Chapter Thirty-One: Han Gou's First Battle

  "Zhao Wu Xu 2014", must appear every day, thank you! "Can't bear to part with 0" unexpectedly parted with it, thanks!

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  The two hundred Han cavalrymen, who had been waiting for the opportunity to strike, galloped forward with their bows drawn and arrows nocked. Twang! Twang! Twang! The arrows rained down like a storm.

  The Wuhuan people had already received the order to take action, but the 500 Wuhuan cavalry had already imagined a scene: the two brave warriors of the Wang camp, Hei Lian brothers, captured the Han Gou department commander alive and retreated slowly. The Han Gou department cavalry would definitely be in chaos and rush to grab them. At this time, the 500 elite cavalry of our department immediately intercepted, firing arrows together, severely damaging the enemy. Next was the time to drive away the Han sheep.

  But the scene before their eyes was completely different from what they had imagined: the Black Wind brothers, who were supposed to be like inserting a flag and selling their heads, were instantly killed by the unremarkable Han Gou tribe leader; their Left Hou lieutenant fled in disarray; the Han Gou cavalry not only didn't become chaotic, but instead charged forward like a swarm of bees, within forty or fifty steps, with arrows raining down.

  The Wu general was too confident in his own overwhelming strength and overestimated himself, thinking that as soon as the two armies clashed, he would easily capture the enemy. As a result, he lost the initiative and suffered a crushing defeat.

  When Publius fled, his more than 20 cavalry guards had rushed out to rescue him. When Ma Yuan killed the two Hu brothers and was about to pursue and kill Publius, the Wuhuan guards galloped forward with their bows drawn, shooting at Ma Yuan together.

  Ma Xun had no choice but to give up the pursuit and use Hei Yan's corpse as a shield, retreating quickly. Hei Yan's body was at least one circle larger than Ma Xun's, making him a suitable meat shield. The sound of arrows piercing flesh did not cease, blood and flesh splattering everywhere, and in the blink of an eye, his body was filled with arrows, like a straw man on a shooting range.

  The Wuhuan guards were about to pursue when a large number of Han cavalrymen rushed in. The Wuhuan guards hastily reined in their horses, hurriedly helped Pofu onto his horse, turned around and whipped them into a frantic retreat.

  Just then, a rain of arrows arrived.

  The first to suffer a fatal blow was the Pufu Lu Hu Guard Cavalry, which was closest in distance. More than 20 riders were shot and became hedgehogs, with men and horses covered in blood, and cries of sorrow filled the air. The Wulan cavalry, who were charging forward, also fell in large numbers, with dozens of people falling to the ground, causing the cavalry to become chaotic.

  Ma Huan threw away the meat shield in his hand, leaped onto the white horse, whipped it and shouted: "Withdraw!"

  The horn sounded, and 200 Han cavalrymen, with a rare neatness, simultaneously drew their bows, reined in their horses, and galloped away. The archery skills of the Han cavalry may still be somewhat inferior to those of the Wuhuan people, but in terms of organization and discipline, the Han people are naturally superior to the barbarians, and this is especially evident in the trained Han cavalry.

  It wasn't until then that the Umaru people came to their senses, and in the thunderous roar of Pufahl's narrow escape from death, a hundred riders stirred, furiously chasing after him.

  On this undulating hillside, with dense wild grass covering the plain, two cavalry units, one in front of the other, engaged in a frantic pursuit.

  Yan Rou and his thirty cavalrymen, at the beginning of the conflict, wisely whipped their horses to retreat a few miles away, in order to avoid being drawn into it and suffering the same fate as the fish in the pond. At this moment, more than thirty cavalrymen were leaning on their horses on a high ridge, watching the pursuit battle between the two cavalry forces.

  One of the attendants whispered to Yan Rou: "In your opinion, Mr. Yi, what are the chances of the Wuman people winning?"

  Yan Rou pondered for a moment, raised three fingers: "Three to seven ratio, Han Gou's division occupies three, Wuhuan people occupy seven. Now it seems that the Wuhuan people have used some time... hmm, the Wuhuan people have divided their troops."

