Chapter 306: The Beginning of War

Chapter 306: The Beginning of War

Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock

The unavoidable war in the north finally arrived with bloody events unfolding one after another, daunting and vigorous!

Following the rush of the Northern Wei warhorses like hungry wolves, the archers in the Sky Bearing army immediately showed a response!

The 70,000 troops that were under Ling Xiao's direct command were not merely considered his troops in name only, but they were also the strongest and most elite that Sky Bearing had to offer! If one were to compare these troops to others around the Heavenly Star continent, this regiment would at least rank in the top three. Just based on the actions of the archers, one could already see the difference!

The archers quickly got into their formation consisting of three lines. The first row kneeling on one knee, shooting from a low angle. The second row stood with their bows and arrows pointed forward, aiming normally. The last row pointed their bows and arrows towards the sky, using a parabolic trajectory to aim at the enemies farther ahead. Three different arrangements, each with their own specializations, without any kind of disorder.

"Sou sou sou sou…"

Arrows instantly blanketed the sky like a group of flying locusts, suddenly plunging the battlefield into darkness!

Numerous sounds of disorder and confusion rang out, as countless Northern Wei soldiers fell off their horses when the arrows struck, only to be trampled into a human paste by the rest of the troops behind them! However, the enemies still charged forward regardless of their lives! In this round, the cavalry had to charge into Ling Xiao's forces and force them into a one to one fight before they could eliminate them!

Just a few waves of arrows raining down caused many Northern Wei soldiers to be heavily injured or even die. Although the speed of the cavalry was great, the rain of arrows was even more dense, preventing them from quickly reaching the frontlines!

Seeing the elite troops that he had personally nurtured being reduced by half in merely the time it took to boil a cup of tea, Wei ChengPing felt a heartache, wanting to swap in other formations to take the brunt instead. However, that Shui youth suddenly smirked and said, "Is Brother Wei feeling the pain?"

However, Wei ChengPing seemed like he didn't want to offend the youth, instead saying, "Brother Shui, my army far outstrips Ling Xiao's. There's no need to waste our military strength like this, or the losses will be too large to bear!"

The Shui youth only laughed coldly in response, "The meaning of an ambitious person refers to a person who will not be bothered about trifles, and above all, is not soft-hearted. While Ling Xiao only has 70,000 troops, they are all elites in this present day, and if we cannot settle this within a short time it will result in a stalemate. Once this battle is extended, more variables have the chance to appear, leading to our loss. Furthermore, Ling Xiao engaged in a rushed expedition this time, and so the supplies for their camps were not properly prepared. As long as we take the chance to inflict some damages, we can cause the frontlines to break apart, and at that time, the Ling Army will have no chance of recovery!

While Wei ChengPing felt the heartache, he also felt that the Shui youth was absolutely correct, so he could only grin and bear it, turning his attention to the war front!

The state of affairs was exactly how the Shui youth had described. After sacrificing another five hundred men or so, the distance between both sides was finally closed to the effective flight path of an arrow, and after two more volleys from the archers, the cavalry had already arrived before their eyes! Under the rays of the rising sun, the soldiers from Sky Bearing could see the malevolent gazes of their enemies!

However, Ling Xiao didn't panic just yet, giving the red flag he held a swift jerk down! In that instant, soldiers appeared from their tents, carrying numerous stakes that they planted down a few feet away from the foot soldiers! The stakes were clustered tightly next to each other, some long, some short, others thick or skinny.

These few feet unexpectedly formed the line between life and death!

The soldiers of Northern Wei rushed over like the wind, and due to being horribly suppressed by the rain of arrows previously, were full of vengeance. This abrupt change left them close to no time to adapt, and they ran headlong into it!

The stakes caused many of the cavalry to lose their balance and fall down from the warhorses! Those at the back were still approaching at their top speed, so how would they have the ability to slow down in time? Inevitably, those at the back crashed into those in the front, which led to a domino effect of those in front being trampled upon and those who had crashed into the cavalry in front toppling off their horses!

The archers of Sky Bearing once again stood up and arrows rained down, mercilessly killing all the helpless cavalry! Screams echoed all over the battlefield!

The bugle horn of retreat finally sounded from the Northern Wei army. Wei ChengPing finally couldn't endure the losses of his elite troops and gave the order to retreat! The Shui youth had on a heavy expression, but he didn't utter a single word of objection!

The cavalry at the back managed to hold back their horses with difficulty. In the area less than 100 feet in front of the Sky Bearing army it looked like a scene out of hell! Many soldiers that weren't killed after the arrows or the stampede lay there groaning in pain. The ground was already saturated with blood, with the excess blood flowing in rivulets and forming tiny blood pools. The dead carcasses of the warhorses piled up high like a mountain, forming a natural protective screen between the two armies!

