Magical Water Margin: They all call me brother

Page 76

Due to geographical factors, policy reasons, social problems and many other factors, the Song Dynasty had a pitifully small number of warhorses, and its cavalry dwindled with each battle. Moreover, several powerful enemies, such as the Western Xia and the Liao Dynasty, were all cavalry-strong nations. These factors forced the Song army to develop its technology in a very strange way, focusing its efforts on infantry and desperately trying to defeat cavalry with infantry.

As a result, in order to counter the charges of the Western Xia and Liao cavalry, the Song Dynasty infantry wore thicker and thicker armor and formed denser and denser formations. As long as we were heavy enough, had enough men, and formed dense enough formations, the Western Xia Iron Falcon cavalry could not break through our defenses.

As for the heavy infantry's poor mobility and how to deal with the nomadic cavalry archers, it's easy. Everyone should first equip themselves with a shield, then stack their armor thicker, and those who can use bows should use bows, while those who can't should use crossbows. Our Great Song Dynasty will stack the thickest armor and shoot the densest number of arrows, turning ourselves into an extremely slow-moving heavy tank.

At this moment, Liu Hong was facing the Qingzhou army, which was known for its strongholds, scattering arrows, and fighting a war of attrition. The moment they landed at Liangshan Marsh, they began to form dense formations and build an impregnable bridgehead.

"No rush, let's play around with them a bit longer, and talk about it after Uncle Zhang leaves."

Liu Hong remained calm and waited until he saw that Zhang Shuye had indeed taken the boats back, leaving a thousand soldiers behind. Only then did Liu Hong issue the order to attack!

In an instant, horns sounded and war drums thundered. To distinguish friend from foe, all the Liangshan soldiers wore conspicuous red headscarves and lined up in neat rows. A full five hundred Liangshan soldiers, each wielding a fire spear, appeared in the enemy's sight in a grand procession.

"Ready, fire!!!"

Five hundred soldiers, armed with fire lances made from bamboo replaced with iron and glue replaced with welding, formed three lines on the beach, firing from two hundred meters away! Clusters of fire exploded, tearing through the mist; terrifying roars startled flocks of birds; and plumes of smoke gathered on the beach, forming a sky-covering, grayish-yellow miasma.

Just as the Qingzhou Xiang Army had formed their defensive formation, the shield-bearers in the front row suddenly discovered that their iron-inlaid wooden shields had been blasted with scorch marks the size of bowls by some unknown object. Large amounts of burning, charred wood chips flew everywhere, and the impact made their entire arms go numb! One unlucky man's shield was even torn apart by seven or eight iron projectiles, exploding into a pile of wood chips.

“Fight back! Fight back!!!”

At Qin Ming's command, a thousand Qingzhou soldiers retaliated with crossbows, but the effect was minimal. The error rate of the rain of arrows was alarmingly high; even if they reached Liangshan, they would be blocked by the shields of the musketeers. This was not because the Qingzhou army was lazy or slacking in their training, or because Qin Ming and his men were incompetent in their military management, but rather because the entire Song Dynasty had a problem with its constitution.

The military technology of the Song Dynasty was improved and upgraded by taking the iron cavalry of the Western Xia and Liao Dynasties as hypothetical enemies.

The Western Xia and Liao cavalry could only effectively inflict damage with their smaller cavalry shortbows when they were 80 meters away from the enemy. Therefore, all long-range training in the Song Dynasty was conducted with 80 meters as the target.

At a distance of 80 meters, hitting 8 out of 10 arrows is considered excellent, hitting 6 out of 10 is considered good, and hitting 4 out of 10 or less is considered a failure.

Now, these soldiers, who had spent their entire lives training in archery at 80 meters, stared blankly at the Liangshan troops 200 meters away, somewhat at a loss, unsure how to aim their bows and crossbows.

Powerful crossbows like the Divine Arm Crossbow can still maintain considerable lethality even after hitting this position, but their operators simply lack experience in accurate shooting from 200 meters away!

Lin Chong let out a cold laugh. As one of the best instructors in the Song army, she naturally knew the problems and shortcomings of the Song army's archery training.

