Chapter 10

Let the recommendation tickets come more fiercely!

......

"Everyone, listen to my command, form the formation, the formation to break the enemy's ranks with swords and spears!"

Chen Dexing shouted the order with all his might. At this moment, on the brink of life and death, his mind became abnormally clear! The memories and experiences from his two lifetimes fused together in an instant. Therefore, he knew he had to immediately organize the Song soldiers he had rallied into a military formation. He also knew how to command the soldiers.

On the battlefield, only organized soldiers can be called an army, and only infantry formed into battle formations can unleash their maximum combat power, capable of resisting the Mongol iron cavalry, which had few rivals across Eurasia!

"Men! Gather around me, the big swords in front, the long spears next, the bows and crossbows at the back, form the formation!"

"Men! Shoulder to shoulder, raise your weapons, forward!"

"Men! Shout with me... Break the enemy! Kill the bandits!"

Chen Dexing shouted, using all his strength, as if his voice could attract the fleeing Song soldiers to his side; as if his voice could ignite the full fighting spirit of the fleeing Song soldiers; as if his voice could inject boundless energy into the already exhausted Song soldiers!

"Break the enemy! Kill the bandits!"

The crowd around Chen Dexing shouted loudly, their voices piercing through the battlefield's cries and sweeping over a thousand steps to the high platform where the Two Huai Anfu Commissioner Jia Sidao stood.

"Good! There are indeed brave and valiant men under my command!" Jia Sidao stroked his beard and nodded slightly, as if this scene was exactly what he had anticipated.

"Sir, you are wise! You are using the strategy of fighting with one's back to the water! This battle will surely bring us a great victory!" On the high platform, a man suddenly shouted. Jia Sidao turned to look and saw a man in his thirties, wearing a cross-collar robe, a Dongpo cap, and a small sword about a foot long at his waist, with a handsome and refined appearance, a fine young gentleman.

This man was a guest scholar in his retinue, surnamed Liang, named Chongru, with the courtesy name Yifu. He was a local celebrity in Yangzhou and had married the daughter of the commander of the Xiongsheng Army, Lu Zhaoqi, who was the cousin of the commander of the Wurui Army, Lu Zhaolín. Liang Chongru himself was no ordinary man; originally a student of the Imperial College, he had gained fame for his petition against the Mongols—students of the Imperial College were very fond of petitioning on political matters and sometimes even impeaching powerful ministers, and the Song emperors generally treated these scholars leniently, rarely punishing them for their words. Thus, the Imperial College was also known as the "unofficial censorate."

"Ah, it's Yifu, very good, very good." Jia Sidao nodded, seemingly quite appreciative of this guest scholar. "Yifu, do you think the Wurui Army can break the enemy and turn the tide?"

Liang Chongru laughed and said, "No!"

"Oh? Why not?" Jia Sidao remained unperturbed.

Liang Chongru stroked his beard and shook his head, saying, "In the past, Xiang Yu indeed broke the enemy at Julu by breaking his pots and sinking his boats, fighting with his back to the water. However, Xiang Yu's bravery and the might of the Chu army are rare in history and non-existent in the present. For our great Song to break the northern barbarians in the Huai and Yangtze regions, we cannot rely on the brute strength of a single man but must depend on wise strategists. I boldly speculate that fighting with one's back to the water is just one of your strategies, and you must have a brilliant plan to defeat the enemy and kill the barbarians."

Jia Sidao laughed heartily, did not respond to Liang Chongru, and instead turned to look at the Song army formation that Chen Dexing had just organized on the battlefield.

The formation was not very tight, consisting of only a thousand or so fleeing soldiers. In the dire situation, Chen Dexing had rallied their fighting spirit, but they were still a disorganized and scattered force, without officers to command them. In the heat of the moment, Chen Dexing had no choice but to gather everyone as much as possible, placing those with swords and spears in the front and those with bows and crossbows in the back.

"Monk, Gao Da, you will be my deputies!" Chen Dexing walked back and forth in front of the hastily formed square formation and suddenly shouted.

"I accept the order!"

"I accept the order!"

