As Wei Qing led the Feathered Forest Army to the left flank defense line, the First Legion of the Netherworld Army was locked in a fierce battle with the First Main Legion of the Celestial Clan.
Despite knowing that half of the Celestial Clan's legions were about to arrive on the battlefield, Marshal Wei remained unfazed.
The reason for his calmness was his capable nephew, who was leading six million Great Han cavalry, poised to cleave through the Celestial Clan's formations.
Earlier, Lin Zhan had instructed Jiang Zheng and He Dazhuang to lead two depleted legions, along with Huo Qubing's Great Han cavalry, a total of nearly twenty million troops, to stealthily enter the ancestral space of the two great founding ancestors of the Shang Dynasty, Zhaoming and Xiangtu. This was all to find an opportunity to attack the Celestial Clan's rear and directly eliminate the Holy Son Qiming.
However, Holy Son Qiming was too shrewd. He kept his most formidable nephew, who commanded the Celestial Clan's most powerful Sky Rage Legions, close by his side, refusing to budge.
This left Lin Zhan with no opportunity for a surprise attack, forcing him to shift his focus to the battlefield.
Coincidentally, Holy Son Qiming had dispatched heavy troops to attack Lin Zhan's left flank, which presented Lin Zhan with an opening.
"Alright, you're using cavalry to attack my left flank. Very well," Lin Zhan mused.
"I'll simply use my cavalry to intercept your infantry on the left flank. That's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?"
Thus, Marshal Lin adopted a strategy of "you attack your line, I attack mine, and we'll both proceed without interfering with each other. Let's see whose army meets a swift end due to bad luck."
But Marshal Lin was a master strategist. He deployed Wei Qing, an elder who excelled at coordinated combat. With the combined efforts of various branches, "your paltry cavalry and a heavily engaged infantry legion are attacking my position? I scoff at that. You clearly don't see me as a pushover."
However, in this scenario, while Wei Qing's left flank legion could hold, the Celestial Clan's remaining Third Main Legion couldn't.
Ten million main infantry soldiers were facing six million elite human soldiers riding ferocious beasts, roaring ferociously.
If they could hold out any longer, it would be considered a blessing from their ancestors.
As for whether the Celestial Clan had any deceased ancestors to bless them, the answer was undoubtedly yes.
After all, hadn't the Ninth Elder been slain by our Great Ye Fan just the other day?
Wei Qing's gaze was icy as he surveyed the battlefield. "Transmit the order: the Feathered Forest Army's crossbow formations are to set their firing arcs. Fire at a 45° angle upwards, over the engagement zone, to intercept the enemy's Celestial Cavalry Legion."
"Deploy the Blade Armor Vehicles to establish defensive positions. The Great Halberd Army will intersperse among them, with the Axemen providing cover, to hold the line and prepare for the enemy's first wave of assault."
"Feathered Forest Army's Great Blade Lieutenants, step forward. Launch a surprise attack on the enemy engaged with the First Legion of the Netherworld Army, responsible for covering the First Legion's retreat. Prepare catapults to create a sea of fire to block the enemy's pursuit. Regardless of the outcome, withdraw within thirty minutes."
Seeing the Celestial Cavalry Legion forming up for a charge, Wei Qing rapidly issued orders for the Feathered Forest Army to establish defensive lines and simultaneously recall the First Legion of the Netherworld Army.
This situation was actually quite common in warfare. When withdrawing the First Legion of the Netherworld Army, the Celestial Clan's First Legion, which was engaged with them, should ideally have allowed the retreating enemy to disengage.
Simultaneously, they should have withdrawn their own forces. After all, under the onslaught of millions of cavalry, it wouldn't matter if they were friend or foe; they would all be crushed into meat paste.
The notion of sacrificing everything for victory, only to be trampled into meat paste by one's own cavalry, as depicted in movies, was utter nonsense.
Such situations were not nonexistent, but they typically involved the absolute elite of the elite, or desperate struggles at the brink of extinction.
Otherwise, if such actions were taken carelessly, the commander would be decapitated by their own men that very night.
However, when the Great Blade Lieutenants of the Feathered Forest Army were finally ordered to attack, they discovered that the engaged Celestial Clan forces showed no signs of retreat whatsoever.
On the contrary, they were desperately clinging to the engaged troops, regardless of casualties, leaving them no room for retreat.
Wei Qing's expression turned grim as he assessed the situation. "The Celestial Clan intends to trade lives for lives. They know our troop strength is insufficient and want to use this opportunity to break through our left flank."
The commander of the First Legion of the Netherworld Army, standing beside him, gazed at the battlefield with a cold glint in his eyes. "Do the soldiers of the Celestial Clan fear death? Are the sons of our land cowards?"
"Transmit the order: the First and Second Heavy Armored Legions will hold the defense line. The Third Assault Legion will engage the pursuing enemy. All other units will prepare to retreat."
The First Legion commander's order meant that one-third of his legion would perish on the battlefield to cover the retreat of their allies.
Wei Qing nodded inwardly as he observed the soldiers of the First Legion executing orders with precision. "Good soldiers, all of them."
"Transmit the order: Great Blade Lieutenants, withdraw. Hand over the melee to our allies."
As their own army retreated, the First and Second Heavy Armored Legions immediately came under immense pressure and were pushed back dozens of meters by the bloodthirsty Celestial Clan army.
The soldiers of the Third Assault Legion abandoned their defenses and charged directly into the melee of the Celestial Clan army. Any wounded soldiers did not hesitate, choosing to detonate themselves.
The thunderous explosions continued to echo, and the soldiers of the Human-Earth Allied Forces, led by Generals Wei Qing and the First Legion Commander, all had their eyes blazing red.
During their time fighting together, the human army had developed a brotherhood with these allies, who were generally not very intelligent but possessed formidable physical prowess.
Now, these three legions, millions of brothers-in-arms, were falling before their eyes, dying in such a suffocating manner, surrounded and attacked by the Celestial Clan. The fury of the entire army was about to become uncontrollable.
Wei Qing's eyes were bloodshot as he shouted at the battlefield, "Brothers, may you journey well."
"Brothers, may you journey well."
"Brothers, may you journey well."
"Brothers, may you journey well."
As the roars of the Human-Earth Allied Forces echoed, the thunderous hoofbeats of the approaching Celestial Cavalry Legion could be heard.
The sacrifices of the First Legion's three armies were not in vain, as they dragged along an even larger contingent of Celestial Clan troops, who were then trampled into meat paste by the Celestial Cavalry Legion.
"Crossbow formation, fire. Catapults, launch high-explosive rounds."
Although the high-explosive rounds fired by the catapults would not inflict significant damage on the Celestial Cavalry Legion, the violent explosions and shockwaves would impede their advance.
However, the Feathered Forest Army's true initial killing blow came from the repeating crossbows mounted on the heavy Blade Armor Vehicles.
Ten arrows per crossbow, each arrow two meters long, their sharp triangular heads gleaming with enchanted runes.
Fifteen thousand Blade Armor Vehicles, unleashing one hundred and fifty thousand heavy triangular arrows, pierced through the front rows of Celestial Cavalry soldiers like a skewer through candied hawthorns.
In an instant, the charge formation of the Celestial Cavalry Legion was thrown into disarray, their arrowhead formation obliterated.