Chapter 39: A Battle of Crushing Dry Weeds and Smashing Rotten Wood

At this moment, Hou Tiancai was completely shocked and shouted in terror: “Armored cavalry!!!”

When these four words appeared in his mind, Hou Tiancai was utterly stunned.

He looked at the opposite side with shock and disbelief.

Twenty cavalrymen wearing heavy fish-scale armor, riding tall and strong warhorses, holding spears and war sabers, lined up in a row.

Charging recklessly in his direction.

That powerful visual impact made Hou Tiancai begin to tremble.

“Impossible, impossible…”

Hou Tiancai’s face instantly turned deathly pale, murmuring constantly as if he had lost his soul.

The armored cavalry before him seemed to gradually overlap with the Karluk heavy cavalry he had seen in the Battle of the Northern Mountains.

That terrifying momentum, capable of crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood, as if grinding all enemies into powder, still remained fresh in Hou Tiancai’s memory.

Although there were only a mere twenty riders in this armored cavalry unit before him, the galloping momentum they erupted with had already scared everyone in Hou Village witless.

Not just Hou Tiancai, but any soldier who had participated in the Battle of the Northern Mountains felt as if they had returned to the fear of being crushed by the Karluk heavy cavalry at this moment.

“Heavy cavalry?”

“How can they have heavy cavalry?”

“Absolutely impossible.”

“Scatter quickly, don’t clump together.”

The people of Hou Village shouted in terror. Many people’s faces had turned deathly pale, and some even started talking incoherently.

Completely losing the will to fight, running around randomly.

No one expected that Li Xiao deliberately used light cavalry to form an iron barrel formation just to hide the heavy cavalry behind.

This was Li Xiao’s big killing weapon.

Although heavy cavalry was strong, once the opponent slipped away in advance and didn’t engage, even the most powerful heavy cavalry would be just a pile of scrap iron.

“Stop them.”

“Stop them for me, quickly.”

While shouting loudly for others to stop Li Xiao’s heavy cavalry, Hou Tiancai gripped the reins tightly with his whitened palms.

Starting to turn his horse around, preparing to slip away again.

Although this person looked ruthless and decisive, like a formidable hero…

In reality, he was cowardly inside, easily shaken, helpless in the face of danger, lacking the demeanor of a general.

When Li Xiao deliberately used Huang Xiu’er to provoke him outside Hou Village, he had already seen through Hou Tiancai’s nature.

If Li Xiao saw Hou Tiancai’s appearance now, he would only look down on him even more.

If such a person became the leader of the Han people, he would only ruin the Han people of Jin Prefecture.

“Kill!”

Twenty heavy cavalrymen lined up in a row, charging violently forward on this boundless grassland.

Faster and faster, exuding a violent momentum like toppling mountains and overturning seas.

As if any enemy blocking their way would be trampled into powder.

“Stop them.”

“Whoever dares to retreat, I’ll kill his whole family!”

Hou Tiancai screamed loudly, but no one listened to him.

Instead, it made him look like a stupid dog barking incompetently.

No one was a fool.

It was impossible to use their flesh and blood to block heavy cavalry.

In the face of death, Hou Tiancai’s threat seemed so laughable.

So almost everyone began to scatter and flee.

But for cavalry, a distance of one hundred paces was covered in an instant.

Boom!

In just a few seconds, accompanied by the thunderous roar of warhorses, twenty heavy cavalrymen, like a sharp blade, plunged straight into the Hou Village cavalry team.

Wherever the armored cavalry went, the resistance of the Hou Village soldiers was instantly scattered.

“Ah!”

“Help!”

“I surrender.”

Tragic screams rose one after another; the battlefield seemed to fall into a one-sided slaughter.

Enemy spears stabbed on the heavy cavalry’s armor, only to be deflected, like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Facing a terrified and panicked Hou family strongman in front of him, Li Xiao swung the horse lance in his hand violently, carrying a powerful force, and beheaded the opponent like a bolt of lightning.

An enemy tried to rush forward to block but was hit by his thrust, sent flying, blood splashing in the air.

The other youths behind him didn’t show weakness either. The spears and war sabers in their hands flashed coldly in the sunlight; every swing brought a storm of blood.

Enemy screams rose one after another as they fell.

The speed of the armored cavalry was extremely fast. They shuttled freely through the enemy formation. Before the enemy could react, they were scattered.

Wherever they passed, it was a mess; the Hou Village crowd fell one after another like harvested wheat.

In just a short minute, the twenty heavy cavalrymen had already pierced through the Hou Village troops.

There was no enemy left in front of Li Xiao.

He slowly stopped his warhorse and looked back; behind him was a road of blood.

The ground was covered with blood and corpses, minced meat splashed everywhere, and injured people and warhorses lay on the ground neighing weakly.

While on Li Xiao’s side, the twenty youths had zero casualties.

“Hehe.”

“Hahahaha!”

Wearing blood-stained iron armor, the youths panted slightly. Although the battle just now only lasted a little over a minute, it consumed a lot of their strength.

The consumption on the warhorses beneath them was even greater.

But smiles appeared on every youth’s face, brimming with confidence.

They looked at each other and laughed loudly.

“Satisfying.”

“Killed happily.”

