“Order the airship units to take off and scout the left and right flanks. Return after reconnaissance of the enemy reinforcements, no attacks allowed.” Dai Shihuan did not make any adjustments to the frontline situation. Having several capable commanders was a relief. Tan Weiran, Cheng Chi, and Chi Lei were all skilled in military affairs, and even though Ye Tao was not particularly familiar with military matters, with him in the central army, there was almost no need to worry about the central army collapsing, even under attack by several times the enemy. He was a qualified leader; the soldiers admired, thanked, and respected him, willing to die for him. And among the officers, there were many supporters of Ye Tao. Added to that was Tan Weiran, the young, gentle, yet decisive prince, and his capable subordinate Xu Yao. In the minds of Dai Shihuan and Dai Shijin, they had long regarded such a central army as a powerful weapon to launch a final strike against the enemy.

“Longbowmen, prepare! Five hundred paces, volley fire, straight ahead!” A voice rang out behind the infantry ranks. The Blood Kirin Army’s longbowmen had repeatedly performed remarkable feats, but this was the first time the Yuzhou armies’ longbowmen had a chance to show their stuff. In the past, some had even said that the cavalry in the Yuzhou armies were all capable of mounted archery, not to mention the Jingyun cavalry’s tribal warriors, and the Jingyun cavalry archer battalion, almost all of whom were sharpshooters. Instead of creating several battalions of longbowmen, it would be more effective to train a few more battalions of melee infantry. The cost of archer armor was not much cheaper than melee infantry armor. Adding longbows, quivers, personal crossbows, crossbow bolt pouches, and other equipment, the cost of equipping a longbowman was about one and a half times the cost of equipping a melee infantryman. But Ye Tao still kept the longbow battalion's organization and worked hard to cultivate it. The current longbow battalion was basically used as a medium-range support weapon. Due to the development of Yuzhou's heavy ordnance battalion, volley fire was rarely used. More often, groups of archer battalions quickly responded to the ever-changing whistles of frontline officers and non-commissioned officers, mainly focusing on precise aimed shots.

But at this moment, the three archer battalions of the left, center, and right armies fired simultaneously. The timing was extremely vicious. The first batch of arrows fell, sweeping the rear of the charging cavalry and the front of the advancing infantry, especially in front of those cannon fodder infantry. Although it was impossible to cut off the continuous charge of the enemy's infantry and cavalry, as long as the infantry behind their cavalry was delayed slightly, there was plenty of room for other tactics, and for the longbow battalion, this was within their autonomous range. They attacked in advance, expending a round of arrows, but the resulting damage and tactical effect were considerable. After all, the Yuzhou armies had never announced any orders prohibiting attacks before a certain commander issued an order before entering the formation.

Sure enough, the heavy ordnance battalion, which was more experienced in long-range strikes, immediately reacted. Failing to create a burning effect, they immediately lit the fuses of the fire oil bombs and quickly fired rounds of fire oil bombs. The enemy was already very close. The light oil exploded, carrying many pottery shards and hot flames, blasting the infantry behind them and causing them to wail. The first batch of infantry charging were all from the Protectorate Army, and their extremely poor protection meant that they were caught off guard by this spontaneous fragmentation bomb.

"Jingyun cavalry, attack!" "Tieyun cavalry, attack!" "Guards, advance!" Three orders were issued almost simultaneously. With an excited roar, a total of four battalions of cavalry rushed out, directly meeting the Xiling army. What made Dai Shijin and Dai Shihuan laugh and cry after the instruction was transmitted to the command room was that Tan Weiran, Xu Yao, Cheng Chi, and even Ye Tao, these commanders of the respective armies, were all personally leading the troops.

Ye Tao was wearing adjusted armor. After loosening the waist by one notch, the armor became very fitting again. After all, he had only gained a little weight. And for the men of this era, perhaps no exercise was better for losing weight than war. Someone of Ye Tao's status, even when fighting with the army, was still very well taken care of. These days of commanding the entire army into Xiling not only did not succeed in losing weight, but even made him a little fatter. The Yuzhou army's food was very good, with meat at every meal, and a lot of it. And Shi Liu, the director of the Central Army camp, had previously served Dai Yun, whose temper was definitely not as good as Ye Tao's, so naturally, she had many ways to make Ye Tao eat on time every day, adding snacks and late-night snacks, so it would be strange if he didn't gain weight. Mainly, careful planning in advance meant that Ye Tao didn't actually have much to worry about. Even for this battle, he just gave an order, and the entire staff department of the Central Army camp and the entire army worked together to quickly come up with a detailed plan. Ye Tao could only show his presence in the army by fighting on the battlefield.

