202: Chapter 202 Taking a Risk

The silent Flank General Han Lin slowly stood up. He walked to the giant map, pointed to the red arrow representing their current position and the long dashed line representing their supply line, and said in a deep voice:

"General Ma, forgive my bluntness, but your plan is too risky."

"We have penetrated nearly eight hundred miles into the grasslands and are already at the end of our tether. My one hundred thousand infantry are exhausted, morale is low, and they cannot sustain another long-distance forced march of several hundred miles. If we press the pursuit and encounter the main enemy force, our infantry and cavalry will be separated, unable to support each other, and we will fall into a desperate situation where we fight alone. The consequences would be unimaginable."

"Furthermore," Han Lin's gaze turned to the logistics commander, Flank General Wang Li, who had remained silent. "General Wang, I would like to ask, how much longer can our current provisions support the army in high-intensity combat?"

Hearing this, Flank General Wang Li wore a bitter smile on his gaunt face. He slowly shook his head: "General Han, to be honest, if we account for the attrition along the way, our current provisions can only support the entire army for ten more days at most."

"Ten days!"

This number struck the hearts of all the generals present like heavy hammers weighing a thousand pounds!

Han Lin took a deep breath. His calm gaze swept over everyone present and finally landed on Zhao Yu, who sat high on the commander's seat. He said, word by word:

"Marshal, in summary, I believe the safest course of action is not to continue pressing forward, but to immediately retreat three hundred miles. We should establish a solid forward base near the 'Yinma River,' which has a stable water source, to secure our supply line and allow our exhausted soldiers to rest and recuperate."

"Then, relying on this base, we can advance steadily, building camps step by step, like grinding a millstone, gradually bringing this grassland under the control of the Wu Dynasty! Although this will take more time, it is the safest method with the fewest casualties!"

Han Lin's words were a textbook-perfect, militarily sound decision.

However, Zhao Yu heard something in his words that he least wanted to see—compromise.

He, Zhao Yu, had campaigned his whole life and never known the word "retreat"!

In his heart, there was only forward! Forward! And forward again!

He slowly closed his eyes. Flashing through his mind were the hundreds of thousands of people in the Divine Capital before the expedition, their eyes filled with endless anticipation and fervor.

They also flashed past the figure of the young Emperor, sitting high on the Dragon throne, his eyes filled with unquestionable trust and expectation.

He knew he could not retreat.

To retreat one step would be a ruthless mockery of himself! To retreat one step would be a public betrayal of Your Majesty's supreme trust! To retreat one step would be the greatest desecration of the three thousand wronged souls of Wangxi Fortress!

He slowly opened his eyes. In those eyes, which had previously been full of hesitation and struggle, there now remained only an unshakable resolve, firm as a rock!

"Say no more."

Although Zhao Yu's voice was not loud, it was filled with unquestionable majesty!

He stood up abruptly from the commander's seat, his eyes as sharp as a falcon's, sweeping over every general present!

"I have decided to take a desperate gamble!"

"Pass on my orders!"

"Order Flank General Han Lin and Flank General Wang Li to immediately lead the one hundred thousand infantry and all logistics troops to retreat three hundred miles. Establish a camp and build a defensive line on the banks of the 'Yinma River'! Regardless of the situation at the front, your only task is to hold our rear at all costs and provide cover for our triumphant return!"

"As for me, I will personally lead the fifty thousand most elite Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry, with three horses per person, carrying ten days of rations, abandoning all unnecessary baggage, and launch a long-distance raid toward Langjuxu Mountain to decide the final outcome of this battle!"

"In this battle, I will not return until the enemy is defeated!"

"If I cannot take Boerte's head, I will join you all in death, our souls returning to this vast sea of grass!"

Zhao Yu's words were like thunderbolts from the Nine Heavens, striking the hearts of all the generals present!

Han Lin and Wang Li's faces were filled with shock and worry. They wanted to persuade him further, but seeing Zhao Yu's unquestionable gaze, they had no choice but to swallow their words. Then, with a tone filled with tragic resolve, they knelt on one knee and accepted the order in a deep voice!

"The subordinates obey!"

As for Ma Qianli, his face revealed a smile like that of a bloodthirsty beast, filled with endless fanaticism and excitement!

He knew this was the Zhao Yu he knew, the one who pressed forward relentlessly and was invincible!

