Chapter 721: Falling Short by Three Parts

One who can command an army of two hundred thousand on an expedition is naturally no ordinary person. The commander was Lu Gaozhi, the Great General of Pacifying the West for Zhao Guo and the Marquis of Huaiyuan. Although the Marquis of Huaiyuan was not as widely renowned as the Marquis of Ping'an, he was a veteran general who had campaigned on the battlefield for fifty years.

The Marquis of Huaiyuan was extremely steady in his use of troops; he would first ensure his own invincibility before plotting the enemy's defeat, and he had rarely tasted defeat in his life. Having him command the infantry and cavalry army to strike directly at Hanyang Pass and lure the Azure Void into sending troops to rescue it was precisely the strategy of using the unchanging to meet the ever-changing.

However, Lu Gaozhi had never encountered a situation like this before.

Based on Lu Gaozhi's experience in warfare, he would naturally not deploy a "Long Snake Formation" while marching. He divided the army into three detachments: the central infantry, and the left and right wings composed of mixed infantry and cavalry to protect the flanks of the main force. The three armies were each ten miles apart, maintaining constant communication.

Originally, this was considered a foolproof arrangement, but suddenly, all the scouts sent out rushed back, reporting that the enemy was attacking. And the enemy had come extremely fast, arriving almost right on the heels of the scouts!

Lu Gaozhi ascended into the air to observe and saw hundreds of cavalry units appearing from every direction, with the number of troops in each unit not being very large. As he looked out, he saw that the enemy was evenly distributed everywhere; he couldn't even find where the main force was.

These small cavalry squads arrived almost at the same moment and immediately launched attacks on the Zhao army from all sides. They were extremely arrogant; many squads even drove directly between the front, middle, and rear of the Zhao army's central route, splitting and attacking.

In an instant, countless flashbangs and sonic grenades exploded within the Zhao army. Once the small cavalry squads got close, they raised their guns and fired. Amidst the roaring sounds, large swaths of iron sand and steel balls coated with medicine were fired at the Zhao army. Not many were killed on the spot, but those crying out in pain and rolling on the ground were in droves. Each cavalry squad even carried quite a few artillery shells, throwing them directly into the Zhao army's formation, killing many more.

Even though the Zhao army was a battle-hardened elite force, chaos was inevitable.

Lu Gaozhi was so angry his whole body trembled. He wanted to order a counterattack, but there was still that same problem: where was the enemy's main force? Hundreds of small cavalry squads, just scattered like this, and they still wanted to surround the many with the few?

Having no choice, Lu Gaozhi had to order them to form defensive lines on the spot and counterattack individually. However, the Zhao army's bows, crossbows, and homemade firearms were still far inferior to the Azure Void's. The Azure Void cavalry squads had extremely fierce firepower, knocking down the Zhao army in swathes and suppressing the soldiers who held heavy shields in formation so they didn't dare to show their heads.

The air was filled with flying sword-guns whistling back and forth. Some Dharma Form generals ascended to counterattack, but were instantly pierced into sieves by dozens of flying swords.

Lu Gaozhi was in the central army, protected by numerous personal guards, but he was also somewhat flustered by the countless flying swords coming through the air. The personal guards kept manifesting magic treasures, but they couldn't hold out for long before being broken through by the flying swords.

After observing for a while, Lu Gaozhi suddenly discovered that many small cavalry squads were not fighting on their own; often, several neighboring squads would cooperate. One would charge the formation to cause chaos among the defenders, while the other two would cut a portion of the Zhao army out of the formation, and then join other squads to quickly annihilate these isolated units.

After eliminating the surrounded Zhao troops, these squads would scatter again, each looking for combat opportunities, and then randomly combine with other squads to fight another battle of splitting and encirclement.

These cavalry squads didn't know if it was because their skills were high and they were bold, or if they were arrogant and ignorant; sometimes they would even surround and annihilate isolated Zhao troops right under the noses of the main Zhao army. As long as a Zhao general couldn't endure it and led his own troops to attack, the surrounding cavalry squads would instantly rush over like sharks smelling blood, cutting off the reinforcements as well and forming an even larger encirclement.

Once the encirclement was formed, the Azure Void cavalrymen would ride their horses in circles at a gallop, then raise their guns and fire wildly at the Zhao troops trapped inside.

There was an elite heavy-armored unit that was accidentally cut off and surrounded. The commanding captain did not panic in the face of danger and immediately set up a dense shield formation, protecting even the top of their heads, which the bullets couldn't penetrate. However, an Azure Void cavalryman picked up an artillery shell and threw it into the shield formation along the ground. The next moment, the shield formation "bloomed."

This kind of shield formation was not rare; the "Humanity's Fireworks" had long ago found a way to crack it. In front of infantry cannons, all shield formations were living targets.

Just like that, with one small battle of encirclement and annihilation after another added together, the results became quite considerable.

Each Azure Void cavalry unit was like a fairy sword, dancing nimbly and being incomparably sharp, constantly cutting at the Zhao army, this massive beast. Although each wound was not large, with enough of them, it would also bleed to death.

Lu Gaozhi had never fought such a war. The opponent surrounded the many with the few, was extremely bold, and their use of troops was extremely exquisite. Each squad was like her fingers, nimble and precise. No matter how the Zhao army organized a counterattack, they would always strike empty air, and several times they were surrounded by a dozen squads of the opponent, resulting in a major battle of annihilation.

Lu Gaozhi felt his whole body go cold. All the military books he had studied since childhood flooded his mind, but it seemed not a single one was correct. He didn't even know how to counterattack!

