Chapter 87: Heavy Cavalry Charge, Crushing the Naimans

When the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry prepared to encircle and suppress this Naiman tribe, Buermahei also quickly organized his forces to resist.

Based on the comparison of strength between the two sides, the men, women, old, and young in Buermahei’s tribe added up to just over two thousand people.

The Northern Frontier Army, on the other hand, had a full three thousand iron cavalry.

They were not on the same level at all.

The only reason Buermahei chose to resist was that he held a massive killer weapon in his hands.

“Seventy steps, volley fire left and right.”

Luo Ping, the vanguard of the Northern Frontier Army, sat on his warhorse and shouted orders to the various Hundred-Man Commanders under his command.

The tactic was to sprint to a position of about fifty meters, spread out to the sides, and fire a volley of arrows. Repeating this several times would consume the enemy’s strength and morale.

The benefit of doing this was that it effectively reduced their own casualties.

The Jurchens liked to use cavalry to charge directly into formations because their rate of armored troops was high.

The Northern Frontier Army and steppe cavalry like the Naimans, however, lacked sufficient armor, so they could only use this kind of seesaw, kite-flying tactic.

By feinting several times, they could manipulate the enemy’s rhythm, find their weak points, and then launch a final charge.

Luo Ping had thought that with three thousand iron cavalry surrounding and suppressing over two thousand old and weak civilians, it would be as easy as reaching into a bag to take something out.

But unexpectedly, when the vanguard troops rushed to a distance of more than three hundred meters from the Naimans, the Naimans actually began to release arrows.

“Argh! Argh! Argh!”

Immediately, some of the Northern Frontier cavalry charging at the front let out miserable screams and fell from their horses.

“What?”

Seeing this scene, Luo Ping was greatly shocked.

His leopard-like eyes were full of confusion and disbelief.

At such a long distance, the Naimans were actually able to inflict effective casualties on his troops?

Putting aside his shock, Luo Ping hurriedly roared loudly, “Spread out!”

The soldiers charging at the front immediately pulled their reins to the left and right.

The great army quickly turned their directions to the flanks.

“Hahaha.”

“This thing really is a divine weapon.”

Within the Naiman army, Guerba held a crossbow and laughed ostentatiously.

It was a giant bow more than three feet long, with a wooden handle installed in the middle.

It was precisely the famous Divine Arm Crossbow.

Tayang Khan had ordered him to lead men to Western Xia specifically to secretly trade for a batch of Divine Arm Crossbows with the generals of Blackwater City.

This thing was a massive killer weapon against cavalry.

Its maximum range could reach nearly four hundred meters, and within a hundred meters, it could even pierce through heavy armor.

And Guerba had a full one hundred of these Divine Arm Crossbows in his hands.

Originally, they were intended to be sent to the Altai Mountains to deal with the Liao army, but unexpectedly, they were put to use halfway there.

“Chief Buermahei, you can rest assured now.”

“With the Divine Arm Crossbows in hand, this Liao army will absolutely not be able to charge through.”

“You must immediately pile up all the wagons in the tribe at the very front. If the Liao people dare to come again, we will make sure they come but never return,” Guerba chuckled.

At this moment, Buermahei also set his mind at ease, and a smile reappeared on his face.

“Good, I will go arrange it right away.”

They were still a day’s journey from the Royal Court. They only needed to hold out for two days, and this Liao army would definitely retreat.

After Buermahei left, Guerba reprimanded his subordinates.

“I told you long ago, don’t shoot so early. Let the Liao people get close before shooting.”

“You people simply deserve to die; you wasted so many arrows for nothing.”

Hearing this, the subordinate soldiers shrank their heads, not daring to let out a fart.

It was true that their psychological quality was not up to par, and their skills were unskilled.

They had only hurriedly rushed back after trading for these weapons from the Western Xia people, and they were slowly figuring out how to use them on their own.

They barely knew how to use them.

On the other side, Li Xiao led his men hurriedly to one of the hundred-man teams under Luo Ping’s command.

There were twelve soldiers who had been hit.

Four were already dead, and the rest were still being treated.

“Dalong, this is the arrow that hit us. Take a look.”

Seeing Li Xiao arrive, Luo Ping handed the arrow in his hand to Li Xiao with a solemn expression.

It had just been pulled from the corpse of a dead soldier and was still stained with fresh blood.

