Chapter 512 You Have Iron Horses, I Have God Arm Bow
Yan Jin, who was in the fortress on the bank of the Yellow River, also saw Zhang Zhao's banner. He said to Huang Yingda who was beside him: "The Khitan people are besieging and refusing to attack. The person they want is the king.
We underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, so we should have died here, but how could we harm the king?
I will lead the army out of the stronghold and fight to the death with the Khitan people. You lead a hundred cavalry to break out and report to the king, asking the king to lead the army back to Jinyong City. The Khitan people will retreat when they see that the ambush fails."
Huang Yingda nodded, then quickly shook his head. To be precise, he and Yan Jin did not underestimate their enemies, but they had too much appetite.
Yan Jin wanted to use this key fortress as a millstone to attract the Khitans from Mang Mountain, and then kill them with strong bows and crossbows.
So when the Khitan people only had a few thousand soldiers and horses, they didn't pay much attention to it. But who knows, the number of Khitan people later became more and more, including more armored soldiers and cavalry.
Although they were not able to capture the fort, they trapped Yan Jin in the fort.
In fact, this was what Yan Jin wanted, but after being unable to let go of the Sentinel Cavalry to communicate, he actually lured Zhang Zhao over. This was a huge sin.
Huang Yingda raised his hand and said, "Since Zuo Envoy's original intention is to lead the Khitan army down to Mang Mountain, then he should stop making depressing remarks.
After the king retreats, I will invite a large army to come again, and I will use 6,000 people from the left as chains to kill all the Khitans who dare to fight."
Therefore, Yan Jin opened his stronghold with 2,500 armored soldiers from Wuwei and Xiongwu as the central army, 2,500 archers lined up on the left and right flanks with crossbows as cover, and 600 loyal knights hid in the military formation. , prepare for the assault.
And when they saw Zhang Zhao's great banner, Yelu Wuzi was so surprised that he almost danced with joy.
The Khitan general tried his best to suppress the ecstasy in his heart, and urgently ordered Geng Chongmei to lead a thousand cavalry to harass and intercept Yan Jin's infantry. He personally led more than 3,000 cavalry towards Zhang Zhao.
At the same time, Yelv Pode and Li Shouzhen, who set out from Yanshi City, also led 20,000 people and rushed to the battlefield from the right. More than 2,000 people from the Dragon Army and Feng Army, whom Gao Song desperately sent ashore, also detoured from the left.
The total strength of the Khitans immediately reached 32,000. However, Zhang Zhao's side, including the 6,000 troops of Yan Jin, was only 8,500. The number of Liao troops was more than three times that of Yongliang's troops. .
He was a little careless, and Zhang Zhao broke into a little cold sweat on his palms.
Before this, he had never encountered an army that could come so quickly and resolutely. The speed of the Khitan cavalry alone was far superior to that of the Li family and Gaochang Uighurs of the Dingnan army.
At this time, the surrounding area was completely flat, with no mountains to hold on to.
But Zhang Zhao looked back and saw that there happened to be a Yangqu connecting the Xianshui River and the Luoshui River behind the army, which could provide a certain degree of defense.
Zhang Zhao immediately led his 2,500 men with their backs to the Yang Canal, leaving only 500 cavalry in reserve. He asked the rest of the cavalry to dismount, and formed a moon-cutting formation with the 1,000-layer infantry of Hanshandu to defend themselves against the water.
When Yelupo saw that Yan Jin had abandoned the fortress and formed an infantry formation, he immediately sneered and said to his left and right.
"Both the bandit army and I are good at cavalry. Now we are exploiting our shortcomings and avoiding our strengths by using infantry. Wouldn't we be seeking death?"
Yelu Wuzhi did not answer. He looked around and saw that Geng Chongmei's thousand cavalry had rushed around Yan Jin's infantry. However, he tried the left and right, but could not find a weak point to break in. The delay did not have much effect. He immediately waved his hand and said .
"The infantry troops in the fort are dispatched in order to use themselves as bait to attract my cavalry to attack.
When Zhang Zhao saw that our army was about to encircle him, he did not mount his horse and run away with his followers, and did not abandon his deployment. He is indeed a benevolent and loyal minister, which is respectable! What a pity!"
Speaking of this, a look of regret flashed through Yelu Wuzhi's eyes, "Unfortunately, for our great Liao plan, we will definitely not be able to let Thief Zhang leave alive.
