"Where are the vanguard troops?" Shao Xun roared, holding his sword after finishing off the archers.
"The vanguard is here!" One by one, armored soldiers gathered around him, their voices louder and more unified than ever before.
"Kill the enemy!" Shao Xun charged into a group of stunned enemy soldiers, continuing to wreak havoc.
"Kill the enemy!" The vanguard troops surged forward, each one eager to prove themselves, their spirits fully ignited.
Wherever the golden-armored warrior went, the enemy scattered, unable to withstand even a single blow.
Occasionally, someone would try to resist, but upon seeing the fierce and bloodthirsty vanguard troops behind the golden-armored warrior, they would lose their courage and flee.
The vanguard troops were like a hammer, smashing through the enemy lines wherever they struck, leaving chaos in their wake.
The entire enemy camp was thrown into disarray, completely caught off guard by the sudden assault.
An enemy commander shouted loudly, hastily gathering a few hundred men to try and hold the line.
He had seen that the attacking force was small, only about a hundred or so men.
Even though they were brave and their morale was high, after fighting for so long, their blades were dulled, their armor damaged, and their strength must have been nearly spent.
If they could just hold out for a moment, their own troops would rally and surround the attackers, preventing them from running amok.
By then, they could grind them down.
It was a good plan, but unrealistic.
"Kill!" A deafening roar erupted from outside the camp as He Lun, Wang Bing, and others led the main force in.
The enemy's newfound courage quickly evaporated.
"Run!"
"We're defeated!"
"Break through to the east!"
"Take me with you, my leg is injured!"
"Spare me, I surrender!"
The collapse was instantaneous.
Not a single Ye soldier wanted to stay and fight.
Everyone scrambled to escape, fearing they would be left behind to cover the retreat.
The camp gates were jammed with fleeing soldiers, much like the west gate of the Mingtang, which had been piled high with corpses.
This chaos was exactly what the Kingdom Army had been waiting for.
They calmly formed their ranks, thrusting their spears and firing their bows, effortlessly cutting down the enemy.
The outcome was clear.
"Raise your spears, thrust!" Wang Que'er's youthful voice rang out across the battlefield.
"Kill!" The spears thrust forward repeatedly, blood splattering and screams filling the air.
"Raise your spears, thrust!" Wang Que'er's voice continued.
"Kill!" The seventh squad of the Kingdom Army's lower division, fifty strong, thrust their spears again, cutting down another swath of Ye soldiers.
If you looked closely at their faces, you'd notice something interesting.
Most of these fifty recruits, who had only been training for half a year, were visibly nervous.
Some shouted "Kill!" but their bodies trembled uncontrollably, their spear thrusts weak.
Others opened their mouths but no sound came out, their hands gripping their spears so tightly their knuckles turned white, as if they were squeezing water from them.
Some moved stiffly, relying on muscle memory from countless drills to mechanically thrust their spears.
Others were splattered with enemy blood, screaming in terror and thrusting their spears wildly.
Fortunately, the enemy was already in disarray.
Otherwise, these recruits might have made fools of themselves, and it wouldn't have been impossible for them to be killed in return.
"Raise your spears, thrust!" Wang Que'er wasn't new to the battlefield, and his strong will kept him focused.
His commands came steadily, his spear thrusts precise, showing little sign of being affected.
"Kill!" The Luoyang laborers thrust their spears, then immediately retracted them, advancing in small steps with their spears at the ready until the next command.
"Raise your spears, thrust!" The command came again.
"Kill!" The roar was thunderous, and the Ye soldiers crowded at the gate fell in droves.
"Crunch..."
Boots stepped over corpses, through pools of blood, and continued forward.
"Raise your spears, thrust!"
And so it went, over and over.
The recruits gradually overcame their initial nervousness.
As adrenaline surged through their bodies, their stiffness eased, and their killing efficiency increased rapidly.
The Ye soldiers at the rear were quickly slaughtered.
The rest threw down their armor and weapons, fleeing for their lives, desperate to escape.
From the start of the ambush to the complete collapse, it took less than half an hour.
The Kingdom Army gave a token pursuit, collecting a hundred or so heads before returning to camp to clean up the battlefield.
They had no cavalry, so they couldn't chase effectively.
The fleeing soldiers could discard anything that slowed them down, but the pursuers couldn't.
The fleeing soldiers could ignore formation and run as fast as they could, but the pursuers had to stop and regroup.
Chasing down the remnants and expanding the victory would require cavalry.
"Commander!" After the battle, Chen Yougen, covered in blood, returned from the city gate to report: "Five brothers died, and over a dozen were injured. All the enemy were killed, and I've collected their heads."
