Future library

Arrows were like rain, and hundreds of warriors fell in the first round of attacks. Cheng Wenzheng frowned tightly as he watched the guard beside him use his left arm shield to deflect a stray arrow away. Since becoming the lieutenant envoy of Zhennan in his forties, he has had no more than five opportunities to face arrows in the command position. The resistance of the Northern Han people surprised him.

Within visual range, a large number of Northern Han Rangers began to pour in. They are different from the cavalry troops in Daxia who wear leather armor and hold long spears and short swords. They are independent cavalry who mainly use bows and arrows. They are accustomed to taking off their clothes during battle, revealing the scars and sword wounds all over their bodies. To show the glory of manhood and welcome more glory by the way.

To be honest, unless they have superior numbers and geographical advantages, the tribal cavalry with backward equipment is no match for the Daxia cavalry, let alone the elite divisions brought by Cheng Wenzheng from the southwest.

In addition to the 5,000 men on the left and right wings and 5,000 forwards each, there were still more than 10,000 reserve troops behind Cheng Wenzheng eager to attack. The total number even exceeded the Northern Han cavalry on the opposite side. After hesitating for a moment, he did not issue an order to outflank the attack, but turned to his adjutant. Said: "Go and invite some star warlocks to fight."

The adjutant rode back without hesitation.

The people who followed Cheng Wenzheng into battle were all first-level star warlocks hired with contribution points. They were typical masters who only played soft tricks and did not fight tough battles. If they meet a star warlock of the same level, they may leave directly, but they can still play a great role when facing ordinary soldiers.

Especially the intensive sprint array.

After a while, the sound of "boom, boom, boom" began to sound from every corner of the battlefield. The star warlocks who came to the battlefield were all flying. They either directly attacked with violent means, or attacked Beihan's troops by affecting the surrounding environment. Soldier.

Flames, floods, subsidence and vacuum frequently appeared in the Northern Han cavalry camp, causing exclamations and curses.

At this moment, the Northern Han army, which numbered less than ten thousand people, simply gave up the hope of escaping and rushed towards Daxia's array with all their might. A few minutes ago, they had planned to keep their distance and attack with bows and arrows.

Cheng Wenzheng laughed with satisfaction, waved his hand and said: "The whole army attacks."

The sound of horse hooves sounded, and the reserve team behind them announced their arrival with a roar that surpassed that of animals.

The big Han rangers showed desperate eyes. Their bows and arrows were vulnerable to the Star Warlocks, and their scimitars were vulnerable to the spears. Many people jumped off their horses and tried to surrender, and more people chose the final charge. .

The battle lasted for three days and lasted for two hours. It ended decisively in just ten minutes. The soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty suffered all casualties and less than one-tenth of the prisoners were captured. The military judge of the Xia army plowed the battlefield again with his men, and then came back and reported to Cheng Wenzheng: "Sir, we are all soldiers of the Nala tribe."

"Where's the chief?"

"Died in battle." The military judge said and pulled the horse behind him. There was a middle-aged man's body lying on it. Two red feathers and hair were stuck together with blood.

"Another whole tribe." Cheng Wenzheng sighed and said, "It seems that the court of the Northern Han Dynasty is extremely unstable."

"How about taking a break to rest?" Lin Kui, the general on the side, suggested.

Cheng Wenzheng held the hilt of the sword in his hand, his fingers clenched until they turned white, and he denied: "The grassland is dangerous, you must leave quickly."

"With 30,000 of us, if we reach Hanjing like this, the last general will probably..." The general said and did not dare to speak. Cheng Wenzheng was rigorous in running the army and never skimped on military law. His army also used the most military judges.

"Set up camp for now." Cheng Wenzheng also knew that the situation was not good. Since crossing the border, they have never fought with the regular army of the Northern Han Dynasty. Now they have fought more than ten battles, large and small. Although they have won with an absolute advantage every time, the uneasiness in their hearts has become stronger and stronger.

As far as he knew, the tens of thousands of cavalry and more than 100,000 soldiers who settled at Luoshanguan were intact. Moreover, the star warlock from the Northern Han Dynasty never showed up. Once the two sides met, he did not want to place his hopes on the hired star warlock.

If there was a team of about a thousand Star Warriors, I would dare to fight to Hanjing, Cheng Wenzheng comforted himself.

