Chapter 158: Pursuing the North (Part 7)

It was afternoon, the sun was bright, and the autumn wind was fierce—a fine day indeed for a bloody fight.

Thirty horsemen spurred their mounts along the post road stretching from Shanyang to Shenwu.

Xu Le still rode at the forefront, his heavy lance resting horizontally across the saddle hooks, looking completely unhurried and at ease. It seemed as though he was not leading a mere thirty horsemen straight toward a commandery governor's army of ten thousand, but rather going out for a leisurely autumn hunt with his family retainers on a pleasant afternoon.

For generations, Xu Le’s forebears had lived amidst battle arrays, struggled through turbulent times, and climbed upward through slaughter. Passing down to Xu Le, it remained the same; whenever he faced a battle array, he was like a fish in water, seemingly destined to make his living by this trade.

Behind those thirty horsemen, tree branches tied to their horses' tails dragged along the ground as the steeds pressed forward, stirring up a sky-full of dust and smoke.

Han Yue rode back and forth between the front and rear of the formation from time to time, helping Xu Le supervise and organize the ranks. With such an assistant, Xu Le was spared a great deal of thought.

The estate retainers seemed to have caught Xu Le's demeanor, showing little of the heavy tension and grimness of facing a formidable enemy, and instead possessing a carefree leisure. They sat in their saddles in various postures, with quite a few humming folk tunes passed down through the Sanggan River Valley.

Though they were simple rustic tunes, Mayi had stood at the absolute frontline between the nomadic tribes and the Han for centuries, enduring an untold number of bloody battles and fires of war. The meaning within the songs remained filled with borderland pride: young men seeking noble titles upon their steeds, and maidens yearning for their lovers hidden deep within embroidered chambers. Strangely, it naturally matched the figure of Xu Le leading at the very front, as straight and upright as a drawn sword.

A younger estate retainer sought out Han Yue to talk: "Brother Han, we fought a damn good battle just now. If Little Liu were to find out, wouldn't he die of envy?"

Han Yue glared at the young retainer: "Go and tell Little Liu that yourself when the time comes, and see if he doesn't hunt you down for a brawl."

The young retainer laughed heartily: "As long as Little Liu doesn't use his bow and arrows, I'm not afraid to fight him until dark! It's not like we've never wrestled before; we're evenly matched, six of one and half a dozen of the other. My strength is even a bit greater than Little Liu's!"

Han Yue glared at him again, urging his horse forward to the head of the column.

Unwilling to let it go, the young retainer called out to Han Yue once more: "Brother Han, speak with Master Le. Our troop of men from the Xu Family Village just shattered Wang Rengong's Mayi elite cavalry, yet we don't even have a troop title. It's truly lacking in spirit. Why don't you ask Master Le to bestow a troop title upon us?"

Han Yue frowned in thought, nodded heavily, and spurred his horse forward.

The young retainer looked down at the streaks of black lacquer painted on the armor he had seized from the Mayi elite cavalry, and then looked ahead at Xu Le’s dark, solemn armor. Suddenly, stretching his neck, he shouted loudly toward the front: "Master Le! Brother Han! Let's call ourselves the Black Armor Cavalry! The Black Armor Cavalry!"

The surrounding estate retainers had been listening with pricked ears. Hearing those three words, they all grew immensely excited, raising their arms and shouting in unison.

"Black Armor Cavalry!"

***

Amidst the roaring echoes, Xu Le, riding at the front, felt those three words strike straight into the depths of his heart.

In a sudden trance, countless scenes unfolded before his eyes. Beside towering mountains, along the banks of great rivers, within magnificent and renowned cities—facing endless enemy battle arrays, this troop of black-armored cavalry always pressed forward unstoppably, crushing everything in their path like withered weeds!

In the blink of an eye, the illusion vanished. Xu Le gave a low chuckle, stroked the mane of his steed, Tunlong, and muttered softly to himself, "The Black Armor Cavalry it is."

The next moment, Xu Le's face turned cold. With a single motion, he snatched his heavy lance from its mount, held it in one hand, and pointed it diagonally toward the sky!