After Li Xiao took it, his expression also became grave.

He said in a low voice, “It is a half long as a standard arrow.”

“Correct,” Luo Ping nodded.

“The range is also very far, fully more than twice that of an ordinary bow and arrow.”

He hadn’t expected the Naimans to possess such a killer weapon, causing them to suffer a silent loss.

As Li Xiao held the arrow, he was deep in thought.

His first reaction was the Qing Bow, known as the most lethal bow and arrow, capable of killing bears and tigers and pinning enemies to the ground from dozens of steps away.

However, the Qing Bow appeared in the late Ming Dynasty, so it should be impossible for it to exist now.

So Li Xiao quickly thought of another item.

He said in a deep voice, “This should be a bolt from a Divine Arm Crossbow.”

“Divine Arm Crossbow?” Dahu, Erhu, and the others were surprised and bewildered.

Luo Ping nodded lightly. Being knowledgeable and experienced, he had also thought of the Divine Arm Crossbow immediately.

“The Divine Arm Crossbow was invented by the Song people. Later, the Western Xia people learned it. There is quite a lot of equipment in the Western Xia army, mainly used for city defense and infantry field battles.”

Luo Ping briefly introduced the situation of the Divine Arm Crossbow, then looked at Li Xiao and asked.

“What should we do?”

Retreat or fight?

Li Xiao stabbed the Divine Arm Crossbow bolt into the ground, swept his gaze over everyone, and said in a deep voice, “When enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave win.”

“If we retreat just because we encounter a little difficulty, what kind of war are we fighting?”

Mainly, it was also because Li Xiao had just made an observation.

The number of Divine Arm Crossbows in the Naiman hands should not be too many.

Or rather, there wouldn’t be many soldiers who knew how to use the Divine Arm Crossbow.

Although they had blocked the front with wagons, forming a simple defensive circle using carts” Li Xiao was still prepared to mess them up.

For nothing else, Li Xiao was also very covetous of the Divine Arm Crossbows.

With his perspective and knowledge from later generations, if he obtained a complete Divine Arm Crossbow, he might be able to replicate it.

“Pass the order: Li Dashan’s unit, detour to the rear of the Naimans and feint an attack.”

“Li Sishui, lead five hundred men to the left flank of the Naimans.”

“Qin Chunsheng, lead five hundred men to the right flank of the Naimans.”

Li Sishui was Li Xiao’s cousin-uncle, the son of his third grandfather.

Qin Chunsheng was Li Xiao’s second maternal uncle.

Then he looked at Luo Ping and said, “Uncle Luo, you stay here and continue to feint against the Naiman front.”

All four sides would feint attacks, first mobilizing the Naiman forces and constantly dispersing their defensive strength.

When the Naimans’ minds began to tire and slacken, he would choose the direction with the weakest defense to launch a general offensive.

Soon, the Northern Frontier Army began to close in on the Naimans from all directions, surrounding the two thousand or so Naimans on this plain.

And Guerba had no choice but to divide his crossbowmen into four teams to defend the four directions respectively.

“Everyone perk up! Wait until the Liao people charge to two hundred steps before shooting arrows.”

“Arrows are scarce, so save them for me and shoot accurately.”

After repelling one harassment from the Northern Frontier Army, Guerba shouted loudly to his subordinate crossbowmen.

Although the Divine Arm Crossbow was powerful, one couldn’t shoot wildly; arrows were a big problem.

The arrows used by ordinary cavalry didn’t match; if put on a Divine Arm Crossbow, they couldn’t shoot that far at all.

On the other side, Buermahei was also cheering on his herdsmen.

“Someone has already gone out to ask for help. We just need to hold on, and Tayang Khan will definitely send someone to save us.”

And just as both sides were constantly probing and pulling at each other.

Li Xiao had also completed his final preparations.

With Dahu’s help, he put on a full set of heavy armor. Even the big black horse beneath him was tightly wrapped in armor plates.

Behind him, there were eighty soldiers also clad in heavy armor.

In addition to the thirty-six sets of heavy armor captured from the Arslan tribe back then, Li Xiao had captured another forty-odd sets when ambushing Kuchlug’s cavalry team.

As for the armor of the Golden Mountain army under Koke Kuewu’s command, it had all been snatched away by that son of a bitch Xiao Simo.

