The order was given without hesitation: "The entire army, prepare to engage!"
The banners of each unit waved, and the whole army readied themselves, their expressions grave.
The Da Qian Iron Guards at the front, along with some heavy spearmen clad in *bu ren jia*, gripped their *mo dao* and spears tightly.
During the last great victory in Yan Province, the enemy, eager to breach the city, had attacked with their heavy cavalry, relying on the *Que Yue* formation.
This time, their overall formation was not the *Que Yue* formation in its true sense. This meant they had to face the enemy's onslaught with a standard battle array, relying on war chariots and heavy armor, with heavy shields to intercept the enemy's heavy cavalry!
Tens of thousands of barbarian light cavalry, armed with bows and lances, fanned out on both wings, circling the flanks of the Da Qian army. They deliberately avoided the range of crossbows, marching at a distance of two hundred paces.
The Da Qian cavalry were deployed on the rear wings, responsible for guarding against enemy flanking maneuvers.
Even if the enemy launched a large-scale flanking attack, with these Da Qian cavalry defending, the army could quickly change its formation and counterattack.
The rear guard also had a large number of heavy spearmen and war chariots cooperating with archers, to defend against flanking enemies.
The great battle was imminent.
The barbarians, with their advantage in light cavalry, were in no hurry to launch a full-scale assault.
The barbarian light cavalry squadrons, under the command of their generals, continuously approached the Da Qian army's left and right wings, gradually entering archery range.
"Short volleys!"
As Da Qian generals in various units gave the order, all ordinary longbowmen drew their bows to the full, initiating the first round of volleys, while the crossbowmen stood by.
But these arrows were undoubtedly at the end of their strength. Beyond one hundred and twenty paces, they merely caused a momentary sting on the barbarians' leather armor and rarely inflicted any serious damage.
With a round of volleys from the Da Qian army's left and right wings, fewer than twenty men were killed and less than a hundred wounded!
The barbarian cavalry responded with jeering whistles from a distance, and a few individuals even approached the Da Qian army, whistling and shooting a symbolic arrow towards the enemy.
Of course, due to the distance, these barbarian arrows could not form effective volleys. Most of them struck the heavy shields, and only a few hundred arrows were loosed.
The Right Virtuous King, observing the battle from a high earthen mound, couldn't help but laugh heartily.
"This is the advantage of the barbarian iron cavalry! The Da Qian army has lost the advantage of city walls and is at our mercy!"
"Be cautious, do not launch a full assault on their so-called 'Half-Moon Formation'!" the Left Virtuous King warned.
Because it was a dark and windy night, the barbarians had not been able to clearly discern the appearance of the *Que Yue* formation. They had mistakenly believed that this massive formation that had defeated the Left Virtuous King was the "Half-Moon Formation."
The Right Virtuous King then regained his composure and said sternly, "Continue the harassment. Do not allow them time to cook their meals, nor dare to send out troops!"
As the Right Virtuous King's command was relayed, the light cavalry on both wings, responsible for harassing the Da Qian army, increased in number.
The soldiers of the Da Qian army, strictly following their generals' orders, continued with short volleys, while other combat arms stood ready.
Even the Da Qian cavalry did not rush to attack, but instead nocked arrows and drew their bows in place.
The Right Virtuous King then ordered the vanguard heavy cavalry to prepare for imminent engagement.
Over twenty thousand barbarian heavy cavalry, their horses and riders clad in iron armor, formed rows like iron towers at the front of the formation.
These were the true barbarian iron cavalry, and the origin of their name.
Because the city walls of Yan Province were strong, and there were passes like the Great Wall to obstruct them, the barbarian heavy cavalry could not exert their advantage. Thus, these heavy cavalry were dispatched to Yun Province and Shuofang to deter the two regions.
The Right Virtuous King had heard from the Left Virtuous King that the Yan Province garrison possessed ballistae capable of shooting over two *li*.
However, as they maintained a distance of nearly three *li* from the Da Qian army's heavy cavalry, the Right Virtuous King was not worried about his heavy cavalry being destroyed by ballistae.
"The enemy's strong bows and crossbows will not be able to pierce our iron cavalry!" the Right Virtuous King declared with great bravado, commanding from the front.
