Chapter 139 - Battle of Zhuolu part 13
Chapter 139- Battle of Zhuolu part 13
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
When the battle had reached its climax, Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang made decisive changes to their formation.
Chiyou camp's 7 thousand sword-shield infantry and archers pushed forward and assaulted Di Chen's forces which were at the farthest corner. The difference in numbers, even if Di Chen had better equipment and experience, was too much for him to handle.
Seeing that they were about to collapse, Ouyang Shuo didn't leave them in the lurch and ordered the allied troops to assist. At the same time he requested assistance from Chang Xian. Ouyang Shuo understood the theory of if the lips die the teeth will start to feel cold.
Unfortunately, Chun Shenjun had changed their tactics too quickly, and once they realised that Ouyang Shuo's cavalry wasn't there, they immediately attacked Di Chen. When the troops led by Ouyang Shuo and Chang Xian reached to assist, it was too late and Di Chen's forces had been utterly destroyed.
Chun Shenjun was also very crafty. Once he saw that Ouyang Shuo and Chang Xian had come to assist, he didn't continue forwards to earn more credit but instead retreated. In an instant, the battle at the right wing went into a stalemate.
Di Chen was furious, bringing his 800 leftover force and backing down from the front lines. Luckily, Ouyang Shuo did not try to convince him. If not, one wouldn't know what Di Chen would have done.
Di Chen was depressed and he didn't know who to blame. Just blame Ouyang Shuo, but he not only blocked off the enemy cavalry and came in time to assist. If he didn’t he wouldn’t have been able to save his men. Or to blame Chun Shenjun, but since they were enemies, fighting was to be expected. He could only blame himself for being unlucky and getting a freak like Ouyang Shuo in the same camp, snatching his position as representative and causing him to be restricted.
Just when the right wing entered a stalemate, a new development happened at the left wing.
Just as Jushou had predicted, of Chiyou tribe's 70 thousand men, 40 thousand were in the middle to block against the Yellow Emperor's 50 thousand men. Its left and right wings both had 15 thousand men, the same as taking 3-4 thousand from the right wing to help the left wing.
With this, the 15 thousand strong right wing had to face the 30 thousand troops from the Fire Emperor tribe. However, the Chiyou tribe had the psychological advantage as in previous battles, the Fire Emperor tribe had been beaten time after time and had no choice but to request for help from the Yellow Emperor tribe.
Unfortunately, this norm was about to be broken. Just as both sides were exchanging blows, Zhang Liao led 800 odd cavalry and sneakily made a detour, cutting into the back of the Chiyou tribe.
The right wing of the Chiyou tribe never expected to meet the enemy cavalry at such a time. They didn't even have a decent shield, how could they defend against the attacks of the cavalry? This was especially true for their rearmost line which was mostly made up of archers. It was weak like paper, and was destroyed in an instant.
Especially the heavy armored cavalry at the front. No matter if they were spears or arrows hitting the Mingguang armor, they were like scratches. The cavalry pretty much killed whoever they saw.
Under the leadership of Zhang Liao, the cavalry went from left to right unpredictably. The Chiyou tribe could only watch on as their troops were unable to put up any defence.
Seeing that the cavalry had successfully broken through their defence, the Fire Emperor ordered his backup troops to charge forward and to add pressure to the Chiyou tribe and to keep them busy to not be able to deal with the cavalry.
With this, the Fire Emperor's troops inched forward, and as the cavalry was slaying on the back lines, the two pushed the Chiyou tribe to a dangerous situation. They looked like they were slowly becoming food for the taking.
When Chiyou received the distress signal from the right wing, he knew instantly that his plan was seen through by the enemy and that they had made an arrangement just to counter that. Helplessly, he had no choice but to rush some troops down from the middle to help out. If the right wing was destroyed, this battle would become even more difficult.
One could only say that Chiyou had underestimated the strategy of Qianshou. The Yellow Emperor, who had received the news that the left wing had succeeded in their attack, had been focusing on the enemy’s central troops. Once he found out that they had made a move, he immediately ordered his troops to push forward, not giving the Chiyou any breathing space.
Although the warriors of the Yellow Emperor tribe were lacking in weapons, they were ferocious. With a general like Limu, they weren't underdogs in a straight up fight. Originally, they already had a 10 thousand men advantage, and now that the advantage had widened, Chiyou tribe's central forces were facing trouble.
