When crossing the river before, the Han army spent a lot of time.
The pontoon bridge could only accommodate three cavalry walking side by side. It was too narrow for the cavalry!
Li Tang Mang had no choice but to delay as much time as possible so that the cavalry could cross in batches. It also took time for the Han army camped on the other side to prepare for the response.
Without boats, it would be impossible to widen the pontoon in a hurry.
However, Jiang Wei and others could form strong crossbow formations on both sides of the pontoon bridge on the other side of the river to prevent the Wei army from approaching the pontoon bridge and guarding the cavalry from crossing the river.
As for whether it would be too much to rely on 800 Xiliang iron cavalry to contain nearly 4,000 Southern Xiongnu light cavalry...
As the leader of the horse thieves who roamed the Hexi Corridor in the past, he felt that it was not a difficult task.
Mounted combat is very different from infantry combat.
In the pursuit of horseback shooting, the arrows of both sides will become obviously better and worse due to the constantly galloping horses.
When the arrows thrown by the Southern Xiongnu cavalry in pursuit were pulled through the air by the force of the bow, the Han cavalry was no longer at their previous position; but when the Han army's crossbow arrows came at an angle, they would feel that they were taking the initiative.
Welcome it with your chest.
In particular, the Xiliang cavalry, which has long been famous and is also proficient in riding and archery, is the only cavalry of the Han Dynasty that is fully equipped with bows and crossbows.
The Qi Dou Cavalry Bow can be thrown directly with one hand using a one-stone crossbow that is fully strung.
The southern Xiongnu cavalry was unable to defend itself.
The leather armor on the cavalry in the front row could not withstand the penetration of the powerful crossbows. The cavalry in the rear row were instantly overturned because their bodies rose and fell with the horses, and their small bucklers could only protect their vital points but could not take care of the horses.
After only chasing for about three miles, more than 200 of their horses fell off their horses, and many of them were tripped over because the horses in the front row fell to the ground and those behind them were unable to avoid them.
This made them extremely embarrassed.
After having an advantage in an ambush, you still have to face being killed indiscriminately and without the ability to fight back?
Immediately, two thousand captains led their subordinates to separate lanes, desperately urging their horses to speed up, trying to flank the Han army and attack from behind.
If you want to bully the few with more, you will naturally outflank them.
But what they didn't know was that what Li Tang Mang was waiting for was their division of troops!
Facing the enemy's 4,000 cavalry, it is not advisable for him to charge into the formation with 800 cavalry. However, if he rushes into the formation with 1,000 cavalry, a mere Hulu'an can be as sharp as the Xiliang cavalry hogs!
"Change the divination halberd!"
"Surprise!"
When he hung up the strong bow in his hand, he gave a loud order to the bodyguards beside him, raised his leg to pick up the spear and raised it high, and rushed towards the Southern Huns cavalry on the right first.
"Surprise!"
"Surprise!"
Accompanied by the shouts of the guards, the Xiliang cavalry, who were originally scattered in a fan shape, turned their horses to gather together, and also used their superb equestrian skills to control the speed of the horses to adjust their formation. Many cavalrymen holding divination halberds were seen.
They gathered in the front line one after another, followed by those holding spears, followed by those holding swords, twisting their bodies and rushing sideways like a long snake.
The commander of the Southern Huns cavalry on the right was shocked when he saw this.
His original intention was to outflank and attack, but he had no intention of engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Han army.
But now that he had left the formation, the extremely fast galloping horses gave him no chance to turn around and go back.
If he continues to accelerate forward, his cavalry will face being cut through the waist by the Han army; if he turns the horse's head to the right to avoid it, his tail will be bitten by the Han army, exposing his back to the crossbows.
Therefore, his eyes quickly became filled with countless bloodshot eyes.
"kill!"
He also raised his spear high, mobilized his horse head and led his men to meet the Han army in front.
Because he saw the thousands of captains who were originally encircling the left side and the cavalry in the original formation. Seeing the change of the Han army, they all urged their men to speed up, intending to attack and defeat the Han cavalry here.
If he can slightly hinder the speed of the Han army.
Just a little obstruction and losing more than half of the tribe should be enough, right?
With such thoughts in mind, determination flashed in the eyes of the commander on the right, and the command to charge roared out of his mouth again.
"kill!"
"Kill! Kill!"
The Southern Huns cavalry on the right responded loudly.
The strong and powerful hooves of the war horses fell hard, peeling away the thin layer of snow and filling the air with withered grass and dust, demonstrating their determination to defeat the Han army.
But as soon as the two armies came into contact, they knew they had overestimated themselves.
The Xiliang cavalry in the front row, armed with divination halberds and spears, were as sharp as arrows fed by the wind.
It took almost no effort to tear apart their array, allowing the cavalry behind them holding ring-headed knives to surge in.
They held their swords sideways and backwards, using the inertia of the high-speed galloping horses, to swipe across the waists and necks of the Southern Huns cavalry, killing people wantonly. And during the fight, they did not forget to keep expanding to both sides,
By enriching the two wings, the original piercing tactics of a long dragon formation gradually turned into a flying goose shape that took advantage of the chaos and swept the enemy formation.
The sound of hoofbeats is rapid, and the swords are flashing!
Amid the wanton splatter of blood, the red-black banner of the Han Dynasty continued to advance forward without any hindrance with an invincible momentum.
It only took less than half a moment for the Xiliang cavalry to make contact and defeat the formation of the southern Huns cavalry on the right.
The captain who originally thought he could stop the Han army had turned into a puddle of minced meat on the ground, while the cavalry under his command whined and turned around, kicking the horse's belly desperately to get the horse off the battlefield.
"Pooh!"
Li Mangtang, who had already defeated the enemy, wiped the blood on his face with his hand, spit out the ends of his hair that had been blown into his mouth by the wind, and then pulled the reins to turn the horse around while shouting.
"Turn! Detour!"
"roundabout!"
He did not lead the army to chase down the defeated troops, but planned to take advantage of his vigor to turn back and face the enemy troops in the rear.
However, when they completed their detour and tried to speed up their horses to trot and charge again, they found that this was no longer necessary.
The two Southern Huns cavalry chasing after them, after witnessing the brutality just now, unanimously turned their horses around again and distanced themselves from the Han army.
They are not soldiers of Wei State.
When they came to participate in the war, Liu Bao, the Xian King of Zuo, told him privately that there was no need for the Southern Xiongnu to fight to the death for Wei.
Because if the tribal people suffered too many losses, even if he was canonized by the Great Chanyu, it would only be in name only and he would become a weakling that other tribes would eat according to the laws of the grassland.
However, they did not leave.
Instead, they were wandering just a stone's throw away, waiting for Fei Yao and other tribesmen to arrive before fighting.
Anyway, it was impossible for the Han army to cross the pontoon bridge for a while.
Upon seeing this, Li Mangtang led the Xiliang cavalry back to the pontoon slowly, but every half-quarter of an hour, hundreds of cavalry were separated and accelerated to cross the river.
Due to the narrow pontoon bridge, the Han army could only cross in batches.
And he was not worried that after gradually dividing his troops, he would be surrounded and strangled by the Southern Huns cavalry.
Calculating the time, by the time he divided his troops for the third time, Zhang Bao, who was leading the Shaodang tribe, should have arrived, and Jiang Wei and others on the other side should have set up a crossbow array to respond.
