Chapter 1944: Chapter 1766: Battle for Belonging (Part 2)

As the Han Army slowly pressed toward the position marked by the battle letter, the Kushan also deployed their military formation and slowly moved forward, as Huang Quan and others had half predicted: a formation with connected foundations, resembling a sawtooth but extending towards the center.

"The Kushan are no easy prey; it seems they’re concentrating all their power in the central army, aiming to break through there," Zhang Su said solemnly.

"It’s pretty much as we estimated; in the central army, we’ve stationed only King Wutugu and his Rattan Armored Soldiers, while the rest are virtually illusionary troops," Zhang Song sighed and said, "In this way, we’ll see who holds out longer."

"Anyway, we can definitely hold out; their formation will truly be countered by ours," Wang Lei said, gazing frontward with a cold smile.

"To be honest, our formation should technically be restrained by theirs," Cheng Ji said, "But our army is Unbreakable, and in the end, it will counteract theirs."

"Just uncertain if King Wutugu can hold out?" Qin Mi said with some hesitation, "It’s uncertain whether the three thousand Rattan Armored Soldiers can withstand them."

"There’s no issue; although the attack power of Rattan Armored Soldiers isn’t very strong, their defense is formidable. Being wrapped in the center, using the Round Formation to resist isn’t a big problem," Zhang Song said slowly, and upon hearing this, the others nodded silently.

Meanwhile, envoys from various kingdoms on the South Asian Subcontinent and the Indochina Peninsula were looking down from a high ground several miles away from the battlefield. Due to the sheer number of people and the vast size of the battlefield, whether they could see clearly was a substantial issue, but nonetheless, all envoys gazed anxiously at the battlefield.

The immensely vast Cloud Qi from both sides slowly gathered toward the center, its continuous rolling and transformation immeasurably increasing the pressure in the hearts of the distant observing envoys.

At the rear of the Kushan Army, Brack was also cautiously commanding the Kushan army forward; this time, they indeed faced the Han Army head-on.

"The Han Army seems not to have too many headquarters troops," Leiblalei said slowly, looking toward the Han Army’s direction, "Their headquarters can account for about half."

"The rest seem like randomly recruited local barbarians; the Han Army indeed underestimates our army," Brack said with a grim expression. He had expected a fair battle, yet this was the situation: the Han Army’s headquarters was less than half.

"If we had known, we shouldn’t have avoided spying on the Han Army’s camp for accurate measurements of combat power against the Han without calculations," Hirilah complained.

"It’s useless to talk about these things now; their battle formation is countered by ours, let’s flatten them in one go and achieve a complete victory," Sulapri said, relaxed beyond measure.

"Indeed, whether they scorn us doesn’t matter; securing this much-needed victory is also good," Brack said with a cold smile.

"Don’t underestimate them; with such forces, randomly recruiting barbarian soldiers, yet daring to accept our battle letter and gamble greatly, must mean they are confident in defeating us with a Barbarian Army formation," Leiblalei coldly said.

Upon hearing this, Brack’s face sank, and he stopped talking, instead using a banner to order the outermost wings to thrust inward, and soon the army, led by the leading general, began fast-paced inward penetration.

The Han Army followed suit with a continuous drumbeat. Wutugu, hearing the rumbling drumbeat, immediately roared and led his Rattan Armored Soldiers to charge forward.

At the same time, Sharuk, wearing Raha Galik — an iron wire woven body protector, led a Death Soldier Camp composed of lower-class and low caste people wearing leather armor only on their upper body, wielding great swords, and charged forward.

These people, fearless of death, were Kushan Army’s longstanding unerring method for breaking through enemy formations, but this time Sharuk’s Death Soldier Camp encountered Wutugu’s Rattan Armored Soldiers whose defensive power rivaled the Military Spirit Legion.

"Charge!" Wutugu roared, carrying a ten-foot-long iron mace and leading the charge, while the Rattan Armored Soldiers also roared and rushed with great swords, relying on physical qualities vastly superior to normal soldiers and lightweight armor, quickly detached from the main army.

However, just before the Rattan Armored Soldiers were about to detach from the main army, the Han Army’s Cloud Qi finally transformed. A ghostly blue Radiance augmented the armor of all Han soldiers, unlike other complex army formation transformations; the only Cloud Qi change needed by Zhang Song and others this time was Defensive Reinforcement.

After enhancing all soldiers’ defense, Zhang Song and Zhang Su immediately ceased all actions, relying on each general’s own abilities for the rest. At this time, they also clearly saw the transformation of the opposing Kushan formation: pure fiery red, all reinforced for destructive power; the Kushan’s goal was to shred the Han main formation.

"Kill!" Though Wutugu charged vigorously, the earliest engagement with Kushan was by Zhang Ren; he himself was protruding from the right side, leading part cavalry, thus first clashed with the Kushan left wing.

In the instant the war horses’ front hooves landed and leaped upward again, Zhang Ren roared and activated his Legion Talent, doom’s black and fortune’s pure white instantly enveloping both sides before the hooves landed. From the quiver, Zhang Ren drew an arrow and shot straight at the opposing general clad in Raha Patuo armor.

The armor, exposing only hands and frustrating Zhang Ren greatly, immediately provoked him to shoot an arrow, but the opposing top-level Inner Qi Manifestation swung a cross halberd, deflecting Zhang Ren’s arrow.

However, the deflected arrow unexpectedly struck one side’s Command Banner, adorned with metallic spikes, which pierced the hindquarters of the opponent’s warhorse as it fell, instantly maddening the horse, ignoring its rider’s commands, and galloping wild.

"Hahaha! Shoot that fool for me!" Zhang Ren laughed wildly and ordered, as elite archers beside him drew bows and shot at the opponent, a rain of arrows enshrouding him instantly. Had it not been for the personal soldiers near him diving to protect the Chief General selflessly, this wave of arrows could have sufficed for a kill, but even so, it plunged the opponent’s army into chaos.

"Charge, charge, charge!" Zhang Ren laughed wildly and led his trusted aide charging directly inside; at this moment, he disregarded whether his trusted aide had detached from the main army. With the opponent’s Command Banner fallen, chief aide lost heavily, headquarters in chaos, charging directly to put this pathway to rout; thereafter, fighting becomes much easier.

Zhang Ren swiftly confronted the chief general of the opponent’s army, wielding his long spear, he directly thrust at the enemy’s vital points, while his headquarters guards furiously plunged into Kushan’s left wing, amidst chaos began tearing apart the opposing army structure.

Kushan’s forceful offensive formation’s worst fear is having its edge shattered, and Zhang Ren’s approach now is to directly disassemble the edge, advancing against the flow, taking advantage of the chaos to suppress this pathway’s army, directly surrounding the opponent’s detached chief general.

After twenty moves, Zhang Ren fell into a disadvantage; the opponent’s combat power clearly pressed Zhang Ren, however, even while his entire headquarters guards were pushed back by Kushan’s generals, they had him surrounded amidst no less than five hundred Han army archers.

Zhang Ren, delivering a mighty blow to push back the opponent, looked at him, "Either surrender and retreat aside, or be slaughtered by me!"

"I won’t yield!" Kushan’s Inner Qi Manifestation shouted with Telepathy.

"Then die!" Zhang Ren ignored him completely, issuing an order, a rain of arrows swarmed, shooting Kushan’s Inner Qi Manifestation along with the warhorse into sieve.

"Fortunately, I ordered not to shoot the head, looks pretty serious, the opponent anyway protected the heart," Zhang Ren used his long spear to lift the Kushan general, confirming he was alive, and directly infused a stream of Water Attribute Inner Qi, then had him dragged away.