Ch.151Gigantic Crown (2)

While Yesugei was busy facing Jin Dynasty’s 350,000-strong army, Bulqa was confronting the Jin cavalry.

“Attack! Show them who the true rulers of the steppe are!”

At Bulqa’s command, the Ulus cavalry charged forward.

When they counterattacked, the Jin cavalry soldiers showed expressions of great confusion.

This was because the Ulus warriors’ weapons were extraordinary.

The Jin soldiers were particularly bewildered by the power of the swords the Mongol cavalry carried.

“Cha-ap!”

“Ha-ap!”

The Ulus cavalry and Jin cavalry clashed.

As their swords collided, cracks suddenly began to form in the Jin warrior’s blade.

“Urgh…! Th-this can’t be!”

“Feel the might of an Ulus sword!”

As the Ulus rider applied more force, the Jin warrior’s sword split cleanly in half.

The shocked Jin soldier tried to counterattack, but the Ulus cavalryman wasn’t about to just watch.

Slash.

With a chilling sound, the Jin cavalryman’s head flew off.

The headless body twitched its hands as if unaware it had lost its head.

Of course, this was merely muscle contraction, but it demonstrated the exceptional sharpness of the Ulus swords.

As the Ulus cavalry began to dominate due to their superior weaponry, the Jin cavalry started falling into disarray.

“Monsters…!”

“How can we defeat those with such weapons?”

As the Jin cavalry began to retreat stealthily, the lieutenant leading them shouted loudly.

“Don’t fall back! We are the invincible Jin cavalry! Showing your backs to these ragged Mongols is shameful!”

The lieutenant encouraged his soldiers with these words.

Then he blew the whistle at his waist to signal the flag bearers.

Wheeeeeet.

The flag bearers who received the signal quickly waved their flags from side to side.

As the flags fluttered, the Jin cavalry began coiling to the right.

Seeing this snake-like coiling movement, Bulqa immediately realized the Jin cavalry was attempting a wheel formation.

“The enemy is attempting a wheel formation! Ulus cavalry! We move to the right as well!”

When Bulqa gave this order, the flag bearer beside him swung his flag widely.

The Ulus cavalry began moving to the right.

Thus, the Jin cavalry and Ulus cavalry began circling each other, each trying to catch the other’s rear.

The reason for this maneuver was simple: a cavalry’s weakness was its rear.

Ordinary cavalry couldn’t turn their bodies to attack behind them.

It was simple to understand.

No matter how long a mounted swordsman’s arm was, his sword couldn’t reach an enemy to behead them from behind.

Therefore, in mounted combat, such wheel formations targeting the rear were common.

The Ulus pretended to follow the Jin strategy by continuing to move right.

This made it appear as if they were chasing the Jin cavalry from behind.

If one could view this scene from above, it would be a magnificent display of precise cavalry movements.

This was because both sides were moving in tight formation, not giving their backs to each other.

Seeing the tight formation, Bulqa raised one corner of his mouth.

Realizing the enemy was distracted trying to target the Ulus cavalry’s rear, he ordered the flag bearer to send a new signal to the cavalry.

“Wave the black flag.”

“I obey your command.”

The flag bearer stopped waving his current flag and waved the black one instead.

At this signal, the Ulus cavalry, as if by prior agreement, all sheathed their swords.

“Wh-what’s happening?”

“They’re suddenly putting away their swords… could it be?”

The Jin cavalry belatedly realized what the Ulus cavalry were planning.

They tried to break formation, but the Ulus cavalry were faster.

The Ulus cavalry put away their ild and took out their bows.

They nocked arrows to their bowstrings and twisted their bodies.

The Parthian shot.

Known as the “back-shooting technique” within the Ulus, it was a mounted archery skill.

This technique involved turning one’s body while mounted to strike enemies pursuing from behind.

Such a skill was difficult to master individually.

Even in the Jin Dynasty, with its semi-agricultural, semi-pastoral culture, those who could use the back-shooting technique were few.

But the Mongols were different from the Jin—they were all livestock herders.

At the same time, they were hunters who hunted wolves and bears of the steppe.

As a result, most Ulus cavalry knew how to use the back-shooting technique.

Arrows poured from the hands of the Ulus cavalry.

The Jin cavalry, who had been closely following, could only panic.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

“Argh!”

“Guh!”

“Kek!”

The Jin cavalry fell from their horses, struck by the Ulus cavalry’s arrows.

Most of these arrows hit those at the front who had been closely pursuing the Ulus, causing the cavalry behind them to suffer as they crashed into their fallen comrades.

“Aaargh!”

“Move aside!”

“Clear the way now!”

But from the fallen Jin soldiers’ perspective, no amount of shouting could help them avoid being trampled.

