Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 268, A Resounding Victory

No one expected that, faced with a desperate situation, Chen Zhengdu would not retreat but instead advance, attempting to break through towards the Huaiyin Army's heavy cavalry.

To charge a heavy cavalry force with light cavalry is tantamount to throwing an egg against a rock.

However, Chen Zhengdu's judgment was exactly correct.

The heavy cavalry force of the Huaiyin Army has now reached its limit.

The battle had taken a heavy toll on both the warhorses and the soldiers, leaving them exhausted and sustained only by sheer willpower.

At this moment, Chen Zhengdu turned his horse around and launched an attack, hoping to seize a chance of survival amidst death.

But then again.

The Huaiyin army was already exhausted, so how much better could Chen Zhengdu's troops be?

It's just a matter of equals.

It remains to be seen who will win and who will lose.

"kill!"

The two exhausted armies clashed.

Due to the exhaustion of their warhorses, the heavy cavalry no longer possessed their previous striking power.

The situation is similar for Chen Zhengdu as well.

The soldiers from both sides were piled up together, fighting almost hand-to-hand.

A grassland soldier leaped from his horse and knocked a heavily armored Huaiyin soldier off his horse.

The heavy armor crashed to the ground, and the Huaiyin soldier could not withstand the enormous impact, his internal organs shattered and he died.

The grassland soldier had just stood up when he was pierced through by a Huaiyin soldier behind him with a horse spear.

Chen Zhengdu charged bravely through the ranks of the army, brandishing his spear and scanning the area ahead, trying to find the commander of the Huaiyin army.

However, this idea was doomed to failure.

There was no way to find the commander; all that could be seen were endless waves of Huaiyin soldiers.

Chen Zhengdu's spear pierced the throat of a Huaiyin soldier with precision. Someone behind him took the opportunity to stab him. Chen Zhengdu returned his spear to defend, but someone else attacked from the right. Chen Zhengdu quickly used the "Cloud-Piercing Spear" move to attack instead of defend, and thrust at the person. However, with a "thud," the spear was blocked by the opponent's armor.

At that moment, someone on the left threw a hand axe, which struck Chen Zhengdu in the thigh.

"what!"

Chen Zhengdu screamed and roared, and with a mighty counterattack, he pierced through the Huaiyin soldier. However, before he could catch his breath, several more crossbow bolts came from his right front.

Most of the crossbow bolts grazed Chen Zhengdu's armor without causing any damage, but one bolt pierced Chen Zhengdu's left abdomen, and blood flowed out along the arrowhead.

"kill!"

Chen Zheng continued fighting despite his injuries.

His martial arts skills were extremely superb. Even though he had suffered several wounds, his fighting power remained undiminished, and he led his soldiers to continue fighting forward.

Under his leadership, the encirclement formed by heavy cavalry was gradually torn open, and the dawn of survival was about to appear.

Zhou Shuan watched this scene silently from the high platform.

With a wave of the command flag, the soldiers in other positions immediately obeyed the order and rushed towards the breach.

Chen Zhengdu killed another enemy. His entire body was covered in blood, his arm holding the gun was trembling, and the tip of the gun was broken.

Fortunately, a way out finally appeared ahead.

His decision was correct.

After countless battles, they finally managed to survive and carve out a bloody path through the encirclement.

However, before Chen Zhengdu and his generals could even smile, a large number of Huaiyin troops arrived and quickly filled the gap that was about to appear.

At that moment, everyone's hopes were instantly shattered.

Chen Zheng looked at this scene in despair, glanced around at the endless enemy troops, and suddenly burst into laughter.

"What do I fear when swords and spears are at my feet? Heaven will not bless the disloyal! Soldiers, I am now prepared to die. Are you willing to go with me?"

The grassland soldiers around him all lowered their heads, some even throwing down their weapons and preparing to surrender.

Only Chen Zhengdu's original troops, of whom 233 riders remained, all responded, "We are willing to go with you, General!" Chen Zhengdu raised his spear again, the broken tip pointing straight to the sky.
"kill!"

Two hundred and thirty-three voices rang out at once.

"kill!"

On the high platform, Zhou Shuan remained expressionless.

With the flags waved, more soldiers filled the ranks.

Suddenly, Zhou Shuan discovered that the grassland where Tuo Lei was located was beginning to retreat, and in addition, a separate force was coming to rescue Chen Zhengdu's location.

Zhou Shuan hesitated upon seeing this.

He now faces two choices.

One was to launch a desperate attack on Chen Zhengdu at all costs.

The other option was to abandon Chen Zhengdu and use more troops to expand the gains.

If they were to surround and kill Chen Zhengdu at all costs, Chen Zhengdu would certainly die.

However, doing so would have greatly reduced the number of troops chasing Tuolei by deploying too many forces to Chen Zhengdu's position, allowing Tuolei to retreat with a large number of grassland soldiers.

Although Chen Zhengdu was killed, a much larger number of grassland people were released.

In other words, it was equivalent to having Chen Zhengdu cover the rear of the grassland people and draw their fire.

The other option, however, is more in line with the standard of maximizing benefits.

More troops will be used to pursue and capture the steppe people, thus expanding the gains of this victory.

After a moment's thought, Zhou Shuan decisively chose to abandon the plan to kill Chen Zhengdu and instead expand the gains of the battle.

In his view, one Chen Zhengdu was not worth sacrificing so many lives of grassland people. Only by killing enough enemy prisoners could they truly cripple those grassland tribes!

As tactics subtly changed, the number of troops surrounding Chen Zhengdu gradually decreased.

Gong Yulie arrived in time with his men to provide backup, and Chen Zheng once again managed to escape from the desperate situation, fleeing with Gong Yulie.

The price Chen Zhengdu paid for surviving this time was that the Huaiyin army further tightened its battle lines, trapping the grassland soldiers inside.

Tens of thousands of grassland people were tied down by a large number of Huaiyin troops, unable to escape, and either surrendered or died, resulting in countless deaths and injuries.

Tuolei glanced back one last time and saw countless grassland warriors still struggling and fighting.

The generals around him advised:
"Great Khan, let's retreat quickly! They can't get out, or we'll be trapped too!"

Tuo Lei nodded, gave an order, and the troops retreated.

The Huaiyin army gathered prisoners while pursuing the enemy.

During this period, countless people from the grasslands were killed or injured again.

This continued until Tuolei and the others escaped from Chulechuan and disappeared into the mountains and valleys.

Zhou Shuan then ordered a halt to the pursuit.

The general beside him said, still not satisfied:

"General, the enemy is now like a defeated dog. If we press our advantage, we can achieve a complete victory. Let's chase them a little further!"

Zhou Shuan shook his head and said, "We cannot advance rashly, we must retreat!"

The troops withdrew and the results of the battle were tallied.

In this major battle, Fang Yong's side deployed approximately 5.4 troops, while Tuo Lei's side deployed approximately 3.2 troops. The total number of troops deployed by both sides was 8.6.

The battle ended in a resounding victory for Fang Yong's side.

The Huaiyin army suffered fewer than 4,000 casualties but killed more than 6,000 enemy soldiers. Because Zhou Shuan abandoned the encirclement and killing of Chen Zhengdu and used his main forces to expand the results of the battle, the number of prisoners was extremely large, reaching more than 12,000.

At the same time, the land in Chulechuan was successfully recovered, and the previous gloom was swept away.

A resounding victory silenced all doubts.

The grassland people realized that the Huaiyin Army was still the same Huaiyin Army, and even after arriving on the grassland, they were still no match for them.

(End of this chapter)