Chapter 354: The Fearsome Iron Cloak Li!
"Our time to attack has come!" Hearing the commotion behind, Wang Chong knew that his trap had worked its wonders.
"Dual Arrow Formation! Charge!" As soon as these words were shouted, the forty cavalrymen came to a halt at the same moment, leaving behind a gap of silence in the air.
To the highwaymen, this silence felt particularly unnerving, like the calm before the storm.
Hong long!
The forty-two cavalrymen suddenly turned around. Arranging themselves swiftly into the Dual Arrow Formation before, they began charging toward the remaining highwaymen and bandits behind the pit.
Hong long long!
A deafening rumble trembled the ground as the forty-two cavalrymen stormed ferociously into the chaotic formation of the Iron Cloak Highwaymen.
There were no words that could describe the astounding sight as many highwaymen were knocked flying into the air, and even towering steeds were shoved to the side.
"Be careful!"
"The cavalrymen are here!"
"Block them!"...
Wretched screams that were intermixed with despair echoed down the main path. Looking at the young figure leading the charge from the front, fear and panic surfaced in the eyes of the highwaymen and bandits.
It was that young man again!
In the past few hours, over two hundred of their brothers had already died at the hands of the Great Tang cavalrymen under his command. Furthermore, the casualties included respected experts such as Hu Lang, as well!
On top of that, despite the multiple battles that they had been through, it seemed like the troops under the young man's command had only suffered minimal damage.
In the face of such a seemingly infallible opponent, even the most brutal and fearless highwaymen felt deeply apprehensive.
Hong long long!
Men were knocked flying, horses were flipped over, and heads and severed limbs danced amidst splattered crimson blood in the air. Just like many times before, Wang Chong's troops pierced through the Iron Cloak Highwaymen's forces easily once again.
But unlike the many times before, there were two sharp edges piercing through the highwaymen's formation this time around.
This formation had allowed Wang Chong to maximize the area of their charge, and destroy even more enemies in their path.
Once, twice...
The Great Tang cavalrymen swiftly reorganized their formation at the other end before launching another charge back at the highwaymen. The same tragic sight unfolded yet again, and the highwaymen's morale, which was at its peak just a moment ago, crumbled into nothing.
Furthermore, it was at the hands of an enemy whom they outnumbered more than two to one.
From the start, cavalry was never required to equal their opponents in terms of strength. As long as they could tear through the latter's formation repeatedly and crush their morale, victory would be theirs to claim.
Having spent half of his life as the Great Marshall on the battlefield, Wang Chong had commanded innumerable troops, so he couldn't be any clearer of the distinctive traits that cavalry possessed.
If one could utilize their cavalry well on the battlefield, they could turn the tides of battle and lead an army to victory.
Highwaymen who didn't even know the slightest thing about military tactics would never be able to understand this.
"We succeeded!" Seeing the defeated highwaymen in the area, Bai Siling was delighted. Had it been in the past, she would have never believed that she would be able to win such a disadvantageous battle, and without a single casualty at that.
This was the first time Bai Siling had witnessed the incredible potential that cavalrymen wielded, and this experience would surely influence her deeply in the future.
"This is great! Gongzi, we managed to defeat them!" Ma Song was excited beyond words.
As a veteran who had served in the military for over a decade, Ma Song had followed many different commanders and participated in numerous wars.
The fight on this battlefield could hardly count as the most intense and dangerous fight he had ever been in. On the treacherous battlefields, he could easily find countless battles which were even more dangerous than this.
No matter how powerful the highwaymen were, they couldn't possibly compare to official armies!
But nevertheless, there wasn't a single commander in the past who left a deeper impression on him than the young man before him.
Despite fighting against an enemy that outnumbered them more than tenfold, the young commander was still able to lead them to victory while suffering minimal casualties.
With his deep knowledge of cavalry warfare, he managed to draw out the full fighting potential in them. There were no commanders he knew of who could match this feat in the military.
In fact, Ma Song even felt that there might not be a single commander in Great Tang who could rival Wang Chong in the field of cavalry warfare.
Hong long long!
One after another, the highwaymen fell swiftly.
The cavalrymen Wang Chong commanded never engaged in individual battles. Instead, they devoted their strength to complement one another as a single entity and bored their way through the enemy over and over again.
More often than not, each highwayman would find himself facing not a single cavalryman, but a group of them.
Such a strategy would allow the Great Tang cavalrymen to mess up the enemy's formation, thus nerfing their strength and minimizing the damage dealt to them.
