Deputy Old He's temperament was the most irritable out of all the scouts in Qingzhou. If it wasn't for the many times he drank and messed things up, he would have long been promoted to the position of Lieutenant. Only then could he be considered to have entered the ranks of an official. Otherwise, no matter how valiant and good at fighting, he would not be treated well by the group of civil officials in Qingzhou. Therefore, in this battle, Old He was even more jealous than Jiang Biaozhang and Old Song of the same age. He wished that the warhorse under him could grow four more legs. Although Old He was no longer young, he was still strong with age. His arm strength was still astonishing. That bow was one of the rare 300 jin strong bows in the Qingzhou army. For an ordinary archer, shooting 20 times in a row on the battlefield was already the double limit of their arms and longbow. However, Old He's exaggerated arm strength and that high-quality longbow made by the craftsmen of Old Shu were enough to support Old He to shoot 30 times in a row with plenty of strength.
The Beiliang crossbowmen's voluntary retreat gave the Qingzhou scouts a boost of courage.
Old He clamped his horse's belly and roared, "Kill the enemy!"
The five Beiliang scouts did not appear to be in a hurry. However, no matter how the Qingzhou scouts urged their warhorses to gallop forward, the distance between the two sides always remained about 150 paces, far out of the range of the horse bows.
It was unknown who among the Qingzhou scouts was the first to shout, "Kill the barbarians!" Very quickly, shouts similar to "Kill the Beiliang barbarians!" rose and fell from the horse troop.
The five Liangzhou crossbowmen turned their heads almost at the same time.
Jiang Biaozhang felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
The following scene quickly made this Biaozhang, who had been attacked by mounted archers on the border, feel both worried and relieved. He was worried that this battle would break out at any moment. He was relieved that the enemy, who was already at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength, had sped up and left, leaving behind only four riders to delay their pursuit.
The four Liangzhou crossbowmen began to turn their horses around.
It was a fact that the range of a horse bow was not as long as a foot bow. It was not that the Qingzhou army did not have light crossbows, it was just that there were not many of them. The hinterland of the Central Plains had been peaceful for more than a decade. With the Qing party, who was famous for their unity, controlling the military and politics of Jingan Road, and with Wen Taiyi and the others speaking in court, Jingan Road, especially Qingzhou and Xiangfan City, had always had comfortable days. Outside powers did not enter, and the entire Qingzhou was generally living a comfortable life behind closed doors. For a long time, in Qingzhou, where there were no wars and Qingzhou relied more heavily on naval battle power, the few good crossbows in the military inventory had gradually become the toys of the children of officials. To the Qingzhou cavalry who had come into contact with light crossbows, those things were not bad and were valuable items. However, they were too rare and troublesome to maintain. Furthermore, in terms of range, they were slightly inferior to a horse bow.
When the Qingzhou mounted scouts were about a hundred paces away, they drew their bows. They were shocked to find that the four riders had raised their arms and raised their crossbows at about the same time as them.
In reality, if a horse bow was immediately fired from this distance, the accuracy was already rather difficult. If one wanted to break through the armor and injure the enemy, it would be even more difficult. Unless the arrow hit the face of the enemy, the effect would be very small. Thus, it had always been the military law of the Qingzhou cavalry to only shoot at about 70 paces.
Deputy Lao He, who had the greatest strength among the mounted scouts, became the first powerful figure to shoot an arrow.
Both sides took 85 steps. Lao He, who had drawn his bow like a full moon, shot an arrow with a bang and swiftly pierced through the air. It was a straight line that completely defied common sense. It was enough to show the terrifying strength of this scout.
The Liangzhou crossbowman unconsciously bent his waist and moved his shoulder. The carving feather arrow that had shot through his chest almost brushed past his metal armor.
Lao He, who had been full of confidence, was shocked.
At 80 paces, the four Beiliang riders had not only raised their arms and raised their crossbows, they had already begun to shoot at the enemy riders.
With a muffled pu sound, a Qingzhou mounted scout who had been preparing his bow suddenly fell backwards. A crossbow arrow nailed into his forehead, piercing through his skull.
A young mounted scout who had hurriedly released a soft arrow because he was too nervous only saw a grain-sized black dot suddenly appear before his eyes. In the next moment, his throat was pierced. He threw away his horse bow, his hands covering his neck as he fell off the back of his horse.
Deputy Jiang tilted his head slightly. A Beiliang arrow drew a line of blood on his cheek. However, the hands of this well-known member of the Qingzhou cavalry didn't tremble in the slightest. Peng!
Even though a Beiliang barbarian in the distance made a dodging stance, his entire shoulder was still pierced through the armor and into the flesh.
Deputy Old Song of Qingzhou not only dodged the crossbow arrow, the first arrow's accuracy was also extremely accurate. It was just that the Beiliang rider facing him had bent over his horse's back, barely dodging it.
Regardless of whether it was the Liangzhou crossbowman with the arrow in his shoulder, the rider who had bent over to dodge the arrow, or the two riders who had already killed someone, when the three leaders of the Qingzhou mounted scouts fired their second arrow, the other Qingzhou riders had already nocked their arrows and pulled back their bows. Their crossbow arrows had already been shot out.
None of these four riders continued to target Deputy Jiang Biaozhang. As a result, four Qingzhou riders responded and fell off their horses. Without exception, they all fell from their faces and throats, enough to take their lives.
However, most of the Qingzhou mounted scouts had already lost their heads out of fear. Not only did their accuracy greatly decrease, the opposing Beiliang barbarians were clearly extremely adept at dodging. As a result, apart from the master archer Lao He who succeeded in shooting a Liangzhou scout off his horse, even Deputy Old Song and Deputy Old Song's two arrows didn't succeed in killing the enemy.
Deputy Jiang Biaozhang's arrow could be said to be exquisite. Not only did he not deliberately seek to kill with one shot, he even gave up on shooting at the person and directly chose to shoot at the warhorse's head. However, that Beiliang barbarian who looked like a sergeant had astonishing horsemanship skills. He only pulled the reins slightly, and the Liangzhou warhorse, which had a telepathic connection with its master, turned its head. As a result, that arrow only shaved off a large piece of flesh from the sergeant's thigh, temporarily reducing his combat strength.
Deputy Jiang Biaozhang already had no time to worry about being frightened by the enemy cavalry's combat strength. He roared angrily, "Steady! If you don't have the confidence, then shoot the horse! "
He knew that after entering the fortieth step, it was destined to be his side's most powerful and last arrow.
Not only did the three Beiliang cavalrymen remain on their horses, but even the rider who fell off his horse and rolled on the ground to reduce the momentum also followed closely behind his three comrades. He shot the third arrow while kneeling on one knee.
Deputy Old Song's eyes were red with killing intent. His arm muscles bulged as he pulled the bowstring with all his might and shouted, "Die, barbarians!"
However, a scene that made all the Qingzhou scouts feel awkward and suffocated happened. Except for the injured Northern Liang barbarian who fell off his horse, after the other three crossbow-wielding cavalrymen shot the arrows, the horses tacitly changed their charging routes without any action from their masters. The seemingly negligible line was the difference between life and death.
This scene taught Deputy Jiang Biaozhang two things.
What was an old soldier at the border? What was a big horse of Liangzhou?
All the Qingzhou mounted scouts who had already lowered their bows didn't have time to think. They subconsciously shouted the word "kill" in unison, drew their sabers, and spurred their horses forward.
The Liangzhou mounted scouts, who had an extra round of arrows than the Qingzhou mounted archers, also began to silently draw their sabers and continue to charge forward.
Three cavalrymen against forty-one cavalrymen. The disparity in numbers was too great. One side roared with all their might while the other was abnormally silent.
Deputy Old Song and Deputy Jiang Biaozhang were practically working together, but they still couldn't completely stop that Beiliang corporal. It wasn't that the corporal's martial arts were better than the two of them. In reality, if it was a one-on-one fight, any one of the Qingzhou mounted scouts would have a higher chance of victory. This was especially true in a dismounted battle, where Deputy Jiang Biaozhang was more certain of victory. However, when the two of them expected both sides' horses to reach their limits, the Liangzhou warhorse suddenly accelerated again, displaying a tremendous explosive force that made the Qingzhou cavalry feel terrified and unfamiliar. It was precisely this explosive force that not only allowed that Beiliang corporal to dodge two sabers, he only had a bloody wound on his back from the Qingzhou mounted scout. However, he was still able to continue forward and break through the Qingzhou cavalry's formation. He directly and cleanly extended his arm and chopped off a Qingzhou mounted soldier's head high into the air.
The 'two armies' brushed past each other.
Of the three cavalrymen, only that corporal managed to break out of the formation. One man and one horse, he slowed down, silently and alone turning his horse around, preparing for the next charge.
After each of the two cavalrymen killed three cavalrymen, they had already died in battle.
Meanwhile, that wounded Beiliang soldier who fell off his horse first, even before he died, he still fought on foot and on horseback. He killed a cavalryman with an arrow, killed another with a saber strike, and then was viciously rammed into his chest by a Qingzhou warhorse, collapsing into a pool of blood.
Deputy Jiang Biaozhang, who had almost ground his teeth to pieces, turned his head to look at the last remaining Beiliang cavalryman, and then shot a glance at the half-dead cavalryman a dozen or so steps in front of the group.
Beiliang barbarians used three cavalrymen to exchange for fifteen cavalrymen under this elder's command. A total of fifteen cavalrymen!
This extremely resentful Qingzhou mounted scout drew his bow again, the arrow aimed at that wounded Beiliang soldier who was already lying in a pool of blood.
It had only been a dozen or so steps.
An arrow shot into that cavalryman's head.
On the ground, only the eagle's feathers could be seen trembling.
The Central Plains didn't only have scholars cursing Beiliang.
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