Chapter 268- Soldiers that Descended from Heaven
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
The northern battlefield, before both sides started fighting.
Zhao Kuo split the 150 thousand troops into three: the main infantry force of 100 thousand into two waves, changing every hour, not giving the Wang Ling camp any time to rest; 50 thousand cavalry as the wings and focused on killing the cavalry that Wang Ling had hidden in the valley to sneak-attack them.
Everyone in the Zhao army was clear that this battle would result in loss or victory, thus they were all very motivated and had high morale. Zhao Kuo's flag waved on top of the hill as 50 thousand infantry soldiers charged forwards to the sound of the horn. With two archer squads providing cover fire, the troops charging in front immediately used wood planks to block up the moat. When they faced fire moats, they immediately threw mud and dirt into it; charging past it, scaling ladders and various wooden ladders were placed onto the walls and the soldiers charged up.
In an hour when the first wave was slightly tired, the second wave took over and continued the attack.
With such a tsunami like, slaughter-filled blood bath, after four rounds, the Wang Ling camp was badly hurt. What was worse was that the 25 thousand cavalry he hid in the valley, under the interception by Zhao Kuo's 50 thousand cavalry, had lost their ability to sneak-attack.
The relentless attacks by the Zhao army were blocked with crossbows, alchemical fire oil cabinets, heavy rocks, etc., but such large-scale machinery broke down and weren't repairable. Luckily, Wang Ling was fast and gave up on defending the northern side, and reorganizing 10 thousand cavalry back into the camp, all their troops turned southwards to defend.
The Zhao army attacked wave after wave; their relentless assault seemed too much for the 30 thousand Qin troops, and they looked like they couldn't hold off any longer. Just at this moment, the shouts of 70 thousand men sounded out from the stone wall side, as the Qin army was surrounded on both sides by the red flood.
Wang Ling took out his sword and jumped out of the moat, shouting, "Brothers! Fight to the death! Kill them!" In an instant, all the Qin soldiers gave up on their machines and jumped out of the moat, waving their swords and spears while starting to fight head on.
Unfortunately, however, much courage couldn’t overcome the huge difference in numbers.
For this battle, Di Chen and the others had risked much, bringing their most elite soldiers. 40 thousand player troops along with the 30 thousand Zhao army at the Gu Pass were like soldiers that descended from heaven as they attacked the northern side of the camp.
The northern side at this moment was defenseless, as Wang Ling was forced to give it up due to the pressure from Zhang Kuo's army. Seeing the enemy charge in from the north, they were too late to defend and were now boxed in.
The emergency call from the northern side was something that Wang Ling could only helplessly ignore as there was nothing he could do. He could only watch on as the northern side of the camp was breached.
Di Chen and the others stood on top of the Gu Pass and looked on at the battle, all of them filled with confidence. In truth, the battle was happening as they had expected.
Be it the Qin Army or the Zhao Army, they were equally strong with elite equipment, and both were fearless and vicious.
The last straw that destroyed the Wang Ling camp was the 40 thousand player forces. Their addition was like a fierce lion, under Zhan Lang's leadership, they wielded the swords and spears in their hands and charged straight into the forces of Wang Ling, slaughtering them and taking life after life.
Seeing his men fall one after another, Wang Ling hollered.
When Baiqi was the leader of thousands, Wang Ling led hundreds of cavalry; since then he had been the cavalry general of the Qin Army. When Baiqi sent out a trump card, he would definitely choose Wang Ling as he was flexible and fearless.
The situation at hand was a close combat battle, the Qin army's only choice was to fight to the death until reinforcements arrive. Wang Ling's intelligence and flexibility wasn't of any use now.
When Huan He's forces arrived to assist, Wang Ling's forces neared total destruction with very little remaining.
Zhao Kuo commanded the troops atop of a hill nearby, and upon seeing the reinforcements, he laughed coldly. He ordered the troops who came from Gu Pass to continue to destroy the forces of Wang Ling to open up a path between the main force and Gu Pass.
At the same time, he ordered the troops that he brought to turn around to face Huan He's forces. After a morning of battle, the 150 thousand force was left with 120 thousand men. Even so, he was confident in stopping Huan He.
Zhao Kuo ordered his troops to get into formation to get ready for Huan He's forces. The cavalry temporarily backed off to the back of the formation and were getting ready to go together with the infantry to pincer Huan He's cavalry.
After the failure last time, Zhao Kuo had grown more mature. His plan and formation was strict and detailed, not leaving any chance for the enemy.
