Chapter 124: The First Charge Side by Side

"Kill!!!"

"Kill!!"

Galloping cavalrymen crossed paths on the battlefield, continuously hacking and slashing at one another with their weapons.

Li Shimin held a longbow in his hand, continuously releasing arrows to strike down the Turkic cavalry.

"Zihou! The left flank is weak! Take the heavy spear in the front, and I will hold the bow in the back!"

Knowing all too well the principle that a collapse at one point spells doom for the entire army, Li Shimin swept his gaze across the battlefield and shouted to Fu Zihou.

After cutting down a Turkic cavalryman with his heavy spear, Fu Zihou heard Li Shimin's words, glanced briefly at the Turkic left flank, turned to nod at Li Shimin, and took the lead by charging forward with his heavy spear.

Amidst the chaos of battle.

Facing the Turkic cavalry, Fu Zihou charged in the vanguard with his heavy spear. As the Turks rode toward him brandishing curved sabers, Fu Zihou dodged and wove while cutting them down one by one with his weapon.

Li Shimin positioned himself directly behind Fu Zihou. With Fu Zihou carving a path ahead, Li Shimin's longbow relentlessly claimed the lives of the enemy.

At first, their cooperation was somewhat unfamiliar.

Yet after charging through the battlefield for a short while, both Li Shimin and Fu Zihou developed absolute trust in each other.

Gradually, as the Turkic cavalry charged from the front, Li Shimin would shoot down every other opponent. Eager to launch arrows at more distant targets more quickly, he began to let certain enemies pass through. Those missed Turkic cavalrymen, forced into a one-on-one duel with Fu Zihou, were simply no match for him.

No matter how burly and robust the Turkic cavalrymen were, their curved sabers could not even touch Fu Zihou. To their horror, the Turks discovered that despite charging forward at full gallop and striking simultaneously, all their slashing and thrusting maneuvers were effortlessly evaded by Fu Zihou, while they themselves perished one by one beneath his heavy spear.

In the blink of an eye.

Confronted by the brazen and reckless rampage of Li Shimin and Fu Zihou right through the heart of the battlefield, the Turkic cavalry were utterly helpless. Even though the other Sui cavalry had been left far behind by the duo, the Turks simply could not stop them. Whenever they attempted to surround the two men, before the Turkic cavalry could even close in, they would watch helplessly as Li Shimin and Fu Zihou shattered yet another line of defense and vanished into the distance.

On the battlefield, Li Shimin and Fu Zihou pulled hard on their reins. As their warhorses neighed, the two men turned to look back at the carnage behind them.

Only then did they realize that, unawares, the two of them alone had completely cut through the entire left flank of the Turkic cavalry.

As for the main force of the Sui cavalry, at some point they had been left far behind on the opposite side of the battlefield.

"Exhilarating!"

Holding the reins in one hand and the longbow in the other, Li Shimin gasped for breath as he looked out at the countless Turks in the distance staring in their direction, unable to keep himself from shouting with a heroic air.

"Truly exhilarating!"

As he spoke, Li Shimin felt his entire being surge with boiling energy, his chest filled with an intense fighting spirit.

Charging like this, just two men breaking through a force of over a thousand enemy cavalrymen—even Li Shimin had never experienced such a sensation.

This heart-pounding charge on the edge of life and death! This sudden backward glance at the achievement of cutting through a thousand riders with just two men! This passion fierce enough to sweep across an entire army!

Whether on past battlefields or during past hunts for giant beasts, Li Shimin had never felt so thrilled.

Looking at Fu Zihou beside him, Li Shimin couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't met sooner.

"Zihou! Let's charge once more!"

Glancing at the distant army of Huns, Li Shimin turned his head and spoke to Fu Zihou.

"Very well!"

Fu Zihou looked at Li Shimin, smiled with slight pants, and turned his gaze toward the distant Turkic cavalry army, his eyes blazing with combat intent.