Most of the star warriors trained according to the ideas of the temple have a lethal zero-level star array, and a few even have a first-level star array. It is relatively easy to cultivate such soldiers. After gathering a certain number, they can even pose a threat to high-level astromancers. Generally speaking, a few Star Warlocks would not dare to attack a team of Star Warriors hundreds of times larger than themselves.

It is a pity that in Daxia, the focus of the imperial court's strategy is always Daliang. The most resources and the best soldiers will always be sent to the northern battlefield first. If Cheng Wenzheng had not fought hard for it, he would not have been able to keep 30,000 cavalry.

At noon, the usual showers came down. Wash the blood-stained grassland back to green again.

The sun was still swaying in the sky, not caring about the interference of clouds and rain. Cheng Wenzheng sat in his tent, listening to the patter of raindrops, his eyes wandering on the map.

Overthrowing the Northern Han Dynasty has been his long-cherished wish for many years. When he first became a border officer, he began to send people deep into the Northern Han Dynasty to draw various topographic maps and investigate the local power relations. After becoming the lieutenant general of the military governor, he studied and designed strategies against the Northern Han Dynasty more than once.

Today, some of these preparations are in effect, and others have changed as evidence from the Northern Han Dynasty has changed dramatically.

He even began to doubt whether it was right to attack the Northern Han Dynasty now - according to the reports of lurking personnel, the intensity of the struggle for power between Han and Beijing had significantly cooled down with the invasion of Daxia. Discussions and dialogue resumed among the forces.

Faced with external pressure, the reunification of the Northern Han Dynasty seemed possible.

"Is this the end of it?" Cheng Wenzheng said to himself, feeling extremely unwilling to do so. It would take at least two or three months to wait for the troops sent by the imperial court, and it would take another three months to cross the Tianshui Grassland again.

But if he can gain a foothold here, it will only take a month at most for the imperial troops to cross the grassland again, and casualties will be greatly reduced.

Thinking of this, Cheng Wenzheng smiled bitterly.

Let alone 30,000 cavalry, it is not easy for an army of 300,000 to gain a foothold in the Northern Han Dynasty. Referring to the war against Daliang 50 years ago, the army, which was said to be one million, but was actually about 600,000, was still being led around by the nose due to logistical problems.

"Chen Wu." Cheng Wenzheng shouted.

His adjutant immediately opened the curtain and ran in.

"Go and notify. We will move north at night. We are not allowed to raise fires. After feeding the horses, we will burn this grassland." Cheng Wenzheng followed the burn-out policy that was continued from the previous period. Sweetwater Grassland was the Northern Han Dynasty They burned all the way along, and the tribes who fell behind would have to work harder to catch up.

There was another sound of horses neighing outside. Each of the more than 20,000 cavalrymen had more than two horses. It was precisely the equipment that exceeded the soldiers of the Northern Han tribe that reduced Daxia's battle losses.

In terms of the combat effectiveness of the army in the cold weapon era, an army with more than 10% battle losses will easily collapse. Even an elite division will not be able to tolerate more than 30% battle losses. In other words, if the cavalry unit led by Cheng Wenzheng loses more than 9,000 people, the soldiers' war weariness and fear of war will completely destroy the command system.

In fact, if that time really comes, it is unknown whether the underlying command system will exist.

Three centurions marched toward the north, west, and east respectively, carrying large quantities of kerosene with them. Their orders were to continue setting fires according to the map instructions until the sun went down.

However, unlike arson on the border, after going deep into the Sweetwater Grassland, it is very difficult to set the grassland on fire without precise calculations. They often set fire to thousands of acres. Thinking about the vastness of the grassland, you can see how arduous the task is.

Of course, occasionally when you are lucky, the breeze from the right direction will keep the flames alive throughout the night. For the Xia soldiers, it is like killing chickens in the village and finally killing a big rooster, which is as surprising as a surprise.

Shower Rain was like a child who had been slapped. He vented his anger for about 30 minutes at most, and then he naturally stopped crying. When the mist on the grass blades dissipated, the three hundred-man teams also arrived at their positions.

Then came thick black smoke and flames between light and dark.

In the evening, the soldiers who had slept all day began to get up. After spending more than ten minutes sorting out their personal belongings, they lined up to assemble.

