195 Evacuation (1/2)

The fierce fire left the soldiers helpless, as they cried for help. Fiery flames consumed their bodies. One-by-one, they fell down from their horses and landed on the ground. The sea of fire burned and toasted them into coke.

The grassland burned and smoke billowed. It was capable of suffocating anyone in it.

Despite the Qingfu warhorses’ bravery, they still panicked after the double blow of flames and smoke. They ran around the field like headless flies without a sense of direction. With the warriors in the formation, it was easy for them to bang on each other, and it would often mean a lose-lose situation.

The moment the flame soars high, Lhakhshen’s face turned pale. He could tell instantly that the enemies before their eyes were not petty raiders. A big conspiracy was shadowing the skies of the whole Tian Qi tribe.

At this critical moment, he had to assume responsibility. He would have to bring his men out of the flames and bring them back to the tribal stronghold.

Lhakhshen’s mount was a lord-level Qingfu horse, a platinum-level steed, so it was like a legendary animal. The Qingfu warhorse gave out a neighing sound and was the first to leap out of the flames.

The other Qingfu warhorses tracked their leader’s sounds. They followed behind and went out together.

Yet, the moment Lhakhshen rode out of the flames of hell, he slipped into another despair.

The cunning of his enemy had almost reached a point beyond his imagination.

Outside the flames, two thousand enemy cavalry were standing-by. At this moment, their faces were no longer rampant and insolent like before. Instead, their faces were solemn and emotionless.

It struck him. Lhakhshen could tell that his enemies were just like them. They were originally regular military forces.

Right at the moment they spotted him coming out of the flames, they welcomed him with a burst of arrows. Intensive arrows ruthlessly harvested the lives of the lucky ones that survived the fire array.

The horseback warriors thought they would be safe the moment they came out from that flaming hell, yet they were actually coming out of one to step into another.

These successive hits crushed every single ounce of the tribal warriors’ morale and courage.

The lucky warriors that survived the rain of arrows did not dare to have any second thoughts; they ran and quickly fled. Even mounted on a Qingfu warhorse leader, Lhakhshen did not dare to gather his troops and organize a counterattack. He rode his horse and rushed toward Shen Juan Lake.

Shanhai City cavalry did not pursue the last of the lucky ones. As the saying goes, one should not pursue broken foes and not press on desperate beasts. In order to survive, these lucky survivors would do anything. They would unleash an unimaginable power when they were in a plight.

Even though Ouyang Shuo was the winning party, he did not want to purse these desperate warriors and increase his losses.

Eventually, of the 5,000 tribal warriors, only less than a thousand people escaped alive.

Ouyang Shuo paid little attention to the burning fire array. He led his troops, routed away from the burning flames and rode toward ZhenXi camp to harvest their spoils of war.

By this time, the remnants of the camp guards had fled.

Hordes of elite cavalry usually owned three horses, two warhorses and a workhorse. The workhorse purpose was to carry things, while the calvary would alternate between the two warhorses to enhance their mobility.

Warhorses would get exhausted and lose weight very easily when carrying weights, which meant they had to be treasured and valued. In general, warhorses could travel 20-kilometers before it had to rest. At times like this, if there are two warhorses in rotation, they could naturally achieve a sustained rapid march.

Since Shanhai County had not engaged in a super long-distance warfare, the cavalries only had a single horse in general. At most, the vanguard 1st unit had Qingfu warhorses, along with the class change system gift horse as workhorses.

Cavalries from the mixed regiment were originally raiders. Even if they were not equipped with Qingfu warhorses, they also had their own two horses. While the newly established vanguard 2nd unit and Qiushui cavalry unit only had the system gifted horses.

Overall, compared to the nomadic tribes, Shanhai County cavalry seemed a little too shabby.

Strictly speaking, a cavalry needed at least two auxiliary soldier followers. One to carry his belongings and another to taking charge of his horse.

However, in order to simplify the game, the system made the cavalry not require auxiliary soldiers. Instead, the cavalry did it all himself.

The trophies Ouyang Shuo plundered from the battle were the horses in ZhenXi camp. Sure enough, in the stables stood 5,000 Qingfu horses and 5,000 ordinary horses.

In addition, they salvaged 1,000 Qingfu horses from the battlefield. Overall, they seized a total of six thousand Qinfu horses, so it was simply a sum of big wealth.

Calculated in accordance with five gold per a Qingfu horse, it would come to a sum of 30,000 golds. In addition to the workhorses, they seized the equivalent of over 40,000 gold. Most importantly, these Qingfu horses although have a price, but there was no market, no one would sell such valuable items.

Furthermore, in the camp arsenal, Shuo also plundered 5,000 composite bows. With these bow, Shanhai County military would be fully equipped with bows.