Chapter 631: Fierce Battle in the Northern Frontier

Boom! Boom! Boom!

On the walltop of the Northern Guard Pass

Dozens of primed ballistae almost simultaneously let out a roar.

Thick ballista bolts and specially made explosive shells trailed a piercing whistling sound.

They traced a slightly straight trajectory.

They slammed hard into the Northern Yuan 'monster' cavalry that was accelerating its charge.

Almost at the same moment the ballistae fired.

A higher-frequency bowstring tremble sounded.

That was the bed crossbow showing its power.

Heavier, denser, faster-flying bolts fell like a swarm of steel.

Humming as they swooped onto the same area.

The first round of long-range strikes.

Covered.

Boom! Boom! Pfft! Pfft!

Among the Northern Yuan vanguard cavalry mass.

Instantly several bursts of fire and dust exploded.

That was the detonation of the explosive shells, their iron shrapnel scattering outward.

Moreover, thick bolts pierced straight through several men and horses, raising showers of blood.

At the front of the charging spear formation, a noticeable confusion and hesitation appeared.

The anguished cries of falling men and horses could be faintly heard.

But.

It was only a moment.

That cavalry's charge speed merely slowed slightly.

Immediately.

In an even wilder, more reckless posture.

Continue accelerating!

They seemed to completely ignore the casualties around them.

In their eyes lay only the Chen Dynasty's battle array ahead.

Only that banner.

Hooves trampled over the corpses of comrades and warhorses.

Kicking up mud mixed with flesh and blood.

The momentum of the charge.

Yet it suffered no fundamental shaking!

"As expected…"

On Eagle Watch Cliff, Chen Wen's eyes narrowed.

These cavalrymen, deeply catalyzed and infused,

had their fear of pain and death weakened to an astonishing degree.

Or rather, it was overlaid by some fanatical battle fervor or compulsive order.

Ordinary long-range strikes could hardly make them collapse.

"Ballistae and bed crossbows, keep firing freely!"

"Target unchanged!"

"Archers, ready—"

The orders were swiftly relayed.

The defenders on the pass wall began a second, then third wave of long-range barrage.

Arrows, stone shots, ballista bolts, fire-oil bombs…

Like an unending rain of death.

Poured onto the ever-approaching Northern Yuan cavalry.

The charging spear formation was like waves continually cut by reefs.

Its front kept being whittled down.

Men and horses kept falling.

But the rear cavalry kept coming, wave after wave.

They finally broke through the most lethal long-range fire coverage zone.

Distance to the Chen Dynasty's first infantry line.

Less than two hundred paces!

"Raise shields!"

"Spears—"

The infantry line's officers bellowed hoarsely.

The front-line sword-and-shield bearers slammed the iron-clad bases of their heavy shields into the ground.

Leaning forward, they braced their shoulders firmly against the shields.

The second and third rank spearmen thrust their spears, over a zhang long, out from between or above the shields.

Pointing diagonally forward.

Forming a forest of steel flashing with cold light.

Waiting for the impact of flesh and blood.

However.

That Northern Yuan vanguard cavalry.

At the moment just before colliding with the infantry's spear forest.

Suddenly they split slightly to both sides!

Like a stream encountering a reef.

Not all of them collided head-on.

But they attempted to penetrate the relatively weak flanks of the infantry line, or the gaps in the formation.

Carrying out a penetration!

Their horsemanship was terrifyingly superb.

Completing such a tactical maneuver at high speed charge, they displayed extremely high training standards and... inhuman control.

"Stop them!"

"Flank, cover positions!"

The officers roared wildly.

The infantry formation began to adjust with difficulty.

But how can two legs outrun four?

Seeing several columns of Northern Yuan cavalry, they were about to wedge into the weak points of the infantry line like a spear.

Just then.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A dull, heavy footstep sound like a great drum beating.

Coming from behind the infantry line.

A black iron torrent.

It moved.

Shi Dun-led Iron Anvil Battalion.

At the critical moment.

Like a true anvil.

Meeting the cavalry blades attempting to infiltrate.

Rose up to meet them!

"Iron Anvil Battalion!"

"Advance——"

Shi Dun's roar was like thunder.

He himself stood in the front row.

Holding a tower shield almost as tall as a person.

The shield face was covered with spikes.

Behind him were the densely packed heavy infantry of the Iron Anvil Battalion, likewise holding tower shields and heavy spears.

They marched in neat, heavy steps.

Not fast.

But steady as a rock.

Directly thrusting into the several points where the Northern Yuan cavalry's infiltration was fiercest.

No flourish.

No detour.

Just the most direct and violent.

Collision!

Bang! Crack!

War horses neighed as they slammed into the heavy iron shields.

The tremendous impact made the shield-bearing soldiers shudder violently, blood spurting from their mouths and noses.

But the Iron Anvil Battalion's line held firm!

At the same time.

From behind the tower shields, longer, thicker spears with hooked tips thrust out!

Precisely stabbing at the horses' bellies, at the cavalrymen on their backs!

