Chapter 605: Luoyang Fierce Battle

The city gate was flung open.

Lin Chong led the charge on horseback.

Behind him, five hundred elite cavalry surged forth like an iron current that had long been gathering strength.

Hooves pounded the frozen earth, sounding like muffled thunder.

On the city walls, war drums beat, cheering the troops sallying forth.

Lin Chong lowered his body, feeling the warm, steady current flowing from the Star Pattern Token in his bosom.

Eightfold Effect bolstered him.

His vision grew sharper.

The patterns on distant enemy banners, the subtle expressions on enemy riders' faces, even the trajectories of drifting ash in the air, were all clearly visible.

The wind howled in his ears, no longer piercing; instead, he could discern subtle sound details from different directions.

Power surged through his limbs, not a brute swelling but a smooth, abundant strength like moving a limb with a finger.

He gripped the Eight-Zhang Serpent Spear; its tip, in the dim sunlight, condensed a point of cold starlight.

"Follow me!"

His low shout was torn apart by the gale.

The cavalry torrent carved a fierce arc, not charging straight into the enemy's frontline infantry formation standing firm.

Instead, it swept with incredible speed along the battlefield's edge, directly striking the over a hundred Jin cavalry scouting and monitoring the flanks.

Those Jin cavalry clearly did not expect the Luoyang garrison to take the initiative, let alone at such speed.

A brief moment of shock.

The Jurchen Moke leading them had just raised his saber, trying to shout for his men to form up.

Lin Chong had arrived.

The serpent spear shot forth like a venomous dragon from its cave, accompanied by a piercing scream that tore the air.

A point of cold light arrived first.

That Moke's raised saber was flung aside by an irresistible force.

The spear tip pierced his leather armor without resistance and exited his chest.

Lin Chong flicked his wrist; the corpse was flung up and slammed into another Jin cavalryman nearby.

At the same time, he controlled the horse with his legs; the warhorse reared up, its bowl-sized iron hooves brutally kicking the side of an enemy horse.

A muffled crack of breaking bone.

The enemy rider cried out in anguish and fell.

The whole process was as quick as a flash of lightning.

Behind them, the Northward Aspiration Army's elite cavalry slammed into the Jin cavalry's somewhat disordered ranks like wolves and tigers.

Bowstrings twanged urgently.

In the first volley of close-range rapid fire, arrows were shot almost touching the Jin soldiers' faces.

Instantly, men and horses were overturned.

Next came gleaming sabers and long spears.

Impact.

Cutting.

Piercing.

Under the Eightfold Effect, the Northward Aspiration Army's elite cavalry reached a terrifying level in personal martial skill, reaction speed, and squad coordination.

Though the Jin soldiers were brave, they could not withstand this sudden, overwhelming thunderous strike.

Only a single clash of charges.

Over a hundred Jin cavalry were scattered more than half; the remnants, souls fleeing, spurred their mounts back toward their main camp.

Lin Chong reined in his warhorse, pointing his spear diagonally.

The cavalry behind him quickly regrouped, their formation still tight, with only a few lightly wounded.

He coldly glanced at the distant False Song troops, visibly agitated after the Jin cavalry's instant collapse.

No pursuit.

"Withdraw!"

Turning their horses, the five hundred iron cavalry withdrew as swiftly as they had come, bearing a lethal aura, back to the open city gate.

The city gate slammed shut.

From sallying forth to returning to the city, it took only the time to finish a cup of tea.

Yet it dealt the enemy a harsh blow to their morale.

The city walls erupted in earth-shaking cheers.

"Ten thousand victories!"

Morale soared.

……

Within the False Song army's ranks,

Vanguard Commander Wang Jun's face was dark enough to wring water from.

He stood on a watchtower vehicle, watching with his own eyes the unit of Jin soldiers he had relied upon for intimidation—and even harbored a notion of using them to kill others—shatter like a fragile egg under the enemy's easy blow.

"Trash!"

He muttered curses, unsure whether he was damning the Jin soldiers or himself for bringing about this situation.

"General, the enemy cavalry is fierce and their spirit high. Should we temporarily halt the siege and consider longer plans?" a deputy general beside him asked cautiously.

