Chapter 353 Confrontation
After Liu Xuanji was promoted to the King of Han, the 3,000 Youzhou cavalrymen who were originally under the command of the Youzhou governor became the guards of the Han Palace. They became his direct line of troops and were named "Hu Ben". Every time they were lost in battle, they were replaced by elite soldiers in the army.

The equipment, training level, and combat effectiveness of this cavalry unit are far ahead of others in the entire Northern Yan army.

The 3,000 cavalrymen were dressed in iron armor and helmets, and even their horses were covered in armor, some even using iron chest guards and face curtains. They were armed with well-made horse lances and spears, and their momentum was terrifying when they galloped.

At this time, Liu Xuanji was holding a long spear and riding a horse. The armored cavalry behind him continued to gather around his big flag, forming a sharp arrow formation for cavalry to penetrate, and rushed forward.

If you look down from the sky, it looks like an arrow shooting out.

Tens of thousands of horse hooves kicked up flying dust, causing the ground to shake, and the roar of the cavalry was as powerful as thunder and continuous.

Opposite them was the Black Armor Army led by Li Erfeng, the King of Qin of the Tang Dynasty.

They were all selected from the elite troops of Guanzhong, Longyou and Liangzhou, that is, the elite troops of Guanxi and Liangzhou that have been famous since the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms. They were the elite soldiers that the King of Qin had accumulated and selected over the years since he had been fighting in Longyou. On weekdays, they wore black clothes and black flags, and were led by fierce generals such as Qiu Xinggong, Xue Wanjun, and Zhai Changsun, so they were called "Black Armor".

After the Tang Dynasty was founded and Li Er was conferred the title of King of Qin, this group of people were included in the ranks of the Qin Palace Guards. From the perspective of treatment, equipment, combat effectiveness and many other aspects, they were the most elite cavalry in the entire Tang Dynasty, without a doubt.

Two prestigious elite cavalry units were approaching each other rapidly in the wilderness.

Even though they were several miles apart, Li Erfeng and Liu Xuanji both clearly noticed that the two armies seemed to be charging at each other, but in fact the direction and angle of the charge were constantly adjusting. Liu Xuanji led his men to try to cut across and intercept several times, and to attack the side of the Tang army's infantry formation.

The Tang army changed its direction several times according to the adjustments made by the Yan army.

Just looking at these few subtle changes, it is clear that both sides are veterans who are extremely proficient in cavalry warfare, and their subordinates are all strong warriors with strong wills who will not hesitate to follow their commander to death.

The cavalry charged towards each other at an extremely fast speed, leaving very little time for the commanders of both sides to react. In an instant, the two armies continued to approach each other.

After a burst of arrows flying like locusts, the sound of arrows hitting the iron armor was heard one after another, which made the term "arrow rain" particularly appropriate.

Afterwards, the cavalry on both sides raised their spears, lances and other long weapons horizontally and thrust forward as far as they could, and the distance between the two sides continued to decrease.

The next moment, the two cavalry finally collided. If you look down from the sky, it looks like two dragons with scaly armor flaring in the billowing smoke and dust, colliding head to head and horn to horn, and then suddenly bursting apart.

At the front of the two cavalry units were the most valiant and outstanding elites from both sides. These elite cavalrymen swiftly dodged the opponent's stabs, and then tried to stab the enemy on the opposite side off their horses, while riding their horses into the gaps in the opponent's ranks and continuing to advance.

Many cavalrymen charged through several rows of troops in succession, leaving behind screams and the dull sound of weapons colliding.

No matter whether it was the Tang Army or the Yan Army, the command system of their troops came from the once prosperous Great Yan Dynasty.

After the sudden uprising, during the years of fighting, both the military system and equipment were improved and became increasingly sophisticated.

The fighting will is also constantly being consolidated, and various fighting skills are also being constantly summarized, refined and trained.

Therefore, when a regime is first established, it is often the time when the army’s combat effectiveness is the strongest.

If we compare the Black Armor Army and Youzhou Cavalry who are fighting at the moment with the makeshift teams of various forces when the world was first in chaos, they are at the crushing level both in terms of combat and organization, and even defeating ten thousand with a hundred is no problem.

But at this moment, these elite soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles are destined to become insignificant cannon fodder in this war.

