The Tanggulasis attacked like locusts. If both sides had one-thousand soldiers each, Saleen's swordmasters would have won. The Holy See's soldiers did not care about their own injuries or casualties so even if Saleen won, he would suffer many losses as well. Now that the enemy outnumbered his own by many times the two regiment leaders were decisive and gave the order to retreat.
Fortunately, the crossbows could unleash arrows very quickly. While the one-thousand men retreated into the forest, those armed with crossbows would shoot at the enemies' thighs or warhorses. The Tanggulasis soldiers that stayed on their horses had a difficult time advancing so they got down to give chase.
In the forest a warhorse provided its rider a height advantage at the expense of a loss of speed.