"Long-term planning?" Wang Jun's eyes were sinister and fierce. "Those few officials in Approaching Peace, and the great lord of the Golden State to the north, didn't give me time for long-term planning!"

He glanced at the several ox-carts still covered with thick cloth behind the formation, a hint of wariness and cruelty flashing in his eyes.

"Pass the order!"

The vanguard army's three Commanders, lead the auxiliary militia, carry siege equipment, advance immediately!

"Archers, cover the rear!"

"Today, at least we must reach the base of Luo Yang's city walls!"

"Let Yue Fei's rebel forces see the might of the Imperial Court's great army!"

The war drums became urgent and frantic.

A large number of False Song soldiers, wearing mismatched armor or even only simple uniforms, under the officers' drives and the threat of swords and spears, carried crude ladders and pushed carts covered with raw oxhide, moving forward in chaotic noise.

Several times the number of defending archers, under shield cover, also began to advance, preparing to conduct suppressive fire.

The true siege battle has begun.

On the city wall.

Yue Fei's expression was stern.

"The crossbow cannons are ready."

"Target: the enemy archer formation, 150 paces ahead."

"Fire!"

The command flag was waved down.

On the high platform behind the city wall and inside the barbican, dozens of crossbow cannons improved by Zhao Lao Nian of the Ministry of Works roared simultaneously.

The heavy cannon arm traced an arc.

They hurled the specially made pottery jars, filled with incendiary oil and iron shards, into the sky.

The pottery jars traced an arc and fell into the advancing False Song archer ranks.

Crackling, they shattered.

Black incendiary oil splattered everywhere.

Next, arrows tipped with sparks rained down.

Boom!

Flames instantly rose, merging into a sea of fire.

Wails and cries erupted amidst the flames.

The False Song army's suppressive formation had not yet entered effective range before it fell into chaos.

"Release the arrows!"

Zhang Xian roared from behind the battlements.

The prepared allied archers leaned out, showering arrow rain upon the enemy infantry and militia who had charged through the fire and approached the city wall.

Arrows fell like a swarm of locusts.

One after another, people were struck by arrows and fell.

But those behind, under the blades of the supervisory detachment, still numbly surged forward.

The oxhide-covered carts, under the arrow rain, slowly and steadily approached the city wall.

The ladders were also raised.

"Rolling logs! Stone weights!"

"Molten gold ready!"

The orders for defending the city were conveyed in an orderly manner.

The battle quickly entered the bloodiest and most brutal stage of city-wall offense and defense.

Shouts of killing, screams, and clashes of weapons echoed across the southeastern sky of Luo Yang.

Chen Wen did not participate in specific command.

He stood at a watchtower with an open view, calmly observing the battlefield.

Wang Ru quietly came to his side.

"Your Majesty, those ox-carts in Wang Jun's army remain unmoved; the guard is extremely tight."

Chen Wen nodded.

His "Shi Yong" could sense the direction of those carts, faintly emitting an ominous, chilling aura.

That was not battlefield killing energy, but rather… a kind of imprisoned, erosive dark-energy conglomerate.

"The 'gift' from the Iron Crow Army." He muttered softly, "It won't stay hidden forever."

Just then.

On the battlefield's flank, near the edge of a withered forest.

Suddenly, an anomaly occurred!

About fifty cavalry burst out from the forest shadows like ghosts.

Their attire differed from that of the False Song army and the Golden Army.

Dark gray leather armor adorned with strange bone plates.

The helmet covered most of the face.

Their warhorses were larger and more muscular than ordinary Mongolian horses, with white breath from their nostrils unusually heavy.

The key was speed.

Too fast!

From appearing to cutting into the edge of the battlefield, it was almost a blink of an eye.

Their target was not the False Song Army assaulting the city, nor the garrison on the city wall.

But rather—a unit that had just slipped out from the west gate direction, preparing to maneuver along the base of the city wall and reinforce the southeastern defensive line, an allied army infantry squad!

About two hundred infantrymen were moving quickly in a marching column.

Those fifty grey cavalry were like a red-hot spear, viciously thrusting in.

No shouts, no cries.

Only a heart-pounding silence, and… a blade flash so fast it blurred.

The leading grey cavalry commander wielded a saber with an astonishing curve.

The blade flash passed.

An allied army soldier, together with the long shield in his hand, was cut in two!

