The Demon Lords-Chapter 719 - 151: Despair_5

This is truly a dream.

The only hope now was for the wild people. They didn't have to achieve victory over the Yan people, but they must at least secure a draw. Only then would Jade Plate City avoid falling into the most dangerous and awkward situation.

These beasts, they better not be so easily defeated.

「...」

At this moment, on the west bank of the Wang River, the main forces of the Yan Army and the wild people had collided.

First, two prongs of the Yan Army crashed directly into the tide of the wild people's forces with resolute abandon. Disregarding casualties, they forcibly halted the momentum of the entire wild people's army.

Immediately, several other prongs of the Yan Army began to cut into the wild people's ranks.

The battlefield was instantly shredded to pieces. The wild people's already chaotic formations utterly collapsed under this nine-pronged assault.

If, at first, the wild people warriors had regarded the advancing Yan Army with a mixture of curiosity and disdain, then gradually, more and more of them began to realize that the Yan people they faced were... different!

In the era of cold weapons, equipment was undoubtedly important, but what was most crucial were the men themselves.

Their order, their coordination, their relentless piercing charges—again and again—left the wild people facing them somewhat helpless.

During the fight, the wild people discovered their bravery was no match for a saber slashing at their vitals; their fearlessness could not stop an arrow, loosed from atop a warhorse, from piercing their necks.

Comparing morale?

Who was afraid of whom?

For the Northern Army, despite the Left Army suffering the heaviest losses in the devastating defeat at the previous Battle of Wang River, their own Northern Army had also lost a chief, and thousands of their fellow soldiers had died beneath the walls of Jade Plate City.

This debt of blood had to be repaid.

As for the Jingnan Army, their own Lord was leading the charge. They absolutely could not bring shame upon him. No matter what, their performance could not be inferior to that of the Northern Army.

As for the wild people's generals and chieftains, when the two armies first clashed, they hadn't thought much of it. Victory always required a fierce struggle; the Yan people weren't made of clay, after all.

But after the fighting had dragged on into a stalemate for some time, these same generals and chieftains were dumbfounded.

The wild people had completely devolved into fighting as individuals. Their generals and chieftains could only command the few hundred men immediately around them. Yet, in every direction they looked, Yan cavalry seemed to be darting everywhere.

On an open battlefield, an individual's line of sight is limited. After all, no one in this world possessed a true bird's-eye view, a God's perspective.

They couldn't grasp the overall situation; they only felt an overwhelming presence of Yan people surrounding them.

To their front, their rear, their left, their right—all Yan people.

As this chaos persisted, the various wild people contingents began to drift from their original objectives. Losing their command structure was akin to losing their sense of direction.

It was like a clenched fist slowly uncurling, finger by finger.

The wild people simply couldn't withstand the Yan Army's incisive charges. After all, this wasn't a mere clash of a few thousand cavalry. Combined, both sides had committed over 200,000 troops to the field. Even if, in isolated pockets, wild people commanders led their men with courage and achieved some success, it was utterly insufficient to prevent the collapse of the bigger picture.

In stark contrast to the wild people's disarray, the Yan Army, after completing their first wave of penetration, swiftly wheeled around, selected new targets, and continued their piercing attacks.

These were tactics cavalry typically employed against infantry formations, yet here they were being used against the wild people's cavalry.

Previously, the wild people's army had exploited the weaknesses of the Yan State's Left Army—its mixed composition and lack of coordination—to deliver a decisive blow against them on the banks of the Wang River.

Now, the true elites of Yan State, under the command of Lord Jingnan, were turning the tables, giving the wild people a taste of their own medicine.

Compare quality?

Compare discipline?

Compare training?

Compare experience?

Compare coordination?

Come!

Compare!

These two armies, when previously facing an enemy twice their strength, had fought across vast distances in ten days, shattering the pride of the Three Jin's cavalry!

You wild people,

what did you amount to?

When the Jin State still stood,

didn't you have any damned clue how badly the Jin people's cavalry used to thrash you?

This was a disdain that ran bone-deep. Yet, the Yan Army had suffered the indignity of losing to them once before. That stifled resentment had festered, magnified a hundredfold in their chests.

Now, it was finally being unleashed!

After the second penetration came the third; after the third, the fourth; after the fourth, the fifth...

It was true their armor was no longer as fine as it once was, but their inner resilience and pride remained utterly unchanged.

After these repeated, continuous penetrations, the wild people's army was cut to ribbons. Finally, this prolonged period of bewilderment and chaos triggered a rout.

It wasn't that they didn't want to fight, nor that they didn't dare to. Rather, the situation offered no hope. Once hope was lost, men became muddled. When those around them began to flee, the rest could only follow suit, retreating together even if, in their hearts, they hadn't wanted to run.

Having lost their formations and command structure, the wild people's leadership was powerless to address the situation. Worse still, one tribal chieftain, raising his own banner, began to actively lead a retreat eastward.

He fled with his banner raised in an attempt to rally as many of his own tribesmen as possible, but this act was the final straw. The situation utterly collapsed!