Such an outcome might seem like an unbelievable miracle to others, but it was nothing exceptional for Wang Chong.
"Lad, do you think you have won?" Just as everyone was in the midst of cheering in delight, a fearsome voice that seemed to have originated from the depths of hell suddenly echoed in everyone's ears.
Those who heard the voice abruptly felt a bone-chilling intent, as well as a strong sense of danger and uneasiness.
In that instant, it seemed as if even the air had frozen solid.
Weng!
Amid a cloud of billowing dust, a towering figure emerged from the deep pit.
The dusty air seemed to distort around the figure. An irrepressible killing intent was fused with his presence, commanding fear from those around him.
What was even more striking was that pair of frigid and malevolent eyes, belonging more to demons than men.
"This is bad!" Wang Chong immediately realized that something was going to happen and shouted a warning, "Everyone, be careful!"
But the demon was even faster than Wang Chong.
Neighhh!
No one saw how that man moved, but by the time anyone could register what had just happened, he was already standing right before one of the cavalrymen.
his powerful shoulders crashed heavily into the powerfully-built war steed of the cavalryman, and the horse’s tendons and bones instantaneously snapped. Under the explosive impact of the crash, the rider and the steed were sent flying violently.
Hong long!
Eventually, they fell head-first into a tree, and blood spurted from them like a waterfall. Everyone, including Wang Chong, was startled by this sight.
From the start of the battle until now, this was the first time a casualty had appeared in Wang Chong's group.
Iron Cloak Li's blow was simply too strong! That kind of explosive power didn't seem to be one that a human should possess.
"Little Li!" With a sorrowful cry, a cavalryman from the other Arrow Formation suddenly tore away from the formation and charged at Iron Cloak Li frenziedly.
"Hmph, you're courting your own death!"
Hong long! With another blow, the Great Tang cavalryman who had torn away from the formation was knocked ten zhang away into the air.
That fearsomely immense strength was truly something to behold!
Everyone was stunned!
This was the first time throughout the battle that Iron Cloak Li had revealed his overwhelming strength.
"Don't leave the formation! Advance together with your team!" Wang Chong bellowed anxiously.
This was the first time he had witnessed Iron Cloak Li's strength personally, and it was greater than what Li Cangqi had told him.
Di da da!
Of the Dual Arrow Formation, the first one who made a move was the formation Bai Siling and Ma Song were in. They were in the closest proximity to him, so they were the fastest to move as well.
"Kill him!"
The Arrow Formation formed by twenty-one Great Tang cavalrymen charged forward like a gliding steel dragon. Raising a huge cloud of dust with its movement, they swiftly charged for Iron Cloak Li.
"Hahaha..."
Sneering coldly, Iron Cloak Li gazed at the huge crowd of soldiers before him without the slightest intention of dodging at all.
At this moment, blazing rage had clouded his mind. If his killing intent could materialize, he would tear apart the heavens.
His many years of effort were ruined at the hands of a small group of merely forty soldiers.
Even his beloved crimson Ferghana steed ended up being impaled by the stakes in the pit, losing its life.
He had never suffered such humiliation since the establishment of the Iron Cloak Highwaymen.
"That damned brat!" Iron Cloak Li spat as a cracking sound echoed from his tightly clenched fists.
Veins could be seen rising from his temples, and his devastating rage seemed to materialize as a crimson hue in his eyes.
If looks could kill, Wang Chong and these Great Tang cavalrymen would have died many times over.
Since the start of the operation until this point, Iron Cloak Li had already lost more than three hundred of his subordinates, and this was completely unacceptable to him. His anger and killing intent had already hit the roof.
Today, regardless of the price he would have to pay, he would bury Wang Chong along with the forty Great Tang cavalrymen here!
Neighhh!
As the first group of charging Great Tang cavalrymen swiftly closed in on Iron Cloak Li, his clothes began to flutter from the gale raised by the momentum of the charge.
But he had no intentions of dodging at all.
Standing right in the face of the charging Great Tang cavalrymen, he slowly closed his hands instead.
Hong long long!
For that instant, time seemed to have slowed down innumerable times. Before countless gazes, a pair of sturdy and powerful hooves pierced through the cloud of dust and struck heavily on Iron Cloak Li's chest.
But as the metallic hooves collided with the body of flesh and blood, a resounding metallic reverberation sounded instead.
Iron Cloak Li stood firmly before the pit, not moving at all. On the other hand, it was the steed and the rider who was forced back instead.
Weng!
The sight left everyone flabbergasted.
"How is this possible?" That was the only thought remaining in everyone's mind before a chill crept through their veins.