Chapter 994 A Critical Moment
The brutal fighting continued at the city gate, the smell of blood was permeating the air, and two soldiers were falling down every moment, especially the Han soldiers, most of whom were temporarily recruited civilians, but with the help of For a moment, they were fighting to the death with bloody bravery. Their bravery could not make up for their lack of combat experience, and they suffered the most heavy casualties.
"Hey!"
The county captain was proficient in martial arts. He swung his sword with great force and cut off the legs of a war horse. The horse naturally screamed and fell to its knees, knocking off the owner on its back.
The Xianbei cavalry was shocked and turned over in a hurry, but the experienced and ruthless county captain was not willing to give him this chance. He rushed forward with an arrow and stabbed the ring head sword hard.
"Well"
The Xianbei cavalry was struck in the vital point with a knife and immediately stopped moving.
Buzz!
The sound of string pulling fell into the ears of the county captain. He frowned and immediately subconsciously raised the Xianbei man in front of him.
Whoosh!
The arrow struck instantly and hit the Xianbei man. The Xianbei man was stabbed by the county captain and was not completely dead at first. However, he was shot by one of his own men and finally stopped moving.
"Hmph, come on!"
The county captain roared angrily, threw the Xianbei man's body out, and fought with his sword. Blood slid down the blade and overflowed from the gaps between his fingers, making it almost impossible for him to hold the handle of the knife. Fortunately, he had tied the handle to his wrist with a piece of cloth in advance.
With the bloody battle, the Han soldiers suffered more and more casualties. Although the Xianbei people suffered a lot of casualties under the Han army's counterattack, it was naturally insignificant compared to tens of thousands of people.
Seeing that he had not been able to capture Qiangyin City for so long, Zuo Nu said angrily: "Trash! If you can't capture the city again, I will kill him and confiscate his wife and children as slaves!"
Naturally, the Xianbei people were still in a slavery society, so they had many vulgar customs. For example, after the death of his father, his son could inherit his stepmother as his wife. The famous talented girl Cai Wenji suffered such a tragic fate after she was kidnapped by the Xiongnu (Cai Yan was the Xiongnu Chanyu). She gave birth to two sons, and the one who later married Cai Yan was not her biological son, but Shanyu's eldest son). The wife and children are regarded as part of the property. If someone is often punished, his wife and children will be used as slaves. The famous Genghis Khan was once treated as a slave for a period of time.
Hearing Suonu's threat, these Xianbei people were naturally very anxious and stepped up their offensive efforts. As the Han army suffered more and more casualties, they finally could no longer hold on.
The Han army's county lieutenant was slashed twice and hit by an arrow, and his strength continued to drain with the blood.
"Oh it's over."
at this time--
"woo woo woo woo!"
The desolate and simple horn horn sound suddenly came from the south. Zonu's expression suddenly changed, while the county captain was overjoyed.
"Coming, coming! Reinforcements are coming!"
Many Han soldiers couldn't help but shed tears. Some of them were dying, some were seriously injured, and some fought to the death. The deadly battle of nearly a thousand Han soldiers was not in vain. Reinforcements came and Qiangyin City was defeated. Saved, my wife, children and fellow villagers are saved!
To the south of Qiangyin City, a black line emerged, and a large banner with Chinese characters fluttered in the wind.
"Change horses!" Zhang Liao shouted.
Liu Ye has obtained the three major horse-producing areas of Youzhou, Liangzhou and Bingzhou. There are naturally an abundant number of war horses in the army. Even some infantry are equipped with war horses in order to speed up their march. As for the Bingzhou Cavalry, as a veteran cavalry unit, the soldiers are naturally one person and two horses. Just marching with one horse in a hurry has consumed a lot of physical strength, so now it is replaced by another horse, which is just used for fighting.
The five thousand Bingzhou cavalry were seen skillfully switching to another war horse, speeding up the war horse, and charging towards the opposite side.
"Kill!"
"Commander, the enemy is coming. What should our army do?"
Zonu couldn't help but snorted and said angrily: "The people who attacked the city withdrew, preparing to use mounted fire to hold back the enemy, and then attack the enemy."
"yes!"
After Suonu gave an order, the Xianbei cavalry who were attacking Qiangyin City withdrew one after another and merged with Suonu's tribe. They had just damaged hundreds of cavalrymen, and there were still more than 9,000 people left, which was two of Zhang Liao's troops. times.
"Walk!"
More than 9,000 Xianbei cavalry roared away to the north. Naturally, Zhang Liao's army rushed forward in hot pursuit and refused to relax.
"Ready--shoot!"
Seeing that the distance between the two armies was close to within fifty steps, Zonu immediately shouted. The Xianbei cavalry, who had been ready for a long time, turned around and loosened the bowstring.
Whoosh whoosh!
Thousands of arrows shot out, and more than a hundred Bingzhou cavalrymen fell off their horses. Fortunately, these people were proficient in cavalry combat and knew how to avoid arrows. Otherwise, this wave of arrows would have resulted in the loss of two to three hundred people.
"Shoot again!" Suo Nu shouted again. The Xianbei cavalry raised their bows and nocked arrows, and another wave of arrows rushed out. The Bingzhou cavalry responded and knocked down more than a hundred people.
This is Zonu's tactic. He first uses cavalry and shooting to weaken the enemy's morale and strength, and then waits until the enemy's army collapses before launching a large-scale attack. This is also commonly known as the kite-flying tactic. This tactic can only be used by nomads, because they have grown up on horses since childhood, and the riding skills they have honed over decades make them confident. Among the Han army, only a few elite cavalrymen such as Baima Yicong knew this tactic.
Before the two armies came into contact, hundreds of people on his side had been injured, and Zhang Liao couldn't help but be furious.
"Personal guards! Come with me and attack the enemy!"
"kill!"
Five hundred bodyguard cavalry followed Zhang Liao, speeding up and charging forward. Originally, the distance between the two armies was only fifty steps, but at this moment, it was rapidly shortened and kept decreasing. Zhang Liao's five hundred cavalry guards were able to break into the Xianbei cavalry formation.
For a long time, many people have had the idea that grassland horses seem to be better than war horses from the Central Plains. Otherwise, why would the grassland aliens be able to repeatedly defeat the Central Plains people? However, this is actually a fallacy. You must know that raising horses is also a science. If you want war horses to gain weight, you cannot just let them eat grass. That is not nutritious enough, and the horses will only lose weight and become malnourished.
If you want to feed real war horses, you have to feed them soybeans, concentrated feed, and even eggs. With sufficient nutrition, the war horses will naturally become fat and strong.
However, prairie horses eat grass every day and lack nutrition, so it is naturally difficult for them to serve as war horses. The reason why the nomadic people have repeatedly won by relying on grassland horses is, first of all, because the base of grassland horses is large enough, with tens of thousands of them grazing. With such a large base, good horses will naturally emerge; secondly, because The nomads usually have two horses per person, or even three horses per person. They often switch horses, so the physical strength of the war horses is naturally reduced.