novelSusiti 111: Mo Dao Army
111: Mo Dao Army
Su Wen fell asleep leaning against the city wall that night. In his half-asleep state, he heard Xu Ge excitedly shaking him and whispering, "Master, reinforcements are here! Reinforcements are here!"
Su Wen opened his eyes and saw Xu Ge's barely concealed excitement. Su Wen asked, "Reinforcements? Who are they?"
Xu Ge said, "It is Guo Zhiyun, the military governor of Longyou and the grand commander of Anxi!"
Su Wen hurriedly stood up and said, "Quick, take me there!"
Su Wen and Xu Ge hurriedly descended from the city wall and rode their horses straight to the rear city gate. As Su Wen ordered the gate to be opened, Guo Zhiyun slowly rode in. At this time, the sky was gradually brightening, and many people who had demolished streets and houses were carrying stones to the city wall.
Upon seeing Su Wen, Guo Zhiyun dismounted and bowed, saying, "Grand Commander of Anxi, Guo Zhiyun greets Imperial Envoy Su Wen!"
Su Wen, overcome with emotion, bowed to Guo Zhiyun and said, "It is truly a blessing for our Great Tang Dynasty and for Dunhuang that Grand Commander Guo has arrived so quickly!"
Guo Zhiyun said, "When I learned that the Tibetans were attacking Dunhuang, I immediately dispatched troops. However, when we reached the halfway point, I realized that the journey was too slow and that Dunhuang was in grave danger. So I immediately mobilized a thousand Mo Dao soldiers, who marched day and night, resting for a quarter of an hour every hour, and then continued their advance. That's how we arrived. Fortunately, we were not delayed!"
Upon hearing this, Su Wen paused for a moment, then said somewhat blankly, "Only a thousand people... this..."
Guo Zhiyun smiled and said, "Imperial Envoy Su, don't be afraid. You'll know once the battle begins at dawn!"
Su Wen was also a little unsure, but Guo Zhiyun, as the military governor of Longyou Circuit and the Grand Commander of Anxi, must be a formidable man, otherwise he would not have been entrusted with such an important position!
Therefore, Su Wen didn't say much, and Guo Zhiyun waved his hand and said, "The army enters the city!"
As Guo Zhiyun's voice fell, a group of people on horseback entered the city one after another. On this main street, which was more than 20 meters wide, the cavalrymen, in rows of eight, began to enter the city one after another.
All of them were riding tall warhorses, much larger than any horses Su Wen had ever seen before. All the horses were fully armored, and the people sitting on them were all over eight feet tall (1.9 meters), all wearing heavy black armor, their faces obscured. Each of them had a golden mace at their waist and a long sword in their right hand, which was carried on their shoulder. On the chest armor of each person, there were numbers written in white paint, such as 59, 72, 83, etc.
These people rode away on horseback, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere that made Su Wen afraid to even breathe.
When Su Wen saw this, he knew that this was no ordinary army. Xu Ge had told him that it was called the Mo Dao Army.
When Su Wen was online, he had heard of the Mo Dao Army, but he didn't know much about it. Now, just by looking at their strict discipline, neat formations, and equipment, Su Wen knew that this Mo Dao Army was extremely powerful.
Su Wen looked at Guo Zhiyun beside him and asked, "What are the numbers on the chests of these Mo Dao soldiers?"
Guo Zhiyun slowly said, "These are the numbers of enemy soldiers they killed!"
In fact, Su Wen had already guessed a little, but hearing it from Guo Zhiyun still shocked him greatly. Just by looking at these numbers, none of them were less than fifty, and he could guess how powerful this Mo Dao army was.
The Mo Dao Army headed straight for the other city gate and ordered Zhang Yi to open it so they could go out and deploy their forces to meet the enemy head-on.
Su Wen knew nothing about military affairs, so he simply followed Guo Zhiyun's orders.
When Guo Zhiyun saw Zhang Yi, he patted Zhang Yi on the shoulder and said, "You did a good job on defense!"
Zhang Yi bowed and said, "Uncle Guo, you flatter me. Now that your Mo Dao army has arrived, victory is assured, and Dunhuang County will have nothing to worry about!"
Su Wendao asked, "You two know each other?"
Guo Zhiyun said, "Oh, his father and I were officials in the same court back then, we've known each other for a long time. Alas, it's a pity that his father offended someone and was demoted to Puzhou!"
Su Wen responded.