The cut was horrifyingly smooth.

The other grey cavalry were equally ferocious and peerless.

Their sword technique was simple, ruthless, and efficient.

They specifically targeted necks, joints, and armor gaps.

The allied army infantry tried to form a line to resist.

But the enemy's horse speed was too fast, their impact too strong.

Often the formation hadn't even been completed before it was pierced through.

What's more terrifying, these grey cavalry seemed indifferent to pain and casualties.

Even if struck by a spear, as long as it wasn't a vital spot, their movements were hardly affected—instead they would counterattack even more violently.

In just a dozen breaths.

This two-hundred-strong infantry squad was actually cut down to scattered remnants, suffering nearly half casualties!

"It's that kind of scout cavalry that appeared in the north!"

Someone on the city wall cried out in alarm.

"How could they appear here? Are they allied with the False Song Army?"

Yue Fei's pupils contracted sharply.

"Lin Chong!"

I am here!

"Take your men, plus Zhang Xian's Beiwei Army elite troops under his command, and sally out immediately! Rescue that infantry squad, entangle those grey cavalry! I want a living tongue!"

Received the order!

Lin Chong, who had only just rested a short while, felt his fighting spirit reignite.

He mustered three hundred cavalry, then joined with the one hundred most elite heavy infantry of the Beiwei Army that Zhang Xian had urgently drafted.

The city gate opened again.

This time, the sallying force carried a deadly, resolute aura.

Lin Chong charged ahead first, then sallied out again.

His target pointed straight at the grey cavalry commander.

Snake spear and saber clashed violently on the chaotic battlefield!

The ringing of metal on metal echoed across the wilderness.

Lin Chong's arm trembled slightly, and astonishment flashed in his eyes.

What tremendous strength!

The grey cavalry commander's eyes beneath his helmet were icy and numb, without a ripple.

The saber, upon contact, was retracted and slashed toward Lin Chong's ribs.

The speed, weirdly fast!

Lin Chong hastily dodged, rotating the snake spear to block.

Clang clang clang!

In an instant they exchanged several blows.

The opponent's sword technique was vicious and tricky, with extraordinary strength, plus a madness that feared neither life nor death.

If Lin Chong did not have the Star Pattern Seal's eightfold boost, enhancing his reaction, strength, and speed across the board, he would likely have lost the moment they clashed.

Meanwhile, the Beiwei Army's heavy infantry finally caught up to the surviving infantrymen.

They formed a tight spear‑shield formation, like a moving forest of steel, trying to block the grey cavalry's charge.

The grey cavalry were no longer able to cut down the light infantry as easily as before.

Charging the spear formation, they paid the price of several horses falling.

Yet they did not retreat, circling the spear formation and firing precise arrows with their bows.

The arrows carried tremendous force; even with a shield blocking, they numbed the arms of the shield‑bearing soldiers.

The battle fell into a brief stalemate.

But the allied army had already suffered casualties far heavier than expected.

Those fifty grey cavalry, after inflicting heavy casualties and briefly entangling with Lin Chong's force, seemed to have received some order.

They showed no reluctance to disengage.

A short, flute‑like whistle sounded.

All the grey cavalry simultaneously turned their heads, retreating like a tide toward the dry tree forest they had come from.

Their speed remained astonishingly fast.

Lin Chong led his cavalry in pursuit for a stretch, but was driven back by a volley of precise returning arrows, able only to watch helplessly as the enemy vanished deep into the forest.

On the battlefield, only the corpses and wounded of the allied troops lay scattered everywhere.

And a heavy, oppressive silence.

The first wave of attack, the allied army held the city wall.

But that small contingent of gray cavalry that suddenly appeared and then mysteriously vanished.

Yet it was like a poisonous thorn, viciously stabbing into everyone's hearts.

Who are they?

Why have they come?

What is their relation to the False Song army?

How many more are hidden in the darkness?

On the walls of Luoyang, the cheers had long since subsided.

Yue Fei gazed at the patch of withered forest that had returned to calm, his expression extremely solemn.

Chen Wen's fingertip lightly brushed over the warm mother's token in his bosom.

His Shi Yong clearly captured the lingering, intense and familiar chill on those gray riders.

The minions of the Iron Crow Army.

Already, they have reached beneath Luoyang.