Chapter 1159: First Volume, Chapter 1159: Total Annihilation and Breaking the Formation

First Volume, Chapter 1159: Total Annihilation and Breaking the Formation

Sun Bo, clad in heavy armor and wielding a great axe, was tightly protected in the center by a group of servant soldiers.

Even so, Sun Bo was already gasping for breath, with an arrow lodged in his shoulder.

Had his armor not been so sturdy and the arrow failed to pierce through, that single arrow alone would have been enough to strip Sun Bo of his combat effectiveness.

If Sun Bo was this worn out, the rest of the soldiers were even closer to collapse—had they not been elite troops, fully armored and brimming with martial vigor, they would have broken long ago.

"General! The rebel army's assault is ferocious; we can no longer hold on!"

"General! Our losses are catastrophic!"

"General, our forces are now fewer than three thousand; every unit has been split and surrounded by the rebels, fighting alone."

Bad news came in rapid succession, and Sun Bo's head throbbed with pain.

Not to mention the other soldiers—even the men around him had dwindled to just a few hundred personal guards.

Facing an enemy force several times their size, they could only desperately hold on, with no strength left for counterattack.

The only hope now rested on the Beixi Light Cavalry.

Under the cover of the servant soldiers, Sun Bo raised his great axe above his head and struck down a heavily armored enemy soldier directly before him.

Even at fifty, Sun Bo's bravery had not diminished since his youth.

Unfortunately, no matter how fierce his valor, he could not reverse the tide.

"Where is the Beixi Light Cavalry!"

"Where is the Beixi Light Cavalry!"

"Why haven't the reinforcements arrived? Beixi Light Cavalry, how dare you abandon me?!"

Sun Bo's desperate roars echoed endlessly across the battlefield, yet received no reply.

The more he screamed, the more despair consumed him.

For Sun Bo knew that even if the Beixi Light Cavalry arrived, they might not turn the tide—but at least, it was his last remaining hope.

At that moment, cries of battle erupted from all directions.

Sun Bo could clearly hear the noise, meaning the disparity in troop numbers between enemy and ally had become extreme.

"Kill!"

Sun Bo roared and led his fifty heavy armored infantry and two hundred servant soldiers in a furious charge against the dense ranks of the enemy.

Relying on their sturdy heavy armor, Sun Bo's remaining two hundred and fifty soldiers repeatedly slammed into the enemy lines.

Although the rebel light infantry were quickly broken, soon after, a scene of utter despair unfolded before Sun Bo.

Over a thousand heavy armored infantry appeared before his eyes.

In an instant, the tide turned; Sun Bo was once again surrounded, forced to desperately hold his ground.

He knew death was certain, yet he could not surrender—once resistance ceased, the rebels would slaughter them like cutting down melons and vegetables.

During formation combat, casualties were light; true massacre only began when one side broke, retreated, or fled.

Watching his personal guards fall one after another.

At fifty, Sun Bo was nearly spent; under the protection of the servant soldiers, he leaned on his great axe, gasping for air in deep, ragged breaths.

The great axe he once swung with thunderous force now weighed a thousand jin—each lift required every ounce of his strength.

Even so, he could not switch weapons, for his enemy was also heavy armored infantry; he could only maintain a safe distance and deliver effective armor-piercing strikes using long weapons.

"Will my vanguard army truly be annihilated here?"

"Qin Feng! You bastard, when will you come to bury this old man!"

Even as Sun Bo fought with his last strength against the rebels, the Beixi Light Cavalry had already engaged the enemy on the outer perimeter.

Three thousand Beixi Light Cavalry split into two columns.

Two thousand of them shuttled constantly between Gusu City and the battlefield, doing their utmost to intercept rebel forces.

The remaining thousand cavalry circled the battlefield's edge, constantly harassing and ambushing.

Zhao Zhenhai led his eight hundred cavalry in multiple charges along the battlefield's perimeter, leading from the front and using arrows to wear down the enemy.

Unfortunately…

They were light cavalry, tasked with ambushing logistics and intercepting reinforcements.

In such an intensely contested frontline battle, their value was extremely limited.

After several charges, Zhao Zhenhai's Beixi Light Cavalry had dwindled to six hundred men.

They dared not approach the rebel infantry too closely, for the enemy's step bows matched their horse bows in both range and penetration.

Exchanging arrows with a formed infantry line gave them no advantage whatsoever.

Moreover, light cavalry could not charge into formation—charging recklessly would be like beidi war tactics, and they would be instantly cut down by the enemy's spearmen.

Zhao Zhenhai could only do his best to relieve pressure on Sun Bo.

But the battle was nearing its end; the situation for Sun Bo was dire, and if the tide could not be turned, Zhao Zhenhai had no choice but to retreat.

"General Zhao! We can't hold on any longer!"

"Our men are suffering heavy losses—we must retreat, or when the rebel cavalry encircles us, we'll all be lost here."

Hearing his deputy general's cry, Zhao Zhenhai frowned and shot an arrow toward the distant rebels.

The arrow was immediately blocked by their shield wall.

Faced with the tightly packed infantry formation, Zhao Zhenhai had no further options.

Just as he was about to abandon Sun Bo, a messenger appeared again beside Zhao Zhenhai.

"General Zhao! Reinforcements have arrived!"

Zhao Zhenhai's eyes lit up; he quickly asked: "Which reinforcements?"

"Has the Northern Border Army arrived?"

The messenger quickly explained: "The Black Cavalry has arrived, the ones stationed all along in the Rear."

Black Cavalry?!

According to Zhao Zhenhai, although Zhao Yulong had withdrawn from the Front Line and remained by Qin Feng's side, the Black Cavalry had not been fully relocated.

A thousand Black Cavalry remained stationed about fifty Li behind Sun Bo's main force.

Their mission was to prevent Sun Bo's army from being encircled and annihilated by the Rebel Army of Nan Jing.

"Beidi War Command: All Beixi Light Cavalry shall retreat immediately and join the Black Cavalry—protect the Black Cavalry!"

Zhao Zhenhai did not hesitate; he immediately led his own Light Infantry and recalled the two thousand Light Infantry holding the front line against the Enemy Army, heading straight for the Black Cavalry.

The Black Cavalry were heavy cavalry; their greatest strength lay in breaking enemy formations.

Correspondingly, the Black Cavalry had many weaknesses—they were slow, making them extremely vulnerable to attacks by enemy Light Cavalry and Light Infantry.

Light Infantry were only lightly armored; their weapons were by no means light.

Whether it was the Chang Mao or the powerful crossbow, both were more than enough to cripple the Black Cavalry.

As the Beixi Light Cavalry withdrew, the nearly six thousand remaining Rebel Army converged upon Sun Bo's vanguard.

At this moment, Sun Bo had only a hundred men left beside him; though the entire vanguard still numbered over two thousand, they had been scattered, fighting individually, unable to regroup.

With the Beixi Light Cavalry gone, Sun Bo's pressure surged drastically—even his personal guards, all clad in Heavy Armor, could no longer hold.