Chapter 121: Mounted Archer Tactics

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“Retreat~”

Helian Bo was a Silver-rank expert, and his eyesight was quite good. After seeing clearly what armor those cavalrymen were wearing, his first reaction was to retreat.

An experienced commander could quickly distinguish from the equipment of both armies whether this battle could be fought. He calculated instantly that even if his entire army was wiped out, they would at most take down thirty of the enemy.

Indeed, he wanted to take revenge on the Iron Cavalry Regiment, and he wanted to kill Lei Qing. But spending all his men to charge up would result in defeat without victory. Not only would he fail to achieve his goal, but he would also become a laughingstock.

Actually, this group of two or three hundred Horse Bandits was originally composed of several smaller bands of Horse Bandits. They had merely been united by Helian Bo using various methods.

Fighting winning battles and bullying villagers naturally kept morale high. But to fight the regular army of the Iron Cavalry Regiment, they were already afraid in their bones. Moreover, this large group of Iron-armored Heavy Cavalry, judging by their armor, were definitely all Black Iron-rank elites. The reason was simple: with such equipment, even most Black Iron-rank experts couldn’t afford it, let alone outfitting a group of ordinary soldiers.

The Horse Bandits misunderstood, and Helian Bo also misunderstood. And the effect Lei Qing wanted was for them to misunderstand.

Clearly, that guy Xianyu Bao, though a bit crude, had some skill in leading troops. He knew to deploy such a Long Snake formation, like a giant net spread out, stretching for over three li.

Although the Iron-armored Heavy Cavalry was slower than light cavalry due to their load, the group of two or three hundred Horse Bandits was like fish caught in a net. If they tried to break out towards the grasslands, no matter how they shifted laterally, they could not escape the blockade of the giant net.

Actually, without Helian Bo’s orders, the Horse Bandits were already prepared to retreat. Joke aside, everyone was out here to seek wealth and make a living. Fighting against such a rare elite army in the world was simply seeking their own death.

Now, everyone confirmed that Lei Qing’s verbal challenge was just to lure them into an ambush. Everyone hated Lei Qing to the bone. Under Helian Bo’s command, they displayed superb horsemanship and started heading towards the northwest inland direction. As long as they opened the distance, they could escape.

But they thought too beautifully. At this moment, Lei Qing, carrying Zuo Qianqian, rushed towards the right side of the opponent’s main force. Relying on Wuzhui’s divine speed and Lei Qing’s horsemanship of unity between man and horse, in a very short time, Wuzhui arrived at the right side of the main force like a whirlwind.

The duel between mounted archers was all about seizing the right. Once the right side was seized, a favorable position was obtained. Just imagine, the vast majority of people hold the bow with their left hand and draw the string with their right.

The most comfortable shooting direction is to the right or to the right-rear. As for those who can shoot with both hands, they are extremely rare, and few people practice shooting with both hands.

Therefore, when two mounted archers move in the same direction, the one occupying the right side gains the initiative. Conversely, it becomes extremely disadvantageous, making it awkward to shoot to the right.

After Lei Qing seized the favorable and comfortable direction using his horsemanship and Demonic Beast warhorse, when he was only about ten zhang away from the enemy, Zuo Qianqian happily began shooting arrows.

She didn’t even need to aim precisely; she just needed to fire in the general direction. The enemy was a large group, so hitting them was easy. At this moment, Zuo Qianqian started pursuing speed.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, arrows were shot out desperately.

Lei Qing, meanwhile, kept using his long spear to deflect the scattered arrows flying in. Most were shot from awkward positions or with the left hand, so their power was weak and accuracy poor.

Besides, the vast majority of Horse Bandits had no desire to fight now; there was a large group of Iron-armored Heavy Cavalry chasing fiercely from behind. Anyone who dared to delay was dead meat.

As for that disgusting combination of one person with two horses, let them continue being disgusting for a while. Seeing her attitude of not saving arrows at all, she would empty her quiver before long.

A large quiver or arrow bag held at most thirty or so arrows. Even carrying two quivers was only sixty-something arrows. Any more would be inconvenient, and the load would increase significantly.

With such a hit rate, even if she shot all of them, how many could she kill or wound? At most a dozen or so. No one thought they would be the unlucky one. Saving their own life was the most important thing.

Their little guess was correct; after shooting for a while, Zuo Qianqian indeed ran out of arrows. She shot eleven enemies off their horses or directly shot the horses down.

But Zuo Qianqian began to calmly activate the Spatial Ring on her finger and took out two more quivers to hang at her waist. To reduce damage to her fingers, she also wore a thumb ring. To save Fighting Qi, she didn’t use full force on each arrow; wounding people and knocking them off their horses was enough.

“Spatial… Spatial Ring?” Many sharp-eyed Horse Bandits shouted while trembling, roaring: “That is too disgusting.”

It was indeed disgusting enough. Actually, the greatest wish of any mounted archer who loved horse archery was to have a Spatial Ring. For no other reason than to hold many, many arrows.

