Chapter 2812 - 2811: Cavalry Reassigned as Infantry

Chapter 2812: Chapter 2811: Cavalry Reassigned as Infantry

After the Yan Yun Iron Cavalry came down from the mountain, a wave of discontent surged through the army.

Officers up and down were all cursing in anger, "We’re Cavalry—since when have Cavalry ever been made to storm mountains and seize strongholds?"

"The Grand Commandant is obviously making things hard for us!"

"I heard the Grand Commandant and General Yang don’t get along, so he’s deliberately squeezing General Yang!"

"That dog official clearly wants us dead!"

"I heard the bandit soldiers in Lu State were forced into rebellion by Gao Qiu and the others—these traitorous ministers truly bring calamity on the realm!"

"Later we’ll petition the general together and just go back to Yan Province!"

"..."

Suo Chao listened to the grumbling in the ranks, anxiously waiting for Yang Zhi to ride back.

The two went into the command tent together. Suo Chao hurriedly asked, "How did it go? Did Chancellor Gao agree to our proposal?"

Yang Zhi shook his head, tamping down his smoldering rage, and said, "Gao Qiu, that dog thief, is narrow-minded to the core—he has no intention of truly suppressing the bandits. He’s given us one day to keep attacking the mountain. If we can’t take Green Stone Pass, we’re to bring him our heads!"

Suo Chao slammed a chair in the tent into splinters in fury and shouted, "That dog thief’s heart is vicious beyond belief. If we throw our Cavalry into a full-scale siege, who knows how many brothers we’ll lose—he’s sending us to die on purpose!"

Yang Zhi said darkly, "Military orders cannot be defied. If we refuse to obey, that’s disobeying orders on the battlefield. When the time comes, the way we die will be even worse than now."

Suo Chao waved his hand and said, "At worst we’ll just go back to Yanbei and keep fighting the Wolf King of the Northern Barbarian Country—better that than swallowing this filth here!"

"That would be playing right into Gao Qiu’s hands. He’s dying for us to go back so he can accuse us of treason."

Yang Zhi had more forbearance than Suo Chao.

Suo Chao asked, "Then what do you plan to do? We can’t seriously throw our Dragon Cavalry at that mountain. We can’t afford that kind of attrition!"

Yang Zhi looked toward Green Stone Pass outside the tent and said quietly, "Since Cavalry are ill-suited to charge, we’ll have Cavalry fight as infantry instead. I checked last night—the garrison on the mountain is only about a hundred thousand men. If we launch a full-force assault, we should be able to take that pass."

Suo Chao was speechless. "Isn’t that using a Niu Dao to slaughter a chicken, attacking with a short arm against a long? Besides, we don’t even have Siege Ladders or Shields—what are we supposed to use to withstand that dense arrow rain?"

Yang Zhi said grimly, "We’ll use the warhorses! Every one of our warhorses is a Dragon Blood Steed bred with Azure Dragon Blood. They have Azure Dragon scales on their bodies—ordinary arrows can’t pierce them at all. We’ll put a layer of Armor on the warhorses, then have the soldiers shelter behind them as they push forward. As for Siege Ladders and other siege gear, we’ll make Gao Qiu figure it out. If he won’t even grant us that, we’ll memorialize the Privy Council Envoy and have him uphold justice for us."

"This is a joke not seen in a thousand years—using Cavalry as infantry. No wonder the rebels of our Great Songg grow more numerous the more we fight them!"

Suo Chao could only helplessly go out to make arrangements.

They immediately sent a military report to Gao Qiu, asking him to prepare a thousand Siege Ladders for them, as well as Shields, battering rams, Catapults, and so on.

Gao Qiu was secretly delighted, thinking that a proud man like Yang Zhi had finally bowed to him.

Knowing he couldn’t push too hard, he decided that since Yang Zhi was now determined to assault the city, he might as well satisfy their demands.

He had the quartermaster officers come over and allocate those siege engines to Yang Zhi.

However, with over a million troops in the field, the supplies had long since been carved up—there was hardly anything left to distribute.

In the end the quartermaster could only provide a little over a hundred Siege Ladders, and nothing else for Yang Zhi.

By the time Yang Zhi’s army received the supplies, it was already afternoon.

