Mount and Blade Central Asia

Chapter 542: The Youthful Madness

A loyal cannon, finally exploding as the enemy approached, taking away its last enemy. A story of loyalty could never be more compelling. Add to that the deafening roar that drowned out the clamor of the battlefield, and Li Rufeng felt it would be a stretch not to award that cannon a badge.

No, he had a better idea. He wanted to cast that cannon directly into a badge!

Well, Li Rufeng had to admit that his thinking was a little too divergent. After all, there was very little he could do in a war involving thousands of people. But because of the stimulation of adrenaline, his thinking speed was too fast, and his brain often couldn't help but find some extra work for himself to do.

After deciding to turn the loyal cannon into an even more loyal badge, Li Rufeng also accurately seized the flaws revealed by the enemy who was attacking from the front because of surprise.

The time is now! Charge!

In Badak's originally strict position, the cavalry who received the order from Li Rufeng's personal guards received the order almost immediately, and rushed out in a blink of an eye, using the tactics that the Black Sheep people had used against the Kurds before, and rushed towards the Black Sheep main camp from the flank.

In terms of the degree of tacit understanding, the cavalry under Badak's command are definitely no worse than those of the Black Sheep People. They are the elite among the Black Sheep People, but the soldiers under Badak's command are the elite of the entire Khanate. Which side is more elite has been verified in countless previous wars.

Rushing in the front were twenty armored cavalrymen equipped with full sets of horse armor. Thanks to the rich legacy left by Dost and the armored cavalry tradition passed down by the people of the River Land, each of them was an experienced knight who knew where his strengths and weaknesses lay.

They rode the most valuable heavy war horses. These horses had far less endurance than Arabian horses and might be a little slower, but they had extremely strong explosive power.

Although Li Rufeng was more accustomed to using metric units to calculate the various indicators of war horses, it was obviously too difficult for the illiterate cavalry under his command, so most of the Mongols, people from the Khorasan region, and others were more accustomed to using the number of steps to measure the various indicators of war horses.

The best cavalry in the Mughal tribe could charge 700 steps, of which the first 300 steps were completed at a quick pace and the last 400 steps were completed at a run. As for the rangers, they rarely let their horses face the battlefield in a charging posture.

Without over-expending horsepower, the Rangers could maintain a running speed of about 300 meters per minute for five to six minutes. Mughals rarely encountered enemies who could withstand such a long period of close shooting without collapsing.

If so, it proves that the current battlefield environment is not suitable for Rangers.

However, these armored cavalrymen, who were presented to Li Rufeng as treasures by the people in the river, adopted a completely different training method. They would change into real war horses just before the battle began, and then approach the enemy at a distance at a quick pace, and gradually align the ranks to ensure that the distance between them would not affect others, and would not make the formation too loose and lose its deterrent effect.

During the entire process of trotting and forming a team, they will not be shaken by any attack. After all, even if the arrow hits them, it will only be bounced off by the armor. They will not start to accelerate until they are within two hundred steps of the enemy, entering a running state, allowing the warhorse to gradually increase its potential energy.

Then comes the enemy's trump card in the river. They will charge until they are within twenty steps of the enemy, and then they will use the last of their horses' physical reserves to plow through the enemy with an indomitable momentum, smashing everything that stands in their way!

Only the most experienced armored cavalry could master the key points, so Li Rufeng saw clearly that the formation of the twenty armored cavalry under his command had begun to become disorganized during the running stage, but fortunately this did not affect the deterrent effect they posed to the Black Sheep People.

The Black Sheep were also in a dynamic state. They were getting closer and closer to the defense line formed by the Malikiya Thousand-Man Team. In the panic caused by the charging cavalry, these "militias" named after piety collapsed as Li Rufeng had expected.

Hussein saw the armored cavalry rushing from the flank and felt fear from the depths of his soul. He himself had seen many times on the battlefield how those iron cans determined the victory of a war. The officers of the great conqueror regarded them as treasures that could decide the outcome of a war, and always sent these expensive troops to the battlefield at the most critical moment.

And they did just as the great conqueror expected and never disappointed him.