This way, theoretically, the classic hit-and-run tactic could unleash its power infinitely.

But what they could not accept the most was the enemy using the hit-and-run tactic on them, and having a Spatial Ring too.

Zuo Qianqian shot arrows very happily; she had never felt this good in her life. She just needed to launch the arrows roughly towards the high sky. These unaimed arrows were the hardest to defend against.

Seeing the enemy had a Spatial Ring, the Horse Bandits could no longer stay calm, nor could they ignore that disgusting cavalry combination. Under Helian Bo’s command, a group of several dozen Horse Bandits suddenly slowed down a bit. They separated from the main group of Horse Bandits.

After falling behind a little, they started sprinting quickly to the right front, trying to circle to Lei Qing’s right side. The other Horse Bandits also slowed down to cooperate with them and restrain Lei Qing. Unless Lei Qing gave up his attack on them, he would be caught in a pincer attack. Once trapped in a chaotic formation, even if Lei Qing were stronger, he would be shot to death by random arrows.

At this moment, it was a contest of horse speed and horsemanship. This was why an excellent horse often cost hundreds or thousands of gold. A good horse could greatly improve combat power and tactical capability, and even made escaping faster.

Facing over two hundred skilled mounted archers, Lei Qing absolutely could not let them seize the right side and enter their shooting zone. Otherwise, he would turn into a hedgehog in a few breaths.

Immediately, he spurred his horse’s belly and galloped forward. Naturally, even if it meant giving up this attack opportunity, Lei Qing did not want both of them to turn into hedgehogs.

“Chase~” Helian Bo needed to open the distance from the Iron-armored Heavy Cavalry, which required speeding up, and chasing Lei Qing naturally also required speeding up. To prevent Lei Qing from seizing the right side of the troop again.

Left with no choice, Helian Bo had to spread the Horse Bandit group out horizontally, imitating the Iron-armored Heavy Cavalry, using lateral distance to stop Lei Qing from breaking out left or right, forcing him to go forward.

Thus, it became the Iron-armored Heavy Cavalry driving the Horse Bandit group, and the Horse Bandit group driving Lei Qing.

The reason Helian Bo dared to do this was that he clearly remembered there seemed to be a Canyon ahead. As long as they passed the Canyon’s restriction on the horizontal Long Snake formation, they could break the giant net behind them.

Once the giant net was broken, he, Helian Bo, could lead the faster Horse Bandit group through the Canyon and fly free into the wide world.

At this time, perhaps due to Lei Qing’s repeated use of the unity of man and horse to speed up, Wuzhui was struggling, panting and slowing down. Although Zuo Qianqian kept shooting arrows backward, the wiser Helian Bo drove his excellent warhorse to continuously accelerate, gradually approaching Lei Qing.

Just as he was about to draw his bow and shoot, Lei Qing’s horse speed suddenly slowed, almost stopping. Helian Bo’s warhorse caught up to Lei Qing in two or three breaths.

The arrow was shot at close range, like a meteor.

Lei Qing sneered and struck out like a Silver Snake dancing wildly, not only knocking the arrow away but also sending several silver lights mercilessly towards Helian Bo.

Helian Bo was startled, secretly calling this Lei fellow impressive. In his desperation, he drew his saber, clanging as he blocked. But Lei Qing’s combat technique was like river water, surging and rolling endlessly to suppress him.

Although Helian Bo was strong, he was ultimately on par with Lei Qing. Once suppressed, he had to withstand the stormy bombardment of the Lei Family War Tactic.

The two warhorses kept galloping forward. Helian Bo remained passive, entangled by Lei Qing, and could only defend continuously. Counterattacking was difficult because he was on the right side.

Shooting arrows required seizing the right because shooting from the right was comfortable and easy. But with melee weapons, occupying the left side was actually advantageous.

Thus, whether strong left or strong right depended entirely on the weapon used.

Lei Qing finally forced Helian Bo to stop his horse with a spear thrust. Watching Lei Qing speed away, he heard Lei Qing laugh arrogantly again: “Helian Bo, was your Fighting Secret Art taught by your Master’s wife? It’s soft and weak, not like a man at all.” Attacking the enemy’s weakness was always what Lei Qing enjoyed.

Helian Bo, his wrist numb from the hits, was once again filled with raging fury, roaring: “Lei Qing, I swear I will not be a man if I do not kill you.” In his life, he respected and loved his Master’s wife the most.

If not for his Master’s wife ignoring past grudges and begging his Master hard back then, Helian Bo’s legs would have been crippled by his Master long ago.

After entangling and galloping all the way, the Canyon where Lei Qing set his ambush was in sight.

Helian Bo felt a bit happy, thinking to himself that beyond the Canyon was a muddy area. Everyone would have to fight on foot; let’s see how you escape?

But Lei Qing was thinking to himself, Helian Bo, oh Helian Bo, ahead lies your grave.

Both had their own schemes. As for who would emerge victorious, please listen to the next chapter.

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