Chapter 6: Armored Cavalry

Rumble~

Heavy rain poured from the sky, accompanied by thunder and lightning. The fields all around were pitch black, and everyone’s eyes were fixed on the figure in front of the gate.

It was Tie Tou’s father, Wang Wu.

He should have been out on the expedition with Li Xiao’s father, but here he was, back at Hexi Fortress.

And looking at him, his clothes were ragged and his body filthy; he was in a very sorry state. Faint traces of dried blood could still be seen on the strips of cloth wrapped around his arm.

Seeing Wang Wu’s appearance, Li Xiao’s heart sank with a thump, and he had a bad feeling.

“Something happened.”

Sure enough, under everyone’s gaze, Wang Wu’s body began to tremble, tears flowed from his eyes, and he collapsed to the ground, crying loudly.

“Wuwuwu~”

“Awooooo~”

No one expected that a man in his thirties would cry so miserably at this moment, catching everyone off guard.

Having fought wars for so many years and being rich in experience, the Old Master instantly seemed to sense something.

His gaze immediately became cold and severe. Gripping the hilt of his saber tightly, he scolded sternly in a low voice.

“Speak, what happened?”

The Old Master stared dead at Wang Wu, his aura quite terrifying.

“Wuwuwu~”

“Defeated, we were defeated.”

Under the pressure of the Old Master’s aura, Wang Wu spoke intermittently.

As soon as these words came out, the surrounding villagers instantly erupted into noise.

“What? Defeated?”

“Where are the other children? Why are you the only one back?”

“Quick, tell us, what on earth happened?”

Third Grandfather and the others looked anxious. They all jumped off their horses and surrounded Wang Wu to ask.

Among the one hundred able-bodied men on the expedition were their children too!

The Old Master also dismounted. Stepping on the muddy ground, he walked heavily toward Wang Wu step by step.

Although he appeared calm on the surface, Li Xiao, following behind, could clearly feel the Old Master’s body trembling involuntarily a few times.

Perhaps he was afraid of hearing some bad news!

Surrounded by these elders, Wang Wu shook his head and spoke bitterly.

“The situation at that time was chaotic. Karluk cavalry were everywhere. We could only run frantically, and many people got separated.”

“Er Dan and I ran toward the village, and met Old Zhu and a few others on the way.”

“It was raining heavily; we barely made it back to the village~”

While Wang Wu was speaking, several more figures appeared in the courtyard. They were Er Dan, Old Zhu, and the others mentioned by Wang Wu.

They had originally gone back to their respective homes and were wolfing down food, but rushed over after hearing the commotion.

Third Grandfather’s eyes were red, and his body began to tremble. He turned around to scan the group and shouted tremblingly:

“Only you six came back?”

“Where are the others?”

One hundred sons went on the expedition? Did only six return?

His voice was full of grief, indignation, and despair. The others were the same, staring dead at the six returnees, seemingly praying not to hear bad news.

“Third Uncle, I, I don’t know.”

Old Zhu and the others stood in the pouring rain. The bloodstains on their tattered leather armor were washed away by the rain, gathering in the yard to form a bloody puddle~

Old Zhu, the oldest among the six, looked sorrowful and said bitterly: “Dahe Chuluoduo doesn’t know how to fight at all. He was blindly commanding, without even figuring out the enemy’s situation.”

“Seeing that the Karluk forces were fewer than ours, he ordered all units to launch a massive attack…”

Dahe Chuluoduo was a Khitan, and his position was the Basqa of Jin Prefecture!

Back when Yelü Dashi conquered the Northern Border, to facilitate management, he imitated the system of the Protectorate General during the Tang Dynasty and re-divided the Northern Border into four prefectures.

They were Jin Prefecture, Desert Prefecture (Damo), Yinshan Prefecture, and North Sea Prefecture (Beihai)!

And a Xiangwen Office was established in each prefecture to manage the local herdsmen and commoners.

The highest official of the Xiangwen Office was called the Basqa, who held both military and political power and was the highest local administrator.