Although a distance of 200 meters would reduce the lethality of the fire lance, it completely stunned the Song army. This was one of the training tasks she had been giving to the Liangshan soldiers during the six months she had been on the mountain, specifically targeting the Song army.

Chapter 185: Leopard Head's Spear Pierces the Sky and Destroys

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"

The second volley followed immediately, riddling the Song army's prized shields and heavy armor with charred, honeycomb-like holes. Although the firepower of the weapons diminished at a distance of 200 meters, the Song army suffered relatively minor casualties after being hit twice. However, the Song army's retaliatory arrow rain became extremely inaccurate and ineffective after flying 200 meters.

During the third volley, the entire battle began to spiral out of control. Several Song officers' armor was struck simultaneously by five lead bullets, their breastplates shattering in a spiderweb pattern, and the gilded bronze lion's jaws exploding with fist-sized holes in their chests! Blood sprayed like pillars and rained down. The archers, now without command, retreated in panic, exposing their flanks to the fourth wave of bullets. This resulted in a devastating hailstorm on the friendly forces' flanks, with pieces of flesh and severed limbs flying everywhere, and blood staining the sky. The entire landing position became a sea of ​​blood.

Most deadly was the psychological intimidation caused by firearms. The continuous explosions ravaged the Song soldiers' eardrums and tormented their spirits. With each earth-shattering explosion, everyone's muscles tensed and their limbs twitched in fear, terrified that this volley of bullets would kill them!

"Cancel formation! Qingzhou Battalion, disperse! Charge forward in skirmish formation!!! Magistrate Liu, Magistrate Hua, you lead the Qingfeng Battalion to defend the ferry crossing!"

Seeing that they couldn't win the firefight, Qin Ming made the smartest choice: he divided his thousand soldiers in two. Liu Gao and Hua Rong led their Qingfeng Battalion to garrison the dock and protect the bridgehead, while he led the Qingzhou Battalion to charge straight in! Since they couldn't win the firefight, they would fight in close combat! The loose formation and the lack of precision greatly reduced the accuracy of the muskets.

"Hellfire!!!"

Qin Ming roared, and her obsidian armor suddenly flared with eerie flames, while her tiger-head shoulder guards and beast-like eyes shot out sinister green sulfur sparks. With seventeen sharp cracks from her spine, her flesh and blood, before everyone's eyes, disintegrated into countless burning fragments—each fragment expanding into writhing, boiling molten lava boulders as it fell. When these sinister green substances reformed, they solidified into a ten-meter-high core of hellfire in mid-air! A terrifying shockwave, carrying sinister green molten lava and demonic fire, splashed in all directions!

The battlefield, spanning ten miles, suddenly became scorching hot. The surrounding air rose rapidly, and the rolling heat waves distorted the view. When the humanoid creature made of evil green lava completed the last piece of its skull, thousands of Song soldiers felt a fire burning in their throats. It was proof that all the moisture in their bodies had been evaporated by the hellfire. At this moment, the trails of molten lava left by Thunderbolt Qin Ming with every move had scorched the pre-dawn sky with honeycomb-like sores.

As the Thunderfire bent its knees to gather strength and then leaped up, the entire earth was shattered by the recoil, collapsing into a massive magma crater. Its towering ten-meter-tall body defied the laws of physics, breaking free from the constraints of gravity, and soared into the sky with a piercing scream! The entire sky and the entire cloud layer were blasted into a spiral-shaped vacuum channel by the massive burning body of the Hellfire. The clouds were also stirred into a dark green, exploding vortex by the aftershocks of the evil fire, with the terrifying phenomenon of the descent of the Heavenly General faintly appearing at its center.

"Thunderbolt Qin Ming is here! Who dares to challenge him?!"

Suddenly, a terrifying, thunderous explosion erupted from the sky. The destructive meteor, which had transformed into hellfire and soared into the heavens, roared down, tearing through the clouds! Before the molten lava meteor even hit the ground, the wind pressure had already crushed dozens of Liangshan musketeers to the ground! At the same time, countless shattered demonic flames and fel molten lava, like a torrential rain, surrounded Qin Ming and crashed towards the Liangshan position like an apocalyptic meteor!

