The sticky blood plasma slowly flowed out of the piled up corpses, staining both sides of the array of 200 people a deep red. The war horses that were not yet completely dead lay on their sides on the ground, struggling with their limbs and wailing.
Under the huge banner fluttering in the distance, Buli, one of the Turkic Khans, looked at this extremely strange scene. He urged his horse to get closer to Shabolue, but his eyes were fixed on the Sui army's battle formation in the distance.
"I used to think it was a bit suspicious that two hundred people dared to stand in front of us, but now I think they are blessed by the gods."
Shabolue reached out and stroked the restless warhorse under him, his palm running across its mane. Looking at the unmoved battle formation of the Sui army over there, he pursed his lips and did not agree with Bu Li's words. After a long while, he raised his arm.
"Ignore these two hundred Sui soldiers, go around them from both sides, and go directly south to attack the southern city!"
Shabolue also had his own plans when he said this. The Turkic nobles were in internal strife. In order to stabilize the internal situation, he had to appoint Anluo as the second Khan, Daluo as Apo Khan, Dianjue as Datou Khan, and the Khan in front of him, Buli, to balance the increasingly intensified contradictions.
Taking advantage of the newly established Sui Dynasty, he mobilized 400,000 troops to march south to attack Sui. This was also for the purpose of shifting conflicts. Of course, even if he could not conquer Sui, regaining the voice he had in Zhou and Qi would increase his prestige and suppress internal instability.
Since the troops were dispatched, the tribal armies heading south had made few gains and had suffered defeats one after another, so he had to mobilize all 100,000 soldiers of the tribe to attack the weakest point in the Sui army's defense line. However, the 3,000 soldiers led by the Sui general on the opposite side delayed his 100,000 troops for several days, causing the loss of more than 8,000 soldiers.
After finally reducing the enemy's number to less than a thousand, they encountered a strange battle formation of two hundred.
But, no matter what, he had to march south to Chang'an and tell the new emperor of the Southern Dynasty that the Turks were still there and Shabolue was still there!
"Ignore them and head south!"
Following Shabolue's order, the messenger cavalrymen carried flags and galloped along the large and small military formations, drawing their bows and shooting command arrows. Soon, the Turkic central army sounded the horn.
Woohoo~~~
The two cavalry units that had been stagnant in front of the 200-meter battle formation turned their horses around and changed direction like two torrents, bypassing the reef in the middle and heading south.
The horses' hooves shook the ground. Qu Yuanfeng stood in the formation and looked at the Turkic cavalrymen circling and rushing on both sides. The corners of his mouth opened and he suddenly laughed. He turned his head and shouted to his subordinates who were setting up the formation around him: "How did I train in the past?"
The hand holding the command flag waved: "Change formation!"
These were the two hundred men he brought from Chang'an. They had been training with the Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain Formation. They could not say that they were very proficient in it, but as soon as the order was given, the sounds of footsteps of figures could be heard one after another, and they moved quickly. The swords, shields, and spears changed positions, dividing the world into the Yin and Yang and the Eight Diagrams.
"The yin and yang of heaven and earth are as powerful as fire!"
Qu Yuanfeng gathered all his magic power and the flag in his hand passed through the sunlight. The moment the ochre color faded, it was lit up with a red light of fire. The Qiankun Yin-Yang Formation he had set up rotated and dispersed. The eyes of the two hundred soldiers were red, and one of them was marching forward with a spear in hand, his clenched teeth opened.
Roar: "Kill—"
"kill!"
The roars and shouts of two hundred people shook the endless sound of hoofbeats. Figures spread out like two fishes, without any restraint, and violently crashed into the Turkic cavalry heading southward on both sides.
“Ahh—”
The long spears in the hands of the frantically running soldiers pierced into the chest and ribs of the rushing warhorses, blood splattered, and the galloping horses carrying the knights on top wailed and fell to the ground. During the tumbling, the infantrymen with swords and shields jumped over and slammed into another galloping warhorse with their shields. With the sound of flesh and blood bursting, they fell to the ground together with the Turkic cavalry from Horseback Mountain, and their entangled bodies instantly disappeared under the countless tumbling horses' hooves.
The sudden attack stunned the Turkic cavalry that had been bypassing this area for a moment, but then they were overjoyed. They blew the horn to change direction, and attacked from the rear with bows.
Qu Yuanfeng was blessed by the "fire" magic circle, his eyes were red and he tilted his head to the side, and the long spear in his hand was thrown out suddenly, passing over the heads of his soldiers and piercing into the chest of a Turkic cavalryman who came from the rear.
Without even looking at the figure falling from the horse, he waved the command flag.
"The trees become a forest!"
The scattered soldiers seemed to be able to sense the commander's words in their ears. They chopped off the heads of the enemies in front of them, quickly gathered their ranks, and formed a dense circle with their spears pointing in all directions, once again forming a battle formation.
Shabolue, who was watching the battle from a distance, cracked his whip hard, urged his horse to move back and forth, cursed loudly in Turkish, and once again told Buli and Datou Khan's cavalry not to pay any attention to them, and that the two hundred Sui people could be left to the infantry to deal with.
The mighty army of 30,000 infantrymen advanced with the sound of trumpets, and Qu Yuanfeng waved his flag again.
"Advance and retreat with moderation, and be as fast as the wind!"
The wind blew across the fields, and in the battle formation with less than two hundred people, the soldiers' feet made wind, their armor rustled, and they held their weapons to maintain a tight formation, moving quickly to the south. Halfway through, they deployed the formation and attacked the cavalry on both sides. After fighting for a while, they retreated and moved forward, breaking out of the encirclement of the Turkic light cavalry and not giving the enemy infantry a chance to get close.
Even with the help of magic circles, two hundred people were still too few. On the day of the delaying offensive, from morning to dusk, the number of two hundred soldiers dropped to one hundred and seventy. After nightfall, the Turkish cavalry left behind a thousand corpses and retreated back to their camp to set up camp and rest.
The next morning, the Turkic Khan Shabolue, who seemed to be holding back his anger, advanced again. This time, he used his cavalry to form a circle to force the 170 Sui soldiers to stop. This time, the Turkic infantry approached the battlefield and with a huge number, they trapped Qu Yuanfeng in the crowd several times. Only with the support of a magic circle did he break through from the edge. While defending against cavalry attacks, he maintained his formation and slowly retreated.
On the third night, both sides stopped attacking again. Qu Yuanfeng lit a bonfire, bit off a dry biscuit, and looked at the flickering flames. There were only 105 people left around him. Relying on the thought of reinforcements on the way, they could barely maintain their morale.
"... We can't retreat." He stared at the flames and whispered softly. The soldiers around him were silent as well. They sat together quietly, bandaging their wounds and eating dry food.
On the distant hillside, Shabolue, who was observing all this, kicked a stone under his feet, raised his cloak, turned around and left, and jumped on his horse.
"The cavalry goes first. Also, the high priest of the rear team comes over. I don't believe that we can't defeat this group of Sui people!!"
One hundred thousand soldiers were heading south, but were stopped by two hundred people for three days. If he didn't kill this group of people, how could he still have prestige
While the military order was being carried away by fast horses, under the cover of night, the fleeing Da Xi Chang Ru had already arrived at the nearest city and spread the news that Sha Bolue had appeared on this line of defense. Huge amounts of information were continuously transmitted to all directions by beacon fires and fast horses.
In the dark night, fires began to light up on the mountains in the distance, conveying the news frantically to Chang'an in the south. It was already late in the morning when they arrived at Beizhu Mountain.
"Shaboluo leads 100,000 Turkic troops southward!"