After everything was ready, Li Xiao turned to look at the eighty heavy armored soldiers behind him and roared in a low voice:

“Brothers, wearing this heavy armor, the enemy’s arrows can no longer hurt us.”

“Follow behind me, Li Xiao, and crush all the Naimans before us.”

When Li Xiao’s voice fell, the low sound of a horn resonated across this desolate land.

“Woooo—”

Lonely and shocking, it exuded a power of endless solemnity and killing intent.

Hearing this horn, the Northern Frontier soldiers in front quickly retreated to both sides, leaving enough passage for the heavy cavalry.

“Kill—”

Li Xiao let out an explosive roar, gripping his horse lance, and took the lead to charge forward.

“Kill—”

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Low rumbling sounds rang out over the earth as the iron hooves of the heavy cavalry trampled the wilderness, kicking up clouds of dust and sand.

Eighty armored cavalrymen seemed to transform into a flood of steel, rolling forward with unstoppable momentum.

Any enemy blocking their front would be utterly crushed.

After the heavy cavalry charged, Qin Chunsheng waved the war saber in his hand and shouted loudly, “Brothers, kill with me!”

As his voice fell, he also personally took the lead, leading his cavalry to follow closely behind Li Xiao, launching the final charge.

Accompanied by the desolate horn and the huge sounds of shouting and killing, the Naimans on the opposite side were thoroughly shaken.

People constantly shouted loudly: “It’s iron armored soldiers!”

“They have many iron armored soldiers!”

“Our arrows can’t kill them! What do we do?”

“Damn it, they’re rushing over!”

Li Xiao chose the west side of the Naimans. This was where the Naimans had the least defensive strength, and the wagons were also the fewest. The gaps between them were large enough for warhorses to rush in.

Another important factor was the sun; it was now the moment when the sun was about to set.

The sunlight shone directly into the Naimans’ eyes, affecting the accuracy of their archery.

So much so that facing the charge of the Northern Frontier Army, the Naimans became increasingly terrified.

Buermahei and Guerba were in other directions. There was only a tribal headman here, but he couldn’t suppress the situation at all.

He could only shout in panic, “Shoot them dead! Quick!”

“Don’t let them rush over!”

But facing the terrifying momentum of the armored heavy cavalry charge, who wouldn’t panic upon seeing it?

Even those soldiers holding Divine Arm Crossbows lost their wits.

Facing the overwhelming and terrifying scene, many people subconsciously fired the crossbow bolts in their hands.

They completely forgot Guerba’s instructions to wait until closer to one hundred steps before shooting.

Not every soldier had the psychological quality to remain immovable as a mountain.

“Clang! Clang! Clang!”

The arrows hit the iron armor, making crisp sounds, but rarely pierced through.

The Naimans shot too early, and the force was insufficient.

The Divine Arm Crossbow could indeed pierce iron armor, but only within a hundred meters.

Shooting too early meant the soldiers in panic had no chance to load a second bolt.

Moreover, Li Xiao discovered that there were at most twenty Divine Arm Crossbows in this direction, which couldn’t cause enough lethality to the heavy cavalry at all.

His heart instantly settled.

“Kill—”

The heavy cavalry rolled forward, like an arrowhead, easily breaking through the Naiman defense.

Five hundred light cavalry followed closely behind, flooding into the Naiman line and commencing the slaughter.

Soon after, shouts rang out among the Naimans: “The Liao people have rushed in!”

“The Liao army is here!”

Hearing these shouts, Buermahei and Guerba were scared out of their wits. With pale faces, they looked to the right flank.

It was already utter chaos there, with people turning on their backs and horses flipping over. Shouts of killing and screams of misery were everywhere.

“No, how can this be? Where are the Divine Arm Crossbows?”

“Block them!” Guerba screamed in terror.

Buermahei, however, had a different state of mind.

The Liao army had already rushed in from that direction, so what was the point of his perseverance?

The Altai Mountains had been breached, and Tayang Khan had even conscripted twelve-year-old children from the tribes— it was clearly a desperate last stand.

Was the Naiman tribe finished?

Thinking of this, Buermahei’s expression suddenly became firm.

The Naiman tribe could be finished, but his own tribe could not.

As the patriarch, he had to be responsible for the lives of more than two thousand people in the entire clan.

Thus, Buermahei shouted to his subordinates: “Go tell the Liao people, we surrender.”

“Stop fighting.”