The torches were not allowed to be lit, and the sun that was about to set was exerting its remaining heat, like officials who were about to retire, lazily. With the last ray of light, the cavalry moved the tents and bedding onto the carriage—— The established cavalry unit does not come and go as quickly as imagined. A horse-mounted unit without logistics and supplies is called a horse thief and has no combat effectiveness on the frontal battlefield.

"Go to the camp of the star warlocks and make sure they don't use bright objects." Cheng Wenzheng rode on his horse and ordered his adjutant.

Just as he was talking, he saw several blue halos lighting up five or six hundred meters ahead.

"These guys." Cheng Wenzheng had reason to be dissatisfied. He has been fighting for many years, and he really doesn't think much of the combat effectiveness of first-level star warlocks. Most of them use the star points they can afford on the flying star formation, and the attacks can only be regarded as by-products.

It's a pity that level two star warlocks who can fight are almost nowhere to be seen in the southwest. Even if they need to make money, they will go to the front line of Daliang. Cheng Wenzheng had only a small amount of money, so he could only invite a first-level star warlock to accompany him.

Chen Wu immediately got on his horse and wanted to ask a few star warlocks to destroy the star array to avoid being discovered from miles away.

Unexpectedly, several star warlocks ran over instead.

Cheng Wenzheng reacted immediately and asked hurriedly: "Is there any news?"

He was also familiar with the light of the blue communication star array.

The Star Warlock in front nodded excitedly: "It's Cheng Jinzhou Star Warlock. He, Lu Xuxing Warlock, Kong Weixing Warlock and Huimin Renxing Warlock have already crossed the border."

"How long will it take for them to arrive?"

"One day at most."

"Okay." Cheng Wenzheng slapped his thigh hard and sighed in his heart. Although he and his cavalry were fighting, running and circling, it still took him two months to cross the grassland. The star warlocks could reach it in just one day. The speed was really unfair.

Chen Wu held Cheng Wenzheng's horse and whispered: "Sir, do the troops still want to move?"

"Of course we have to move." Cheng Wenzheng said, cupping his hands to the star warlock: "Mr. Zhu, please keep in touch with Jinzhou. Chen Wu, go find an opaque cloth and help Mr. Zhu position the star array." Cover it up so the enemy doesn’t see it.”

His last words were not only for Chen Wu, but also for the Star Warlocks.

Star Warlock was not an unreasonable master, so he obediently let Chen Wu cut off his cloak and wrap it around his arm. Several other star warlocks were also dealt with in one go.

"Kong Wei and Hui Minren, how strong are they?" After the entire army began to move, Cheng Wenzheng began to ask the star warlocks for specific details.

Xia Yuanji, the only Star Warlock present who belonged to the Star Warlock Association, smiled and said: "Every fourth-level Star Warlock is different. The Star Warlock in Xingzhou should be better than two third-level Star Warlocks."

This was his most standard answer, and it was also not what Cheng Wenzheng wanted. He rubbed the knot on the sword tassel with his hands, and said in a voice that only a few people nearby could hear: "We don't have many people, so we need to be divined by a star warlock." Only the best can win."

Even without the existence of Cheng Jinzhou, Daxia was still stronger than Northern Han in terms of star warlocks. In previous wars, Daxia, which fought on two fronts, relied on the combat power of star warlocks for defense. As the main general of the southwest border defense, Cheng Wenzheng had long been accustomed to wars involving star warlocks, just like he was accustomed to an army commander with air superiority.

"The combination of Cheng Jinzhou Star Warlock and Lu Xuxing Star Warlock has a combat power that exceeds that of a third-level Star Warlock." They are above the standard, and they are all Templar Warlocks, so it is not certain whether they will participate in the war."

There are no native fourth-level star warlocks in the Northern Han Dynasty. Zhuohuan Sacrifice and Mokan Sacrifice stationed here are like hired star warlocks, occasionally bullying the weak at the request of the court. But they rarely participate in battles with star warlocks of the same level. Moreover, both of them are star warlocks who are partial to research, and their combat abilities are worrying.

Cheng Wenzheng's decision will affect the life and death of the entire army of 30,000 people, so he must be more cautious. The worry on his face will not be weakened much by the words of Warlock Xia Yuanjixing.

In the night, Cheng Jinzhou was also flying.

