Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

As for Xia Ruoling who led the few hundred cavalry, they did not immediately retreat upon seeing Song Laoseng enter the battle, but instead cruised around the area.

Song Laoseng said coldly, "I think their leader is truly confused!

"Having so few cavalry to begin with, yet entrusting a large number of them to a woman's command. On the contrary, the generals at the front line don't even have horses to ride!

"Follow me and charge at the rebels' formation, and we can surely win the battle in one fell swoop!

"Charge!"

At Song Laoseng's command, the army charged straight towards the central unit where Meng Yuan was.

His army was indeed valiant; in actual history, they had charged directly at Emperor Gaozu of Liang's central unit. The Crown Prince had panicked and fallen from his horse on the spot, and Emperor Gaozu of Liang was also powerless to resist, with the frontline already showing signs of imminent collapse.

At this critical juncture, Lord Qin led the cavalry down, broke through Song Laoseng's troops, and thus turned the tide of battle.

But now, without Lord Qin, the tactics were certainly different.

The sound of horses' hooves kicked up dust, and Song Laoseng's vanguard cavalry was fast approaching the Liang Army's formation.

On one side were cavalry, and on the other, infantry; it looked like Song Laoseng had the advantage.

But Meng Yuan and Luo Ying remained utterly calm because they had Luo Ying!

Luo Ying took a deep breath and gripped the horse-slaying saber in his hands.

Then, with a fierce shout, he threw the upper half of his armor to the ground.

Since the "Lone Warrior's" unique talent could only be triggered when unarmored and on foot, he couldn't wear armor.

But not wearing it from the start wouldn't inspire the troops; everyone would just think you had a screw loose and wouldn't regard you as brave.

You had to perform a series of actions on the battlefield in the right order—stripping your clothes, shouting loudly, and so forth—to fully boost morale.

Lord Wei was tall and lanky, with long arms and legs, but unlike Li Gaoling, who was a hulking man with arms as thick as ordinary people's thighs, so his deterrence was somewhat lacking.

But that didn't matter because Lord Wei had tattoos!

Luo Ying wasn't sure why "Dark Sand" set up such a character design for Lord Wei in this plane, but it didn't matter; as long as it worked.

Now, as he took off his armor, bare his upper body, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "My fellow warriors! If we seek to uphold justice to save the common people, how can we care for our own safety? Follow me and charge!"

Having said that, he took a step forward, standing alone in front of all the soldiers.

The horse-slaying saber in his hand shone with a cold light and dripped with rainwater.

Both Song Laoseng's troops and the Liang Army's soldiers were shocked.

What was happening here!

Even Song Laoseng could tell that this man was clearly the vanguard commander of the Liang Army. How could a commander risk himself like this?

If he had a horse, he could still fight in the chaos of the battlefield right now and break through if things went south, standing a bit further forward was understandable.

But without a horse, if he were to be surrounded and slain, wouldn't the vanguard collapse instantly?

Upon seeing this, Song Laoseng couldn't help but be overjoyed, "Charge! Take him down first!"

A cavalryman rode forward, his long spear thrusting towards Luo Ying.

However, Luo Ying didn't act rashly. He remained calmly standing in his spot until the cavalry was nearly upon him, then suddenly exerted force, sweeping across with the horse-slaying saber in his hand!

"Pu!"

The cavalryman felt a blur before his eyes, as if his spear had stabbed into nothing.

In the next second, he felt the warhorse beneath him suddenly lose control and collapse to the ground with a "thud."

Then a severe pain came over him.

Looking down, he saw that alongside his right leg, the head of his warhorse had been severed by the opponent's horse-slaying saber!

But obviously, Song Laoseng's cavalry hadn't yet realized the gravity of the situation.

They continued to charge at the Liang Army's line.

Behind Luo Ying, the soldiers of the Liang Army raised their long spears and engaged in close combat with Song Laoseng's troops.

However, the Liang Army at this point was not yet the elite mansion troops of later times, but rather a combination of rebel armies, bandits, and refugees gathered from everywhere, with varying fighting capabilities. Hence, under Song Laoseng's regular army charge, they had already shown signs of localized retreat.

But Song Laoseng wanting to pursue his advantage was simply impossible.

Because he was shocked to find that the bare-chested vanguard commander wielding the horse-slaying saber had not only survived the melee but was rampaging through his opponents, invincible!

Since they couldn't break through the vanguard, naturally, they also couldn't get close to Meng Yuan and Chu Ge.

And after witnessing this scene, the Liang Army's morale soared, and they fought more bravely!

In cold weapon combat, the influence of personal valor on morale was just too apparent.

Many strong warriors could turn the tide of battle by their power alone because their performance thoroughly suppressed the enemy's morale and boosted their own, and with this give and take, the outcome of wars fundamentally changed.

"The whole army, press forward!"

Chu Ge commanded, not wasting any words, going straight in with an F2A tactic.

Of course, it couldn't truly be so reckless.

While the Liang Army's morale was high and they attacked in full force, two thousand cavalry also charged down from the hillside.

And the one leading them was Xia Ruoling!

Zhao Haiping, playing Prince Qi, was still in Jinyang and couldn't come over for the time being, so the command of these cavalry troops was entirely in Xia Ruoling's hands.

Song Laoseng was shocked, because he never expected this female general to truly dare enter battle!

He had originally thought it was merely a provocation by the Liang Army, and that this female general had fallen back after her shouting at the city below, which seemed to prove his point too.

But unexpectedly, the retreat was meant to deceive.

The real purpose was to make Song Laoseng subconsciously overlook the existence of this cavalry force of the Liang Army!

"Block them!"

Song Laoseng immediately led men to meet them head-on.

He realized that although the current frontline was intense, it wasn't necessarily a losing battle. But if he was intercepted by this cavalry, the entire battlefield would instantly collapse.

By then, not even gods could save them.

"Take down that female general first!"

Riding at the front, Song Laoseng thrust his long spear towards Xia Ruoling.

The next second, however, he saw her stand up on her horse, leap into the air!

Xia Ruoling drew a perfect arc in midair, and then, the assassin's talent was instantly activated. Her left hand lightly touched on Song Laoseng's shoulder, and she moved behind him in a flash.

The dagger deeply penetrated the gaps in Song Laoseng's armor!

Song Laoseng had never imagined that the opponent wouldn't play by the rules.

Originally, he thought she was just there to taunt and to attract enmity; then he considered her a bona fide cavalry commander. But only at the end did he realize, she was actually an assassin!