You Xiangwen also asked me to lead 2,000 cavalry from my headquarters to entangle Yong Jun's army in the fort again. The rest of the soldiers and horses followed me to attack Zhang Thief by Yangqu.
Your Majesty has an order that whoever kills the traitor Zhang will be given five thousand households and be given the title of king!"
....
Zhang Zhao laughed loudly and said to the surrounding warriors: "How can the Lord of Liao be such a small thing? A king of this country rules five million people, but he is only worth five thousand households?
It's different for me. I heard that my brother has a daughter named Lu Bugu, who he regards as a treasure. Whoever wins the first prize today can marry my niece the next day and give her a household of 5,001!"
Zhang Zhao deliberately gave one more household, which made everyone laugh in unison.
Good guy, Xiao Chuo's mother was given away so casually by me, King Zhang.
Amidst the laughter, Zhang Zhao suddenly calmed down a lot. Most of the warriors from Shandu around him were his absolute confidants who fought with him in both the north and south.
For example, Man Xiong and Dunzhu, who laugh the loudest, are the source of Zhang Zhao's confidence and the source of his confidence that he can dominate the world.
In the distance, the Khitan cavalry were already running, and the trembling of the earth represented the coming bloody battle.
The ordering soldiers beside Zhang Zhao banged the war drums in their hands, and all the troops shouted "Wind!".
Afterwards, more than a thousand auxiliary soldiers wearing leather armor and a small amount of chain mail immediately stepped forward, squatted down at the outermost edge of the military formation, and pointed their spears diagonally at the sky.
The original Yanyue Formation immediately turned into a gleaming hedgehog.
In fact, there were far more than 2,500 people around Zhang Zhao. This was because, as the most elite heavy armored soldier around Zhang Zhao, Han Shan was accompanied by auxiliary soldiers.
You know, just an ordinary heavy armor soldier must be equipped with a collar of cloth-covered iron armor, a collar of chain mail, a Mo knife, three horizontal swords, a divine arm bow, a long-tip bow, and a short bow. A handful, a Hulu, fifty arrows, a choice of four iron whips/copper maces/bones/big axes, and many other fragmentary daily necessities.
Obviously this cannot be done by one person. Carrying so many things alone will inevitably waste precious energy elsewhere.
So at the very beginning, heavy armored soldiers like Xianshandu were accompanied by auxiliary soldiers.
However, as the initial auxiliary troops, the cavalry was assigned to Yi Cong Xiaoqi, and the infantry was assigned to united archers. However, in practice, there were many problems.
For example, there is no tacit understanding between the auxiliary soldiers and the soldiers, and there are too few auxiliary soldiers to provide one-on-one assistance. The soldiers still have to do many things by themselves.
And because the auxiliary soldiers did not play a big role, the soldiers were unwilling to share their credit with the auxiliary soldiers.
As a result, it later evolved into a model in which the soldiers recruited their fellow villagers, friends, and even brothers and nephews. The two parties stayed together all year round and cooperated tacitly without competing for credit.
In addition to food, these auxiliary soldiers were responsible for everything from equipment to pay, which greatly reduced the pressure on the army and immediately became popular in Yongliang.
Therefore, it seemed that Zhang Zhao only brought 2,500 people, but in fact, there were nearly 4,000 people.
Four thousand people were gathered together like hedgehogs by the Yang Canal.
The first thing that appeared in everyone's eyes was the Khitan Zuopi Shi Army's 4,000 cavalry and 16,000 horse hooves, rolling up a sky full of yellow sand by the dry river.
Looking from a distance, you can see smoke and dust everywhere, but you can't see clearly how many cavalry there are.
The iron cavalry representing the direction of the cavalry's assault was obscured by the smoke, making it difficult for Zhang Zhao to see which direction the Khitan cavalry was mainly attacking.
Qiongre Duojin put on his robe and jumped out of the formation alone. He held an iron bow, opened his right arm, and flew out a bright red arrow with a whistling and sharp sound.
"Eighty steps!"
When the auxiliary soldiers in the front row heard Qiongre Duojin's shout, they also shouted in unison, 'Eighty steps!'
Both Shandu and Youyu Linwei use hard bows, so they are very lethal within eighty steps. Even when facing cavalry, they do not need to go within sixty steps.
As soon as the roar subsided, the enemy cavalry was already eighty steps closer. The generals of each general quickly fired white-feathered arrows to determine the direction of coverage.
As soon as there was a sound of footsteps, the formation of Shandu changed slightly. The auxiliary spearmen moved forward a little, giving the archers room to shoot.