Suo Chao, upon collecting the supplies, was so furious he almost threw down his command and walked away.

Yang Zhi’s anger also surged up, but he still followed the plan set in the morning and ordered his men to dress the warhorses in chain Armor in preparation for the assault.

On the General Platform, facing his hundred thousand troops, he called out in a low voice, "Brothers, I know you all bear grievances in your hearts. But I want to tell you this: as long as we are truly loyal in serving the realm, Your Majesty will recognize our loyalty and courage. We may be Cavalry, but once we dismount, we are still fiercer than common infantry. Come with me to storm this stronghold and take Green Stone Pass—once we seize it, I, Yang Zhi, will give up my entire fortune to reward you all!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"..."

Suo Chao led the shout, and the soldiers under him raised their weapons and all roared in unison.

A hundred thousand troops, leading Dragon Blood Steeds and carrying Siege Ladders, began the assault from the foot of the mountain.

Yang Zhi had thought it would be simple, but once the plan was put into practice he discovered it was nowhere near so easy.

Because the Cavalry had all trained to fight on horseback, once they were made to fight as infantry, they were completely unaccustomed to forming ranks, to advancing uphill, to everything.

The warhorses too were not used to it—without riders on their backs, being tugged along by the reins, many stubbornly refused to go upward.

The men on the mountain watched in puzzlement, seeing a group of Cavalry, once they entered bow-shot, instead hide behind their horses and use them as shields as they advanced.

The commanders on the walls were seasoned in war, yet it was the first time they’d seen such a bizarre tactic.

Wuu Yong shook his fan and laughed aloud from the battlements. "It seems General Yang Zhi has been thoroughly harmed by Gao Qiu!"

Song Gongming also chuckled lightly. "A treacherous official ruins a man—clearly a sharp sword, cast out and used as a kitchen knife."

Wuu Yong cautioned, "Elder Brother, don’t underestimate those warhorses. They were bred with Dragon Blood; they can withstand blades, spears, and even fire and water. There will still be a fierce battle shortly!"

Song Gongming nodded. "No matter. As long as we pin Yang Zhi’s forces here, there’ll be quite the show to watch tonight!"

He lifted the Command Banner and signaled the soldiers to ready their counterattack.

Yang Zhi led his army, and once they entered a thousand paces, they all sheltered behind the warhorses as they pushed forward.

The mountain path was hard to travel; the formation straggled as it advanced, moving very slowly.

The defenders on the mountain, meanwhile, loaded jar after jar of fire oil onto their Catapults, and the strongmen in the army hauled the arms down.

When Yang Zhi’s troops came within five hundred paces, Song Gongming’s Command Banner suddenly slashed downward.

Swish!

Swish!

Swish!

Catapult after Catapult snapped forward, hurling the jars filled with fire oil high into the air.

Among Yang Zhi’s warhorse formations, jar after jar of fire oil crashed to the ground with booming impacts.

The black oil instantly soaked a swath of ground. Before Yang Zhi could react, dense flaming arrows hissed down from the walls, raining over them like a storm.

Boom!

With muffled detonations, the fire oil on the ground was instantly ignited by the arrow storm.

This fire oil had all been refined; its quality was a hundred times more pure than ordinary oil.

At the sight of flame, it roared to life in an instant.

Mountainside wildfire flared up, enveloping a portion of the warhorses.

The Dragon Blood Steeds might not fear the flames, but being burned inside that blaze still frightened and maddened them; one after another they shrieked and bolted backward in panic.

The Cavalry who had been sheltering behind the horses were trampled to the ground by their hooves one by one.

When the flames licked their bodies, they screamed in agony within the fire.

Had they possessed Catapults of their own, Yang Zhi’s troops could have immediately launched precise counterfire.

But Yang Zhi’s Cavalry had no Catapults.

The enemy Catapults kept hurling fire oil; the blaze spread wider and wider, burning ever more fiercely. In the end, amid the chaos, more than a thousand Vanguard Cavalry died beneath the horses’ hooves and in the flames.

The army fell into complete disorder; the soldiers all swung up into their saddles and fled madly downhill in all directions.

Quite a few warhorses simply tumbled down the mountainside.

In the panicked retreat, another hundred men or more fell to their deaths on the mountain.