Across the entire allied front batte raged on as oceans of Golden Horde soldiers crushed against the outnumbered enemy. The original troops that charged after the allies had paid the price though, having been drawn into an ambush by accident. The allies were retreating because their lines and numbers were faultering after the initial charge, but they seemed to have unknowingly made the difference in the battle. Due to their hasty and timely withdrawal, the three officers Wei Yan, Sun Liao, and Yu Xueman caused the untrained front ranks of the Horde to get over zealous. They charged when the advantage was already on their side and not only moved closer to the bulk of the allied force, but fell prey to Wu Sheng Tian's ambush. However, with all said officers engaged in heated combat they would be hard pressed to notice and react to the most deadly of situations.
To a bird, flying high above at night, it would look like a flaming phoenix spreading its wings to engulf the enemy! The Qiang King had 1000 men at his disposal and was rounding the allied right flank, the Horde left. Half of his unit were Militia Lancers and the other were of Militia swords/shields. Even if Wu Sheng Tian could see them coming, it would be too late. The only real thing that saved his unit from being totally flanked, hard, was aid sent by Sun Liao which was sent by Liu Shan!
"SLAY THEM ALL!" the King exclaimed, brandishing his sword and pointing it toward Tian's unit. A resounding cheer followed and the Militia lancers increased their pace to crush into the enemy. The aid from Sun Liao had arrived just in time to mingle with the charge, but coming from behind the horses were 500 Militia swords! The group raised their weapons before charging to surround and cut down the aiding units who would be attacking the Qiang King's riders. Wu Sheng Tian seemed to be in a dire situation, even if his elites were mowing down the Horde with ease. They would be given a rude awakening in a moment!
On the allied left, the Horde right, the worse thing to happen in the battle, for the allies, was about to show itself. It all was happening simultaneously with the Qiang King's attack, but we shall return to it later.
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The Qiang Champion's eyes were locked on Wei Yan the entire time as he was the prize. His lord had offered him countless chests filled with gold if he took out the battlefield berserker and there were also the normal perks of fame for slaying such an opponent. It seemed that the Qiang were more crafty then some had first thought, even Ma Chao himself. No one would be aware of it, but they had their own intentions in this battle and they were not strictly to keep peace with the Golden Horde. Chang An was to belong to the King and he thought it a fair bargain seeing how valuable his men have been so far. Not only that, but they had already planted the seeds of betrayal as Qiang sodliers were currently inside Chang An awaiting for the outcome of the battle!!
"You are wasting my time, you worm!" the Champion barked, looking and pointing toward Wei Yan who seemed to be up to something. The Champion had no choice but to wait and slice the head off of a T'se soldiers due to the many enemies blocking his way. Before, further back when the lines were drawn against the charge it seemed more room was available. Now, with so many soldiers, it was tightly packed and a frenzy of death had overtaken most on the field!
As the Champion turned his head back, to lock onto his foe once more, he noticed Yan was not where he just was a moment ago. The Qiang's eyes scanned the crowd for a menacing looking enemy general but found only peons in view. Xu Yueman was one of said peons, a woman who the Qiang elite would not waste a moment on, so he just glanced over her position not knowing the female would be rocketed into the air in a few moments. Wei Yan as well was near her because that is where the launch pad Sun Liao was setting up.
Truly, the Unsung Hero had the literal weight of the allied army upon his shoulders! If Sun Yuan Ci was not proud of what he had seen or would hear from people, concerning Sun Liao's deeds, then he was either blind or deaf! It was not sure if SYC, who had actually just arrived would catch a glimpse of what was to happen next, but it was weird to say the least......
The Champion finally locked on to Wei Yan, but not as he would have thought. Instead of being on the ground, the warrior was heading at him...... in the air?
"What the f*ck!?"
