First, the sun rose from the east. Unknowingly, a ray of sunlight pierced through the cloudy sky like an arrow and shone on the earth. Then, the red sun broke through the clouds.
The sky was bright, and the long night finally ended with the howling of the wolves in the distance.
Tin Aino climbed out of the sleeping bag and stretched. He moved his muscles and began to pack up and wash up.
The ashes from dinner were far away from where she was staying. The bones of the snow chicken were also buried deep in the ashes.
This little girl had a lot of experience surviving in the wild. She knew that even a little bit of oil could attract ants, and ants would attract lizards, and lizards would attract snakes. There were all kinds of poisonous snakes in the West River Grassland. When shepherds grazed, their livestock were often bitten to death by poisonous snakes.
Although Tin Aino sprinkled sulfur powder around the area, he was afraid that there would be some strange poisonous snakes that were not afraid of the smell. It was better to be careful when he was alone.
After brushing his teeth and changing his appearance, Tin Aino took his staff and got back on the horse. Just like Tang Sanzang, he set off on his journey again.
The bonfires in Camel City were extinguished at dawn. People came out of their tents and packed up their luggage. The whole city began to get busy. The sacks and boxes were put back on the oxcart and tied to the back of the camel. The people who prepared breakfast and packed up their luggage were all responsible for their own tasks.
By the time they cleaned up and finished their breakfast, the dew on the grassland had almost been dried by the sun. The huge caravan continued its journey, and the person who was in charge of patrolling last night lay down on the cart and slept soundly.
Everything seemed to be the same as usual. Yang Fan thought that the day would pass peacefully, but when it was almost noon, the patrolling sentries on the right suddenly rushed back at full speed and blew the warning horn from afar. Then came the dull sound of horse hooves. A black line appeared at the end of the grassland and quickly turned into a surging tide.
"Get ready! Get ready! "
'Little Flying General' Zhang Yi shouted excitedly, not caring at all that the ground was shaking from the stomping of the horse's hooves, which sounded like a thunderstorm. This was the sound of galloping horses that could only be produced when countless cavalrymen were galloping in formation.
The Goosako chicken and Big Bear nervously held the sabers under their ribs. The Goosako chicken used a long and narrow saber, while the tall and strong Big Bear used a large machete. The back of the machete was extremely thick and weighed more than 30 kilograms. Not to mention chopping people, it was more than enough to smash people. The hilt of the blade was hollow, and after inserting the wooden handle, it would become a long-handled machete.
The two of them gripped their steel sabers tightly. Just as they were ready to fight, they saw a scene that left them dumbfounded.
'Little Flying General' Zhang Yi's men were also preparing. From the backs of their horses and oxcarts, they took out longbows and crossbows. They were all brand new military bows and crossbows.
As the main long-range weapon, crossbows were equipped with the vast majority of the armies of the Tang dynasty. The rate of equipping bows was 100%, and the rate of equipping crossbows was one-fifth. There had always been powerful nomads around China, but they had never seen heavy cavalry as their main force. This was not a coincidence. The Chinese had invented the powerful crossbow since the Warring States Period. With such powerful bows and crossbows equipped, the heavy cavalry was simply a group of live targets.
However, that was an army after all. This group of people …
The Goosako chicken and Big Bear watched as the crossbows were skillfully strung by those people. There were longbows and horned bows. The longbows were used for infantry, the horned bows were used by cavalry, and the crossbows were light crossbows for one person, such as arm crossbows and horned crossbows.
Seeing this kind of equipment, the Goosako chicken and Big Bear immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Although they were scouts, they were not ignorant of military tactics. There were more than seven hundred people present, and there were about two thousand enemies rolling in from the distance. However, they had already entered the actual control area of the Tubo. The cavalry that suddenly appeared here must be people from the Tubo tribe or horse bandits formed by the Tubo people, and the Tubo people were not good at archery.
Due to the impact of the range, the crossbow could only be fired when the enemy cavalry was within 150 steps. At such a short distance, according to the loading speed of the crossbow, when the enemy cavalry rushed in front of you and entered hand-to-hand combat, you could only shoot three arrows. That was why there was the saying "three arrows at the last moment", but that was only a theoretical saying.
In fact, since the Warring States Period, the Qin and Han Dynasties, the crossbow had played an important role in the battlefield of China. For thousands of years, the generals had long thought of ways to make up for this fatal flaw in actual combat. One was to shoot in batches, and the other was to shoot cross shots from the front, the side, the straight shot, and the projectile shot. There was also the use of terrain and various man-made obstacles to delay the speed of the enemy's approach.
Under such circumstances, only the heavily armed cavalrymen, who were equipped like tin cans, could barely rush to the front under the dense rain of arrows. However, the other side did not only have archers. Kosho Chicken and Big Bear were now watching those people equip themselves with bows and crossbows, then pull out steel spears from the ox carts and quickly assemble them into sharp spears that could stop the cavalrymen.
In this case, although the other party had a large number of people, they could not gain an advantage. If the situation was really unfavorable, as long as they temporarily abandoned the supply and changed to Li Ling's riding and shooting method of guerrilla warfare, the two thousand enemies were not enough at all.
In the past, the Han General Li Ling led five thousand men to fight against the Xiongnu's thirty thousand cavalry. He shot and killed thousands of them, and retreated while fighting. The Xiongnu Chanyu was shocked and mobilized more than eighty thousand cavalry to pursue and kill together. These five thousand men relied on their superior crossbows to fight and retreat at the same time. Every time they fought, they would shoot and kill thousands of the enemy. In the end, when they ran out of arrows, they were defeated and captured.