"Lin Chong, the Leopard Head, is here! Qin Ming, cease your arrogance!!!"

Seeing his hard-trained soldiers about to be slaughtered by Qin Ming, Lin Chong could no longer sit still. Surrounded by a storm of wind, he took on the form of a demon prince to fight Qin Ming.

"boom!!!"

Lin Chong suddenly pushed off the ground with his four claws, leaping up. The blue bricks beneath his claws cracked radiating outwards, propelling Lin Chong's elegant and agile body into the sky! The eighteen-foot spear, using the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix spear technique, unleashed a full twelve layers of spiraling force, fiercely stabbing towards Qin Ming. Qin Ming was not to be outdone. Relying on the power of his downward fall, he swung his obsidian wolf-tooth mace, which was flowing with demonic magma, and slammed it hard against the eighteen-foot spear!

"clang!!!"

The clanging of metal, the sparks flying, the molten lava exploding, and the humming of spears created a chilling scene that left the onlookers breathless. Two demons, with their godlike leaping abilities, attacked from mid-air, like a creation myth against a backdrop of flames.

Lin Chong remained silent. The curve of his eighteen-foot spear shaft subtly corresponded to the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching, and each serpentine pattern was frantically devouring the energy of the lava. Everyone saw Lin Chong's arm muscles suddenly bulge, and he actually took a step back and spun around in mid-air, as if his tiger and leopard claws could step on a storm for leverage—it was as absurd.

The spear's serpentine arc deflected Qin Ming's meteoric trajectory by a mere fifteen degrees to the right, using the force against him to send Qin Ming, who could only fall straight down and couldn't adjust his posture to exert force, flying away! The devastating molten lava meteorite landed in a deserted spot nearby.

"boom!!!"

The impact of Qin Ming did not trigger a fiery explosion, but rather the collapse and subsidence of the ground within a radius of tens of meters. The entire surface was first completely cracked open. Then, the area centered on the burning crater created by Qin Ming's impact collapsed and slid down.

Even more small, broken pieces of earth were thrown dozens of meters into the sky by the shockwave! The Liangshan and Song soldiers turned their heads in unison, looking in awe at the strange phenomenon in the distance. The rising mud and dust, along with demonic flames and molten lava, shot into the sky! It even formed a mushroom cloud-like explosion shape under the burning sky.

"Lin Chong? Impressive skills! Come on! Again!!!"

Qin Ming laughed heartily, and with the destructive power of ten meters of hellfire, he crawled out of the lava crater he had created, brandishing his ten-meter-long spiked club, and fought Lin Chong in the Second World War!

Chapter 186: King Chao Charges into Battle

Spears danced like a hundred birds in flight, clubs exploded like lava, wolf fangs gleamed. The three armies were dazzled, the two generals clashed on horseback. The spearman was renowned throughout the land, his eighteen-foot spear like a dragon emerging from the sea, like a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix. The whipman's voice resounded to the ends of the earth. Wolf fang clubs erupted like volcanic eruptions, like a sea of ​​flames bursting forth, dragons and tigers clashed in chaotic battle, this carnage was truly a sight to behold.

"boom!!!"

In another clash, Lin Chong's red-tasseled silver armor was torn in three places by the molten thorns on his mace, while his eighteen-foot spear pierced Qin Ming's neck. A torrent of molten, eerie green hellfire sprayed out, covering the ground, and billowing green smoke rose straight into the sky.

Qin Ming's lava-infused left fist swung forward violently, like a molten lava mountain cleaving the sky. After several mistakes, he finally saw through Lin Chong's secret of changing light and shadow. The evil green lava grazed Lin Chong's waist and abdomen, and the jade belt was instantly melted into horrifying fragments. The blood that Lin Chong finally spat out was vaporized by the high temperature before it even hit the ground. She used the impact to spin and leap forward. With her four tiger and leopard claws stepping on Qin Ming, she thrust forward. The moment the tip of the spear pierced the demon's throat, a large number of skull fragments composed of lava and obsidian, along with molten fire fragments, flew everywhere, creating a sky full of burning craters in front of the army, and also grazed and burned Lin Chong's body.

