Water Margin people

Hami River Valley.

Yelu Dashi has assembled a large army.

"Juerhan, how do we fight?"

Several khans were looking at Yelu Dashi. Facing the elite Qi army, they were not sure of victory.

"Are you afraid?"

Yelu Dashi looked at everyone and spoke coldly. He could see fear on their faces.

"Jiu'er Khan, the Qi army is elite, and we have no advantage in positional warfare!"

Mahmud, the king of the Western Karakhanid Khanate, said with some concern that their advantage was fighting on the plains. They were all cavalry and could constantly make detours and charge.

This was how they fought against the Central Plains army in the past, but now the Qi army has sufficient cavalry and is well-equipped, while the infantry is even better equipped and has an endless variety of equipment.

"You think there's no chance of winning?"

Yelu Dashi looked at everyone and asked again.

Everyone was silent, which was considered as their agreement.

Yelu Dashi sneered and clapped his hands. From a tent, well-equipped infantrymen walked out. Each of them wore iron armor, and they were all extremely strong plate armor. They all had steel helmets on their heads, even their faces were covered, leaving only a gap to see the front clearly.

"This... This is the armor of the most elite soldiers in the Crusaders!"

The Khwarezmian King Ajis immediately recognized the style of these people's armor. This was the attire of the elite among the Western Crusaders. His ancestors had also participated in that battle and suffered at the hands of these elite troops.

"There are so many."

Although the others had never seen how terrifying the elite Crusaders were, they knew they were powerful just by looking at their shiny and sophisticated armor.

What surprised everyone the most was the spears in the hands of the soldiers. The densely packed spears made people's scalps numb. Each spear was two meters long.

"Surprised? Then take another look!"

Yelu Dashi looked at the surprised crowd and laughed again. More armored infantry came out, and the number of people reached as high as 15,000.

"so much!"

Several Khans were so frightened that they took a few steps back unconsciously. They had followed Yelu Dashi all the way without noticing anything, which made them feel a chill down their spines. They suddenly felt that Yelu Dashi in front of them was a stranger.

"Do you know why I chose this place for the decisive battle? This is a wide river valley, and it's flat. We can't take advantage of the terrain, but the enemy can't take advantage of the terrain either. This is the fair fight I want."

Yelu Dashi looked at everyone and spoke.

"Fair fight?"

Everyone was puzzled. Everyone wanted to gain an advantage in a war, even if they had to try every possible means.

"Yes, a fair fight! Most of you don't know Qi, and you have never fought against the Qi army. You don't know how despicable they are. If we play tricks on them, we will lose!"

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Ibrahim. His army of 100,000 guarded the Satellite Gorge. They had the advantage of geographical location and numbers. It could be said that victory was in their grasp! But what was the result?" Yelu Dashi pointed at Ibrahim and said to everyone.

Everyone looked at Ibrahim. In a war where he had all the advantages, Ibrahim's entire army was wiped out and he almost lost his life.

"Everything was going smoothly, but the enemy didn't play by the rules. They always had all kinds of schemes. You couldn't respond or not respond. You were always in a passive state. But when you made up your mind, you were fooled. The enemy's knife had already reached your neck silently!"

Ibrahim looked at everyone and expressed his feelings. He really didn't understand why he was defeated. If it was in the Western Regions, he would definitely win, but facing the State of Qi, he felt like he had no power to use.

Everyone's faces darkened when they heard this. They could hear the sense of powerlessness and helplessness in the face of a cunning enemy in Ibrahim's words.

"You don't understand the East. The tradition there has been passed down for thousands of years. They have written more military books than all the books you have read. And there are four words in them: the art of war is deceit!"

Yelu Dashi looked at everyone and said that after he arrived in the West, he learned about Western history. It was a time of ignorance, chaos, and blindness. The once glorious civilization had long been lost in history and was not worth mentioning compared to the Central Plains in the East.

"Jiu'erhan, although our civilization is not as good as that of the East, we are fearless and brave, which is absolutely incomparable to those people in the East!"

Someone spoke up unconvinced.

"You are not afraid of death? Do you think the enemy is afraid of death?"

Yelu Dashi said in a cold voice that these people in the Western Regions still think like wild beasts, thinking that they can be invincible with their passion, but when they see the absolute strength, they will cry and surrender and give up everything.

"What I want in a fair fight is to make sure the enemy can't use any tricks, so that we won't be afraid of anything!"

Yelu Dashi looked at everyone and said.

"I have trained these soldiers for a year. This is based on the Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the Great. These spear infantry are born to fight against cavalry. I guess you have heard of the battle record of this army, right?"

Yelu Dashi pointed at his army and said that in the past few years he had established the Western Liao Empire, plundered a lot of money, and also obtained advanced iron smelting technology from the Western Regions.

Yelu Dashi was a studious person. He also actively studied Western culture. Finally, he found that some Western military forces did have their merits, so he trained them at all costs.

"Alexander the Great! Macedonian Phalanx!"

Finally, someone remembered these two names. That was more than a thousand years ago. At that time, Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, relied on a group of heavily armored spearmen to sweep across thousands of miles. He first unified the Balkan Peninsula, then crossed the strait and attacked Asia Minor. Finally, he even destroyed the mighty Persian Empire. The Persian cavalry was vulnerable in front of that infantry phalanx, and even broke into the Maurya Empire, which was a very powerful country a thousand years ago.

Everyone instantly gained confidence when looking at those heavily armored infantry. With such powerful infantry, it didn't seem difficult to deal with Qi head-on.

"Fifteen thousand heavy-armored infantrymen, how much will this cost?"

Bilege sighed, but he suddenly thought of the young eunuchs sent to various places by the Western Liao Dynasty. These people levied cruel taxes and extorted heavy money, but all the money was finally transported back to Husiwoerduo.

"Could it be the money?"

Bilege suddenly had an idea. The four Khanates had to pay a lot of taxes every year, and the Shaojian would make up various reasons to collect more additional taxes.

The other Khans also exchanged glances with each other. They all realized that these heavily armored spearmen were supported by their money.

"Juerhan, could it be that this is the method of training soldiers that you found in Macedonia?"

Bilege looked at Yelu Dashi and asked, this infantry formation that had been lost for a thousand years could actually reappear in the world, which was impossible in their eyes, because the Macedonian Kingdom had long been destroyed. (End of this chapter)