When the Xixia cavalry entered the battlefield, it meant that the war was in full swing.

The Xixia people had a large number of war horses.

The total population of Xixia is approximately between 2.5 million and 3 million.

However, according to relevant literature, the total number of war horses is 800,000, which is more than the war horses of the Jin Kingdom.

Why?

Because Xixia completely controlled the Hexi Corridor, where there was Zhangye's Danshan Army Horse Farm.

It can be traced back to the Huo Qubing era, and later it became the largest military horse farm in the world.

The purpose of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's attack on the Hexi Corridor was to cut off the right arm of the Huns and to expand the source of horses. However, he did not expect that the conditions for horse farms in Hexi were unique.

This is thanks to the ice and snow of the Qilian Mountains that nourish that grassland.

During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, expanded the camp there, raising up to 2 million horses, 1 million camels, and countless cattle and sheep in more than ten years.

However, this data should be inaccurate, but it is enough to prove the development of animal husbandry in the Hexi Corridor.

Since then, Zhangye has become a royal racecourse for all dynasties.

The Song Dynasty did not control the Hexi Corridor. Due to the pressure from powerful foreign enemies, the Xixia people paid special attention to the horse herding industry.

Of course, it does not mean that Xixia has 800,000 war horses and can form hundreds of thousands of cavalry.

There is only one word for things like war horses: cost money!

In ancient times, the cost of feeding one cavalry was roughly equivalent to six or so infantry.

If it is heavy cavalry, it is equivalent to sixteen to twenty light infantry and eight infantry armor.

The cavalry is always the most expensive, and the heavy cavalry just piles up the money and pours oil into it and burns it fiercely.

In the original Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu started a state-owned enterprise, printed money, and sold officials. Finally, in the Battle of Mobei, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing raised a total of 100,000 cavalry, but they had to rely on 400,000 infantry for logistics.

Zhao Ning also looked at the accounts after traveling through time, and realized that the hundreds of thousands of cavalry in the TV series were all nonsense.

Xixia's most elite heavy cavalry, the "Iron Harriers", had a total strength of only three thousand.

It is rumored that Jin Wushu's iron pagoda was adapted from the iron kite.

Even though there were only three thousand, they charged like an ancient tank corps and were unable to withstand it.

During the Shenzong period, during the Five-Road Expedition to Xia and the Battle of Yongle City, Xixia used iron kites to clear the way for the army. The Western Army of the Song Dynasty had to be strong, but it was still scattered by the iron kites.

In the battle of Yongle City, as many as 12,000 Song troops were killed.

When Li Yuanhao founded the Iron Kites, he also used his terrifying impact to crush back and forth in the northwest. The Song Army had no way to do anything.

Not only did the Song Dynasty have a headache when encountering the Iron Kites, but the Liao Kingdom, which was extremely powerful at the time, had a Liao Cavalry with three horses and fought against the Iron Kites, winning less and losing more.

And in fact, the divine arm crossbow was also invented by the Xixia people and later spread to the Song Dynasty.

However, the cavalry dispatched by Li Liangfu were not "iron kites".

The Iron Kite is the strongest fighting force in Xixia. Everyone wears armor, and people and horses are connected like an iron floating figure. How could Li Qianshun give the Iron Kite to Li Liangfu?

Most of the Xixia cavalry on the left and right wings were wearing light armor and leather armor, and were armed with bows, arrows, and long knives.

Cavalry charges are also very particular.

It is said in the Song Dynasty's military encyclopedia "Wu Jing Zong Yao".

The cavalry is a team of five, and each cavalry is separated by twenty steps to the left and right. This leaves a buffer space. At the same time, each cavalry may have two or three horses.

The distance between each team is about fifty to one hundred steps.

The distance between the front and rear rows is a hundred steps.

This is also how Yue Fei used the Shenwu Army cavalry.

As for some armchair literati who talk about digging trenches, trapping horses, and using thorns in the battle, they are just sitting at home talking nonsense.

In a big battle, before the cavalry is dispatched, a group of light cavalry will go over to explore the road and conduct a shallow attack.

This will be the case whether it is the Xixia cavalry or the Jin cavalry.

Although the Song army was seen coming from a distance before, the Xixia cavalry went over to test it out just in case. After no traps such as horse traps were identified, the Xixia cavalry on both wings advanced in a large scale.

There are three thousand cavalry on the left and right wings, each equipped with three horses.

This is Li Liangfu’s cavalry at the bottom of the box.

The Xixia people are very thieves in fighting. They usually don't fight you in big battles head-on. Instead, they like to use cavalry and powerful "buzi" to launch surprise attacks.

A large-scale frontal confrontation between the two armies like the Battle of Lanzhou at this time was definitely not what Li Liangfu wanted.

Li Liangfu cursed: "Damn Song Dog! In order to deceive me, even the generals were killed!"

Moreover, misfortunes never come singly. After being deceived, Atuhan took advantage of the situation and took advantage of the situation, which made the pattern of this battle very strange. The Xixia army was divided into three parts.

Part of it is under Lanzhou City, part of it is in the hands of Li Liangfu, and part of it is in the hands of Atuhan.

One group has 10,000 horses, one group has 20,000 horses, and another group has more than 30,000 horses.

What's even more terrible is that there are more than 30,000 people under Lanzhou City, which is more than 20 miles away from here.

As long as he is not a commander with a bad mind, he will not make such a plan when facing a big battle.

It would be extremely difficult for these three armies to coordinate with each other on the battlefield, unless the Xixia army had an independent and powerful command.

Obviously the Xixia army does not have such a headquarters.

This is also the fundamental reason why Li Liangfu couldn't care so much and sent out the cavalry at the bottom of the box in one go.

Although it did not have the terrifying impact momentum of the heavy cavalry, it still stabbed at the two wings of the Song army like a steel fork.

Yuhou Tianzhong, the commander of the Song Army's left wing army, shouted loudly: "Crossbow archers are ready!"

The heavy infantrymen in the front row held shields, and sharp spears stretched out densely.

They formed a solid line of defense.

The number of infantry armor on Xihe Road was limited, and they were arranged in front of the flanks for defense, with row after row of crossbow archers behind them.

The wind whistled past my ears, and waves of mud mixed with horse smell hit my face.

The ground seemed to be shaking slightly.

The Xixia cavalry wave in front was approaching quickly.

When they entered the distance of two miles, the Xixia cavalry horses began to pace. When they entered the distance of one mile, the horses began to speed up. When they entered the range of three hundred meters, the horses went completely crazy and began to rush forward at high speed.

Once the war horses started to go crazy, thousands of cavalry legions would be like the water of the Yellow River collapsing, sweeping over the sky with terrifying awe.

People who have never experienced it directly can never imagine how terrible the pressure that the brief period of time before the cavalry frenzy hit people's hearts was.

Everyone seems to have a huge stone weighing on their hearts.

The faces of some Song Army soldiers already showed fear.

Before the officer gave the order, several soldiers began to fire their crossbows instinctively.

The other soldiers also launched.

In an instant, crossbow arrows shot up from the sky and pressed towards the Xixia cavalry in front.

But these crossbows are not divine arm crossbows and cannot reach that far.

Many crossbow arrows fell to the ground and missed.

However, some of the crossbow arrows hit the first few Xixia cavalrymen. The cavalrymen fell off their horses, broke their bones and died on the spot.
Chapter completed!