This time, although the number of armored cavalry triggered by the enemy was small, the opportunity was well grasped. Hussein's army was about to rush into the collapsed infantry formation, as if violating the chastity of a pure girl, and pierce them in one go, but this also meant that his flanks would definitely collapse under the impact of those armored cavalry.

The only thing that comforted Hussein was that their numbers were too small. Even if the flank would collapse and many people would die, the remaining people still had the opportunity to move forward. He had come here with the mentality of certain death this time - the Black Sheep King was betting that he could seize the opportunity and kill the Mongolian shaman who was constantly winning on the battlefield. As long as he died, the war would be over.

The Mongolian shaman seemed to have no idea that he was the key to this war, so he still led his army to the forefront of the war.

The great conqueror also liked to do this, but he always brought a huge army that was enough to crush the enemy, and the shaman obviously did not have such a powerful army, so this was an opportunity.

Hussein chose to continue the risk without hesitation. He ignored the impending losses on his flank and focused his attention on the fleeing enemy in front of him.

The lance pierced the enemy without any sense of honor without any hindrance. The huge impact force instantly fed back to Hussein's arm along the Yangtze River. According to convention, he should have discarded his lance directly, drawn his scimitar and continued fighting.

But... his scimitar was very sharp, but it was no longer sharp after slashing a few armored men. Hussein was worried that he would not have enough time to kill the shaman. Moreover, this was probably his last charge, so there was no need to strictly adhere to the correct answer given by experience.

So, Hussein, like a teenager, used the strength of his muscles to fight against what the world gave him. At that moment, the pierced soldier screamed and almost hit another companion with his feet off the ground!

After Hussein hung two people on his spear, he laughed with satisfaction and continued to move forward!

Chapter 543 Dialogue

Compared with other animals closely related to human civilization, the horse is undoubtedly a latecomer, with a history of less than 6,000 years since it was domesticated. However, its role has been infinitely magnified because of war.

The horse is undoubtedly a delicate animal. In the era before Li Rufeng traveled through time, bored experts used the vegetation environment in the Kazakh desert as a statistical basis. They found that among the 288 plant species, sheep can eat 167 of them, camels can eat 148 of them, while cows and horses can only survive by eating 109 of them.

But cows have four stomachs and can digest food that is not to their liking by ruminating, but horses cannot. Their gastrointestinal structure is more similar to that of birds, with a straight intestine, so eating, digestion, and excretion are almost carried out simultaneously.

People may have diarrhea within a few hours after eating if they eat something bad, but horses will not do that. If they eat something bad, they will show you their diarrhea right away, so concentrated feed is part of the expensive cost behind the term "war horse".

If there were no artificially formulated concentrated feed, a war horse would need about six to seven hours a day to forage to maintain its weight in the right season with abundant grass and water. This would not be counted if it was needed for fighting.

Why did Hussein lead his men to rob Abu Zahir? Because not only did his men need to eat, but the horses also needed to eat more and better than humans.

For a cavalryman, treating your warhorse better means your safety on the battlefield will be more guaranteed.

Hussein has always been good to his warhorse, and today, his horse also reciprocated his loyalty. The arrows shot by those weak deserters were stuck in the horse one by one, but the old friend stubbornly ignored the pain.

He heard a loud explosion from another direction. Hussein knew that the surprise force he had placed on the left wing was unlikely to show up, but it didn't matter. Using surprise forces was a risky investment. If it succeeded, that was the best. If it didn't, it would at least help to contain the enemy's strength to a great extent.

Hussein simply did not expect that the Mongols would deploy their troops so quickly. He knew that the other side could perceive the dynamic changes on the battlefield from a higher level just like himself, so the tactical level of this war was a competition of which army had stronger execution capabilities.

Now it seems obvious that these Mongols did a better job. Of course, it may also be because the Mongols have a better ability to read the dynamics of the battlefield. After all, Hussein himself did not have a very harmonious relationship with those dark wizards.

With this thought in mind, Hussein felt that he could lose more gracefully. He was not defeated by his own abilities, but by those strange and bizarre miraculous powers.

He released his increasingly heavy lance, letting it and the enemy's corpse drift away. He drew the paddle hammer from his waist. Hussein saw that the soldiers in front of him were still maintaining a tight defense line, and the percentage of armored soldiers had suddenly increased significantly. He knew that he had reached the enemy's last line of defense.