The speed of the oncoming horses was faster than they could move their bodies.

Those who barely survived the Ulus cavalry’s arrow attack met a miserable end, trampled under the hooves of their own Jin cavalry.

“Urgh!”

“Guhk!”

Those trampled by horse hooves died with their heads or internal organs bursting.

The organs spilling from their bodies unintentionally slowed down the Jin cavalry who had killed them.

“We’re slowing down!”

“At this rate, we’ll all become arrow fodder!”

With casualties mounting from the arrow attacks and their speed decreasing, the situation felt like hell for the Jin cavalry.

Seeing this, the lieutenant blew his whistle to order a change from tight formation to dispersed formation.

“Change to dispersed formation! Avoid the arrows and attack!”

At the lieutenant’s words, the Jin cavalry’s faces filled with worry.

It was easier said than done to avoid arrows while attacking the enemy in the chaotic battlefield.

Even if history’s most renowned generals were resurrected, they couldn’t accomplish such a feat.

But this was an order.

The Jin soldiers had no choice but to follow it.

As the Jin cavalry dispersed, Bulqa smiled.

“They’ve finally broken their tight formation.”

His joy was understandable.

If both armies had clashed while maintaining tight formations, Bulqa’s vanguard would have suffered heavy casualties.

Of course, the chances of the Ulus cavalry losing were very slim.

As mentioned earlier, they simply wanted to avoid casualties.

Gurkhan had prepared for the conquest of the Jin Dynasty for a long time.

Based on those preparations, he was trying to swallow the Jin Dynasty whole before the Song Dynasty and Goryeo could intervene.

As Gurkhan’s subordinate, it was natural for Bulqa to follow his lord’s will.

That’s why, even in situations where Ulus could win overwhelmingly, they preferred tactics that minimized casualties.

As a result, they hadn’t secured a decisive victory point that would determine the battle’s outcome.

In this situation, the Jin couldn’t bear the continuous casualties from arrow attacks and broke their tight formation first.

The Jin cavalry in tight formation excelled at shock attacks, making them difficult to approach.

But dispersed Jin cavalry were different.

When maintaining a dispersed formation, gaps appeared between enemy cavalry.

Small gaps, but if forces were concentrated to strike there, the enemy would be split apart.

“Change to wedge formation!”

At Bulqa’s command, the flag bearer raised a red flag.

He waved it vigorously for all to see.

“It’s the flag of Daichi Tengri!”

“The red flag is raised!”

“Our victory is at hand!”

The Ulus cavalry began quickly changing their formation.

Only the Ulus could change formations so freely while mounted.

The Ulus acquired this incredible formation-changing ability thanks to the mock battles supervised by Gurkhan.

Under Gurkhan’s supervision, the forces led by the Tamma and the Kheshig clashed weekly.

Thanks to these regular mock battles, the Mongol cavalry could change formations as smoothly as flowing water.

“The-the enemy has changed formation!”

“It’s a wedge formation! Regroup!”

The Jin cavalry were greatly surprised by the Ulus wedge formation.

If a dispersed formation met a wedge formation, the unit would be split in two.

This meant each split unit would have fewer numbers than the Ulus cavalry.

In this situation, the numerically superior Ulus cavalry could overwhelm the Jin cavalry as easily as handling children.

In other words, if they couldn’t stop the Ulus wedge formation, the Jin cavalry’s defeat was a foregone conclusion.

“Gather quickly!”

The Jin lieutenant urged his soldiers.

The Jin cavalry tried to regroup to maintain a tight formation.

At that moment.

“Charge!”

Bulqa shouted these words and brought down his sword.

The Ulus cavalry in wedge formation charged straight at the Jin cavalry.

“Argh!”

“Guh…!”

The Jin soldiers began losing their lives to the Ulus cavalry’s swords.

If the Jin cavalry had been a little faster, they might have blocked the Ulus cavalry’s attack.

But the Ulus cavalry were slightly faster than the Jin cavalry.

It was truly a split-second difference.

But on the battlefield where lives hung in the balance, such a difference led directly to defeat.

In war, defeat meant death.

“Show no mercy to the Jin cavalry!”

“Slaughter them all!”

“Show them the wrath of the Ulus!”

Most of the Jin cavalry died under the Ulus cavalry’s attack.

Seeing this, the lieutenant sensed that if things continued, their cavalry forces would be annihilated.

He had no choice but to order a retreat.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

At the lieutenant’s command, the Jin cavalry began to retreat.

But the Ulus cavalry weren’t about to just watch.

“Chase them to the end!”

“Don’t let a single one escape alive!”

The Ulus cavalry were tenacious hunters.

They never let their prey escape.