Chapter 986: Centrifugal

"The signs of the Beidi's defeat are already showing; the battle at Lingwu County is coming to an end."

On the city wall, Bai Shang observed the Beidi dispatching a large number of Cavalry and immediately made his judgment.

Huo An nodded; he agreed with Bai Shang's judgment.

Any commander with a clear head would not commit such dense forces to a narrow battlefield after seeing Machine Guns.

Yet, the Beidi did exactly that.

And they even had a large number of Cavalry traverse the ice, which was simply courting death.

It just so happened that this force was commanded by Mule Hongzhen.

Without Mule Hongzhen's consent, the Beidi would not have adopted such an offensive.

Or rather, this was simply a desperate gamble born of Mule Hongzhen's hysteria.

But in this gamble, they were destined to fail.

This Beidi Khan had clearly lost his reason.

"Since that is the case, let us make them feel complete despair," Huo An sneered.

Bai Shang nodded, "Let the Artillerymen greet them well and let them take a cold bath."

His order was issued.

Before long, the Artillerymen aimed their muzzles at the Beidi Cavalry on both sides.

Among them, fewer Artillery pieces were aimed at the east, and more were aimed at the west.

"Boom, boom, boom..." After calibrating, one Cannonball after another flew out from the muzzles, tracing perfect arcs before landing on the surface of the Jin River.

The Cannonballs fell into the Cavalry ranks, the conical shells embedding into the ice, followed by a "Boom" as the Bombs exploded, blowing away a large patch of the ice surface.

The nearby Beidi Cavalry were first knocked over by the shockwave of the explosion, then fell into the turbulent river water.

The soldiers following behind these Cavalry hurriedly reined in their Warhorses, but it was too late.

They were pushed forward by the Cavalry behind them and also fell into the holes in the ice.

Under the continuous bombardment of the Artillery, the ice surface of the Jin River soon became a honeycomb, full of large holes, and there were very few places left where horses could travel.

A large number of Beidi Cavalry could only linger on the river surface, unable to advance.

The Cavalry gathered together were even more like living targets for the Artillerymen.

One Cannonball after another fell among them, and in dense areas, it would often kill a large swath of Cavalry.

In this situation, the Beidi Cavalry could call to the heavens but get no response, and call to the earth but get no answer.

Some Cavalry could only abandon their horses and swim to the bank.

Others followed the remaining narrow ice to the shore, crowding together with the Cavalry on land to continue the charge.

And this made the attacking Cavalry force on land appear exceptionally dense.

"Da-da-da..."

The Beidi Cavalry came again, and the Machine Gun Team naturally noticed.

They immediately aimed their muzzles at the charging Cavalry and pulled the Triggers.

Fifteen Machine Guns spat tongues of fire; the Cavalry in dense formation had nowhere to hide, and every Bullet seemed to hit an enemy.

In an instant, the front row of Beidi Cavalry fell, followed by the second row, and the third row of Cavalry fell in succession.

The speed of the Machine Gun's continuous fire left the Beidi Cavalry unable to react at all.

As more and more Cavalry fell, corpses gradually piled up, which in turn hindered the movement of the Cavalry.

They could only bypass the corpses or ride their Warhorses directly over the mountain of bodies to continue forward.

But when climbing the slope, their movements slowed down again, and they once again became souls lost to the Machine Gun Bullets.

While the Machine Gunners were strafing the Cavalry, the Infantry were not idle either.

They continued to push forward along the Beidi Trenches, having already advanced about one thousand meters.

Because the Beidi had placed their elite troops using Rifled Muskets in the front Trenches.

After these Beidi soldiers were eliminated, their offensive became increasingly smooth.

Now they could spare hands to support the flanks.

Therefore, the Machine Gunners were not fighting alone.

Numerous soldiers on the western edge of the Trench climbed up, firing from a kneeling position, and the Beidi Cavalry's casualties suddenly increased sharply.

Facing the fierce firepower of the Da Song army.

The charging Beidi Cavalry went from the hot-headedness of rushing out of the camp, to the numbing of their spines from the artillery fire, and finally, facing the Machine Guns, they began to feel fear.

Especially seeing the piled-up mountain of corpses, blood like a small stream from

Some Cavalry no longer recklessly charged, but stopped in place, hesitating to move forward.

They were making a decision, a difficult decision.

Charging meant death, and fleeing also meant death.

But they did not want to die here like a wild dog.

In the end, facing extreme fear, some Cavalry decided to flee.

They wanted to return to their own pastures; they would rather die in their homeland.

And as some fled, more and more Beidi Cavalry had their resolve shaken, and they followed those deserters away.

This time they did not return to the camp, but crossed the Jin River surface that had not been bombarded, heading toward the Grassland in the North Territory.

Bai Shang and Huo An noticed this, and the two looked at each other and nodded.

Victory was in their grasp!

And in the Beidi camp, Mule Hongzhen looked in disbelief at those Beidi Cavalry fleeing toward the Grassland.

Since he began leading troops in battle, there had never been a situation of large-scale desertion by Cavalry.

Especially since they were not returning to the camp, but heading straight back to the Grassland.

This meant that these Cavalry were no longer prepared to obey his orders and had chosen to betray him.

When the offensive was thwarted, he was not afraid; when the Northern Di Cavalry were defeated by the Great Song Cavalry, he was not afraid either.

But at this moment, he was afraid.

Because the morale of the soldiers under his command had effectively sunk to the verge of collapse.

"Great Khan, Colonel Niegofu is right; we must retreat." Wulanba also noticed this and could not help but summon his courage to advise him.

Seeing that Mule Hongzhen did not speak, he made his words more explicit: "Our warriors are effectively throwing their lives away now; let them return to their own homelands, for I believe they would be more willing to give their lives for their own homes."

Mule Hongzhen slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he looked toward the main battlefield.

After the Cavalry on the two flanks collapsed, the Northern Di Infantry in the Trench seemed to be affected and also showed signs of collapsing.

They abandoned their Trench at an even faster speed.

"Retreat!" Mule Hongzhen finally despaired.

Today's battle lasted from the morning until the afternoon.

Under the counterattack of the Great Song army, both Infantry and Cavalry suffered heavy losses.

Their remaining forces were likely less than three hundred thousand men.

With such force, it was impossible to break through Lingwu County in any case.

"Woo woo woo..." As soon as Mule Hongzhen's order was issued.

The bugler beside him immediately blew the ox-horn signal for retreat.

The low sound of the ox-horn rang out, and the Northern Di Infantry in the Trench retreated north from the Trench like rabbits.

At the same time, a large number of Cavalry gathered in the camp to escort Mule Hongzhen toward the Grassland.

"Since you are unwilling to leave your lives here, then keep your lives to protect your pastures!" Mule Hongzhen looked back at Lingwu County, his heart aching with grief.

Just like every time he had moved south before, he had failed again.

And he had lost more miserably than any previous southern campaign.

Now, he only hoped that the Western Lands Allied Forces could break through in the south.

Otherwise, he could not imagine the fate that awaited the Northern Di people.

When that time comes, Yan Wang will surely drive them, the Northern Di people, away from one pasture after another, right?