The two fought for over thirty rounds, both sustaining injuries and remaining evenly matched. Qin Ming possessed immense strength, her moves expansive and powerful. Ignoring Lin Chong's ability to manipulate light and shadow, she unleashed a massive, ten-meter-long spiked club, unleashing a torrent of molten lava that swept across the land like a raging storm, blotting out the sky and crushing the earth. Each strike of the club was as powerful as a comet's fall, creating massive craters several meters in diameter! The lava flowing across the battlefield would then fill these craters into lakes of molten lava, using its wide-ranging sweeps and powerful strikes to forcefully overcome Lin Chong's evasive abilities.

Lin Chong possessed unparalleled speed, exquisite and dazzling moves, unpredictable and elusive. His spear shadows fluttered like a hundred birds in flight, his spear roared like a dragon emerging from the sea. Every attack was a killing blow, every spear spin was aimed at a vital point, and the most brutal moments were close-quarters combat: Lin Chong crashed into the molten lava that splashed everywhere, constantly dodging in the flames, like a whirlwind, weaving through the dense rain of fire points unscathed! He even used his eighteen-foot spear to withstand the sweeping blows of the mace, and with his right hand he drew the White Tiger Saber, the terrifying blade shadows he unleashed transformed into a sky full of blade arrays, each strike precisely piercing the core of the Hellfire Armor's flames.

Qin Ming, wounded, cried out. His lava body, torn apart by the White Tiger Blade, exploded into three thousand sulfur fragments. These fragments, trailing long trails of molten lava and evil fire, plowed the land within a radius of tens of meters into honeycomb-shaped scorched pits amidst continuous roars.

Lin Chong tore open the tattered scarlet battle robe with her backhand, took off her silver armor, and the chest-binding iron armor had long been burned by the lava. She simply abandoned all defense and all burdens in exchange for greater agility and faster speed. Before, she was just as fast as a shadow, like a snow-white storm.

Now, Lin Chong had already disappeared from everyone's sight! As she soared through the air over Qin Ming's sweeping lava arm, her four claws surging across it, the boiling, evil molten lava couldn't even keep up with the speed at which the claws landed. Her eighteen-foot spear shot out like a dragon, suddenly piercing Qin Ming's throat!

"Qin Ming! Prepare to die!!!"

Lin Chong slammed his four claws onto the shaft of the eighteen-foot spear, causing it to sink in a terrifying arc. Using the force of the impact, he leaped onto the demon's head and plunged the White Tiger Blade into the fiery pit of the demon's left eye. The charred flesh collided violently with the core of the hellfire, and seven cold lights suddenly burst forth from the billowing blood mist.

"Roar!!!"

Lin Chong suddenly exerted force with her four claws on Qin Ming's face. The 300-pound lava behemoth was trampled and lost its balance, tilting backward and staggering twice before crashing heavily to the ground! The impact sent dust billowing up and the earth shaking. The instant the demon's spine collided with the Liangshan peak, Lin Chong's bare claws shattered the ceiling, and she rushed back to the behemoth's neck, grabbing her eighteen-foot spear and sweeping it horizontally, severing Qin Ming's neck and forcing her back into human form!

"As expected of the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards, you are the first to destroy my Hellfire with pure brute force."

Qin Ming wiped the blood from the tip of his mouth. Even though he had been forced back into normal human form, he was not afraid at all. Just then, Hua Rong shot an arrow from a distance to provide cover. The cold light that came from the distance forced Lin Chong to turn around and block.

At this critical moment, Qin Ming transformed seamlessly for the second time! A ten-meter-tall hellfire rose from the ground, surrounded by molten lava and green flames, and reigned supreme on the battlefield for the second time, engaging in a bloody battle with Lin Chong!

At this moment, the five hundred soldiers of Qingzhou Camp also formed a scattered formation. They had run most of the way and were about to reach the position of the Liangshan musketeers when Liu Hong gave an order. There were urgent bugle calls and thunderous war drums. Chao Gai, Yang Zhi and Suo Chao, three cavalry generals, led two hundred cavalrymen to charge out from behind the hillside!