The barbarian cavalry awaiting orders in the camp were also ecstatic.
In this battle, they had finally regained their confidence as cavalry!
When they heard that Liang Xiao had led his troops to slaughter 170,000 men, they had begun to doubt if the cavalry of their barbarian people was truly as renowned as its name suggested.
But on this open plain, the barbarian cavalry's advantage was perfectly displayed!
"Where are the Da Qian cavalry? How many are there?" the Right Virtuous King asked urgently.
The orderly replied, "There should be about forty thousand, and over twenty thousand archers!"
"With the barbarian iron cavalry paving the way, they are nothing to fear!" the Right Virtuous King sneered.
On the other side, the Da Qian army remained stationary, relying on twenty thousand archers to hold the line.
The remaining archers had not yet engaged. Under their outer garments, they wore leather armor and helmets captured from the barbarians, and they wielded bows and crossbows.
With seventeen thousand longbows and fifteen thousand *Shen Bi* crossbows, and including the quartermaster soldiers who came to assist with the *Shen Bi* crossbows, and some ordinary archers, the actual number of archers and crossbowmen combined had long since exceeded seventy-five thousand!
The longbowmen occasionally loosed a symbolic arrow, without fully drawing the bowstring.
The Da Qian army remained in the northern border, awaiting the thawing of the Tian River. They were also training. A portion of the quartermaster soldiers were being trained to assist the *Shen Bi* crossbowmen in replenishing arrows and drawing the strings. The true main force of the *Shen Bi* crossbowmen were the skilled crossbowmen wearing the *Shen Bi* crossbows, responsible for aiming.
However, if two teammates became exhausted from drawing the bowstrings in succession, the aiming crossbowman would switch to the drawing position, and another person would be responsible for shooting. Although the accuracy would decrease, this disadvantage could be compensated for by concentrated volleys.
"Facing the tens of thousands of our barbarian iron cavalry, the Da Qian cavalry can only shrink back to their main camp!"
The barbarian cavalry engaging in skirmishes and harassment all around grew more arrogant, and the number of reinforcing troops also increased.
Eventually, the barbarian cavalry harassing the flanks reached fifty thousand on each side.
The eighty thousand barbarian cavalry waiting in place, protected by the heavy cavalry, prepared to charge the main camp.
Horsepower naturally surpassed human strength. The Da Qian army did not remain completely still; soldiers from the center continuously moved to reinforce various positions.
Fortunately, these barbarian cavalry were only harassing and probing, never daring to get too close, and unwilling to waste arrows on heavy shields. Therefore, the barbarians' crossbow bolts posed almost no threat to the Da Qian soldiers, with only a few being wounded.
According to the Right Virtuous King's plan, once the Da Qian soldiers were exhausted from constant movement and their defenses showed gaps, the barbarian cavalry's arrows would be able to fire without restraint, catching the enemy by surprise!
As the barbarian cavalry's harassment increased, the Da Qian cavalry, who had been stationed on the wings, finally took action.
Lu Changhe and Zhuo Ying each led half of the White Robe soldiers and other cavalry forward by one *li*, launching arrows at the barbarian cavalry, repelling the approaching barbarian horsemen without pursuit.
Each White Robe soldier's saddlebag contained a Zhuge repeating crossbow with an arrow already loaded.
"The Da Qian cavalry can no longer hold back, but they can only continue to turtle. Their bows alone are not enough to pose a threat to our barbarian iron cavalry! Continue the harassment, lure the Da Qian cavalry closer!" the Right Virtuous King immediately ordered.
As long as the light cavalry at the front did not get entangled with the Da Qian cavalry, causing the enemy infantry to come to their support, the barbarians had nothing to fear.
The mobility of cavalry was extremely high. Even within the range of ordinary bows, the Da Qian arrows could not inflict effective damage on them.
This repeated harassment had continued for over an hour!
The Da Qian army's formation finally showed minor signs of looseness.
Upon receiving the news, the Right Virtuous King first laughed heartily, then with a stern face, ordered: "Heavy cavalry, prepare to charge! Trample the enemy and avenge our 170,000 countrymen!!"