Machron Star Warlock re-corrected the recording star array on his right chest, making it much easier to use. At least he can record characters without reading aloud, relying on the vibration of his lips. This is mainly due to the star array. sensitivity increases.

The secondary recording star array, which requires more than 150 points of star power, does not increase his personal ability much. Warlock Jiang Huangxing and others felt it was a waste. On the contrary, Yi Su and Fo Ye were slightly uneasy.

Flying in the air is long but not boring. In order to increase the flight speed and reduce the impact of airflow, Kong Wei and Hui Minren chose to fly above the clouds. Since they could not see the ground, the three of them plus a mount had to constantly make corrections. Orientation, contact star line.

Although the flying speed is fast, the change in distance relative to the planet is very small. However, for the fourth-level star warlocks who are most concerned about speed, even such a small change must be corrected.

In order to keep up with the speed of the two people, Cheng Jinzhou was really tired. He has never tried to perform verbal and mental arithmetic for 10 consecutive hours, and the intensity is so high that even elementary mental arithmetic tutorials cannot make him relax for a moment.

He was feeling dizzy, but he didn't know that the two fourth-level star warlocks were even more surprised.

In fact, the speed of Kong Wei and Hui Minren was also mentioned as the highest. They originally wanted to test the ability of Cheng and Lu, but they didn't expect that the latter would follow them without hesitation.

After flying for three or four hours, Kong Wei wanted to slow down, but he was worried about being looked down upon by Cheng Jinzhou, so he had to persevere. For him, constantly calculating the positions between planets and judging the interference between wind speed and his own speed are also stressful.

When they were about to arrive, Kong Wei had already lost his mind and lost all energy. Hui Minren was a little better, but he was running so fast that he almost lost his sense of direction.

Cheng Jinzhou once studied an elementary mental arithmetic tutorial. Although he was tired, he still persevered. He pinched the time and it was almost time. He couldn't help but ask: "Should we confirm their position? We are about to leave the grassland."

Hui Minren reacted fiercely, lighting up the star array rather embarrassedly, and said at the same time: "Let's go down."

Kong Wei didn't say a word and dived downwards. Lu Xu was frightened and increased his speed again.

Hui Minren shook his head as he watched, and told him for a long time that flying was a very mentally taxing activity. If it weren't for their pride, they would definitely not go crazy with Cheng Jinzhou.

After a whole night's flight and crossing the Sweetwater Grassland, it was already seven or eight o'clock in the morning, and the dew on the grass blades could still be seen under the bright sunshine. Kong Wei took a deep breath, rubbed his head, and stopped making fatal calculations.

Astromancers of this era still used trigonometric distance measurement the most. To plug in the astronomical distances to the planets and then make an estimate, an ordinary computer would have to use its own memory to do the math.

"That's them." Lu Xu didn't need to waste too much energy. He felt like a sleeper on a plane. At this time, he pointed at the cavalry team a few kilometers away with full energy.

Morning is a good time for observation. Cheng Jinzhou built a pergola with his hands and watched while flying.

This cavalry should be the vanguard. There are about three to four thousand in total. They are wearing drab gray clothes and look like a pile of animal excrement on the green grass. From the air, their slow movement seemed like they were being forced to move.

None of the four people paid attention to what the Daxia soldiers should look like. After looking at each other for a moment, Kong Wei simply said: "Go over and ask them."

If it were in the past, he would definitely suggest paying attention, but after flying for a whole day, Kong Weita wanted to have a comfortable carriage ride, even though it was a comfort that he usually despised.

Cheng Jinzhou and Hui Minren were no better and flew downwards without any resistance.

Yisu grabbed Cheng Jinzhou's left shoulder with his four "strong" trained legs and said in an inaudible voice: "Contact with the communication star array."

Only then did classmate Xiao Cheng react. He quickly shouted forward: "Hui Renxing Warlock, use the communication star array to contact us."

He himself has not yet engraved the communication star array.

However, Kong Wei didn't hear what Cheng Jinzhou said and threw himself down. He was a fourth-level star warlock, so he didn't care whether the cavalry below were friends or foes.

Hui Minren fell behind slightly and lit up the communication star array.

At this moment, several rays of light suddenly shot out from the cavalry team below.

The red color is not friendly at all.

Kong Wei only had time to make a defensive move before he was covered in light.

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Beyond the word count: The struggling birds who are persevering need monthly votes to encourage them, indeed they do.

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