Water Margin people

Chapter 1543 War of Attrition

In the melee, the Western Karakhanid Khanate's scimitar cavalry was unable to tear through the formation of the Golden Sword Battalion and was instead constantly consumed by the Golden Sword Battalion.

"We can't go on like this!"

Yelu Dashi frowned and said, if this continues, the cavalry of the Western Karakhanid Khanate will be strangled by the enemy.

"Güer Khan, my Gaochang Uighurs have an elite force that can kill the enemy!"

Bilege looked at Yelu Dashi and asked for a fight. This was still Gaochang, his home ground, and he had to set an example.

"kindness!"

Yelu Dashi nodded, it was time to send new troops to join the battle.

Bilego immediately ordered 10,000 cavalry to attack.

"kill!"

Seeing that the enemy had another large army attacking, Pang Wanchun immediately led his troops to attack.

Pang Wanchun's army was not prepared to engage in close combat with the enemy. They directly shot with longbows and surrounded the enemy.

Because the Gaochang army was fighting locally, its equipment was much better than that of other khanates. Because those khanates were going on long expeditions, they could not carry too much equipment.

The Gaochang army raised their shields to block the arrows. They were also wearing armor and equipped with some bows and crossbows.

Facing the enemy's counterattack, Pang Wanchun didn't care.

"Aim and shoot at the rear!"

Pang Wanchun led the cavalry to shoot at the enemy's rear team. His cavalry battalion mainly trained riding and archery skills, and all the arrows were aimed at the rear team of the Gaochang army that lacked shields.

The Gaochang army was in a panic and immediately attacked Pang Wanchun's Yue Cavalry Battalion. They also fought back with bows and crossbows, but their accuracy and range were inferior to the enemy. Their only choice was close combat.

Pang Wanchun was not in a hurry. The Yue Cavalry Battalion quickly retreated to keep some distance, but the bows and crossbows in their hands did not stop, and arrows continued to fly towards the Gaochang army.

This frightened the Gaochang army. No matter they were pursuing or retreating, the enemy's arrows never stopped, and they were very accurate, forcing them to dodge and not run at all.

"Damn it! These cowards don't even dare to fight head-on!"

Bilego started cursing. He felt that if it was a head-on fight, his cavalry would not be afraid of the enemy at all. However, the enemy was like vultures. They did not fight them head-on at all, but just circled and harassed them.

"How come these people are so accurate with their archery!"

The other khans were all shocked. They did not pay attention to the occupation, but looked at the enemy's terrible archery skills. Thousands of cavalrymen shot arrows on horseback, and every arrow hit its target. All the arrows fell on the Gaochang army.

The people of the Western Regions were mainly nomadic, and archery was their specialty. The archery skills of this army were beyond belief.

It is not difficult to find a group of men with such archery skills, but it is impossible for thousands of people to fight together and still keep shooting, as their own arrows may collide in the air.

"Xianzhen, Jindao, and Yueqi, these are the two armies Sun Lei founded the earliest. There are five more armies with the same designation!"

Yelu Dashi silently calculated in his mind. Ever since the defeat, he had never stopped studying Sun Lei and Sun Lei's army. He knew that Sun Lei had eight numbered armies under his command. These were Sun Lei's elite troops, and now three of them had gone to battle.

"Who dares to send troops to fight?"

Yelu Dashi looked at everyone and asked.

"Güer Khan, I, Khwarezm, also have an elite force, all riding fine horses that can run a thousand miles, and we are not afraid of the enemy!"

Ajisi spoke.

"Well, let's go to battle!"

Yelu Dashi nodded.

Ajisi immediately ordered 10,000 elite cavalry to go into battle.

In the Qi army, Tang Bin also led his troops to attack.

The battlefield quickly turned into chaos, with the sounds of fighting between the armies continuing.

"Your Majesty, Yelu Dashi doesn't seem ready for a decisive battle!"

Zhu Wu asked in confusion. He didn't understand what Yelu Dashi was thinking. After several armies went into battle, Yelu Dashi's side was not in an advantageous position, but Yelu Dashi still did not make any changes. Instead, he continued to increase his troops like adding fuel to the fire. "He is consuming! Using the lives of those people from the Western Regions to consume!"

Sun Lei looked at the battlefield and spoke.

"Consumption!"

Everyone looked at Sun Lei.

"No matter how elite our army is, its physical strength is limited. Look at the battlefield. Although we have an absolute advantage, it will take time to defeat the enemy. By the end of this battle, more than half of our physical strength will have been consumed."

Sun Lei said.

"What good will this do them? Tens of thousands of people are just to consume our physical strength. I still have hundreds of thousands of troops. We can wipe them all out by fighting them in a round-the-clock manner!"

Lu You was somewhat puzzled. No matter how one looked at it, this kind of consumption was foolish. From the combat strength of the army sent by the enemy, it could be seen that these enemies were not cannon fodder, but also elite troops in the West.

"So Yelu Dashi must have a backup plan. These heavily armored spearmen are not a backup plan, and the gunpowder has also been exposed. What is he hiding?"

Sun Lei touched his chin and said.

"Your Majesty, how about I take my men and attack Yelu Dashi's central army directly?"

Yue Fei looked at Sun Lei and said that the special forces under his command were equipped with firearms and could catch the enemy off guard in a short period of time and could definitely kill Yelu Dashi.

"No need. If we fight them like this, they will probably retreat. If they flee back to Hami City, the war will drag on for a long time. We don't have heavy weapons and we can't attack the city!"

Sun Lei shook his head. He didn't want to spend too long here.

"Your Majesty, why don't we all go out to fight? I don't believe the enemy can exhaust us all."

Xu Ning said, if the enemy really chooses this, then the 300,000 troops will be almost gone.

"Just keep fighting like this for now, don't be in a hurry."

Sun Lei said that when you don’t know what the enemy is thinking, the best option is to keep your troops in place.

The most ferocious fighting on the battlefield was between two heavily armored troops, which made Sun Lei's teeth ache. He wanted to watch a full-armor fight in the future, but what he saw was too brutal.

However, after the initial struggle, the Xianzhen Camp failed to break through the spear formation, and both armies paused the battle, panting.

Heavy armored infantry are different from other types of troops. Their fighting consumes a lot of physical energy.

Yelu Dashi was very satisfied to see all this, because the enemy was still flesh and blood after all.

However, the faces of several Khans around him were not looking good. More than half of their elite troops had been killed or wounded. If they continued fighting like this, they would probably be completely wiped out.

"Jiu'erhan, charge with all your troops, we can't fight like this anymore!"

Mahmud looked at Yelu Dashi and spoke.

"The sun hasn't set yet!"

Yelu Dashi looked at the setting sun. It was still more than an hour before dark.

"Dark?"

Everyone noticed the sun only at this moment. They had started fighting after noon and had been fighting until now, with all their attention focused on the battlefield.

"Yes, the decisive battle will take place after dark!"

Yelu Dashi said that they had the advantage in numbers and fighting at night could maximize their advantage.

"Can……"

Everyone was looking at the battlefield, where their elite troops were still dying in battle.

"War means death!"

Yelu Dashi said this without any emotion in his voice.