Chapter 264 The Battle of Chengdu (Part 1)

The Xikang Army took Mianzhu without breaking a sweat. With Chengdu clearly in sight, they never expected a spoiler to appear halfway.

When Tuoba Tao saw the Central Corps of the Nanyue Army beneath the walls of Chengdu, his head began to throb.

"This... why is the Nanyue Army here in Chengdu?"

Li Yuanlang looked at Tuoba Tao's expression with utter disdain. "It's only twenty or thirty thousand men, General Tuoba. Why act like this? Could it be that you've been beaten so many times that you've become afraid?"

Seeing Li Yuanlang's expression, Tuoba Tao couldn't help but feel worried. "Your Highness, please do not be careless. This Nanyue Army is an elite force."

"Heh, elites? I've been beating elites all along. From Song Prefecture to Mianzhu, haven't we fought plenty of elites along the way?"

Li Yuanlang had already decided that Tuoba Tao had been scared witless by Gao Yuan, so he snorted coldly and left.

On the walls of Chengdu, Gao Yuan had already brought the Baier Soldiers into the city, formally taking over the city's defense and the three thousand new recruits that Wang Mian had painstakingly assembled, as well as the three thousand-plus remnants that Meng Zhenshan had brought back.

Looking at these soldiers, whose morale had hit rock bottom, and at their callow faces, Gao Yuan shook his head. "If I hadn't come, were you planning to send these men to the front line to die?"

Hearing this, Meng Zhenshan was immediately displeased. "Commandery Duke, that is a bit too much. Although these soldiers lost, they are still elite border troops who have been through many battles."

Gao Yuan sneered and pointed at the dejected soldiers. "Elites? Heh, look at their eyes. Do they look like elites at all?"

Meng Zhenshan wanted to say something else, but was stopped by Wang Mian.

Gao Yuan couldn't be bothered to waste words with them and beckoned Chen Dao over. "Shuzhi, these people are temporarily assigned to your command. You are to train them well for me. If you can't train them properly, I will hold you accountable."

"Understood!"

After giving this order, Gao Yuan looked at Meng Zhenshan. "General Meng, you and your personal guards will be temporarily incorporated into the Xiaoguo Army, serving as the deputy commander of the Xiaoguo Army."

Upon hearing this arrangement, Meng Zhenshan's ox-like eyes widened, and he almost exploded on the spot. "What? You want me to be a deputy to your house general?"

Gao Yuan narrowed his eyes, staring coldly at Meng Zhenshan. "What is it, General Meng? Do you have an opinion, or are you preparing to disobey my military order?"

Meng Zhenshan's burly body shuddered. He immediately realized his slip of the tongue and quickly yielded, cupping his fists to Gao Yuan. "This humble general obeys."

Although Gao Yuan had little regard for Wang Mian and Meng Zhenshan, he still acknowledged their abilities, so he wanted to make good use of them.

Take Meng Zhenshan, for example. While he wasn't suitable to be a commander in charge of large-scale operations, he was definitely capable of commanding Cavalry. After all, he was the former General of the Left Cavalry Guard and had extensive experience in Cavalry warfare.

The Western Kang Cavalry had long been fighting against the Northern Liang Army in the Congling region, so their experience in Cavalry warfare should be extremely rich. This was what Gao Yuan was most wary of.

In terms of infantry, Gao Yuan believed that the Central Corps was definitely stronger than the Western Kang infantry, who didn't even have complete leather armor. But as for Cavalry, the Nanyue Army had no advantage in either quantity or quality.

In the past, when fighting those foreign tribes, Cavalry had always been Gao Yuan's greatest advantage. Now that this advantage was gone, he couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.

Liu Rengui noticed Gao Yuan's worry and asked, "Is the Lord worried about the Western Kang Cavalry?"

Gao Yuan had nothing to hide and nodded. "Those thousands of Western Kang Cavalry have been fighting in the Western Regions for a long time; they are experienced and fierce. I'm worried the Xiaoguo Army won't be their match."

