Chapter 394 Battle of Life and Death

Chapter 394 Battle of Life and Death

Chapter 394 Battle of Life and Death
The Tuyuhun army had no way to retreat, they could only make a desperate attempt to break out. The three thousand Iron Guard cavalry were ready. The Iron Guard was the most elite army around the Tuyuhun Khan. They were all Xianbei people, all tall and strong. They were clad in iron armor, holding short spears, straight swords on their waists, bows and arrows on their backs, and all of them rode top-quality war horses.

Behind them were five thousand Xianbei guards, who were also neatly dressed and eager to try. Since Zhang Xiaotong and the two guards had proved that the other side had not built a stone wall, they had hope of breaking through.

At this time, Fu Yun raised his sword and mobilized the Iron Guard Cavalry, "The life and death of Tuyuhun depends on you, you must put life and death aside and fight your way out. Tuyuhun will remember you!
Three thousand cavalrymen raised their spears and shouted, "Fight our way out!"

The 5,000 cavalrymen behind were also infected, and they all raised their spears and shouted, "Charge them!"

Fu Yun jumped on his horse, raised his sword and shouted: "Attack!"

Three thousand Iron Guard cavalrymen galloped on their horses, and five thousand guards escorted the Tuyuhun King Fuyun and dozens of Xianbei nobles followed closely behind, and together they charged towards the valley entrance.

In fact, they still had more than a thousand women and children. Since the Sui army did not kill them, they ignored them and left them behind along with a large amount of wealth. The most important thing was to save their own lives.

The eight thousand cavalrymen were like a mountain flood, raising dust and gravel as they rushed towards the valley entrance in a mighty force.

There were still more than ten miles to the valley entrance. The Sui soldiers who were on guard halfway up the mountain fired whistling arrows into the air. Thousands of soldiers guarding the valley entrance became nervous, and the general on duty, Xue Wanche, also rushed to the valley entrance.

He looked at the sound of arrows whistling in the air and immediately ordered, "Block the passage!"

Zhang Xiaotong and the other two had black bags covering their heads. They did not know the truth. The Sui army actually used 30,000 mud and sand bags to build a sand wall formation that was 15 feet high, 100 steps wide and 20 feet long, but there was a passage about 10 feet wide in the middle. Zhang Xiaotong and the other two walked through the passage, and of course did not feel the existence of the mud and sand bag formation, which led to a misjudgment of the Tuyuhun army.

The Sui army's mud and sand bag formation was three miles away from the final exit, located at a trumpet-shaped entrance. After rushing out of the long and narrow passage, the view would suddenly become clear, but at the end of the narrow passage, the Sui army built mud and sand bag fortifications.

The Sui army soldiers quickly filled the gap which was about ten feet wide. The three thousand defenders lay down behind the sandbag wall and raised their crossbows together.

In addition, there were 300 javelin throwers who were also ready. Their weapon was called a 鋋, a small iron spear about four feet long. The front end of the spear was one foot long, and the back was a hard wooden pole. It was often used in the armies of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but not common in the Sui army. Xue Shixiong discovered that the Qiang people often used this short spear to shoot and stab wolves, so he was inspired and formed a 300-man Fei鋋 army for the defense of Dadouba Valley.

The army that appeared now was the Flying Halberd Army, under the command of Xue Wanche, and each of them was equipped with five flying halberds.

There was a bend three hundred steps away in the distance. The three thousand defenders could only hear the sound of horse hooves getting closer and closer. Xue Wanche turned around and asked, "Have you informed His Highness?"

"General, he's gone!"

Xue Wanche spat fiercely and shouted, "Attention, all soldiers. The enemy has turned a corner and appeared. Shoot with heavy crossbows first. The rest of the soldiers should wait until the enemy is within range before taking action!"

Eight thousand troops rushed over and suddenly appeared at the corner. Five hundred heavy crossbowmen fired crossbows together. These five hundred heavy crossbows were also single-person crossbows, but they were single-person crossbows, which were inferior to double-person crossbows.

