Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 813 813 78 Dagger Appears_4

?Chapter 813: Chapter 78 Dagger Appears_4 Chapter 813: Chapter 78 Dagger Appears_4 He inspected each body of the Paratu People on the battleground and did not find any that had fatal wounds on their back.

“Tough bones,” Tie Chi called to his son, half in admiration, half gravely, “Tough bones.”

“My Nakor all broke in two,” Tie Chi’s son spat out a mouthful of filthy blood. “That firemaker, this castrated pig! All our young men are being worn away! I think he had this in mind from the start!”

“Shut up!” Tie Chi reprimanded. “He is your Khan King, and he is also your clan and kin; it’s your duty to take care of him.”

After the bloody battle, Tie Chi’s son felt his temper rising uncontrollably, “What a worthless Khan King! You are the youngest son of our grandfather; by all rights, you should be the one to ascend as the Khan!”

Instantly, Tie Chi raised his riding crop and harshly struck his son. However, seeing his only son’s face covered in gunpowder and blood, he couldn’t bear to hit him again.

“Do not speak of this ever again, or even I won’t be able to protect you!” Tie Chi scolded with a cold face.

First, find wooden posts, then use several horses to wrap around and pull them down.

Once the posts fell, the baskets and earth fixed to them tumbled down together.

Using this method, Tie Chi’s troops dismantled a large section of the horse barricades, allowing the valley to again accommodate large troop movements.

At the same time, warriors from other parts of the Terdun Tribe also gathered together rapidly.

In this desperate breakout, the Terdun Tribe didn’t fake any attacks, they assaulted with full force, hitting hard wherever they broke through.

Besides warhorses, weapons, and provisions they carried, they now had nothing else.

This was when the Herders’ combat power was at its strongest, as they had no material wealth to encumber them and were solely focused on survival.

After most of Kota’s troops had assembled, Tie Chi didn’t wait for the last few men; he led the Terdun cavalry forwards.

Breaking through this blockade, the Terdun Cavalry would then be able to gallop freely across the lands of Iron Peak County— unstoppable, unblockable.

But the deeper they pushed forward, the more uneasy Tie Chi felt.

The valley was eerily silent, not even the chirping of birds could be heard. The wind carried a chill, and the mountainsides grew steeper, reeking of death traps ahead.

Tie Chi urgently summoned the leader of the vanguard light cavalry. However, before Kota arrived, the first cannon shot fired from both sides of the slope.

A red flag was raised at the top of the valley.

Then came a battle cry well known and spine-chilling to the Herders, “Uukhai!!!”

Dozens of blazing fireballs rolled down from the slopes, gaining speed, and with unstoppable quickness, smashed into the Terdun line.

These “fireballs” were spherical cages made of branches, filled with dried grass, resin, and lamp oil; they couldn’t explode, and their killing power was limited. However, they effectively severed the Terdun troops.

The Terdun tribe, marching along the valley shaped like a long snake, was instantly segmented by the roaring fireballs.

Seeing the bad turn of events, the trailing Terdun leader didn’t hesitate to turn and flee.

“Rotten flesh! Our retreat has been cut off!” Tie Chi furiously cursed. He frantically whipped his riding crop, shouting orders to his panicked troops: “Forward charge! Forward charge! Kill! The gods are watching us!”

“Fire oxen!” a Terdun warrior suddenly shouted in panic, “Fire oxen!”

Tie Chi looked in the direction of the shout, and what charged down the slope next was hundreds of burning, frenzied oxen.

The stampeding power of the fire oxen was not inferior to that of warhorses, even fiercer, as the maddened oxen would not stop for spears.

The Terdun people had the courage to fight a decisive battle against the Paratu People, but no one dared stand in front of a rampaging bull.

The herd of oxen trampled the ground, their hooves thundering, and the Terdun warriors scattered in all directions.

Tie Chi wanted to fight to the death, but could not find an opponent to clash with.

Winters watched the tragic scene in the valley with a stern gaze, waiting for the opportunity—going down now would risk getting accidentally trampled by the frenzied oxen.

The military books say to surround on three sides and leave one side open to prevent the enemy from fighting desperately.

However, Winters chose to reverse this adage. In his view, rather than spreading his limited military forces thinly across the front like sprinkling salt, it would be better to intentionally give the Terdun people a way out and then strike them hard using the terrain.

It was from the Herders that he learned to use fire oxen and fire horses as tactics.

Who else but the Herders could bear to use valuable horses and draft oxen as expendable items?

Previously, he avoided this tactic because it was highly unstable.

The Terdun people had once used fire horses in a charge. Facing a well-organized, heavily armed square formation, the fire horses had been ineffective.

Frightened animals cannot be predicted, and no one knew whether the next moment a frenzied fire ox might turn around and charge back at their own ranks.

But using fire oxen in a charge was no longer a concern here in “a gorge flanked by two mountains,” since the fire oxen would instinctively rush downward along the slope.

And the more the targets ran, the more the oxen chased them; the panicked and scattering Terdun people were their primary targets.

Seeing the dispersed Terdun warriors, Winters nodded, and Xial, understanding the cue, removed his horn.

The sharp sound of the charge echoed in the valley. Under the red flag, the militia, positioned on the reverse slope, shouted together, picked up their spears and Stinger Hammers, and charged down the hill.

The main forces had been deployed at various defensive points, and the assault force in this ambush comprised the “prime” and “adult” soldiers, the militarily strongest part of the militia.