  After a fierce chase, the Wuhuan people saw that the Han cavalry's riding skills were not weak and their horses were full of energy. If they continued to pursue like this, they would not be able to catch up before the enemy's horse power was exhausted. Therefore, more than 450 riders (already dozens had been shot and killed, less than 500) divided into two groups: one group continued to drive forward, while the other group went around to the flank, preparing to encircle from both front and back.

  Ma Chao's cavalry started early and opened up a great distance with the Wuhuan troops. Even the last row of Ma Chao's cavalry was more than 80 steps away from the front row of the Wuhuan cavalry, exceeding the normal shooting range by more than 20 steps. Except for a small number of Wuhuan cavalrymen who were confident in their own strength and fired randomly, most of the Wuhuan cavalry could only follow with their heads down, unable to do anything else.

  Similarly, the Huns' mounted archers could not use their signature "Parthian shot" because both sides had similar bow strength and range. If you could hit your opponent, they could also hit you. Mounted archers were the nemesis of infantry and heavy cavalry, and had an advantage over light cavalry, but when facing other mounted archers, they lost their advantage.

  However, Ma Xian had already thought of this point. After all, when he established the Han Gou cavalry, his hypothetical enemy was the Hu cavalry, and most of the Hu cavalry were archers on horseback. When facing off against archers on horseback, there are only two ways to win: one is to have more advanced weapons and equipment, and the other is to make use of the terrain.

  "It's almost here, pass the order down, everyone get ready." Ma Xun originally led the way on horseback, but now slowed down his horse, took off the bow from the saddle and turned to instruct Wu Zhui who was following closely.

  Wu chased after the loud response, pulled out a small red flag from behind his back, and waved it. Immediately, the team leaders and squad leaders of each team all pulled out their flags and shook them in response, while loudly reminding the knights on both sides to prepare. In just the time it took to drink a cup of horse milk tea, all the Han cavalry had already strung their bows and were ready to fire.

  Actually, using horn signals was the most convenient way to convey commands, but in order to avoid alerting the Wuhuan people, they used relatively slow flag signals instead.

  Rumble!

  Iron hooves trembled, two hundred Han cavalrymen rolled up a fierce gust of wind, charging up a low hill. When the last rider disappeared for a moment, the Wuhuan cavalry surged forward like a tidal wave - the attack came suddenly at this moment.

  Hiss... Hiss... Hiss...

  Arrows flew like locusts, whistling shrilly like wailing, arrows entered with blood splashing, people and horses overturned.

  The Wū Rán people are furious, if they were too careless before and suffered a small loss, it's not anyone's fault. Now they have made sufficient preparations, those who splashed the blood of the Wū Rán warriors will be avenged tenfold.

  Just as the Wuhuan people were about to return the hospitality of the Han cavalry with a fierce arrow rain, the scene in front of them left all the Wuhuan people stunned.

  Yellow dust, the sky is filled with yellow dust, like smoke and fog, within ten steps, it's hard to distinguish between friend and foe. Looking down from a low hill, one can vaguely see horse shadows in the smoke and dust, only to disappear instantly like an illusion. How hateful! Not even able to see the shadow of the enemy, how can we fight?

  Pu Fulu was so angry that he almost bit his steel teeth to pieces. These Han cavalrymen were too cunning, they charged into a sandy area, stirring up clouds of yellow dust, and hid their figures in the smoke and dust before launching a surprise attack. People inside the smoke and dust could shoot at clear targets outside without any hindrance, but people outside couldn't see clearly inside the smoke and dust, let alone counterattack.

  "Draw your bows and pull out your swords, charge in and cut down these detestable Han slaves!" Pufulu roared as he was the first to draw his long sword, leaping off his horse and charging down the hill, with a series of clashing sounds of knives and axes ringing out behind him.

  But when the Wuhuan people rushed into the yellow fog and dust, the Han Goguryeo cavalry had already escaped far away, leaving behind only the angry curses of the Wuhuan people. However, soon the Wuhuan people's angry roars turned into excited shouts. Far away, another group of Wuhuan cavalry was rapidly approaching, intercepting the path of the Han Goguryeo cavalry.

  Ma Wan led a whole cavalry regiment to make a huge detour before the Wuhuan cavalry intercepted, and rushed towards a hundred-meter-high mountain ridge on the right side.

