Chapter 196 The Best Carpenter

Standing at the front of the ranks, Ye Tao was unexpectedly free of any fear or panic. After killing and seeing blood, Ye Tao, like most of the "Blood Kirin Army," had become accustomed to the atmosphere of the battlefield, where he had to leave everything else behind. And he was doing quite well.

In recent days, the Blood Kirin Army had annihilated nearly 20,000 enemies. According to simple arithmetic, the Fire Kirin Army's heavy infantry had hardly engaged in combat, and the archers had only fired a few volleys. Besides saving arrows, this was because the Blood Kirin Army, equipped with crossbows for everyone, didn't have much need for covering arrow suppression. As for the heavy equipment detachment of the Fire Kirin Army, now with over six hundred men, they had never unloaded any of their large equipment from the specially designed four-wheeled carriages. The heavy equipment detachment, except for a brief appearance when building a pontoon bridge, was almost rusting from disuse. Most of the kills came from the Fierce Blood Army and the Fire Kirin Army's cavalry. Spread out among them, there were still over two kills per person.

As for Ye Tao, although his primary job in the Blood Kirin Army was to conceive strategies and tactics and make decisions on specific actions, allowing Dai Yun to implement them, he had thrown himself into the front line several times, each time with success. To date, the cumulative number of kills under his name was already nine... a result that ranked him in the top three hundred in the current Blood Kirin Army.

Although everyone from Dai Yun and Qiu Haohui down to every flag captain, sentry chief, and squad leader had desperately ordered their men to keep a close eye on Ye Tao and not let anything happen to him, it was undeniably difficult to keep an eye on someone in the cavalry ranks, in the midst of repeated charges. Thus, Ye Tao had been incredibly lucky to charge at the forefront, with a touch of self-destructive tendencies, and with a growing sense of detached heroism.

On the Xiling Army's side, although they hadn't yet connected the name Ye Tao with the fierce general charging at the front and shouting out tactical adjustments, this person was already on their radar. They thought of Ye Tao as a fierce general, perhaps mainly because his weapon of choice on horseback was a very distinctive stone hammer.

Using a stone hammer as a weapon was actually a last resort. Ye Tao's horsemanship was decent, but he hadn't gone through the series of training exercises at the Two Armies Review Bureau. He couldn't possibly master the cavalry's spear assassination techniques or close-quarters combat with spears. But Ye Tao had a great deal of strength.

Having worked in a woodworking workshop since he was four and having exercised systematically and purposefully with scientific fitness methods, Ye Tao's body was in better shape than most people in this era. Later, when he started working on jade and stone carvings, which required keen eyesight, skill, technique, and strength, he had built a solid foundation. He had once swung a hammer at a whole piece of jade as tall as himself, just to break out a large shape. Now, riding a horse and wielding a hammer, though affected by the horse's movements, his hammer's accuracy was still terrifying.

Four squad leader-level knights stood carefully behind Ye Tao, watching his every move. They had two bulky leather bags attached to their saddles, filled with flags of various colors and patterns. With these flags, they could communicate with their companions in the battlefield and further away, conveying military orders. These four squad leaders, while responsible for relaying orders, were also responsible for protecting Ye Tao.

Ye Tao didn't seem to care much about his own safety. He was already nearly one hundred and fifty paces ahead of the entire cavalry formation. Standing outside the range of the enemy archers, he scanned the considerable number of enemies opposite him. The number of these enemies was roughly equal to the cavalry force behind him, but there were some differences in military appearance and equipment. The enemy, who had come to their aid at full speed, was now just catching their breath.

Knowing that once they started resting, it would be easier to become tired and harder to regain their fighting spirit than if they continued fighting, Ye Tao didn't hesitate or prepare to let the enemy recover. He immediately raised his hammer high, and then, with the signalmen, galloped back towards his own formation.

The Blood Kirin Army moved. As Ye Tao raised his stone hammer high and extended it flat in the direction of the enemy, the Blood Kirin Army surged forward.

The cavalry formation began to spread out from the flanks, forming a curved line. The Xiling cavalry also responded and launched their charge.

The front-row cavalrymen were close together, holding their long lances horizontally in front of them. The Blood Kirin Army's lances had a buckle that could be attached to a loop on the saddle. This reduced the chances of the lance slipping from their grip due to sudden force during the charge. Moreover, even those who hadn't received much lance training could still hold the lance steady and make a powerful attack...

Just as the two armies were a little over one hundred paces apart, the Blood Kirin Army's formation, like a beating heart, suddenly opened and contracted. In that instant of opening, when the space between every two cavalrymen in the front row widened slightly, crossbow bolts were fired out from those tiny gaps. Then, the gaps disappeared immediately, and the first row of the Blood Kirin Army returned to a tight and perfect cavalry formation.

This complex and precise formation change in just a moment made the Xiling cavalry realize that they were facing no rabble, and they paid the price with over a hundred casualties. They didn't know how much painstaking training was required to achieve this formation change; any mistake could lead to chaos.