Finally, seeing that the Zhao army was about to collapse, Lu Gaozhi had to blow the retreat horn. Afterward, several trusted aides led the elite troops to cover the retreat, protecting the army as it slowly withdrew to the nearby hills. As long as they occupied the high ground, the enemy cavalry could not gallop back and forth, and the power of this tactic would be much smaller.

Ultimately, the few elite units covering the retreat paid the price of being almost completely wiped out, finally covering the remaining troops as they occupied a small hill. Around the hill was a forest, which was not conducive to cavalry movement. Lu Gaozhi had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of extremely heavy footsteps, and then he saw a team of war chariots driving onto the battlefield.

Unlike the barbarian war chariots that had dozens of hairy legs exposed, the cultivators driving the Azure Void war chariots all wore combat boots mixed with Nether Iron, not fearing having their feet cut.

Zhang Sheng appeared on top of a war chariot, standing with his hands behind his back, and said indifferently: "Old General, if you don't hurry back to Zhao Guo, do you intend to spend the night here? The Western Regions are treacherous; if you stay too long, I'm afraid there will be many complications, and it would be a pity if you couldn't go back."

Lu Gaozhi came to the front of the formation and said: "Who are you?"

"Taichu Palace, Zhang Sheng."

Lu Gaozhi said in a deep voice: "For this defeat today, this Marquis is convinced and bows to your skill. I never thought that troops could be used like this, commanding one hundred thousand cavalry as if they were one's own fingers; it is truly extraordinary. Young lady, you will surely be a famous general of a generation!"

Eight fairy swords appeared around Zhang Sheng, and he said indifferently: "Old General, you flatter me. However, are you still not leaving?"

A thunderous roar suddenly erupted from the Zhao army formation: "A mere Dao Foundation, and you dare to spout such nonsense?! Your grandfather will teach you how to be a person right now!"

A general like an iron tower leaped up, his face full of murderous intent, and pounced toward Zhang Sheng. It was just that although his magic power was strong, his movement technique was average; Zhang Sheng would have to wait for a breath before he could fly over.

Just at this moment, a shadow suddenly rose from the ground, and a giant hand several feet wide fell, grabbing Zhang Sheng in one go. Then, a triumphant laugh came from the shadow: "A mere Dao Foundation, your grandfather here is the real killing move! Let me see me crush you! Hmm, born so good-looking, it's truly a pity to crush you..."

Another Zhao army general appeared from the shadows, grinning hideously as he crazily sent magic power into the giant hand, and then squeezed hard!

But this squeeze was like squeezing a steel ball; let alone crushing it, he couldn't even leave a mark. The Dao power of the person in the giant hand was extremely thick, even more so than his own as a late-stage Dharma Form!

Surging Dao power erupted, directly destroying the Daoist giant hand. Inside, Zhang Sheng, who was bright and pure like sword light, was already gone, replaced by the charming and enchanting Bao Yun.

Bao Yun smiled slightly at the Zhao general, her pupils suddenly becoming bottomless. The general was instantly stunned on the spot, and then a look of extreme fear appeared on his face, not knowing what he had seen. Suddenly, his pupils bled, and then a large amount of blood flowed from his seven orifices, and he fell backward toward the sky.

The Zhao general who had been flying over slowly shouted "Big Brother," and then flew over at full speed. But Zhang Sheng suddenly appeared and blocked his path. Around her, there were still eight fairy swords.

The Zhao general was burning with anxiety and said angrily: "Blind little Dao Foundation, get out of my way!"

He took out a gourd, pulled out the stopper, and sucked at Zhang Sheng. The eight fairy swords immediately broke free from Zhang Sheng's control and were thrown into the gourd one by one.

The Zhao general grinned hideously: "Eight pieces of human-rank trash, and you dare to come out and make a fool of yourself? Get out of the way! I don't kill good-looking women!"

Zhang Sheng said indifferently: "It's too late to beg for mercy now."

Countless fairy swords suddenly appeared under the Zhao general's feet. A total of two hundred and fifty-six fairy swords of various colors turned into a huge seven-colored sword lotus. Immediately, the lotus petals closed, turning into a lotus bud, only blood kept crazily gushing out from the gaps.

Afterward, the sword lotus disappeared, and that Zhao general of the mid-stage Dharma Form was nowhere to be found. Neither his physical body nor his Dharma Form left a trace, and the blood that had just flowed from the gaps in the fairy swords seemed as if it had never existed.

Zhang Sheng bent down to pick up a gourd, put it in his pocket casually, and then looked at Lu Gaozhi, saying: "Old General, if you don't leave now, it will really be too late."

Seeing the war chariots lined up, their cannon barrels raised, Lu Gaozhi finally realized and hurriedly ordered the army to retreat, leave the hilltop, and then retreat all the way toward the direction of Zhao Guo.

Zhang Sheng returned to Bao Yun's side, and afterward, Li Zhi, Cui Yu, and others also rushed over. Li Zhi cupped his hands and said: "Today's battle is truly unprecedented; it will surely leave a name in history!"

Zhang Sheng said indifferently: "It was just done casually, not worth mentioning. You all go and clean up the battlefield."

Li Zhi and Cui Yu knew that Zhang Sheng had something to say to Bao Yun, so they went to get busy separately.

After the two walked far away, Zhang Sheng said: "Just now when you pretended to be me and appeared in front of the two armies, the hand behind your back should have been a few parts further back. You were soft, but you lacked the aura of 'who else but me.' People of later generations talking about today's battle will inevitably lack a few parts of admiration..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 722 =====