It took a few seconds to even realize just what was going on and in that time the Champion lost his chance for a full block. Still, he was able to get a twin sword up to deflect the attack. The Champion tumbled off his horse again as Yan went soaring to the ground behind him. There was no doubt that Yan could not recover immediately after impacting the ground, so it should have been enough time for the Champion to get to his feet.
The Qiang reached over to his left shoulder and dapped his right fingers in fresh blood which was now visible under his armor. He moved foward and engaged Wei Yan in 20 bouts before both backed away from one another. Flailing his twin weapons around, the Champion raced in again and attacked multiple times forcing Wei Yan backwards. A final powerful strike pushed the allied hero even further back which gave the Qiang a chance to kick dirt into the enemy's face!!
Wei Yan would find the breath knocked out of him as a large shoulder crushed into his chest, sending him reeling backwards onto the ground. The Champion had charged and laid him out flat with his non-injured shoulder and stood awaiting the now blinded warrior to stand.
"Such a weakling is the man i heard so much about? Hmph!" he said, slashing his blades through the air in a taunting manner.
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Wu Sheng Tian's army was fighting bravely against the overwhelming Horde and his ambush had worked wonders to turn the tide of battle. The allied retreat certainly seemed more tactical, with such a timed attack by Tian, but many knew it was more luck then anything. The allied officers who lead the attack were lucky to still be alive and that the situation turned from being chased to making another stand. With most of the initial Horde chasers broken or under attack, they only had to deal with the few other fresh and eager soldiers who were ready to kill the shit out of them!!
To the despair of the allies along the front, another volley rained down toward their rear lines from the hundreds of Ruffian bowmen still alive. They were out of reach, well behind thousands soldiers which comprised the rather large center. Cheng Yi had moved out with mace/axe troops to engage and overwhelm Tian, but also from behind them came Han Sui with another 1000 infantry. The Ruffian twin swords did what they did best and charged to their imminent deaths! Hell, they were horrible at combat but not even the best fighters could defend 8 swords attacking at the same time. Numbers were the key to their success and that did not seem to be an issue as 2000 swords were flailing around, ready to trim anything into pieces!
Missile cavalry, still mingled in with, but more so behind the frontlines, were still lighting up the allies with arrows as no one was targeting them save for Eshunbaal who was probably out of visible range by now. They heard a rumbling from the south and were frightened that maybe the enemy had the means to flank, but they were relieved to find it was only the Dragon Elites moving to annihilate the allies!
Cheng Yi heard some allied fool calling out a challenge and the Horde officer seemed a bit more confident against the new opponent. Wei Yan made him poo a little in his pants, but Sun Liao seemed more civililized and Yi liked that. He did not want his heart being served for breakfast, so he unsheathed his blade and issued a response.
"I shall accept your challenge! Your face looks like a baby's ass so you can not be more than 18! This shall be over quick!"
Making an immediate mistake of misjudging Liao due to his youth, the officer rode hard toward his enemy. Some of the soldiers had cleared away due to Wei Yan's attack against the Qiang Champion, which had the two facing one another to the death, and also the high flying maneuvers of Yu Xueman who had surprised many with her moves. She was making minced meat of the Horde frontline and it could not be allowed to continue!
A war horn echoed across the plains again and it was Han Sui. The officer seemed to be the designated war horn guy so why not make good use of it!
"You there, she devil! Face Han Sui so that i may redeem myself for loosing to a woman in my last duel!"
Han Sui was pissed, he got his ass kicked by a lady during a wooden weapon duel tournament. One would think that to be okay, were the lady a great warrior, but the problem was it was in the first round and the female was blind!
Cheng Yi was upon Sun Liao and he had a spear in hand which was grabbed from an allied soldier. He was going to trample Liao right into the ground using the spear as his lance if the horse did not pwn him on its own.
"Hiya!" he yelled, striking at the T'se youngin.
While the Qiang Champion was beating the crap out of Wei Yan, Sun Liao would be taking on Cheng Yi. While the two of them were fighting, Han Sui would kill the shit out of Yu Xueman. It was a Three Way Frontline Duel to the Death!
