"Shocked, Liang Xiao? I have a backup plan!"
Mars was furious, a ferocious smile appearing on his face as he saw a swath of Great Qian soldiers being crushed to death from afar.
However, the two hundred stone projectiles did not stop the advance of the Great Qian formation.
"Maintain formation, continue your advance!"
Some soldiers, struck in the abdomen by the stone projectiles, used their last breaths to shout, their lives ebbing away as they died on the spot.
Their comrades to the left, right, front, and back, suppressing their grief, marched over their corpses. Soldiers from the rear immediately filled their places, advancing like wolves.
Seeing this, Mars' brow furrowed, then he sneered, "Suicidal fools!"
The Great Qian formation had advanced barely fifty zhang when another hundred stone projectiles rained down from the sky.
The three hundred Huihui cannons, divided into two volleys, were a deliberate tactic by Mars to lull the Great Qian soldiers into a false sense of security.
But to his surprise, the Great Qian formation swiftly filled the gaps and continued their advance, soon reaching the front lines of the Tianri tribe.
The Tianri generals on the high ground opposite were also intimidated by this sight: "Even the Huihui cannons can't stop them half a step?"
Even the most elite warriors of the Tianri tribe avoided the Qian's Huihui cannons and "sorcerous iron balls."
These Qian soldiers, however, showed no fear of the stone projectiles, their advance faster than before the bombardment began!
Liang Xiao, commanding from the high ground, felt his heart bleed as he witnessed the battle unfolding before him.
Mercy has no place in command.
In any era, soldiers who cared for their people and defended their homeland were great. They knew that even becoming a mere number in the river of history was a luxury, yet they charged forward bravely. Even as small figures in their time, they paved the way for future generations.
No one is born a hero.
All he could do now was to minimize casualties, provide for their families, achieve victory after victory, and usher in an era for the Qian!
"Send orders to Yumenguan to immediately sortie and forcefully attack the Guishuang Dynasty, seize all enemy grain fields and pastures at once! I want to see for myself how they can gather such a large army and cultivate farmland in this region!"
"As you command!" A group of Shadow Guards behind Liang Xiao, who had been tense, finally showed smiles of relief upon hearing Liang Xiao's order. They immediately returned to Yumenguan to relay the message.
From the rear, the flintlock soldiers arrived on horseback and unleashed the first volley at the Tianri vanguard from their saddles.
"Pa pa—"
After bursts of gunfire, even though the enemy formation had deliberately spread out, tens of thousands of bullets pierced through enemy shields and heavy armor, killing nearly a thousand on the spot!
The flintlock soldiers, protected by their refined cotton armor and steel helmets, endured the volleys of arrows from the enemy's imitation longbows. They immediately turned their horses to the sides to avoid disrupting their own formation.
With cover fire from friendly cavalry on the flanks, the flintlock soldiers could safely reload. These two major branches of the army cooperated seamlessly, each dividing into two wings, launching wave-like harassing attacks around the Tianri formation.
As the front rows of Tianri heavy armored shield-bearers fell, the spearmen, archers, and Huihui cannons behind them were exposed to the Qian's guns, cannons, and longbows.
The Shenwu cannons followed closely, bombarding the enemy center and successively piercing through the hidden Huihui cannons!
The overwhelming crossbow bolts, like needles finding every gap, killed countless enemies, quickly causing the enemy vanguard to break into chaos!
The charging Great Qian soldiers seized the opportunity of the enemy vanguard's localized collapse, wielding their spears and charging forward valiantly.
At the point of contact between the two sides, there was no clash of titans as imagined, only the Great Qian formation, fueled by immense rage, smashing through the Tianri vanguard like a sharp blade piercing deep into the enemy's heartland.
The Tianri's thousand-year pride, the Tianri Fierce Cavalry and the Tianri Infantry formation, met their doom in this land of endless yellow sand, the decisive battlefield of two peoples!
What was once an orderly formation, faced with the Qian's artillery, crossbows, and the combined assault of the Great Qian soldiers, crumbled at the first touch!
Mars, commanding from afar, finally experienced true despair.
"We swept through the Western world, not even siege engines could break our will. Countless strong nations and civilizations fell under the banner of the White Eagle! Why has this land repeatedly repelled us from their homeland..."
The engagement shattered all of Mars' hopes and侥幸 psychological calculations.
"That's the mass-produced plate armor of the Qian?"
Seeing that the arrows from their imitation Great Qian bows and longbows could not penetrate the armor of the Great Qian soldiers at close range, Mars' scalp tingled, and he slumped onto his chair.
"We can't fight them, we can't stop them! Father Emperor! The one who killed Achilles is at Yumenguan!"
After a brief moment of self-pity, Mars gritted his teeth, his body trembling as he supported himself with his hands.
After a long pause, Mars sighed to the heavens and loudly declared, "Withdraw to camp!"
"Marshal! The enemy has broken through our shield formation, and our front line has collapsed!"
Before the messenger could even deliver the order, a swift horse arrived with urgent news from afar.
Mars' heart jolted. He looked into the distance and indeed saw masses of Tianri infantry and cavalry falling.
Not from artillery and crossbows, but from angry spears.
The northern cavalry led by Zuo Wuji was also harassing the flanks, reaping the fleeing soldiers.
"Retreat, retreat to the encampment..." Mars stammered.
The Tianri troops received the order as if granted a great amnesty, scrambling to return to their encampment, countless trampling each other.
