Chapter 312: Powerless to Turn the Tide

"We surrender!"

They watched as the Yanzhou Army, holding strange weapons, pressed in step by step.

Artillery appeared once more on both sides of the military formation.

They even saw the cavalry with their cavalry sabers drawn.

In their exhaustion and fear, the Xiliang soldiers in the chaos finally lost all will to resist.

Large numbers of Xiliang soldiers dropped the weapons in their hands.

Among them, the "Turncoat Soldiers" were the quickest to surrender.

During this time, news had been constantly arriving that Yan Wang had captured the Turncoat Soldiers, and not only did he not kill them,

he would even give them travel money to return home; since that was the case, why would they risk death to resist?

What's more, Yan Wang's army truly possessed sorcery...

Guan Tong's gaze turned toward the Xiliang soldiers who had dropped their weapons, and a smile spread across the corners of his mouth.

The sudden appearance of the flintlocks terrified these Xiliang soldiers, whose morale had hit rock bottom.

They could no longer muster the will to resist.

Of course, besides the credit due to the flintlocks, this also had to do with the Heavy Infantry cutting off the main Xiliang force.

Having lost contact with their commanders, the Xiliang soldiers were like headless flies, completely scattered.

While the situation on the north side of Taolin had been reversed,

the fighting on the south side was still ongoing.

Under the scolding of their officers, the Xiliang Cavalry bit the bullet and charged toward the soldiers who had formed individual hollow square formations.

As they launched their charge, the Yanzhou artillery continued to bombard them incessantly.

Before they had even advanced within a hundred meters, hundreds of cavalrymen had already died under the artillery fire.

And the moment they stepped within a hundred meters, they suddenly saw the Yanzhou soldiers holding tube-like weapons.

Next, fire and smoke erupted; the Xiliang Cavalry at the very front felt as if they had been struck by a hammer, falling from their horses in excruciating pain.

They were then trampled to death by the following warhorses.

"Bang, bang, bang..." The loud noises, fire, and smoke were continuous.

The north side of the twenty-plus hollow square formations fired incessantly, and the charging Xiliang Cavalry kept falling from their horses.

In the short distance of a hundred meters, nearly a thousand cavalrymen were killed or wounded.

The constant death and falling of the leading cavalrymen greatly delayed the speed of those following behind.

They had to avoid the fallen men and horses; one slip, and they and their own warhorses would be tripped to the ground.

And when they charged in front of the Yanzhou military formation, they were met with long spears flashing with cold light.

When horses encounter obstacles, their biological instinct is to avoid them.

That is why the Iron Harrier cavalry would cover their horses' eyes when charging toward spearmen.

But they were not Iron Harriers; not everyone had that kind of courage.

Some cavalrymen veered off in front of the formation, entering the gaps between the hollow square formations, attempting to find an opportunity from the sides to disrupt the formation of Yan Wang's soldiers.

But they regretted it immediately.

They discovered that every side of this formation had soldiers facing them.

After they entered the square formation, these soldiers aimed the weapons in their hands at them.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Accompanied by the sounds and flames, the cavalrymen fell from their horses one after another.

At this moment, on a high slope two hundred meters away from the hollow square formations,

Zhao Xu and Chang Wei were observing the battle with telescopes.

Over a hundred thousand people were locked in a fierce battle on the field, actually spread across a very large area.

The hollow square formations were arranged in an overall inverted trapezoid shape.

Twelve in the front, eight in the middle, and four in the last row.

Each hollow square formation was spaced a hundred meters apart, and the width of the battlefield reached over a thousand meters.

The Xiliang Cavalry had also launched their charge within this thousand-meter range.

However, through the telescope, he was still able to survey the situation on the battlefield.

This was the second time he had faced a war of such scale.

The first time was defeating the Yuan Family under Yanguan.

At that time, the width of the battlefield was also nearly a thousand meters.

"Your Highness, the fighting in the north seems to have ended," Chang Wei said at this moment.

