Some say that daytime is a gift from the gods to humankind, while nighttime is the time when the gods allow demons to roam. But on the battlefield, even the fiercest demons dare not approach humans who reek of blood, even in the darkest of nights.
Whether in the Central Plains or elsewhere, stories of demons and monsters circulate. These stories mostly take place at night, such as ghosts drifting into people's homes to suck away life force, or possessing the bodies of the living to wreak havoc. Demons roam the streets at night, using their claws to rip out the hearts of the living and savor their fresh, bloody taste. But these stories could never take place in a military camp.
Soldiers are the most dangerous things in the world.
Even the most ferocious and vicious demons dare not approach a military camp.
And on New Year's Eve, at least 20,000 Mongol cavalrymen calling themselves demons are traversing the darkness, their target the Sui army camp less than ten miles away. This was nearly half of Mandulatu's forces, and he had carefully considered the decision to commit so many troops. He was torn between victory and defeat, and a defeat could mean the end of the Mandu Banner's history.
The Mandu family had never been considered a true aristocratic family in the Mongol Empire; the Mongol Empire was too vast. Mandulatu, with his two-thousand-mile fiefdom, was seen by the truly powerful nobles as a nouveau riche, hardly worthy of respect. Over the years, Mandulatu had only gradually made his name known in the Mongol Empire through his tough stance and hostility towards the Sui Dynasty, which was why he had gained the respect of the powerful nobles.
But when the war truly arrived, Mandulatu could not, as he had proclaimed, lead the Mandu Banner cavalry into the Sui people and slaughter them like lambs. The image of a madman he had cultivated over twenty years might very well be shattered by this war.
This is one reason why Mandulatu was so torn between attacking and defending. If he hadn't spent so much time building his reputation, he could have easily appeared cowardly, holding the city and waiting for reinforcements from the royal court.
The Mandu family could not decline, and the Mandu banner could not perish!
Therefore, he ultimately decided to take the plunge. He had been waiting for this day ever since Mandulang told him about the Sui people's New Year celebrations. He believed that every nation had its own absolute reverence, such as certain inviolable festivals. Like the Mongol Yuan people's favorite fasting festival, this day was like jumping into a sea of joy for the inhabitants of the steppes.
On New Year's Eve, he personally led the remaining troops to provide support. They stopped thirty li from the Sui army camp. His second son, Mandula, the commander of this raid, would lead twenty thousand elite cavalry into the Sui camp. They would sweep through like the wind, just like Mandula's name.
The warhorses' muzzles were fitted with bridles, and their hooves were wrapped in felt. The soldiers didn't draw their scimitars beforehand, for that would reflect the moonlight. The Mongols said the sun and moon were the eyes of the Eternal Heaven overlooking humanity; one was open during the day, the other closed, resting, and the same at night. They held absolute reverence for everything in the sky, just as they revered the Bright King on the Great Snowy Mountains, for the Bright King said he was the only messenger left by the Eternal Heaven on earth.
The cavalry, like a slowly rising tide, a black mass encroached upon the Sui army camp.
The march proceeded smoothly, and the sounds of celebration from the Sui camp could be heard from afar. Drums and gongs played auspicious and celebratory music, and torches formed a joyful dance. Mandutel, riding up a high slope, looked down at the torches swaying back and forth in the camp below, and an uncontrollable killing intent surged in his eyes.
The high ground was ideal for a cavalry charge. And the gentle curve of the grassland slopes made the horses' running most comfortable.
"Children!"
Mandultel drew his scimitar, no longer concealing the cold gleam of its blade. "Do you see those lowly bandits? They stole our pastures and didn't know how to cherish them. Their filthy feet trod on the sacred grasslands; even the stubborn grass wouldn't yield, let alone us! The grasslands have always had only one master, and that is the Mongol Empire!"
"Kill all those Sui people! Take everything they have!"
Mandultel roared, then pointed his scimitar at the Sui camp not far away. Twenty thousand elite Manduqi cavalry surged down the hillside like a tidal wave.
"Hoo-ha!"
The shouts of the charge shattered the night sky, abruptly silencing the celebratory drums and gongs in the Sui camp.
The mournful sound of horns rang out, and the torches in the Sui camp immediately went out of order.
"Enemy attack!"
Mandultel heard the panicked cries of the Sui people, and a cold smile crept onto his lips. The Sui soldiers never imagined that the Manduqi army, numbering less than 60,000, would launch an attack against a Sui force of over 700,000. The overwhelming numerical superiority lulled the Sui into a false sense of security.
A thunderous roar swept across the ground, the hooves of horses even making the grassland tremble.
...
...
The Sui resistance proved far more tenacious than anticipated. The Manduqi cavalry, charging down the hillside like a torrent, encountered their first volley of arrows less than a hundred paces from the Sui camp. The arrows were dense, demonstrating the Sui soldiers' high level of discipline and their ability to take up arms in the shortest possible time. But at this distance, the arrows could not stop the horses' charge.
The struck Manduqi cavalrymen fell from their horses, quickly merging into the grass.
Agudam's thousand-strong force charged ahead, facing not only Sui arrows but also a dense swarm of deer antlers outside the camp. The Sui people seemed to have devised numerous methods to counter cavalry, and this was one of the most effective ways to prevent them from storming the camp.
