Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1381 - 1374: The Final Battle

Chapter 1381: Chapter 1374: The Final Battle

As sight returned to the front line, with the rear having taken over Big South East Peace, the Demon Clan’s army continued to push southward, seeking to engage the main forces of the Dongsheng army in a decisive battle.

While the Demon Clan’s army was overwhelmingly powerful, there still existed a nightmare for everyone, which was the Dongsheng cavalry, especially the heavy cavalry. A year ago, the Demon Clan’s army had been utterly annihilated under the charge of the cavalry.

Throughout the wars in both worlds, cavalry had always been one of the mainstays on the battlefield; on Earth, up until World War I, armies universally employed cavalry.

The cavalry unit had never disappeared; with continuous advancement in military technology, these cavalrymen were replaced by steel behemoths. Tanks and cavalry, though entirely different in appearance, essentially fulfilled the same roles: they charged long distances, tore through enemy lines, and engulfed them.

Before the advent of rapid-fire weapons, the Dongsheng cavalry was an absolute threat to the Demon Clan’s army, and only by completely annihilating the Dongsheng cavalry could the Demon Clan guarantee victory over the Dongsheng army.

Repeated failures and the fall of Big South East Peace clearly disrupted the deployment of the Dongsheng army. As the Demon Clan’s forces broke through Big South East Peace, the Dongsheng army’s opportunity for a strategic retreat was dwindling. If they could not stop the Demon Clan’s advance, the Dongsheng army would have no choice but to retreat from West Outer Heaven and abandon the Nobility families there.

According to intelligence from some insiders, the continuous failures and the fall of Big South East Peace caused sharp conflicts within the Dongsheng army and between representatives of the Nobility families. At this point, the Dongsheng army was no longer willing to expend further effort in West Outer Heaven.

It was said that within the Dongsheng Court, discussions were equally sharp, and the Civil Official faction of the Dongsheng Empire no longer wanted to exert themselves for the Nobility families in occupying West Outer Heaven. They hoped to pull back the troops, reinforce the empire’s northeast and northwest, and guard against possible invasions from the Eastern Barbarians and the Western Barbarians.

This could very likely be one of the last few battles between the Dongsheng army and the Demon Clan. If these battles also ended in failure for the Dongsheng army, they would not hesitate to fully withdraw, not concerning themselves with West Outer Heaven, an exclave of the empire.

Seemingly to prove their resolve, the Dongsheng army did not overlook the provocations of the Demon Clan’s army, and they began to muster their remaining forces in preparation for a final showdown, regardless of the final outcome, they were highly unlikely to launch a counteroffensive again.

Half a month after leaving Big South East Peace City, the Demon Clan’s army finally made contact with the Dongsheng army. This time, the Dongsheng army had assembled a total of fifty thousand troops, preparing to annihilate the Demon Clan’s army there, or be annihilated themselves.

The majority of these fifty thousand were infantry. The number of cavalrymen was only slightly over five thousand, among them, heavy cavalrymen were just over a thousand—hardly comparable to their numbers a year ago.

Both sides set up camps on the plains among the hills, seeming prepared for a drawn-out battle. The terrain here, rather undulating, was not particularly conducive for the cavalry’s operation.

Nevertheless, the Dongsheng army still dispersed their Light Cavalry, attempting to strike at the Demon Clan’s logistic lines. However, this time, they would encounter a formidable opponent: the Demon Clan’s light cavalry.

During the two days of standoff, gunshots were heard continuously around both camps, with the Demon Clan’s light cavalry roaming the hills, using their rifled muskets to snipe continuously, depleting the enemy’s manpower and morale.

The Dongsheng Light Cavalry had no way to counter these adversaries because, although they were also equipped with bows and arrows, their range was, by no means, comparable to that of the Demon Clan’s light cavalry rifled muskets.

Typically, the encounters would start with the Demon Clan’s light cavalry initiating harassing shots. If ignored, the harassment would persist, and their marksmanship was precise enough to headshot their soldiers from a distance.