Because Li Shimin was by his side, this was the first time Fu Zihou had ever experienced how easy and simple it could be to clash with enemy cavalry on the battlefield.

"Watch out for stray arrows! I'll take the lead!"

Fu Zihou said aloud. As his voice trailed off, he drove his heels hard into his horse's flanks.

"Hyah!"

Managing his warhorse and gripping his heavy spear, Fu Zihou charged straight toward the Turkic cavalry army once again.

"Hyah!"

Seeing Fu Zihou make his move, Li Shimin spurred his horse to follow right behind him.

As one Turkic warrior after another was struck by arrows and fell from their saddles, the remaining attackers at the vanguard hurriedly readied their own arrows.

Atop speeding, galloping warhorses, the Turkic men drew their recurve bows and loosed arrows at Fu Zihou and Li Shimin.

Yet against Fu Zihou, the arrows shot by the Turks posed minimal threat.

Only the front ranks of the Turkic cavalry were drawing bows to shoot, and their ammunition was limited. Enhanced by his heightened anticipation, Fu Zihou continuously swung his heavy spear, swatting away almost all the incoming projectiles. The few stray arrows that occasionally slipped past carried very little threat.

Conversely, Li Shimin rode at a gallop behind Fu Zihou. With only Fu Zihou in front of him, his line of sight was clear and unobstructed, allowing him to shoot arrows without interruption.

Gazing at the swarming masses of the oncoming Turkic cavalry, Fu Zihou with his heavy spear and Li Shimin with his longbow clashed with the enemy host in an instant.

"Kill!"

Fu Zihou wielded his heavy spear, continuously cutting down the Turkic cavalrymen channeled through by Li Shimin.

Moments later.

Thanks to Li Shimin's miraculous archery, Fu Zihou lost count of how many Turkic cavalrymen he had slain. Facing wave after wave of endlessly charging enemies, his heavy spear never stopped moving.

One in front and one behind, Fu Zihou and Li Shimin forged a clear passage straight through the heart of the Turkic cavalry army.

At that moment, facing the vast battlefield, the souls of Li Shimin and Fu Zihou seemed to resonate as one.

However, a few breaths later, noticing three Turkic cavalrymen charging toward them from the front, a perceptive Fu Zihou turned his head and saw that the horse beneath Li Shimin appeared to have been wounded.

It turned out that two Turkic warriors had pursued them from behind along the cleared passage. They had been shooting arrows from the rear; missing Li Shimin, they had struck the rump of his mount instead.

Looking at the countless Turkic cavalrymen surrounding them on all sides, Fu Zihou turned around and loosened his grip on his heavy spear. As the weapon began to slip, he caught its tail end and swept it with all his might toward the three incoming Turkic horsemen.

Seeing this, two of the Turkic warriors spurred their horses to dodge to either side, while the third failed to evade in time and was knocked directly out of the saddle by Fu Zihou.

Having dealt with the three Turks, Fu Zihou turned back to see that Li Shimin had already shot and killed the two pursuers from behind.

Since Li Shimin's warhorse was injured, Fu Zihou slowed his pace, engaging the charging Turks in front while covering Li Shimin as he switched horses.

Just as Fu Zihou struck down a Turkic warrior and spotted a heavily built, formidable Turkic giant rushing right at him, preparing to raise his heavy spear to block the giant's downward slash, an arrow flashed past his shoulder. It struck squarely between the Turkic giant's eyebrows, dropping the burly brute from his mount.

Seeing Li Shimin draw his bow once again to shoot down the approaching enemies, Fu Zihou exchanged a glance with him.

Amidst thousands of foes, the two men smiled at each other, urged their warhorses into a gallop once more, and surged rapidly across the battlefield.

On the battlefield.

Confronted by the fiercely brutal charges made by Li Shimin and Fu Zihou back and forth, the forces on the left flank of the Turks were driven to the verge of psychological collapse. Upon seeing the two men approach, the rest of the Turks spurred their mounts aside to clear a path.

