Chapter 66: Sudden Advance

  Note: This book is updated twice a day, with the first update usually at noon and the second update in the evening.

  On the second day before dawn broke, the 13th Legion set out as expected. General Adrick personally led the first banner team to take the lead on the road.

  The Third Banner, led by the silver-haired Butler who had previously conducted a powerful search as vanguard, has sent back military reports. There have been two small skirmishes with the Odins in the northern part of the Alabakhet Plain, each side winning one battle, with about 100 people involved in each clash.

  The location of the battle was about a few dozen miles south of the small forest where Shaya and others experienced the last reconnaissance team attack.

  Obviously, the army of Odin's people has been advancing step by step to the south, and their tentacles have probed deep into the depths of the Alpact Plain.

  Xia Ya, as a member of the Imperial Guard, wore a full set of cavalry attire and set off with the main army.

  The only thing that disappointed Xia Ya was that he didn't get the legendary "cavalry equipment" that Kato mentioned last time: those four-meter-long long spears and half-person-high giant shields, even horse armor for horses...

  He still got a set of ordinary light cavalry equipment, the same as last time he went out on an expedition, with a pair of double-edged swords for close combat, a shield for infantry, and a long-handled weapon for horseback fighting - Xia Ya still chose a halberd.

  On the march, Xia Ya told his doubts to his comrades beside him, and soon his doubts were explained. The explanation was Sharuba, the former number one strongman in the Imperial Guard - of course, since he was defeated by Xia Ya last time, he had retreated to second place.

  "This burly giant burst out laughing: 'You've been misled by that guy Carto. The equipment he's talking about refers to our heavy cavalry, huh? Full-body armor, four-meter-long lances, and half-person-sized shields, not to mention the horse's armor... Think about it, how heavy must such a cavalryman's gear be? Ordinary soldiers can't bear the weight of this kind of armor. Only elite troops carefully selected from the army can wear such heavy armor into battle. As for ordinary people, like that rat Carto, they'd be crushed under the weight."

  He paused, and the rough man lowered his voice: "Also, think about it, such a set of heavy armor, how much iron would be consumed? And the warhorses for heavy cavalry must also be good breeds that can carry heavy loads. Such heavy cavalry in our 13th battalion, there is only one flag, the fourth flag. If you want to be a heavy cavalryman, wait for an opportunity to plead with the general, ask him to transfer you to the fourth flag."

  Xia Ya suddenly realized - heavy cavalry such as this type of troops, indeed can't be equipped on a large scale, and he had thought differently before.

  In fact, in the strict sense, the First Banner Army where Xia Ya is currently located is not truly a cavalry unit - the 13th Cavalry Regiment's First Banner Army is actually a mounted infantry combat unit - Mounted Infantry. As the name suggests, in the strict sense, it is an infantry branch, but to enhance mobility, these infantrymen use horses for marching and dismount to form infantry formations during battles.

  After all, the cavalry is powerful, but it is impossible for the cavalry to fight alone on a large scale, and it also needs infantry cooperation. Generally speaking, the cavalry is unlikely to be an independent force that can independently conduct frontal field battles (excluding raids), with tens of thousands of cavalry charging forward, directly impacting the enemy's infantry formation. This kind of thing is actually very rare. The real way to exert the power of the cavalry is to place it on both wings and attack the enemy's flanks in a circular motion, like peeling potatoes layer by layer.

  The Thirteenth Cavalry Corps, as an independent corps, was equipped with some infantry units. However, in order to maintain the mobility of the cavalry corps, the infantry were upgraded to mounted infantry to maintain rapid mobility. Moreover, when encountering siege warfare, pure cavalry could not play a role and had to rely on infantry.

  The first banner's cavalry set out to meet up with the vanguard third banner troops who had gone north a few days ago.

  Xia Ya marched in the Imperial Guard, listening to his comrades talk about the combat methods of the 13th Legion along the way. Although these bodyguards may not understand much, as a bodyguard who followed the general's side every day, they often heard some military discussions and reports, and their knowledge was higher than that of ordinary soldiers.