Plop! Plop!

The dull sound of blades entering flesh, accompanied by the sound of breaking bones.

The Northern Yuan cavalry charging at the front were like eggs hitting an iron plate.

In an instant, men and horses overturned.

The following cavalry couldn't stop in time, crashing into the fallen men and horses ahead, causing even more chaos.

The Iron Anvil Battalion's line was like a black reef.

Regardless of the crashing waves.

Standing unmoving.

Even.

Still slowly pressing forward!

The Northern Yuan cavalry that had charged in was being pushed outward bit by bit, compressed!

"Good!"

On the pass wall, the defending troops who saw this scene couldn't help but let out a low cry.

The Iron Anvil Battalion's hard clash steadied the most dangerous moment of the first line of defense.

However.

The Northern Yuan's attack was far more than just this.

Almost at the same moment as the frontal cavalry clashed with the Iron Anvil Battalion.

Both left and right flanks.

The Northern Yuan's massive cavalry contingent also began to move.

They did not directly charge the Chen Dynasty army's tightly packed front.

But rather like two huge scimitars.

Toward the flanks of the Chen Dynasty army.

Began a large-scale envelopment and flanking maneuver!

The intention was very clear.

Utilizing the cavalry's mobility advantage.

Tugging at the Chen Dynasty army's defensive line.

Searching for weak points.

Or directly attacking the relatively vulnerable rear flank!

"Cavalry!"

"Sortie!"

"Drive them away! Do not let them approach the flanks!"

Within the Chen Dynasty army formation, the corresponding orders rang out.

The Chen Dynasty cavalry unit that had long been on standby.

Charged out from the reserved passage.

Split into two groups.

To meet the flanking Northern Yuan cavalry.

Charged head-on!

Their mission was not annihilation.

But to disrupt, delay, and throw off the enemy's envelopment rhythm.

To buy time for the infantry to adjust their defensive line.

Instantly.

The vast battlefield's flanks.

Dust and smoke shot up into the sky.

The cavalry of both sides were like two torrents.

Crashed fiercely into each other!

Blade light flashed.

Arrows flew sideways.

The horses' mournful whinnies and the riders' angry roars echoed through the heavens.

The cavalry melee was brutal and swift.

People kept falling from their horses.

Riderless warhorses kept crying out as they ran wildly.

The Chen Dynasty cavalry was at a disadvantage in both numbers and quality.

But they relied on superior discipline and coordination.

And some equipment advantages (such as some horses wearing light armor, and the knights' armor being finer).

They tenaciously entangled the Northern Yuan cavalry attempting to flank.

Preventing them from deploying smoothly and forming a deadly charge.

The battlefield.

From the frontal hard clash.

Rapidly spreading to the flanks' slaughter.

Then across the entire contact line, a full engagement of infantry and cavalry, long-range and short-range.

The roar of the crossbow cannons.

The piercing whine of the bed crossbow.

The whine of bows and arrows.

The clash of swords.

The galloping of warhorses.

The wounded's lament.

The commander's roar……

All the sounds.

All the scenes.

All the blood and death.

Interwoven together.

Formed a vast, chaotic, extremely cruel war painting.

Before the Northern Guard Pass.

This expansive frozen wasteland.

Completely turned into a massive grindstone that devours life.

Every moment.

Life is fading away.

The Chen Dynasty is in a bitter battle.

Northern Yuan is launching a frenzied assault.

The battle situation.

Fallen into a suffocating deadlock of flesh and blood.

Eagle Overlook Rock.

Chen Wen's forehead was already covered in fine beads of sweat.

Not from heat.

But due to extreme mental focus and the immense burden brought by fully activating Shi Yong.

He can clearly perceive the flow and change of the 'momentum' across the entire battlefield.

The Chen Dynasty army's 'momentum' is firm and stable, but under the continuous impact like a Northern Yuan frenzy, it is being gradually worn down and consumed.

Like a candle in the wind, flickering uncertainly, yet refusing to go out.

The Northern Yuan army's 'momentum' is violent and chaotic, filled with the desire for aggression and destruction, but also mixed with the emptiness and restlessness from being forcibly rushed.

More importantly.

His internal system growth bar.

After that layer of 'ice surface' is covered in cracks.

At this moment.

Accompanying the intense release, collision, and annihilation of massive life energy on the battlefield.

As his own spirit and will are pushed to the limit.

At a slow and steady pace.

Carrying out the final.

Before the qualitative change.

Accumulation.

He can feel.

That surging power.

Just beneath that thin layer of ice.

Surging.

Roaring.

Waiting to break out of its shell.

That instant.

"Not enough......"

Chen Wen wiped the sweat from his brow, his eyes fixed firmly on the battlefield's center.

That area where the Iron Anvil Camp and the Northern Yuan 'Monster' Vanguard Cavalry repeatedly clashed, with flesh and blood flying.

"Pressure......"

"Need even greater pressure......"

He muttered to himself.

He gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist.