Victory can change many things, especially when the enemy's organizational structure is not strict.
There are eight Khitan tribes, and the eight tribes can be further subdivided. In the general direction, everyone has the same interests, but how about settling small accounts?
They have lost more than 4,000 people in several battles in Yuyi Town, Ruyuan, and Sanquan.
For the entire Eight Tribes of Khitan, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses do not seem to be many, but when it comes to a specific tribe, the loss is a bit painful - whether the loss is a true Khitan, or a Xi, Lin, Shiwei, or Tatar.
Tatar, Mohe and other slaves and vassal tribesmen were all losses, which were difficult to accept.
Naturally, differences arose within them.
Some people gave up fighting and ran back to their tribes.
Some people are hesitant, not knowing whether to leave or stay.
Some people are bastards who eat the weights and fight to the end, such as Yelvshenechi who just died of his nephew.
Yes, Yelu Laogu is dead and died in the rebellion.
At that time, the Khitan people were severely defeated. Yelu Laogu was too brave and fought desperately, killing many cavalry knights, including two generals.
And his brave performance attracted the cavalry soldiers to attack him one after another. In the end, he was furious on the spot, without any suspense.
After such a series of battles, the Khitan people also discovered a fact that made them extremely painful: do not hedge against others, melee combat is their disadvantage - in fact, this problem was not solved until the Liao Kingdom and the Northern Song Dynasty. Can you imagine
, the Khitan cavalry was actually beaten into dogs by the Northern Song cavalry in a frontal charge, but the Northern Song infantry was defeated by the Khitan infantry...
The day after the battle, Oritsugu Yu ordered his cavalry to go out to search, and sure enough they caught the small tribe of Xi people who were fleeing. He didn't know which one of the six Xi tribes they belonged to, so he just chased them and killed them.
After a short battle, hundreds of people were beheaded, more than 3,000 men, women, and children were captured, and 40,000 cattle, sheep, and horses were captured. Except for keeping some horses to supplement the livestock consumption with the army, the rest were sent to Tanshan Xianyou by Tibetan cavalry.
The palace area.
Afterwards, the army was divided into several groups and dispersed to advance.
The scenery outside the Great Wall is very different from the northern foothills of Yanshan Mountain, and even more different from the Central Plains.
Yellow clouds, grass, forests, and animals form a desolate and beautiful picture.
There are rivers and water pools everywhere along the way, fish are jumping high, and deer can be seen everywhere.
The mighty cavalry walked along, sometimes through the endless meadows, and sometimes into the reeds that were taller than a human being.
There is no road here anymore.
If the infantry marched northward beyond the Great Wall with carriages, they would have to build roads while marching, cut down trees when encountering mountains, and build bridges when encountering rivers. It would be extremely difficult.
No, if you search the ruins carefully, you will find that there may have been a road, but as time has passed, it has long been submerged in the dust of history.
Since the late Wei Dynasty and the early Chinese dynasty, great efforts have been made to repair the roads outside the Great Wall. But no matter how good the road is, it still needs to be maintained and repaired, otherwise it will soon be transformed into a wilderness by the tenacious nature. It is no exaggeration.
On the 22nd, the army was still walking among the grass and reeds.
By the 23rd, as far as the eye could see, except for the river valley area where vegetation was still lush, the distance in the distance had gradually become desolate.
In the evening of the same day, Geshu Que, the inspection envoy of Nuozhen Water, came to report that another tribe, the Uighurs, had been defeated, and five thousand people and fifty thousand cattle, sheep and miscellaneous livestock had been captured. They had been sent to escort them south.
On the 24th, the cavalry troops quickly advanced to the upper reaches of Huangshui River, and the scenery changed again.
There are more and more desolate areas, which are more like deserts than grasslands. With the north wind, the sand goes straight into people's necks.
In this environment, it was necessary to march along the river. At this time, they finally encountered a strong obstacle.
"What's going on?" the cavalry envoy Oretsugu Yutse immediately stepped forward and asked.
In fact, there is no need for the person below to answer. He himself has eyes and can see what is happening on the other side of the river.
More than three thousand knights found a ford, waded across the river, and fought with the Khitans.
The process of fighting is very interesting.
The Khitans should have thoroughly summarized the lessons from their previous failures. This time they were circling far away from the outside, firmly controlling the mid-range, and shooting at a gallop.
I don’t dare to fight hand to hand!
However, their casualties were still a bit high because they had too little iron armor, which made them a bit disadvantaged in shooting. Moreover, they did not have a deep understanding of the difference between the cavalry and the traditional Central Plains Lancers. They also had considerable mounted shooting capabilities.
However, if you suffer a loss, you will suffer a loss. This is probably the best way the Khitans can find to curb the enemy's advantage in a short period of time. It is much better to consume each other in this way than to be directly overwhelmed.
Countless waves splashed in the water, and more than four thousand people on horseback began to wade across the river. They hesitated in the soft mud at the bottom of the river, shouting loudly.
The Khitan cavalry on the other side were slightly distracted when they saw the Xia people coming to reinforce them.
Liu Zijing, the deputy commander of the cavalry army who was responsible for leading the charge, seized the opportunity, put away his riding bow, drew his short horse spear, and charged forward with five hundred fine cavalry, biting a wave of Khitan light cavalry that could not dodge.
After some entanglement, the thieves left the corpses of more than a hundred riders and retreated hastily.
The Tibetan Qingqi who had already crossed the river quickly chased after them, their bows and strings sounded continuously, and they shot down one Khitan Qingqi from behind.
Oritsugu Yu secretly nodded, his tactical coordination becoming more and more sophisticated.
If these Tibetan light cavalry go to the Central Plains to fight in a head-on confrontation, they will not be able to make Zhu Jin, the "No. 1 Horseman in Henan", smash his record. But their advantages are also very obvious. They can gallop and shoot, are fast, and will
Reconnaissance, being able to alert, and being good at chasing and killing are indispensable components on the battlefield.
It is precisely because of these irreplaceable advantages that the Forbidden Army also retained the light cavalry establishment.
If nothing unexpected happens, the Difficult Army will be positioned as light cavalry wearing leather armor, silver spears, and iron cavalry as medium cavalry, while armored cavalry like the Flying Bear Army will be heavy cavalry.
Combining multiple types of arms into combat and learning from each other's strengths is the iron law of military use.
"Where are you already?" Oritsugu Yu asked.
"General, it's only a day's journey from the big stone bridge." Su Zhi, who acted as the guide, said.
"Aren't there many pine forests on the other side of the river? They stretch as far as the eye can see. This should be the boundary of the flat pine forest, right?" Oritsugu Yu asked.
"General, there are huge pine forests in the plains, and King Xi's tent is at Huangshui Stone Bridge," Su Zhi said.
"You're finally home." Oretsugu smiled, then straightened his face and said, "Lead the way! Today I will sweep along both sides of the Huangshui River."
****
Both sides of the Huangshui Stone Bridge were full of tribal people fleeing in panic.
There are Xi people, there are Khitan people, there are Per people, and there are Uighurs.
They left in such a hurry that they left a lot of supplies behind.
In fact, they were not the first group of people to evacuate. It was just that the herdsmen were scattered in various places, making it difficult to find them, which delayed a lot of time.
Those who left early had already gone downstream to the Huangshui River, while those who left slowly had just received the news. There were even some who took the initiative to move north, away from the Huangshui River, towards the direction of Tatar and Shiwei.
The Khitan people are good at fighting. For so many years, they have never stopped fighting, and they have become extremely tough and experienced. At least they are much tougher than those grassland tribes who have been in peace for a long time. Logically speaking, they are not like this.
But what kind of monsters are the Xia people? It seems that they have spent their whole lives thinking about how to fight and how to kill people, and there is nothing else in their lives.
They have no choice but to use traditional grassland tactics to break out and hide. The Xia people can't search every corner. As long as you run out of sight, who knows where you are hiding?
There are also many people staying near the Dashiqiao, probably more than 5,000 riders, mostly young men of various ethnic groups recruited for the new expedition.
Yelvshene's eyes were red and red.