Seeing their formation, Huan He frowned. He knew that even if he broke through, Wang Ling's forces had a high chance of being destroyed. The best choice would be to retreat.
However once he thought about how Wang Ling was still defending hard and also about the thousands of brothers waiting for him to save them, Huan He could only leave all his worries and his only action was a fight to the death.
If Huan He was relying purely on his 50 thousand troops, he had totally no confidence in succeeding. But luckily for him, he had 20 thousand elite player cavalry behind him.
With the 74 thousand elite cavalry against the 120 thousand Zhao troops that had just fought a large battle, Huan He was confident in being able to save Wang Ling.
The horn that signaled the battle to the death sounded out as the cavalry charged forwards fearlessly.
The horn spread through the Dongcang Valley, and when the Wang Ling troops heard the familiar horn, they were on the verge of crying. They knew that reinforcements had finally arrived.
Only Wang Feng frowned as he thought about it sadly. "The reinforcements are too late; they won't make a difference."
When Ouyang Shuo rushed to the battlefield and saw the situation, he felt the same as what Huan He felt. The only difference was he noticed that amongst the sea of red attacking Wang Ling's forces, there was a thick black stream. Needless to say, they were definitely the player forces from the Zhao camp.
The scene in front of him definitely shocked him. Luckily he had already made the mental preparations, and seeing it happen, he sighed.
Seeing the army blow the horn, Ouyang Shuo didn't have much time to think and just followed the army and charged towards Zhao Kuo's forces.
Ouyang Shuo was thinking that even if they didn't manage to save Wang Ling, they had to destroy Zhao Kuo's forces.
Just at that moment, Huan He's orders were passed. He ordered the player cavalry force to intercept Zhao army's 40 thousand cavalry while he led 50 thousand cavalry to attack Zhao Kuo's troops.
The commander Shi Wanshui didn't hesitate and immediately ordered them to cut in from the right to intercept the 40 thousand cavalry.
This was the first time that the Shanhai city cavalry fought against an elite cavalry force. This was the best time to test the troops, and Ouyang Shuo wasn't sure what the outcome would be.
This time, the ones leading the charge was the 2nd regiment of the 1st division. General E'Lai rode on Luosha, and was at the front of the force.
The 2nd regiment was a heavy armored cavalry force, and could be said to be the strongest armored cavalry in the cold weapons era. Under the leadership of Er'Lai and Lin Yi, they were like an iron flood which collided with the enemy.
Ever since the Zhao started using the lighter armored cavalry, cavalry had been their stronger soldier type. They wore lighter and tighter leather armor, and were equipped with crescent knives.
With the light armored cavalry facing the heavy armored cavalry, especially when both sides have enough charging distance, the outcome was obvious.
The 2nd regiment was like a hammer which smashed a bloody path in the Zhao’s cavalry force.
Following this path, the Guards unit followed closely behind and destroyed the cavalry who tried to stop the second regiment, making the blood path wider and wider.
Ouyang Shuo followed beside the Guards regiment, using the Tianmo spear and showing off the strengths of the Yang Family spear technique. The bloodthirst specialty of the spear was activated and a demonic red glow emanated from it.
Seeing their Marquis being so magnificent, Shanhai city cavalry's morale was raised.
Following the hole that was created, the young General Luo Shixin led the 4th regiment and the independent regiment, and charged in.
Seeing Shanhai City's soldiers show their might, Zhang Liao, who was commanding in the center wasn't any worse, and he ordered the 14 thousand alliance soldiers to follow up and expand their advantage.
Just like that, the elite Zhao cavalry was, because of their arrogance, taught a huge lesson.
Be it Zhao Kuo who was commanding from the hill or Huan He who was leading his troops to attack, they were shocked to see such a scene. Obviously they weren't expecting the player force to have such strong combat ability.
Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, as they might actually break through and assist Wang Ling, this wasn't what he wanted. He hollered, "Cavalry, follow me!"
Zhao Kuo's 1000 man cavalry were all first rate warriors who were all highly skilled. The war horses that they used were also very rare and near extinct.
They were like a whirlwind which charged down the hill, and they rushed to block the 2nd regiment.
A traditional heavy armored cavalry like the 2nd regiment had really obvious strengths and weaknesses. Once they went ahead, they were unstoppable. The weakness would be that they could turn and their flexibility was bad. They had already slowed down, and facing the thousand man cavalry force led by Zhao Kuo, they were at a disadvantage.