"Commander!"

"Commander!!!"

Hu Jingyuan, Yin Tianzong, and the others all let out sighs of relief upon seeing Li Shimin and Fu Zihou.

The Turks who were still fighting the Sui soldiers wore dazed expressions. When they saw their own comrades lacking the courage to block those two men, and witnessed the soaring morale of the Sui soldiers, they too began to harbor thoughts of retreat.

Turks feared death just as much as anyone else.

Especially given that over the past few years, through continuous plundering of the Central Plains, every Turk had grown accustomed to a life of leisure and comfort. Far removed from the hardened ways of the past, not a single one of them was willing to die here.

"Kill!!!"

"Kill!!"

Seeing the Turkic army begin to rout, the Sui soldiers shouted battle cries as they swarmed forward to slaughter the enemy.

Witnessing this scene—watching his own forces collapse into a rout—Zheshi Wuli's expression turned grim, and he hastily prepared to flee.

Yet cavalry warfare is unforgiving; once a rout takes hold in the chaos of battle, a commander attempting to escape is far from easy. As he watched the Turks fleeing in all directions, Zheshi Wuli, accompanied by a dozen personal guards, was surrounded by Sui soldiers before he could flee very far.

Li Shimin and Fu Zihou rode their horses slowly through the ranks of the Sui soldiers until they stood before Zheshi Wuli.

Gazing at the grim-faced Zheshi Wuli, Fu Zihou had no intention of sparing his life and raised his hand.

Understanding Fu Zihou's intent at once, and prompted by gestures from Lai Bo, Wu Liuzi, and others, the Sui soldiers drew their arrows and aimed their longbows at Zheshi Wuli and his dozen retainers.

What does it feel like to be surrounded? What does it feel like when everyone around you is drawing longbows and notching arrows? At this sight, not only did Zheshi Wuli turn deathly pale, but the dozen Turkic guards protecting him were also gripped by terror.

"Shall we leave a captive alive? Perhaps this man still has his uses!"

Li Shimin had not expected Fu Zihou to be so decisive, intent on executing Zheshi Wuli without a word, and hastily intervened to persuade him otherwise.

Hearing Li Shimin's words, Fu Zihou saw Zheshi Wuli look toward Li Shimin with a glimmer of hope, before glancing back at him in terror.

"Consider yourself lucky! Someone is pleading for your life!"

Fu Zihou said, turning his mount to face Li Shimin.

As their eyes met, Li Shimin caught a faint trace of amusement in Fu Zihou's eyes. Realizing the truth as he looked at the profoundly relieved Zheshi Wuli, Li Shimin finally understood Fu Zihou's true intention and could not help but smile inwardly.

Clearing the battlefield.

By Fu Zihou's orders, any captured or surviving Turks were mercilessly cut down by the Sui soldiers. Aside from Zheshi Wuli, not a single living soul was spared.

"Clearly, Zheshi Wuli never expected a cavalry raid on Yanmen, so he was caught unprepared. Coupled with a sacrificial ritual he was holding, he didn't bring many troops with him. Right now, the bulk of the Turkic forces are in the hands of 'Tamu Duolu' and 'Momo Dagan'!"

Li Shimin studied the maps of Yanmen City and Guo County that had been recovered from the spoils.

"Once they receive word, they will surely lead their armies to attack us!"

Li Shimin said to Fu Zihou.

That recent battle had given Li Shimin an unprecedented sense of exhilaration. Looking at Fu Zihou before him, a thought even crossed his mind: should they take the fight directly to the enemy and crush the main Turkic cavalry army in a frontal collision?

In the past, when outnumbered by the enemy, Li Shimin would never have entertained such a notion.

Yet having fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Fu Zihou, for reasons unknown, Li Shimin no longer felt the expected dread toward those two Turkic armies; deep down, he even held a measure of confidence.