nycdaug Chapter 118 Hunting Down Deserters
Chapter 118 Hunting Down Deserters
"Send the order to the Dragon Riders to prepare for pursuit and kill as many as possible."
Qin Wu gave the order without the slightest hesitation.
As for why it was a pursuit.
After the Sword King gave the order, many soldiers of the Southern Qi army below heard his command.
Some soldiers below have already begun to flee.
Once someone starts it, the Southern Qi army will collapse and no one can stop it.
"Run! The generals have all fled!"
"Move aside, don't block the way."
"..."
Outside the city, the Southern Qi army was already in disarray.
People kept running away.
The reason they didn't flee before was because all the generals were still around, and even knowing they were going to die, no one dared to run away.
No one can bear the consequences of daring to flee.
But things are different now. The Sword King has escaped, and no one will hold them accountable afterward.
With that, there were no more concerns, and the lower-ranking generals with cultivation began to flee.
This led to a large-scale escape, and the Southern Qi army below was completely routed.
At this moment, the Marquis of Zhennan arrived with his men.
With a single tap, he spotted a corpse not far from Qin Wu.
As the Marquis of Zhennan, who had fought against the Southern Qi for many years, he recognized the corpse at a glance.
He hadn't expected that shortly after receiving the news, the Divine Martial King had already killed the Southern King of Southern Qi.
After a moment of stunned silence, he came to stand in front of Qin Wu.
"Marshal, the Southern Qi army has been routed. Should we pursue them?"
The Marquis of Zhennan inquired.
"Let the soldiers rest! They are exhausted after three days of continuous fighting."
"I have already mobilized my Great Snow Dragon Cavalry. The rest is up to me. You all should take this time to rest, clean up the battlefield, and then lead your troops to provide support."
Qin Wu shook his head slightly.
After three days of fierce fighting, the army in the city was no longer able to pursue.
If the soldiers in the city were to pursue them, not only would the effect be poor, but there might also be unnecessary casualties.
Moreover, cavalry is more convenient for pursuit.
"Yes."
Marquis Zhennan understood that Qin Wu was right; sending the soldiers in the city to pursue them now would not be of much use.
It would be better to rest and recuperate properly and prepare for the next attack.
They also suffered considerable losses in this battle.
"I'm leaving this place to you. The day after tomorrow, an army of 400,000 will arrive early in the morning. You will then lead your troops to provide support."
"I will personally lead the troops to pursue and kill the Southern Qi army."
Qin Wu then explained some more things.
His white jade steed, Chasing Wind, also arrived, and Qin Wu mounted it.
"Marquis of Zhennan, I'm leaving this place to you."
After saying this, Qin Wu spurred his horse and headed straight for the city gate.
His former personal guards also rushed out of the city gate with Qin Wu.
At this time, the Southern Qi army had already fled more than a thousand meters away, and of course, many wounded soldiers had fallen and were unable to escape.
"Soldiers, follow me in pursuit and rendezvous with the soldiers ahead."
Qin Wu left the city and led his troops directly to pursue the Southern Qi army.
They soon caught up with the Southern Qi army, but Qin Wu did not charge directly into the fleeing soldiers.
The Southern Qi army has now gone mad in their desperate attempt to escape.
Rushing in at this point would only bring them huge trouble.
Qin Wu immediately picked up his Divine Dragon Sky-Piercing Bow, nocked an arrow, and fired it into the Southern Qi army.
There's no need to aim; with hundreds of thousands of troops fleeing for their lives, you can hit them with any shot.
Qin Wu killed several Southern Qi soldiers with a single arrow.
His personal guards also drew their bows and arrows and began to shoot mercilessly.
In an instant, a large number of the fleeing Southern Qi soldiers fell.
The fallen man also tripped up many soldiers behind him.
A stampede occurred, and even if they weren't shot to death, they would be trampled to death.
That's right, Qin Wu and his men didn't shoot the last person who escaped, but instead shot at the person a little ahead.
If someone in front falls down, those behind won't have time to dodge and will be tripped up and trampled to death.
It also slowed down the escape speed of those behind.
"continue."