Xu Le had already spotted the Mayi cavalry scouts retreating in a flurry from the hills on both sides in the distance!

The previously boisterous estate retainers ahead saw Xu Le's signal, immediately silenced their shouting, and closed ranks tightly on their own. Brandishing weapons of varying lengths, within a fraction of a second, they formed a solid, unshakeable assault array!

Meanwhile, Han Yue had silently arrived by Xu Le's side, unhitching the massive Shentu shield to protect Xu Le's flank.

Xu Le raised his voice: "Black Armor Cavalry, we press forward! Let's test the mettle of our foes!"

Thirty horsemen shouted in unison: "Understood!"

***

On the opposing side, watching the billowing dust and smoke filling the sky, the Mayi cavalry remained in utter chaos.

Every squad leader and platoon commander looked toward Wang Fan’s command banner, waiting for him to issue orders.

How on earth are we supposed to fight this? You are the camp commander, hurry up and make a decision!

Wang Fan stared with wide eyes, gazing blankly at the dust and smoke that seemed to roll forward like a thousand armies and ten thousand horses. His eyes were fixed, and for a long time, he could not utter a single word.

He was a good bodyguard, a virtuous man with few vices, who always placed his men before himself. Whether serving beside Wang Rengong or within the ranks of the Mayi elite cavalry, no one could ever find a fault in his conduct.

Yet, he was simply unsuited to be a camp commander commanding two hundred fierce warriors, risking his life to contend with enemies for victory on the battlefield!

The Vanguard Camp of the Elite Cavalry had been utterly routed and sent fleeing in panic by the enemy before them in the blink of an eye. Shi Chaozhi's entire camp had already been completely wiped out. And now, raising a sky-full of dust and smoke, the enemy was charging directly toward Shanyang City without the slightest shred of fear!

Within Wang Fan's mind, a scene had already emerged: tens of thousands of Heng'an armored cavalry, led by fierce wolves like Liu Wuzhou, Yuan Junzhang, and Yuchi Gong, surging fiercely toward his single, isolated camp of elite cavalry.

And of course, there was also that suddenly rising-star Master Le!

In the front ranks, signal flags waved continuously as men awaited Wang Fan's orders, urging him to bring the command banner forward. Yet Wang Fan remained frozen there, unmoving. His lips twitched incessantly as if he wanted to say something, but not a single word would come out.

Some of the more impatient squad leaders and platoon commanders ahead reined their horses directly toward Wang Fan's command banner, shouting from afar: "Commander! Do we fight or retreat?"

Suddenly, a few horses neighed shrilly as those routed soldiers from the vanguard camp whipped their mounts around and fled straight in the direction of Shanyang.

As for whether this would shake military morale, those routed vanguard soldiers couldn't care less. It would be best if Wang Fan were defeated here as well; the more people who failed, the less the law could punish everyone. Only then could these veteran scoundrels safely survive.

Wang Fan looked at the fleeing vanguard soldiers, then looked at the squad leaders galloping toward him, his expression nearing total collapse.

The dust and smoke drew closer and closer, and a single horseman suddenly broke out from within.

It was none other than Xu Le.

His armor was as dark as lacquer, and his mount was like a dragon. On his mask, red paint outlined a strange pattern, though it was indistinguishable from afar.

Behind him were vague, row-upon-row silhouettes of armored cavalrymen!

The appearance of the black-armored horsemen finally shattered Wang Fan's already fragile psychological defense line. He violently jerked his reins, whipped his mount around, and fiercely drove his spurs into the horse's flanks. With a piercing neigh, the steed tossed its head, kicked up its hooves, and clattered away in wild flight toward Shanyang!

The dozen or so personal guards who followed Wang Fan had all been parachuted in alongside him and had never gotten along with the local veteran soldiers of the Mayi Yingyang Commandery. At this moment, they didn't waste any more words either; clustering around Wang Fan's command banner, they frantically wheeled their horses about and fled in panic!

Nearly two hundred veteran soldiers of the Mayi Yingyang Commandery stared blankly at the scene before them. A weather-beaten platoon commander spat bitterly onto the ground: "Aristocratic bastards!"