark.
In the Dongye cavalry’s rear ranks, soldier after soldier was hit and fell from his horse.
When the gap had closed to knife range, the Nalan cavalry slung their bows back and drew their blades.
Closing from behind — one blade, one kill.
This was simply not a contest between forces of the same tier. So it could not truly be called fighting or close combat.
Chang Xing watched the pursuers draw closer and closer behind him and gave repeated orders to press forward. The cavalry of both sides were roughly equal in number — but his cavalry was no match for the enemy’s.
The only option was to break through to where the infantry was ahead — where Wan Zai and Xiao Mao held two army groups, enough to repel the cavalry behind him.
With that thought, Chang Xing didn’t spare another glance for the rear being slaughtered — he just kept driving his horse forward.
The cavalry thundered on. The four hooves of the war horses, striking the earth at a full gallop, threw up clouds of dust like a sandstorm.
Turning around the tree line, Chang Xing could already see the fighting in the distance.
But when he glanced behind him, he was startled to discover the enemy cavalry was already alarmingly close.
“Turn and charge! Fight them with everything we have!”
Chang Xing roared.
The cavalry around him immediately pulled up and wheeled to charge back against Tang Pidi’s cavalry.
But Chang Xing himself did not turn back. He let out another shout, and with his remaining personal guards pressed forward.
With that shout, a good number of his personal guard had been deceived into wheeling around — the men still at his side now numbered only a few dozen.
As they fled, those who had turned back to block Tang Pidi were left staring in stunned silence.
“Bring everyone back quickly! Have Wan Zai and Xiao Mao come protect me!”
Chang Xing kept spurring his horse and shouting — not clear to whom the shout was even directed.
At that very instant, Chang Xing’s expression suddenly changed.
The battle he had glimpsed a moment ago — he had assumed it was his forty or fifty thousand men mounting a ferocious assault on Li Chi’s Ning Army.
But looking now — his own forces appeared to be flowing backward like a receding tide.
How was this possible?
Just moments ago it had been forty or fifty thousand men chasing and cutting down the enemy — how had things turned around so that the forty or fifty thousand were now being chased and cut down by barely ten thousand?
On Li Chi’s side.
After three volleys of arrows, a thick layer of Dongye Army men had been mowed down.
When the enemy closed within forty paces, the Ning Army javelins went out.
Inside thirty paces, the repeating crossbows began to pour their fire.
The Dongye Army soldiers, charging forward, had never imagined the Ning Army’s equipment could be this terrifying.
Long bows at long range, javelins at mid-range, repeating crossbows up close.
This kind of equipment — not only did they not have it, they had never even seen it.
The layer of bodies carpeting the ground ahead made the Dongye Army soldiers’ nerve begin to crack.
The courage that had come from numerical superiority was shattered by the sight of the dead blanketing the earth in front of them.
No matter how much Wan Zai and Xiao Mao pushed and urged, the pace of the forward press slowed.
This was a complete domination in quality of troops, equipment, and tactics.
When Li Chi saw the Dongye Army no longer dared to attack — then the Ning Army would attack.
So suddenly, in an instant, it went from the Dongye Army hunting the Ning Army to the Ning Army hunting the Dongye Army.
Over here, being chased by Tang Pidi. Over there, being chased by Li Chi.
And yet at the very moment Chang Xing was about to rejoin his infantry, the last rider in his personal guard column drew a blade and began killing.
No one had noticed when Wu Naiyu had slipped into the rear of their column.
Wu Naiyu held a long saber. One slash, one kill. He closed on a man and cut him down, closed on another and cut him down.
Riding at full gallop — yet moving as though astride a great dragon sailing across the sea.
Slashing and cutting — and before long he had caught up to Chang Xing.
Chang Xing slashed wildly in fright. Wu Naiyu gave a cold snort, reached out his left hand and seized Chang Xing’s wrist, twisted — the arm snapped, and the blade dropped.
Wu Naiyu’s right hand brought the pommel of his blade down hard on Chang Xing’s skull.
Chang Xing let out a muffled grunt, his eyes rolling back.
Wu Naiyu threw his own saber aside, yanked Chang Xing over, pressed him across his own horse, wheeled the animal around, and rode off in the opposite direction.