Chapter 754 - Spiral-style Cavalry Tactic
The battle between Li Mu's cavalry and the Heavy Armored Mountain Barbarian Infantry Division was like a clash between the sharpest spear and the strongest shield. Especially on the narrow mountain path, it was a massive test of the technical ability of both sides.
The cavalry forces stabbed into the mountain barbarian formation like a sharp knife. With their exquisite riding skills, they made the mountainous terrain look like flat ground.
"Block!" The mountain barbarian major on the front row ordered.
With a 'Shua!' many exquisitely crafted steel shields were raised up, forming shield walls at the front. They stacked up three layers, resulting in a wall that was even half a meter taller than a horse's head.
There was a black leopard carved into the outer portion of the shield, looking cold as ice under the rays of the sun. Behind the shield, there would be a mountain barbarian who held onto a war axe in his other hand, using all his energy to hold up the shield.
As they were hurried into the battle, the entire formation process was not that smooth. If one looked closer, they would be able to see the sweat on the palms on the mountain barbarians and the popping out veins on their foreheads.
They were both nervous and excited.
'Hong!'
The high speed charging cavalry was like tanks, crashing into the mountain barbarians on the frontlines with an unstoppable aura.
The shield wall was immediately crushed. Group after group of elite war horses leaped into the air under the instructions of their riders, jumping over the collapsed shield wall.
In mid-air, the white light from the crescent knives shone as fresh blood splattered.
The mountain barbarian soldiers who could not dodge in time were either slain or crushed into a paste.
The first line of defense was broken just like that.
The attack from the cavalry was just too sudden, and the mountain barbarians did not have any time to prepare. No matter how well trained they were, they could not instantly go from a resting mode to a battle mode.
Whilst traveling, the weapons and equipment of the soldiers were all kept.
Hence, to hurriedly prepare for battle was a difficult task.
More crucially, since they were traveling on a mountain path, the frontline was not equipped with archers. One could imagine how scary it was when the enemy cavalry charged forward without the distraction and interference of archers.
Moreover, Li Mu's cavalry was truly strong.
However, the mountain barbarian warriors were still mountain barbarians.
After that early setback, the forces at the back immediately reacted.
In such a short while, an even bigger shield formation was formed. Li Mu's cavalry could feel that the resistance from the front was evidently growing stronger and stronger.
Occasionally, they would be struck from the sides by war axes.
What was even worse was that the leading cavalry general could only see closely packed mountain barbarians and could not even see any cannons.
Wanting to break through the entire mountain barbarian defense line was pretty much an impossible task.
"Retreat!"
The leading cavalry general was extremely decisive, giving up immediately.
With his order, the well trained cavalry forces immediately changed their formations, and the frontlines became the back as they returned from the path they came from.
On such a narrow mountain path, the cavalry forces could actually totally turn around. If one did not witness it personally, they would find it hard to believe.
Li Mu's cavalry was truly worthy of its fame.
In such a short while, the enemy cavalry was like a whirlwind, coming quickly and leaving quickly. All they left in their wake was a pile of corpses.
The mountain barbarians looked on at the state of the messy battlefield then gazed toward the enemy. They could only watch on as they left; there was nothing they could do about it.
Li Mu's actions were very successful if one looked at the dejected expressions of the mountain barbarian soldiers. It sent out a clear signal: the Alliance Army does not fear the attacks of the Leopard Legion Corps!
When Han Xin received the frontline report, he muttered, "We got off on the wrong foot!" This was the first time Han Xin had witnessed Li Mu's style of fighting first hand.
In this round one of their faceoff, Li Mu had taken the lead.
After the short interruption, the troops continued forward.
A small loss would not be able to decide the outcome of the entire battle.
The true battle between the two would still be decided during the battle at Guiping Pass.
At 3 PM, the vanguard forces of the 1st legion, the Heavy Armored Mountain Barbarian Infantry Division, finally arrived outside Guiping Pass, and they set up camp.
Compared to the mountain path, the land in front of the pass was far more spacious. It was a total of 30 meters wide. Even so, it was still too narrow for the huge army.
The mountain barbarians panted; they sent deadly stares toward the stronghold in front of them as they started to form up.
In an hour, the various divisions arrived at the frontlines. The entire army stretched for 10 miles, but the ones that could truly threaten the fortress was only the 1st division.
The remaining four divisions were there to just look on.
After they moved into their formations, the P1 Type Cannons were finally pushed to the front and unveiled. The moment they were shown, they were instantly guarded by the mountain barbarian soldiers.
On the city wall, Li Mu looked at the cannons in the enemy formation with a rather complicated expression.
