Chapter 82: Wait Until the Xianbei Cavalry Comes Out, I'll Summon a Colossus!

Blue sky above, white clouds drifting leisurely.

Bright sunlight pierced through the cloud layer, scattering mottled halos of light.

Between heaven and earth, everything seemed like tranquility and beauty.

A cicada nymph emerged from the parched land, spread its wings, and let out the first chirp of its life.

A giant foot descended from the sky, black rubber sole landing, crushing the cicada's song.

More giant feet, trampling the earth, surged past.

The perspective pulled up from an insect's angle; under the sunlight, countless figures advanced in vast numbers.

Several li away, an even larger army formation stretched from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside.

"What formation is this?"

Through the telescope, the allied forces of the Di People and the Xianbei in the distance had arrayed themselves in a formation that defied common sense.

The Xianbei, renowned for their fierce cavalry, had actually abandoned the flat plains.

They pulled their men and horses up the mountain.

The Xianbei Murong Clan, whose main combat strength lay in cavalry, actually arrayed themselves with their backs to the mountain.

Such abnormal behavior, even a mediocre general would not do this.

Let alone when the commanders were Murong Ke and Murong Chui, both bearing the reputation of famous generals.

Lin Dao turned his head and instructed Sun Rong, who was guarding the logistics, "Bring a Feitian Shenluan over."

Such important supplies had always been kept by Sun Rong personally.

Installed the battery, powered on for debugging.

*Buzz~~~*

The drone rose into the air and headed straight for the mountains and rivers opposite.

This is the junction of Zhen Ding County and Yuan Shi County, Fenglong Mountain.

On the boundless great plain, the Fenglong Mountain Range, with an average height of hundreds of meters, winds and crosses like a coiled dragon.

The drone's surveillance camera in the sky turned; large batches of Di People and Xianbei covered the mountains and fields.

Lin Dao stared at the screen, fingers turning constantly operating, "Where did the Xianbei cavalry go?"

Under the camera's scan, the Xianbei cavalry could not be found.

The drone gained altitude, skimmed along the mountain valleys.

"Hiding here?"

Finally saw the Xianbei Murong Clan's cavalry.

Herds of horses gathered, large batches of soldiers sitting or standing to the side, either resting or feeding horses.

Both men and horses were unarmored.

In many film and TV dramas, both sides' troops don armor early, cavalry sit on horses, just waiting like that to fight.

Think about it — even during military training, wearing a single layer of clothes, standing for one or two hours is uncomfortable.

Let alone during war, wearing and carrying dozens of jin of armor and weapons, standing for at least one or two double-hours.

And having to constantly move or even fight and kill, the physical exertion is terrifying.

If war were really like in film and TV dramas, even doping wouldn't hold up.

In the Cold Weapon Era, real combat: foot soldiers only don armor and hold weapons right before forming battle arrays.

Cavalry only mount up right before charging the formation.

Man and horse together one or two hundred jin; under long-duration riding, where would the warhorse still have strength to charge?

"Hiding in the valley?"

Looking at the footage transmitting on the panel, Lin Dao detected the grandson's tell.

Piloted the drone for careful observation.

Sure enough, not long after, he saw a deep moat in the valley.

Many people were erecting wooden planks over the moat, then sprinkling floating soil on the planks.

Lin Dao now understood — this was aimed at the Hundred-Ton King Mining Truck.

"I see."

Arrayed with backs to the mountain, the Hundred-Ton King can't get up the mountain.

Cavalry come out of the valley to lure it a bit, the Hundred-Ton King chases into the valley.

Xianbei cavalry can tread on the wooden planks to cross the moat.

But Lin Dao's Hundred-Ton King is extremely heavy; once driven onto them it will surely snap the planks and fall in.

Once trapped in the deep pit, the Hundred-Ton King's deterrence instantly vanishes.

"This must be a scheme proposed by the Di People who participated in the Ye City Battle."

Only Di People who personally witnessed the Hundred-Ton King's power would devise such a method.

"If it were me."

Lin Dao thought carefully, "If I knew fire was useless, I would certainly arrange manpower to, after the Hundred-Ton King Mining Truck falls into the pit, shovel earth to fill it, then gallop horses to trample it flat."

"Smart people exist in every era."

Fu Hong, Murong Ke, Murong Chui are all smart people.

They know they cannot match that steel behemoth head-on, yet have no choice but to face it.

Under such circumstances, this arrangement is more or less the best choice under existing conditions.

There's also water attack, directly flooding it.

Only water attack creates too much commotion, difficult to conceal the battlefield.

Once discovered, it must be failure.

A trap hidden in a valley like this, with troops and horses on all sides blocking information.

Caught off guard, one must inevitably suffer a heavy loss.

It can be said, the temple calculations have already done their best.

The only thing not expected was that Lin Dao has a thousand-mile eye~~~

Unknown schemes and tricks are terrifying.

A scheme or trick once detected becomes a joke.

"Moat."

Lin Dao stroked his chin, "The Hundred-Ton King won't work; drive it over and it'll sink."

"On my side, what handy things are there?"

"Got it."

"Hook Machine!"

Lin Dao not only has Mining Trucks, but also scrapped Hook Machines.

After repair they can restart, at least they can be driven.

Previously Lin Dao had no plan to use them, originally thinking they'd only be useful when attacking a city.

After all, the Hook Machine's speed is too slow; not to mention dealing with cavalry, even dealing with foot soldiers running all over the mountains is difficult.

Didn't expect the Xianbei would instead actively give the Hook Machine a chance to show itself.

Lin Dao once again controlled the Drone, carefully probing this valley.

The valley is slightly steep, the ground covered with many years of accumulated dead branches and rotten leaves.

The width is somewhat narrow, yet it is extremely deep and long.