As long as they penetrate this layer, they will have completed their mission and can die with peace of mind...

Hussein looked around. His trusted soldiers still maintained a considerable number, perhaps half of them? Much better than he expected!

It works!

Hussein made a quick judgment and then used himself as a weapon to smash into the Badak formation: "Kill!"

Led by Hussein, the old friend made a showy leap into the air and used his iron hoof to deal with the shield-bearing soldiers in the front row. It was a collision of metal against metal. The lump of flesh weighing nearly half a ton smashed the shield itself with an indomitable momentum.

As for the soldier behind the shield, he died almost immediately, and his body crushed a whole row of friendly soldiers. Hussein himself paid the price for his choice. He fell among the enemies, but fortunately he fell off his horse in advance and avoided the damage that his old friend might cause.

He felt as if he had fainted for a few seconds, and the whole world became quiet, and then it echoed again in a very dramatic way -

Hussein saw a dozen of his elite soldiers rushing into the infantry phalanx along the passage he had opened. Although they were eventually stopped one by one by the spearmen in the back row, when the last cavalryman stopped, the entire position had almost been broken through.

He saw the shaman who was riding a horse and wearing light leather armor, and did not look like a warrior. There was a hint of surprise on his face, as if he had not expected that these black sheep people would have such a strong fighting spirit.

Hussein smiled. They are the best, always have been.

And until now, he has not been surrounded and hacked to death by other Mongols, which is enough to prove that these Mongols have lost their order and have been stunned!

Hussein stood up straight and looked back in the direction he came from, trying to find the rest of his people, but there was nothing there. All the lagging cavalry were systematically crushed by the armored cavalry on the flanks, and the rangers behind those iron cans ensured that no one could stand up again.

There was no one left, and Hussein had no reinforcements except the few hundred horsemen who were charging the column, but it was enough.

Hussein held a scimitar in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other, looking forward with hungry eyes. There were no other enemies ahead, and the road ahead was smooth!

When Hussein looked at Li Rufeng with a hunter's eyes, Li Rufeng naturally saw this ferocious black sheep man. The system even considerately marked out his name for Li Rufeng: Hussein Abu.

Bardock, who had been beaten through the ranks, looked very ugly. He never expected that these Black Sheep people could do this. They suffered almost half of their number of casualties!

It's not like Bardock hasn't seen such a crazy army before. After all, the Great Conqueror has always dealt with his enemies in a bloody and brutal way. Many people have been forced into a corner by them, with no way to retreat and can only fight to the death.

But these Black Sheep people were different. They embraced death voluntarily when given a choice, and exchanged a full 1,500 elite men for an opportunity, an opportunity to kill Li Rufeng.

Thinking of this, Bardock curled his lips. Deep down in his heart, he felt that Li Rufeng was not that important at all and was not worthy of the enemy's attention. That... should have been an honor that belonged to the Great Conqueror himself. Only the Great Conqueror himself would be so important. Those Black Sheep people must be crazy.

Even so, being forced to such a point, Badak felt that he was being provoked, so he stood in front of Li Rufeng, looked at Hussein with contempt, raised the bow in his hand, slowly took out an arrow from the quiver, and aimed at Hussein.

His movements were so slow that Hussein could see every detail; it was a response, a conversation between fighters.

Chapter 544 Mutation

Badak fired his first arrow, but Hussein dodged it.

This was a result expected by both sides. Badak was about thirty meters away from Hussein in a straight line, and he deliberately slowed down his movements, so this arrow was more like a warning, an invitation to a "duel".

But even so, Hussein still looked a little embarrassed. In order to avoid the arrow, he had to give up his center of gravity, rolled on the ground, and then stood up again with the strength of his waist and abdomen.

The moment he stood up, Hussein almost immediately crossed his scimitar and sledgehammer in front of him to increase the protection area as much as possible, but the expected arrow did not appear.

Badak's second arrow was still hanging on the string, with a smile on his lips, as if mocking Hussein's arrogance.

At this time, all the Black Sheep Cavalry who followed Hussein into the final position had slowed down. Some of them were pulled off their horses by the fearless enemy, while others were caught in a tough battle like Hussein.

