Although due to the rush of time, only the rangers near the restaurant received news about the expedition against the horse thieves and the rescue of the caravan, the number of people who gathered outside the city gate half an hour later, including the 300 cavalry provided by the results, was still about 700.
.
However, compared with the three hundred "cavalry" who can easily fight on horseback, these more than four hundred stragglers can only be called "horsemen". Most of them ride on low-quality pack horses, and there are even hundreds of them.
The rest of them rode in pairs - had they already planned to grab the horses?
"Master Dong, do you think it's almost time to set off?" Cheng Hu asked Dong Junya, who was sighing secretly.
Cheng Hu and Cheng Bao were the two centenarians sent by Qi to lead the three hundred cavalry. However, since they were not part of the military, they could only be called servants or guardians.
This is also the right thing to do. Although Dong Junya has some contacts with Chengjia, it is not to the extent of entrusting hundreds of soldiers and horses casually. If there is an obvious mistake in the command, the two people may refuse to execute it.
"Wait until the selection of my son is completed." Dong Junya gestured to Dong Zhuo, who was inspecting the crowd. Although he had no hope for his son's combat effectiveness, after hanging out with the Qiang people for a long time, he was quite experienced in judging the cavalry.
There is naturally no problem with a group of people who pretend to be fake.
Contrary to what his father thought, Dong Zhuo was not cutting off the knights who came to fish in troubled waters at this time, but was instead trying to help them stay on their horses smoothly and not fall behind.
"Don't jerk the reins or pull the mane when you're nervous, otherwise the horse will knock you off." Dong Zhuo walked through the queues of knights holding a Koupu knife: "If you feel unsteady on the horse, just
Lie down, hug the horse's neck, and clamp the horse's belly with your legs. This way, unless the horse rolls on the spot, it won't be able to lift you off."
This knife was sent specially by Ma Teng after the blacksmith Ma Su learned that he was going to go out into battle. Even if Dong Zhuo wanted to point out the difference between a plain knife and a prison knife, he couldn't argue with a ten-year-old child, let alone Ma Teng.
After delivering the knife, he was pestered by the alcoholic lunatic.
"Why should the Dong family go to such trouble? If they fall behind, it would be better if they don't go, and we can share more of the wealth." A rough ranger shouted impatiently.
"Hey, all of you who dare to participate in this night battle, even if you are not good at riding horses, your skills will not be much worse," Dong Zhuo said: "The horse thieves who are still on the horses will have their own officers and soldiers to deal with them. If you go into the mountains and forests to look for thieves, there will be many people around you."
It’s better to have a companion than to have too little, and there’s no way the extra person will be able to block a blow for you.”
"It makes sense..." The rangers nodded one after another, but they had different opinions on whether to "block the sword" with weapons or the body.
When things were over, Dong Zhuo rode back to his father and said, "Father, there are a total of 648 people on this trip, and they are all ready to fight. Even if we move quickly, there will not be more than 30 people left behind."
"Good." Dong Junya nodded, and after signaling to the tigers and leopards, he directed the cavalry to march south.
————
Three hundred cavalry were in the vanguard, with Dong Junya, Cheng Hu Cheng Leopard and some rangers with excellent horse-control skills in the middle, followed by scattered rangers who were not in formation.
This is naturally not the case during a regular march. Even if there is no need for ordnance baggage, a corresponding amount of military supplies must be carried according to the specific itinerary, and corresponding food transport escorts must be arranged.
Dong Zhuo followed his father on a yellow horse. After hearing some specific information about the caravan, he became more certain that these horse thieves were definitely not Qiang people.
The caravans that came to Xiliang to do business usually carried tea cakes, salt, copper and iron tools, clay utensils, silk and other things that were not available outside the Great Wall but were very troublesome to lack. Through some exchanges, they brought Wuwei
After collecting a lot of taxes, they brought back cattle, sheep, horses, furs, medicinal materials, dyes, herbs and even large pieces of nugget gold. It was not until they returned to the Central Plains and exchanged them for silver that they could be compared with the cost of purchasing the things they brought.
To determine profit and loss - of course, based on the perspective of businessmen, it is almost impossible to lose money.
If they were Qiang horse thieves, they should have robbed the caravan before it arrived. When the caravan left, it carried only things sold by the Qiang people themselves, so what's the point of taking it back?
Therefore, there is only one origin for horse thieves who can do such stupid things - the Xiongnu over there in Bingzhou. They probably don't understand what rabbits don't eat grass beside their nests, but their actions of coming all the way to rob the Liangzhou caravan are exactly what they want.
meaning.
"Stop—put out the torch!" Dong Junya suddenly shouted.
It was already dark at this time. Although none of the people chosen by this team had finch blindness, it would be very difficult to travel without lights at all. Therefore, every five or six people lit up a torch, so that they could see the road clearly and could not see the road clearly.
It is eye-catching from a distance.
The three hundred cavalrymen, under the command of Cheng Hucheng Leopard, quickly stopped and extinguished their torches. The following rangers scattered for a while before becoming quiet.
About two or three miles away on the official road, there was a cavalry team of about hundreds of people, almost everyone holding a torch, patrolling back and forth. They all looked fierce, wore messy animal skin clothes, and the weapons in their hands were not uniform.
Although many of the horses appear to be in poor condition, they are not domestic animals like draft horses.
