Chapter 23: A Terrifying Casualty Ratio

The air was filled with the incessant neighing of warhorses, a sound as common as any on the battlefield. Yet, what set this scene apart were the peculiar postures of Li Yuanying and Qin Yong as they led their respective forces in a charge. They kept their backs hunched low, guarding the bulging items tucked against their chests with an air of profound mystery.

Ashina Yanyun, having already witnessed the "Thunderbolts" back at the base camp, sneered. "So, that is their trump card. Tell the two five-thousand-man units to charge immediately; do not let them grow arrogant!"

"Understood!"

The Dragon Cavalry of the Northern Wu Kingdom received the order. As the signal flags in the hands of the standard-bearer fluttered, shifting to a vibrant, blood-red hue, the soldiers understood the command instantly. The commanders at the vanguard roared in unison, "For the Northern Wu Kingdom, charge!"

The cavalry forces collided quickly, and the Northern Wu soldiers tore through the opposition like a hot knife through butter. No matter how valiant the White-Pole soldiers were, to the Northern Wu cavalry, they were no different from defenseless children, regardless of the White-Pole soldiers' fearsome reputation.

Just as Ashina Yanyun began to gloat over the prowess of his troops, he sensed something was amiss. The forces were tightly entangled, hacking and colliding, but the sheer numbers of the Northern Wu army had become a liability. The main body of his force had barely engaged Lin Qian’s forward line, causing the mobility of the majority of his cavalry to be stifled.

In contrast, Lin Qian’s cavalry—led by Qin Yong and Li Yuanying—each commanded only a thousand men. As light cavalry, they possessed superior mobility and could disengage from the fray with ease. The Dragon Cavalry, however, were entirely heavy armored units, making it nearly impossible for them to pull out of the deep melee.

As if playing a calculated game, the light cavalry suddenly broke away from the fray in all directions. Qin Yong let out a sharp shout: "Now!"

The light cavalry, having successfully extricated themselves from the initial clash, abruptly wheeled their horses around. Like hungry tigers pouncing on their prey, they rushed toward the Dragon Cavalry before the latter could reform their lines, hurling the Thunderbolts at them in a relentless barrage.

Before the Dragon Cavalry could react, a series of deafening explosions rang out. "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The consecutive blasts were several times more powerful than those Ashina Yanyun had witnessed at the base camp. The sheer force pulverized the heavy armored cavalry in an instant; warhorses, along with their riders, armor, and flesh, were blown into the air, limbs and debris scattering in the sky.

A rain of blood fell, still warm. This was a sight Ashina Yanyun had never anticipated. He watched with his own eyes as the Thunderbolts struck the ground, carving out deep, circular craters filled with nothing but mangled limbs.

"How... how is this possible?"

Only then did the realization hit Ashina Yanyun. The Thunderbolts he had seen at the camp were merely "neutered" versions containing a fraction of the black powder. The true power of these weapons was terrifying.

With the front lines decimated, the rear began to panic. Warhorses, driven by animal instinct, could smell the danger and measure its scale. They began to go wild, and the ensuing chaos in the rear cavalry units became uncontrollable. The heavy warhorses reared, kicked, and trampled over their own fallen comrades in a desperate bid to escape the carnage.

From afar, within the Fenglin Ferry formation, Lin Qian watched the scene and sneered. Once chaos took hold, the consequences would be irreversible.

"Mow-Dao Squad, it is your turn!"

The members of the Mow-Dao Squad, each a hulking warrior armed with massive pole-blades and clad in heavy armor, charged forward to finish the slaughter. The ten-thousand-man force, under the relentless bombardment of the Thunderbolts, was left in tatters. Most of the surviving heavy cavalry were severely wounded. When they heard the war cries of the Mow-Dao Squad, they lacked the strength to mount an effective defense, forced to watch helplessly as the enemy reached them and delivered the final blow.

Ten thousand men, gone just like that? Looking at the time, only the duration of a single stick of incense had passed since the battle began. Even if the enemy had been slaughtering ten thousand pigs, it would not have been this fast.

"Trash! Idiots! A bunch of useless fools!"

Having never seen such tactics, nor a general as unconventional as Lin Qian, the legendary Dragon Cavalry suffered their first crushing defeat. Of the ten thousand sent out, only a dozen horses managed to gallop back from the formation. As for the rest...

Ashina Yanyun glared angrily at the battlefield. From a distance, he saw Lin Qian’s light cavalry patrolling the perimeter. They did not harass or attack, merely encircling the battlefield. The Mow-Dao Squad had completed their final sweep, and the remaining soldiers moved in to scavenge supplies, rounding up the riderless horses that remained intact. They even stripped the fallen of their weapons.

"Are these people bandits..."

For a moment, Lin Qian’s actions left Ashina Yanyun stunned.

"Sixth Prince, this battle..." A sharp voice interrupted his thoughts.

Ashina Yanyun looked at the court eunuch beside him and frowned. As a military commander who had swept across the steppe tribes, he was not a man to be trifled with. By his nature, he would have committed his remaining thirty thousand heavy cavalry to the fray, determined to turn the tide at any cost. But ten thousand were already lost. In contrast, Lin Qian’s light cavalry had suffered fewer than a hundred casualties.

"What is going on here! Were we fighting ourselves?"

"Sixth Prince, let us withdraw! I believe we have discovered the secret of the Great Qian. This is vital intelligence for Northern Wu; we must ensure the Imperial Court learns of this!"

"I want to fight him..." Ashina Yanyun, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, had never suffered such humiliation since reaching adulthood. Who could have expected that his first encounter with Lin Qian would result in such a devastating setback?

"Sixth Prince, if they could annihilate ten thousand of our heavy cavalry so quickly, what chance do the remaining twenty thousand stand?"

"We must retreat, pull the army back fifty miles, and send word back to the base camp!"