Interestingly enough, it would only add to the personal combat that was happening elsewhere.
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Tiny laughed aloud as Huang Zhong slid on a shield to avoid his move. The old man was like a cockroach and Tiny could not smash him. Surely, if he did get smashed there would be another crunching sound. In the case of Huang Zhong it would be his face or limb bones, but in the case of the cockroach it would be the insect being eaten for a snack! Hey, Tiny was a big man with big power and he needed his fuel!
The problem for Tiny, which he was just recognizing, was that he started to lose his balance. A laugh began to slowly turn to an off balance save the fat man kinda sound. The specail hammer attachment acting as a leg support for him was cut away and now Tiny was losing control!
"Old man......help me!" he said, reaching out to Huang Zhong who he was just trying to kill.
One would think that he would have at least been able to stop himself, from his inevitable death, but as was stated before his rotational momentum was great. Due to his massive rolls of buttered fat he normally had to wait a moment for it to all settle down. This time, unfortunately, it would be too much for his one strong leg to take.
"Gwaaa.....ahhhh......Noooooo!"
Tiny rumbled, bumbled, and stumbled before finally falling over the wall onto the allied side of the wall. Even if he survived the fall there was no doubt the beached whale would be jabbed with enemy spears until all the Twinkie frosting in his was gone. Yes, Tiny was made up of 50 % human blood and 50 % cream filling. Either way, he was d e d..... ded.
Huang Zhong was probably pretty excited about his victory over the enemy blob. However, his party would be short lived as something very bad was headed his way. The two old guys on the walls, Zhong included, were working well as a team. The problem was, one of them had a huge mouth and would endager them both!
Huang Zhong's arrow and sharp tongue had gotten him in trouble with Tiny, who he had engaged lightly at Chang An. This time though, it was Cao Mengde who just so happened to yell abuse over the walls to the enemy commander who was heading that way!!
One could almost sense the urgency at which Cao Cao ordered his men to take out the remaining enemies and to bring down the tower. They could dwindle the enemy archers, but due to Mortiss and others not taking the tower down indefinately it opened a path for Ma Chao.
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It seemed that Sun Yuan Ci and Zhou Tai had joined the battle, finally. The former arriving to offer aid against the Horde right flank, allied left, and the latter losing the main admin with his location. One would assume he was on the weaker flank of the allies, but in his post the admin was not sure.
The leader of the T'se Kingdom had an epic speech which one could have only dreamt of hearing. Ah, too bad his men would curse Microsoft for their loss of morale! Still, they were now in the battle which was what they were waiting for along will the other allied officers. They needed assistance and supposedly Yuan Ci was one of the heroes from the Dong Zhuo battle. Currently, it seemed Sun Liao was the main man in T'se so the leader would have to turn it up. Microsoft could not be blamed for the next post which better be epic or his fans will be pissed!
With the additions of Zhou Tai and Sun Yuan Ci, the allies were looking much better off. It seemed their right flank was not doing so well though, with the Qiang King leading a force against Wu Sheng Tian. Surely, one of them could move to aid the troubled officer. If not, he could be overwhelmed.
Before they could make up their minds, torch light could be seen in the distance approching from their left. On the Golden Horde right came the feared Dragon Cavalry of Ma Chao followed by Militia spears/shield. Together, the unit numbered upwards of 1300 soldiers with 600 being infantry, 400 ranged elites, and 300 lancer elites.
The Elite Horsebows stopped immediately when in range and opened up a volley against Sun Yuan Ci's army. Zhou Tai if present in the area was attacking soldiers already so that put him matched up against Cheng Yi and Han Sui's men. Thousands of Ruffian twin swords had just arrived and were heading toward Zhou Tai along with his allies in droves. Horde cavalry were still there as well made up of Militia bows and Qiang riders. The units turned their attention to the fresh allied units and fired upon Tai instead of Xueman this time!
