Late Tang Dynasty: Descendants of the Imperial Clan

On the official road ahead, the foot soldiers had retreated to both sides, leaving a passage several feet wide in the middle.

The soil on the official road was soaked with blood from the recent battle, and the horses' hooves made a dull, sticky sound as they stepped on it, splashing mud that was dark red.

Li Cenji raised his head, his gaze passing over the official road ahead and landing on the dark mass of rebels below the mountain.

The rebels were fighting and retreating under Lin Yan's command. Although their formation was somewhat chaotic, they had not yet collapsed.

They still didn't know why the official road on the hill had suddenly become empty.

Li Cenji took a deep breath and held the horse spear horizontally in front of him.

Li Changyan also held his gun, and the two exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.

Behind them, thousands of cavalrymen had already formed a charge formation, their horses snorting, the riders gripping their spears tightly, their eyes fixed on the official road ahead.

The next instant, the thunderous sound of horses' hooves resounded.

Thousands of cavalry charged down the mountain along the official road, like a silver torrent bursting its banks, crashing into the rebel ranks as they trudged through the blood-soaked mud.

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Li Cenji took the lead, a ten-foot-long lance tucked under his arm, its tip pointing at the enemy, its cold light reflecting in the sun.

Thousands of cavalrymen surged forth from behind the hill, like arrows released from a bow. Their hooves kicked up mud on the official road, and the thunderous sound made the hills tremble.

The yellow horse thrashed about, its mane flying wildly in the wind. Li Cenji could only hear the wind whistling in his ears, but his eyes were fixed on the "Lin" banner that was slowly retreating down the mountain.

At this moment, the rebel front was fighting and retreating under Lin Yan's command. The swordsmen and shieldmen in the front row raised their shields for cover, and the archers would turn around from time to time to fire arrows to block the enemy. Although the formation was somewhat scattered, it was still able to maintain itself.

Those veteran soldiers had fought many tough battles over the years. Even when they retreated, they did not scatter like ordinary defeated soldiers. Instead, they took turns covering each other as they retreated down the mountain.

Lin Yan, riding a green horse, stood behind the horse formation. He saw the Tang army infantry suddenly split open to the left and right like two gates, revealing a road several feet wide in the middle. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Just as he was about to order his soldiers to change formation, he heard the sound of horses' hooves rising from the hilltop.

Lin Yan looked up and saw a dark mass of Tang cavalry galloping along the official road on the high hill.

The first general, clad in gleaming armor, rode a yellow horse and carried a ten-foot-long lance under his arm. The lance's tip gleamed with a faint blue light in the setting sun as he charged down the mountain like a bolt of lightning.

Behind the general, cavalry surged forth like a tidal wave, their hooves thundering and kicking up clouds of yellow dust.

Lin Yan's pupils constricted sharply, and he shouted sternly:

"Spearmen! Form lance ranks! Quickly form lance ranks!"

His veteran soldiers stopped at the order, and the spearmen hurriedly slammed their spears to the ground, pointing them diagonally forward, preparing to form a chevaux-de-frise.

Under normal circumstances, the old camp could form a dense, solid line of spears in no time, so thick that even a mad bull would be riddled with dozens of holes if it charged into it.

At this moment, the rebels were retreating, their formations were mixed up, swordsmen and archers were mixed together, and spearmen were squeezed in the middle, their spear shafts colliding with each other, making it impossible for them to form a neat line.

Moreover, the soldiers had exhausted their strength while attacking the mountain, and now, as they heard the sound of horses' hooves getting closer, they became increasingly flustered and their hands and feet became increasingly unresponsive.

Taking advantage of this fleeting moment, Li Cenji charged into the rebel army's ranks, followed by Li Changyan, Zhou Ping, Xu Tai, and their respective personal guards, totaling over a hundred men who directly broke into the enemy formation.

The yellow horse spread its four hooves and charged down like a yellow cloud.

Li Cenji gripped the horse's belly tightly with his legs, held the lance horizontally under his arm, the tip pointing straight forward.

The generals, along with their soldiers, charged down the hill, taking advantage of the terrain to build up their momentum. When they crashed into the advancing soldiers, it was like boiling water splashing on snow.

Before the leading rebel swordsmen could even raise their shields, they were knocked away by the yellow horse, spitting out blood.

Li Cenji flicked his lance, swinging the tip left and right, and two rebel spearmen who were about to thrust their spears at him had two sprays of blood splattered on their cheeks. They groaned and fell backward.

He wielded the horse lance under his arm with ease, the ten-foot-long shaft spinning freely on horseback, slashing, thrusting, sweeping, or smashing. With each strike, a rebel soldier fell with a scream.

If we're talking about spear techniques alone, Li Cenji naturally wouldn't have had the chance to learn them, but he was incredibly strong. When he got really into a fight, he would use his horse spear like a mace, using the momentum of his horse to smash it down. Who could stop him?

The spearhead was already soaked in blood, and the blood droplets on it turned into dark red spots in the wind.

