Song Xiu

Chapter 88 A Hundred Riders Charge into the Camp
The scorching summer sun weighed heavily on the Han army camp, and even more so on the hearts of every auxiliary soldier within.

Most of the elite troops in the army had abandoned the main camp and left, leaving only a few thousand weak and disabled auxiliary soldiers to "guard" the main camp.

Under the scorching sun, looking at the scattered flags on the ground, thousands of Han auxiliary soldiers leaned listlessly against the camp gate.

A somber atmosphere was rapidly enveloping the entire Han army camp.

Tens of thousands of Song soldiers are about to attack; how can they possibly withstand them?
In the somber atmosphere, the entire Han army camp was deathly silent.

This unsettling silence was soon broken by the clear neighing of horses coming from afar.

The neighing of horses sounded like deadly drumbeats, startling the many auxiliary soldiers in the camp, who turned pale.

Some auxiliary soldiers mustered their courage and stood up to look outside.

When their view passed beyond the cover of the camp, the auxiliary soldiers witnessed a scene they would never forget:
A young general clad in black armor rode his steed through the sunlight. He pointed his long sword forward, and the hundred or so elite cavalry behind him immediately drew their bows and arrows in perfect unison.

Who else could this young general be but Zhao Dexiu?

Under Zhao Dexiu's personal command, more than a hundred elite cavalrymen from Chanzhou, relying on their superior horsemanship, steered their warhorses across the undefended barricades.

After crossing the barricades, these hundred-odd elite cavalrymen were only a few dozen steps away from the Han camp gate.

This distance was enough for over a hundred elite cavalrymen to shoot down the Han soldiers on the camp walls.

Under the terrified gazes of the Han army auxiliary soldiers, Zhao Dexiu coldly swung down his long sword.

As the longsword drew a cold, gleaming arc in the air, over a hundred arrows shot out from behind Zhao Dexiu in the next instant.

As hundreds of elite cavalry from Chanzhou leaped over the barricades, cries of alarm rang out in the ears of the many Han auxiliary soldiers who had not yet risen.

"They are Song Dynasty cavalry!"

Before the many Han soldiers hiding behind the camp wall could react, the shouts of surprise abruptly stopped.

Then came a series of "thump" sounds.

Each thud usually indicates that a gruesome corpse has fallen to the ground.

Each fallen corpse had a white-feathered arrow stuck in it, stained with blood.

Some auxiliary soldiers did not die immediately after falling to the ground.

They pressed their hands against their bleeding wounds, writhing and groaning in agony on the ground.

The rolling motion exacerbated the outflow of blood from their bodies, and as large amounts of blood flowed onto the ground, the faces of many surviving auxiliary soldiers were already distorted.

The thought of those who had died tragically, who had been alive and talking to them not long ago, filled the auxiliary soldiers with uncontrollable fear.

As piercing cries rang out, the surviving auxiliary soldiers tumbled down the camp wall in a disheveled state and ran wildly into the camp.

At this moment, the camp gates guarding the rear of the Han army were no longer a threat.

Under the relentless slashing of over a hundred elite cavalrymen from Chanzhou, many gaps gradually appeared in the Han army camp.

Using those gaps, Zhao Dexiu led over a hundred elite cavalry from Chanzhou straight into the Han army camp.

After entering the camp, Zhao Dexiu brandished his sword and shouted:
"Drive them away!"

Zhao Dexiu issued the highest order for this attack on the camp.

After leading his troops out of the camp, Zhao Dexiu learned the latest military intelligence from the scouts:

Most of the elite Han troops had left the camp and retreated, leaving only the elderly, weak, and auxiliary soldiers to guard the camp gate.

Upon learning of this military intelligence, Zhao Dexiu devised a targeted tactic. Due to the Han army's rapid retreat and the existing distance between the Song and Han army camps, even with the strong fighting spirit of the more than three thousand Crane Controlling Army soldiers, it was difficult for them to catch up with the main force of the Han army in a short period of time.

Moreover, even if the Song army manages to march quickly and catch up with the Han army, the Han army ahead, upon hearing that the Song army is charging at them with reckless abandon, will surely speed up their march again.

The potential that people unleash in order to escape on the battlefield is enormous.

Its potential is so great that "a thousand elite cavalrymen cannot catch up with a single donkey cart".

In order for the three thousand crane-controlling soldiers to catch up with the majority of the Han army, there was only one best way: "to let the donkey carts chase after the donkey carts."

After charging into the enemy camp, more than a hundred cavalrymen from Chanzhou surged forward like a dark, raging torrent through the Han army's camp.

Under Zhao Dexiu's orders, they did not focus on killing deserters.

As they charged into the heart of the camp, they fired arrows incessantly, constantly fueling the fear of the fleeing Han soldiers at the front.

The actions of over a hundred elite cavalrymen from Chanzhou kept the Han army deserters constantly on the brink of life and death.

To the fleeing Han auxiliary soldiers, the hundred or so cavalrymen behind them looked like soul-reaping messengers bursting out of a rift in hell.

Every shout they uttered caused a tremor in their own souls, and every swing of their blades easily took away a vibrant life.

The intense, suffocating pressure emanating from behind had completely shattered the Han soldiers' reason; they had only one thought in their minds:
"escape!
"Escape as fast as you can!"

The rout will trigger a chain reaction.

As the elite cavalry from Chanzhou penetrated deeper into the main camp, more and more auxiliary soldiers faced the threat of death. Under the influence of the initial group of deserters, the rout within the Han army camp continued to grow like a snowball.

On the other side of the camp, there were Han troops with combat capabilities.

One unit was a trusted force of Liu Jiye, and because of this relationship, they were arranged to be the last to evacuate.

As the commander of this unit, Wang Gui was furious after hearing about the shocking changes that had occurred in the camp.

"With only a hundred or so cavalrymen, they broke through our entire camp?"
"A mere hundred or so cavalrymen dare to chase after our tens of thousands of troops?"

Feeling increasingly humiliated, Wang Gui ordered his troops to form ranks.

The Yang family army was disciplined. Even at the critical moment of evacuation, once the order was given, thousands of Yang family soldiers faithfully carried it out.

Wang Gui, who died alongside Yang Ye in history, was certainly not lacking in courage.

But when it comes to marching and fighting, courage alone is not enough.

Just as the thousand-plus Yang family soldiers finished lining up, before they even saw the hundred-plus Chanzhou cavalry, a large number of panicked and fleeing figures appeared in Wang Gui's eyes.

Wang Gui's eyes instantly shifted from anger to terror.

As the camp continued to grow, the number of defeated soldiers had reached several thousand.

Such a large number of fleeing soldiers was enough to form an irresistible and swift torrent, breaking through any obstacles in their path of escape.

Before Wang Gui could react, the swiftly arriving torrent surged into the Yang family army's formation with a "whoosh," shattering their ranks.

When formations crumble and soldiers are separated, any powerful army faces only one way to survive—joining the fleeing army.

No matter how desperately Wang Gui shouted, every military order he issued was forcefully suppressed amidst the wailing and screaming.

If the disciplined Yang family army was like this, what about the tens of thousands of Han soldiers at the front?

As Zhao Dexiu led over a hundred soldiers from Chanzhou out of the camp gate, the bugle call of three thousand Crane Control Army soldiers had already sounded on the other side of the camp.

Sharpening the knives, ready to slaughter pigs and sheep!
(End of this chapter)