If the Light Cavalry chose to pursue, they were highly prone to ambushes. The Demon Clan’s light cavalry were adept in setting up ambush formations, and once the Dongsheng Light Cavalry was lured into a trap, they would face relentless shooting from higher ground.

The main equipment of the Demon Clan’s light cavalry was muzzle-loading rifled muskets, mostly flintlock mechanisms, with a few using percussion caps. However, with ongoing upgrades in military technology, the Demon Clan’s army began experimenting with a type of metallic cartridge.

With that in mind, the Demon Clan army developed a lever-action breech-loading rifle, which perfectly resolved the issue of reloading while on horseback.

As mentioned before, Minié Balls were only a transitional type of bullet. Whether it be rifled or smoothbore guns, their ultimate evolution was towards breech-loading firearms.

This breech-loading gun developed by the Demon Clan army was primarily for Cavalry to reload while mounted and was thus called a "cavalry gun." Its mechanism was somewhat similar to a Zimu Gun, using cylindrical metal containers to load gunpowder and bullets, with an ignition device on top to guide the gunpowder.

These metal cartridges were not disposable but could be reused. The cavalry gun featured a lever-action bolt, similar to the modern infantry cannon’s bolt. When the lever was put back into place, the bolt would protrude, holding the metal cartridge in place to prevent it from being dislodged by the recoil.

Although this gun had many problems, such as insufficient airtightness and difficulty lifting the bolt, it was quickly favored by the Demon Clan’s light Cavalry due to its breech-loading capability.

Using this cavalry gun, the Demon Clan’s light Cavalry mastered the ability to reload on bumpy horseback, allowing them to shoot backwards while fleeing from pursuing enemies, against whom the Dongsheng Cavalry were utterly powerless.

Of course, arming with sophisticated military technology in small quantities did not change the course of the war. To win, victory still depended on the front line battles.

On the third day of the standoff, just when the Light Cavalry was in turmoil, the Dongsheng army seemingly could no longer hold back and began to take the offensive.

They first sent out a formation of five thousand infantry to make a probing attack. As expected, after being bombarded chaotically with the Demon Clan’s artillery, they fled in disarray, leaving behind more than five hundred corpses.

Learning from the last experience, the Demon Clan army was more secure than ever, always ready for each battle, prepared to resist any possible Cavalry charges.

On the fifth day, learning from the previous experience, the Dongsheng army realized that too few troops could not compete with the Demon Clan army, so they deployed a full ten thousand soldiers for a decisive battle.

It was still a battle without suspense. Having experienced consecutive victories, the Kyushu line infantry in the Demon Clan army had long lost any sentiment for their compatriots. Whether firing in volleys or charging, they were always in the vanguard, actively engaging in battle.

The fight on the fifth day ended once more with a complete retreat of the Dongsheng army, suffering casualties of over two thousand men, more than four times that of two days earlier.

This battle dispelled one of the Dongsheng army’s illusions about the Demon Clan line infantry: that they would only engage in lined firing and dare not engage in close combat.

In reality, these line infantry not only had fiercely powerful volleys, but their combative will was even stronger. Although Dongsheng’s troops managed to struggle through the deadly barrage, they were immediately overwhelmed by the ferocious charge of the line infantry.

When the Dongsheng army had tried to emulate the Demon Clan’s organization of line infantry, they had clearly only copied superficially without understanding the core essence of the line infantry. The line infantry were not only capable of firing in unison; their close-combat skills far exceeded those of regular soldiers.

Subsequent battles confirmed this, nearly every one ending with a charge by the Demon Clan line infantry, leaving the Dongsheng army with no chance to counter.

After two defeats, the Dongsheng army suffered significant casualties. Although they also inflicted some losses on the Demon Clan army, thanks to the Demon Clan army’s well-developed logistical and medical systems—particularly their understanding of germs—the casualty and death rates among their soldiers were greatly reduced.

Contrasting this with the Dongsheng army, whose medical methods were almost limited to stopping bleeding and treating injuries, they hardly understood what bacteria were, naturally making it difficult to be aware of infection issues in wounds.

In every battle, the Demon Clan army was able to quickly recover and launch new attacks, with their advanced and refined medical system undoubtedly playing a crucial role.