The chaos they brought is gradually fading, and when order returns, it will be the end of everyone.

Time is on Badak's side, no, on Li Rufeng's side. Hussein can either choose to risk his life and move forward, or wait to die on the spot.

He naturally chose the former, otherwise he would not be here today. Hussein suddenly put down his guard and ran towards the gap where his companions rushed out like a beast.

Hussein saw an enemy appear on his left. It was a Mongol who had been knocked down by a warhorse and had just struggled to get up. There was undisguised anger on his face. Few Mongols would choose to become infantry, but anyone who chose this path would definitely be a good fighter.

Otherwise, such people would not be able to survive in the tribe.

So even though the Mongol was wearing heavy inlaid armor, he still maintained quite amazing flexibility. He held a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, like a wild wolf on the grassland, and instantly discovered Hussein.

It had only been a few breaths since Hussein rushed into the formation. He knew that he could not be delayed, so he chose to avoid it. The opponent's movements looked too sophisticated and it was impossible to solve it quickly.

But Hussein wanted to avoid it, but the Mongolian disagreed. He jumped over several corpses on the ground, dodged other enemy and friendly soldiers who were fighting each other, and approached Hussein.

Hussein kept pushing away the blockers in front of him. He saw his men fighting in the battle formation and heard their last cries of life. His heart was broken. He stared at Badak's bow and arrow while watching the Mongolian soldier's direction with his peripheral vision. Finally, a flaw appeared!

Whoosh!

The arrow was like a meteor. Hussein felt a chill on his shoulder. The arrow had penetrated his armor and was stuck a little below the outside of his collarbone. He could not lift his left hand holding the hammer.

But...this is also an opportunity!

Hussein didn't have to worry about Badak's arrows for the time being. He suddenly rushed forward like a cheetah, ran forward seven or eight meters, and then knocked down an enemy with his back to him, rescuing a soldier from his own side who was in a tough battle.

But the next second, the soldier covered in blood was shot down by Badak's arrow, leaving Hussein without cover.

At this time, the Mongolian soldiers who had been chasing him finally stopped Hussein head-on. Just like Hussein's previous actions, they used their shields as ramming horns to hit him hard on the back.

The Mongol's strength was so great that Hussein felt as if he had been hit by a battering ram and stumbled forward. He rolled several times, tripping several nearby soldiers of both sides and narrowly avoiding being trampled by a warhorse.

Hussein looked up and saw clearly that it was an ownerless warhorse belonging to the Black Sheep People, with a broken spear hanging on its shoulder.

It was a good horse, but it was a pity that Hussein knew he had no chance to mount it. The moment he did, he would be completely defenseless, and that damned archer wouldn't give him any chance, not to mention...

"Coward, face me!" The brutal Mongolian soldier slashed at Hussein with a knife, forcing him to parry awkwardly. The injured hand kept sending signals of pain in the movement.

"What is he insisting on?" Li Rufeng frowned as he watched the enemy generals fighting for their lives under absolute disadvantage, and vaguely sensed a hint of danger in his heart.

He knew that many people on the battlefield would get carried away and make unwise and irrational choices, but the opponent's previous tactical choices seemed very reasonable, and such an elite force that had experienced hundreds of battles would not just come to die like this, right?

"It's just the last bit of madness, sir. Don't worry. He won't have a chance to get close to you." Bardock's voice was so calm, as if he was used to seeing similar scenes.

In fact, this is true. Bardock once led his troops to participate in the battle to attack Smyrna. Although he was not the first warrior to climb the city wall, he was the first brave general to defend the breakthrough.

When the great conqueror's army completely broke down the defenses of the city walls of Smyrna, the Christian knights retreated to the churches and monasteries in the city and refused to surrender. He still led his men to sweep through the monasteries one by one.

He had experienced the madness of knights with different beliefs, but Bardock also knew that such impotent rage was meaningless. The struggles of a few would not affect the course of the war, unless...

Bang!

The loud noise was almost as loud as the sound of a cannon exploding that Li Rufeng had just heard, except that this time it was the sound of a hammer hitting a metal shield!

