Chapter 987

On the boundless grassland, tens of thousands of horses galloped. The barbarian cavalry charged down from the hill like a black torrent.

However, this torrent seemed full of flaws in Qi Guangyi’s eyes. As before, the barbarians relied on individual bravery, and there was no improvement in their use of cavalry formations.

“The next barbarian cavalry is ten miles away. They will arrive in just thirty minutes. We must defeat this cavalry and retreat within this time!”

Qi Guangyi said coldly, looking at the approaching barbarian cavalry. He was always known for being meticulous in his actions in the army. For the first time using the rifle cavalry in combat, he was naturally fully prepared. Otherwise, if he led this newly formed cavalry into the abyss, his crime would be great.

So to figure out the barbarian army’s situation, he sent a large number of hunter cavalry to scout the grassland, and he quickly figured out the movements of the three cavalry forces that were ten miles apart.

After a little thought, Qi Guangyi understood the barbarians’ intention. In fact, in every war with the barbarians, they would always send elite cavalry to harass the rear of the barbarians.

Now the barbarians were setting up this formation to clearly set a trap for him. Although the barbarians now had monocular telescopes, their glass processing technology had been improving, and the magnification of their telescopes was not something that the primitive monocular telescopes from Europe could compare to. In terms of reconnaissance, they were still a bit weaker.

“Yes, Corps Commander!”

Upon receiving the order, the cavalry general checked the time on his pocket watch. Pocket watches were now standard equipment for every officer, for the purpose of coordinating actions.

“Kill…”

The earth seemed to tremble under the rumbling of hooves. The barbarian cavalry, brandishing their scimitars, had ferocious expressions on their faces. Just as every person of the Great Yu Empire hated the Golden Tent Khanate, every person of the Golden Tent Khanate also hated the people of the Great Yu Empire, because this war was not only a war for land but also a battle for the survival of two nations.

“Five hundred meters!”

“Three hundred and fifty meters!”

“First rank, fire!”

“…”

Qi Guangyi continuously calculated the distance of the barbarian cavalry. When the distance between the two sides reached two hundred and fifty meters, he gave the order to fire.

He could have completely avoided this encounter, but this time he chose to fight. This confidence came from his recognition of the training these past few days. The era of the Chinese cavalry completely suppressing the barbarian cavalry had arrived.

“Bang bang bang…”

After Qi Guangyi’s order was given, the densely arranged cavalry raised their carbines and fired from their stationary horses.

As the gunshots rang out, the charging barbarian cavalry immediately fell off their horses, and their formation was in chaos.

After the first rank finished firing, the soldiers in the front immediately lay on their horses’ backs and reloaded their bullets. The barbarian cavalry were then exposed to the second rank of cavalry. They raised their carbines and fired, and then they repeated the actions of the first rank of soldiers, and the third rank fired.

Three consecutive shots were completed in just three seconds. More than 20,000 bullets formed a rain of bullets that charged at the barbarian cavalry who were coming from the front.

Under such dense shooting, the barbarian cavalry who were directly facing the rifle cavalry fell down like fallen leaves in a strong wind. After three rounds of shooting, more than 800 barbarian cavalry fell on the path of their charge.

And these fallen cavalry now became an obstacle to the barbarian cavalry’s charge. Many barbarian cavalry tightened their reins and stopped their horses to prevent them from crashing into the fallen horses.

This caused the speed of the barbarian attack to slow down.

Seizing this opportunity, the first rank of rifle cavalry quickly reloaded and began the second round of shooting. Under the continuous firepower, the barbarians’ losses continued to increase.

On the hill, Zak and the bald man’s faces were ashen. They could not have imagined that the Great Yu Empire had firearms that could be reloaded on horseback. Watching his soldiers fall one by one, Zak rode his horse back and forth restlessly.

A feeling of extreme unease in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

“Banner head, this Great Yu Empire cavalry did not encounter us by chance; they came prepared.” The bald man looked anxiously at the charging cavalry. He was a centurion and was now among the charging cavalry.

Zak said stubbornly, “It’s too late to retreat now.”

The bald man looked down the hill. After the second round of shooting, they had suffered another eight or nine hundred casualties. Now the soldiers had charged within one hundred meters.

Turning their horses around at this distance would definitely cause great chaos, and their losses would be even greater.

“Taru…” Looking at the charging army, the bald man closed his eyes.

While Zak and the bald man were worried, Taru in the cavalry raised his saber. His brother was a commander of a thousand in the Azure Dragon tribe and was highly respected.

Because of this, he was unwilling for his position as a centurion to be questioned, or to be said to be reliant on his brother’s prestige. So every time he fought, Taru would always charge in the front.

However, this battle seemed to be different from any other time. The bullets spewed from the muzzles of the Great Yu Empire’s soldiers’ guns constantly knocked down the cavalry beside them, along with their horses. As he charged from the top of the hill to the bottom, bullets passed by his face two or three times.

“Kill!”

After withstanding six rounds of shooting, they were only a hundred meters away from the Great Yu Empire’s cavalry.

At this time, they saw the Great Yu Empire raise their muzzles again.

“Bang bang bang…”

Taru’s voice came to an abrupt halt. His vision was fixed on the moment the muzzle spewed flames, and a bullet hit him right between the eyebrows.

The horse carried the dead Taru forward for another ten meters, and Taru fell off the horse. At the time of his death, Taru’s hand was still tightly gripping the reins, which caused the horse to fall down as well.

The cavalry behind him had no time to dodge and crashed directly into Taru’s horse, causing a chaotic mess. This kind of chaos was also happening in other places, and the momentum of the entire barbarian cavalry’s charge was completely disrupted.

But this was not the most desperate thing for them. Just as they were adjusting their mounts, many black stick-like objects fell from the sky.

These stick-like objects exploded as soon as they landed among them. Flames and shrapnel flew, and a large number of cavalry fell down, while more horses were startled and lost control.

Qi Guangyi watched the chaotic barbarian cavalry coldly. Their horses had been trained to get used to the sound of explosions, so the barbarian cavalry, who were now in a chaotic mess, could not form an effective charge against them.

Seizing this opportunity, he shouted, “Kill!”

With his order, the sound of the charge bugle rang out across the grassland. The rifle cavalry put their carbines on their backs and drew their sabers. Taking advantage of the barbarians’ chaos, they charged towards the barbarian cavalry.

“Bang!”

The rifle cavalryman in the very front raised his saber and killed a barbarian cavalryman whose horse had lost control. At this time, a barbarian cavalryman on his left charged towards him. He then smoothly took out his short-barreled firearm from the holster on his horse’s back and shot the barbarian cavalryman who was one meter away.

The standard equipment of a rifle cavalryman, in addition to the carbine, also included two short-barreled firearms and three grenades. It could be said that they were armed to the teeth.

Faced with such a combat style from the Great Yu Empire’s cavalry, the barbarian cavalry’s casualties increased rapidly. For a time, the battlefield was filled with the sound of sabers slashing, gunshots, and exploding grenades.