Liu Yong was not young, but he obviously liked this chaotic scene very much. He was the only person beside Ye Tao who was not wearing full body armor, but only a chainmail and a leather armor. Even the hood of the chainmail was folded around his neck. But Liu Yong wielded a long sword and a bag of throwing knives on his saddle, fighting with elegance and charm. When he slapped an enemy officer a zhang away, everyone looked at Liu Yong as if they were looking at a monster. And the monster-level sharpshooter Zheluo, surrounded by three guards, followed Ye Tao, continuously shooting arrows. The scene was even more frightening. With this configuration, Zheluo didn't carry any melee weapons except for a close-fitting side blade, but hung eight bags of arrows on the saddle. What did this mean? It meant that Zheluo, with an average shooting speed of twenty arrows per minute, could shoot continuously for nearly half an hour... In fact, this was just theory. As strong as Zheluo was, even with special sharpshooter gloves and custom-made platinum rings to reduce finger fatigue, he still had to rest.

Although the Guards cavalry were the most elite cavalry, they were increasingly unwilling to act recklessly, fighting extremely cleverly. Basically, one covered the other, alternating charges, and not forgetting to reload their hand crossbows when they recovered their strength. Hand crossbows were not very effective against cavalry, but the opponent's cavalry line was not thick, and the further they charged, the more they encountered the infantry chasing from behind, the more obvious the role of the hand crossbows became. Cavalry fighting in a tangled mess were not so advantageous against infantry, and everyone understood this.

"Melee infantry, move out!" As Tan Weiran raised his blood-stained sword high in front and issued orders to the eagerly waiting infantry behind him, with a war-filled roar, the Yuzhou melee infantry joined the battle. Before these agile and strong soldiers entered the melee infantry battalion, they had repeatedly confirmed whether they were determined. They all knew that Ye Tao was initially very hesitant about whether to make the size of this troop so large, because he felt that the melee infantry battalion would inevitably have the highest casualty rate in the future, and he was very worried about the tragic losses of these soldiers. But these soldiers were grateful for Ye Tao's care and became even more determined. In Yuzhou, the melee infantry battalion was an army of brave men. Every soldier who entered the melee infantry battalion was instilled with the idea: do not exchange names for names, your lives are more valuable. And the armor standards of the Yuzhou melee infantry battalion were adjusted again and again. Ye Tao forced the first two battalions to be re-equipped, all changed to the current new infantry armor. Lighter, more flexible, easier to maintain, better protection, and better visibility of the helmet... And they all knew that after returning this time, the melee infantry battalion would also be equipped with new goggles, which would not only allow them to not squint in the sand, but also invalidate all the tricks that inferior enemies often used, such as sprinkling lime and sand... The melee infantry were not afraid of death, but Ye Tao rarely gave them the opportunity to face death.

The melee infantry bravely stepped forward, their performance was so crazy that both the enemy and themselves were dumbfounded. Have you ever seen friendly troops抢 (qiang - steal) enemies to kill? But the melee infantry were fiercely抢 (qiang - stealing). They even took down the套索 (taosuo - lasso) they were carrying on their backs, pulled the enemy cavalry down one by one, and then stepped on them to death... Really stepped on them to death. And when they rushed to the forefront of the team with a fearless momentum, they happened to connect with the cavalry's offensive and engaged with the large number of infantry of the Protectorate Army...

"Second formation... attack." Looking at the offensive that had been completely contained in the telescope, Jiang Xujing calmly uttered a few words. The various generals around him were also expressionless. They thought that the previous few offensives would be repelled, but they did not expect that this first, not weak, attack would be suppressed so hard, without even a chance. The situation seen in the telescope showed that Ye Tao did not seem to be the bookish type. Although he seemed a little immature in killing the enemy, and there was a bit of awkwardness in turning around, the generals of the Zhenbei Military Division believed that at Ye Tao's age, they probably would not be any better than he was now. Ye Tao did not even cause trouble for his own people. Whether it was dodging attacks, turning his horse's head, counterattacking, or slashing, he was very methodical. This was enough. Such a commander-in-chief was like a Dinghai Shenzhen (a pillar that can steady the sea) on the front line, which could boost the morale of the entire army by more than one level.

"Little friend Sun, what do you think?" Jiang Xujing asked expressionlessly. Sun Xiaofan behind him took a slight step forward and said softly, "Liu Yong is also by his side. Don't worry. Commander, please rest assured. When it comes to the third and fourth formations, they will be too busy to take care of themselves, and their strength will also decline. That will be a good time to strike. My people have already been deployed."

Sun Xiaofan was the mastermind behind this Protectorate Army, and his Snake Eyes, although not many achievements, had solved three of the Daoming Sect's twenty major targets and eleven of the fifty major targets in the past year. This illustrious achievement had made the Daoming Sect's high-level officials somewhat indulgent of Sun Xiaofan's reckless behavior. But Snake Eyes, in terms of assassination, was indeed very experienced.