The cavalry sneak attack had not obtained the desired results. When he got the news, Li Mu knew that he was about to face a tough task.
Now, it was time to see if the second strategy he had planned would work.
...
As the cannons fired, the following battle scene was an exact carbon copy of what happened when the 2nd legion attacked Xuanwu Pass. Under the cannon fire, the Alliance Army in the pass had no way to fight back.
The only difference was that Han Xin ordered them to directly blow apart the Guiping Pass city gates. Under the heavy cannon fire, the giant city gates were left with many holes in them.
Han Xin was extremely sure that Li Mu would not easily give up on attacking the cannons. Hence, he would rather destroy the city gates right away than give the enemy a chance to sneak attack from it.
As expected, less than half an hour later, the Li Mu cavalry charged out once more. Compared to the last sneak attack, the scale this time was much greater, and it seemed like they had sent all they had.
The large cavalry army charged out of the wreckage of the city gates.
"Get ready!"
The moment the Li Mu cavalry showed themselves, the cannon fire immediately stopped.
If eight cannons fired at the same time, they would definitely cause damage to the cavalry. But it definitely would not stop them from charging to the front.
Although the P1 Type Cannon was modified by the No.7 Research Institute, its firing speed was still inferior to crossbows and even bows.
With such a short distance, the cannons could only fire once. How much damage could one round of cannon fire from eight cannons even cause?
At the current stage, only the infantry or more accurately put, the heavy armored infantry, could face the cavalry. Moreover, the Heavy Armored Mountain Barbarian Infantry were the best of the best.
The mountain barbarians had been lying in wait, ready for this battle; they quickly formed up in front of the cannons.
This time, they were prepared, and they were determined to make the enemy pay a blood price. After a few losses against them, the mountain barbarians hated the Li Mu cavalry.
"Come jerks, your grandfather will show you his strength!" The mountain barbarians were pumped.
Moreover, the bowmen planned by Han Xin were behind them.
This strategy was exactly the same as the one Zhang Han took. There was only one difference - Han Xin could not arrange cavalry on the sides due to space constraints.
Would a similar scene replay itself?
Han Xin looked at the Li Mu cavalry charging over, his brows locked tight. He definitely did not think that Li Mu would be so dumb to follow the strategy Yan Liang tried to use to destroy the cannons.
He definitely had a scheme.
Compared to Yan Liang, Li Mu was a strategic master.
What happened next proved that Han Xin's conjecture was correct.
After they charged out, they did not spread out following conventional tactics. Instead, they maintained their formation and moved in a narrow formation like an arrowhead.
Weirdly, after they broke through the 1st line of defense, they did not proceed. Instead, they split into two and turned toward the two wings.
The cavalry following them followed the hole that was formed and launched their second round of assault. After breaking the second line of defense, they too turned toward the two wings.
This process was repeated.
The entire cavalry force was like a drill. With lightning quick speed, they bore a hole into the mountain barbarian formation.
At the same time, the cavalry that went to the sides blocked the mountain barbarians from filling up the void and maintained this hole.
Needless to say, this strategy was designed by Li Mu specifically to destroy the cannons.
"How bold!"
The mountain barbarians in the formation hollered. Such humiliation made it feel like their dignity was being trampled on.
The mountain barbarian soldiers that reacted quickly moved toward the middle, cornering the cavalry that broke to the sides and killing them.
To cause more efficient damage, the mountain barbarians chose to give up the shields in their hands, chopping down at the legs of the horses. The moment a soldier was flung off their horse, they would be chopped into pieces.
In just a short amount of time, the Li Mu cavalry suffered heavy losses.
On the other side, the spiral-type attack tactic of Li Mu was working miraculously.
In less than 10 minutes, they had totally broken through the defensive formation. Two P1 Type Cannons were revealed in front of the cavalry.
The fate of the cannons went as expected.
Under the strikes of the cavalry, the two cannons were destroyed on the spot.
However, they still were not satisfied. The cavalry behind still wanted to follow the breach to attack the cannons on the two sides to destroy all eight of them.
Unfortunately, the strong mountain barbarians would not give them the chance.
The further they went in, the longer their formation was stretched. This meant that more and more of them were exposed. With that, the cavalry at the back was unable to spread to the sides.
Before they could even spread out, they were hacked down.
After the cavalry soldiers destroyed the two cannons, the mountain barbarians were furious to the max as they blocked up the breach from both sides.
The entire battlefield was like a pocket, and the mountain barbarian soldiers stitched up the pocket that had opened. Unknowingly, the entire cavalry army was mixed up with the mountain barbarians and tangled together.