In the end, when Xiang Luo and others fled to Rushui, there were only more than 2,000 riders left.
And this was not over yet. When the Chu cavalry were gathering at Ru River to cross the river, they were attacked again by the black armored army.
In fact, Chu Qi no longer needs to be afraid at this time. They only need to dismount and form a shield formation and wait for the friendly forces on the other side to send ships to meet them. The black-armored army will not be unable to attack them at the same time.
However, Chu Qi had been chased by the black-armored army all the way. At this time, he had no intention of fighting. In the panic, many people jumped into the river desperately and escaped.
As a result, the Chu army lost another group of cavalry.
It was not until the Chu army on the other side sent reinforcements by boat that the black-armored army turned around and marched away.
Shen Bing did not participate in the entire battle.
As soon as he came up, he saw piles of trophies in Ruanqiao Town: armor, bronze swords, crossbows, and more than two thousand strong war horses lined up neatly.
While Shen Bing was marveling at the victory, Chen Duan led the black-armored army and brought back more than two thousand war horses, and the war horses also carried bundles of leather armor.
Wei Wei was not interested in war horses. He had been ordered to command the Liang Army at this time. The Liang Army was infantry, and it was of little use if equipped with war horses.
Those leather armors he was interested in.
In fact, leather armor is not cheaper than bronze armor at all, but because it is light, it is more commonly used by cavalry troops. If it can be used by the Liang Army, of course he will not choose it.
So Wei Wei said to Shen Bing:
"Vice general, the black armored army already has rattan armor, not as good as this leather armor..."
Shen Bing replied:
"Go and count them. If there are more than 3,000, they will be distributed to the Liang Army.
"The rest are kept for other purposes and will be distributed to the Liang Army later."
Wei Wei was overjoyed and immediately took his guards to count.
There were more than 4,000 weapons counted, so more than 1,000 weapons were distributed to the Liang Army.
Wei Wei did not hesitate and immediately gave these leather armors to the sword and shield hand.
The sword and shield bearer stands at the front of the team and is in the most dangerous position. Of course, he is also the one who needs leather armor the most.
Xiang Yan on the other side also received the news from Xiang Luo at this time.
He was shocked when he saw the Black Armored Army's tactics and thought to himself:
"This Shen Bing is so amazing. The trained Black Armored Army is not only invincible on the water but also has no rivals as a cavalry army."
"How come there are such benefits to riding and shooting? Why have we never heard of it?"
In fact, the benefits of mounted archery are not a secret in this era, especially for the northern countries such as Qin, Zhao, Yan, etc. They have been fighting against the Huns for a long time, and the Huns used this method of warfare.
Even 28 years later, Liu Bang was defeated by the Huns using this tactic.
But countries in the Central Plains generally did not take this tactic seriously.
The main reason is that the Huns fled as soon as the Central Plains countries sent troops. The countries only thought that they had won, so they did not realize the power of this tactic at all.
This situation lasted throughout the Qin Dynasty. When Liu Bang became emperor, he was still confident that he could defeat the Huns easily, but the result was shocking.
At this time, Shen Bing demonstrated this tactic completely.
So Xiang Yancai exclaimed: Is there such a way to fight?
Xiang Yan didn't take this too seriously at first, because the information he received was that Xiang Luo had lost two battles, and both battles were fought when Xiang Luo's troops only had more than 2,000 men.
Xiang Yan naturally felt that Xiang Luo also had deficiencies in command, otherwise how could more than 2,000 men step forward in batches to fight the enemy.
Thinking about it this way, although the black-armored army's tactics are powerful, if there are more Chu troops, the three thousand black-armored army will not be able to have much effect.
However, Xiang Luo asked the courier to deliver another letter that night:
"Our troops have withdrawn to the east bank of Ru River, and there are less than 2,000 survivors."
"The black-armored army is extremely fierce and must not be faced by cavalry!"
Only then did Xiang Yan realize the seriousness of the situation.
When ten thousand cavalry went out, less than two thousand returned, and it only lasted a day. The only ones facing them were the three thousand black armored troops...
How many casualties did the Black Armored Army suffer?
Xiang Yan had no way of getting it because Xiang Luo didn't mention it in his letter.
However, Xiang Yan then thought about it, if the Black Armored Army used cavalry and archery tactics throughout the whole process and the Chu Cavalry's crossbows were helpless, the Black Armored Army's casualties would probably be very few.
this……
Xiang Yan frowned and looked at the map, secretly thinking that fortunately his cavalry had captured the city and built a defense, so there was no need to fight.
So even if the black-armored army comes, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do.
But then I thought about it and felt something was wrong. How could the cavalry not go to war?
If the cavalry does not go into battle, how is it different from the infantry?
What if the Black Armored Army attacked infantry instead of the city?
Infantry... Infantry can build a shield wall and can retaliate with crossbows. This strategy may not be very effective against infantry.
Of course, this is just Xiang Yan's wishful thinking. In fact, cavalry and archery can be another advantage over infantry as long as the tactics are used properly. The tactics of the Mongolian cavalry prove this.
However, since there are no stirrups at this time, you can only ride and shoot but cannot slash and charge, so the advantage will be much weakened.
Then when Xiang Yan thought about it in detail, she was instantly frightened and broke into a cold sweat...
If the Black Armored Army neither attacks the city nor the infantry, but instead attacks the supply line, it will hit the Chu army's weak point.
Didn’t the Chu army use their cavalry to cut off the supply line of the Mongolian army?
Why can't Heijia counterattack the Chu army's supply line?
When the time comes, the Black Armored Army will face the supply team, so how can they be their opponents?!
At that time, is it better for the Chu Cavalry to reinforce or not to reinforce?
If it were reinforcements, my ten thousand cavalry army might be the second in Xiangluo Department.
If reinforcements are not provided and the food route is cut off, the Chu army will be surrounded by the Heijia Army, the Mengwu Army, and the Liang Army.
Xiang Yan was helpless for a moment and walked around the tent not knowing how to deal with it.
This is a kind of arms advantage.
The reason why there are these arms on the battlefield has its own reasons. They are developed by various countries through the lessons of blood and life on the battlefield.
For example, chariots can attack and defend, and can charge into formations in flat areas.
The Bishi cavalry can quickly maneuver to respond to unexpected battle situations.
Infantry is the best choice for attacking cities and plundering territory.
These arms can be weak, but they cannot be without them.
Because once a certain type of arms is not developed at all, there will be loopholes that cannot be solved during combat and the enemy will take advantage of them.
The Chu army had these arms, so there was no problem originally.
The problem is that once the Black Armored Army appears, the Chu Army's cavalry are no longer "weak", but can almost be ignored and treated as "nothing".
Therefore, the Black Armored Army could do whatever they wanted in the field of cavalry and fully utilize the advantages of the cavalry to suppress the Chu Army.
Then Xiang Yan faced a difficult choice: protect the supply line or send the cavalry up to die?
If it was useful to send the cavalry to die, Xiang Yan might still choose this option.
Because after all, this can solve the crisis in Chu State.
However, what happens after the cavalry dies?
The supply line is still going to be cut off, how can we still fight this battle?
In the end, Xiang Yan could only grit his teeth and ordered: