Chapter 142: The Unexpected Force

Neither the Han nor the Wuhuan night-raiding forces had lit torches or any other illumination. Their sudden encounter in the pitch-dark night was completely unexpected. By the time the respective leading commanders caught sight of the looming shadows before them, it was already too late to formulate alternative plans. At this juncture, the Han and Wuhuan armies had no choice but to commit fully. Following the orders of their commanders, the soldiers spat out the twigs they had been clenching in their mouths, untied their horse-reins, and—too rushed to even consider bows and arrows—drew their long sabers and charged straight at one another.

Qin Cheng was startled at first, but composure quickly returned to him. A chilling glare flashed in his eyes, radiating murderous intent. He pointed his ring-pommel saber forward without hesitation, and a single word escaped his lips: "Kill!"

Some soldiers lit torches to provide a faint illumination of the battlefield, barely enough to distinguish the enemy before them and prevent blind slashing. As the horses accelerated, the vanguard cavalry of both sides clashed in a brutal melee.

Caught completely off guard by this sudden turn of events, Yixue'er was similarly taken aback. Yet, regaining her composure in a flash, she realized that Qin Cheng had arrived at the exact same thought as her, preparing a night raid of her own. At this realization, the corners of Yixue'er's mouth even managed to curve into a smile.

It was just unclear what that smile signified.

At that very moment, the two armies collided directly in front of the northern gate of the fortress. Knowing that today was the day of the decisive battle, Li Guang had already assembled all of his cavalry within the stronghold. Originally, there had been nearly a thousand injured Han horsemen in the fort, and when Qin Cheng camped at Yangpo the day before, he had dispatched another fifteen hundred elite cavalrymen to the fortress. Upholding the principle that slightly wounded soldiers should not leave the firing line, the number of battle-ready cavalrymen in the fortress now exceeded two thousand. Hearing the sudden eruption of battle cries and thunderous hoofbeats outside the walls, Li Guang remained unperturbed. He simply walked briskly up to the ramparts to assess the situation outside.

Outside the walls, the fifteen hundred Han horsemen and the two thousand Xiongnu and Wuhuan cavalry had crashed together, becoming completely interlocked in chaotic combat. Amidst the swirling melee, torches flickered with dizzying speed, human and equine shadows intertwined, and torches occasionally sputtered out and died. Viewed from afar, it resembled several narrow rivers rushing against one another in a clash—a scene chaotic yet possessing a strange, underlying order.

The Han cavalry led by Qin Cheng took Ma Dashan's five hundred fully armored heavy cavalrymen as their vanguard. When the two armies charged into each other, the five hundred heavy cavalry took the lead, every soldier gripping a zhang-long assault halberd with a long saber hung at his waist. Heavy iron armor protected their bodies, and their towering steeds were likewise draped in protective plates. Charging straight into the enemy formation, they merely pointed their long halberds obliquely forward without even needing to swing them, piercing numerous enemy cavalrymen—who were armed merely with long sabers—right off their mounts. For a time, fresh blood flew across the eyes of the heavy cavalry, and riders tumbled down around them.

With the heavy cavalry paving the way ahead, virtually none of the enemy horsemen could withstand their razor-sharp edge. They plowed straight through, leaving a trail of blood and the agonizing shrieks of men and beasts. With such formidable heavy cavalry leading the charge, logic dictated that the Han army should be assured of victory. Alas, the light cavalry followed closely behind the heavy cavalry. These light cavalrymen had undergone less than half a year of training; while they were more than capable of cutting down unmounted riders amidst the chaos of a night raid, they were clearly out of their depth when forced into a head-on confrontation with steppe cavalry.

The one thousand Xiongnu cavalry under Yixue'er's command were all elites, and their combat prowess was naturally formidable. Though they had initially been trampled by the heavy cavalry's charge and suffered heavy casualties before they could even fight back—a rather unjust death, so to speak—once the five hundred heavy cavalry had surged past, those grim-reaper-like zhang-long halberds vanished from sight. The Han cavalry remaining before them were armed merely with long sabers, allowing these Xiongnu horsemen to finally breathe a sigh of relief as they eagerly swung their blades to hack and slash.

Consequently, after this initial clash, the actual losses on both sides were remarkably similar, and the Han army failed to secure an overwhelming advantage.

Yixue'er had never previously engaged head-on with Han heavy cavalry. Her only prior encounter had been when the Han heavy cavalry were cooped up inside the fortress at Yangtou Town, denying her a chance to witness the ferocious momentum of their frontal charge. Although she had later learned from defeated horsemen that the Han army possessed a highly elite cavalry force, and though she had attached some importance to it, she had ultimately not taken it seriously enough, assuming at the time that the Han horsemen were merely better equipped. Meeting them now—these Han heavy cavalrymen who could sweep and surge through her formation with blistering shock speed, razor-sharp halberds, and full iron armor—she had nearly been pierced off her saddle, leaving her thoroughly shocked. Had it not been for her personal guards sacrificing their lives to shield her, Yixue'er, positioned right at the vanguard, would likely have lost her life.

Having survived this destructive charge, Yixue'er felt lingering fear mixed with profound bewilderment.

Qin Cheng, however, had no intention of giving Yixue'er the time to figure it out. Having surged through the formation with mutual casualties inflicted, both sides wheeled their horses around. Knowing that they needed a swift victory, as any delay would allow Chamuque to arrive with his main force and plunge them into a desperate plight, Qin Cheng understood that this second charge would be a grueling war of attrition. The moment the formations parted would determine the victor.

Just as Yixue'er was leading her troops in turning their horses around to prepare for another charge, a sudden chorus of battle cries erupted from the flank, accompanied by the thunderous roar of hoofbeats. Countless torches surged out from the mountain forests, instantly transforming into a dragon of fire. Their momentum was fierce as a tiger, and though their exact numbers were obscured by the dark, the sheer sound and spectacle suggested thousands of formidable troops.

Facing enemies from both front and rear, Yixue'er finally turned pale with shock. Assuming this was another trick orchestrated by Qin Cheng, she was consumed by intense vexation, cursing under her breath, "Qin Cheng, how utterly despicable of you!" Then, rallying her personal guards, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "There is no retreat left for us now! Follow me and charge back through!"

Her personal guards roared in acknowledgment, echoing the cry to "charge back through," and galloped once more toward Qin Cheng.

As for the one thousand Wuhuan cavalry accompanying Yixue'er and her thousand Xiongnu horsemen, they had already been frightened out of their wits. Having suffered two consecutive crushing defeats over the past two days, their fighting spirit was entirely depleted. While they might have retained some combat effectiveness if they were riding the wave of victory, once plunged into adversity with signs of defeat appearing, their collapse was absolute and irreversible. Compounding this, with the pitch-dark surroundings obscuring everything, they could only hear battle cries shaking the heavens from behind, while countless torches surged forth like sea dragons escaping the deep—a truly terrifying spectacle. Instantly, many of the soldiers lost their wits entirely, coming within a hair's breadth of discarding their armor and fleeing in panic. Only out of lingering terror did they trail behind the ferocious Xiongnu horsemen, forcing themselves forward.

Hearing the commotion erupt from the mountains, Qin Cheng was likewise startled. A moment of reflection, however, made him realize that Shan Jia must have led his troops out to strike.

When Qin Cheng had marched north to the Great Wall, he had encountered scouts sent by Li Guang to meet him along the way. At that time, Qin Cheng had ordered the scouts to carry his military command to Xiaohua City to find Shan Jia, and to Yangtou Town to find Xiahou Neng, instructing both men to rapidly assemble the cavalry from all towns and counties in northern Shanggu. Setting a one-day deadline, they were to lead all these cavalrymen northward to the fortress, concealing themselves deep within the forests beforehand to serve as a surprise force.

At dusk today, Shan Jia had dispatched scouts to report to Qin Cheng that he had successfully arrived with the main force. At that time, Shan Jia was commanding over fifteen hundred troops, waiting quietly in the forests for Qin Cheng's orders. Qin Cheng's original plan for tonight's surprise attack on the Wuhuan camp had been for Shan Jia to strike from the left flank, Li Guang from the right, and lead the Yangpo camp cavalry himself to assault the vanguard camp—three forces striking in succession to guarantee an element of surprise. Combined with the Wuhuan cavalry's recent crushing defeat, they were bound to rout. This was precisely why Qin Cheng had declared tonight's battle to be the decisive one.

