There is a great disparity between the enemy and ourselves, and we are in a desperate situation, so we can only live towards death.
As Zhang Bao charged forward resolutely, all the Shaodang clan members burst out with the deep-rooted spirit of "proud to die in battle" and declared their determination to die as shadow followers with the sound of charging whistles.
"Uh~heh!"
"Oh~~ha!"
When Fei Yao, who was leading his cavalry to attack, heard the unique whistle of the Liangzhou Qiang tribe, his originally squinted eyes could not help but have a few rays of cold light. Because the last time he heard it
, it was when he suffered a disastrous defeat at the tributary of Lu River.
"point!"
He tilted his head slightly and gave instructions.
The bodyguard who followed him immediately put the huge horn in his arms into his mouth.
"Woo~woo~~"
I saw that the torrent that originally had thousands of horses rushing forward split into three branches in an instant.
The Guanzhong elite cavalry led by Fei Yao continued to move forward, while the southern Xiongnu cavalry split into two parts.
One group went to the Yiquwu Mountain camp, presumably to pursue the Litang Mang tribe and avoid the Han army from occupying the pontoon bridge; while the other group made a slight circle, trying to pass by the Shaodang people.
Zhang Bao, who took the lead, knew it immediately.
The Qiang and Hu tribes in Liangzhou fought in parallel with farming and animal husbandry, often armed with spears and fighting in an unstoppable manner.
For example, during the Battle of the Weishui River in the past, when faced with more than a dozen soldiers and horses led by Han Sui and Ma Chao showing off their power, the knowledgeable people in the Wei army all said, "Guanxi has strong soldiers and is well versed in spears. Unless it is a selected forward, it cannot be used as a forward."
Admonished Wei Wu and Cao Cao.
But when the nomadic tribes, mainly barbarians, fight in Monan, bows and arrows are their best and most deadly weapons.
The tactics are often like hunting with wolves, using skilled equestrian skills and the mobility of light cavalry to continuously attack with bows and arrows, causing continuous losses to the enemy. Only when the enemy's morale is weak or there are flaws in the array, they will mount their horses and fight hand-to-hand.
Therefore, Zhang Bao also knew that he was about to face a rain of arrows.
But he had no solution.
To be precise, the timing didn't allow it.
With the Guanzhong Jingqi in front, the oncoming Fei Yao was less than two miles away from him!
Such a close distance, with the horses on both sides accelerating to the extreme, only took more than ten breaths.
If he ordered the Shaodang tribe to counterattack with mounted crossbows, they would not have time to replace their spears with Fei Yao's tribe; and the Han army was already in a weak position, and he could not divide his troops to stop the southern Xiongnu archers, otherwise he would
It is impossible to rely on the formation to defeat the enemy's formation.
The only solution now is to move forward regardless.
As soon as they broke into Fei Yao's formation, those Southern Huns archers would rain down arrows to avoid accidentally injuring their own troops.
"kill!"
It’s too late to say it, but it will be soon!
When more than two hundred Shaodang tribesmen were shot down from their horses by a hail of arrows, the front rows of the two cavalrymen collided with each other.
One side is trapped in a tight siege and is desperate to survive, while the other side is holding on to the humiliation of Xue's previous defeat and becoming brave. The battlefield becomes extremely tragic as soon as they come into contact. From time to time, someone is stabbed into the chest by a spear, and from time to time, someone is cut across the neck or neck with a ring knife.
In the waist and abdomen, from time to time a war horse stumbled or was stabbed and flew out.
The sound of war drums urged the soldiers to die without mercy.
The two cavalrymen penetrated deeply into their respective formations, causing the red-black uniforms of the Han soldiers and the yellow uniforms of the Wei soldiers to slowly turn into bright red.
The sound of horses' hooves sounds urgent, and the corpses are covered in blood.
In the light of the cavalry's swords and spears, blood spattered wantonly, the horses screamed wantonly, and countless people screamed on the verge of death and howled while still being injured.