At this moment, the Qingzhou camp saw cavalry suddenly appear from both sides, and their faces turned pale with fright. They were immediately stunned! Skirmish formations can indeed effectively reduce the enemy's firepower, but they are not conducive to close combat because they are too scattered. When encountering a densely packed formation, the three enemy soldiers on the left, center, and right can attack you at the same time, while your teammates on the left and right sides are a good six or seven meters away and cannot come to help at all.

If such a skirmishing formation were to encounter cavalry, there would be only one outcome: they would be so badly rammed by the cavalry that they wouldn't even recognize their own mothers.

Warhorses neighed, cavalry roared, and two hundred light cavalrymen split into three conical arrowheads, charging forward with a roar. As the Qingzhou army hastily began to form dense formations, Yang Zhi had already led his cavalry into the right flank gap of the skirmisher formation. Fifty galloping warhorses rammed through the enemy ranks, and fifty long spears, propelled by the horses' speed, stabbed and killed Song soldiers. The left-wing infantry, terrified, began to scatter and flee. But how could two legs outrun four hooves? Before they had gone far, the leading captain was pierced through the chest by Yang Zhi's spear!

Before the first spray of blood mist had even landed, a second wave of cavalry had already penetrated the breach from the left flank! The command flag of the Qingzhou camp commander had just been raised halfway when a blood-red dragon suddenly swept across the sky. Suo Chao, leading fifty cavalrymen, roared as he leaped from the low slope on the flank, his golden axe crashing down and cleaving the commander's head in two! The scattered troops, now without command, resembled a decapitated centipede, and the rout army, like the segments of a centipede's body, began to convulse uncontrollably.

The most deadly attack was not Yang Zhi and Suo Chao's charge, but the deadly pressure from Chao Gai leading a hundred cavalrymen. Chao Gai calmly commanded his cavalrymen, dividing them into twenty small teams of five men each, to surround and compress the Qingzhou Camp from three directions. This forced the five hundred soldiers of the Qingzhou Camp to flee backward, like hunting dogs driving a flock of sheep or hunters hunting a herd of deer. The Qingzhou Camp, which had been overwhelmed by the cavalry, began to turn and scatter, attacking the Qingfeng Camp's position behind them.

Chapter 187: Little Li Guang Shoots Down the Heroes

"No retreat! Fight! Fight!"

Liu Gao, the commander of the Qingfeng Camp, panicked. The Qingfeng Camp, with its dense formation, did indeed have a chance of withstanding the charge of two hundred Liangshan cavalry. However, they couldn't withstand the onslaught of their own allies! What could they do when the Qingzhou Camp's allies charged? Should they swing their spears and kill them all? Or should they wait for these routed troops to disrupt their lines, allowing the Liangshan cavalry to overwhelm them all in one wave?

"Qin Ming! Command your soldiers! Hua Rong, fire the arrows immediately!"

Liu Gao was at a loss. On one hand, he tried to restore order to the Qingzhou camp that had been overrun by the cavalry. On the other hand, he ordered Hua Rong to snipe the Liangshan cavalry. The silver-clad young general drew his bow and shot three arrows in an instant. They turned into three meteors in the air, whistling, spinning, and flying, falling towards the three Liangshan generals!

Yang Zhi snorted and easily deflected the arrow with his steel spear. Suo Chao was unimpressed and used the flat of his golden-tipped axe as a shield to block the arrow. Chao Gai also raised a shield to block it.

But the next second, just as the three relaxed men put down their weapons and shields, they discovered that Hua Rong had not fired three arrows, but six! Hidden within the shadows of the three arrows that flew like meteors were three deadly steel arrows!

For a moment, only Yang Zhi, relying on the prophetic ability of his left eye, narrowly dodged the arrow by tilting his head. Suo Chao, caught off guard, was shot in the left shoulder; the arrow left his left arm weak and painful, making it impossible for him to hold his axe steady. He was forced to lie flat on his horse's back, dodging any possible arrows from Hua Rong. Chao Gai was even shot in the chest and immediately fell from his horse!

"Quickly, go save the Heavenly King!"

