Chapter Seventy: Wolf Fang Flying Cavalry

  Spring arrives, and the earth comes back to life. The spring in western Liaoning is later than that in central China, but it will come eventually. In March, the wind is still cold and sharp, but for the White Wolf Cavalry who just walked out of the severe winter in northern Shaanxi, this chill doesn't count as anything. They are now training with great enthusiasm.

  Under the leadership of Ma Xiu, Taishi Ci, Tian Yu, Tang Nu and Wu Zhu, with 400 White Wolf cavalry as the backbone, old and new soldiers were trained together. A total of 1,500 new recruits (100 casualties during the attack on Wencheng, with a total force of less than 2,000). Ma Xiu, Tang Nu, and Wu Zhu were all very experienced cavalry training officers, mainly responsible for cavalry training, while Taishi Ci and Tian Yu had a good understanding of the basic training of Han Dynasty's cavalry and infantry, and were in charge of infantry training.

  After a winter, although most of the time was spent hibernating, with little training time, it has also seen some results, at least looking like an army.

  These four hundred elite White Wolf cavalrymen were the earliest followers of Ma Xian, mostly consisting of Han slaves, with a small number of non-Han people, but regardless of their ethnicity, they all had absolute admiration and loyalty for Ma Xian. Among them, nearly half were low-ranking officers in the White Wolf camp, leading new recruits from Liaodong to train, while also passing on this admiration and loyalty to the entire army.

  At the foot of Mount Bai Lang, 200 elite White Wolf cavalrymen and skilled archers were testing a new type of weapon - a new-style pulley bow.

  Meng Yuan and Ma Jun, along with more than 20 craftsmen, spent almost four months of time, expending a great deal of effort, discarding countless defective products, and finally produced over 200 sets of qualified eccentric wheels, all made of bronze (resistant to rust), purely handmade, as if each one was an exquisite work of art. Ma Huan also knew that this was too slow. But the craftsmanship efficiency of this era was just like this, he was only a small city guard. He didn't have enough financial resources or manpower to change and improve it.

  The difficulty of the pulley bow lies in this eccentric wheel, and other bows have no major problems. After matching with the eccentric wheel, it can save three to four tenths of labor, that is to say, if you could only open a two-stone bow before, now you can open a three-stone bow. The first batch of 200 pulley bows were all three-stone bows, so strong archers had to be selected to use them.

  The Xianbei and Wuhuan peoples were skilled archers who typically used a bow with a strength of one or two dan (a unit of measurement) or five dou (another unit of measurement), equivalent to 90-120 jin (a unit of weight) of bow force. However, most non-Han Chinese people made their own bows and had limited ability, so they mostly used single bows with average range. Those who were qualified to use professionally-made strong bows were usually the elite cavalrymen, and the bow strength used by these elite cavalrymen was typically no more than two dan. Of course, there were occasionally a few exceptionally powerful individuals who could use bows of two dan five dou or even three dan, but such skilled archers had already been promoted to high-ranking officers such as bai ren zhang (commander of 100 men) or qian ren zhang (commander of 1,000 men). Nobody would still be a lowly soldier.

  Thus, once the White Wolf's fierce cavalry is fully equipped with a three-stone bow that can be drawn open with just 100 jin of force, it will absolutely possess crushing combat power and be invincible in mounted archery battles. Only then can Mangudai's tactics truly come into play.

  At this moment, Ma Xun, Taishi Ci, Tian Yu, Tang Nu, and Wu Zhui, the high-ranking military and political officials of White Wolf Castle, were standing on a small hill. With a slightly tense mood, they looked at 200 White Wolf elite cavalrymen holding crossbows and 500 White Wolf camp cavalrymen engaging in a combat exercise 100 paces away.

  The Red Team has the White Wolf Ferocious Cavalry. The Blue Team has the White Wolf Camp Cavalry. Both teams are almost identically equipped, with the same horsepower. Saddles, stirrups, and horseshoes are all present, and their armor is the same, using only blunt-tipped blood bubble arrows. These so-called blunt-tipped blood bubble arrows have had their iron tips removed, and instead have an arrowhead wrapped in a tightly tied sheep intestine blood bag. The sheep intestine is blown up like a balloon, its walls thin to the point of being almost transparent, containing a small amount of sheep's blood inside. As long as the arrowhead hits the body or warhorse, under the impact force of the arrow, the sheep intestine blood bag will burst open, leaving behind an obvious blood stain on the spot where it was hit. Those who are "hit" are considered to have been shot, and the location of the injury is judged to be more or less severe. Anyone who has been shot in the torso must exit the exercise. On both sides of the battlefield, there are dozens of cavalrymen holding red flags, responsible for judging.

  However, both sides also have advantages that the other does not possess: The Blue side has a strong military force, with 500 cavalry including 200 elite White Wolf cavalry and 300 skilled new recruits. The Red side has an advantage in terms of weapons, as they are all equipped with crossbows, and their arrows are more numerous than those of their opponents. This is a battle between new weapons and strong military forces, and it remains to be seen whether the combination of new weapons and tactics can offset the advantage of numbers, allowing the smaller side to win against the larger one, and the weaker side to triumph over the stronger one.