...

The night was like water, and the starlight was dim.

Under Zhao Yu's personal command, the fifty thousand most elite Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry, like ghosts blending into the night, silently detached from the massive, cumbersome main force. They turned into the sharpest and deadliest blade, galloping toward the unknown and dangerous depths of the grasslands!

This was a desperate gamble!

A crazy gamble that staked the lives of fifty thousand elite soldiers, his own illustrious reputation, and the future national destiny of the entire Wu Dynasty!

Seven days and seven nights! Seven full days and nights, with almost more than half the time spent in forced marches!

Even the grassland warhorses, known for their endurance, could not bear the burden. Thousands of horses collapsed halfway due to exhaustion and could never stand up again.

However, just when everyone thought they were about to be completely swallowed by this endless grassland filled with the scent of death.

The vanguard general Ma Qianli, who had been charging at the very front, suddenly sniffed the air with his nose, which was as keen as a hound's.

He smelled that unique, gamey, musky odor that only occurs when large numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses are gathered together!

In his bloodshot eyes, a brilliant light, like that of a hungry wolf, filled with endless greed and ecstasy, suddenly erupted!

He yanked on the reins, dismounted, and pressed his ear tightly against the cold, hard earth!

"Rumble... Rumble..." A series of vibrations, faint but incredibly clear, like muffled thunder, slowly came from beneath the distant horizon!

That was the unique symphony of war that only occurs when tens of thousands of hooves trample the earth at the same time!

"Found them!" Ma Qianli leaped up from the ground. His face, already dark and cracked from the wind and sand, revealed a crazy smile like a child's, filled with endless ecstasy!

"Marshal! We found them! That pack of grassland scum is right in the valley of Langjuxu Mountain ahead!"

At the command, the eyes of the fifty thousand Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry, who had been like walking corpses, instantly reignited with a raging Battle Intent capable of burning the entire world!

They forgot their fatigue, forgot their hunger and thirst, and forgot death!

In their hearts remained only the most primitive and pure desire for slaughter!

"All troops! Charge!"

Zhao Yu whipped out the sword at his waist and swung it forward fiercely!

The fifty thousand Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry, exhausted as they were, let out deafening, frenzied roars. Like a breached flood, they launched their final and most desperate death charge toward Langjuxu Mountain, which in their eyes had already become their prey!

However, just as their thundering hooves were about to charge into the seemingly calm valley.

A sudden change occurred!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" A series of sharp, piercing sounds like ghosts crying and wolves howling suddenly erupted from the high slopes on both sides of the valley, without warning!

A black, dense rain of poisoned arrows, like a swarm of locusts, streaked across the sky in beautiful, deadly parabolas. With a thunderous, unstoppable, and terrifying momentum, it precisely covered the now disorganized Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry!

"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!" A series of dull sounds of blades entering flesh, accompanied by the shrill cries of warhorses, rang out in unison!

The thousands of Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry charging at the front didn't even have a chance to react before they were shot into hedgehogs, rider and horse alike, by the sudden rain of death!

"Not good! We've been ambushed!"

Zhao Yu's pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinpricks!

He never dreamed that Boerte, who appeared to be fleeing like a stray dog, would be so cunning and so daring!

He had actually reversed the situation, meticulously preparing a long-awaited feast of death in Langjuxu Mountain for them, the "hunters" who had traveled from afar!

"Awoo!" Accompanied by wolf howls filled with endless violence and wildness, the tens of thousands of "Azure Wolf Rangers" who had been lying in ambush on both sides of the valley for a long time surged down from the high slopes like a black tide emerging from Hell. With a terrifying, unstoppable momentum from above, they slammed into the Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry, whose formation was already in chaos from the arrow rain!

This was a textbook-perfect ambush, a complete case of the prepared catching the unprepared!

The Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry, already exhausted after seven days and seven nights of frantic forced marches, were at the end of their tether. Their physical strength and reaction times had dropped to freezing point!

The "Azure Wolf Rangers," who had been waiting at their ease, were well-rested and had high morale!

With one side exhausted and the other fresh, the scales of victory had tilted severely the moment the battle began!

The "Repeating Muskets," the ace Sharp Weapon that the Wu Dynasty army relied on to defeat the enemy, could not unleash any effective power in this chaotic, close-quarters melee!

