“Your Highness,” the adjutant said as he approached Qin Yu, “the atmosphere ahead seems off. There might be an ambush…”
“Shh…” Qin Yu made a gesture while looking at the soldiers behind her.
The soldiers behind were orderly and high-spirited, as if they hadn’t heard the conversation.
“I have a plan,” Qin Yu said in a low voice to the adjutant.
Seeing Qin Yu’s confident expression, the adjutant said nothing more.
They were only a kilometer away from the small enemy force guarding the meadow entrance. Qin Yu ordered the entire army to halt.
Under Qin Yu’s command, the whole army formed a battle formation: cavalry in front, infantry behind, advancing in formation.
Ahead, Chen Yufei’s troops saw Qin Yu leading her army and prepared to meet them. However, when they saw that Qin Yu had a full 70,000 troops, they were stunned.
In their imagination, Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu would only bring a small force to break through, or they would only encounter their vanguard. They never expected to face the main force. The massive army before them, stretching across the forest, made Chen Yufei’s troops lose their nerve.
“Charge!” Qin Yu raised her sword, pointing at the enemy ahead. She spurred her horse forward, and the cavalry behind followed suit.
The meadow was flat and open, unlike the dense forest that would block the cavalry’s charge and hinder their performance. As they galloped, when the two armies clashed, Qin Yu felt her speed was at least over 100 kilometers per hour.
Using the momentum of the horse, Qin Yu swung her modao at the enemy. It was like a hot knife through butter, requiring no effort.
Chen Yufei’s troops stationed outside the meadow were, to put it nicely, bait. To put it bluntly, they were sent to die. They were all infantry, unable to withstand the charge of Qin Yu’s cavalry. A mere 8,000 troops were nothing for Qin Yu’s army. With one round of cavalry charge, Qin Yu had already broken through the enemy formation.
Some lucky soldiers who weren’t cut down thought they had escaped, but were then finished off by the infantry following behind, slaughtered to the last. Of the 8,000 enemies, only 2,000 barely escaped with their lives. The remaining 6,000 were killed on the spot.
Qin Yu reorganized her troops and let those fleeing soldiers escape into the hilly encirclement area.
Having tasted victory, Qin Yu’s troops couldn’t wait to chase down the remaining 2,000 and eliminate them completely. The infantry, who had only gotten scraps fighting behind the cavalry, killing a few stragglers, were not satisfied and also looked forward to pursuing the enemy.
Qin Yu’s greatest worry was that her army would collapse quickly if they fell into an ambush, but now with her troops eager for battle, she didn’t have to worry about that. Once the formation was reassembled, Qin Yu led the army into the meadow.
Wildflowers were in bloom in the meadow. The grass was half a person tall, and small streams were hidden among them. Qin Yu had to slow down the march.
After all the troops entered the meadow, the surroundings remained silent. There was no trace of the enemy, only the 2,000 fleeing soldiers in the far distance, escaping even farther.
‘The enemy isn’t coming?’ Qin Yu thought, leading the army along the hills to lure the enemy into attacking.
On the high hill, Chen Yufei watched Qin Yu’s army, her feelings mixed. First, she really didn’t expect her bait troops to collapse so quickly. Second, she didn’t expect Qin Yu to waltz so boldly into her encirclement.
‘Is there a trick?’ Chen Yufei was perplexed, but her only option now was to use the encirclement she had prepared in advance to annihilate Qin Yu’s army. Only that could counter Qin Yu’s scheme.
Chen Yufei believed that she had the advantage of terrain and would not easily lose.
Qin Yu’s army happened to pass by the hill where Chen Yufei’s Central Command Tent was located. Chen Yufei made a decision on the spot: she ordered the entire army to attack Qin Yu immediately.
As Qin Yu was marching, she heard shouts of battle from the mountain. She looked up and saw Chen Yufei’s ambush troops attacking from the hill. They charged halfway down the slope, then fired down at Qin Yu’s army from a high vantage point.
The hills were not high, and the slopes were gentle. Moreover, the soil offered no cover. Qin Yu’s troops raised their guns to return fire. For a time, both sides suffered casualties.
Just as the two armies were engaged, a noisy sound of hooves was heard. The whole ground trembled slightly. Qin Yu looked up. It was Chen Yufei leading her cavalry, charging down from above.
Seeing this, Qin Yu ordered all cavalry to insert the handles of two modao into small holes on the sides of their horse armor, fixing them firmly. The modao extended out like wings from the horse’s sides, blades facing forward. She ordered the cavalry to spread out. Each soldier held a spear, ready to meet the enemy.
The infantry behind had all raised their Magic Guns, aiming at the enemy, waiting for them to enter firing range.
When the two armies were only 400 meters apart, Qin Yu shouted loudly, “Fire!” The infantry behind opened fire. Chen Yufei’s cavalry fell in a wave, disrupting her formation. However, the enemy still had the advantage of height, making things difficult for Qin Yu.
When the two armies were only 400 meters apart, Qin Yu bellowed, “All soldiers, charge with me!” With that, Qin Yu spurred her horse and charged toward the enemy formation. The soldiers behind followed suit, unwilling to be left behind, charging up the hill.
Although Qin Yu’s army was charging uphill, the enemy was charging downhill at high speed. The relative speed was very fast. The 400-meter distance was reduced to zero in an instant, and the two armies clashed in melee.
Because Qin Yu and her soldiers had fixed modao to their horses and spread out their formation, many enemy cavalry, caught off guard in the downhill charge, crashed directly into the modao. At such high speed, the sharp blades of the modao cut the horses in half, killing many enemies.
Qin Yu took the lead, charging into the enemy formation. In one hand, she held a staff to deploy a Magic Barrier; in the other, she wielded a spear to kill enemies. Her bravery inspired the other soldiers. For a time, despite Chen Yufei’s terrain advantage, Qin Yu had the upper hand on the battlefield.
However, Chen Yufei had brought her entire cavalry force—almost 50,000 troops—while Qin Yu had only 10,000. Although Qin Yu had the advantage initially, faced with Chen Yufei’s continuous reinforcements, she gradually weakened. The frontline also shifted from the hillside to the flat ground. Casualties on Qin Yu’s side began to increase. The situation started to deteriorate.
“Retreat!” Qin Yu ordered. Qin Yu’s army used the cavalry as the vanguard to clear a path for retreat, with the infantry covering the rear, retreating deep into the meadow.
Seeing Qin Yu retreat, Chen Yufei ordered her troops to stop attacking. She ordered the cavalry under her personal command to slowly close in on Qin Yu, while simultaneously ordering the remaining troops to surround Qin Yu.
It was still early in the day. Chen Yufei looked at the sun still high in the sky and smiled slightly.
“There’s still plenty of time…”