Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1494 - 1487: Desperate Impact

Chapter 1494: Chapter 1487: Desperate Impact

The Kyushu soldiers on perimeter guard duty watched everything happening in the camp with horrified eyes, the tragic death of their compatriots instilling bone-deep fear in them. But they dared not say much, for they knew all too well that if the Demon Clan could deal with the Nine Thousand Battalion in this manner, they could do the same to them.

After over three hours of organization, a roaring fire blazed within the camp, the stripped bodies of the Nine Thousand Battalion’s soldiers were piled together and collectively cremated.

This was the first time Cheng Ziang and Hu Daoke had witnessed such a scene. Although they had always heard about the brutality of ancient wars, they still involuntarily closed their eyes when faced with so many burning bodies, unable to bear the sight.

"Where is big brother..." Yichuan Ying, covering her eyes with her hands, anxiously searched around for any trace of Yichuan Long.

"Don’t worry, your brother should be fine, hopefully..." Cheng Ziang clutched her hand tightly, consoling her somewhat guiltily.

"It’s possible that Yichuan Long is among these bodies..." Hu Daoke said uneasily, looking at him.

"It shouldn’t be," Cheng Ziang shook his head, "Yichuan Long is the head of the Yichuan Clan’s soldiers. Even if his body was found, it wouldn’t be burned right away. It would be kept for the Demon Clan’s commander’s identification."

"Could it be that Yichuan Long sensed the danger and escaped early with his men?" Hu Daoke speculated.

"Yes, that’s possible and it would be better," Cheng Ziang said, glancing at Yichuan Ying, then after a moment’s contemplation, he narrowed his eyes and said, "But, it is quite clear that Yichuan Long is not that kind of person, and this is what worries me the most."

"If he didn’t run away and also didn’t just wait for death, then he..." Hu Daoke and Cheng Ziang exchanged a look, suddenly feeling an inexplicable unease.

Accompanying this sense of unease, they felt the ground begin to tremble beneath their feet. At the same time, billowing dust clouds appeared in the sky to the southeast.

"Cavalry, cavalry attack!" The Demon Clan’s army reacted swiftly as someone shouted loudly.

A formation of several hundred cavalry appeared from the southeast, advancing in a wedge formation towards the Demon Clan’s army. The rumble of horse hooves and dust clouds obscured the horizon.

However, their attack was glaringly obvious. Charging from nearly two kilometers away provided the Demon Clan’s army with ample time to react.

"Don’t panic, everyone put on your headbands, form ranks, and prepare to meet the charge!" Facing the oncoming cavalry, the Demon Clan’s commander did not show any signs of panic but instead drew his command sword to direct the troops in preparation.

Under his command, the Demon Clan’s line infantry began to form an orderly formation to face the cavalry, with pikemen deployed to the very front. They placed their pikes on the ground and crouched, and as the cavalry drew close, they would suddenly rise and lift their pikes to resist the cavalry’s charge.

The killing power of cavalry came mainly from two aspects: mobility and shock power. In other words, if one could limit these two aspects of the cavalry, they were almost no different from infantry. Even under certain circumstances, cavalry without mobility and shock power were worse than infantry and could only serve as live targets for ranged weapons.

Generally speaking, there are two main types of cavalry: heavy and light. Heavy cavalry relied on shock power in combat, capable of tearing through the enemy’s formation from the front or the side.

Light cavalry, on the other hand, relied mainly on mobility, constantly roaming and circumventing the battlefield, looking for weak points to break through. Although light cavalry could also use their shock power to tear apart formations, most of the time, such cavalry were used as a mobile force for harassing the enemy.

It’s the same old saying, in such wars. Whether it’s the cold-weapons era Kyushu army or the Demon Clan’s army that had entered the firearm era, forming ranks remained the main form of combat. Once the formation was torn apart, even if someone broke into the Demon Clan’s army, they would be dispersed and defeated one by one.