"How serious are the injuries?" Shao Xun sat on a cart as Wu Qian bandaged his wounds.
"One or two might not make it, but the others should recover after some rest," Chen Yougen replied.
"That's good," Shao Xun sighed in relief.
Veterans who recovered from their wounds were invaluable.
The training unit was made up of skilled warriors who usually served as Shao Xun's personal guards.
Losing even one was painful.
"Master Shao, our squad lost two men and had seven injured," Wang Que'er reported as he approached.
"Who died?" Shao Xun asked.
"New recruits."
"That's good," Shao Xun murmured almost inaudibly.
Even in a great victory, deaths were unavoidable.
As long as it wasn't the student soldiers, it was acceptable.
There were plenty of Luoyang laborers to replace them.
"How did your squad perform? Be honest, no exaggerations or downplaying," Shao Xun added.
Wang Que'er thought for a moment, then said, "At first, they were very nervous. Some even forgot how to thrust their spears, some trembled so much they couldn't muster any strength, and their thrusts were weak. Others were so terrified they ignored commands and just stabbed wildly. But after a few rounds, things improved, and by the end, they were much smoother."
"You were lucky," Shao Xun said, which was a strange comment.
Chen Yougen grinned, "They had good fortune. Their first battle was an easy one."
Wang Que'er didn't argue.
If this had been a prepared field battle, other squads might have fared better, but his fifty men would likely have suffered heavy casualties.
There was no other reason.
The recruits were too nervous.
Some couldn't hear commands or see signals clearly, their heads buzzing.
Some didn't know how to conserve their energy and quickly ran out of steam.
Some even closed their eyes and stabbed wildly, which was frustrating.
Their performance was, in a word, disappointing.
Fortunately, these soldiers were obedient and hardworking.
They endured the harsh training without complaint.
After this, they would need to reflect and undergo targeted training.
After their first battle, having seen blood, the recruits would undergo some indescribable psychological change.
The next time they fought, they would perform much better.
In short, all recruits had to go through this.
The faster they adapted, the better their chances of survival.
When these recruits could face the blood-soaked battlefield with relative calm and perform as well as they did in training, they would become veterans.
If they experienced more battles, gained more experience, and won more victories, developing a sense of invincibility, they would become an elite force.
At that point, the unit would be formidable, not easily defeated.
Building an elite force from scratch was incredibly difficult.
But once achieved, it was immensely rewarding.
And their loyalty would be unwavering, because you were the one who created this force, guiding them from rookies to the peak, sharing countless memories and establishing your own authority.
You were their god, a father figure.
As long as you lived, no one would dare oppose you.
If you died, your descendants might still benefit from your legacy.
But whether they could control these proud and fierce soldiers would depend on their own abilities.
It would be hard for them to command the same respect and obedience as you, the creator, who held the "highest authority."
"Take me to see them," Shao Xun pushed Wu Qian's hand away, roughly bandaged his wound, and accompanied by Wang Que'er, went to the seventh squad.
They were moving corpses but immediately stood at attention upon hearing the command.
This was a conditioned reflex, beaten into them through countless drills with sticks and whips.
Shao Xun looked at a soldier covered in blood and asked, "Have you killed anyone?"
The soldier looked dazed and didn't respond immediately.
"He's talking to you!" Chen Yougen hit him with the scabbard.
The soldier snapped to attention and shouted, "I killed one."
"How did it feel?" Shao Xun asked.
"It... wasn't hard," the soldier struggled to reply.
Everyone laughed.
What kind of answer was that!
Shao Xun patted his shoulder, "Were you nervous when you killed him?"
The soldier actually took a moment to think, then said, "I forgot."
Everyone laughed again.
Shao Xun then pulled over another soldier and asked, "Were you scared during your first battle?"
The soldier hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "At first, I wanted to pee. I wanted to thrust my spear, but I couldn't breathe, and my arms and legs wouldn't listen. I couldn't thrust at all."
"And then?"
"Then an enemy slipped and fell onto my spear, and he died. Suddenly, I could breathe again, and I killed another one."
No one laughed this time.
He had killed two.
Could you have done the same?
Everyone had been a recruit once.
His performance was actually quite good.
After all, not everyone was as naturally brave as Commander Shao.
Shao Xun then focused on questioning the dozen or so student officers in the seventh squad.
After understanding their condition, he felt reassured.
All sixteen officers of the seventh squad, from squad leaders up, were student soldiers, while the soldiers were simple, unsophisticated laborers from the market.
This was the unit he had the most control over.
After this battle, perhaps it was time to start forming a second, or even a third, such unit.
(End of Chapter)