"My Lord, rest assured. I have observed those cavalrymen. Apart from their horses being slightly better, their other equipment is far inferior to ours. This humble general believes the Xiaoguo Army has a high chance of victory."

"I hope so!"

Beneath the walls of Chengdu, the standoff between the two sides lasted for more than half a month. By the end of April, when the troops of both sides had finally arrived, the great battle was about to begin.

Meanwhile, in the Capital City, due to the intentional delays by Xiao Yu and Cui You, the mobilization of grain and military supplies had not been completed, and the dispatch of troops was still far off.

On April 28th of the sixth year of Shaoxing, on the vast plains outside Chengdu, both sides lined up.

The Western Kang center army had forty thousand infantry, while the two flanks each had four thousand Cavalry and three thousand infantry, arranged in a standard wild goose formation.

On the Nanyue Army side, Liu Rengui did the opposite of the norm. Despite not having an advantage in troop numbers, he deployed an offensive cone formation.

Xia Luqi and Chen Dao led the Baier Soldiers as the tip of the cone, with the Sword and Shield Soldiers deployed on the flanks to protect the crossbowmen and spearmen in the center. The Cavalry and the newly trained five thousand infantry were placed at the very back of the formation.

As the horns sounded and the war drums roared, the Nanyue Army took the initiative to launch an attack.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The archers of the Xikang Army were the first to make a move, firing a large volley of arrows.

"Raise shields!"

Liu Rengui's grand formation was composed of countless small Sancai formations. The crossbowmen and spearmen were protected by Sword and Shield Soldiers, and with the addition of iron armor, the arrows of the Xikang men were basically no different from tickling them.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

One only heard a chorus of metal clashing as the arrows fell to the ground like dead leaves, failing to cause any casualties.

The Nanyue Army's crossbowmen had not yet fired. They were waiting for the right moment. It wasn't until the Baier Soldiers in the front row collided with the opposing Sword and Shield Soldiers that the Nanyue Army's crossbows were finally triggered.

The distance between the two sides was so close that the volley of arrows flew directly over the heavily armored Sword and Shield Soldiers in the front row and rained down upon the heads of the vulnerable spearmen and archers in the back.

Due to a lack of armor-casting capabilities, the Xikang Army mainly relied on leather armor, most of which was equipped on the Sword and Shield Soldiers in the front row. Most of the spearmen in the back only had helmets, and the archers were even worse off, wearing only simple clothes and leather jackets.

Once the fighting started, the Xikang archers were instantly suppressed. They scrambled to find things to block the rain of arrows, and for a time, screams rang out continuously.

Seeing this, Li Yuanlang was so angry that the veins on his head bulged. He slapped his thigh. "Order the flanks to attack! We must break up the enemy's formation."

"Boom... boom..."

The Xikang Cavalry on both flanks began to move, and Liu Rengui immediately ordered the flanks to change formation.

The spearmen stepped forward, standing behind the Sword and Shield Soldiers, their spears slanted and thrust into the mud. The entire formation instantly became like a hedgehog.

The crossbowmen also turned to prepare to fire at the charging Cavalry.

Liu Rengui turned to look at Gao Yuan and the others. "I ask the Lord, General Zhao, and General Meng to strike, to bypass the enemy Cavalry and attack the infantry on their flanks."

"Understood!"

The three nodded and immediately left the high platform.

Zhao Meng and Meng Zhenshan led the Cavalry to charge out from the left flank, heading straight for the three thousand infantry on the Xikang right flank, while Gao Yuan led over five thousand infantry to meet the Xikang left flank.

This was Liu Rengui's strategy. Since there wasn't necessarily an advantage in Cavalry combat, they would leverage their infantry's strengths to tie down the enemy's flanks and break the enemy army through a central breakthrough.

Tuoba Rui led the Cavalry to within fifty paces of the Nanyue Army's main formation. Just as he was about to fire a volley, a rain of arrows flew towards them.

This time, it was direct fire from heavy crossbows. The lethality was astonishing, and they lost over a hundred cavalrymen in an instant.

On the other side, when the Xikang Cavalry saw the Nanyue Army, which looked like a hedgehog, they also fired a volley before pulling back to regroup.