When Zhao Sen led his men back to the canyon entrance, about 70% of his 1,200 soldiers from his vanguard battalion and the 200 cavalrymen entrusted to him by Li Xiaozong remained. The infantry had suffered heavy losses, while the cavalry, having not directly engaged the enemy, suffered almost no casualties. Therefore, when Zhao Sen immediately set up a defensive line at the canyon entrance without allowing his soldiers to rest, some idle cavalrymen were met with contempt that tugged at their consciences.
"Look!"
An infantryman, while adjusting his quiver, sneered, "His equipment combined is almost enough to buy a prostitute, yet while we were fighting, he was just strolling around… We're all the same, but his is so precious."
Another soldier covered his mouth, gesturing to Zhao Sen, whose expression was grim, as he looked in their direction.
"What's there to be afraid of!"
The soldier who had mocked the cavalry shrugged indifferently. "It's a miracle I even survived this battle. If I don't say what I need to say now, wouldn't it be a waste to have my tongue ripped out in hell?"
He glanced at the knife wound on his right arm, frowned, and then tore off a piece of his clothing to roughly wrap it around himself. "When we left Qingxia, those riders were at the front, showing off their power. When we retreated to defend Qingxia, they were still at the front, unscathed. In my next life, I'll naturally be reborn in the Sui Dynasty, but I'd rather be a horse!"
Cavalry Captain Zhao Qi's face was extremely grim. The infantry's sarcastic words felt like knives stabbing at his heart. Like all Sui Dynasty cavalry, he had been filled with pride from the moment he received his own warhorse. Because of the scarcity of warhorses, not just any soldier could become a cavalryman. They were all highly skilled, robust, and their food, supplies, and clothing were all better than the infantry's; even their pay was double that of the infantry.
They had indeed put in far more effort than the infantry. They trained when the infantry trained, and they trained when the infantry rested. Regardless of wind, rain, heat, or cold, these cavalrymen relentlessly strived for their dream of surpassing the Mongol light cavalry. But… on the battlefield, he found that his proud cavalrymen had become the most useless men.
He didn't resent the infantrymen's mockery, nor even the enemy.
His hand, gripping his lance, trembled slightly, and a fire burned in Zhao Qi's eyes.
"Captain!"
A cavalryman, unable to bear the infantrymen's scorn and sarcasm, looked Zhao Qi in the eye and shouted, "Are we just going to stand by and watch our comrades fight to the death? Are we just going to stand idly by after all our training in wind and rain?"
"Shut up!"
Zhao Qi bit his lip and said, "We are cavalry, but first and foremost, we are soldiers. Soldiers... must obey orders. Until the general's orders are issued, you all better stay put!"
"But..."
"No buts!"
Zhao Qi's eyes were fixed on the herdsmen who were gradually dispersing and charging towards them. He knew that General Pan Mei's entire battalion was dead. Just moments ago, his two hundred cavalrymen had prepared to charge and rescue Pan Mei, but General Zhao Sen had stopped them.
They had indeed watched their comrades die, doing nothing like useless trash.
Those were the lives of over 1,200 living people, killed by tens of thousands of ragged herdsmen. How desperately those comrades had longed for their comrades' rescue during the bloody battle! Yet, even as they all perished, they never saw the crimson banner of the Sui Dynasty appear behind the enemy.
Zhao Qi's heart bled; he wanted to roar out his pent-up resentment.
He couldn't help but turn his gaze from the enemy to General Zhao Sen. Just then, the cavalryman he had sent to inquire whether Zhao Sen should engage returned, head bowed, his face filled with disappointment.
"Captain... the general ordered us to await orders."
The cavalryman spoke softly, as if afraid that a loud voice would hurt his own feelings.
"Await orders..."
Zhao Qi murmured, repeating it, the veins bulging on his hand gripping his lance.
Not far from him, General Zhao Sen ordered his soldiers to set up defenses at the canyon entrance. Before the enemy could reach them, the soldiers hastily dug numerous horse traps dozens of meters outside the canyon mouth. These pits were shallow and small, but a galloping horse would lose its balance if it stepped into one.
"Thank goodness!"
Zhao Qi wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered to himself, "Luckily, those herdsmen didn't know any better. Their bloodlust made them lose their minds, and they all charged around Pan Mei's vanguard instead of immediately dividing their forces to occupy the canyon. I doubt even Man Dulang anticipated this. These untrained herdsmen don't understand tactics; otherwise, I'd probably be a criminal by now."
"General!"
The lookout on the high ground shouted down, "General Li's situation isn't good! Enemy cavalry are circling our formation, shooting arrows but not attacking directly. Our formation is getting smaller and smaller!"
"What a vicious tactic!"
Zhao Sen's eyes sharpened. After a moment of silence, he shouted, "Messenger, bring Cavalry Captain Zhao Qi to me!"
"Yes, sir!"
The messenger responded loudly and ran off. ...
...
Emperor Li Xiaozong's forehead was covered in sweat. His eyes, watching the Mongol cavalry charging past, twitched incessantly, his expression one of extreme pain. Before the advance, he thought he had anticipated all the Mongol light cavalry charges and devised countermeasures. However, the one thing he had overlooked was the enemy cavalry's speed advantage, maneuvering outside the enemy lines and slowly whittling down the ranks with their arrows, like soft knives.
The enemy swept past forty paces away, yet he couldn't inflict any damage. The enemy's boxwood horse bows had a faster rate of fire than the standard Sui infantry bows. Most troublesome of all, the enemy was even faster; the Sui archers' arrows often landed behind the enemy. Even though he ordered his archers to aim at the front of the enemy, not at people, the casualty ratio was still vastly different.
