Of course Shen Bing did not use these two thousand men to fight against the Huns' 40,000 men.
On the battlefield, whether it is cavalry or infantry combat, it is very taboo to be surrounded by the enemy.
Because once surrounded, no matter how many troops there are, they cannot spread out and huddle together in the middle, especially the cavalry... If the cavalry is squeezed in the middle and loses its speed advantage, it will basically have to wait for death.
The Xiongnu's formation obviously wanted to surround the Qin army.
This is the advantage of having more troops... Once you have more troops, you can divide it into several parts, and each part can stand alone without being eaten up by the enemy.
For example, the Huns faced by Pu Lei's army at this time: ten thousand on the left, ten thousand on the right, and another 20,000 in the middle.
Pu Lei's army only has more than 18,000 people. It is not easy to kill any Xiongnu army.
Therefore, if you want to fight head-on, it is almost inevitable to be surrounded by the Huns.
However, Pu Lei's army had its own way of breaking the siege, and the two thousand cavalry were sent by Shen Bing to break the siege.
It is impossible for two thousand cavalry to fight and be surrounded by the Huns.
The reason is that the two thousand cavalry troops are too small. It is not cost-effective for the Xiongnu to surround them, but they will also be attacked by the main force of the Qin army.
Therefore, these two thousand cavalry troops met the main force of 20,000 Xiongnu in front of them very smoothly.
When the Xiongnu cavalry were far away, they fired arrows at the two thousand Qin cavalry, but these Qin cavalry came well prepared. They held wooden shields tilted upward to protect their vital points, and the arrows were nailed hard on the wooden shields.
The Huns cavalrymen drew their scimitars and prepared to fight.
According to their thinking, these two thousand Qin troops were just looking for death.
Although Qin Qi can free his hands because of the stirrups, two thousand against twenty thousand... even a group of horses can crush him.
However, Qin Qi did not intend to directly confront him. Instead, he slashed his machete in front of the saddle. Dozens of "thunderbolt fireballs" hanging on both sides of the saddle fell down and landed in front of the formation. After that, Qin Qi pulled the horse. He changed his head and held up his shield and came out from the flank, leaving only piles of "thunderbolt fireballs" in front of the formation, and the fuse was still "smoking".
These two thousand cavalry were not there to fight, but to lay "mines".
If there is anything that can stop the overwhelming momentum of the Hun cavalry, Shen Bing believes that nothing can compare with the "Thunderbolt Fireball".
Gun array?
Too passive and only works on infantry.
Trebuchet?
It is difficult to make and difficult to maneuver.
artillery?
The cost is high, the weight is heavy, and the rate of fire is slow and the reaction is slow. The advantage is not obvious in the face of the lightning-fast cavalry.
There is only "Thunderbolt Fireball", especially the "Thunderbolt Fireball" that uses an improved gunpowder formula...
After the gunpowder formula has been improved, its power is not much different from that of modern black powder.
If there is any difference, it is that it needs further purification.
However, there are no such high requirements at this time. After all, the powerful gunpowder is enough to deal with the cavalry.
What Shen Bing did was just make some improvements to the "Thunderbolt Fireball"... Because the gunpowder was very powerful, he reduced the charge and reduced the size, but the power was even worse than before.
Its small size and light weight made it easy for the cavalry to carry and throw them, so the Pu Lei army equipped them with a large number of weapons.
Shen Bing even organized a "Fireball Cavalry" of five thousand people.
This cavalry was only equipped with swords and shields without arrows (in order to reduce weight). Ten "Thunderbolt Fireballs" were hung on both sides of the saddle, and five more were hung behind the saddle on the right side.
In addition, there is a specially designed hole in front of the saddle for inserting a match rope.
Before the war, these cavalrymen could light a fire at any time simply by inserting a match rope into this hole.
The "thunderbolt fireball" in front of the saddle has a long fuse and no wooden handle. Before using it, you only need to light the fuse and cut the hemp rope fixed to the saddle. These "thunderbolt fireballs" will fall where the horse passes. Become a "landmine".
Each horse carried twenty such "thunderbolt fireballs", and Shen Bing dispatched two thousand horses at a time.
In other words, at that moment, 40,000 "Thunderbolt Fireballs" were thrown in bundles on the way of the Huns' cavalry charge... If this were fired by artillery, I am afraid that it would not be able to fire so many shells in a day. .
The Huns were also equipped with the "Thunderbolt Fireball", so of course they knew what it was, so the formation was in chaos immediately.
The problem was that the 20,000 cavalry were unable to stop and difficult to turn when charging at high speed. What's more, the Qin army's 2,000 cavalry spread out in the front. The "mines" were so close and wide that even if they turned, they could not avoid them in time.
So all the Hun cavalry in the front row could do was to shout a warning to the rear, and then rush into this minefield composed of "thunderbolt fireballs".
Then there was a burst of "boom", and the power of 40,000 "thunderbolt fireballs" exploding one after another was indeed extraordinary. The Huns cavalry was enveloped in the smoke of the explosion for a moment, followed by the screams of people on their backs and horses. Everlasting.
Those who were killed and injured by the bombing, those who were thrown off by frightened horses, and those who stumbled when they stepped on horses and corpses...the number of casualties was countless.
At the same time, the two thousand Qin cavalry did not let go of the Huns after bypassing them. They kept lighting "thunderbolt fireballs" from their sides and then threw them into the Huns' cavalry formation. If they finished throwing them, they would kill them with swords and shields. Enemy troops escaping from the formation.
Princess Wuyou, who was watching this scene from the other side, couldn't help but be secretly shocked:
Fortunately, Kucha did not become an enemy of the Qin army.
My father even looked down on the Qin cavalry before, but he didn't expect that the Qin cavalry with horse gear and the "Thunderbolt Fireball" could have such terrifying combat power. Only two thousand cavalry could defeat 20,000 Xiongnu. The cavalry was defeated and the army was in chaos.
And there are only 20,000 people in the whole country of Qiuci. If there is a fight...
King Youxian of the Xiongnu was following closely with 10,000 reserve troops. He originally thought that the Xiongnu could easily repel the 2,000 Qin troops, but he did not expect this to be the result.
At the same time, I thought to myself: The Xiongnu also had "shaking thunder", but why didn't they know how to use it on the battlefield like the Qin army?
It's no wonder that the Xiongnu couldn't use "shaking thunder" to blast the Qin army like the Qin army.
This is partly because the Huns did not have horse gear.
Without harness, especially stirrups, you cannot free your hands. Without freeing your hands, you cannot hold a shield with one hand and throw "thunderbolt fireballs" like the Qin army.
On the other hand, it was because the Huns did not have match ropes.
At this time, the Xiongnu were still in the age of making fire by drilling wood. They could not have fire sticks or match ropes like the Qin army. They had fire at any time and could light "thunderbolt fireballs" on horseback.
Of course Shen Bing didn't know what others were thinking, he only knew that the time was ripe for attack.
So with a wave of his hand, the already prepared army shouted loudly and charged towards the main force of the Huns.
And the Qin army... to be precise, the Pu Lei army, the entire army did not use bows and arrows, but charged at the enemy with a shield in one hand and a scimitar in the other.