  Pu Fu Lu saw from afar, overjoyed and ecstatic, pointing with his spear at the long dragon-like formation of Han cavalry: "The enemy is exhausted, with no way to escape! Our whole army will press forward, annihilate all the Han slaves!"

  The loud shout of Wu Wan's men shook the sky and was heard from afar by Yan Rou and his party.

  Yan Rou's face was filled with regret, and she sighed repeatedly: "This Han cavalry is truly not lazy, and they actually managed to heavily defeat the Wuhuan people with almost no losses on their own side, killing nearly a hundred enemies. It's really hard to believe that just two months ago, they were still just a group of slaves... Unfortunately, they have walked onto a dead-end path."

  The attendants behind Yan Rou murmured: "Master said it's absolutely right, that small hill is not high, but it's full of rocks and stones all over the place, their horses are done for..."

  Another rider on horseback said: "The Wuman people's horses are also finished."

  Xiaozhi Mountain is a rocky mountain with gentle slopes, where horses can climb up, but the road is full of gravel which severely damages horse hooves. The Wuhuan people are well aware of this, so when they see Han cavalry charging up the mountain, they can't help but be overjoyed and wait for a moment to watch the joke.

  It was strange that the scene where the Wuhuan people expected the Han cavalry to fall off their horses due to hoof cracks did not appear, except for a few horses whose hooves were broken when they stepped on the rocks. Everything was fine until the Han cavalry rushed to the middle of the mountain and stopped to shoot arrows, shooting down more than ten Wuhuan cavalrymen in a row. The Wuhuan people only woke up from their shock and anger and counterattacked. At this time, the Wuhuan people discovered another sad reality: with the same bows and arrows, the enemy was at a higher position, and the range could be extended to 70 or 80 steps, while they were attacking upwards and couldn't even reach 60 steps. Because the opponent had the advantage of the terrain, it unknowingly increased the power of their weapons.

  The only way is to charge forward, get close and shoot. But what's giving Pferflug a headache is that they can't launch an infantry attack on foot, they have to charge on horseback, otherwise the enemy will just switch from bows to swords, make a swift cavalry charge, and the cavalry will slaughter the infantry like withering grass.

  But such a rugged mountain path, if war horses tread on it, their hooves will surely be ruined. These are all good horses from the tribe...

  Pu Wulu was heartbroken again, and he knew that the current situation was most important to defeat the enemy, and the loss of horses was no longer a consideration. Hmm, the cavalry's hooves can't last long, when everyone fights on foot, Wuwan people are more numerous, and the chances of winning are still very high.

  Under Puy?l's strict orders, the Wūmàn people also began to ride horses up the mountain like Han cavalry.

  This scene was seen by Yan Rou from afar, which is why he said "The Wuman's horse is also finished".

  The Wuhuan cavalry's horses were done for. The previous long pursuit, especially on the sandy terrain, had caused severe wear and tear on the hooves. At least a dozen Wuhuan riders had already withdrawn from the chase due to their warhorses' cracked hooves. Now, forcing the warhorses to climb the rugged mountain, with sharp rocks everywhere, was bound to lead to more casualties. Even if the Wuhuan people were extremely careful, they couldn't avoid the severe wear and tear on the horses' hooves from being pierced and cut by the hard, sharp rocks. From time to time, warhorses would tremble all over, suddenly kneel down, and the mountain path was covered with bloody hoof prints, a shocking sight.

  Every grassland rider is a lover of horses, especially their own mounts, which they regard as companions. Watching their beloved companions being exhausted to death, the Wuhuan cavalry could not help but wail in grief, disregarding General Pufulu's strict orders, and dismounted one after another, advancing on foot while shooting arrows.

  The Han cavalry retreated to the top of the mountain, retreating and shooting, always keeping a distance of more than 60 steps from the Wuhuan people. Occasionally, several Han cavalry were shot down by the strong archers of the Wuhuan people, but more fell on the side of the Wuhuan people.

  This scene was seen by Pufleur, who was even more shocked. The Hango cavalry could actually turn their horses and shoot arrows on the sloping mountain slope, how did they do it?