Chapter 169: Counter-Kill

"As long as you kill Yan Wang, there is a reward of ten thousand taels of silver. Charge for me!"

In front of a slightly elevated earthen mound.

Gao Man looked at the Wangfu Army surrounded by the Rich Clan private soldiers, feeling slightly smug.

In his view, he had won this battle.

Yan Wang only had one thousand men, while he had led over twelve thousand elites of the Rich Clan private soldiers this time.

Most of these private soldiers were sons of the Rich Clan, and their fighting spirit was high.

With ten times the number of the enemy, Yan Wang was doomed this time.

Now, he only needed to wait for his soldiers to kill the Wangfu Army one by one.

Gao Man's words drifted over the battlefield.

The morale of the Rich Clan private soldiers was high; amidst waves of battle cries, the Rich Clan soldiers in front, holding shields and long blades, charged toward the long spears.

They used their shields to block the thrusting long spears, while the soldiers behind them crouched low to pass under the spear shafts, using their blades to hack at the legs of the spearmen.

But in this posture, they could not exert full force, and the blades hacking at the plate armor could not wound the spearmen.

Seeing this, they bent their bodies, attempting to charge into the formation and tackle the spearmen.

But just then, suddenly, the second row of spearmen thrust their long spears toward them.

Immediately, hundreds of Rich Clan soldiers screamed and fell.

However, the Rich Clan soldiers behind them continued to rush over.

They stepped on the corpses of their companions, attempting to continue breaking the formation; between the offense and defense of both sides, they fell into a stalemate.

At the edge of the defensive line, corpses piled up continuously, more and more.

"Hold your ground for me!"

Lv Chang commanded from the middle of the circular formation.

In the time of one hour, a mountain of corpses over a meter high had piled up outside the circular formation.

The sturdy armor of the Wangfu Army gave them a huge advantage in the engagement.

The Rich Clan soldiers fell into pools of blood one after another, while their weapons could not effectively pierce the plate armor of the Wangfu Army.

But fighting is physical labor.

There were simply too many Rich Clan soldiers; the stamina of the Wangfu Army was constantly being consumed, and their movements gradually became sluggish.

Some Rich Clan soldiers, seeing that blades and swords did not cause much damage to the Wangfu Army, directly stepped on the mountain of corpses to jump into the middle of the Wangfu Army, tackling the Wangfu soldiers to the ground to grapple.

As more and more Rich Clan soldiers did this, the edge of the circular formation fell into chaos.

On the earthen mound, Gao Man's heart turned from smugness to worry, and then from worry back to smugness.

Seeing the Rich Clan soldiers suffer heavy casualties in a short time of contact, he was shocked by the combat power of Yan Wang's soldiers.

But as the saying goes, many ants can bite an elephant to death; as time passed, they began to gain the advantage.

"Charge, charge for me! The first one to break into the formation gets a reward of one thousand taels of silver," Gao Man shouted.

The Rich Clan soldier commanders kept passing this order down.

Seeing that their side had hope of breaking the formation, the Rich Clan soldiers' morale soared even higher, and they ran one by one toward the circular formation of the Wangfu Army.

Under the pressure of the numerous Rich Clan soldiers, a gap appeared in the circular formation.

The Rich Clan soldiers rushed in and began to fight with the Wangfu soldiers inside the formation.

Gao Man saw this scene and was overjoyed, "Today, Yan Wang shall die here."

But just at this moment, suddenly, a rumble of horse hooves sounded.

The Rich Clan soldiers looked toward the sound.

They saw that amidst the smoke and dust, silver-armored cavalrymen were charging toward them with cavalry sabers raised.

Seeing this, they were greatly alarmed.

Gao Man was so frightened that his face turned deathly pale.

These silver-armored cavalrymen were not coming from the official road to the east, but were attacking from behind them.

The silver-armored cavalry charged into the Rich Clan soldiers like tigers into a flock of sheep.

As the warhorses galloped, they knocked the Rich Clan soldiers flying one by one.

Cavalry sabers rose and fell, fresh blood splattered, and screams erupted everywhere.