At this very moment, Liu Hong also made his move, flapping his wings and soaring into the sky! Hua Rong was still in a safe place, drawing his bow and shooting arrows, when Liu Hong's trajectory of descent already shrieked as he tore through the clouds! His gilded wings created two streaks of sulfurous golden flames as they rubbed against the air. Before he even arrived, the sand within a radius of tens of meters had already collapsed into a glazed crater due to the terrifying wind pressure—this golden god of death had actually descended at three times the speed of sound!

Hua Rong's expression changed. This Great Sage Equaling Heaven was far lighter than Qin Ming, but his speed was several times greater! The impact of the Golden-Winged Roc's fall could not create a scene of hellfire burning the heavens and destroying the world, but it was still not to be underestimated! This forced Hua Rong to immediately abandon his bow and retreat!

Liu Hong remained silent. The three thousand black gold scales of the Jidu Dragon King surged and enveloped his entire body, protecting his limbs and bones. The two dragon-coiled staffs of the Taizu Emperor roared and swept across all directions, directly whipping several Song soldiers near Hua Rong away! They smashed over a bunch of enemy soldiers, clearing a large vacuum area in the center of Qingfeng Camp.

"The one with wings on his ribs is the Great Sage Evil! Capture the Great Sage Evil alive!!!"

At this moment, Liu Gao gave another order, and a large number of Qingfeng Camp soldiers were immediately enraged by the reward of 200,000 guan and roared as they came to capture Liu Hong alive!

But it didn't matter. Liu Hong wielded his coiled dragon staff with fierce power, the long staff with chains, which in turn propelled the short staff, sweeping through the crowd! The terrifying weapon, weighing sixty-six pounds, combined with the centrifugal force of the swinging chains and Liu Hong's superhuman strength, was so powerful that ordinary people would die upon contact, be injured if grazed, and have their bones completely shattered if hit head-on!

With each collision, the four coiled dragons embroidered on the short staff would simultaneously spew out four elements: fire, ice, acid, and lightning, triggering devastating elemental explosions! Instantly, the charging Song army was routed.

At this moment, Li Cunxiao also flew over using her aerial advantage, casting the shadow of the young dragon's wings onto the army. She took a deep breath, and when the first golden lightning waterfall descended from the sky and struck the central army banner, the flagpole did not break but directly vaporized. The burst of plasma instantly engulfed the flag bearer, turning him into a charred outline!

"Roar!!!"

As the Dragon King of Jidu was strengthened, Li Cunxiao's demonic power also increased. The thunderous waterfall that descended from the sky, along with her forward flight trajectory, plowed a bloody path through the crowd! Behind her, the bloody trenches were filled with ionization storms. Two warhorses collided in a vortex of flesh and blood in a daze, and a captain's cavalry armor melted into a crimson iron net in the strong electromagnetic field, branding its master into a grid-like charred corpse. Nearby soldiers were also electrocuted and trembling.

The golden lightning waterfall that descended from the sky was like a sharp knife, tearing the entire formation apart! Only Liu Hong, who was immune to lightning, was unaffected by the dragon's breath.

"boom!!!"

Just as Liu Hong swung his dragon-patterned staff down, splitting the bluestone slab, Hua Rong easily dodged it while simultaneously thrusting his silver spear into Liu Hong's left rib. Unfortunately, the spear tip failed to break through the black dragon scales of the Jidu River, resulting in a clash of metal and sparks flying everywhere.

Liu Hong lunged forward, his spear shaft bent into an arc by brute force. He swept the double-tailed comet with his dragon staff, aiming to smash into Hua Rong's jaw, but Hua Rong easily dodged it. Hua Rong then used the same move, employing the force of the spear shaft's reverse arc, to suddenly thrust his silver spear upwards, accompanied by a series of sharp sparks, forcing Liu Hong to take two steps back.

Hua Rong spun around, drawing his spear and bringing with him half a broken scale. The spear tip swept towards Liu Hong's throat. The Coiled Dragon Staff, however, suddenly changed its attack, slamming down. This time, the twin comets wrapped around the staff suddenly expanded, dragging seven galaxies with them as they crashed down!