However, the Han people of the Northern Border found the Khitan name too awkward, so they still used the Chinese term ‘Governor-General’s Office’ to refer to the Xiangwen Office.

Dahe Chuluoduo was the Governor-General of the Jin Prefecture Governor-General’s Office.

In Old Zhu’s description, this bastard was completely a noble dandy here to gild his resume. He was proficient in riding and archery, but a complete mess at leading troops in battle.

Before a decisive battle, any general would send a large number of scouts to find out the enemy’s situation, whether there were hidden troops, and so on.

But this Dahe Chuluoduo seemed not to take the Karluks seriously at all. Seeing that his own forces were double the opponent’s, he ordered the whole army to press forward in a massive attack.

Immediately after, a bigger problem was exposed: he didn’t have a clear task allocation.

Which unit was responsible for breaking the formation and scattering the enemy, which unit was responsible for advancing and dividing and surrounding the enemy.

These were classic cavalry tactics, but this Jin Prefecture Governor-General did nothing. Just thinking that with double the troops, the advantage was his, he swarmed forward.

The result goes without saying.

This was a trap by the Karluks; the Karluk army in the front was just bait.

When the Western Liao army pressed up to engage the enemy and was about to win, two more Karluk armies charged out from the flanks, surrounding the Western Liao army instead.

Most lethally, a unit of heavy cavalry was hidden within the Karluk army.

On the open grassland, the threat of heavy cavalry to light cavalry is limited because they can’t catch up and will only be kited to death by light cavalry.

But in that situation, the Western Liao cavalry was surrounded on three sides by the Karluks in a narrow strip of land, and the soldier density was very high.

So, a tragedy occurred.

The Karluk heavy cavalry became ruthless reaping machines, and many Western Liao soldiers fell under the Karluk butcher knives.

“What? The Karluks actually produced a heavy cavalry unit?” Third Grandfather said in surprise.

Then he exchanged a glance with the Old Master, both feeling disbelief.

This was heavy cavalry!

Fundamentally different from light cavalry.

As long as one had a horse, a saber, a bow and arrows, plus skilled horsemanship, it was enough to become a qualified light cavalryman.

Just like the men of Hexi Fortress, who were almost all light cavalry.

But looking through the entire Hexi Fortress, they couldn’t scrape together a single suit of heavy armor.

Not only because heavy cavalry equipment was expensive and required frequent maintenance—building a heavy cavalry unit consumed an astonishing amount of money.

More importantly, the Western Liao Royal Court would absolutely not allow subordinate kingdoms, tribes, or villages to possess heavy cavalry.

Once discovered, they would inevitably face severe punishment from the Royal Court’s army.

But the Karluk tribe in Jin Prefecture silently produced a heavy cavalry unit.

This made the Old Master and the others feel absurd.

“Are the people in the Governor-General’s Office blind?” Third Grandfather said hatefully through gritted teeth.

If they had known the people in the Jin Prefecture Governor-General’s Office were such trash, Hexi Fortress would have gotten a batch of heavy armor even if it meant bankruptcy!

It wasn’t envy that the Karluks had it, but anger that they themselves didn’t.

“The Karluk rebellion isn’t that simple; there must be someone supporting them behind the scenes!” The Old Master said with an equally gloomy face.

Under the strict supervision of the Western Liao Empire, the Karluk tribe in Jin Prefecture managed to get hold of equipment for a heavy cavalry unit.

At this moment, everyone understood that this Karluk rebellion was premeditated.

The Jin Prefecture Karluks were very likely proxies for other forces.

But now was not the time to dwell on this. Moreover, this was something the Royal Court should worry about. The Old Master now only cared about the one hundred sons of Hexi Fortress.

“Continue.”

Hearing the Old Master’s low voice, Old Zhu took a light breath and continued:

“The Karluks didn’t have many heavy cavalry, only about a hundred riders. At that time, we actually still had a chance to turn defeat into victory.”

“If Dahe Chuluoduo had a little common sense, he would have retracted his forces and reorganized the army to fight again.”