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  On the first day of their journey, Xia Ya followed a large army of over a thousand people for the first time. From the legendary stories he had heard before, it was often a war of thousands of horses and soldiers. At this moment, although it was only a flag team with a scale of 2,000 people, looking at the dense cavalry team stretching far on the plain, the 13th Cavalry Regiment had strict military discipline, and the formation was neat and quiet during the march, but there was a strong killing intent, making Xia Ya sigh again and again.

  This is just a flag team's personnel, if gathered an army corps, or even several army corps, what kind of scene would it be to make people's hearts racing?

  At night, the troops did not rest. The soldiers of the 13th Legion were accustomed to such a degree of marching and could eat, drink, and even rest on horseback. They galloped until dawn the next day, when General Adrick finally ordered the main force to stop and rest for a while.

  The Imperial Guard was a bit special, as the Imperial Guard was the only true cavalry among the infantry units of this mounted infantry regiment, with each person having a spare horse. Shia happened to be on duty and was assigned to General Adrick's side.

  He and Kevin, along with a dozen or so other elite guardsmen, stood at Adric's side. General Adric still wore the same black leather duster coat Shay had first seen him in, his brow furrowed tightly, his eyes flashing with a chilling glint that was reminiscent of a lion.

  "Newbie."

  Just as Xi Ya was quietly sizing up Adrick, the general suddenly turned his head and looked at Xi Ya with a smile.

  "Huh?" Xia Ya immediately straightened up.

  "It's almost time for a big battle, are you nervous?" Adrick had a hint of a strange smile at the corner of his mouth.

  The guards beside him were all looking at Xia Ya, seemingly curious about the general's solo questioning of this rookie.

  Xia Ya thought for a moment and shook her head: "Not too nervous."

  "Oh?" Adrick's eyes were somewhat satisfied: "Why?"

  "Killing a beast is killing, and killing a person is also killing. They want to kill us, so we naturally have to kill them too. There's no difference." Xia Ya replied without thinking.

  "Hah! Interesting way of putting it." Adrick stared at Shaya for a couple of seconds, then suddenly shook his head and said: "You're not a bad kid, you remind me of someone I knew back in the day, but you're not as fierce as that person. Keep up the good work, your skills are pretty good, if you can make a name for yourself in this big battle, when we get back I'll let you become a cavalry commander."

  The guards beside him suddenly showed a look of envy, Adrick looked at the bald man next to him again: "You too, Kevin, this time if you can come back alive, you can take a battalion down."

  The bald man let out an excited low growl and his face turned bright red, even his shiny bald head sparkled in the sunlight.

  Adrick seemed to be in a good mood, waved his hand, ordered the end of rest time, and was about to mount his horse when he suddenly changed his expression, raised his head abruptly, and looked up at the sky.

  Above the sky, between the blue sky and white clouds, a gray shadow unfolded its wings and was circling around. It seemed to be an eagle, but judging from its appearance, it was slightly smaller than ordinary eagles, and its circling motion also seemed somewhat strange. After circling several times directly above the first flag team, it flipped and danced a few times.

  Adrick's face suddenly sank, and Kevin beside him narrowed his eyes and changed color: "General, it's the Odin people..."

  "Hmm, it's the vanguard!" Adrick's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness: "The vanguard is here, the Odinian army must be nearby!" He suddenly turned his head to ask an officer beside him: "How long has it been since we've had news from Butler?"

  "The last messenger returned yesterday evening and since then there has been no news." The officer replied.

  Adrick's face darkened: "The map!!"

  The aide-de-camp beside him immediately took out the map from behind and unfolded it. Adrick glanced at it twice before pointing to a location on it: "How far is this place from us?"

  The place he pointed to was a narrow and long area, the terrain was slightly low-lying, in the middle of the plain, the highlands on both sides were forests, and the middle was a depression.

  "Not too far."

  Xia Ya replied loudly without hesitation: "I know that place, from here, if we ride at full speed, it will take no more than two hours to get there!"

  "Are you sure?!" Adrick stared at Shaya, and in an instant, the general's eyes lit up with a frightening glow, his flashing gaze intimidating. Shaya steeled himself against such a gaze, gritting his teeth as he said, "I'm sure! I've been to that place twice. I'm familiar with this terrain around here."