In the telescope, large numbers of Xiliang soldiers had dropped their weapons.

For those who still refused to surrender, the ten flintlock military formations and the Wangfu Cavalry were pursuing and slaughtering them.

But ten horizontal lines were rushing toward the south to support them.

The Heavy Infantry in the middle also began to deal with the enemies entangling them in the north with all their might.

Zhao Xu looked toward the North Gate; everything seemed to be just as Chang Wei had said.

The scales of victory were constantly tipping in his favor.

Then, he continued to cast his gaze toward the Xiliang Cavalry.

Once these cavalrymen were dealt with, the Xiliang reinforcements would basically never be able to stir up any more trouble.

Now, most of these cavalrymen were splitting like flowing water meeting a solid rock, pouring into the gaps between the hollow square formations.

And the gaps formed by the square formations were like a labyrinth.

The Cavalry that charged into the gaps were unable to turn around.

Once they turned, they would collide with the Cavalry surging in from behind.

Therefore, after plunging in, they could only ride around the gaps.

But in doing so, they moved in opposition to the Cavalry coming from other gaps.

Thus, while galloping, they were forced to slow down, or even stop to turn their horses around.

But this undoubtedly provided the Wangfu Army with the best shooting targets.

Zhao Xu saw bursts of white smoke rising continuously from each formation, and the Xiliang Cavalry kept falling.

Under the sustained attack, the Xiliang Cavalry suffered constant casualties.

This made the Xiliang Cavalry trapped in the gaps of the Hollow Square Formation even more chaotic, with riders constantly colliding due to panic.

Within the Xiliang army.

Jili looked at the scene in front of him and closed his eyes in pain.

The Yanzhou soldiers were too strange, both in their Weapon and their military formation.

Lacking experience in dealing with such weapons and formations, the Xiliang Cavalry had fallen into a trap.

After every flash of fire, there would always be horses that had lost their masters running back from the front, or running in other directions.

Just then, he suddenly heard that unique sound behind him as well.

He looked behind him; the white smoke was less than two li away.

"Deputy Leader, the main army behind has collapsed, and now the Yanzhou soldiers are killing their way from the rear; we are surrounded." A Main General rushed over, his face full of panic.

Hearing this, Jili's heart skipped a beat, and he remained silent.

The Main General continued: "What should we do, Deputy Leader? We simply cannot resist that fire-spitting Weapon of the Yanzhou soldiers. Our soldiers are killed before they can even charge in front of them. And there is the Artillery; many soldiers were directly hit and mangled by the Artillery..."

Jili could no longer hear what the Main General was saying.

His head was buzzing, and there was only one thought in his mind.

What kind of monster is this Yan Wang?

Why does he fight so unconventionally, and what exactly is that Weapon he gives his soldiers? It is so terrifying.

He looked blankly at the surrounding battlefield; in front, his Cavalry kept falling off their horses, and some Cavalry began to flee back.

Behind, the noise was deafening, and soldiers kept crowding toward his direction, clearly also beaten back by the Yanzhou Army.

Many Xiliang soldiers even ducked into the Taolin and disappeared without a trace.

The rout had begun.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

"Bang, bang, bang..."

"..."

The sounds of the Artillery and the unknown Weapon were getting closer and louder.

White smoke rose continuously across the entire battlefield, and this was the banner of death.

The sun rose higher and higher.

After noon, it soon became evening.

At this time, blood-red sunlight covered the earth, making it impossible to distinguish whether the bright red on the ground was blood or light.

Across the entire battlefield, the corpses of Xiliang soldiers lay crisscrossed, like sesame seeds scattered on the ground.

The Xiliang flags were riddled with bullet holes caused by the Flintlock.

And in the middle of the battlefield, Jili held a Long Sword.

In front of him were Xiliang soldiers killed by the Flintlock.

Around him, the Mansion Spearman formed a circle, pointing their Long Spear at him.