Zhang Bao was covered in blood but was unscathed.
The fish scale armor made of more than 2,000 pieces of iron strung together protected him from the arrows from the weak cavalry bow; the horse's length of nearly two feet gave him an advantage in the fight, and there were still more than a hundred soldiers who were still there.
Guard him and silently block attacks from both sides.
But the Shaodang people behind him were not so lucky.
The time they formed an army was too short!
Being brave means being brave. However, when accelerating the charge, the array began to appear uneven. Now that they broke into the enemy's formation, they did not have the awareness to keep the front row of the array neat, and they almost fell into fighting on their own.
The Wei army's Guanzhong Jingqi were different.
They have been organized since Cao Cao defeated Han Sui and Ma Chao and settled in Guanzhong. They first followed Xiahou Yuan to the right of Guanzhong, and then followed Cao Zhen to quell the Liangzhou rebellion. They have experienced many changes between the old and the new, and have accumulated experience in dozens of battles. They can be called elites.
teacher.
One goes down and the other goes up.
In a head-to-head confrontation, the Shaodang tribe has almost no match.
And as time goes by, the battle damage ratio of both sides is also constantly expanding.
Fortunately, after the battle at the Xilu River Tributary, there were only two thousand fine cavalry left in Guanzhong, and the fighting between the two armies as they galloped past did not last long.
About half a quarter of an hour later, the Han army with Zhang Bao as the vanguard penetrated the Wei formation, allowing the Shaodang tribesmen behind them who had suffered heavy casualties to come out one after another, giving them a moment to rest and reorganize their formation.
There were indeed heavy casualties.
Just one charge left only a thousand people of the Shaodang tribe still on their war horses, and nearly half of them were lost.
Unfortunately, the Southern Xiongnu cavalry had already completed their detour. They were once again on par with the Han army. They knew well that "shoot the man first, shoot the horse". They constantly attacked the Han army's horses with bows and arrows, and threw flying stone ropes to disturb the horses' hooves.
The equestrian skills of the Shaodang tribe are equally impressive.
But the body of the war horse was too big, and the arrows of the Southern Huns cavalry were too dense, so they couldn't take care of everything at all.
There were constant incidents of war horses being caught in the limbs by flying stone ropes and causing them to stumble, or they were hit by several arrows and went crazy with pain, throwing their knights off their horses and being trampled into minced meat by the hooves of the horses that followed.
Zhang Bao, who was still well guarded, looked back frequently amid the screams of the cavalry, resisting the indignation of turning his horse's head to attack the Southern Huns cavalry.
Time did not allow him to vent his anger.
No need to think too much, Feiyao's troops passing by are already taking a detour.
If he cannot control his emotions, he will be caught up again by Fei Yao, who leads the elite cavalry in Guanzhong, and the casualties among the Shaodang tribe will be even more severe.
He could only continue to gallop forward regardless of the situation.
The bridge is less than ten miles away.
Less than seven miles away.
It's only five miles away...
I wonder if Limangtang has occupied the floating bridge?
If we seize it first, can we hold it against the attack of the Southern Huns cavalry?
Amidst the sound of horse hooves and the cries of death, Zhang Bao silently calculated the distance and quietly asked questions in his heart.
Li Tang Mang's answer is yes.
Although the other Southern Huns cavalry had nearly 4,000 cavalry, he, who was in charge of more than a thousand Xiliang cavalry, took a detour early to occupy the pontoon, leaving the Southern Huns cavalry behind.
However, he only sent more than a hundred cavalry in advance to seize the pontoon bridge. The rest deliberately slowed down their speed and shot the Southern Huns cavalry with bows and arrows.
He is not trying to be brave, but is trying to delay as much time as possible.
The Wushan camp in Yiqu was already under the control of the Han army, so it was not difficult to occupy the pontoon ferry on the other side of the river.
The difficult part was getting the cavalry across the river.