Yang Hao was angry in the tent, but Cheng Yi just pretended not to see it. He said to Lu Fang: "Gather all your cavalry immediately and attack with me!"
Lu Fang shouted loudly: "Yes!"
Yang Hao was stunned for a moment, then he raised his hand and said, "No!"
More than 15,000 cavalrymen from the three camps rushed out and headed north. Most of the Huns within a few dozen miles had withdrawn, leaving only three or two kittens, and they had completely lost their strength from the previous few days.
That kind of ferocious spirit. When they saw the enemy troops coming out in large numbers, they immediately hit their horses and fled to the north after seeing them from a distance.
The army chased for a long time, and the vanguard cavalry arrived at the foot of Lian County City. They saw the city gate wide open, many things scattered on the roads inside and outside, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood. The vanguard general sent dozens of people to cautiously enter the city, and then
Stunned.
On the streets in the city, corpses were lying everywhere.
Half an hour later, Cheng Yi led the army to the city. Yang Hao said on horseback: "Prefect Cheng, the Huns massacred Lian County and only found more than a hundred people alive inside. Do you want to go in and have a look?"
?”
Cheng Yi snorted and said, "What are you looking at? Ask the camp behind to send the infantry over and collect the corpses. Let's set up camp first and continue the pursuit tomorrow!"
Cheng Yi continued to lead the troops in pursuit and caught up with the Huns' rear column less than a hundred miles north of Lian County. The Huns' cavalry did come and go like the wind, but the cattle and sheep they were driving with them did not rush more than a hundred miles in a day.
When they saw the pursuers coming to kill them, the herdsmen driving cattle and sheep behind them were frightened and fled in all directions.
This time alone, Cheng Yi led his men to rob tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and killed more than 2,000 Huns. The next day, the Huns' rear army turned south and had a melee with the pursuers led by Cheng Yi.
The two sides stood fiercely for the whole day, fighting fiercely from the morning until the afternoon. Although the Huns behind them had more troops, everyone in the army knew what happened in Linrong City, and they were left behind to destroy their morale.
It would have been very low, but after a hard day's fighting, the entire army finally collapsed.
Nearly 10,000 of the 30,000-strong army were killed and more than 4,000 were captured. The rest fled northward, were overtaken again, and then were defeated again. This went back and forth four times, and Cheng Yi's army chased two or three soldiers northward.
Within a hundred miles, more than 30,000 Huns were killed and captured, but they also suffered many casualties. More than 6,000 horses were killed, wounded, and died suddenly.
The Huns turned back with another 20,000 men behind, preparing to fight to the death with their pursuers.
Cheng Yi looked at the Huns waiting in formation in the distance, then at his exhausted soldiers, sighed, shook his head and said: "What a pity, what a pity!"
He pointed to the Huns' military formation in the distance and said: "If we can get 10,000 more cavalry, maybe we can eat all the Huns!"
Zhao Yun was covered in dust, pulled the reins, and said to Cheng Yi: "Prefect Cheng, if we can keep one more Huns, the pressure on Shijun will be reduced! Please give the order to go to war, I am willing to lead the troops with my troops."
!”
Cheng Yi smiled bitterly and said: "It's not that I don't want to continue to attack, it's because the soldiers can't fight anymore! General Zhao is commendable for his loyalty and bravery, but a general must not just be strong! Does General Zhao think that I, Cheng Yi, am a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death?
?"
Zhao Yun couldn't help but be silent. In the past few days, he had been fighting against the Huns one after another. Cheng Yi took the lead and charged with the spears together with the soldiers. It was only because the generals at all levels were willing to fight in front that they defeated the Huns again and again.
. He knew that Cheng Yi was right. Being able to catch up here was already the limit of their strength.
As the saying goes, "At the end of a powerful crossbow, its power cannot penetrate Lu Guan." If you forcefully advance forward, you will have to spit out all the gains you made in the past. If one person is not good, the whole army will be annihilated.
Seeing that Zhao Yun no longer persisted, Cheng Yi also let go of many worries. He was afraid that the generals under Chen Cheng would not obey orders and attack without permission, which would ruin the matter. He looked at the northern sky and said to himself: The king will not die, Chen Cheng
Shijun, Shijun Chen, please don’t let me down!
Cheng Yi turned around and said to the soldiers beside him: "Ming Jin withdraws the troops!"
At the sound of the gong, the soldiers turned their horses and retreated slowly towards the south. When the Huns saw them, they did not dare to pursue them. They just watched them disappear from sight. When the enemy was no longer visible, these were lost.
The Huns, who were passionate about fighting, galloped north again.
Cheng Yi led his troops back to Lian County. Thousands of corpses in the city had been collected, but the smell of blood hanging over the city had not dissipated. In addition, the city was full of charred traces of flames, making it look like
It was like a ghost town. When Cheng Yi saw it, he became angry and ordered all the captured Huns to be taken outside the city and beheaded next to the tombs of the victims.
Although the slain Huns had pale faces and were fighting, they were all led to the edge of the pit, stretched out their necks, and then killed one by one. After Cheng Yi slaughtered the prisoners of war, he counted the harvest.
A total of more than 200,000 cattle, sheep and horses, four carts of gold and silver, and countless weapons and armor were seized.
Cheng Yi divided the cattle, sheep and horses equally among the various troops, but put all the armor, weapons, gold and silver into his own pockets.
However, it is said that Xubu Guduhou set off anxiously with 20,000 Xiongnu troops. They traveled more than a hundred miles a day and exhausted countless horses. Finally, they arrived at Shuofang County six days later. He arranged for his Xiongnu soldiers to rest on the bank of the Yellow River.
a day to regain horsepower.
The closer you get to Linrong, the more Huns you encounter who have escaped from the city. The leaders of the Xiongnu nobles already know what happened that day. They know that almost all the Xiongnu nobles in the city were killed, and they also know what happened.
The troops who attacked were no more than a thousand horses, and they did not escape after conquering the city, but instead stayed in Linrong City.
The Huns were so indignant that they set up sheepskin rafts the next morning, found a place with a slower current, and began to forcefully cross the Yellow River. People and horses neighed by the river, and the pontoon bridge was quickly built. The cavalry carefully led the horses from several places.
Walked over on the floating bridge.
Just as the Huns began to cross the river, Chen Cheng ordered his men to open the gate to the south of the city and led three thousand cavalry out of the city quickly. Then they ran directly to the place where the Huns crossed the river.
In the past few days, Chen Cheng and his soldiers were not idle. Xu Rong and Yang Qiu originally proposed to send more people to repair the Linrong city wall before the Huns army came back, and
He would heighten and reinforce it, and then withdraw all the surrounding people, horses and animals to defend it, but this idea was rejected by Chen Cheng.
He said to Yang Qiu, Xu Rong, Li Kan and others: "It is okay to repair the city wall, but it is not necessary to heighten and reinforce it. Instead of waiting for the Huns to attack the city, it is better to take the initiative and fight the Huns outside the city!"
At that time, Yang Qiu and others were extremely surprised. They knew that Chen Cheng was superb in martial arts, and had witnessed how he killed the city wall alone, and then led his men to kill through the Huns' battle formation. However, the Huns who had stayed in Linrong were all
They are old, weak, women and children, and even if there are some elites, there are not many of them, so it is not difficult to deal with them.
But when the elite Huns return, it will not be so easy to deal with them. Moreover, siege is completely different from field warfare. The Huns' ability to attack and defend cities is not at the same level as their night fighting ability.
Xu Rong objected directly: "My lord, I said that we can defend the army, but I didn't say that we would fight with the Huns in the field!"
Yang Qiu also said: "Although more than 8,000 Han people were rescued, half of them were women. They can help defend the city, but it is useless to drag them out to fight."
Li Kan hesitated for a moment, and under the gaze of other generals, he said bravely: "My lord, there are more than 200,000 arrows in the city, and there is also a lot of food. Together with the captured livestock, it is enough for us to defend for a long time."
Xu Rong added: "There are many craftsmen in the city, and they can make 10,000 of them in a day if they rush to make them. With strong bows and crossbows, the Huns are not good at attacking the city, so they will definitely not be able to attack."
Chen Cheng looked at the generals who were fiercely opposed and said with a smile: "You may think that I was dazzled by the victory."
Everyone thought: It’s not possible, but it’s certain!
Chen Cheng ignored the subtle expressions on the faces of everyone in front of him and said: "I just asked the craftsmen in the city to make something. You all come and take a look."
He led the generals to the school field, pointed to the red war horse that was eating fodder on the edge of the school field, and asked: "What can you see?"
Yang Qiu was one of the princes of Xiliang. He was extremely skilled in the use of cavalry. He took one look at it and immediately said "Hey". Generals such as Xu Rong also rode across the vast sea of sand, so they were very familiar with the equipment of their horses.
They are very familiar with each other, and they also see the clues.
"This saddle, and these stirrups..." Yang Qiu circled around Gulu twice, thought about it for a while, and said: "It's very good. If the war horses are equipped with them, then
Soldiers can use their weapons better on horseback!"
"That's right," Xu Rong gestured and said, "I can use longer weapons and draw a harder bow!"
Some things are like a piece of paper. As long as you poke it gently, there is no mystery left. Yang Qiu and Xurong just took a look and understood the benefits of bilateral stirrups and high bridge saddles, but they did not expect
These two things and another thing will bring revolutionary subversion to the cavalry.
From then on, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry will completely surpass that of the infantry and will become the absolute protagonist on the battlefield. When the age of firearms arrives, the cavalry will still be a very powerful unit and an indispensable part of the army.
Another kind of "iron cavalry" replaces it.
Chen Cheng smiled and said: "You all have sharp eyes, and what you saw is correct, but I still missed something."
He walked over, lifted the soles of the war horse's feet, and exposed the horseshoes. Yang Qiu saw it and said, "It costs a lot to cover the hoofs with iron..."
Chen Cheng said: "Compared to the increase in combat effectiveness, this cost is completely worth it. Which of you wants to give it a try?"
Yang Qiu said loudly: "I come first!"
He eagerly walked towards Gulu, but the red war horse neighed and pointed its hoof at Yang Qiu. As it grew larger, its temper also grew bigger and bigger.
Yang Qiu smiled and scolded: "What a beast, he has such a big temper!"
Chen Cheng coughed and said, "That's not what I'm talking about."
He ordered someone to lead another tall war horse, and said: "The equipment is the same. Governor Yang will give it a try."