The Xiling cavalry's momentary fear had even more serious consequences. In this era of cold weapons, courage was so important. The momentary hesitation allowed the Blood Kirin Army, already bearing down on them, to unleash a powerful attack. The fierce Blood Kirin Army, like a mountain knife with a thick spine cutting through tofu, cut through the Xiling cavalry's thin line with almost no resistance. The slaughter had come openly and brazenly.

Patches of Xiling cavalry fell. In this battle, the performance of the two sides, roughly equal in number, was far too different. In the crucial first charge, although over a hundred people were hit by spears or blades and fell from their horses, it was unclear whether they were dead or injured. But compared to the Xiling cavalry's miserable state, these casualties were nothing.

After the initial charge, the Blood Kirin Army's cavalry, taking advantage of their dominance, worked together in groups of at least two. Those slightly further away used lances to thrust, and those closer used the sabers tied to their saddles to slash and kill. Occasionally, they even freed their hands to reload and fire their crossbows... What made the Xiling cavalry even more frightened was that their weapons had limited effect when they struck the Blood Kirin Army's cavalry, hitting the helmets, shoulder armor, and chest armor formed into a single piece of metal curvature. The scale armor, with copper strips framing and arc-shaped steel plates covering the outside, didn't have the meticulous protection of the armor worn by the Blood Kirin Army's heavy infantry, but it was the best cavalry armor of this era.

Ye Tao had already taken two blows. His fighting skills could only be described as clumsy, but he swung the stone hammer in his hand non-stop. Compared to being killed by carelessness, the danger of running out of strength before the end of the battle seemed less urgent. A Xiling cavalryman's broadsword, striking from behind, broke through the outer layer of his armor but got stuck on the copper frame, allowing Ye Tao to stab him to death with a sword in return. Although the blade still left a wound on his back that continued to widen and bleed more as the battle went on and he continued to swing the stone hammer, he was even more unbridled. The horrified expression on the enemy cavalryman's face fully demonstrated the protective power of his armor, and the exquisiteness of the unfortunate cavalryman's horse, saddle, and armor, as well as the weapon in his hand, further indicated that he was no ordinary soldier.

When Ye Tao almost deliberately used the shoulder armor on his left shoulder to take the enemy's blade, deflecting the enemy's momentum at the critical moment, and at the same time smashed the stone hammer in his right hand hard on the other's face, his signalmen were horrified. They scrambled to squeeze in from both sides to drag Ye Tao down, and then followed him closely... Under such protection, Ye Tao could finally only honestly fulfill his duty of battlefield command.

The battle of cavalry units of this scale proceeded very quickly. When Dai Yun finished the battle on the other side, left a few hundred men to clean up the battlefield, and personally led the remaining cavalry to rush over, there was nothing much left for them to do except to outflank and intercept some scattered remnants fleeing from behind the enemy.

"Zeng Zining, your three flag teams are responsible for cleaning up the battlefield. After that, send a part of your men out to assist Chi Lei and expand the perimeter."

"Dai Yun, gather the cavalry, seize the time to rest, and prepare for the next engagement."

"Qiu Haohui, pull out the heavy equipment detachment's convoy and protect it in the center. Your unit will set off towards White Stone City first."

...

Ye Tao's orders were quickly conveyed. The sound of right palms striking the left chest over the heart when receiving the orders was crisp and solemn.

For the Blood Kirin Army, which was preparing to continue marching, carrying prisoners was impossible and unnecessary. Even the captured Changjie Camp commandant was executed. Naturally, before the execution, Dai Yun's personal guards had extracted some information from the guy's mouth. From the moment the Blood Kirin Army appeared on the battlefield, there was no possibility of negotiating or compromising with Xiling in any way. Keeping prisoners would only add to their troubles.

After several intense engagements, according to the Xiling Army's search methods for the Blood Kirin Army, any reinforcements that wanted to come would need a considerable amount of time. The original tactic of occupying the Changjie Camp, strengthening the camp, and then annihilating the enemies who came to aid one by one around the camp was also quickly changed. Surrounding the two flag teams specializing in heavy equipment that set off first, powerful cavalry spread out on both flanks to protect the normal march of the two flag teams as well as the heavy infantry and archers.

Xue Jing then personally led five thousand cavalry to the Changjie Army's camp, which was still filled with smoke, one hour after the Blood Kirin Army had rested and three hours after the entire army had marched. The scene after the fierce fighting around the camp was shocking. But Xue Jing then still rationally judged that the Blood Kirin Army's losses were extremely limited in the several battles that annihilated nearly ten thousand enemies. But even Xue Jing then didn't expect that the Blood Kirin Army's casualties in several battles added up to less than one thousand, and most of them could still continue fighting.

After Xue Jing then lost the cavalry force's numerical advantage over the Blood Kirin Army, he didn't dare to pursue rashly. He led his five thousand cavalry to track the Blood Kirin Army's marching traces while continuing to gather the Changjie Camp and reporting the situation to Grand Commander Tong Bingwen.