In less than two hours of engagement, the Tianri forces suffered a crushing defeat under the advance of the Great Qian formation, their blood staining the yellow sand.
Leaving behind tens of thousands of corpses, the Tianri troops finally retreated to their encampment, using arrow towers and walls to halt the further advance of the Great Qian formation.
The Great Qian soldiers stopped about a li in front of the encampment. The Shenwu cannons from the rear were successively moved to the front and lit.
"Boom!"
Hundreds of solid iron balls arced through the air, striking the city walls, even piercing through them and killing swathes of defenders!
The city walls collapsed piece by piece. The Tianri soldiers on the walls and in the arrow towers, their faces filled with fear, tumbled to the ground, dazed, and their bodies riddled with densely packed crossbow bolts.
The Western coalition's supposedly impregnable encampment was rendered useless against the Shenwu cannons!
Mars' pupils contracted, and he exclaimed, "The encampment can't stop them either? Immediately retreat to Attila's location! John! Where is John!"
"Marshal, Lord John and the entire Britannian formation have been annihilated..." a messenger, coincidentally returning, replied mournfully.
"It's too late! Quickly retreat!" Mars' body stiffened, and without further ado, he ordered a retreat.
However, these city fortifications, stretching for dozens of li, along with walls to the left, right, and rear, greatly hindered the Tianri troops' escape.
The city fortifications that the Tianri had built over many years now became their greatest obstacle to survival. The flintlock soldiers and Great Qian cavalry had already bypassed them to the southwest, their eyes fixed on the fleeing enemy.
After the city walls collapsed, the Great Qian formation advanced immediately. Archers coordinated with the Shenwu cannons to unleash a volley, covering the advance of their infantry.
"Immediately carve out a path of blood!!"
At this moment, Mars could no longer maintain the dignity of the Great Marshal of the Tianri tribe. He roared hysterically and led his elite cavalry to escape from the southwest of the encampment.
The Great Qian soldiers in the rear continued their relentless pursuit, harvesting the lives of the fleeing Tianri soldiers, blood flowing like rivers along the way!
"Reporting to the Emperor, the enemy is rapidly disintegrating!"
Liang Xiao, who had been observing the battlefield from a high vantage point, even seeing human bodies still being roasted on spits in the distance, said solemnly, "This battle is one of life and death for our Qian and the Tianri! Pursue!"
Liang Xiao's order spread, and the soldiers' eyes turned bloodshot. The hatred and killing intent buried in their hearts surged to the sky.
Before them were the ancient enemies who had brought repeated devastation to this land for thousands of years, and they dared to attempt to destroy the Qian's golden age!
No matter how the enemy begged for mercy on their knees, the Great Qian soldiers remained unmoved, killing every enemy they saw along the way.
Over a hundred thousand Great Qian soldiers pursued the remaining few tens of thousands of enemy soldiers, swiftly occupying the encampment.
In the center of the encampment, Liang Xiao looked at the thousands of roasting spits on the ground, each with a person impaled on it, sizzling and dripping fat. His breath hitched.
Qin Feng exclaimed in shock, "How horrifying! How can there be such a powerful cannibalistic race in the world? Don't the enemies understand the importance of population?"
Liang Xiao was also perplexed, but this doubt was quickly swept away, replaced by endless rage.
"How many of our Qian ancestors have been devoured by the Tianri people? From today onwards, we will annihilate them! Erase their race! Destroy their descendants!"
"Annihilate their nation, erase their race, destroy their descendants!!"
The Great Qian soldiers shouted slogans and continued their pursuit.
Zuo Wuji immediately led his cavalry to circle around, cutting off the enemy's retreat to the west.
The flintlock soldiers, cooperating with the Great Qian cavalry, also shot down the enemy's rear-guard forces along the way.
The Tianri's elite forces, which had once swept through the Western world, were now utterly routed by the Great Qian's formidable formation. The soldiers shivered at the mere sound of gunfire and cannons!
On another battlefield, the Great Qian cavalry led by Nan Jiyun and others were fiercely engaging the Xiongnu iron cavalry.
The sun had set, and dusk was about to descend, yet the battlefield still echoed with the roars of war.
"Your Majesty, we have lost over thirty thousand men, while the enemy's losses are likely no more than ten thousand!"
Attila listened to his subordinate's report, his heart bleeding. He sighed, "The Xiongnu Empire's fighting spirit is not inferior to the enemy's, but their individual strength is ultimately too different..."
"The enemy is well-trained, and their equipment far surpasses ours, but our army has not retreated! We beg to fight!" the generals said angrily.
Attila gazed at the continuously attacking Great Qian soldiers, gritting his teeth, "We have no retreat, fight!!"
Nan Jiyun, commanding on the battlefield, soon learned of the casualty figures. With a grim expression, he looked westward.
"This army is even stronger than the Tianri Fierce Cavalry. Their vanguard has lost over fifty percent, yet they haven't dispersed? Is it because of hatred?"
At this moment, Nan Jiyun also felt the situation was extremely troublesome.
The barbarians and the Qian were old enemies, but after the Great Qian soldiers conquered the wolf-dwelling mountains and Bleda and others surrendered, this feud had reached an end.
Now, the Great Qian soldiers faced the Xiongnu Empire with only the determination to expel invaders for the Qian people.
The Xiongnu soldiers, facing the Great Qian, were also filled with boundless hatred.
"Second Brother, there is no possibility of the enemy surrendering. Our losses have already exceeded four thousand, and we cannot hesitate. They are also tigers and wolves!" Lu Changhe reminded him.