But their effective killing range was three hundred steps, and just at the bend, five hundred dense crossbow arrows shot down like a rainstorm, catching the Iron Guards off guard. Suddenly, people and horses were thrown to the ground. Before the cavalrymen who fell off their horses could get up, they were swallowed up by the cavalry group behind them.

More than 2,000 Iron Guard cavalrymen were galloping in the 250-foot-long canyon, rushing to kill. At this time, 3,000 defenders fired arrows at the same time, like a rain of locusts, shooting at the charging Iron Guard cavalrymen with great force. The Iron Guard cavalrymen lowered their heads and charged, making a desperate attempt, but the blood and flesh of the war horses and the thin iron armor could not withstand the powerful force of the armor-piercing arrows, and they all splattered with blood, fell down with screams, and died with wailing.

But what really made the Iron Guard Cavalry despair was the sandbag wall that appeared in front of them. Who said that the Sui army did not build fortifications?

After suffering more than a thousand casualties, the Iron Guard Cavalry at the back finally rushed to the sandbag wall. They jumped high, but they could not reach a height of fifteen feet!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Countless war horses could not stop and crashed into the sandbag wall, breaking their bones and tendons and dying on the spot.

The speed finally slowed down. Hundreds of Iron Guards climbed up from the ground, and the cavalry behind them also dismounted. They rushed towards the sandbag wall with short spears in their hands. Hundreds of Iron Guards were the first to rush up the sandbag wall, trampling on the corpses of countless war horses, followed by thousands of Iron Guards soldiers.

Xue Wanche shouted, "Flying Army, shoot!"

Three hundred soldiers of the Flying Spear Army shouted together and thrust their spears forward. For a moment, the flying spears were electrified and arrows rained down. Hundreds of Iron Guards soldiers could not dodge and were pierced through the bodies by the sharp spears. They screamed and fell from the sandbag wall. Originally, nearly three hundred people rushed up the sandbag wall, but after a rain of spears, only fifty or sixty people were still on the sandbag wall. They were all scared and lay on the top of the wall, not daring to move.

Hundreds of people rushed onto the sandbags, but were shot to death by the continuous storm of flying spears. They were almost killed. The Flying Spear Army finally became the nightmare of the Tuyuhun Iron Guard. After five rounds of flying spears, more than nine hundred Iron Guard soldiers died tragically on and under the sandbag wall.

Fu Yun witnessed the tragic loss of the Iron Guards. Only a few hundred of the 3,000 Iron Guards cavalrymen were left. His eyes turned red and he shouted, "Charge!"

The corpses of the Iron Guard soldiers and horses became stepping stones for the cavalry who later jumped over the sandbag wall, trampling on the corpses. The view in front of them suddenly opened up, and a large gap was opened in the sandbag wall, and countless cavalry rushed out.

Xue Wanche yelled, "Hold them with your spears!"

"Woo——"

A low horn sounded, and Xiao Xia led 10,000 Sui troops to attack. The Sui army quickly set up a spear formation in the open area of ​​the canyon. Behind the formation, three thousand heavy crossbowmen continuously shot arrows at the Tuyuhun cavalry who broke through the sandbag wall.

More than 5,000 Tuyuhun cavalry fought desperately, and the Sui army formation was like a piece of wrought iron that had been hammered a thousand times. They used dense spear formations to withstand the cavalry's repeated attacks. When one soldier fell, another would take his place.

Both sides were blood-thirsty and disregarded life and death. They fought to the death in an open area with swords and horses, and shouts of killing shook the sky. The fighting lasted from morning to noon, and from noon to dusk. Only a few hundred of the more than 5,000 cavalry were left, and more than 2,400 Sui soldiers were killed. The last few hundred Tuyuhun soldiers were no longer able to fight, and he finally protected the Tuyuhun king Fuyun.

Fu Yun was covered in wounds. He sighed, "What a pity! Tuyuhun was destroyed here!"

After saying that, he held the sword across his neck and pulled hard, causing blood to spurt out.

Xiao Xia's eyes were cold and stern. He gave an order, "Shoot with crossbows!"

Thousands of crossbow arrows were shot at the last hundreds of enemy soldiers. After a scream, the battlefield finally calmed down.

(End of this chapter)