It was because these brave warriors were carefully selected and outstanding. Many of them were brave warriors who had already made achievements in certain battles, but they were still charging forward one after another, no different from ordinary soldiers. The cause of death might be bad luck and being strangled by the enemy, or encountering a stronger and more powerful existence, or even more unlucky being shot in the vitals by a stray arrow.

At the moment when two people meet on a narrow road, no one's life is more noble.

As the two cavalry units charged into each other's ranks, a chaotic battle began, and neither side could maintain their formation. The knights of both armies danced wildly like a huge swarm of bees, changing into various formations, appearing and disappearing in the smoke, entangled and biting each other.

After two heavily armored cavalry units joined the battlefield, pushing the entire battle to its most intense level, the infantry of both sides also began to cooperate with the cavalry in the battle. The most elite warriors in the world were mixed together and fought hard.

Liu Xuanji led the troops and was unstoppable, with his huge spear in hand, no one could match him. Li Er, on the other hand, drew his bow and shot arrows, never missing a target.

Following Liu Xuanji, Dongfang Di, Han Gui, Lou Daiwen and others led 8,000 cavalry to make a detour and directly encircle the Tang army from the rear, apparently preparing to cut off the connection between the infantry and cavalry.

Upon seeing this, Li Si ordered Luo Shixiang and Zhang Zhen'e to lead the Beiwei Army to attack, and the four great guards Xue Wanche, Duan Wu, Yuchi Jingde and Han Quan to lead the guards to attack. At this time, he was left with only 18 battalions of his own personal army, several thousand infantry and cavalry, and Wang Fobao, who led a thousand guards, as his last resort.

Li Sanlang personally took to the battlefield, leading the Flying Army, the Bandun Barbarians, and the Di cavalry to join the battle.

After many clashes, fights, and strangleholds, the most elite cavalry of both sides were almost strangled to death.

King of Qin Li Erfeng and King of Han Liu Xuanji finally met on the battlefield.

After successively dispersing several Yan cavalry units, Li Erfeng was at the edge of the battlefield. After observing the battlefield situation, he immediately decided not to fight in depth, but to gallop along the periphery with two fierce generals, Yang Xianguo and Qiu Xinggong, and dozens of elite soldiers, while drawing bows and shooting arrows at the Yan cavalry.

This action caused great losses to the Yan cavalry, who were trying hard to break through the front. In a short period of time, many cavalrymen fell off their horses or were thrown to the ground by their injured horses.

The Yan army also responded quickly.

A cavalry unit led by Liu Xuanji in the center continued to charge without stopping. After penetrating the enemy ranks, they turned their horses around quickly and chased after Li Erfeng from behind.

At this time, Li Erfeng also noticed that a fierce general of the Yan army was charging with his cavalry. He charged at an extremely fast speed, with the momentum of a tiger descending from a mountain.

Looking at the opponent's banner again, it turned out that it was Liu Xuanji who came here personally.

"Your Highness, it's Liu Xuanji!" Qiu Xinggong beside him reminded eagerly.

"No matter what, let's keep going and take care of him." Li Er said calmly.

He then drew his bow and arrow and shot at the pursuing Yan army.

Other soldiers shot with him. Dozens of feather arrows shot out with a dull "buzz" sound. The arrows covered the pursuing Yan cavalry and hit their armor, making crackling sounds like raindrops.

It did slow down the speed of the Yan cavalry's pursuit to a certain extent. Some Yan cavalry even stopped and reined in their horses to avoid the rain of arrows.

As soon as their speed slowed down, Li Erfeng led his troops to quickly draw an arc and go around to the other side where the cavalry was entangled.

Seeing that Li Er was not prepared to engage in close combat with him, Liu Xuanji threw the spear in his hand to the rider beside him, then took out his own bow and rode his horse to chase after him.

The two sides were constantly chasing and counterattacking. Although it seemed that the Tang army was running in the front, the continuous stopping and shooting back caused great trouble to the Yan army.

Liu Xuanji relied on his horse's speed and rode out at the same time Li Erfeng stopped her horse and shot an arrow. He drew his bow and shot an arrow at Li Erfeng.

Li Erfeng's arrow also shot towards Liu Xuanji.

Li Erfeng shot the horse, and Liu Xuanji shot the person.

And they all hit their targets without missing a beat.

(End of this chapter)