Liu Heshang and the rough man who had seconded Chen Dexing earlier responded loudly. The man was named Gao Da, originally a river pirate on the Yangtze River, tall and strong, skilled in martial arts. He had been recruited by Li Tingzhi and Lu Zhaolín into the Wurui Army at the beginning of the year, serving as a squad leader in charge of several dozen archers. He was familiar with Chen Dexing and Liu Heshang and had even practiced martial arts with Chen Dexing.

"Monk, you will command the second row of spearmen, Gao Da, you will command the archers! The men in the first row with swords, are you willing to fight with me?"

"Willing!"

Chen Dexing knew that the red-robed soldiers would not give him much time to organize the troops, so he hastily appointed two deputies to command with him. As for whether such an arrangement violated the Song military laws and regulations, he could not afford to consider it.

"Third Lady, our men are doing well, they have already broken through the center of the southern barbarians' formation!"

Li Xiong, the adopted son of Li Tan, the governor of Yidu in the Mongol Empire, loudly told his nominal sister Li Cuixian. At this moment, he was standing on his horse, observing the surrounding battlefield. The Mongol Han armies had already engaged the Song forces, but apart from the Li family's red-robed soldiers breaking through the Wurui Army, the other units had made no progress.

And the Mongol's eight thousand iron cavalry still stood motionless behind the formation.

"Third Lady, should we flank and crush one wing of the southern barbarians?"

"Have we not already broken through three formations of the southern barbarians and killed one of their generals?" Li Cuixian smiled. "Let the Mongols fight the rest of the battle."

"What should we do then? We can't just stand here and watch, can we?"

"We need to find something to do." Li Cuixian looked around and soon spotted a Song army formation gathering by the moat. She pointed and said, "Fourth Brother, there is another formation of southern barbarian infantry. Let's go and fight them."

"Alright!"

Li Cuixian giggled and then ordered, "Someone, find a long pole and impale the head of the southern barbarian general we just killed!"

...

"It's Lu Youwu! Lu Youwu has died for his country..."

Soon, someone recognized the head impaled on a long spear as belonging to Lu Zhaolín, the commander of the Wurui Army and a Right Martial Doctor!

With a white beard, a dark face, and eyes wide open, the head was lifelike...

"Men, avenge Lu Youwu, break the enemy! Kill the bandits!"

Chen Dexing noticed that the soldiers around him were slightly shaken and immediately shouted loudly. Less than 200 steps in front of him, at least 2,000 red-robed soldiers had formed a square formation and were advancing steadily, bringing with them the head of Lu Zhaolín!

"Break the enemy! Kill the bandits! Avenge Lu Youwu..."

The men shouted, knowing that this was a fight with their backs to the water, a fight for survival!

"Lu Youwu, I have failed you!" Chen Dexing's side, an older soldier with a bloodied face and red eyes suddenly shouted and tried to rush forward but was quickly grabbed by Chen Dexing.

"Is it you, Lu Da'an?" Chen Dexing vaguely recognized the man as Lu Zhaolín's personal guard, Lu Da'an. His lord's head was already hanging high, yet he somehow stood beside Chen Dexing...

"It's not me, I'm not Lu Da'an, Lu Da'an is already dead..." The old soldier cried and tried to charge forward.

"Rubbish, dying is easy!" Chen Dexing grabbed his collar and roared, forcibly pulling the old soldier back into the formation. "Stay with me! We will die together! But... we will kill more northern barbarians to avenge him!"

"Right! Kill more..." The old soldier roared, stopped moving forward, and lifted a large saber, standing beside Chen Dexing.

"Kill the barbarians! Kill the barbarians!"

At this moment, the 2,000 red-robed soldiers quickened their pace, shouting as they charged, their large sabers flashing with a cold light, as if they were about to drink the blood of the Song soldiers!

'Heaven, this is too much!' Chen Dexing inwardly lamented, but he could not show any weakness on his face—his experience from two lifetimes and the last bit of rationality in his mind all told him that this was a fight with their backs to the water, a fight to the death!

"Wurui Army! Raise your swords!" Chen Dexing roared, raising his three-foot-long ring-headed saber high. This was the treasured saber used by his adoptive father, Chen Huai'an, made of fine steel, capable of cutting through iron like butter!

"Kill the barbarians! Slash..."