Chapter 36: The Downfall of Cao's Army (1)

  "Hunger" opened the Yangmen Gate below, and a bloody and ferocious aura spread out in the midst of the iron torrent.

  "Where did the cavalry come from?!" Old Cao rushed up to the watchtower of the main camp, his eyes bulging out "Where did the horses come from?" Lü Bu didn't take a single horse with him when he left Xiapi, and most of the warhorses from Kaiyang were taken by Lü Bu to Xiapi. The remaining few were also divided up by Zang Ba, so where did all these horses come from now?

  As far as the eye can see, it's an ocean of cavalry.

  "One man, two horses, five thousand horses, three thousand cavalry?!" Xu Huang's grasp of the cavalry was absolutely above that of other generals in Cao's army, and he could see through the reality with one glance.

  "Three thousand cavalry?!" Old Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had only just barely managed to assemble over five thousand, with more than half of them stationed in Xuzhou. The three thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry before him were a loss that could make an old Cao die of heartache, because the value of one Tiger and Leopard Cavalryman was enough to support an entire squad of infantrymen, not to mention those heavily armored infantrymen.

  Now Lü Bu, a trapped beast, has actually pulled out 3,000 cavalrymen from the city of Kaiyang which is about to be breached? Moreover, they are heavy armored cavalrymen with 5,000 war horses. Old Cao saw that these war horses were absolutely not inferior horses, but real and genuine fine horses.

  Lao Cao felt that he had been deceived. The opposing side was also a heavy armored cavalry, and even if the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were more elite, two strong forces would inevitably suffer casualties, let alone the fact that the opposing side was the old enemy of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the Pingzhou Wolf Cavalry.

  You said you have the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry in your hands, why don't you break through Kaiyang and leave quickly? You want to fight a defensive battle in Kaiyang, but now the city is undefendable. Do you still want to play a big decisive battle? You've lost Xuzhou and Xiaopei, and are ready to smash everything, but Cao Cao can't be played with like that. These three thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry can make Cao Cao raise an army of one million, if they're lost just like this, Cao Cao will really be heartbroken to death.

  "State of wolf riding?!" Cao Chun had already led the tiger leopard cavalry to charge forward, he was surprised but couldn't stop, cavalry, cavalry, what they needed was high mobility, as long as they started running they could use their speed to annihilate the enemy.

  Narrow road meet brave win! This is a showdown between cavalry and cavalry.

  "Where the sword points, all will be swept away!" Cao Chun bellowed, and his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry also let out a furious shout at the same time. Their horses accelerated, and continued to accelerate, they wanted to crush everything in front of them.

  "And what about the Hebei cavalry?! Today, I, Cao Chun, will let you know that the number one cavalry in the world is the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry! Wake up, Lü Bu!" Cao Chun charged forward on his horse towards Lü Bu.

  "Enlightenment? Haha, the ones who are enlightened are Cao Chun and Cao Mengde!" Lü Bu raised his halberd to the sky. "Brothers, let these women see the ferocity of our Bianzhou Wolf Cavalry! All troops, follow my orders and charge!"

  "Hungry, starving!" A pack of ravenous wolves charged towards the opposing Tiger Leopard Cavalry, who were also full of fighting spirit.

  "Long spears!" Zhang Liao gave a loud order, and the originally falling long spears were all raised high, laid across the horses. "Charge!"

  "Crush them!" Cao Chun's face revealed a fierce light, and the strength of his legs gripping the horse grew even stronger.

  "Kill!"

  Two iron torrents collided together.

  Cavalry is all about charging, the first row of Tiger Leopard Riders and Pingzhou Wolf Riders collided first. The Tiger Leopard Riders, like all heavy armored cavalrymen of this era, were equipped with long spears and horse sabers, but upon contact, it was discovered that the Tiger Leopard Riders' long spears seemed to be one section shorter than those of the Pingzhou Wolf Riders.

  As the saying goes, "an inch longer is an inch stronger", the tiger and leopard vanguard suffered a great loss in an instant.

  "Die!" These Henan wolf riders, originally suppressed by Old Cao in the city, had been holding back their anger for a long time. Now they had horses, heavy armor, and long spears, it was finally their turn to show off.

  Every vigorous thrust of the spear was stabbed forward.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sound of piercing armor echoed, and even the powerful horseback riding of the Bianzhou Wolf Cavalry directly skewered two or three soldiers of the Tiger Leopard Riders with their spears.

  "Close combat!" Cao Chun shouted, having seen the ferocity of the Bianzhou Wolf Rider's long spears. No matter how powerful the long spears were, they could only be used to attack in waves; once both sides closed in, the long spears would become a hindrance and couldn't be wielded freely. At that time, it would be the domain of his Tiger Leopard Riders.

  "Raise shields!" Zhang Liao's loud shout, Cao Chun finally saw that behind the iron cavalry of Pingzhou, a large shield was hung on each of them, with a radiant glow on it. This was obviously a metal shield. What kind of formation is this? How could he not know that with such a heavy load, the cavalry would be unable to travel long distances?

  Cavalry is only considered cavalry when it is highly mechanized. Once the knight's armor is too heavy or the equipment is too heavy, not only can the person not bear it, but the horse also cannot bear it. In this case, once the cavalry loses its high mobility, it will not only be unable to travel long distances, but may even have trouble facing the enemy.