This skirmish actually cost the Northern Wei more than 6,000 elites! And Sky Bearing only had a few hundred that were lightly wounded, with a death count not even over 10. It was a one-sided victory!

"Commander!" A poker-faced deputy general spoke to Ling Xiao who was nearby him upon seeing this scene, "Though we had the upper hand this time, the enemy far outnumbers us by at least by five to one, and they have even encircled us. This situation is too dangerous, we have to break out as soon as possible!"

"No rush." Ling Xiao gazed at the Northern Wei soldiers retreating like the tides of the ocean and shook his head. "Right now, this is only the first wave of troops from Northern Wei. We're still not clear on their total troop strength, thus we have to hold on. DaYuan, the fact that the Northern Wei army knows that we are settled in here, but came to attack us anyways is already something unusual!"

That deputy general was called Song DaYuan, and he had already followed Ling Xiao for over ten years. He was full of bravery and wisdom and was Ling Xiao's right-hand man. Right now, his brow was furrowed, as he replied, "That's right, this matter is puzzling. In a normal battle, the safest way would be to send in the infantry and force us to expend all our arrows and supplies before they send in all their troops to surround and attack us. They obviously know that we gathered in a rush for this expedition, but they chose the most foolish way of attacking us by sending in their cavalry to take the damage! Your subordinate feels that there are only two reasons why a general would use such a method."

"What reasons would they be?" Ling Xiao asked.

Song DaYuan replied, "The first would be that this general from Northern Wei isn't an expert in commanding troops, and also believes that the victory could be easily won, hence he committed this crime and allowed the lives of so many elite cavalry troops to be lost!"

"That isn't possible!" Another general at the side couldn't help but interrupt. "A commander with a 400,000 strong army, how could he have achieved this without being able to command troops? If he didn't have any authority over his soldiers, then how could he also get them to set ambushes all around us? I believe there must be another reason!"

Song DaYuan nodded his head, "Which comes to my second reason. If our side has reinforcements coming, he has to resort to this method in order to end the battle as soon as possible!"

Another middle-aged general came up, and it was precisely the general who previously had a dispute with Ling Twenty! His name was Li XiangDong, and he said, "Isn't this also a bit improbable? The enemy is already hell-bent on annihilating us, so why would Sky Bearing still bother to send out reinforcements? Furthermore, the general's entire personal troops are gathered here this time, so where would there be any reinforcements? Even if someone provides reinforcements, they would also be stopped by the thirty thousand soldiers led by those three b*st*rds. In my opinion, it must be a ploy by that b*st*rd Northern Wei prince!"

The audience nodded their heads in response. At this point, Ling Nineteen stepped up to speak. While his position was only that of Ling Xiao's personal bodyguard, he couldn't be bothered with such a matter at this point. "Who says we don't have reinforcements? My young noble's troops are coming along as we speak! In his eyes, the Northern Wei Prince is merely a piece of chicken feed!"

The moment his words came out, everyone was stunned speechless. These people had spent the past few months on this very battlefield, so other than important war-related news, how would they have known about the scene that Ling Tian had made in the imperial capital? In their hearts, he was still the infamous silkpants, at most a silkpants who had good martial skills.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, Ling Xiao actually nodded his head and said, "That's right, I believe that Tian'er will definitely bring reinforcements. Thus, before he comes, we must first find a stable location to huddle in, and prolong the enemy's attacks as long as possible until our reinforcements come! Right now what we need most is time, and the longer we hold on, the higher our chances of success!"

Although everyone present had their prejudices against Ling Tian, seeing the verification from Ling Xiao, everyone could only agree and keep their suspicions to themselves!

Song DaYuan continued, "I believe when the enemy attacks again they will reveal their true objective. To annihilate our army is probably their intention. While the Northern Wei army outnumbers us by quite a bit, our army has a greater number of elites when compared to theirs, so I estimate that more than half of their troops would be lost before they actually face us. The perpetrator from Northern Wei would definitely not want to see that, nor will he be able to accept it. He would definitely use the 'trap three leave one' method, to allow our army a chance to survive, in order to decrease our fighting spirit and increase our will to live."

"The route of retreat would definitely be filled with ambushes!" Li XiangDong replied, "Which general who has participated in a few wars wouldn't know this?"

Song DaYuan smiled a little as he spoke, "A human's will to live is a very strange thing. While you know that the escape route has an ambush waiting for you, you will still sacrifice everything to jump into it. Thus, if we do the exact opposite, that would be the true reprieve from death. Only when we go head on against them and redouble the attack, then we would truly have a chance to live! This also means that, if they open up the north for us to retreat towards, then we should rush and attack the south! While the opposite direction would definitely have the strongest resistance, the soldiers involved in the encirclement wouldn't be aiming to kill. Thus, if we take the chance when they open a path to counterattack them and fight with all our lives, then the chances of us surviving would be greater!"