Agudam shouted, and the lead cavalrymen, braving a hail of Sui arrows, threw out ropes. For these cavalrymen, skilled at lassoing wild horses, lassoing immobile antlers was effortless. Ropes flew out one after another, securing the antlers, and the cavalrymen began to accelerate to the sides. The slipknots were meticulously tied; with a pull, the knots tightened, preventing them from coming loose. The outer two rows of antlers were almost torn open. Although the skilled Manchu cavalrymen paid a heavy price, the antlers did not hold back the main force for long.
The lead cavalrymen dismounted upon reaching the outside of the palisade and frantically pushed at the obstacles in front of them. Sui soldiers inside the palisade thrust their lances wildly outwards, enemy blood gushing out like waterfalls, and the corpses outside the palisade quickly piled up.
"Break it down!"
Agudam roared, his eyes filled with anxiety.
More cavalry dismounted, rushed forward, and leaped to ram the fence with their shoulders. The corpses piled higher and higher outside the fence, the long spears protruding from inside like a dense hedgehog. Even so, after suffering at least five hundred casualties, the Manduqi cavalry finally broke through a section of the fence.
The cavalry behind roared and spurred their horses forward.
The shouts of "Hah!" echoed through the night sky as the valiant cavalry surged through the breach like a tidal wave crashing down a dam. With the fence collapsed, the defending Sui army was forced to retreat. But their feet couldn't outrun their horses' hooves, and the scimitars slashing down from horseback were difficult to dodge. Soon, the Mongol Yuan forces had torn a gap in their defensive line, forcing the Sui infantry to retreat step by step.
After Agudamu's thousand-man unit stormed into the Sui army camp, Mandule, protected by his personal guards, also charged in.
"Mandulang!"
He turned to look for his cousin: "We can't all rush in. You take two thousand-man units to cover the rear."
Mandulang frowned slightly, immediately understanding Mandule's meaning. He wasn't truly considering the army's well-being, but rather his own merit. The cavalry had already penetrated the Sui army camp; once the horses were running, the Sui had no hope of stopping them. At this point, victory was already more than half achieved. Mandule had Mandulang cover the rear simply to prevent him from taking too much credit.
"Hoo-ha."
Mandulang responded, seemingly without the slightest reluctance.
His father was originally the one who should have inherited the banner chief position, but because of that damned rule of the royal court, while Mandulatu poisoned the old banner chief, his father was still humbly and cautiously dealing with the harassment of the nobles in the royal court. If not for this, Mandulang should be the one issuing orders now.
But none of this could change the fact that Mandulang had shown sufficient respect and obedience to Mandulatu since childhood. It was precisely because of this that he had survived to this day.
Watching the young banner lord lead his soldiers in a frenzied charge, for some reason, Mandulang, whose path to glory had been blocked, was not angry. Instead, a strange smile slowly appeared on his lips.
He turned his horse back and stopped outside the Sui army camp with his two thousand-man squads.
In the distance, the firelight grew increasingly chaotic. The cavalry that had stormed into the camp were like wolves charging into a flock of sheep, rampaging recklessly and tearing at the flesh of the sheep.
"Did you see the place with the big red lanterns earlier?"
Mandutel shouted.
"Yes!"
His personal guards replied.
"Follow me! Charge straight for the red lanterns! Don't waste any time elsewhere. That's the most important place in the camp; the Sui generals are all there!"
"Hoo-ha!"
Under the command of the centurions and chiliarchs, tens of thousands of Manduq cavalrymen surged into the Sui army camp, following their young banner commander's warhorse, charging directly towards the Sui's central command tent. The torrent of warhorses swept through the camp like a raging dragon, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. The Sui soldiers could not stop the charging cavalry, nor could they keep up with their horses.
"Use your bows and arrows to tear down those tents!"
Upon reaching the central command, Manduq shouted the order. The cavalrymen quickly switched their scimitars for horsebows, nocked their wolf-tooth arrows, and aimed at the tall tents. In the chaotic night, the bright red lanterns stood out starkly.
Arrows rained down like a torrential downpour, instantly riddling the tents with countless holes. The arrows hovering over the main tent made it look more like a pile of firewood. If there were people inside, they would undoubtedly be even uglier than the pile of firewood.
"Something's wrong!"
Mandutel's expression changed drastically.
He had been so focused on charging forward that he hadn't noticed the many details that were amiss. This was a camp with an army of 700,000, yet the number of people he saw seemed far too small. Today was a festival for the Sui people; they should all be celebrating.
He turned and scanned his surroundings, finding the camp, once filled with torches, remarkably empty.
Where were they?
Mandutel was startled and spurred his horse back: "Withdraw!"
"Boom!"
Just then, a deafening war drum suddenly rang out. Immediately afterward, the night sky deepened. Even the moon disappeared, as if the Eternal Heaven had closed its eyes to look down upon humanity. Perhaps it didn't want to see its people brutally taken from its people.
A thick, dark cloud descended rapidly from the sky, its oppressive weight making it almost impossible to breathe.
It was a chillingly dense barrage of javelins!
"Withdraw!"
Mandutel's shout had barely faded when the cloud of javelins followed. In an instant, over ten thousand cavalrymen were brutally torn apart by the javelins. Painful cries, wails, and pleas for help immediately erupted. Had it not been for a personal guard shielding Mandutel with his own body, he too would likely be lying on the ground screaming.
One Mandutel cavalryman, yelling, tried to pull a javelin embedded in his stomach. He couldn't bear the sudden presence of such a thing inside him. But the moment he managed to pull the javelin out, he regretted it… Blood gushed from the opening like a fountain, and his abdomen, suddenly depressurized, immediately deflated, releasing a slick substance that couldn't be pushed back in.