Farther away, there was a caravan that deviated from the official road, leaned on the steep mountain wall, and surrounded many cargo vehicles to form a barrier. It was being shouted and besieged by hundreds of "Qiang people" holding torches. Both sides
Deadlocked.
"Everyone should know that when holding a torch, it is almost impossible to see clearly what is outside the light range, especially if you suffer from finch blindness," Dong Junya said to the surrounding cavalry: "So we can detect this horse thief in advance, and
They were completely unaware.”
"So Master Dong, should we attack directly?" Cheng Hu asked.
"No," it was Dong Zhuo who answered this time: "Hundreds of war horses galloping, you can notice it without eyesight. We should approach quietly to within a mile, and then suddenly attack - Father, am I right?"
"That's right." Dong Junya originally fought this battle to find some "merits" for his son, so he would not refute: "But if the other party has never discovered it, it is not a 'attack', but a 'surprise attack'."
"Everyone!" Dong Zhuo thought for a moment and then said to the stragglers: "Our soldiers divided into two groups, went around to both sides of the team, and then shouted loudly to make them ignore the married cavalry. If a 'surprise attack' is achieved, this battle can be
Down in one fell swoop.”
The rangers naturally agreed to this kind of action that was not dangerous and could beat the drowned dog. Even the three hundred cavalry who were engaged in a head-on battle were quite vulnerable to the sneak attack on the enemy such as "surprise attack", in which they were very likely to be unscathed.
Agree.
————
Dong Junya led his cavalrymen to completely extinguish the torches and then quietly approached the patrolling team of horse thieves. He could almost clearly see how many arrows were in the arrow kettles on the backs of the horse thieves. However, they were still in a daze and did not notice it. This made many
The cavalryman, who did not have finch blindness in the first place, came up with the idea of eating more fish, shrimp and vegetables in the future.
Just as they were about to turn around and return, a lot of noise and shouting suddenly broke out in the darkness around them. Mandarin, Liangzhou dialect and even Qiang were mixed together, causing the formation of the horse thieves to be temporarily scattered. Even if the leader shouted loudly, it was of no avail.
Seeing this opportunity, Dong Junya raised his saber high and shouted: "Attack!"
The well-trained cavalrymen started instantly, raised their lances and rushed towards the chaotic horse thieves like a torrent. Moreover, during the attack, a dark mist surrounded the cavalrymen, which made them
This movement made no sound at all.
"Master Dong actually mastered the 'surprise attack' combat skill?" Cheng Bao exclaimed, his tone showing admiration that he had not seen before.
"Such a small skill with many prerequisites is not worth mentioning," Dong Junya shook his head: "If the opponent has someone who also masters the 'combat skills' to lead the army, it will be difficult to use it."
Puff puff puff - During the conversation, the married cavalrymen had already passed through the formation of hundreds of horse thieves. Their broken bodies and broken arms were scattered everywhere. A few lucky ones escaped the thrust, but they had to face the attack from both sides.
The rangers led by Dong Zhuo laid siege and the whole army was wiped out in less than a moment.
It was only then that the dark mist surrounding the married cavalry who had completed their "surprise attack" disappeared and they were able to move again.
Dong Junya shook his head and said: "If there was a second army attacking them before, the consequences would not be worse than those horse thieves. If I understood 'Wushuang', I wouldn't have such troubles." I won't be forced to resign - of course.
, these words will not be exported.
Dong Junya was about to command three hundred cavalry to attack the horse thieves who besieged the convoy, but saw Dong Zhuo leading a group of rangers to kill the remaining horse thieves and cavalry in two or two, and then rushed directly to the encirclement.
Dong Zhuo shouted from afar: "Listen to the caravan guards inside! Master Cheng is leading two thousand elites to rescue you. Please cooperate with us inside and outside quickly and cooperate with us in our 'unison attack'!"
The so-called "joint attack" is also a kind of legion combat technique. It requires the cooperation of two troops to jointly attack the enemy between them. If the enemy is attacked from both sides, the attacked troops will be greatly damaged.
But a mere three hundred people plus at most a hundred or so caravan guards dared to "attack" more than seven hundred horse thieves? Even if they were bullied and falsely claimed to be two thousand...
Cheng Hu Cheng Leopard was still doubting, but saw that the rangers led by Dong Zhuo and the horse thieves retreated at the first contact. When the horse thieves were confused and turned back to deal with the caravan guards, they killed them again, and ran away again when the enemy turned the spear.
Several times, he simply killed all the horse thieves who besieged the caravan.
"This kid doesn't tell the truth," Dong Junya laughed: "That's not a 'Qi Attack' at all, it's a 'Chaos War'. I probably learned it from the Qiang people."
The words "attack together" and "two thousand men" deceived the leader of the caravan guard. If they had not been strong in force, they would have been tricked by Dong Zhuo. If the leader of the horse thieves could understand, he would have been tricked even more miserably.
Low-frequency and repeated tactics such as "chaotic warfare" are usually used when superior forces are used to deal with multiple weak troops. Now Dong Zhuo used it to deal with a single and powerful army that was flanked, and it seemed to be effective.
"A tiger father has no dog son." Cheng Hu praised.
"I don't think your name is suitable for saying this." Cheng Bao looked at him sideways.