Thousands of cavalrymen followed closely behind and charged in, their hooves trampling the rebels in front of them, causing men and horses to fall to the ground.

The cavalry charged into the infantry formation like hammers smashing into clay pots; screams filled the air as the rebel front-line swordsmen and shieldmen fell one after another like wheat being harvested.

The cavalry, wielding long spears, charged straight and swept across the enemy, scattering the rebel spearmen before they could even form their ranks, the cracking sounds of spear shafts breaking echoing everywhere.

Lin Yan, watching from the rear, was filled with rage. He grabbed the reins with his left hand, drew his sword from his waist with his right, and shouted sharply:

"Where are the 'heroes'?! Follow me and block that Tang general!"

The five hundred brave warriors gathered around him and under the banner shouted in unison, and rushed forward with Lin Yan.

The so-called "meritorious officials" were actually a group of elite soldiers similar to the "Swift Thunder Generals".

In December of the first year of Guangming (880), Lin Yan and Shang Rang led the vanguard through the forbidden valley and attacked Tongguan from both sides, defeating the Tang army.

Soon after, the Great Qi regime was established. Huang Chao ordered Lin Yan to select 500 brave and physically strong men as "meritorious officials" and appoint them as military envoys. He was given a special close status and privileges equivalent to those of the Emperor's private inner court officials (the Crane Control Bureau).

Lin Yan, being Huang Chao's nephew, had been a local bully since childhood and followed his uncle in battles across the north and south. He was skilled in archery and horsemanship and was also quite adept at wielding a long spear.

He spurred his horse forward, thrusting his spear forward to stab Li Cenji.

Li Cenji had long been eyeing the large banner with the character "Lin" on it. Now, seeing that the general under the banner not only did not retreat but instead came forward, he was overjoyed.

He immediately smashed a rebel captain in front of him with his spear, turned his horse around, and charged towards Lin Yan.

As the two horses clashed, Lin Yan thrust his spear at Li Cenji's face, the tip aimed straight for his throat.

Li Cenji neither dodged nor evaded, but simply turned his upper body slightly to the side, letting the spear tip glide past the shoulder armor plate. The lance under his arm rose up like a venomous snake, the spearhead aimed straight for Lin Yan's chest and abdomen.

The spear came fast and hard. Lin Yan's spear missed its mark. By the time he tried to withdraw the spear and parry, it was too late. He could only desperately lean his body back.

With a sharp, metallic scraping sound, the spear ripped open his chest armor and carved a foot-long gash in his ribs, from which blood gushed out.

Lin Yan groaned in pain, nearly dropping his spear. He swayed on his horse, but fortunately, his guards rushed forward and blocked Li Cenji's second spear thrust, managing to drag him back.

"Commander Lin is injured!"

"Quickly escort Lin Bingma to safety and retreat!"

The rebel soldiers hurriedly helped Lin Yan up, grabbed his horse's reins, and backed away.

The large banner bearing the character "林" (Lin) also swayed and retreated towards the rear.

Although Lin Yan was injured, he still gripped the reins tightly and refused to let go, turning back and shouting hoarsely:

"No retreat! Hold the line! Hold the line—"

Before he could finish speaking, Li Cenji had already spurred his horse and caught up with him again.

The Tang general wielded his lance with incredible ferocity, striking and sweeping, and in the blink of an eye, he had knocked down five or six rebel soldiers blocking his path.

The thousands of cavalry behind him had completely overwhelmed the rebel front line. The swordsmen and shieldmen were almost all killed or wounded, the spearmen were routed, and the archers dropped their bows and arrows and only cared about escaping.

The rebels' already precarious front line collapsed completely under this charge.

The routed soldiers on the front surged backward like a receding tide, crashing into the main force of the vanguard, which was locked in a stalemate with the ambush troops on the south side.

The rebel infantry, who were still struggling to maintain their lines, were thrown into chaos by the rout.

The fleeing soldiers abandoned their helmets and armor, some even throwing away their weapons, desperately trying to escape while shouting incoherently:

"The Tang army is attacking!" "We can't hold them off!" "Commander Lin has been killed!"

When Shang Rang saw this scene from the rear mound, his face turned ashen, as if a layer of frost could be scraped off.

He watched as the banner bearing the character "Lin" swayed and drifted backward amidst the fleeing soldiers, then seemed to be cut down or discarded, before finally collapsing into the chaos of battle.

Then Shang Rang saw the Tang army cavalry charging and breaking through his own lines as if they were in an empty field. He was both shocked and angry, but he also knew that the situation was hopeless.

He stomped his foot and gave a stern order:

"Order the rear guard to retreat immediately towards Mei County, and not to linger in battle! Also, order the vanguard and central army to hold off the ambush, while the main force fights and retreats, withdrawing as many troops as possible!"

Shang Rang then turned to his adjutant and said:

"Go immediately to find Commander Lin, dead or alive. If you can't find him, neither of us will need to go back to see King Huang!"

The adjutant responded and led a troop of soldiers on horseback into the tide of fleeing soldiers.