“But he couldn’t control the situation at all then; the various units were a sheet of loose sand.”

“Finally, he ordered Brother Da Hai to lead the Left Wing Battalion to block the Karluks, and claimed he would personally lead the Central Army to outflank from the other side to support our Left Wing Battalion~”

“But in the end~”

“In the end~ we had many brothers die in battle, but we never waited out the reinforcements from the Central Army.”

“Wuwuwu~”

Before finishing his words, Old Zhu and the other men sobbed and shed tears again.

Every one of them was injured and covered in blood, long unable to distinguish whether it was their own or the enemy’s.

It was evident how fierce the battle was at that time.

After hearing all this, the Old Master suddenly staggered, seemingly about to fall to the ground. Li Xiao hurriedly stepped forward to support him.

And he comforted the Old Master: “Grandpa, don’t worry yet, maybe things haven’t reached the worst stage.”

“Others might have just been scattered and will return one after another in a few days.”

Anyway, Li Xiao didn’t believe that only six of the one hundred able-bodied men from Hexi Fortress were left.

Even with the support of heavy cavalry, the Karluks were still fewer in number than the Jin Prefecture Army, making it difficult to completely surround and annihilate the Jin Prefecture Army.

However, Li Xiao’s comfort didn’t have much effect. In the next second, he was rudely pushed away. The Old Master’s gaze was like a tiger about to eat someone, fierce and terrifying.

Staring dead at Old Zhu, he growled low from his throat: “And then?”

“And then~”

“And then~”

Old Zhu looked hesitant, not daring to continue.

Er Dan next to him said tremblingly: “I saw, I saw Brother Da Hai, he was hit by more than a dozen arrows~”

Hearing this, the Old Master couldn’t hold on anymore. With qi and blood attacking his heart, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

His body was tottering, and Li Xiao hurriedly stepped forward to support him.

At this moment, the Old Master’s frame seemed to collapse instantly. His spirit became listless, his expression trance-like, and the pillar in his heart collapsed in an instant.

Nothing is more cruel than a white-haired person burying a black-haired person.

“Dahe Chuluoduo!”

The Old Master gripped Li Xiao’s hand tightly, looking fiercely at the dark night in the distance, and gritted his teeth to say this name.

It was Dahe Chuluoduo who got his son killed.

And at this moment, Li Xiao’s heart was also filled with mixed feelings, very unpleasant.

His impression of this cheap father only existed in his predecessor’s memories. He had never met him personally; effectively, he was just slightly better than a stranger.

So, Li Xiao shouldn’t have felt grief over his cheap father’s death, but there was still a sour and desolate feeling in his heart.

Maybe it was the influence of the predecessor!

So, in this sorrowful atmosphere, Li Xiao also squeezed out a few tears with red eyes.

“What about the Second One?”

The Old Master suppressed his grief and asked about his second son’s situation again.

Old Zhu said softly: “After that, we encountered more encirclement and interception from Karluk cavalry and were quickly scattered. The last I saw, Er Jiang was also hit by several arrows, carrying Brother Da Hai’s bod~ body, running west.”

Hearing this, the Old Master was expressionless and said no more.

His eldest son was dead, and his second son’s life was uncertain.

Today’s events were too big a blow to this old man.

In a trance, Li Xiao felt that the Old Master’s body had become much more hunched, giving off a feeling of lifelessness.

But the Old Master had been decisive in killing all his life. With his strong inner self, he wouldn’t be easily defeated.

Pushing away Li Xiao’s support, the Old Master walked to his horse with a firm gaze, stepped on the stirrup, and mounted.

He said to everyone in a low voice: “Go back and rest!”

“The Karluks are coming. We have many tough battles to fight next.”

After finishing speaking, the Old Master turned his horse around, lightly clamped the horse’s belly, and slowly rode out of the courtyard.

Amidst the pattering sound of rain and the splashing of horse hooves, his back gradually blurred in the curtain of rain.

Washed wantonly by the rain, although still as straight as a pine, it made people feel so lonely and desolate.

(End of this chapter)