Li Rufeng clearly saw that the Mongolian soldier who was so high-spirited just now flew back at a faster speed than when he came. Yes, he flew back. He jumped at least three meters high and flew a distance of about five meters. The metal shield that was rare in the army was embedded in his body in a strange shape.

"Ah!!! Black Sheep Army, listen to my orders!" Hussein, whose whole body became bigger and whose skin was red, roared. The roar was so loud that it resounded throughout the entire battlefield. All the Black Sheep soldiers who were still alive and had the strength to fight were encouraged by the roar, bursting out with amazing strength, forcing back the enemies swarming around them, and began to advance towards Hussein!

"Scarlet Wind?" Li Rufeng watched his personal guards begin to line up in front of him, staring intently at the frenzied Black Sheep people. He had already witnessed the power of the Azure Wind, the Putrid Green Wind, and even the Dark Pink Wind, but he had never seen the followers of the Scarlet Wind.

He looked down at the magic sword hanging on his horse's back, wondering if the sword was really that useful.

Chapter 545 The arrow is poisonous!

Facts have proved that the garrison left by the Khanate on the land of the Black Sheep People may not be so incompetent. They chose to withdraw from this land after encountering an irresistible attack, giving the Black Sheep People a chance to revive again.

The Black Sheep King who had been hiding behind the scenes was far more corrupt than Li Rufeng had imagined. Not only did he cooperate with the black wizard and borrow the power of the blue wind, he also allowed his own people to use and listen to the scarlet wind.

The Scarlet Wind is the most special of all the Four Wind Gods. He asks for nothing and does not need the faith of so-called believers. All he wants is blood and war.

He doesn't care whether this war is evil or just, or whether the two sides of the war are very different in strength. What He wants is only blood and tyranny itself. He wants to see the world flow like a river of blood and hear the world wailing everywhere.

However, this does not mean that the power of Scarlet Wind can be easily obtained. Unlike other evil winds that will even actively spread their beliefs, Scarlet Wind is quite reserved in this regard. He only favors warriors who meet his needs.

Hussein is such a person. He is not born evil, but once he falls into a state of rage, he can no longer control his bloodthirsty desire.

When Hussein was a child, he was bullied by other older children in the tribe whose families had adult men. Later... Hussein was tried by the tribe for unforgivable reasons. If the Black Sheep King had not been recruiting soldiers at that time, he would have been lynched by the tribe.

After going to the battlefield, Hussein fell into uncontrollable rage several times. In this state of rage, Hussein would become death and tyranny itself, slaughtering everything he could touch, regardless of whether they were enemies or friends.

No matter how badly he was injured, Hussein always triumphed over death and recovered completely from his injuries. From then on, Hussein became a war ghost of the Qara ...

In the Black Sheep Army, there are a total of six special people like Hussein. Although they are not familiar with each other, on very rare occasions, they will gather together in silence and wait for someone to ask the question first - what the hell is wrong with them.

This is a question without an answer, and the person asking the question is just expressing his doubts. In the eyes of others, the small group composed of six of them is called the Brotherhood of Slaughter, and they get together to plot when they will kill all living beings except themselves.

Hussein always insisted that the Killing Brotherhood was not real, but later he realized that he was wrong. At least two people within the so-called Brotherhood were actually plotting this, and they even put it into action.

Hussein was not very familiar with one of them, but he knew that he was a taciturn man, just like Hussein himself. He had a perfect physique that was completely in line with that of a killing machine. He was good at using a pair of scimitars and could crush his enemies with a violent attack.

The man was crazy and completely addicted to the joy brought by killing. He was a centurion, but he killed all the soldiers he was supposed to command in one night. In the end, this bloodthirsty madman rushed straight into the Black Sheep King's camp, and then died at the hands of another brotherhood member with the help of a black wizard.

Until the moment of his death, the other party had not recovered from his endless rage. Hussein was afraid of such an outcome, so he tried his best to control his state and not let himself fall into that kind of furious mood.

The last time he inevitably entered a state of rage was outside the city of Tabriz, when the members of the Killing Brotherhood charged into battle to resist the monster. In that battle, the entire Killing Brotherhood was on the verge of disbanding. Except for Hussein himself, everyone fell under the knife of the devilish prince.