While the ranged elites were picking apart Sun Yuan Ci's army the spears/shields broke off from the group and kept moving. At the head of the group was Yan Xing, Ma Chao's second in command and an elite of his generals. Behind the slower Militis spears/shields were coming and would soon be available to enage any enemy cavalry or foot soldiers.
If Yuan Ci's infantry were moved to engage the spear/shiled horse they would simply steer clear. Their intentions were to engage the enemy general's cavalry or move to try and surround. They were not foolish enough to charge headlong into the enemy unit which they most likely would have done if Mengqi was in command.
Speaking of the Golden Horde leader, Sun Yuan Ci would probably be surprised to see his new foe was not Ma Chao but Yan Xing. That meant that former was elsewhere and in only a moment his position would be revealed!
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The hooves of 100 Elite spear/shield cavalry kicked up dirt in the southeast as Ma Chao the Splendid made his way toward the enemy walls. He was going to ride around to engage the enemy flank, but Cao Cao had yelled out a taunt from along the walls of Qing Ni. The wily old leader had accomplished two tasks in his rant. One, he signed his own death certficate after giving away his position to the worse person on the battlefield. Two, he got Ma Chao to break off from the main unit and fall for the taunt which would aid the allies.
Maybe the allies would look back in retrospect and think of Cao's actons as risking his own life for their sake. Then again, if they knew the man well enough they would probably brush that thougth aside! By now, Cao Cao had probably either laughed at his success or was running trying to cut his beard off so that Ma Chao could not recognize him!
Mengqi and the elites had reached the siege tower and they all dismounted before entering within. The tower rumbled with the rage of the Horde leader, rushing up the very stairs that Tiny did only recently. Ma Chao was unaware that the big man was dead and that would certainly not sit well with him, though the large warrior was a suboordinate of the Qiang King.
Finally, they reached the top and whatever remaining Militia bows were left moved to the side as Elites jumped onto the wall. Shields were raised to deflect any missile attacks and spears thrusted to end the life of the attackers. Behind them, on the tower top deck, was Ma Chao and his expression was one of pure hatred and anger. Ahead, strewn along the wall, he could see pieces of Tiny's war hammer and he new that large beast had fallen. Huang Zhong was standing near and he was most likely the murderer.
Ma Chao's eyes scanned the walls quickly, to his left, and there he could see his prize in the distance. He jumped down to the wall and gripped his spear tight when landing. Strapped to his side was a broad sword which was previously on his steed. The horse lord would have taken his war horse up the siege tower to trample Huang Zhong's face but he did not want it getting hurt.
If any of Aja Jex's men were present, they probably shit themselves and ran the other way. Well, the ranged soldiers at least. The same went for the elder archer who last had only crossbow soldiers with him. If any ranged units were around, they would be annihilated unless in huge numbers. Ma Chao was raging and moving quickly along the wall toward Mengde!
"Cao Cao! I will have vengeance for my father's death!"***********************************************
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::The Golden Horde::Ma Chao
Yan Xing
Han Sui
Cheng Yi
Tiny
400 Elite Horse Bows
400 Elite Horse Spear/Shield
480 Militia Cavalry Lancers
500 Militia Horse Bows
500 Militia Sword/Shield
232 Militia Spear/Shield
192 Militia Spearmen
234 Militia Twin Axes
274 Militia Bowmen
620 Ruffian Bowmen
180 Ruffian Swords
570 Ruffian Horse Swords
2 Trebuchet
1 Siege Towers
::Qiang reinforcements::Qiang King
Qiang Champion
480 Veteran Raiders (Shortbow and Sword) *new
1000 Militia Mace/Axe Troops (Short mace and Axe) *new
500 Ruffian Skirmisher Cavalry (Javelin and Sword) *new
1000 Ruffian Twin Swords
3 Catapults