Chapter 325 Desperate Defeat

Seeing the galloping Cavalry, the fear buried deep in Zhu Song's heart surged again. He remembered the time they invaded South of the Ranges, being hunted by Gao Yuan's Cavalry during the retreat.

It was an extremely painful memory; if he hadn't retreated fast enough with a decisive move back then, he probably would have been completely devoured by Gao Yuan.

But this time, facing the aggressively charging Cavalry, he had no way out and could only brace himself to face them.

Although they also had Cavalry, General Ma Zhiyuan didn't dare let them engage. He knew that with those few hundred patched-together Cavalry, they wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between the teeth of such a well-organized Cavalry unit.

Fortunately, he wasn't completely unprepared; he had trained infantry formations to deal with Cavalry and made proper arrangements. However, at this moment, they seemed somewhat powerless.

Because the formation had become chaotic, a small gap had appeared in his perfect formation, which now became a fatal flaw.

Gao Yi was like a shark smelling blood from a wound; he led the Cavalry and pounced fiercely toward this opening.

These Cavalry, a mix of qiang people and Xiongnu people, appeared exceptionally fierce in the face of such an advantage, charging recklessly into the Qian Army's formation.

At first, it might have been a gap only the size of a fingernail, but it was quickly and ruthlessly torn open, growing larger and larger. Everything General Ma Zhiyuan had painstakingly prepared vanished in an instant before the massive disadvantage.

Chaos, blood, screams, cries of terror, and roars of despair mingled together on this battlefield.

"Commander-in-Chief, stay here to command. I will go meet them!"

General Ma Zhiyuan had no choice; he had to hand over command to Zhu Song. He led his Personal Guards and hundreds of Cavalry forward, needing to stop Gao Yi to buy time for the infantry to reform.

Zhu Song watched General Ma Zhiyuan's departing back, feeling a sense of desolation and tragedy, but he had no time for sentiment or sorrow; he had to hurry and fix the formation.

Compared to Cavalry ravaging infantry, the clash between Cavalry was more hot-blooded and direct. Often, there was no time to swing a blade or thrust.

By simply gripping the spear firmly, the massive kinetic energy of the mutual charge could easily break through the opponent's defense or cause internal injuries.

Facing these foreign Cavalry, General Ma Zhiyuan and his soldiers exploded with incredible combat power. After one charge, although they lost over three hundred men, they had slain six or seven hundred.

This result was startling, but for General Ma Zhiyuan, the situation was not optimistic, as they had already lost forty percent of their numbers in this single charge.

After the second charge, the Northern Liang Cavalry suffered another four hundred casualties, but General Ma Zhiyuan only had dozens of men left by his side; he was in a desperate situation.

Looking at the blood-covered General Ma Zhiyuan opposite him, Gao Yi also felt a moment of sentiment. It seemed this famous Great Qian general was destined to be buried here today.

To show respect for this famous general, he decided to personally kill his former colleague.

After the third charge, General Ma Zhiyuan was left alone, with seven or eight wounds on his body. He looked up into the distance; the infantry formation had not yet closed, but Gao Hu's infantry had already pounced.

"There's no hope! I have the heart to kill the enemy, but no power to change the outcome!"

Gao Yi flicked his horse spear.

"General Ma, as the saying goes, a fine bird chooses a tree to perch in. Why not abandon the darkness for the light..."

"Shut up!"

General Ma Zhiyuan was full of indignation.

"As the saying goes, one eats the king's salary and serves the king's cause. My Ma family has received the Emperor's grace for generations; how could I ever associate with an insidious villain like Gao Wu!"

To the Gao Family Army, Gao Wu was a god-like existence, their spiritual totem, and they would not tolerate any criticism of him.

General Ma Zhiyuan's insult to Gao Wu made Gao Yi somewhat angry, but he quickly calmed down.

"General Ma, how about this: you and I will duel. If I win, you surrender to our army. If I lose, I will prepare a boat and see you off to reunite with your family."

Everyone fears death, and General Ma Zhiyuan was no exception. If there was a glimmer of hope, he didn't want to give it up, but he also made up his mind.

Gritting his teeth, General Ma Zhiyuan nodded and accepted Gao Yi's duel invitation.

The battlefield was split into two. In the middle of the field surrounded by five hundred Cavalry, Gao Yi and General Ma Zhiyuan began a brutal duel, while outside the field, the Qian Army was in a total rout.

In large-scale combat, once a rout begins, it's like a mountain collapsing. Originally, the Qian Army infantry could still resist slightly, but with the addition of the Northern Liang Cavalry, the fragile defensive line could no longer hold.

Zhu Song kept retreating, constantly trying to gather the troops, his heart sinking further into the abyss.

Seeing the Huai River getting closer and closer, he knew he was going to lose this time, likely dying in battle with no hope of ever rising again.

The duel between General Ma Zhiyuan and Gao Yi had lasted over twenty rounds. Gao Yi felt he hadn't been this exhilarated in a long time, so he fought with more excitement and vigor.

Meanwhile, General Ma Zhiyuan had already seen the situation on the battlefield out of the corner of his eye. His heart had sunk to the bottom, but he didn't want to give up; he even thought about killing Gao Yi to add a significant stroke to this crushing defeat.

Inside the city, Meng Zhenshan had long seen the situation outside. Dragging his crippled body, he donned his armor to rescue his comrades, but unfortunately, his several sorties were blocked by en own reason, and he had to retreat back to Pengcheng.

Gao Hu was also relentless, leading his army in a fierce charge all the way, completely ignoring fatigue, only thinking about devouring these tens of thousands of Qian Army soldiers and capturing Zhu Song alive.

Pengcheng is over a hundred li from the Huai River. For everyone in the Qian Army, these hundred-plus li were like hell; every step required a huge price.

Almost every dozen li, Zhu Song could organize a decent-sized blocking action, but it would quickly collapse again under the powerful impact, continuing the retreat southward.

This pursuit lasted for three days, all the way to the banks of the Huai River.

The duel between General Ma Zhiyuan and Gao Yi lasted until dusk, with the two fighting over a hundred rounds without a winner.

Seeing his exhausted opponent, Gao Yi did not take advantage of his predicament; he sent men to give him a tent, food, and water, and even sent someone to bandage General Ma Zhiyuan's wounds.

Those around him were somewhat confused.

"General, aren't you afraid he'll escape under the cover of night?"

Gao Yi was very confident and shook his head.

"General Ma Zhiyuan is a proud man; he won't run. If he did, he wouldn't be himself."

Sure enough, the next day when Gao Yi arrived at the battlefield with his men, General Ma Zhiyuan was already waiting there for another day of intense fighting.

Although there was still no winner, those in the know could see that General Ma Zhiyuan was showing signs of defeat.

The difference between them was not in physical strength or ability, but in mindset.

Gao Yi was from a victorious army with high morale, while General Ma Zhiyuan was a defeated general who could only hold on initially by relying on the mindset of a desperate army.

But as the night passed, the sense of loneliness, loss, and the desire to survive gradually consumed this famous general of the age. His internal struggle made him lose the courage to burn his boats.

If Zhang Han could have delayed him for three to five days back then, once the morale of the army dispersed, even the Overlord who burned his boats might have met his downfall.

Not only Gao Yi and the others, but even General Ma Zhiyuan knew he had already lost.

Sitting in the tent that night reflecting on his life, General Ma Zhiyuan's heart was filled with a mix of emotions.