The only thing that truly alarmed the enemy was the thirty heavy crossbows. But the heavy crossbows were too cumbersome; if faced head-on, their power was immense. The enemy's flanking tactics rendered the heavy crossbows largely ineffective.
The shield bearers numbered less than 150, insufficient to protect the entire battle formation. Even if they could, what good would it do to be trapped inside, defenseless?
After much struggle, Emperor Li Xiaozong, biting his lip until it bled, finally issued a military order.
"Attack!"
He raised his sword and shouted, "We'd rather die charging into battle than remain inactive!"
"Forward!"
The less than 1,500 Sui infantrymen roared, immediately changing formation. The shield bearers lined the flanks, archers brought up the rear, and spearmen charged ahead. At the very front were Emperor Li Xiaozong and his dozen or so personal guards. These were the only cavalry in the Sui army.
But as they charged, Emperor Li Xiaozong and his guards dismounted their precious warhorses, running alongside the infantry, showing no reluctance to leave their mounts.
"Forward!"
"We'd rather charge and die!"
The soldiers shouted defiantly, each face filled with determination.
Mandulang watched as the Sui army opposite them changed formation and couldn't help but laugh triumphantly: "These Sui people dare to claim invincibility? I wiped out nearly half their army with just a group of herdsmen. If I wanted, I could even continue using cavalry maneuvers to wear them down. But I won't... Since they've chosen to attack, let them see how the strongest army in the world kills, how the most powerful army attacks!"
"Blow the horns, engage!"
He drew his scimitar and pointed it forward, the heavy horn booming loudly. All the cavalry returned to their positions and followed Mandulang, charging towards the Sui army.
The Sui people were proud, and so were the Mongols. When the enemy chose to charge, Mandulang's pride wouldn't allow him to avoid battle. He was determined to defeat Li Xiaozong head-on, the man who had been his adversary for three years across a mountain. The ferocious and savage Manduqi herders, using sheer numbers, overwhelmed Pan Mei's vanguard. Twelve hundred well-trained elite Sui Right Guard soldiers died a somewhat humiliating death. Although not a single one surrendered, the fact that the enemy was not a regular Mongol army filled them with resentment.
The herders, their eyes bloodshot, did not halt their horses' advance despite the heavy losses. Once they realized the surrounding Sui soldiers had been wiped out, they immediately turned their horses and charged into the canyon. Although… Mandu Wolf had previously instructed them to prioritize capturing the canyon, once the slaughter began, they lost control of their humanity.
Approximately six thousand men and women, a mixed force of herders, roared towards the canyon entrance. Because of the Mongol Empire's regulations, each herder household was only allowed one bow, the pressure on the defending Sui infantry was slightly less. Otherwise, the Sui army wouldn't have been able to withstand the relentless barrage of arrows from these six thousand herders during the charge.
The frenzied herders shouted and spurred their horses forward, many at the front slipping and falling into craters. But their surging comrades gave them no chance to dodge; quickly, those who fell were trampled into a bloody pulp. The horses' hooves pounded the muddy ground, a mixture of blood, flesh, and entrails.
An eye, its owner unknown, was covered in dust, yet stubbornly stared ahead.
"Loose the arrows!"
Zhao Sen shouted the order, and the few Sui infantrymen unleashed a hail of arrows. The inexperienced herders didn't know how to dodge, and those struck by the arrows fell like dumplings.
The antler-shaped barricades the Sui army had previously deployed at the canyon entrance proved effective. The herders, unsure how to dismantle them quickly, jumped from their horses and clumsily tried to move the obstacles, but the Sui archers gave them no time.
Soon, the area in front of the antler-shaped barricades was littered with corpses.
The land at the western entrance of the canyon seemed to be moving, a hill formed of flesh and blood rising ever higher.
When the Sui soldiers had emptied their quivers, they hurled their long spears like javelins. When the spears were gone, they drew their swords, preparing for close combat. The heavily wounded herders, unable to ride over the high pile of corpses, dismounted and charged, brandishing various weapons. Like bows and arrows, not every herder was entitled to possess a scimitar.
In any era, in any country, a monarch would not allow his people to wield weapons that could rebel against his rule. Moreover, the Mongol Yuan dynasty was a country lacking in iron. Therefore, many herders wielded nothing more than sharpened wooden clubs.
How could the dismounted herders possibly gain an advantage against the elite Sui army? Of course, when their numbers outnumbered tenfold, the herders could see the dawn of victory.
When the hand-to-hand combat began, the Sui army had fewer than four hundred men left. They barely managed to form three lines of defense at the mouth of the canyon, looking pitifully thin.
The herders fell layer by layer, and the Sui soldiers dwindled one by one.
Just as the last sixty or seventy Sui soldiers were desperately holding on, chaos erupted behind the herders. The herders, already on the verge of collapse, finally succumbed to the fear of death and began to flee, howling. If they had discovered that what was attacking them from behind was only a cavalry force of less than a hundred men, they might have regretted their decision to run.
Li Xiaozong returned, wounded by three arrows, his armor stained with blood.
The cavalry returned, having lost half their men. But they proclaimed with their lances that although outnumbered, they were more terrifying than the Mongol cavalry!
The infantry did not return; they were all dead. Their bodies were left on the grassland, their souls unknown whether they could cross the canyon and return home.
This was the first battle of the first day. Of the five thousand Sui troops who emerged from Qingxia, fewer than two hundred remained. Although they had killed over eight thousand herders and over sixteen hundred Mongol cavalry, could this be considered a victory? Perhaps, this is just the first tragedy.