They didn't even have the chance to raise their muskets and aim before they were closed in upon by the grassland barbarians, who were like mad dogs and feared no death!

For a moment, the entire line of the Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry fell into unprecedented chaos and collapse!

"Hold! Everyone, hold the line!"

Zhao Yu let out a roar filled with endless majesty; his voice, like rolling thunder, exploded across the entire chaotic battlefield!

He knew that the more critical the moment, the less he, as the commander-in-chief, could afford to lose his composure!

His eyes, sharp as a hawk's, swept rapidly across the chaotic battlefield, like the calmest of hunters searching for that fleeting opportunity to break the deadlock!

He saw it!

Amidst the enemy's tidal wave of an offensive, there was a spot that, despite being equally fierce, showed an imperceptible hesitation in its formation!

That was the enemy's flank!

"Elite Guard Battalion! Follow me!"

Zhao Yu let out a heaven-shaking roar and charged to the front. At that moment, the Dragon Courage Bright Silver Spear in his hand seemed to transform into a true Nine Heavens Dragon capable of tearing through everything, striking with a terrifying, unstoppable, and suicidal ferocity against the seemingly impregnable enemy flank!

The hundreds of Elite Guard Battalion soldiers behind him, who had long lived and died with him and were loyal to the core, did not hesitate for a moment. They let out deafening, frenzied roars, following their god-like, invincible commander as tightly as the sharpest awl!

This was the purest, most unreasonable, brutal collision of a sharp blade against a flood!

The Dragon Courage Bright Silver Spear in Zhao Yu's hand had already been whirled into an impenetrable silver light of death!

Wherever he passed, men and horses were overturned, and flesh and blood flew everywhere!

No grassland barbarian could withstand a single round against his terrifying, peerless spear technique!

The hundreds of Elite Guard Battalion soldiers behind him were like an extension of his own body. Using their battle-hardened formations and fearless courage, they guarded their commander's flanks, cutting down every enemy that attempted to ambush them from the side!

They were like a red-hot, indestructible steel wedge, forcibly gouging a shocking, bloody, and massive hole through the enemy's black, tidal-like formation!

The Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry's formation, which had been in jeopardy, gained a precious moment of respite due to the forceful insertion of this fresh force, and gradually stabilized its footing!

However, Zhao Yu knew clearly in his heart that this was only the beginning!

Although he had temporarily stabilized the formation, the enemy's numbers were still far greater than theirs!

If they allowed the battle to fall into this kind of bloody war of attrition, then their isolated army, which was already at the end of its strength, would sooner or later be exhausted to death here!

The only path to survival was to find and destroy the enemy's command center within the shortest possible time, and completely crush their Battle Intent!

"Ma Qianli!"

Zhao Yu's voice was cold and devoid of any emotion!

"I am here!"

Ma Qianli's blood-drenched figure charged out from the mountain of corpses and sea of blood; his face, already dyed red with blood, was filled with endless fanaticism and Battle Intent!

"I order you to lead all the heavy cavalry under your command and, at any cost, break through the enemy's main camp for me!"

Zhao Yu used the spear in his hand to point far into the depths of the valley, toward that massive royal banner embroidered with a ferocious golden wolf, flapping in the wind!

"I need you to buy enough time for our artillery unit to deploy their formation!"

Upon hearing this, a flash of resolute ruthlessness crossed Ma Qianli's bloodshot eyes!

He knew that this was a near-suicidal, certain-death mission!

But he did not hesitate at all!

"I obey!"

He let out a frenzied roar filled with endless tragic solemnity and determination. He abruptly turned his horse and let out his loudest roar to the thousands of heavy cavalrymen who had already assembled!

"Brothers! Follow me, fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!!!"

Thousands of heavy cavalrymen, also drenched in blood, let out bursts of deafening, frenzied roars!

They put down their sabers and unhooked the heavy, refined steel lances, over a zhang long, hanging from their saddles!

Like a moving wall made of steel and flesh, they launched the most tragic and heroic death charge with an unstoppable, world-destroying, and terrifying posture toward the enemy's main camp, which had become their only target!

This was a true meat grinder!

Those thousands of heavy cavalrymen were like the sharpest plowshares, forcibly plowing a path of death paved with blood and corpses through the enemy's mire-like lines!