“It’s still more exhilarating to kill following Fortress Lord Li.”

“Hahahaha!”

The youths said proudly. Even those youths from the three fortresses who were unconvinced by Li Xiao before were now completely convinced.

Just now, Li Xiao’s battle achievements were no less than any of theirs.

Brave and skilled in battle, the combat power displayed made everyone tremble.

“The troops of Hou Village were too few after all; this battle wasn’t satisfying enough.”

“In a while, I’ll take you to kill more Karluks.”

Li Xiao slowly took off his helmet and said loudly to the armored youths.

And his heroic words also received everyone’s support.

“Good.”

All being young people, at the age of surging hot blood.

Just one joint battle, and Li Xiao had made these youths thoroughly convinced.

The battle ended. Except for those trampled to death by heavy cavalry, the other Hou Village troops didn’t escape either.

Luo Meng and the others had long been waiting on both sides of the battlefield.

Facing the violent slaughter of the heavy cavalry, these people who scattered and fled immediately were already terrified.

Subjected to the pursuit of Luo Meng and others again, they completely lost the courage to fight.

Dismounting and surrendering one after another.

For them, being able to pick up their lives under the impact of the death god heavy cavalry was already a blessing from heaven.

How could they dare resist?

“Take them, go to Hou Village.”

When the battle ended completely, Li Xiao ordered loudly.

Press on to the finish, take down Hou Village.

“Yes, sir.”

The young cavalry shouted loudly.

Having experienced a hearty victory with minimal casualties…

Li Xiao’s prestige in their hearts had risen to an unparalleled level.

Even if Li Xiao said now to take them to charge into the Karluk main camp, these youths would follow without hesitation.

…

Hou Village!

Lin Dazhuang was still being executed at this time; his entire foot was already bloody, without a piece of good flesh.

Many people in Hou Village couldn’t bear to see this scene. After Old Man Hou left, they either went home or went to the edge of the village, looking into the distance.

These people were mostly old, weak, women, and children; the men of the family had just gone out to chase horse bandits.

Although they knew clearly that the hundred-plus people of Hou Village had a huge advantage against more than twenty horse bandits…

These women and children still couldn’t help worrying about their families.

The sun set in the west, orange-red light sprinkled all over the earth, rendering the grassland into a sea of red.

And just at this time, a cavalry unit seemed to appear at the end of the horizon.

“Young Lord and the others are back?”

“Great.”

“Looks like they definitely won.”

“I’ll go report to the Old Fortress Lord.”

Joyful smiles appeared on these people’s faces.

But as that cavalry team got closer and closer, they gradually discovered something wrong.

“No, these are not our people.”

“It’s the enemy.”

Suddenly, someone shouted in terror, pulling everyone back to reality.

Observing carefully, everyone found that those people in the distance indeed didn’t look like their own villagers.

Someone lured the tiger out of the mountain, taking advantage of the departure of the able-bodied men to sneak attack Hou Village?

Thinking of this possibility, panic arose in the hearts of these old, weak, women, and children.

The long-silent warning bell in the village rang, and everyone in the village, men and women, young and old, began to mobilize.

Dong dong dong!

Listening to this urgent bell, Li Xiao showed a disdainful smile.

Lowering his head slightly, he said to the woman in his arms: “The people of Hou Village are really hospitable; is this welcoming us?”

Hearing this, Huang Xiu’er trembled slightly, nodded, and said: “They are welcoming.”

Her eyes were red. Facing this group of fiendish cavalry, she was very apprehensive and fearful in her heart.

What made her even more uncomfortable was that a mischievous big hand was always under her neck.

Such behavior in public made Huang Xiu’er ashamed and resentful, but she simply couldn’t stop it.

Struggling was useless, instead exchanging for Li Xiao’s warning to strip her clothes off.

What made Huang Xiu’er feel even more broken was that all this happened in front of her husband.

As her gaze turned, Huang Xiu’er saw her husband.

He didn’t die; he survived luckily in that tragic battle just now, without even a single injury.

It was just that unlike his usual high-spirited appearance, Hou Tiancai was quite wretched at this moment.

Hands tied tightly by ropes, a lasso around his neck, being led forward.

Those Hou Village soldiers who survived luckily received the same treatment.

They were all people who scattered and fled immediately, dodging the straight-line crushing of the heavy cavalry.

About sixty or seventy of them.

Each with a rope, all being led along.

Li Xiao didn’t kill them for the time being; the follow-up depended on their performance.

However, when Li Xiao’s gaze looked at Hou Tiancai, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

For these people surnamed Hou, no matter how good their performance was, it was useless.

Not only because the Hou family were traitors and had a grudge against Hexi Fortress, but also because the Hou family controlled most of the assets of Hou Village.

If he didn’t overthrow the Hou family and take out their assets to distribute, how could Li Xiao buy people’s hearts?

“Young Lord Hou, I’m taking you home.”

“Hahahaha!”

Li Xiao laughed loudly, patted Huang Xiu’er’s butt, whipped the horse, and sped up.

Hou Tiancai, tied and running, stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Watching his woman being held in the enemy’s arms while he was led running like a dog…

Hou Tiancai’s heart was full of humiliation and anger, almost biting his teeth to pieces, fingernails digging into his flesh.

(End of this chapter)