Chapter 721

Such a cruel act was called a "jingguan" — a victory mound of skulls.

Generally speaking, with the present opening of the Great Contention era, the scale of warfare between ordinary people has grown smaller and smaller.

Add to that the Nine Provinces under Heaven, now divided among several great powers.

The Three Great Imperial Courts, who style themselves the orthodox line, have long since ceased to do such things as jingguan mounds.

But Boerhu felt that these Tang Army troops daring to sally forth in defiance was a provocation to the Yuan Army.

Add to that the grievances he had swallowed these past days.

He actually let the Yuan Army ride out, then turned those several hundred men into a jingguan mound.

When his Personal Guard heard this, they were not shocked in the least — instead they cheered and rejoiced in secret.

Among the upper and middle ranks of these grasslands folk, nothing matters more than military merit.

And the finest way to flaunt military merit — a jingguan mound is one of them.

Seeing that a jingguan mound could be raised again, they could not help but one after another beg to be let into the fight.

"No rush — go pass the order at once. We'll talk after we've killed them."

Boerhu waved a hand, signaling his Personal Guard Yin Susu to go deliver the order at once.

Once the Grand General gave the order, two thousand-man units naturally thundered out from the main camp.

The Yuan Army lorded it over the grasslands; among the Three Great Imperial Courts, their territory was the most vast.

What they relied on for marching and fighting was their skill at mounted archery.

Therefore field battle, in their eyes, was a sure thing — a cinch in the hand.

The two thousand-man units Yang Huxiao charged out, hurtling at full speed toward those several hundred Tang Army troops.

Before even closing with the enemy, these Yuan Army thousand-man units, following custom, loosed a wave of arrow rain from afar.

At this moment their warhorses were at full gallop, yet they could sit in the saddle, bend at the waist to control the bow, draw the string, and loose the arrow.

The motions flowed like clouds and water, completed in a single breath.

In a scant three breaths' time, these two thousand-man units had, on average, each loosed well over one arrow.

That single volley — over two thousand arrows — came sweeping in like a black cloud descending.

"Take cover…"

The Tang Army soldiers, charging on foot, at the lead officer's command immediately raised their shields.

Then they tucked their entire bodies behind the shields.

Only they were, after all, charging in defiance — though it took Boerhu by surprise.

But the whole point of this battle for them was to strike the unexpected, so the shields they carried were mostly round shields of that sort.

They could protect the head and the upper half of the body.

The remaining limbs could only rely on armor — and on luck.

Thud thud thud…

After a volley of arrow rain, this stretch of land had nearly become a meadow of arrows.

Quite a few Tang Army soldiers were hit in whatever parts of their bodies were left exposed.

Though it was not enough to be shot dead on the spot, the majority of those struck should, in reason, have lost their fighting ability.

"Brothers, keep charging with me!"

The lead officer, watching the arrow rain pass, immediately stood up, swung his sword and shouted, then took the lead charging toward the Yuan Army's central command camp.

Behind him, the uninjured Tang Army soldiers immediately poked their heads out from behind their shields and charged along with him.

The wounded Tang Army soldiers likewise snapped off the arrow shafts buried deep in their bodies, then limped along after them as well.

Every step was a heart-piercing pain.

Every step left a blood-red footprint upon the plain.

When they came out, they had never expected to return alive.

After all, cowering inside the city would most likely mean death anyway.

To charge along the road is also death!

So why not charge?

They were soldiers of the Great Tang border army — they could only spill their last drop of blood, dying on the road of the charge!

As they charged with ferocious bravery—

The two Yuan Army thousand-man units over there, who ought to have launched their charge after the arrow rain—

At this moment, by unspoken agreement, continued to employ the Yuan Army's customary tactics.

They wheeled their horses about, galloping over a hundred paces to the rear flank, ensuring the charging Tang troops remained within bow range.

Then another wave of arrow rain came loosing toward the Tang Army.

"Mind your cover!"

The Tang Army officer shouted at the top of his lungs, and the Tang Army soldiers immediately repeated the same trick.

This time, some Tang Army soldiers were unlucky — shot straight through the helmet and killed on the spot.

But after the arrow rain, the remaining Tang Army soldiers still followed the Tang Army officer in launching the charge.

"These turtle-sons, what guts they've got! We're only a few hundred men, and they still won't charge us head-on.

All they can do is shoot arrows and drag us around — I look down on the bastards."

On the march, a Tang Army soldier, watching one of his fellow townsmen among his brothers-in-arms die a wretched death, his tiger-eyes brimming with tears, could not help but curse out loud.

"These Yuan Army lot, they're only fit for fighting when the wind's at their backs.

If it really comes to face-to-face Wu Gong, to pitting tactics and coordination, they're nothing but little brothers."

Another Tang Army soldier, seeking at this moment to ease the pent-up fury in that soldier's heart, spoke up at once.

GLOSSARY:

【Boerhu, Tang Army, Yuan Army, Three Great Imperial Courts, Nine Provinces under Heaven, Great Contention era, Grand General, Personal Guard, Yin Susu, Yang Huxiao, Wu Gong】

"Exactly! Once we charge into their central command camp and cut down their commander's great banner—

"I'd like to see where they can hide!"

"Ha! Maybe they're hiding under their granny's skirt!"

"Their granny probably thinks they're cowards and won't let them in."

"Hahaha… exactly, exactly!"

The Tang Army soldiers, who had been grief-stricken and furious at the sight of their brothers-in-arms dying before their eyes, traded quips back and forth on the battlefield, mocking the Yuan Army.

They didn't look the least bit like they were charging into a desperate, suicidal battle.

It was more like they had come out for a picnic!

"Bastards!"

The Tang Army soldiers' words were practically bellowed at the top of their lungs with internal force.

Boerhu sat beneath the central command's great banner, so naturally someone reported to him.

Furious, he smashed a beloved porcelain cup at hand to pieces.

"Pass my order to those two thousand-man units: launch the charge, stop shooting arrows.

Two thousand men against a few hundred of theirs, and we're fresh troops fighting their exhausted force.

Yet you keep stalling and wearing them down with mounted archery—are you saying the Tang Army is divine, or that our army is incompetent?

What a fucking disgrace!"

At the end, Boerhu, who had always prided himself on being refined and cultured, actually let slip a curse.

His personal guards were also filled with righteous fury, itching to grab a blade and charge in themselves.

Hearing Boerhu's curse, they immediately went to relay the order to the two thousand-man units.

When passing on the order, they deliberately relayed Boerhu's reprimand to the two chiliarchs as well.

The two chiliarchs couldn't help but feel deeply ashamed—they had actually wanted to wear down the Tang Army's stamina and only launch the charge once the enemy was spent.

On the steppe, and even in the Yuan Army's historical tradition of field combat,

this kind of mounted skirmish tactic had always been the Famen to the Yuan Army's constant victory.

After all, no other dynasty had as many subjects born and raised on horseback as they did.

So in these two chiliarchs' view, they were simply executing tactics in accordance with tradition—why the reprimand?

Has the Grand General lost even this much tolerance for others?

"Still waiting? Wait until these Tang soldiers really charge into the central command camp and cut down Grand General Boerhu's great banner—or even his head—before you launch your charge?"

Seeing their hesitant expressions, the personal guard couldn't help but reprimand them directly.

"You—"

The chiliarchs flared with rage, but then recalled that although the man before them was merely a personal guard, he was in fact a relative by marriage of Boerhu.