As the Mo Dao Army began to deploy outside the city, two hundred men formed a line, with each man about five steps apart. The second and third rows were staggered, alternating in a pattern. From above, compared to their opponents, they seemed to have fewer men. But for some reason, the sheer oppressive presence of these thousand men standing there made Su Wen's heart pound with fear!
For some reason, I have a feeling of facing a three-stage ultimate boss!
In particular, when Su Wen learned that the numbers on their chests represented the number of enemies they had killed, he felt a vague sense of fear.
At this moment, Zhang Yi and Guo Zhiyun were talking about the past when Su Wencai learned that Zhang Yi was so fierce because he was also from the Mo Dao Army. In other words, almost everyone in the Mo Dao Army below was a fierce person of Zhang Yi's level.
This may not be as good as Zhang Yi's, but it's definitely not much worse!
As dawn broke, the Tibetan army was already in full battle array, but when the Tibetan general saw the Mo Dao Army in formation, he still felt a sense of apprehension, even fear, especially after looking around.
Many Tibetan soldiers became tense and their palms sweated when they saw the Mo Dao Army in formation.
Su Wen stood atop the city wall as Guo Zhiyun and Zhang Yi rode out on horseback to the front of the Mo Dao army. Guo Zhiyun roared, "I am Guo Zhiyun, the Jiedushi of Longyou and the Grand General of Anxi! Have you heard of my name? How dare you invade the borders of my Great Tang? I advise you to retreat immediately, or, with a single strike of the Mo Dao, you will be torn to pieces!"
These words terrified the Tibetan soldiers, who trembled before even engaging in battle. Seeing their morale plummet, the Tibetan general took a deep breath and roared, "Fear not! Our forces outnumber them many times over! After we storm the city, you have three days to decide your fate!"
"kill!"
At the command of the Tibetan Grand Commander, horns sounded and war drums thundered!
The Tibetan soldiers then formed battle formations and began their march towards Dunhuang.
Guo Zhiyun then looked at Zhang Yi and said, "Go and kill that Tibetan general. Let me see if you've been slacking off these past two years!"
Zhang Yi responded, "Kill!"
Having said that, he spurred his horse and charged forward. At his command, the first rank of Mo Dao soldiers spurred their horses and shouted, "Giddy up!"
The first rank of Mo Dao soldiers rushed out, and after running a few steps, they gripped the hilt of their swords with one hand and dragged the blades along.
Two hundred men dragged their long swords and advanced at top speed. Zhang Yi bent down, gripped his spear tightly in his right hand, and like a black meteor, he instantly charged into the enemy formation. None of the infantry could stop him. With a single thrust of his spear, he pierced through one man on the spot. As Zhang Yi rose, he swept across the enemy ranks, killing several more.
As the army of Mo Dao soldiers charged forward, they swung their swords, slashing and sweeping across the enemy ranks with both hands. Two hundred of them swept across the enemy ranks, and the power of the Mo Dao was instantly revealed. Like a harvester, they instantly cut the shields and soldiers in the front row in two.
Under the guise of the Mo Dao, there was absolutely no possibility of resistance; it simply meant that the person and their armor would be cleaved in two.
At this moment, the second row of Mo Dao soldiers also rushed out like arrows, still dragging their swords.
The Tibetan soldiers dared not resist. The cavalry, originally intended to protect the left and right flanks, charged out under the signal flags, intending to encircle them. However, the third and fourth ranks of the long-handled swordsmen, also carrying long-handled swords, automatically split into two columns, one attacking the left cavalry and the other attacking the right cavalry.
The moment the two cavalrymen met, a single swing of the long-handled sword cleaved both men and horses in two, as easily as cutting vegetables.
Guo Zhiyun waved his right hand and said, "Charge to the central army camp!"
The fifth squad of Mo Dao soldiers rode out, forming an arrowhead shape as they ran, with the Mo Dao soldiers on both sides providing cover. Su Wen recognized it at a glance as a blitzkrieg tactic used in later generations.
The troops at the arrowhead charge forward, while the flanks quickly advance to provide cover, and the troops in the middle rapidly reinforce the arrowhead, thus enabling a rapid advance.
Moreover, every soldier in the Mo Dao Army was a veteran of countless battles, each one like a war god, rampaging through the Tibetan army as if they were in an empty field.
At this moment, Zhang Yi, alone on horseback, charged into the Tibetan army formation like a shooting star, rampaging through the ranks. No one dared to stop him. Several Tibetan generals who went forward were killed in a single encounter. When one of them finally got close, Zhang Yi struck him on the head with his mace in his left hand, and he fell off his horse and died on the spot!