Seeing this, Qin Wu continued to issue orders.
Swoosh...swoosh...swoosh...
Arrows rained down on the Southern Qi army once more.
"Run! The pursuers are coming!"
"Get out of the way, don't block the way..."
“…”
Many people noticed that an elite cavalry force was closing in from behind, and they fled even faster.
They wish they had more legs.
In the struggle to survive, the evil in human nature is revealed.
In an attempt to escape, some people directly attack those in front of them or those around them.
They'll do anything to save their lives.
Qin Wu, watching the events unfold within the Southern Qi army from the rear, sneered.
This is the effect he wanted. If they were to take action on their own, even with hundreds of thousands of troops standing still and letting them kill, they would never finish.
It would be different if they did it themselves.
Sure enough, their predecessors had only killed a few thousand people, but the number of people who died at the hands of deserters was several times that of them.
Qin Wu led his men in pursuit at a leisurely pace, occasionally firing an arrow at those who were slow to escape.
This forced the Southern Qi deserters to flee for their lives, breaking down their psychological defenses.
This made them flee even more frantically.
As for those who were unable to escape, Qin Wu and his men caught up with them and killed them with a single shot.
They are now like a pack of wolves hunting, constantly driving the Southern Qi army towards the hunting grounds they have set up.
After an hour of chasing and fleeing, they finally arrived at a flat area.
As soon as the deserters from Southern Qi arrived, they saw rows of heavily armored cavalry blocking their way.
"Dragon Rider General, you've arrived."
A lieutenant general reported to the Dragon Cavalry General.
"We've been waiting for so long, they're finally here. Raise your guns."
The dragon rider twirled his spear and gave the order.
"Heavy cavalry charge, light cavalry scatter and conduct guerrilla warfare."
The Dragon Rider will give another order.
He then took the lead, charging directly towards the fleeing Southern Qi troops with 50,000 heavy cavalry.
The light cavalry instantly transformed into a hundred-man squad, scattering in all directions and continuously using their speed advantage to shoot down the scattered deserters.
A frenzied massacre ensued.
The heavy cavalry charged into the Southern Qi army like tigers among sheep, instantly killing a large number of Southern Qi soldiers.
These Southern Qi soldiers had already been pursued for an hour and were exhausted.
Now, facing heavy cavalry, they don't even have the slightest power to fight back.
In addition, the general who led the troops had long since fled to an unknown location.
There was simply no one capable of leading the army in a counterattack. Furthermore, the soldiers were just conscripts who had not received any training and lacked any military skills. Faced with this situation, all they could think about was escaping.
This has led to the current scene, where the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry is charging and slaughtering hundreds of thousands of deserters.
The deserters only knew how to scatter and flee; they didn't even know how to fight back.
He didn't get far before being caught up and killed by the light cavalry around him.
The whole scene was that hundreds or even thousands of people were fleeing in front, while only ten or dozens of people were chasing behind.
When Qin Wu arrived with his personal guards, they were all a little dazed.
If he hadn't known that these were all soldiers from Southern Qi, he would have almost thought that his army was massacring ordinary civilians.
"Your Highness, should we order the army to halt and capture these deserters?"
One of the guards couldn't help but step forward and ask Qin Wu a question.
"We're pursuing them alone. Are you going to feed us if we capture them? There are at least 300,000 troops here."
Qin Wu said speechlessly.
They only brought a few days' worth of rations; where would they find the food to feed the prisoners?
Moreover, he wanted to seize the cities behind Ancheng quickly before news of the battle broke.
Leaving these prisoners behind would only slow down their march.
"Send the order: do not pursue those who have fled into the mountains and forests. Quickly resolve the battlefield and we must march at full speed."
Qin Wu gave the order directly.
Dozens of people immediately rushed out, heading in different directions.
Qin Wu's orders quickly spread throughout the entire battlefield.
The Great Snow Dragon Cavalry immediately reorganized their formation and began hunting down the Southern Qi army that had not had time to escape.
After an hour of slaughter, there were no more Southern Qi soldiers standing on the battlefield.
The entire Snow Dragon Cavalry also gathered in front of Qin Wu.