Chapter 976: Gun Cavalry Charges

Yongzhou.

While Zhao Xu and Wang Ying were discussing the delivery of machine guns to the front line.

The stalemated war situation here underwent a change due to the actions of the Gun Cavalry.

After suffering setbacks in the central route, Wulanba retreated toward Lingwu County.

But what he did not expect was that this vacated central route became a passage for the Gun Cavalry to advance.

At this moment, the city of Dingyuan County was packed with the Gun Cavalry led by Commander Chen Hu, in addition to the soldiers of the Black Tortoise Army.

"It is truly enviable, equipped with cavalry rifles and riding warhorses; General Chen Hu, your Gun Cavalry is now more than just formidable—you must display your might this time."

At the North Gate of Dingyuan County, Di Ying, commander of the Black Tortoise Army, watched the Gun Cavalry about to set out, his eyes shining.

Although the Gun Cavalry, now equipped with cavalry rifles, had never participated in a large-scale war.

Not only he, but many generals held the Gun Cavalry in high regard.

In the past, the Da Song cavalry was inferior to the Northern Di cavalry in mounted archery.

But now, the Gun Cavalry had not only closed the gap but even surpassed them directly.

Furthermore, while carrying cavalry rifles, the Gun Cavalry also carried hand grenades.

This meant that when mounted, they were Gun Cavalry, and when dismounted, they were a unit of elite infantry.

Warhorses were merely tools for them to achieve rapid mobility.

With so many advantages, the Gun Cavalry was naturally entrusted with high expectations.

"Hahaha... our cavalry has been stifled for so long; now we have finally waited for an opportunity to prove ourselves. We certainly won't miss it; just wait for our good news."

Having said that, Chen Hu waved his hand, and the Gun Cavalry proceeded along the mountain road due north of Dingyuan County.

The northern part of Yongzhou belonged to a portion of the Hetao Plain.

Therefore, once out of the central mountains, they faced the boundless, flat Grassland.

The Grassland was a killing field for cavalry; they would duel the Northern Di cavalry there, while simultaneously destroying the Northern Di's supply lines, plunging the Northern Di into a desperate situation.

For a long time.

The Northern Di cavalry had always relied on their cavalry superiority to threaten their supply lines on the battlefield, preventing them from penetrating deep into the Grassland to fight.

But from now on, everything would be reversed.

A day and a half.

The Gun Cavalry emerged from the mountains and arrived at the Grassland.

Immediately, Chen Hu led the cavalry toward Lingwu County.

Now, the central route army led by Wulanba had joined forces with the Western Route Army led by Mule Hongzhen.

Thus, the Battle of Lingwu County would become the decisive battle of this war.

As for Ashuer's route, it was actually the same as Wulanba's objective: to attempt to open up a route while pinning down Da Song's forces.

……

Lingwu County.

Northern Di encampment.

A Northern Di army was merging into this place.

This was precisely the Northern Di and Ross army led by Wulanba and Niegofu.

"Great Khan, when we were setting up camp outside Dingyuan County, we were shelled by the Da Song army. Not only did our Northern Di soldiers lose more than three thousand men, but the Ross soldiers also lost over seven hundred." Seeing Mule Hongzhen, Wulanba looked grief-stricken and indignant.

Before he arrived, in order not to appear too disheveled, he had specifically changed into clean clothes, but he could not erase the bruised left side of his face caused by falling when he was fleeing in panic.

Even now, recalling the image of cannonballs falling from above, he still felt waves of horror in his heart.

"This is not your fault." Mule Hongzhen could tell that his son had been frightened.

He himself had been no different at the time.

No one could have imagined that the Da Song army's artillery could fire so far.

"Father, are you..." Hearing this, Wulanba reacted immediately.

Before he could finish his sentence, Mule Hongzhen nodded.

Then, he looked at Niegofu, who wore a decadent expression, and said, "Colonel Niegofu, I am truly glad to see you. After suffering setbacks here, I wanted to have your central route army withdraw and gather in one place."

In this troop allocation, he had given Wulanba very few troops, intending for him to test the waters.

If it was unfavorable, the two armies would merge into one.

"I am equally glad," Niegofu said.

Like Wulanba, he had not yet emerged from the shadow of the shelling at Dingyuan County.

When he received the line muskets from Ross, he thought that even if there was a gap with the Da Song army, it would not be too large.

Relying on the courage of the Ross soldiers, they could even fight a beautiful battle.

But the result was that they lost over seven hundred men without even seeing the enemy's faces.

And that damned place was all stone, making it impossible to dig trenches to shield the soldiers.

Therefore, he had agreed to retreat with Wulanba.

"Colonel Niegofu, regarding the current stalemate, do you have any brilliant insights?" After the pleasantries, Mule Hongzhen asked impatiently.

For the past few days, he had been ordering soldiers to dig trenches.

Now the trenches extended for about three li.

It would likely take at least another six days to get close to the Da Song army's trenches.

But he had no confidence in whether he could successfully take Lingwu County by then.

So he really wanted to hear Niegofu's opinion; after all, this was a Ross general with rich battlefield experience.

"Our troop strength is several times that of the opponent; only a night battle..." Niegofu pondered for a moment and said slowly.

But before he could speak, Mule Hongzhen and the other generals revealed embarrassed expressions and told Niegofu about the light in the sky.

"What!" Niegofu simply could not believe his ears.

But he knew that Mule Hongzhen could not possibly be lying to him.

At this moment, his heart was shaken once again.

"This is truly a foolish war," Niegofu said to himself.

When heading to Dongtu, he had thought this war would be as simple as slaughtering natives.

But now, he only felt that the Westerners knew too little about the army of this Dayan Wang.

They had not prepared sufficiently, yet habitually assumed they could conquer Great Song just as they had conquered other native kings.

He believed this encirclement campaign would cause them to waste their lives in vain.

But with military orders before him, he could not fail to execute them.

After pondering for a while, he could not think of any solution.

From his experience, in the process of their conquests, no matter how fancy the natives' tactics were, they ultimately could not withstand their muskets and Artillery.

The same principle applied now.

Thus, he said, "Sometimes the stupidest method on the battlefield is the most effective method."

Upon hearing this, Mule Hongzhen's eyes dimmed for a moment.

He understood the meaning in Niegofu's words.

Next, it seemed they were left with no choice but to use human lives to fill the gap.

"I understand," Mule Hongzhen nodded.

The Northern Barbarians could only fight to the death!

Another three days passed.

The Trench in front of the camp had extended forward a bit more, and it was still over three li away from the Great Song army's Trench.

At this time, he received news from Ashuer.

His younger brother was blocked at Yulin and unable to advance a single step, also digging Trenches to confront the Great Song army.

Mule Hongzhen frowned.

To him, it was enough as long as the Ashuer Tribe was not routed.

At the very least, they could pin down a portion of the enemy forces.

Just as he was thinking this, a troop of Cavalry suddenly hurried over.

The lead Cavalryman knelt before Mule Hongzhen and said loudly, "Khan, we have discovered about sixty thousand Great Song Cavalry in the east; they are heading northwest, seemingly intending to cut off our supply line."

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