Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Another light cavalry force blocked their path from the front, but Li Shifu led his heavy cavalry to charge forward, crushing the Western Xia light cavalry with overwhelming force.

The nine hundred Iron Falcons that Richard had brought in later were originally meant to surround and kill Yue Fei, but now three hundred of them were sent to block him.

They thought three hundred men would be enough; what was there to fear about cavalrymen in cloth armor?

"Heavy armor! These are heavy cavalry!"

After the battle began, the Iron Falcon officers screamed in terror.

Seeing that the three hundred Iron Falcons had been routed, and that Yang Yizhong and Yang Jin were leading their elite cavalry,

After defeating the Western Xia light cavalry that circled around to the flank and rear of his central army, Richard finally panicked.

He ordered more infantry to retreat in formation, while he himself led the central army forward to reinforce the rear infantry formation, thus ensuring his own safety.

Yue Fei was still chasing the Iron Falcons. In the process of avoiding battle and fleeing, the Iron Falcons' formation was completely disrupted, and they were unable and dared not turn around to fight.

Yue Fei, Xu Qing, and Wang Gui chased after the iron hawk, gradually nibbling away at it.

The Western Xia light cavalry around them dared not look at the charging enemy; they were terrified and only dared to shoot arrows at the Ming cavalry from a distance.

Fang Dangqili didn't know how far he had fled. At first, he hadn't intended to flee; he had only led his troops to temporarily avoid battle.

But in a confused state, it turned into a rout, completely unable to organize an attack, and they didn't even dare to stop their escape for a moment.

He looked back again and saw that his Iron Falcons had been cut into several pieces by the Ming army.

The Ming cavalry general leading the charge was pursuing them closely with over a hundred elite cavalrymen.

His own cavalrymen were killed one after another on horseback.

Yue Fei led his troops closer and closer, while Fang Dangqili's remaining iron hawks...

Finally, they were so frightened that they scattered and fled, hoping only to leave the battlefield alive.

Only a handful of people remained by Fang Dangqili's side.

Yue Fei's warhorse accelerated again, and the iron hawks in front of him all dodged, leaving only Fang Dangqili alone.

Yue Fei closed in and thrust out with his spear, but Fang Dangqili unexpectedly countered with a counter-attack.

In a swift dodge, Yue Fei spurred his horse forward. He sheathed his spear, drew his iron mace, and struck Fang Dangqili squarely on the left shoulder.

Fang Dangqili felt as if half of his body had been smashed, and he was slumped on the horse's back, unable to sit up straight.

Yue Fei slowed his horse slightly and swung out another iron mace.

Fang Dangqili vomited blood and collapsed unconscious, hanging from the horse's back. His internal organs were crushed, and he was unlikely to survive.

"Form ranks and charge back!"

Yue Fei shouted.

The elite cavalry led by Yue Fei, Wang Gui, Xu Qing, Yang Yizhong, and Yang Jin, along with the heavy cavalry led by Li Shifu.

Chapter 3752 Iron Falcon's Defeat

They charged in from all sides one after another towards the personal cavalry and iron hawks that Richard had dispatched.

They didn't even have a chance to escape; they were completely surrounded and annihilated.

Richard was helpless; he had no fresh troops left to use.

Although the Western Xia cavalry numbered over 30,000, most of them were tribal cavalry.

With the Iron Falcons defeated, they proved utterly useless against the Ming Dynasty's elite troops!

Even before the Iron Falcons were defeated and fled, they had been routed countless times by the Ming cavalry, each time only to run far away and then come back to shoot arrows.

As for the infantry, they were even less useful. Apart from shooting down the Ming Dynasty's grassland cavalry, they could only stand there and watch for the rest of the time.

They dared not move around much; if they did, their formation would be disrupted and the entire army might collapse.

Richard now has only a thousand or so personal cavalrymen left, as well as a few Iron Falcons who have managed to escape back from the gaps in the infantry formation.

He was protected by tens of thousands of infantrymen, but was also surrounded by Ming troops.

The Ming cavalry were unable to break through the infantry formation for a time, but Richard was also unable to continue fighting and did not even dare to order a retreat.