"We've been tricked, we've fallen into Yan Wang's trap," Gao Man suddenly realized.

These cavalrymen would not appear for no reason; there was only one explanation, which was that Yan Wang had prepared in advance.

The appearance of over a thousand cavalrymen threw the Rich Clan soldiers into complete chaos.

Their morale seemed to collapse in an instant.

But what terrified him even more was that, just after the cavalry arrived, he heard another round of battle cries.

From the direction the cavalry had come, numerous Wangfu soldiers surged out.

"Young Master Gao, retreat, otherwise we will be surrounded," a Rich Clan commander said urgently, clutching his wound.

Gao Man was already scared out of his wits; he said the word "retreat" three times in a row and spurred his horse to gallop toward his own Fortress.

The Wangfu Cavalry did not let the routed Rich Clan soldiers go; they pursued them on horseback, hacking the Rich Clan soldiers down one by one.

The Rich Clan soldiers were in great misery; in their panic, they had no formation at all and ran all over the mountains and plains.

"Your Highness, you have finally arrived." On the official road, Lv Chang looked at the three people riding toward him and sat down on the ground with a thud.

After the circular formation was broken, he had fought with the Rich Clan soldiers for a while.

These Rich Clan soldiers saw Chen Hu like cats seeing fish, rushing over one by one without regard for their lives.

He and Chen Hu could only fight for their lives.

"You have worked hard; there will be rewards for everyone when we return," Zhao Xu said, smiling as he looked at Chen Hu and Lv Chang.

Both men were covered in blood and had fought in person, which showed how critical the situation had been at the time.

"If it had been the Yan Pass Imperial Guard, I fear the entire army would have been wiped out this time," Mo Yu said, once again feeling amazed by the combat effectiveness of the Prince's Personal Army.

Although Lv Chang and the others were in a sorry state, the vast majority of the soldiers seemed merely overly exhausted, sitting or lying down to rest, with very few casualties.

Chang Wei felt slightly proud.

In his view, this was all thanks to the wisdom of Yan Wang, who said that soldiers must eat well.

Only by eating well could they withstand high-intensity training and improve what he called individual soldier quality.

Once individual soldier quality improved, overall combat effectiveness would rise.

Although he had never heard the terms Yan Wang used, by doing as Yan Wang said, the Wangfu Army soldiers were indeed each as fierce as tigers.

However, remembering that the battle was not yet over, he said, "Your Highness, we should now pursue the victory and wipe out the Shanggu Rich Clan in one fell swoop."

Zhao Xu narrowed his eyes.

Now that the Shanggu Rich Clan was effectively in open rebellion, he naturally no longer needed to have any reservations.

To avoid any complications, he had to annihilate the Shanggu Rich Clan immediately.

So he said, "Chang Wei, lead your troops to attack the four counties in the south of Shanggu Commandery; kill anyone who participated in the rebellion without exception."

"Yes, Your Highness," Chang Wei acknowledged the order.

"Mo Yu, lead your troops to attack the four counties in the north; likewise, kill anyone who participated in the rebellion without exception."

"Yes, Your Highness," Mo Yu said loudly.

Zhao Xu nodded and said to Lv Chang and Chen Hu, "Gather the soldiers and follow this Prince to Shanggu City."

Today, he would officially take control of Shanggu Commandery.

Gao Family Fort.

Gao Yuan was anxiously awaiting the return of his eldest son.

Waiting with him were numerous Rich Clan officials.

To them, whether the ambush succeeded concerned the future of Shanggu Commandery.

"My Lord, the young master has returned," just then, a Gao Family member on the Wubao pointed toward the country road.

Gao Yuan was overjoyed and hurriedly had people open the Wubao gates.

Before long, Gao Man and a group of remnants surged into the Wubao.

Seeing this, Gao Yuan's expression changed instantly.

"Father, the ambush failed, and the Yan Prince Army is marching toward here," Gao Man dismounted and said sorrowfully.

"What!" Upon learning that the ambush had failed, Gao Yuan was instantly drenched in cold sweat.

"It's over, it's all over; Yan Wang will not let us off," the officials trembled slightly upon hearing this.

At this moment, fear filled his heart.