Like a gambler who lost all his money, he planned to use all his strength to stop the Xia people on this familiar land and buy time for the tribal herdsmen to move.
Yelu Yuwen had already left, and he took people to the Khan Yazhang, the city of Yaonan Khan.
According to Khitan tradition, the Khan wanted to build a city.
Starting from the Qishou Khan City located at the confluence of Tuhuzhen River (Laoha River) and Huangshui (Xilamulun River), the Khitan people have a history of building cities, just like the Uighurs built on the Qibei Grassland
Black City.
In fact, there was an abandoned city near the Huangshui Stone Bridge, which was the Yaonian City in the early years. After the events of Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong, the Xi people seized the traditional Khitan pasture land, and the Yaonian City became their spoils of war. As a last resort, the Khitan people
A larger city was built downstream, also named Yaonan Khan City.
It's all in the past...
Yelvshenechi sighed and turned to look at the newly gathered tribesmen. He used to be full of confidence, but now he has no confidence. This expedition to the southwest barbarians seems to be a big mistake of Abaoji.
He was too careless and underestimated Xia Ren's determination.
But Xieniechi didn't blame him. In fact, he couldn't understand. The Xia people were obviously fighting with the Jin people, so how could they still have time to take care of the Khitans? Are you so free?
"The Xia people are coming!" The scouts rushed back from the west and shouted loudly.
The new episode makes Ding Zhuang restless.
They had never fought against the Xia people before, and although they were nervous, they were not necessarily afraid. They had been conquering the world for many years, and had never suffered any defeats. Although the Xia people looked very powerful, they were not afraid in the fight.
Before, why should we be timid?
"Boom!" Someone turned the horse's head and left quietly. This was someone who had fought against Xia Bing. They knew how powerful they were and didn't want to make unnecessary sacrifices. They missed their wives and children from their own tribe, so they tried to escape.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Yelvshenechi fired several arrows in succession, shooting down several people one after another.
But it was a good thing he didn't do this. This move actually made more people feel scared, triggering a frenzy to flee.
"Liubuxi is just unreliable!" Yeluxie Nechi yelled angrily.
Yes, the Xi people, the Peri people, the Uighurs, the Tatars, the Shiwei people, and the Mohe people are all "Khitan soldiers", but why should the fake Khitan fight for the real Khitan? Go back to your tribe and stay with your family.
, it seems to be a better choice to stay as far away from the ferocious Xia Bing as possible.
A huge plume of smoke has appeared in the west. The arrogant party members and Turkic descendants appeared on the north bank of Huangshui River.
In front of them, a group of herdsmen were running away in panic.
The arrows whizzed past, and the shepherds fell off their horses one after another. The party members burst into laughter, as if they were very proud of the feeling of teasing their prey.
"This is a party from Yinshan. They are not..." Before Yelvshenechi could finish his words, the tribe suddenly burst into an uproar.
The sound of intensive horse hooves also sounded on the south bank of Huangshui River, and endless cavalry appeared in the wilderness.
They were not new to the battlefield, so they could naturally estimate the number of enemy troops: the total number of horses on the north and south sides was more than 10,000.
Looking at our own side, there were originally more than 5,000 cavalry, but a large part of them have just been lost, and there are still about 3,000 left.
"Listen to me, the Xia Army is the most capable of fighting. It is called the 'Iron Cavalry Army'. I heard that the full strength is only ten thousand people. It will kill more than eight thousand people. It has a lot of servants and vassals, but they can't fight..."
Yelvshene shouted at the top of her lungs, and some young men ran away.
Who listens to the nonsense of you, a bad old man? On the grassland, we always fight if we can fight, and leave if we can't. The enemy's strength is several times that of our own, and they are the victorious army. Why should we fight hard? Why don't we let Hende Jinhan Khan's relatives
When the army comes, we won't accompany them.
The collapse is like an infectious disease that cannot be suppressed at all.
Yelvshenechi let out a long sigh and was carried away by others.
Seeing this, the morale of Dang Xiang's Qingqi soared, and they followed up with shouts, showing how brave they were.
The main force in the rear also began to divide its troops and pursue them in different directions. The target was the fleeing tribesmen, cattle and sheep.