At this time, the five thousand Han cavalry had been chased by more than a hundred thousand Xiongnu cavalry for more than ten days. They had shot and killed more than ten thousand enemy chieftains. Surprisingly, there were still more than three thousand of them alive and kicking, and only a thousand casualties. After Li Ling was captured, he looked up to the sky and let out a long sigh. He said that he only needed to give each of them a few dozen arrows and they would be able to shake off the pursuit and return to the Han territory.
Judging from the familiarity of these valiant guards who looked like horse bandits with crossbows, they must be men who were skilled in riding and shooting. Against a Tufan cavalry who were not good at riding and shooting, there was nothing to be afraid of.
At this time, those people were getting closer and closer. There were close to two thousand cavalrymen galloping as fast as lightning. From their clothes and the messy weapons they were holding, it was obvious that they were not a regular army. They were either horse bandits or a tribe that wanted to rob a merchant group.
When Shen Mu saw this scene, he frowned and ordered, "Prepare for the cavalry battle!"
This armed force was to escort him, the Hidden Sect's Sovereign. Naturally, he had enough wealth to arm these few hundred men to the teeth. However, these weapons could not be used unless it was the last resort. Because once these weapons were used, the enemy would immediately think that the Tang Dynasty's army had secretly infiltrated.
It was impossible to annihilate this entire cavalry. Once the news spread, it would bring them great trouble. Hence, even if they had sharp weapons in their hands, they could not use them unless it was a matter of life and death.
"Third Brother?"
Zhang Yi carried his saber, circled his horse and ran to him. Shen Mu whispered a few words in his ear, seemingly explaining the pros and cons of this matter to him. Zhang Yi nodded and said, "I understand. They are just a bunch of clay chickens and pottery dogs. Even if we don't use these crossbows, we can still take care of them."
Zhang Yi carried his horse and rushed to the front of the defensive line formed by the camels. He shouted, "Niu Mang, bring your men to protect Third Brother. The rest of the brothers, follow me and charge!"
The incoming cavalry was like a tide and had an overbearing aura. Zhang Yi raised his sharp long saber and howled towards the sky, leading 500 cavalrymen to meet them.
Gao She Chicken and Big Bear looked at Yang Fan eagerly. Before they became scouts, they were brave warriors in the army. When they saw this scene, they wanted to rush up and fight. Yang Fan rode on his horse and glanced at Shen Mu.
Shen Mu laughed, "There is no need to use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken! Erlang, you cannot go! "
Yang Fan smiled. Of course, he knew why Shen Mu did not let him go. In Shen Mu's eyes, his value was not just that of a warrior. Swords and spears had no eyes. Shen Mu was not willing to let any accidents happen to him. He also wanted to see the combat power of Shen Mu's private army. Hence, he only waved his saber at Gao She Chicken and Big Bear and said in a low voice, "Behave yourself. We are here to be scouts."
Gao She Chicken and Big Bear had no choice but to let go of the reins and join the team on guard.
Like a sharp arrowhead, the five hundred men pierced straight into the incoming cavalry. At the same time, a large flag was also raised in the rear. It was a white flag with a black arrow in it. This was the flag of 'Little Flying General' Zhang Yi. This meant that once this battle was discovered by others, it would only be a battle between horse thieves and horse thieves.
"Roar roar roar roar …"
Zhang Yi led the horse thieves and charged into the enemy's formation. In the past few years, his team had wandered all over Longyou, the territories of the Turks and Tubo. They were famous for being difficult to deal with. When the unknown horse thieves saw the flying arrow flag in the rear, they knew that they had made a mistake in 'stepping on the plate' this time. They had mistakenly treated the ancestors of the thieves as fat sheep. But at this time, they could not retreat and could only grit their teeth and charge forward.
"Clang, clang, clang, clang." There was a burst of harsh sounds of weapons clashing. Under the sharp sabers that were like snowflakes and the thunder-like spears, as soon as the two sides clashed, countless people screamed and fell off their horses. Both sides were entangled with each other like a group of angry beasts. People screamed and horses neighed. Blood spurted out. It was a fierce battle.
When Yang Fan was in Nanyang, he had helped his senior to quell a rebellion. But that kind of battle was closer to mountain warfare. Moreover, in those small countries, the number of soldiers that could be mobilized to deal with the rebels was small. This was the first time he had seen such an intense battle on horseback with such a large number of people.
Zhang Yi's men had been roaming around Longyou for the past few years, fighting with soldiers, Tubo, Turks and other horse thieves. The elite troops that had been tempered through blood and fire could really fight one against ten. Each of them charged forward bravely and were unstoppable. Not only were they strong individually, they were also good at teamwork. Three horses in a group, some wielding spears, some wielding sabers. Defense and offense, long and short, long and short, long and short, their teamwork was as ingenious as if they were one person.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! "
Yang Fan was an expert in martial arts. With one look, he could see the ingenuity of the battle. He studied it seriously and was overjoyed.
This kind of joint attack was ingenious and also benefited from long-term teamwork. It was very effective in close combat and often caused the opponent to lose sight of one another and die with one slash. This whole process happened in an instant. Following which, the three of them turned to attack another opponent. As the three of them stood in different positions, the main attack and defence changed at any time.
The other party originally wanted to split their forces to attack Shen Mu and Yang Fan's camp, but when they saw that these five hundred people were so valiant, like a hot knife through butter, and that there were still nearly two hundred people in front of the goods, their leader unconsciously hesitated.
Shen Mu stood in the middle of the formation and saw that the other party's formation was wavering. He clapped his hands and laughed: "Little Flying General is really good. They are going to lose!"
Before he finished speaking, the shaking of the ground suddenly became more obvious. Dust flew up from afar and a black mass of elite cavalry, like a large net, pounced towards them!
Shen Mu's face changed and he shouted: "Prepare the crossbows!"
…
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