si-mexico Chapter 2180 Dragon Gate Formation
Chapter 2180 Dragon Gate Formation
"Quickly! Everyone off the ship! Form ranks!" Ma Chao roared the order.
Thirty thousand Xiliang cavalrymen quickly crossed the river and formed ranks on the barren plains on the bank.
These men from Xiliang were extremely adaptable; even after a bumpy river crossing, they quickly returned to combat readiness.
"General, the Tang cavalry are still ten miles away from us!" a scout reported on horseback.
Ma Chao squinted and looked over.
As dusk fell, the Tang cavalry was galloping at full speed, clearly trying to meet up with Li Guangbi before nightfall and complete the encirclement of Zhao Yu.
"It's a beautiful thought."
Ma Chao sneered and mounted his horse: "My comrades from Xiliang! The Tang cavalry are just ahead, they're going to encircle and annihilate our comrades! What do you say—what should we do?"
"Charge!" the 30,000 iron cavalry roared in unison.
"it is good!"
Ma Chao pointed his spear forward: "Wedge formation! All troops, charge! Objective—cut off the Tang cavalry and rendezvous with General Zhao!"
"kill--!"
The black tide has begun again. The warhorses of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry are not as swift as those of the White Horse Cavalry, but they have greater endurance and can carry heavier loads.
At this moment, they charged at full speed, their momentum in no way inferior to that of the Tang army's Xuanjia Iron Cavalry opposite them.
Two cavalry units, one as white as snow and the other as black as ink, clashed violently like two giant dragons on the desolate plain shrouded in twilight!
Meanwhile, outside the east gate of Jianghuai City, the real decisive battle had already begun.
Chu Ning's 70,000 reserve troops met Li Shiming's 70,000 main Tang army forces on an open plain five miles from Jianghuai City.
At this moment, it became completely dark.
As the last rays of the setting sun sank below the horizon, night, like the maw of a giant beast, swallowed the entire battlefield.
But the darkness did not bring peace; instead, it made the final battle even more brutal and chaotic.
Because in the darkness, it is difficult to distinguish friend from foe, and organizations are easily disrupted, so one can only rely on torches, shouts, and instinct to fight.
Chu Ning stood on his horse in the center of the army, gazing at the large "Tang" banner fluttering in the torchlight opposite him, and at the figure of the emperor, who was just as young as him, beneath it, his eyes burning with a cold flame.
“Li Shiming…” he murmured to himself, “This battle will determine the fate of the Central Plains for a hundred years.”
"But there can only be one winner."
He slowly raised the Emperor's Sword.
Meanwhile, Li Shiming on the opposite side also raised the sword of Emperor Taizu.
The two swords are pointed at each other.
Then, they swung down simultaneously.
"kill--!"
Two armies that would determine the fate of the world clashed violently the moment darkness fell!
The bloody battle raged from day to night, spreading from within Jianghuai City to outside the city, and from the south bank of the Huai River to the north bank.
The entire Jianghuai Plain, spanning fifty li in circumference, was transformed into a battlefield of carnage.
And this decisive battle that would determine the fate of the Central Plains finally entered its most tragic, most frenzied, and ultimately most intense climax.
In the darkness, there was only the glint of swords, the splatter of blood, and... a life-or-death struggle.
Until one side bleeds out their last drop of blood.
Or, until dawn breaks again, illuminating this blood-soaked land.
And, the ultimate victor standing on the land.
Five miles east of Jianghuai City, on a vast plain, the night was as black as ink.
Chu Ning's 70,000 reserve troops and Li Shiming's 70,000 main Tang troops collided like two colliding torrents the moment darkness fell.
However, the anticipated fierce battle did not immediately occur.
Instead of charging head-on like ordinary armies, the Chu army quickly changed formation, completing a massive and sophisticated formation shift when the Tang army's vanguard was only three hundred paces away.
"Dragon Gate Formation—Start!"
At the central command post, a large crimson banner suddenly rose up, bearing the character "Xue" written in bold, powerful strokes.
Beneath the banner, an old general sat upright on his warhorse, clad in silver helmet and armor, his hair and beard all white, but his eyes gleaming like lightning. He was none other than Xue Huaide, a general of the Chu army.
This veteran, who is over forty years old, shows no signs of aging. He commands the flag with ease, and each wave is as precise as a clockwork mechanism.
At his command, the 70,000 Chu troops quickly divided into groups:
At the very front, 30,000 heavy infantrymen marched forward.
They were not in a dense square formation, but were divided into twelve independent circular formations, each with about two thousand five hundred people.
The circular formations were spaced fifty paces apart, forming an arc-shaped defensive line two miles wide.
The outer layer of each circular formation consists of shield bearers, whose shields are connected like a wall. The middle layer consists of spearmen, whose eighteen-foot-long spears protrude from the gaps in the shields and point diagonally forward. The inner layer consists of archers, whose arrows are already nocked.
These twelve circles are not stationary, but are rotating slowly and regularly, like twelve rotating gears.
The rotation directions are alternated—odd-numbered circular arrays rotate clockwise, and even-numbered circular arrays rotate counterclockwise.
This meant that any enemy force attempting a frontal assault would face spears and arrows from different angles.
Behind the circular formation were 20,000 light infantry.
They were divided into forty small square formations, each with five hundred people, scattered in the gaps between the circular formations.
These formations do not participate in frontal defense, but are ready to fill gaps, flank, or suddenly attack enemy forces that break through the defense line.
Further back were ten thousand crossbowmen.
They were divided into three groups and took turns launching the projectiles.
The arrows were not fired in a sweeping fashion, but rather landed precisely in the densely packed areas of the Tang army's charge, especially those troops attempting to rally and break through.
At the very back were ten thousand elite troops of the central army, personally commanded by Xue Huaide, and Chu Ning's personal guards.
The entire formation resembled a winding steel dragon, its head proudly facing the Tang army, its body coiled, and its tail hidden in the darkness.
Those rotating circular formations are like the dragon's reverse scales—anyone who touches them will suffer a backlash!
"What a brilliant story!"
Standing on the high platform in the center of the army, Chu Ning looked at the exquisite formation before him, a rare look of satisfaction on his face.
"General Xue is indeed formidable. This formation is well-organized, combining offense and defense, and is enough to hold off 70,000 Tang troops for three days!"
His generals were all deeply shocked.
They had long heard of Xue Huaide's extraordinary array formations, but seeing with their own eyes how this army of 70,000 could complete such a complex formation change in such a short time was still incredible.
The Tang army on the other side was clearly caught off guard.
Li Shimin's 30,000 vanguard cavalry, originally intending to break through the Chu army's lines in one fell swoop, instead ran headlong into these twelve rotating steel hedgehogs.
In the first wave of the charge, almost all of the thousand or so riders at the front were wiped out.
The warhorse crashed into the shield wall, was pierced by spears, the knight fell and was crushed by the rotating circle. The following cavalry tried to turn around, but were intercepted by the light infantry squares between the circles.
"Change formation! Divide your forces and encircle them!" the Tang general roared, issuing the order.
The cavalry immediately split into two groups, attempting to bypass the damned circular defensive line from both sides.
But Xue Huaide was prepared.
"Dragon Wings—Spread!"
With a wave of the command flag, the circular formations on the left and right sides suddenly stopped rotating and simultaneously shifted outwards!
The originally arc-shaped defensive line instantly extended to both sides, like a giant dragon spreading its wings, still keeping the Tang cavalry outside!
Even more deadly, behind those shifting circular formations, tripwires and horse traps that had been laid in advance suddenly appeared!