The archers also spread out a little. They took out their hard bows, opened the cover of Hulu, slapped Hulu's waist with their hands, and made an ape-like cry.
The excitement of war immediately surged into everyone's heart.
‘Boom!’ The war drum next to Zhang Zhao suddenly sounded!
"Wow!" All the soldiers roared together and suddenly released their bow strings.
The arrow carrying huge kinetic energy began to shake violently in the air, like a flying fish that came alive and was crossing the dragon's gate, and plunged towards the opposite side.
The rain of arrows that shook Shandu was not shot at random, but had been practiced countless times, and the shooting direction was controlled by the officers.
Each wave covers a different area, so no waste is wasted. Fifteen hundred bows are used to shoot with the efficiency of at least three thousand bows.
At eighty paces, he drew his bow and fired. When the Khitan cavalry rushed to forty paces, the ground was already like hell.
Corpses of men and horses were strewn all over the ground, and the undead were howling miserably. The horses, which were stronger than humans, lost the control of the knights, and were riddled with arrows, running around in all directions.
Of the hundreds of Khitan cavalry who came forward, almost none of them could charge forward under the attack of arrows.
However! This is what Yelu House wants. These few hundred riders are just cannon fodder.
After a brief period of dead silence, after the running horses ran away, 3,500 armored cavalry suddenly appeared in the yellow sand. They were the main force.
Without even following the traditional fixed procedure of throwing a wave of arrows, the Khitan cavalry pounced on them.
Because they attacked Zhang Zhao with several times their strength, there was no need for extra operations at all. They could just break through.
"Change the Divine Arm Bow!" Zhang Zhao shouted, and was the first to take the Divine Arm Bow. As King Zhang's most successful golden finger, the Divine Arm Bow was known as the artifact of the country in Yongliang.
Not only was its existence kept extremely secret, but even one part of the Divine Arm Bow was not allowed to be taken out of Liangzhou, which was a crime of beheading.
The divine arm bows in each town are personally controlled by the commander-in-chief and deputy generals, and are not seen by others.
‘Whoa!’ In an instant, a thousand divine arm bows were lifted up, totaling 2,300 in Yongliang, half of which were equipped in the city of Shanshan.
Zhang Zhao almost cried for the Khitan cavalry on the opposite side. They had a thousand divine arm bows! At a distance of forty steps, the lethality was almost the same as the power of muskets.
"Woo!" The unique horn sound inspired by the Divine Arm Bow sounded, and the dull and simple sound of the crossbow arrows was fired.
A Khitan cavalryman rushing at the front didn't care at all, because he wore two layers of armor and had a collar. As long as he wasn't particularly unlucky, it didn't matter if he received a few arrows.
But then, he suddenly felt as if something was passing through his left side, and there was also a tingling feeling.
Then the knight shook twice, and his chest was soaked with a warm feeling. His hands, which could capture leopards and kill wolves, suddenly couldn't even hold the reins of the war horse.
With the world spinning, the knight suddenly fell down. The last thought in his mind was still thinking, had he been hit by an arrow?
This knight is pretty good because he wears two layers of armor and is heavy.
The knight behind him, who only wore a layer of armor, was directly hit by two crossbow arrows. He immediately felt as if his chest was hit by an invisible giant hammer.
In the severe pain, he could even hear the grunting sound of his heart and lungs being pierced by crossbow arrows. He didn't even have time to think about life and death in his mind, so he closed his eyes directly.
The iron cavalry rushed forward one after another, but the rate of fire of the divine arm bow was faster.
The soldiers of Shanshan City became more and more excited as they shot. The crossbow arrows rushed towards the opposite side like a storm. The distance of only forty steps was like a natural chasm with the bodies of men and horses blocking it.
The charging Khitan cavalry only had 3,500, but there were 1,000 divine arm bows.
Zhang Zhao, who had neglected his training, only fired the divine arm bow once, and almost all the cavalry in front were cleared.
At least eight or nine hundred of the three thousand five hundred horses were gone, and the rest had already run back in a hurry.
"It's boring! I've been practicing Mo Dao for two and a half years, and I guess I won't be able to use it anymore."
Zhang Zhao only heard the bear next to him mutter something unsatisfactory, and then, the entire battlefield suddenly fell into deathly silence.
Yelupode, who was making loud noises, was stunned. This was a cavalry outfitted with human and horse gear!
Why are there almost a thousand roe deer missing in the woods?
