"Damn it, they're really here," Bao Bao said.
"You two stay here and draw the rebels' attention. I'll go stop them," I said.
"Master, be careful," Xiao Nu cautioned.
I dismounted, not bothering to hide from the rebel scouts. I immediately activated my Gale Force technique, broke through the rebel formation in the center, and stopped a hundred meters in front of the imperial army, holding up my hand to intercept them.
The leader of the imperial army was someone I recognized. He should be one of the junior commanders who fought alongside me, but I couldn't recall his name.
He reined in his horse, dismounted, and said, "Lord Wu, I am Meng Fanqi, sent to assist you!"
The character 'Fan' in his name suggested he was a descendant of the Kong Meng lineage, named strictly according to generational characters. Most prominent descendants of the 'Fan' generation were born in the 20th century.
"Don't you even look at the situation before charging? Don't you see so many rebels!" I frowned. Looking back, the tail end of the rebel army had noticed this imperial force and dispatched a cavalry unit to attack, no more than a kilometer away. Because it was a straight road, they could see each other clearly, and the distance seemed even shorter.
"We rushed forward precisely because we saw Lord Wu! We came to protect you!" Meng Fanqi replied.
"You have a good heart," I said, patting his shoulder. I glanced at the soldiers under his command and suddenly realized they were all equipped with G98 rifles. No wonder they dared to charge with such a small force. It was a pity they didn't quite understand the operating environment for this rifle. The G98 was too long and unsuitable for cavalry use. It wasn't a matter of strength; the balance was too far forward, making it difficult to hold steady.
"May I take command of the troops first?" I asked Meng Fanqi.
"Naturally!" Meng Fanqi said, his face filled with admiration and pride. I genuinely couldn't recall which battle we had fought in together, nor did I have time to ask.
I immediately ordered all cavalry to spread out in a fan shape, then dismount and prone to fire!
The cavalry dispersed quickly. There were only two hundred of them, and they had completed their fan formation before the rebels arrived. I realized I was in the line of fire and quickly jumped out of the encirclement – they weren't professional sharpshooters like those from Shabia, and I couldn't trust their marksmanship.
Only when the enemy entered their effective range of two hundred meters did I order them to fire, emphasizing that they should only shoot at the riders, not the horses, as their ammunition was limited, and shooting horses would be wasteful.
After several volleys, over two hundred horses thundered past me, leaving over two hundred bodies on the ground. I had underestimated them; they were quite accurate. They must have undergone professional training.
Upon seeing that the imperial army consisted of riflemen, the rebel main force reacted swiftly. They immediately split into two groups and entered the woods on both sides of the straight road. I activated my Qi Sight technique and saw that they had also adopted a fan formation, albeit a larger one, sweeping towards us to encircle this rifle unit.
I immediately ordered, "All troops, abandon your supplies and retreat to Er Liu City!"
The "supplies" were two saddlebags hanging from each soldier's horse, containing not ammunition but food – dried rations, steamed buns, and so on. This was clearly not prepared for me, perhaps greeting me was one task, and delivering provisions to other units was another.
The riflemen mounted their horses and retreated. As the distance between the two sides was short and the rebel warhorses were relatively elite, the gap between them continuously narrowed. If they continued running like this, I felt that before the imperial army could escape the valley plain, the enemy would have completed their flanking maneuver. At that point, with cavalry at close range, the G98 would be useless, and using it as a bayonet would be inferior to a saber.
Zheng Bao Bao and Xiao Nu followed the tail of the rebel cavalry and met up with me. We discussed how to save this rifle unit.
"Charge directly into them, disrupt their formation, and give the brothers a chance to escape," Bao Bao suggested.
I thought for a few seconds. It was indeed the case; there was no better plan.
The three of us traveled light, unarmed. Fortunately, the rebels we had shot dead had left behind their weapons. Each of us picked up two sabers and pursued them. It was like a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. However, we three orioles were facing two thousand great mantises; whether we could prevail remained to be seen!