Every time their lances thrust out, they would inevitably bring up a spray of scalding blood, skewering several grassland barbarians together like candied haws!

And the scimitars of those grassland barbarians, hacking against their heavy armor, could only spark a series of dazzling sparks and leave behind shallow white scratches!

However, their numbers were simply too few!

And the enemy's numbers were endless!

When their lances, unable to withstand the immense impact, snapped inch by inch.

When the warhorses beneath them, struck by multiple arrows, collapsed with mournful cries.

They were completely engulfed in the enemy's heavy encirclement, like a vast ocean!

But not a single person chose to surrender!

They threw away their broken lances, drew the sabers from their waists, and fought to the very last moment with their already scarred bodies and exhausted wills!

Until they were completely submerged by the endless enemy!

However, their sacrifice was not in vain!

With their lives and blood, they bought that incredibly precious golden minute for the artillery unit, which was scrambling to prepare in the rear—a minute that would decide the final outcome of this battle!

"Fire!"

An artillery commander, already covered in tears, used his hoarse voice to let out the loudest and most grief-stricken roar of his life!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The dozens of horse-mounted cannons, having completed loading and aiming, simultaneously let out a deafening roar of death!

The overwhelming rain of death, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, carried the endless anger of the thousands of heavy cavalrymen, filled with unwillingness and resentment, and precisely covered the enemy's command center, which was already right before them!

"Boom—!!!"

Amidst the terrifying, thunderous roars that seemed to overturn the entire world, the golden Azure Wolf King banner that once symbolized Boerte's supreme power, along with the luxurious royal tent beneath it and all the grassland nobles still issuing orders within, were blasted on the spot by the world-destroying artillery fire into a mass of flesh and torn cloth, burning with raging flames and flying through the sky!

The "Azure Wolf Rangers," who had been attacking crazily like a tide, saw the banner that symbolized their faith and glory collapse with a crash. At that moment, their already fragile Battle Intent completely crumbled!

They threw down their weapons, let out mournful wails filled with endless fear and despair, and fled in all directions across the vast grassland like headless flies!

The defeat was like a collapsing mountain!

When the next day's sun slowly rose again from the distant horizon, casting its warm sunlight upon this bloody valley that had already turned into a living Hell.

The battle had long since ended.

Zhao Yu, draped in a tattered cloak already dyed dark red with blood, stood quietly atop a small hill piled with countless corpses.

In his eyes, which were always filled with confidence and sharpness, there was now only deep exhaustion and numbness.

He looked at the broken corpses covering the ground, already cold, indistinguishable between friend and foe.

He watched the surviving soldiers who, despite having achieved final victory, showed no joy on their faces, only the numbness of those who had survived a disaster, like walking corpses.

There was not a shred of joy in his heart, only the cost of war, heavy as a mountain, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

In this battle, although they had successfully routed Boerte's main force, beheading over thirty thousand, and achieved a nominal glorious victory.

But the fifty thousand most elite Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry under his command had also suffered terrifying, extremely heavy casualties of nearly twenty thousand!

That invincible iron army that he had once been so proud of, capable of sweeping across the world, had been almost crippled!

And the culprit, Boerte, had taken his few remaining troops and fled in a panic, like a frightened bird, toward the depths of the grassland, which were even more profound and full of unknowns.

Victory.

But, it seemed as if nothing had been won.

Zhao Yu slowly closed his eyes, and two lines of scalding tears slid silently down his cheeks, which were already cracked and dry from the wind and sand.

...

That fierce and bloody battle that took place beneath Langjuxu Mountain, although it had cost a painful price that nearly broke their bones and tendons, ultimately ended in victory for the Wu Dynasty.

When Zhao Yu led the remaining thirty thousand-plus Dragon Steed Iron Cavalry, all drenched in blood and exhausted but with eyes still burning with unyielding Battle Intent, escorting the mountain-high spoils of cattle and sheep and the golden Azure Wolf King banner that symbolized the grassland's royal power, and returned slowly, Flank General and Flank General, who had been waiting bitterly inside and outside the pass for months, were almost simultaneously moved to tears!

Looking at their comrades whose armor was tattered but whose spines remained straight, and looking at the Wu Dynasty Dragon flag that was stained with blood but still flying high, their hearts, which had long been exhausted by endless worry and anxiety, finally settled down at this moment.