The Western Xia light cavalry still numbered over 20,000 on the battlefield, but most of them had fled far to the outskirts of the battlefield, completely unaware of how to fight against the Ming Dynasty's elite and heavy cavalry.

Perhaps this is the secret behind how a thousand Jin cavalrymen could wipe out tens of thousands of Liao and Western Xia armies.

Faced with fully armed armored cavalry, even a large number of light cavalry from the grasslands would be useless.

The battlefield seemed to suddenly fall silent.

Richard's infantry formation was there, but the Ming cavalry did not charge into it. Instead, they lined up and guarded various parts of the battlefield, searching for wounded soldiers and the bodies of the dead to bring back.

The steppe cavalry, who were allied with the Ming Dynasty, focused on collecting arrows in a safe area.

They repeatedly harassed the Western Xia army formation with loose formations, and had almost run out of arrows.

These people had special sticks with a hook at the end, which they could use to crouch down and retrieve arrows while riding a horse.

By the Ming Dynasty, bow tips had also begun to have hooks, eliminating the need for special arrow-collecting tools. This hook was particularly noticeable on the tip of the Kaiyuan bow.

Richard's side was also reorganizing its troops, especially the personal guards and Iron Falcons who had escaped back to their positions.

The Western Xia light cavalry, who had fled to the outskirts of the battlefield, gradually gathered towards the flanks and rear, but dared not get too close to the Ming cavalry.

The auxiliary cavalrymen helped the heavy cavalrymen dismount, stand still to allow their horses to recover their strength, and even take the time to feed them water and salt.

The elite cavalry also dismounted, keeping a close watch on the movements of the Western Xia light cavalry.

Both sides are waiting.

The Ming army was waiting to recover their strength and gather more arrows.

Then send the light cavalry from the grasslands to shoot arrows and disrupt the formation of the Western Xia infantry. Once an opportunity is seized, the elite cavalry and heavy cavalry will charge.

So what is Richard waiting for?

He was waiting for the 8,000 light cavalry sent to raid and breach the Ming army's rear castle.

Destroy the siege cannons that are there, and burn the grain and fodder piled up in the castle.

In this great battle, Richard was doomed to lose due to the crushing defeat of the Western Xia cavalry.

However, if he could destroy the Ming army's artillery and supplies, he could retreat to Wulahai City and hold it to the death.

If the raid to capture the city fails, Richard will even abandon Wulahai City and lead his cavalry to flee back to Keyimen.

The Ming army had gained a huge advantage, but Yang Yizhong was furious.

Chapter 3753 Too Useless

He lamented that he wasn't brave enough; when he saw the iron hawk charging towards him, his first reaction was to create distance and run away.

If Iron Falcon had been brave and daring, and Yang Jin and Yue Fei hadn't rushed to his rescue...

Yang Yizhong's 1500 elite cavalrymen were rendered useless and would inevitably be surrounded and unable to escape.

He also complained that the Iron Falcon was too useless, just a showpiece, and didn't dare to relentlessly chase after them.

If he had known this would happen, why would he have bothered running? He would have just charged straight at the Iron Falcon.

With Yang Jin, Yue Fei, and Li Shifu constantly following up, Yang Yizhong only needed to dare to charge the Iron Falcons.

If they swept over there, the Western Xia infantry formation would probably be broken, and Richard wouldn't have had time to redeploy his troops.

However, he dared not charge at the time, which resulted in two hundred Ming cavalrymen being cut off by the enemy while fleeing. After a bloody battle, only thirty-odd riders managed to escape.

Those were all his soldiers, each one brave and fearless. The more Yang Yizhong thought about it, the more guilty he felt.

Yang Jin was thinking something similar; he had been sent to meet Yang Yizhong.

But when he saw Iron Falcon, he didn't dare to charge head-on. He subconsciously kept his distance and went around to meet up with Yang Yizhong.

Yang Jin thought to himself that if he had dared to charge back then, he would have already made a great contribution by now.

Damn it, that bunch of trash from the Iron Falcons actually managed to intimidate me!