Meanwhile, Li Cenji led his cavalry in pursuit, and wherever his spears passed, rebel soldiers fell to the ground.

He was so engrossed in killing that his armor was splattered with blood, and the original color of his gleaming armor was no longer discernible. He looked as if he had been pulled out of a pool of blood.

The yellow horse was also covered in blood, but it fought with increasing ferocity, trampling over several fleeing rebel infantrymen as its hooves flew.

Li Cenji looked up and saw Lin Yan being surrounded by soldiers, appearing and disappearing among the fleeing troops, retreating eastward.

He thought to himself that with so many soldiers by his side, this general must be an important figure in the rebel army. How could he let the enemy escape?

He immediately tucked the lance under his arm, slammed his knees against the horse's belly, and the yellow horse neighed loudly, then took off chasing after the banner.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Ping, Xu Tai, and other generals led their troops to follow, and the cavalry swept eastward like a torrent after the fleeing soldiers.

In the midst of the pursuit, they suddenly saw the fleeing soldiers in front of them dodging to the sides, and a group of men charging towards them.

The first general was a burly man with a dark complexion, carrying a long-handled axe, and shouted sternly:

"That Tang general is far too arrogant! How dare he pursue General Lin?!"

This man was the subordinate general who had just been ordered to meet Lin Yan. Seeing that the Tang army was relentlessly pursuing Lin Yan, he decided to cover Lin Yan's retreat in order to save face for him.

The large axe in the general's hand was not a common weapon in mounted combat; it was a rather unusual weapon, weighing ten pounds, and capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks with a powerful, swift motion.

Seeing someone blocking his way, Li Cenji didn't answer. His yellow horse charged straight at the subordinate general without stopping.

Before the two horses even met, Li Cenji's lance was already thrusting towards his chest. The adjutant let out a strange cry and pressed down with his axe, trying to smash the lance down.

Little did anyone know that Li Cenji's thrust was a feint. He used the force of the spear to bounce off the axe handle and thrust it toward the opponent's face.

The adjutant hurriedly looked up to dodge, the spear grazing his helmet and sending sparks flying.

As the two horses passed each other, Li Cenji took a golden mace from the side of the saddle with his left hand and threw it at the back of the adjutant's head.

The adjutant had just dodged a spear, his old strength exhausted and no new strength generated, so how could he possibly dodge this hammer?

With a muffled clang, the helmet was dented, and the officer, bleeding from all seven orifices, fell off his horse without uttering a sound.

Li Cenji killed the subordinate general with a single blow, and without stopping to pick up the hammer, he continued to chase after the banner with the character "Lin".

Seeing their commander die in the blink of an eye, the hundred or so soldiers under the adjutant dared not resist. They let out a shout and scattered in all directions.

But how could they possibly outrun the bloodthirsty officers and soldiers behind Li Cenji?

In just a few breaths, they were submerged under the hooves of the Tang army, their flesh and blood mingling with the mud.

Li Cenji chased after them for a while, but then saw the group of soldiers surrounding the traitorous general suddenly stop.

It turned out that Lin Yan had lost too much blood and couldn't hold on any longer, so he slipped off his horse and was helped by the soldiers to an old locust tree by the roadside.

Of the original five hundred "meritorious soldiers," some were left to cover the rear or were lost in the chaos of battle, and now only a dozen or so remain closely following Lin Yan.

The foot-long wound under Lin Yan's ribs was still bleeding, and the inner robes were soaked with blood where the armor had been torn open.

Despite the cold of March, large beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, trickling down his cheeks and sticking his beard into a messy clump.

The spear in his hand had long since fallen to the ground, leaving only a horizontal sword hanging at his waist, its hilt gripped tightly in his hand.

The dozen or so soldiers around him were on either side. Some squatted down to press on his wound, some took off their water bags and poured water into his mouth, and some stood a few steps away looking west.

The shouts of battle grew closer from the west, the thunderous sound of horses' hooves shook the earth, and the fleeing soldiers surged across the official road like a tide, abandoning their armor and weapons, crying out for their fathers and mothers.

Several defeated soldiers noticed Lin Yan's armor, which was clearly different from that of ordinary soldiers, and tried to approach him, but were driven away by the guards wielding their swords.

The youngest soldier squatted down beside Lin Yan and said in a trembling voice:

"General, hold on a little longer and see if there are any medics among the fleeing soldiers."

Lin Yan gritted her teeth and didn't respond, but she knew that the hope was slim.

Just as everyone was in a panic, another group of defeated soldiers surged across the official road to the east, their cries deafening.

Some of the defeated soldiers under the command of the general who had blocked their way recognized Lin Yan and his group as they passed under the tree, and immediately shouted in their direction:

"What are we still holding out for! General Chi led us to cover the rear for Lin's troops, but he was killed by the Tang general with a single blow! I'm the only one left of the brothers who covered the rear! If we don't escape now, the Tang cavalry will be here!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers looked at each other, their faces filled with despair.