Chapter 55: The Brutal Battle (Part 8)

"Victory to the Song Empire!"
"Victory to the Song Empire!"

Led by Sun Li, five thousand lance-cavalry charged into the dwarf infantry phalanx for the very first time.

"Form ranks! Form bayonet squares!"

The dwarf infantry phalanx, which had hurried over to reinforce their comrades, was caught entirely unprepared in their movement formation. They simply lacked the time to effectively organize a bayonet square to fend off a cavalry charge. With the sudden thunder of the Song cavalry's iron hooves, the entire dwarf line plunged into chaos.

Sun Li led his cavalry at a gallop, crashing straight into the midst of the reinforcing dwarf infantry. The sporadic gunfire was utterly powerless to stem the tide of the Song cavalry charge.

Flashes of swords swept through the air. The densely packed formation of thirty thousand dwarf infantry was cut down row by row. With Sun Li acting as the razor-sharp vanguard, the five thousand cavalry successfully breached the dwarf formation. Much like when the Grand Order Knight led his cavalry to shatter the Morris infantry, once a gap was torn in the infantry phalanx, the surging wave of cavalry completely pierced straight through the entire formation.

Instantly, Sun Li wheeled his horse around, leading his men back to pierce through once more—piercing through, and piercing through again!

Shielded by his surging battle qi, Sun Li completely ignored the musket fire of the dwarf soldiers. The dwarf infantry, their formations already shattered, could neither deliver effective volley fire nor manage to establish a proper bayonet square.

Those smaller, hastily formed bayonet groups were effortlessly crushed and scattered under the blazing battle qi of Sun Li, a true Grand Knight.

Following the initial, heavier casualties of the breakthrough, the resistance of the dwarf infantry grew increasingly feeble. Finding themselves unable to form effective defensive squares and subjected to a relentless massacre by the Song cavalry, the morale of the dwarf soldiers plummeted with every passing minute.

That was simply the nature of infantry facing cavalry—an innate sense of dread. Well, at least that was how things worked before the invention of the machine gun...

While Sun Li and his cavalry were slaughtering the enemy with impunity, the Ryan generals on the other flank chose not to launch a cavalry charge. However, they successfully halted the advance of the thirty thousand reinforcing dwarves. Under the watchful gaze of thousands of cavalrymen, not a single daring dwarf officer dared order his infantry to continue their march and provide reinforcements.

Regrettably, the Ryan generals lacked the cultivation of a Grand Knight and possessed no invincible vanguard to smash directly into heavy-infantry phalanxes like the dwarves. The enemy force numbered a full thirty thousand; without a powerful vanguard to split them, these iron-willed dwarf infantrymen would have easily sent every last one of the thousands of trapped cavalrymen straight to the afterlife.

Ryan knew that if he rashly ordered a charge, his forces would be wiped out in no time. It was far wiser to simply keep the dwarf infantry pinned down and constantly on edge.

Realizing the Song cavalry had not blindly rushed into them, the thirty thousand dwarf reinforcements were naturally unable to maintain a rapid pace of reinforcement. All they could do was sluggishly maintain their rigid bayonet squares, inching their way toward the central battlefield.

Yet, an infantry phalanx on the move could never match the terrifying compactness and stability it possessed while holding a stationary position.

Spotting a momentary gap in the shifting dwarf formation, Ryan seized the opportunity, leading his unit in a direct charge straight through the opening, leaving behind a trail of fallen dwarf soldiers and a few casualties among the Song cavalry.

Although dwarf soldiers from other sectors quickly rushed over to plug the gap, Ryan, knowing when enough was enough, refrained from making showy, repeated counter-marches like Sun Li. Instead, he pulled his men back beyond the effective range of the dwarf muskets and continued to monitor the enemy reinforcements.

Taught by this bitter lesson, the movement speed of the dwarf reinforcements slowed to a crawl. The commander of this relief force had already abandoned all hope of reaching the front lines in time. Given the circumstances, the thirty thousand reinforcements suffering catastrophic casualties at the hands of these Song cavalrymen was practically a foregone conclusion.

On the primary battlefield, the dwarf army, currently surrounded and battered from both flanks, suffered yet another heavy blow. The Song skirmishers, who had been resting in the rear, poured into the ranks of the line infantry. With pinpoint accuracy, they targeted the heavy-weapon operators among the infantry. The presence of over two thousand sniper-like marksmen caused the frontal firepower of the dwarves to plummet once again.

With their firepower diminished, the casualties sustained by the Song soldiers were finally brought down to an acceptable level. To endure the relentless, close-range barrage of those high-casualty weapons any longer would have eventually broken the spirits of even the most fearless Song soldiers, driving them to the brink of madness.

Watching Sun Li ride and slaughter his way through the sea of dwarf infantry, Field Marshal Aigris suddenly remembered a crucial factor he had overlooked all along: the enemy possessed an apex predator—a Grand Knight capable of single-handedly altering the fate of the battlefield!

In less than half an hour, the thirty thousand dwarf reinforcements had been completely routed by Sun Li and his five thousand cavalry! After enduring such prolonged, one-sided slaughter, anyone's mental fortitude would have snapped.

Having shattered the dwarf reinforcements on this flank, Sun Li did not linger to pursue and expand the victory. Leaving a thousand cavalrymen behind to mop up and scatter the broken dwarf infantry, he galloped with the remaining troopers directly toward the dwarf artillery positions!

Charging straight through a volley of grapeshot under the protection of his battle qi, Sun Li leaped from his saddle right into the midst of the artillery emplacements. Unleashing his overwhelming personal might, he and his cavalrymen cut down the melee-weak gunners to the last man.

Seeing his artillery positions fall in an instant, Field Marshal Aigris knew the battle was irretrievable. Setting aside the unfavorable strategic situation, Sun Li alone—this monstrous, rampaging vanguard leading a pack of cavalry—was more than enough to spell utter disaster.

Even as Sun Li led his men toward the artillery emplacements, Field Marshal Aigris gathered his final reserve of ten thousand men and charged directly at the Song cavalry currently lingering near the remaining thirty thousand dwarf reinforcements.

This time, led by Field Marshal Aigris himself, the dwarf relief force was utterly determined to fight to the death. Even if they could no longer reinforce the front, they were resolved to drag this cavalry force down with them!

General Ryan knew he could no longer stall. With no other choice, he led his men to block these desperate dwarf infantry with their very lives. Abandoning any pretense of a bayonet square, the dwarf infantry charged straight ahead, knowing that taking the time to reform squares meant missing the battlefield entirely.

At first, Ryan's cavalry used their speed advantage to execute several brilliant charges. Yet, lacking the unstoppable might of a Grand Knight, those several thousand cavalrymen were ultimately bogged down. The willpower of the dwarf soldiers was, after all, remarkably tenacious.

Once the Song cavalry became mired in the sea of dwarf infantry, Field Marshal Aigris did not halt his advance. Leaving roughly ten thousand men to encircle and annihilate the now-immobilized Song cavalry, he pressed forward with the rest of his forces toward the ten-plus thousand Song soldiers who were steadily advancing and firing, relentlessly suppressing the dwarf army on the central front.

"Long live the Dwarf Empire! Dwarf glory shall never fall!"

Leading by example, Field Marshal Aigris charged forward at the head of high-morale dwarf soldiers, casting aside all formations and phalanxes as they swarmed in a chaotic tide toward the Song troops who were continuing to massacre their comrades on the main battlefield.

The Song officers on the right flank were suddenly jolted into alarm as they spotted the suicidal charge of the dwarf reinforcements. In an instant, the Song battle line on the right flank found itself caught in a harrowing crossfire from two directions!