  "Something's happened!" Adrick's eyes flashed with a dangerous light: "The Odin's ravens are warning us! The Butlers ahead must have encountered trouble! Otherwise the ravens wouldn't be flying so far south to scout, and besides, the Butlers haven't sent any messengers for a whole night!"

  The general thought for a moment, looked at several deputy generals beside him, and finally his eyes fell on the bald-headed man: "Kevin!"

  "Yes!" The bald man exclaimed excitedly, his neck stretched out like a chicken's.

  "I'm putting all the Imperial Guards under your command! And also the scouting troops directly under the Third Banner Troop! We can gather a total of 200 cavalrymen! You lead them, and immediately depart from the main unit at full speed to head north!! That Butler guy must have run into trouble! Your mission is to provide backup for them. On the way, you'll encounter obstacles, you know what to do!"

  Kevin immediately raised his battle-axe and excitedly roared: "Tear them apart!"

  "Idiot!" Adrick cursed: "If you encounter an obstacle, don't fight back, break through directly. Your task is to find Butler's troops and support them! I'll bring the main force to catch up later!"

  He paused for a moment and looked at Xia Ya: "Xia Ya is familiar with the terrain, let this rookie lead the way!"

  As he spoke, he looked up at the eagle soaring in the sky and suddenly felt a twinge of annoyance. He turned around, grabbed a bow from a nearby soldier's saddle, drew it back, and aimed at the sky...

  Buzz!

  In the midst of the bowstring's vibration, the arrow shot up like a gray light, but after all, this bow was just an ordinary standard bow. Although it had been pulled to its limit, the arrow flew upwards for a while before falling short of the eagle's shadow by a large margin. Adrick was furious and pulled the bow again, this time with even greater force, but with a cracking sound, the bow was directly snapped in two by him.

  "Scoundrel!" Adrick's face darkened with rage: "If Viya were here..."

  He glared at Kevin: "What are you still dazing about! Execute the order immediately!"

  Kevin hastily responded and rushed out on horseback, gathering the Imperial Guard and all the scouting cavalrymen into a small troop of about three hundred riders: "No spare horses! No dry rations! Get rid of anything unnecessary! Depart immediately!"

  The Thirteen Knights were indeed sharp, and in an instant, three hundred cavalrymen had already formed up and set off. Kevin had a bit of leadership ability, and he easily arranged the troops into a wedge-shaped formation, leading the three hundred cavalrymen to depart in a cloud of dust.

  Xia Ya and Kevin charged at the forefront of the cavalry, he led the way, rushing forward for about an hour, as the flat terrain in front gradually gave way to steep hills, on a high ground to the left was a sparse forest, Xia Ya immediately shouted loudly: "Faster! After crossing that high ground keep running straight ahead!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people emerged from the woods on the high ground. They were all wearing leather armor, tall and sturdy, with disheveled hair, holding short axes or large swords and round shields. There were about 100 to 110 people, who rushed out of the woods quickly and charged towards the cavalry!

  These guys didn't ride horses, but they rode a strange mount that was roughly the same size as a horse, yet seemed more robust, with black-spotted fur all over their bodies and two long horns on their heads.

  Xia Ya looked at it with a strange feeling in her heart, but she heard Kevin's anxious roar: "It's the Odin people's reindeer cavalry!! Charge over!!"

  The two teams soon came face to face, and as they drew closer, Xia Ya heard the Odin people on the opposite side let out a loud wail, while their reindeer mounts bellowed even louder, their running momentum surprisingly more astonishing than that of horses!

  A strong gust of wind hit them in the face, followed by a loud crash, and two cavalry troops charged forward and collided head-on!

  Xia Ya and Kevin charged forward at the front, rushing straight into the Odin's formation!

  It's a shame that he wasn't skilled enough in horse riding, and was directly knocked off by a majestic reindeer, causing his horse to stumble, and Shaya fell off instantly!

  (Vote for recommendation!!!!)

  Tomorrow's update preview: Chapter 67 【Killing Intent! Killing Intent!!】

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