Chapter 9 Village War
On a plain in Xinye County, with the water of the Baihe River flowing slowly on the west side, 500 soldiers and militiamen formed three square formations, one on the left, one in the middle and one on the right. The front row was composed of sword and shield soldiers holding swords and shields, the middle was composed of spearmen holding long spears, the back was composed of archers and crossbowmen, and at the end was a team of militiamen as a reserve.

Four player lords rode on war horses and personally supervised the battle.

“Tian Ce Village has wiped out several villages. If we don’t defeat Tian Ce Village, our village will be the next to be attacked.”

“Don’t worry, we have more people and will definitely win.”

“The army from Tiance Village is here.”

“I didn’t expect that Tiance Village would dare to accept the challenge.”

The four player lords looked to the north and saw a team of more than a hundred people heading south along the White River.

The troops of Tiance Village lined up in the north, with less than half the number of the coalition forces of the four villages, and they were flying the flag with the word “Li”.

Li Qian narrowed his eyes and looked at the four-village coalition forces in the south slowly.

He led his troops to destroy six villages in a row, causing panic in other surrounding villages. The four player lords south of Tiance Village gathered an army of 500 people to resist the troops of Tiance Village.

The four-village coalition army consisted of sword and shield soldiers, spearmen, crossbowmen, archers, and a considerable number of local militiamen. As for cavalry, there was almost none.

If a player lord can gather 500 soldiers on his own, then he must have enough financial resources to build a cavalry.

However, these 500 people were an army that was cobbled together by four player lords. Several players could not afford cavalry, and archers were also a minority.

“It’s just right to destroy four villages at once, so we don’t have to attack them one by one.”

Li Qian asked Zhang Dahu to command the sword and shield soldiers and spearmen in the front, while he commanded the archers and crossbowmen to confront the coalition forces of the four villages.

Li Qian was not in a hurry to attack, but instead activated the halo of “General Tiance” to cover the entire battlefield.

Under the influence of Tiance’s halo, the morale of the Tiance Village army remained high, while the morale of the coalition forces of the four villages on the opposite side was declining rapidly.

“Why hasn’t Tiance Village attacked yet?”

“Not good, our army’s morale is declining!”

The four village chiefs were horrified to see their troops’ morale rapidly declining.

The longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for them.

“The mountain doesn’t see me, but I see the mountain. We take the initiative to attack.”

“We have more people, so we will definitely win this battle.”

The four village chiefs had a brief discussion and decided that the arrow was on the string and had to be shot.

If we withdraw our troops at this time, Tiance Village will take advantage of the victory to pursue the enemy, and the coalition forces of the four villages will be defeated.

The four-village coalition forces began to advance.

They have 500 people. How could they lose to the Tiance Village with less than 200 people?

As the distance between the two sides got closer, the coalition forces of the four villages began to sprint in small steps and launch an attack.

“Fire arrows!”

“shoot with great precision!”

At Li Qian’s command, twenty longbowmen and thirty crossbowmen fired in unison. The arrows made a sound of breaking through the air and fell into the coalition forces of the four villages. More than a dozen sword and shield soldiers and spearmen were shot dead.

Li Qian pulled the birch bow, and the arrow was like a meteor, hitting an enemy general in the face!

This unlucky and mediocre general fell to the ground with a bang.

With the death of the general, the morale of the soldiers and warriors under the jurisdiction of the village plummeted, but under the command of the village chief, they still gritted their teeth and attacked forward.

“kill!”

Finally, the coalition forces of the four villages came into close combat with the Tiance Village, and both sides stabbed with spears, resulting in casualties.

The morale of the Tiance Village is high, and although the number of people is small, they can still maintain a stable formation.

Zhang Dahu wielded a crescent-shaped sword and chopped down several soldiers from the four-village coalition. However, there were also generals on the opposite side who stabbed at him with spears, cutting through the air. The swords and spears clashed violently, and they fought Zhang Dahu on equal terms.

“Finally the battle began.”

“As long as we engage in battle, our four-village coalition has more people and will surely win!”

“Although I don’t understand why the morale of Tiance Village is high despite being at a disadvantage, the fighting power displayed by Tiance Village is not as strong as imagined. In the end, it will be our coalition of four villages that will win.”

“We will divide equally the population and food that Tiance Village plundered from other villages.” The four village chiefs looked excitedly at the balance of victory that was gradually tipping towards them.

In the early stages, no one has the conditions to recruit special troops, and there are few famous generals. Basically, whichever side has more troops, the greater the probability of winning.

This is also why the coalition forces of the four villages took the initiative to issue a declaration of war and invited Li Qian to come here for a fight to the death.

Chirp.

Li Qian shot an arrow and killed another spearman.

“It’s about time. Light the straw.”

While shooting arrows, Li Qian gave orders to the soldier holding a torch beside him.

The soldiers immediately set the straw pile on fire, and black smoke billowed from the Tiance Village formation.

“Why is there smoke coming out of the Tiance Village formation? Is there a fire?”

The four player lords were paying attention to the situation on the battlefield and discovered that there was thick smoke behind the Tiance Village’s formation. They were confused for a moment.

Even if Li Qian intended to attack with fire, he should have set fire in front of him instead of setting fire behind him.

Suddenly, a player reacted: “Oh no, this might be a sign of an ambush!”

“what?!”

The other three players broke out in cold sweats and quickly glanced around the battlefield.

Sure enough, a group of light cavalry rushed out from the woods not far away, their horses’ hooves clanging as they galloped towards the battlefield!

This team of cavalry was extremely fast, like a sharp arrow, approaching quickly!
A general took the lead, holding the Bagua Xuanhua Mountain Axe, like a ferocious beast, coming with great momentum!

“cavalry!”

The four player lords’ faces changed drastically.

The two sides are fighting fiercely, and if a cavalry unit suddenly emerges from the woods behind them, it will be a devastating blow!

Finished!

Cavalry is the king of war in the era of cold weapons!

“Quick, adjust the formation!”

“No, the spearmen are already in close combat with the enemy’s infantry and cannot escape!”

“Use the reserves!”

The four player lords were hysterical and hastily mobilized their respective troops. As a result, due to lack of training, they were in a mess and their formation was in chaos. They had to send a small number of reserve militiamen to try to stop Cheng Yaojin’s cavalry.

But how could the weak local militia be a match for the cavalry led by Cheng Yaojin?
Cheng Yaojin swung his axe and killed a militiaman by smashing him on the head.

Twenty cavalrymen armed with spears advanced rapidly, and with their spears they could easily kill the militiamen who lacked heavy armor.

The reserve force of fifty militiamen was defeated by the cavalry at the first encounter!
“No!”

A player lord drew out his sword and was horrified to see a Xuanhua axe falling from high above. Then he saw his own body, his eyes went black, and he lost consciousness.

The four player lords who were supervising the battle in the rear were the first to be hit and were overwhelmed by Cheng Yaojin’s cavalry.

The lord was killed in battle, and the morale of the four-village coalition forces fighting in the front collapsed instantly.

“Ding, you shot and killed a sword and shield soldier (LV15), and gained 50 experience points. Your level is increased to level 19, and you get a random attribute point, force +1.”

Seeing that the battle was over, Li Qian shouted, “Surrender and you won’t be killed!”

“Surrender without killing!”

The soldiers and warriors of Tiance Village were greatly encouraged and shouted in unison.

The four-village coalition was leaderless and its morale fell to the bottom.

With a clang, it was unknown which soldier dropped his weapon first, and the other soldiers and militiamen also dropped their weapons and surrendered.

In one battle, Li Qian captured nearly four hundred able-bodied men.

(End of this chapter)