In the northern border commanderies of the Han, apart from the commandery seat which housed a main military camp of roughly ten thousand Han troops serving as the primary defense against the Xiongnu and supporting all fronts, each county and town maintained a certain military force, albeit small ones. For instance, Xiaohua City held only two to three hundred Han troops, while the crucial stronghold of Yangtou Town possessed no more than five or six hundred.

Unless warfare erupted within their own jurisdictions, these garrison troops from the counties and towns generally did not participate in expeditions with the main commandery force, both to maintain local stability and to prevent leaving other areas vulnerable. Knowing that relying solely on the seven thousand Han troops assembled in the fortress would make securing victory against the thirty thousand Wuhuan troops extremely difficult, Qin Cheng had secretly summoned Shan Jia's forces.

Seeing Qin Cheng and Yixue'er cross paths in the forest just moments ago, Shan Jia realized that the night raid could no longer proceed as originally scheduled. After a brief deliberation, he had led his troops charging out.

Realizing that Shan Jia had arrived, Qin Cheng seized the moment to raise his saber and roar, "Our Han reinforcements have arrived! Follow me to first slaughter these mere rabble, and then uproot the Wuhuan camp!

To wipe out the Wuhuan and bolster our military might—it all rests upon tonight!"

Dismissing the combined force of one thousand Xiongnu cavalry and one thousand Wuhuan cavalry as mere rabble was naturally meant to be mocking, yet such mockery was precisely what was needed at this moment to elevate the morale of the Han horsemen. The moment Qin Cheng finished shouting, the Han cavalry behind him caught sight of the reinforcements bursting out from behind Yixue'er. Hearing Qin Cheng's rallying cry, their morale soared to unprecedented heights.

Qin Cheng's personal guards, led by the deputy squad commander (as Squad Commander Qin Qingzhi was still recovering from injuries in Qiansang), joined their voices in a thunderous unison: "First slaughter the mere rabble, then uproot the Wuhuan camp!

To wipe out the Wuhuan and bolster our military might!"

With thirty or fifty personal guards raising the chant, the rest of the cavalrymen understood that total victory was right before their eyes. Their blood surged hot within their chests, and as they spurred their mounts forward, they roared in unison:

"First slaughter the mere rabble, then uproot the Wuhuan camp!"
"To wipe out the Wuhuan and bolster our military might!"

Over a thousand Han horsemen shifted their formation, denying the enemy before them any possibility of brushing past each other. They charged forward in a dense, solid wave, shouting in unison. Wielding their Qin halberds and long sabers like fierce tigers descending from the mountains, they radiated an ever-growing, terrifying presence in the dead of night!

Consumed by fury and anxiety, Yixue'er had no alternative other than to grit her teeth and charge forward; failing to do so would leave them entirely at the mercy of the Han army's encirclement and slaughter. Driven to desperation, she roared once more, "If none of you wish to die, follow me and charge our way out!"

And so the two armies collided once more. Catching sight of Yixue'er, Qin Cheng spurred his mount forward, his long saber aiming straight for her flushed face!

His personal guards flanked him closely, sealing off both of his sides to protect him.

"Qin Cheng, forfeit your life!" Enemies meeting face-to-face only stoked their mutual hatred to a fever pitch. Catching sight of the Han commander charging directly toward her, Yixue'er—already engulfed in blinding rage and panic—hurled herself straight at Qin Cheng, thrusting her long saber directly toward his throat!

"Well struck!" Filled with soaring valor, Qin Cheng bellowed in response. The instant Yixue'er's blade reached his eyes, his ring-pommel saber deflected it with pinpoint accuracy. At the same time, he leaned his upper body to the side. Their blades brushed against each other and parted instantly; having knocked Yixue'er's saber aside, his weapon swept directly toward her chest!

Right there, he aimed straight for her heaving bosom!

With a sharp cry, Yixue'er leaned her upper body backward, rapidly retracting her blade to parry Qin Cheng's ring-pommel saber from below!

As the two figures crossed paths, both Yixue'er and Qin Cheng slashed backward toward one another. Their blades collided with a loud clang, the edges grinding down each other's length and sending a shower of sparks flying into the air!

Plunging deep into each other's formations, the two of them hacked and slashed, felling several surrounding cavalrymen. Finding a momentary gap, they both wheeled their horses around, roared in unison, and charged to kill once more!