Flying along the valley for several li, the end is actually blocked by the mountain body.

Lin Dao carefully observed the Xianbei banners on the ground.

"The wind direction is blowing into the valley?"

He calmed his breath, maneuvered the Drone back.

"There's a road in heaven you don't walk; hell has no gate yet you barge in."

"You actively trap yourselves in a dead end seeking death, then you can't blame me."

With this terrain and this wind direction, not using a fire attack would be an insult to Zhuge Kongming.

Murong Ke and the others also have no choice.

This side is a boundless great plain; being able to find a mountain range is already not bad.

Fenglong Mountain is not a famous mountain and great river stretching hundreds or thousands of li.

The valley meeting the conditions is only this one.

How would they think that Lin Dao here not only has a way to break the Moat, but even has a plan to burn all their cavalry with one fire?

"Ran Min."

Lin Dao called over the Po Lu General, "You go to the front to command, lead troops to attack the mountain grounds on both sides of that valley."

"Received the order!"

Ran Min first accepted the military order, then expressed his opinion, "Great Commander, in the End Commandant's shallow view, the valley likely hides Xianbei Armored Cavalry."

"When I await the Qi Hu army to attack Fenglong Mountain, they will burst out from the valley and flank our army."

This is the tactic cavalry like most and use most often.

Enemy foot soldiers are tied down, unable to spare attention, then they charge out and flank to smash them.

Previously Ran Min lost in Zhen Ding County exactly like this; it can be called a deep impression.

"Hm."

Lin Dao nodded, "I know."

"You just lead troops to attack the mountain."

"If you see fire rise in the valley, then seal the mountain as much as possible, don't let those Xianbei Armored Cavalry in the valley escape."

Ran Min and the Generals rode out, separately commanding the Various Departments to begin attacking the mountain.

Lin Dao's side, instructed Sun Rong to bring the Large Drone, as well as a large can filled with Molotov Cocktails.

"Test Walkie-talkie."

"Hello hello, one two three."

Without that much interference, the Walkie-talkie's communication effect is very good.

"Liu Hu." Lin Dao instructed the Imperial Guard Captain, "Listen to my orders issued via Walkie-talkie."

"Must hook the Iron Hook accurately, otherwise you'll burn yourselves."

"Everyone clear some space, push it open a bit more."

"In a moment when the Xianbei cavalry come out, I'll summon the Giant Object!"

The Di People and Xianbei on the mountain, condescendingly shoot arrows.

Dense arrows fall like raindrops.

The Qi Hu army attacking upward, holding riot shields, continuously climb up.

Arrows are fine; the shields and the armor on their bodies are solid enough.

As long as they aren't shot in the unprotected arms, legs, neck, or face.

The defending army continuously pushes rocks and wood down from the mountain.

Unable to dodge in time, smashed by them, casualties gradually appear.

The various Hu tribes plaguing the Northern Lands were also normal people, and they would use any scheme or strategy they could think of.

They were not those brainless NPCs in games.

"Sun Dalang." Ran Min withdrew his gaze from the mountain slope and called over Sun Dalang, who had formally transferred from the imperial guard corps into the army as a general: "You lead the long-weapon formation to guard the flanks."

"The iron circle can be deployed now."

Ran Min determined that the Xianbei cavalry would surely sortie from the valley, so preparations had to be made in advance at this time.

Sun Dalang saluted: "I obey your command!"

Thousands of beggar soldiers began to form ranks.

They held long spears, divided into several rows to form a formation.

Some soldiers carried iron wire nets and wooden stakes forward, stretched out a long iron wire net, and fixed it with wooden stakes.

The strongmen swung their hammers with all their might, driving the wooden stakes into the ground.

On the mountain slope, Murong Ke slightly furrowed his brow and asked Fu Hong beside him: "Is this the long iron circle you spoke of?"

"Exactly."

Fu Hong said in a deep voice: "Do not underestimate these iron circles."

"They appear soft, but are in fact extremely tough. Hard to cut with a blade, hard to injure with a sword."

"They have barbs on them; once men and horses fall in, they are entangled by the iron circle's barbs and find it extremely difficult to escape."

Murong Ke nodded.

Yet he also harbored doubt in his heart: "Where did all these things come from?"

"Iron tools of such toughness could hardly be the work of a master craftsman; where did the beggar army get so many iron tools?"

His gaze swept over the beggar army attacking the mountain, his eyes revealing unconcealed envy.

The beggar army were basically all armored, and moreover in iron armor!

This was truly too enviable.

"There are rumors." Fu Hong narrowed his eyes: "The beggar commander understands immortal methods."

"Haha~~~" Murong Ke casually smiled: "Such words are just talk, no need to take them seriously."

Shaking his head, he turned to signal the guards beside him: "Pass the order, Longcheng Armored Cavalry sortie."

The low, lingering sound of a cow horn bugle rang out, and the Longcheng Armored Cavalry hidden in the valley began donning armor.

Fully armored cavalry includes both human armor and horse armor.

Human armor consists of helmet, collar armor, body armor, shoulder armor, and leg armor.

Horse armor consists of face armor, neck armor, chest armor, body armor, and rear armor.

Both human armor and horse armor are made of iron armor plates; a full set contains over three thousand plates.

It can be said they are completely steel fortresses.

Such steel fortresses appearing on the battlefield possess destructive power.

The Xianbei Murong Clan, mobilizing the entire nation's strength, merely supported a few thousand Longcheng Armored Cavalry.

In certain films and TV dramas, casually fielding tens of thousands of heavy armored cavalry only shows a lack of necessary understanding of agricultural-era productivity.

By the way, those princes, scholars, imperial princes, and great generals who hold tens of thousands of loyal heavy armored cavalry would actually cripple their own martial might over a single imperial edict.

Laughable~~~

End of Chapter