Once people form a formation, it becomes extremely difficult to conquer. If these people possess very tenacious combat will and very strict battlefield discipline, then defeating them would require a heavy price to be paid.

This is why, during the Victorian Era, Western armies were invincible across the world and eventually controlled the entire globe. Not only did they have advanced weaponry, more importantly, they had an army with exceptionally strict discipline on the battlefield.

Such armies wouldn’t collapse just because their formation was torn apart. They would advance to the drumbeats, even if they were facing a hail of bullets and even if their comrades kept falling beside them, they still had to push forward—this was the crucial reason why they were able to overcome feudal armies.

However, during the past few years in West Outer Heaven, the Demon Clan’s military equipment had only been upgraded that much, from matchlock to flintlock guns, and they were still smoothbore guns. But the most obvious change was in the entire army’s spirit. Compared with before, one could almost say it had changed into a different group altogether.

Demon Clan soldiers gathering corpses were assembled; the Demon Clan Light Cavalry also began to mount up and rove around—a large net was spreading out, waiting only for this Cavalry to rush into it voluntarily.

No matter how Cheng Ziang looked at it, he thought that this was a desperate assault. He saw that this Cavalry was entirely composed of Light Cavalry, which inherently lacked the capacity to charge directly at the front.

When Light Cavalry charged head-on, whether their opponent was infantry in line formation or the armies from the Ancient Times, the fate of Light Cavalry was almost unanimous—they would be completely annihilated because such warfare completely defied the principles of Light Cavalry’s mobility.

The Mortars of the Demon Clan were the first to open fire, and although their target was highly mobile Cavalry, they still attempted to bombard them with arcing shots.

However, the outcome was obvious—the arcing artillery couldn’t even get near the rapidly moving Cavalry, not to mention hit them; all of the shells exploded off target without exception.

But the thunderous roar of the artillery was like a powerful stimulant injected into everyone, making them acutely aware that the battle had officially begun.

These Cavalrymen were not ordinary; they clearly belonged to the Yichuan Clan’s household troops. The combat strength of household troops need not be discussed here—with many among them being Cultivators, in a real fight, it wasn’t a given that the Demon Clan’s weapons and equipment could handle them.

Cheng Ziang also noticed that the eyes of these horses were covered with cloth strips to prevent them from being startled. It seemed these men were prepared to risk it all, even if it meant complete annihilation.

To be honest, facing the charge of Cavalry, few people could remain unafraid, especially the soldiers stationed at the very front line. This fear is innate and doesn’t fade just because there are more people on one’s side.

The simplest method to resolve this problem is to enhance the entire army’s discipline on the battlefield, to make them instinctively form formations to counter Cavalry charges, to make them understand that once someone retreats causing the formation to break, everyone would have nowhere to be buried.

"Fire!!"

The Demon Clan’s commander didn’t wait for the Cavalry to enter the effective firing range before he drew his sword to order the infantry to fire, aiming to reduce the number of Cavalry through concentrated gunfire as much as possible.

The accuracy of individual firearms was limited, but once the volley fire started, the effect became very obvious. After three volleys, several dozens of the distant Cavalry, both man and horse, fell down, leading to clear disarray in the Cavalry’s charge.

The firearms fired in turns, and the closer the Cavalry got, the higher the casualties became. By the time they entered within a hundred meters, over two hundred had fallen to the gunfire, completely scattering their ranks.

After the last volley, the Demon Clan’s commander immediately ordered the signal for variation, and upon hearing the drum signal, the Pikemen stood up, raised their pikes with the butts planted on the ground, aiming the tips at the ferociously approaching Cavalry.

Seeing the erected spears, these Cavalrymen showed clear hesitation, but those in the front row couldn’t stop in time and were forcibly pushed onto the pike formation by the Cavalry at the back. The sharp pikes instantly pierced through the horses, and even the fully armored Cavalrymen were impaled chillingly through.

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