……

After an unknown amount of time, Han Shizhong summoned the tribal chiefs and said, "You will take turns feigning attacks and shooting arrows to disrupt the enemy's formation. The task of breaking through the formation will be left to the Ming Iron Cavalry."

"If we win this battle, all the captured Western Xia armor will be distributed among the various tribes according to their merits. Neither Protector Yue nor I will take a single piece, including the Iron Falcon armor!"

These words greatly boosted the morale of the tribal chiefs.

While the Ming cavalry were rampaging through the land, various tribes on the grasslands were also fighting, dragging down the Western Xia infantry and tens of thousands of light cavalry.

And thus suffered heavy losses, especially from the powerful crossbowmen of the Western Xia.

Nearly a thousand soldiers have been killed in action, and many wounded soldiers urgently need medical treatment.

With casualties exceeding 10%, the cavalry units were even reluctant to fight anymore.

They certainly didn't dare to retreat directly, but planned to use their skills to conserve their strength in the upcoming battles.

But now I want to fight again.

Because all the captured armor, including the Iron Falcon armor, was distributed to them.

Under Han Shizhong's arrangement, the cavalry from various grassland tribes were divided into units of one hundred men each.

They charged forward in sparse formations, one wave after another, firing an arrow when they were about ten paces away and then retreating.

They specifically targeted the Western Xia infantry who were under-armored!

The Ming Dynasty's elite cavalry and heavy cavalry mounted their horses to protect the cavalry of various tribes on the grasslands.

If the Western Xia cavalry dared to obstruct them, the Ming iron cavalry would immediately charge forward.

Round after round of arrows flew out, and the Western Xia infantry formation visibly fell into disarray.

No matter how strong the Western Xia crossbowmen were, they only numbered three thousand. The chieftains of the various grassland tribes all carefully avoided them, not wanting to even come near those crossbowmen.

Of course, the Western Xia also had other archers, but mounted archers were at a disadvantage against infantry archers, and the various tribes on the grasslands suffered even greater losses from being shot.

Let's see who gives up first!

Yue Fei, commanding his troops, stood on the outer right flank of the Western Xia army. He had a clearer view than Han Shizhong and suddenly sent a flag signal to Han Shizhong.

Han Shizhong immediately responded with a flag signal, allowing Yue Fei to decide the timing of the battle and giving Yue Fei unified command of the right-wing troops.

Chapter 3754 Cavalry Clash

Yue Fei immediately summoned the nearby generals, including those under Han Shizhong.

After giving instructions, Yang Jin's elite cavalry divided into four teams and launched the first attack.

They charged in alternating waves with the steppe cavalry, ignoring the rest of the enemy forces, and repeatedly feinted charges and fired arrows at one of the less armored groups.

Yang Yizhong and Wang Gui led their troops to move westward to prevent the Western Xia light cavalry from rushing over and causing trouble.

Li Shifu's heavy cavalry advanced several dozen paces, waiting for an opportunity to charge directly into the enemy lines.

Xu Qing led his troops in the area between various units, providing support when danger arose and launching attacks to expand the gains when opportunities presented themselves.

The Western Xia infantry that was targeted by the Ming army was the "Capture the Life" army that Richard brought from the Chaoshun Military Command.

Normally, when the soldiers were first conscripted into the army, each person was given a horse and a camel.

Their ancestors also possessed armor issued by the Western Xia court, mostly leather armor.

A few are armored, and are maintained by the family from generation to generation.

Every so often, their armor and weapons must be inspected to ensure they are in good condition.

Their warhorses died, and they had to find a way to replace them themselves.

If their armor was damaged, the inspectors would fine them, and the imperial court would allocate funds to replace it, essentially using the fines to purchase armor.

These rules were very strict decades ago, but are no longer taken seriously.

In particular, many tribes in the surrounding counties and prefectures of Xingqing Prefecture have switched to farming.

More and more of the captured soldiers there were unwilling to pay for their own military horses.

The imperial court could only accept the status quo and even stopped issuing horses to new recruits, gradually turning them into infantry.