Chapter Ninety-Six: The Jackal

As long as the command is right, cavalry is the undisputed king of the cold weapon era.

What exactly makes cavalry so formidable? It’s not just their impact force, but primarily their speed.

The true weapon of cavalry is speed.

Xu Wenshan insisted on training spear infantry first precisely to counter cavalry. Many games portray spear infantry as units specialized in defeating cavalry, which holds some truth but is also misleading: the role of spear infantry is merely to slow down cavalry, but if you have spear infantry charge head-on against cavalry, well, you’ll quickly realize how far games are from reality.

Without spear infantry to mount a direct charge against cavalry, just as cavalry will not charge a spear phalanx head-on, cavalry’s strength lies in its speed. When both sides engage, cavalry will exploit its speed advantage to flank and attack the enemy’s side.

Xu Wenshan’s previous successes with spear infantry were largely due to the enemy lacking cavalry and heavy firepower. If the opponent had cavalry, he could only form hollow square formations in place, and the cavalry wouldn’t even need to do anything but watch from afar.

Once spear infantry form hollow squares, they lose all mobility. Cavalry simply waits for both sides to wear each other down. Once the formation breaks at a single point, one charge can shatter the spear infantry’s line like paper.

So when Xu Wenshan saw the enemy bandits’ cavalry, his face darkened immediately.

The bandits seemed to be gathering more and more, yet they showed no sign of attacking, only watching.

Wu Yi asked, “What are they planning?”

Xu Wenshan replied, “What else? They’ll storm the village, seize Fengshi, loot and burn, fight among themselves to establish a new leader, and in one night, everything will be back to square one.”

Beside Xu Wenshan, a group of Fengshi villagers led by Zhang Aniu all turned pale.

Wu Yi asked, “But they don’t seem to have any intention to attack right now.”

“Not yet, because they’re waiting for reinforcements. Once their forces are complete, the attack will begin.”

“What should we do?” Wu Yi asked anxiously.

Xu Wenshan thought for a moment and said, “You keep defending. I’ll send Lei Laohu and his squad over shortly. From now on, you three squads rotate shifts every two hours.”

Wu Yi nodded. Xu Wenshan’s confidence was contagious; he no longer felt as panicked as before.

Xu Wenshan then turned to Zhang Aniu and said, “Kid, you don’t want Fengshi Village to be oppressed by another new leader, do you?”

Zhang Aniu hurriedly shook his head, “No, I don’t.”

“If you don’t, then go notify everyone in your village who can wield a shovel to gather in front of the White Dragon Hall.”

Zhang Aniu dashed off. Xu Wenshan then said to Wei Taigong, “Sorry, we have to postpone our plan.”

Wei Taigong gave a bitter smile. “Old as I am, I can still wait.”

Xu Wenshan hurried back to the White Dragon Hall.

This situation was very troublesome.

The fifty spear infantry he brought were intended to face only the White Dragon Gang from Fengshi Village, not these bandits. In hindsight, this was a grave mistake.

The White Dragon Gang had dominated Fengshi Village for years not only through their own strength but also by intimidating the bandits over time. Now that the gang was disbanded and its leader dead, the bandits naturally began to stir.

After all, Xu Wenshan’s Luhé Valley was nowhere near as fearsome as the White Dragon Gang.

Moreover, with such upheaval in Fengshi Village and no stability yet, this was the bandits’ best chance.

If this were in the wilderness, Xu Wenshan could have wiped out all the bandits single-handedly. He had his Serpent Assassins, Lu Ze, and the Spider Spirit — these humans were no match for them. But here, under watchful eyes, he couldn’t risk that.

Using monsters to carry out a stealth attack at night was also unreliable. If all the bandits suddenly died overnight, how could he explain it?

After killing Lü Wuji, Xu Wenshan had gained a deeper understanding of the Immortal Alliance: this organization tolerated monsters, tolerated humans killing each other, but would never allow monsters to kill humans — especially if the priests found out.

If priests discovered monsters killing humans, they would spare no effort to eliminate those monsters.

This was why Xu Wenshan had never dared to use monsters to kill mortals.

Now, the bandits were openly bullying them, spear infantry could only defend and were outnumbered, the village’s resources and population were still unsettled, and he couldn’t deploy his monsters.

From now on, he could only rely on the humans at hand.

This would be a hard-fought battle.

...

“Ha ha ha ha...” A rider galloped by, leaving behind a trail of laughter. The rider stopped at a distance, turned his horse around, and reached out his hand—only to find he was holding a water pouch.

“What mischief are you up to again, Master of the Flying Horse Village?” the Black Wind Village chief squinted and spoke softly.

“Hee hee, look at your waist,” the Flying Horse Village chief laughed roughly.

The Flying Horse Village leader, known as “Winged Horse,” controlled the Watering Slope and commanded many horses, making him a formidable local power.

The Black Wind Village chief glanced at his waist, realizing his water pouch had been stolen by Winged Horse. He growled, “What nonsense are you playing at? Coming here again!”

Winged Horse laughed, “I took it by skill. Why should I return it?”

The Black Wind Village chief suppressed his anger and said, “If you want to steal water pouches, do you also want to steal Fengshi Village from me?”

“This is heaven’s gift. Whoever seizes it owns it, right?”

The Black Wind Village chief snorted and made two small hand gestures. His men immediately abandoned their tasks and gathered around him, clearly ready to fight.

Winged Horse was a powerful figure, but the Black Wind Village chief was not one to be trifled with either. His nickname, “One Whiff,” came from his ruthless raids that left no people or houses behind—just a swift cloud of smoke. Over the years, his tactics had grown his village into the largest around.

Winged Horse raised an eyebrow, “What? Want to fight?”

One Whiff smiled darkly but stopped immediately upon seeing another group approaching from afar, banners he recognized at the forefront.

Winged Horse laughed heartily and pointed at One Whiff, “Bro, let’s not fight among ourselves! When I came, I saw not just you and me, but Yinshan Village, Tonglin Village, and Chiji Village all on the move! Can you really take us on alone? Better to unite first, find a way to take down that damn Fengshi Village, then we can divide the spoils.”