Chapter 995 The Unbreakable Will From last night to this morning, for more than seven hours, the Gao Family Army led by Zheng Ziyu was attacking with an indomitable momentum. However, when the Black Flag Army's elite cavalry penetrated the Gao Family Army's back path, At that moment, the roles of the offense and defense immediately changed. Xiahou Baichuan, who had been keeping a close eye on the battle situation, knew that the opportunity had come and immediately ordered the drums to be beaten. The Black Flag Army instantly switched from defense to full-out counterattack. Jingqi was like two knives, one on the left and one on the right piercing Zheng Ziyu's ribs. The pain was worse than being stabbed in the ribs with a knife. Zheng Ziyu knew that the Black Flag Army had a very powerful cavalry. As a general who had led the army for many years without a certain understanding of the enemy, he was undoubtedly a failed general. He just didn't expect that the Black Flag Army's light cavalry was so sharp. He was on both wings and The defensive formation set up by the rear team was broken open by an attack that looked like a pack of wolves tearing apart. Zheng Ziyu watched helplessly as a fine cavalry of the Black Flag Army rushed over from the flank. The archers formed a formation and began to prepare to meet the impact of the cavalry with a rain of arrows. However, when the cavalry entered the shooting range, they suddenly turned around, made a beautiful and huge arc, and then changed from facing the infantry directly to passing by them. When the Gao Jiajun archers sent out their arrows, their lethality for the cavalry was immediately reduced too much. The Jingqi who changed their direction passed by the infantry phalanx and fired back with their repeating crossbows. The archers, who also had low defense but far slower movement than the cavalry, suffered heavy casualties. In the first two rows of archers, almost no one was left after the cavalry passed by. They fell down as fast as weeds dropped by a sickle. The cavalry passing by the phalanx made the general commanded by the Gao family army confused about how to issue military orders. According to the Sui soldiers' habit of dealing with cavalry, the cavalry rushed over. First, the archers attacked the opponent, and then the archers quickly retreated, and the pikemen came forward. The front phalanx used a dense forest of spears to completely block the enemy's cavalry. Once trapped in the spear formation, the light cavalry became a living target for everyone to slaughter. But the elite cavalry of the Black Flag Army did not do that. The general who had already raised his flag to give the order to change formations stopped abruptly. The enemy didn't rush over at all. If there was a change of formation, it would be like letting the spearmen die. The enemy swept past the formation like this, and the pikemen had no strength to fight back at all. They were worse than the arrow formation. With just such a daze, Gao Jiajun's defense was immediately breached. No one thought that there was another cavalry behind the elite cavalry passing by the phalanx. The first cavalry was a feint to confuse the Gao family's army. The moment they passed sideways, a cavalry suddenly rushed out from the smoke and pierced the Gao's army's arrow array like a wedge. Archers are a unit with almost zero defense. There are no melee weapons and no defensive armor. The moment the cavalry stepped in, they had no choice but to turn around and run. However, what the elite cavalry of the Black Flag Army wanted was for them to turn around and run away. The Gao family's army has tens of thousands of troops, and the formation is thick enough. If it is a heavy armored cavalry charge, this thickness can be ignored, but light cavalry cannot. They must force the Gao family's archers to flee back and rely on the enemy to disrupt their formation. "Blow the trumpet, don't go too fast, and drive the enemy's archers back!" The cavalry general ordered loudly, and the messenger immediately blew the trumpet. After hearing the sound of the horn, the light cavalry began to change formations. They quickly dispersed from the cone-shaped formation at the beginning and turned into small teams composed of more than a hundred cavalry. After these small groups dispersed, they spread the battle line wide enough, and used their sabers to drive the enemy archers back like herding sheep. Zheng Ziyu¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. By this moment, he actually knew that defeat could not be prevented. If he can still mobilize some archers, use feather arrows to block the escaping archers, and tear open a vacuum zone, then the pikemen behind will have time to form a square formation. Once the gun array is formed, those light cavalry with only leather armor will never dare to charge forward again. But without a continuous attack, he used his troops to the limit. Now, he finally understood that the opponent¡¯s general, Xiahou Baichuan, had not used the light cavalry until now. Xiahou Baichuan was waiting for him, waiting for him to mobilize basically all his troops. At this time, if he counterattacked, the power of the light cavalry would be brought into full play. At this time, more than half of his troops were attacking in the front, and the remaining troops in the rear were performing their duties. Mobilizing any team to make up for it would be equivalent to leaving a bigger hole for the enemy. "Xiahou Baichuan!" Zheng Ziyu roared, and a large mouthful of blood spurted out. There is no doubt that he lost in this contest. It seemed that he had forced Xiahou Baichuan to a point where he had no other strategies and could only fight with real swords and guns. In such a fight, Zheng Ziyu knew that his team was elite enough.?Afraid of any opponent. But it was this point that was taken advantage of by Xiahou Baichuan. Xiahou Baichuan has been allowing him to attack, and he even did not hesitate to compress the defense line to create the illusion that it was about to collapse, thus forcing Zheng Ziyu to invest more troops in the attack. This is a risk. Once the shrinking formation cannot be controlled, it may actually be broken through by the enemy. Xiahou Baichuan defeated him by leaning against a cliff. Zheng Ziyu¡¯s body shook a few times, and his eyesight turned black. Since leading the army, he has never experienced such a disastrous defeat. The rear team was breached, and the attacking team in front was pushed back by the Black Flag Army's counterattack. It wouldn't take long for the Black Flag Army to form a double-team, and Zheng Ziyu completely lost this battle. It wasn't until the last moment that Zheng Ziyu knew where Xiahou Baichuan's trump card was, and he lost because Xiahou Baichuan knew where his trump card was from the beginning. ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ The soldiers cleaning up the battlefield carefully checked and did not let go of any injured person. They opened their eyes one by one and rummaged through the pile of dead people, looking for companions who might have survived. From the beginning, the soldiers of the Black Flag Army were instilled with a spirit of never giving up on their comrades. There were so many wounded that Fang Jie sent almost all the military doctors from each battalion over. The brutality of this battle is even more frightening than the battle to attack Liyin City. That battle was certainly difficult, but it was a siege, and people knew it would be difficult from the beginning. This was a field battle on the plains. In all these years of fighting in the south and north, this was the first time the Black Flag Army had fought like this with an army on the plains. The other side relied entirely on the willpower possessed by qualified soldiers to fight. With the Black Flag Army possessing artillery and cavalry, they launched nearly suicidal offensives again and again, regardless of casualties. Especially when the heavy armored infantry was sent to the front of the Black Flag Army's front, at least five to six thousand Gao's Army infantry were killed. Use their corpses as a barrier to block artillery fire from the heavy infantry. In fact, if the fight continues like this, Zheng Ziyu will still lose. Xiahou Baichuan took off his blood-stained iron helmet and threw it to his own soldiers, then strode into the treatment area to visit the wounded. This battle was not a normal enemy at all, and even now Xiahou Baichuan could not understand why Zheng Ziyu wanted to fight in such a decisive manner regardless of the cost. The Gao Family Army lagged behind in terms of weapons and the quality of the soldiers was almost the same. They attacked with all their might. The number of soldiers killed and injured was far more than that of the Black Flag Army. However, as a general who had led troops for many years and experienced hundreds of battles, Zheng Ziyu did not stop at all. the meaning of. He was pushing his soldiers to death with both hands. Even if the Black Flag Army's elite cavalry had not successfully raided him later, he would have been defeated, but the Black Flag Army's losses would have been greater. "Zheng Ziyu is crazy." Xiahou Baichuan cursed. He could only explain the emergence of this kind of war by saying that Zheng Ziyu was crazy. Because a sane person would not use troops like this. "General!" A soldier ran over quickly and said panting: "The cavalry has surrounded Zheng Ziyu in a small village. There are no more than four hundred people around Zheng Ziyu." "Okay!" Xiahou Baichuan was in high spirits. Shocked, he put on his iron helmet again, mounted his horse, and followed the soldier to the place where Zheng Ziyu was surrounded. This is a small village that is four or five miles away from the main battlefield, and the people in the village have already fled. After years of fighting, there are many abandoned villages like this in the north. In the village, Zheng Ziyu and the few soldiers were still making their final resistance. When Xiahou Baichuan arrived, the Black Flag Army had already invaded the village, and every street was filled with corpses. Those brave soldiers of Zheng Ziyu who were not afraid of death sacrificed their own flesh and blood for their commander to survive for even one more minute. Not only that, they also used such determination to defend the dignity of their soldiers. Zheng Ziyu and the remaining dozens of soldiers were trapped in a large courtyard, and the outside was already surrounded by black flag troops. Xiahou Baichuan dismounted outside the courtyard and looked at the soldiers on the wall who looked haggard and tired but still showed no fear. He couldn't help but feel some respect in his heart. Such an opponent is indeed respectable. "General Zheng, are you here? I am Xiahou Baichuan. Can you say a few words?" Xiahou Baichuan stood outside and shouted loudly. With a creak, the courtyard door was pulled open from the inside. Zheng Ziyu, who was dressed in blood-stained iron armor, walked out slowly with a horizontal knife that had already cracked numerous holes, and stood at the door looking at Xiahou Baichuan. "General Xiahou, at this moment, do you still want to persuade him to surrender?" Zheng Ziyu asked with his chin raised slightly. "General, Xiahou dare not persuade him to surrender." Xiahou Baichuan said with clasped fists. Zheng Ziyu's face changed slightly, and he suddenly threw the knife aside and clasped his fists: "Thank you, General Xiahou. I can have an opponent like you in life, and I will have no regrets even if I die." Xiahou Baichuan said: "I just don't understand, General. Why are you so decisive? If the general is cautious, it will not be easy for me to win." Zheng Ziyu laughed, his laughter filled with sadness. "Your master sent many letters to Gao Kaitai, all of which were written by the generals in the Gao family's army. One of them was a letter begging for surrender written by me. The words were so humble and disgusting. That letter was not written by me. Gao Kaitai or In order to show that he believed in me, or to tell me what he already knew, he sent someone to deliver the letter to me The master died in doubt. This kind of thing actually happened to me I followed him for many years, But it can't compare to your lord's tactic." "I will not surrender or betray Gao Kaitai. Even though he doubts me, I will always regard him as my lord. But, what's the point of living if I have to die? I want to die cleanly and quickly, so that my confused lord can see who I, Zheng Ziyu, am!¡± "They are all my soldiers, and I will take them with me to death." Zheng Ziyu shook his head: "You can say that I am selfish, but this is not mine. Ambition is the ambition of the tens of thousands of men under my command, Zheng Ziyu. I can die, but my soldiers can also die, but we must not lose this ambition!" After saying this, Zheng Ziyu bent down and picked up the horizontal knife on the ground. "General Xiahou, you are luckier than me. You are with the right person I am not." He laughed up to the sky, inserted the horizontal knife into his lower abdomen and twisted it hard. In the yard, the remaining dozens of soldiers also committed suicide.