Hua Rong was about to dodge when, unexpectedly, the three thousand lightning scales suddenly exploded, unleashing a sky full of lightning tribulations! The periodic bursts of lightning from the Jidu Scale Armor caught her off guard, and her body was also partially paralyzed by the natural disaster lightning tribulation. The dragon-carved staff, wrapped in four elements and seven layers of starry river, roared down and smashed down on Hua Rong's right shoulder blade! The sound of the armor cracking and the shoulder joint dislocating rang out, forcing Hua Rong to change from sweeping to thrusting. In the instant she was blasted away by the Heavenly Gang Slash, the silver spear in her hand struck Liu Hong's throat, sending three brilliant sparks flying!

Both men staggered back two steps. Hua Rong clutched his right shoulder, while Liu Hong covered his throat. After catching their breath, they clashed again! Liu Hong's sweeping dragon staff was firmly blocked by the silver spear. Suddenly, Hua Rong abandoned the spear and moved closer, pulling out a mace with his left hand and smashing it into Liu Hong's kidney. Liu Hong, spitting out blood, countered by grabbing Hua Rong's wrist. The long weapon fight turned into a close-quarters battle!

The two fought for eight or nine rounds in a row. Liu Hong was unable to gain the upper hand and was even starting to fall into a disadvantage. Hua Rong was too troublesome. Her archery skills were superb. From a distance, she was able to simultaneously shoot back Yang Zhi, wound Suo Chao, and Chao Gai, three brave generals.

However, once it comes to close combat, it's hard to say whether her marksmanship is better or worse than Lin Chong's, but her skill and expertise are definitely no less than that of Yang Zhi, the Blue-Faced Beast!

They get blown up at range and can't even win in close combat. What kind of overpowered archer is this?

Chapter 188: The Song Dynasty Army Suffers a Complete Rout

However, Liu Hong did not intend to single-handedly charge into the midst of five hundred soldiers to accomplish the feat of killing or capturing Hua Rong alive. Even Lin Chong might not be able to do that. He was self-aware and knew that his current combat strength was probably only at the lower level of the Eight Tiger Generals, roughly the level of Shi Jin, the Nine-Tattooed Dragon. Facing Hua Rong, whose strength was at the level of the Five Tiger Generals and who could fight Qin Ming for forty or fifty rounds in close combat, he definitely couldn't win.

But that doesn't matter. Hua Rong isn't a violent fighter like Qin Ming or Lu Zhisheng, lacking devastating burst damage. Instead, he's a skill-based fighter like Lin Chong or Yang Zhi. Relying solely on skill, he can't defeat Liu Hong, who is proficient in both the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear Technique and the Flying Dragon in the Sky Staff Technique, in a short time.

The nearby Song soldiers wanted to help, but Liu Hong was no match for him. He was a master of the Flying Dragon in the Sky Staff Technique, specializing in large-scale melee combat, and his use of the Coiling Dragon Staff was superb! The two-meter-long staff spun around, and through the connecting iron chains, he wielded the sixty-six-centimeter-long staff with tremendous force, roaring and whistling as it circled around him. He created an impenetrable barrier, so thick that the air was completely blocked, and the countless staff flowers even formed a semi-transparent shield, protecting Liu Hong in the center as he fought against the chaotic army!

Amidst the clash of metal, the dragon-carved staff circled around the body, deflecting three spears at the side, knocking away two curved blades behind him, and finally dragging a double-tailed comet as it clashed fiercely with Hua Rong's silver spear in front, sending sparks flying everywhere. Although dozens of arrows pierced through the staff's tumbles, they were unable to break through the Ji Du Shadow Armor's sturdiness and posed no threat to Liu Hong.

At this moment, three thousand bolts of lightning erupted from the Reverse Scale Armor, once again centered on Liu Hong, unleashing a terrifying new star of lightning. The terrifying lightning spread outwards like ripples on a tide, blasting Hua Rong and the two Song soldiers who approached back repeatedly to avoid the sharp edge of the heavenly lightning. The group was frozen in place, none of them able to defeat the other in a short time.

However, Liu Hong came here to buy time so that Hua Rong could not shoot arrows in peace, allowing two hundred Liangshan cavalry to drive the more than four hundred Qingzhou camp soldiers who had been routed and to break through the government army's position in one fell swoop.