Their moves weren't only those. The right wing that was forced to defend suddenly charged forward and turned defense into attack. They had twice the number of troops of the enemy. It was only because it was the troops from the other small and medium sized tribes did it not seem strong enough. As the tides of battle changed and victory came into sight, the various leaders’ blood boiled and they stopped commanding. Many of the leaders led their troops themselves and charged towards the Chiyou tribe.
Losing on three fronts, the Chiyou tribe was running the risk of getting trampled on.
The one that broke the deadlock was the left wing's cavalry. Zhang Liao seeing the enemy troops’ reinforcements, decided to command the cavalry to charge into them.
The leader of the reinforcements did not expect the enemy to be so daring and advance instead of retreat, and instantly lost his senses.
Zhang Liao naturally was still very calm as he knew that the enemy's right wing was messed up by him and were like flies without heads. If he allowed the reinforcements to meet up with the right wing, they could reorganize the forces and calm them down. With that, it would be impossible to rip apart their defenses by only relying on his 1000 men.
Hence, the key to victory was defeating the reinforcements. Only then, no matter how many troops there were, if they couldn't organize themselves, the cavalry would have the chance to advance and retreat as they pleased. This would also be good for the Fire Emperor army.
As expected, the reinforcements were destroyed by this bunch of devil-like cavalry. The right wing had started to collapse, and some soldiers started to run backwards. A chain reaction was caused by the total failure of the right wing. The Fire Emperor didn't give up this opportunity and chased forwards, biting after the enemy.
This failure slowly caused the collapse of the entire army. Even the prestige of Chiyou couldn't help stop troops from running away. He could only helplessly ask his troops to retreat. The question was, however, how many he could save.
The retreating Chiyou looked across and sighed. He knew that his dream of conquering the middle plains had been destroyed after this battle.
The Yellow Emperor obviously wouldn't allow him to leave like this. A portion of their military strength was left. If he didn't completely destroy them, Chiyou could rise up again, and that was something he didn't wish for.
The Yellow Emperor ordered his whole army to chase. This was the killing feast of the Yellow Emperor camp. Even Di Chen, who was at the back brought his injured force to the front. Facing the retreating Chiyou tribe, it was the best time to get some battle contribution points.
Only Ouyang Shuo was thinking straight and ordered a few troops to chase and others to stick to the Yellow Emperor.
Seeing Ouyang Shuo, the Yellow Emperor was delighted. "Player Qiyue Wuyi, today's victory is all on you. I will heavily reward you."
Ouyang Shuo, who was on the horse, said respectfully, "I wouldn’t dare presume. The victory is because of your majesty's prestige and your troops. I don't dare to take the credit."
Ouyang Shuo only wanted practical rewards, and as for such titles, he’d rather not accept as it would be easy to make enemies out of the other officials and tribe leaders.
The Yellow Emperor nodded and understood his meaning. In his heart he had already made the decision to reward Ouyang Shuo. He fully knew that the result today was because of Ouyang Shuo's contribution for the past two days. Even if he didn't say so himself, his various officials would recommend him to reward Ouyang Shuo to make up for his help.
Seeing the troops chasing towards him, Chiyou, who was retreating, was ruthless. He ordered a portion of them to stay behind to hold them off while he brought his main force away. Those that were left behind were pretty much abandoned and left to die.
At this time, one could see Chiyou's prestige and position in the tribe. The warriors who started retreating once they lost were ashamed and chose to accept the mission to die to protect their leader.
Chiyou said goodbye to them before picking up the speed to escape.
When he was a distance away, he quickly ordered the troops to set a fire to separate the chasing forces. The fire made use of the wind to spread quickly and covered all the trees and grass. However the wet grass couldn't make the fire bigger and instead they became smoke, which started to fog up the entire area.
Under the dense fog, the chasing forces had lost their directions. Helplessly, the Yellow Emperor could only order his troops to stop chasing and wait for orders.
He looked at the officials around him and said, "Who can break the fog?"
It was natural that he was so anxious. If he let them go and didn't chase up to them, not long after Chiyou would come back. As someone who loved his people, he couldn't let that happen. The way he saw it, a peaceful life where agriculture was improved was the right way. These battles between tribes had to stop.
The officials looked at one another. With such a fog, they were at a complete loss.