The news that the Blood Kirin Army's whereabouts were uncertain, that they had broken Xue Jing then's unit and the Changjie Camp, nearly ten thousand men, with minimal losses, and had jumped out of the search circle, made Tong Bingwen feel a burst of palpitations. But he didn't really have much military strength in his hands to strengthen the search or send out to intercept the Blood Kirin Army. He had already launched a full-scale offensive against the Ning Stone City and White Stone City line. Attacking the city relied on numerical superiority and constantly damaging the city's defense system. Once troops were drawn away to intercept the Blood Kirin Army, giving the defenders of the two cities a chance to rest and repair the city defenses, then the Xiling soldiers who had died in front would have died in vain.

Frustrated, Tong Bingwen again ordered the Xiling Army's controlled area to be shrunk. Except for ensuring that the number of troops guarding against Zhuo Mang's forces on the Mian City line was not reduced much, the other directions were withdrawn from some less important towns. Although looting the government silver from the towns wasn't entirely without gain, this temporary mobilization of mobile forces to intercept the Blood Kirin Army still caused a lot of controversy.

The Blood Kirin Army again used Zeng Zining's unit as the rearguard to mislead Xue Jing then, while the main force of the Blood Kirin Army carried out a difficult mountain march at night, cutting straight into White Stone City from a hill. By the time the main force of the Blood Kirin Army finally shook off the pursuit of the enraged Xue Jing then's unit and reunited, the Blood Kirin Army had quietly appeared in Pengxi—their first stop on the battlefield. In Pengxi, the Blood Kirin Army left behind over one hundred seriously wounded soldiers, met with the Federal Express personnel again, and received a batch of supplies. Then, they were left with one question: how to enter the besieged White Stone City.

"Thinking too much is useless; we just have to fight our way in." When everyone discussed it for a long time without coming up with an absolutely reliable plan, Ye Tao made a decision. "The cavalry will form a line to suppress them. The heavy infantry will form a line and rush straight towards the city gate, protecting the carriages carrying the equipment from the front, middle, and rear. The soldiers of the Divine Arm Crossbow and trebuchet flag teams will dismount and fight on foot in light armor. Remember, we brought some extra hand crossbows, right? Equip them with those. The encirclement of White Stone City is only about 30,000 people now. There are still 8,000 to 10,000 Dongping soldiers in White Stone City. The enemy-to-us ratio on both sides isn't that disparate. If the enemy dares to mobilize a large army to stop us from entering the city, fighting to the death isn't without the possibility of severely damaging the enemy's siege army. Since everyone is prepared to sacrifice, then the difference between dying under the city and dying in the city isn't that great."

Everyone nodded silently.

Ye Tao continued, "Then that's it. Everyone go back and make arrangements. Also, Qiu Haohui and I will enter the city with the infantry. From now on, the cavalry will be completely under Dai Yun's command."

"No way!" Dai Yun took the lead, and a group of officers shouted out loud.

This result was expected. Indeed, entering the city to defend it, placing oneself in a position where one could not escape, was much more dangerous than operating with the cavalry. Even if the Blood Kirin Army's cavalry was driven into a dead end by the Xiling Army, it wouldn't be too difficult to send out an elite squad with important figures to escape. The Xiling cavalry now seemed, whether in terms of equipment or training, far inferior to the Blood Kirin Army. But persisting in fighting in a siege, under the heavy encirclement of the enemy's trebuchets, siege vehicles, heavy crossbows, and a large number of infantry, was a situation where anything could happen.

"I'm not asking for your agreement; I'm giving an order." Ye Tao said with a smile, but very firmly, "I'm going into the city because I can play a greater role in assisting the defense if I go into the city. As a commander, I'm not as good as Dai Yun, not as good as Qiu Haohui... I might even be worse than Zeng Zining and Chi Lei; after all, I'm just supervising the Two Armies Review Bureau. I'm just an observer of your training and exercises. But besides this identity, I'm also a carpenter... Okay, to say something not too arrogant, I may be the best carpenter in this era, in this world, and I also dabble in blacksmithing and masonry. I'm going into the city to help repair the city walls, to repair those broken Divine Arm Crossbows and trebuchets at any time. Also, I think... I should take out the good stuff I've been hiding all along."

Ye Tao's insistence silenced everyone's opposition. Obedience, the primary principle of the Blood Kirin Army established by Ye Tao, was also a principle that they affirmed and consistently practiced, making it impossible for them to oppose it. Principles were principles and shouldn't be changed for any person or any matter. Violating this principle meant that there was no need for many of them to stay in the Blood Kirin Army. Many of them wanted to enter the army and wanted to leave the complicated and complex relationships precisely because this place was special.

"Don't worry, as long as I'm alive, nothing will happen to Ye Tao." After the officers' meeting ended, Qiu Haohui quietly left these words behind.

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ps: Continuing to call for monthly tickets.