Hua Rong was stalling for time because he really couldn't deal with Liu Hong in a short period of time!

At this moment, the chaotic and disorderly Qingzhou Camp's routed troops had already reached the vicinity of the Qingfeng Camp. Those in front, upon seeing the densely packed spear wall of the Qingfeng Camp, screamed and tried to stop to avoid being riddled with holes, but those behind, unaware of the situation and still desperately fleeing, continued to push forward, pushing those in front along with them, leaving them only able to watch helplessly as they drew ever closer to the spear wall!

With no other option, the officers and soldiers of the Qingfeng Battalion could only raise their spears high to avoid their allies crashing into their spears and dying. As a result, they were also scattered by the chaotic crowd. Yang Zhi, Suo Chao, and Chao Gai, who was still fighting despite being seriously injured, seized this opportunity and roared as they led two hundred cavalrymen in a massive cavalry charge that shook the heavens and the earth.

With a deafening roar of drums and the neighing of warhorses, two hundred twelve-foot-long spears were raised horizontally, their tips forming a perfect seventeen-degree angle with the rising sun! As the Qingfeng Camp's formation crumbled under the charge of the fleeing army, Yang Zhi's fifty cavalrymen had already closed to within a deadly twenty paces! The fifty warhorses had reached their maximum acceleration! In an instant, all the kinetic energy generated by the seven or eight hundred kilograms of weight charging at sixty kilometers per hour was released through the tips of their spears! One spear after another pierced through the shield wall, nailing into flesh and blood, turning the chests, arm bones, and elm shields of the shield bearers into a string of bloody, mangled pieces.

Some of the stronger cavalrymen were even able to pierce through the first rank of soldiers with their spears and then plunge them into the chests of the second rank of soldiers!

At this moment, Suo Chao and Chao Gai led 150 cavalrymen, charging forward with overwhelming force! Each cavalryman deliberately chose chaotic spots to charge, their steel spears scraping against shields and armor, sparks flying. Horses rammed into enemies, sending them flying and crashing down on more soldiers. The Song soldiers, their bodies flying and flailing, were transformed into a torrential downpour.

At this moment, Chao Gai also endured the arrow wound and charged forward. After piercing three people with his spear in one go, he actually used the spear, which had pierced three people and weighed more than 300 pounds, as a huge flesh and blood war hammer and swung it around!

Although incredibly slow, the spear was incredibly powerful, capable of blasting a person into mincemeat upon impact. After smashing five or six soldiers, the spear shaft finally broke with a crash, unable to withstand the force.

Chao Gai hurled his spear with terrifying force, even smashing the head of a Song soldier with it. He then drew his thirteen-section steel whip and swung it around. The pagoda-shaped whip was deadly to anyone who touched it, and wounded anyone who grazed it. He swung it in a wide arc and smashed it behind the drum cart. The deafening roar of the bronze-clad war drum resonated with the thud of two hundred warhorses stamping their feet, causing blood to flow from the ears and noses of soldiers within thirty paces. Chao Gai's cavalry then slaughtered them all!

However, after a while, Chao Gai, Yang Zhi, and Suo Chao charged forward, slashing and hacking, when they suddenly found that there was no one in front of them, only the vast Liangshan Marsh. They then realized that two hundred cavalrymen had already cut through a thousand infantrymen, completely disrupting the enemy's formation and throwing their landing area into disarray.

At this moment, Qin Ming, who was caught up in the fierce battle with Lin Chong, realized that things were going badly. He had been charging too recklessly and too hastily, and his whole mind was focused on fighting Lin Chong. He hadn't noticed that the thousand men who had landed had already been overwhelmed by the two hundred Liangshan cavalry. With no other option, he could only retreat quickly, enduring Lin Chong's increasingly fierce and violent offensive.

Liu Gao and Hua Rong were also disheartened. They barely managed to gather their remaining troops and retreat towards the marsh. After regrouping, the three realized they could command fewer than two hundred men. They had no choice but to form a desperate battle with their backs to the river! The others were either dead or scattered, impossible to find, and disobeyed orders. Today, it seemed everyone would perish here!