  Zhang Liao initially had the same idea as Cao Chun, when did cavalry have shields? The cavalry's creed has always been to charge, attack, attack, and attack. When did they ever carry shields? Even if they did, it would be a small buckler, not such a large shield.

  But after equipping it, Zhang Liao was delighted to find that although the shield looked enormous on the surface, it was actually very light and thin. The toughness of this shield even surprised Zhang Liao, as his fine iron long sword could not break through its defense.

  Liu Mang originally brought it for the sake of preparing the ambush camp, but now that the ambush camp has all gone into action, everyone has been equipped with this shield.

  "Abominable!" Cao Chun dodged a long spear and counterattacked with his hand

  He swung up the saber in his hand, "Come and die!" The knife accurately passed through the defensive gap of the shield and chopped onto the body of Pingzhou Wolf Rider.

  "Die!" Cao Chun's face was full of cruel expression, every general who had been on the battlefield would be infected by the atmosphere of the battlefield, and even after the war ended, it was difficult for them to calm down.

  Cao Chun's face was already excited, fresh blood was about to splatter out, this miscellaneous piece of Pingzhou was going to die.

  Cao's excited expression hadn't even reached its peak when it suddenly stiffened, because his knife, which had struck the armor, was unable to break through! It only left a white mark on the originally white helmet.

  "How is this possible!" Cao Chun's weapon was no ordinary long knife, it was a sword bestowed upon him by Cao Cao that represented the greatest privilege of the Tiger and Leopard Riders, forged from the same metal as Cao Cao's own Heaven-Defying Sword. It could cut through ordinary iron armor and leather armor like cutting tofu, but now it couldn't break through the defense.

  The wolf cavalry of Pingzhou on the opposite side doesn't care about Cao Chun's thoughts. On the battlefield, it's either you die or I live.

  "Hungry, starving!" The Pingzhou Wolf Cavalry is a pack of wolves on the prairie, in their eyes, only by tearing apart the enemy in front of them can they get food and survive, so the Pingzhou Wolf Cavalry is to be placed in a desperate situation and then reborn.

  "Abominable!" Cao Chun hastily wielded his sword to parry the enemy's attack, and with his excellent martial skills, he managed to fend off the biting attacks of the Pingzhou Wolf Cavalry, but the Tiger Leopard Cavalry was not so lucky.

  "Ahh!" One after another fell off their horses, and except for relying on the strength of the horse to sweep down the front row of the Pingzhou Wolf Cavalry, it was basically impossible to cause any more harm to the Pingzhou Wolf Cavalry.

  Their armor, although belonging to heavy cavalry, always had gaps, and some armor couldn't even withstand the thrust of a long spear. The heavy armor of cavalry was not the all-metal armor of infantry, but rather cloth armor with iron armor, which is what heavy armored cavalry wore.

  The saber of the Tiger Leopard Riders, which was originally a nightmare for other troops, has now become a nightmare for the Pingzhou Wolf Riders. The sword can't even break through their defense, let alone their offense.

  "Charge! Cao Chun knew that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry would suffer heavy casualties this time, but he couldn't retreat. He was the commander of the army, and now all he could do was charge forward, no matter how severe the losses might be. Perhaps they could regroup their troops, for once the cavalry stopped, they were not far from total annihilation."

  "Charge!" The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry did not disappoint, being the elite of Cao's army. In an instant, they understood their commander's intentions. On this narrow path, only the brave would win; on the battlefield, there was no begging for mercy, only life or death.

  "Kill!" A glint of light flashed in Lü Bu's eyes. Although the main general of Bianzhou Wolf Cavalry was Zhang Liao, it was Lü Bu himself who led them before Zhang Liao. He also had great respect for Cao Chun, a good general who was very familiar with cavalry and knew to charge forward first instead of retreating in panic.

  "Want to leave? Then leave!" Lü Bu raised his horse's head, and a pair of sword-like eyes stared straight at Cao Chun.

  "This feeling!" Cao Chunzheng led the Tiger and Leopard Riders in a charge, suddenly feeling a suffocating sensation in his chest.

  His hair stood on end as if he was being stared at by some kind of ferocious beast.

  "Not good!" Cao Chun suddenly lowered his head, and his whole body was like a turtle retracting its head. At this time, Cao Chun couldn't care about his image anymore, he wanted to save his life. Fortunately, his rich battle experience saved him once again, as a golden spear shadow flashed above his head.

  "Pffft, pffft!" Two heads instantly flew into the sky, and two tiger leopard riders who had been following Cao Chun's side suddenly became hot-blooded and fell off their warhorses.

  "Lü Bu!" Cao Chun only now got a clear look at the newcomer, clad in golden armor and wielding a halberd with a square blade, exuding an aura of murder. Wasn't this Lü Bu, the very man Cao Chun had boasted about beheading just earlier?! (PS: It's not that I didn't update yesterday! New book period, haven't got a recommended spot yet, can't update too quickly! Editor told me to slow down and do one chapter per day for now! I have stockpiled chapters, if you want to read ahead, join the group and I'll send them out!)