  Ma Huan nodded to the flag commander, who was carrying a cowhide flag bag on his back with various small flags inserted. After receiving the order, he immediately pulled out a triangular red flag and sent out several simple flag signals towards the mountain below. The responding flagman at the foot of the hill waved a triangular yellow flag in response, while the drummer blew the horn.

  Wooooo... Wooooo...

  On the vast land, a desolate horn sounds, seven hundred troops in formation, one man with two horses, thousands of warhorses' iron hooves shaking, as if thunder from the sky bursts out from under the ground.

  The distance between the red and blue armies is one arrow's length, which is the standard distance for the two armies to confront each other. The Red Army moves first, while the Blue Army splits into two routes to pursue, simulating a real battlefield scenario where they are surrounded and pursued by the enemy's superior forces.

  Both sides have roughly the same horsepower, and their riding skills are also similar - at least for the White Wolf Cavalry, it's hard to distinguish between them. The slightly inferior new cavalry may be lagging behind, but pursuit is always a matter of front and back, so it's not a big problem. Both sides also have spare horses, if they chase each other like this, before their strength is exhausted, they may not necessarily catch up. In this situation, the advantage of troop strength can be seen. The 500 wolf riders divide into two teams, one team chasing directly and the other team circling around, after three rounds, a tail-chasing and a side-attacking formation will be formed, putting the Blue Army in a favorable position with the enemy on both sides.

  The Red Army commander was Wu Zui. As soon as he saw the Blue Army divide its troops, he immediately ordered the bugle to sound the counterattack. Two hundred bows were raised at once, and in the rapid gallop, they turned their bodies to point at the pursuing enemy a hundred steps behind them.

  The San Shi bow, with a five-liang heavy iron arrowhead flying arrow, can be shot downwind and can cause armor-piercing damage to targets over 100 steps away. Compared to ordinary cavalry, which needs to be within 50-60 steps to launch an attack, it's simply cheating.

  The commander of the Blue Team was Tang Nu, who had always been skeptical of this strange bow with iron rings and three thin strings. Wu Zui only let him take a look at the shape of the strange bow, then said: "Wait for me to wash my horse's saddle."

  The exercise hasn't even started yet, and I've already lost! Tang Nu was so angry that he was about to explode, holding back his anger but still wanting to make Wu chase after him to wipe his horse's butt.

  Tanu's troops were divided into two routes to intercept, and he was still feeling pleased with himself. However, when he saw the 200 White Wolf cavalry led by Wu Zhui raise their bows at a distance of 100 paces, he suddenly became stunned... What's going on? Raising their bows at 100 paces, what is this kid trying to do? Could it be that they want to snipe the enemy from 100 paces? If so, then why bother fighting, just admit defeat directly.

  The next moment, Tang Nu was stunned.

  Tight tight tight tight——

  The strings vibrated densely, and a rain of arrows filled the sky. When they were close to my eyes, those red, shiny blood bubbles looked like a devil's bloody pupils...

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Blood flowers burst open one after another. People cried out, horses whinnied, and smoke billowed everywhere. Some people even fell off their horses.

  Arrow, no arrowhead. Body, protective gear. But the strong impact force still causes not small damage to humans and horses. Some arrows still pierce through the horse's body, some arrows hit the weak parts of the human body, such as hands, feet, head and face, these areas wrapped with not too thick protective gear, under pain and dizziness, fell off the horse.

  Tang Nu was hit by two arrows, one on his arm and the other on his helmet. According to the rules of the exercise, this was considered a minor injury, and he could continue fighting. Tang Nu was no longer dizzy. He was just extremely shocked. Shooting while retreating on horseback at a distance of 100 paces, he could also do it, among the 400 fierce riders of the White Wolf tribe. At least 100 people could do it, provided they used a two-stone bow. It was not a big problem to shoot and kill unarmored cavalrymen from outside 100 paces. They could also break through single-layer leather armor, but after breaking through the armor, the arrow would not penetrate deeply into the flesh, unless it hit a vital spot, otherwise most people would be injured but not killed.

  As for the impact and pain from the arrow on his arm, this arrow's force was absolutely not just two stones. If it were equipped with an iron arrowhead, it could definitely pierce through his arm. Looking at the soldiers next to him who had been shot down by arrows without arrowheads, Tang Nu even felt that the opponent was using a three-stone bow... But the problem is, this wasn't one or two people, but 200! Two hundred cavalrymen using three-stone bows, it's likely that even gathering all the skilled archers from the three counties of Wuhuan wouldn't be enough.

  Tangnu led more than 200 cavalrymen, suffered this unexpected blow, for a moment in disarray, just when they were at a loss whether to advance or retreat, the enemy's arrows came like thunderbolts, the second, third and fourth volleys followed one after another. Tangnu could only run, and had to scatter while running, as their formation was too dense, they were being "killed" even faster.

  The Red Army's two hundred fierce cavalrymen didn't need to pass on orders, each one grasping the opportunity to counterattack with ease. They immediately turned their horses around and pursued the enemy, continuously eliminating the lagging cavalry until they could no longer catch up, at which point they stopped to rest and regroup. Meanwhile, another Blue Army cavalry unit was intimidated into inaction, and their main force dispersed in an instant. This detachment of soldiers didn't have the advantage in numbers, so should they attack or not? They watched with wide eyes as the Red Army tended to their horses, conserving their strength, yet didn't dare advance.

  Not long after, the Red Army, fully rested and refreshed, began to counterattack. With a hundred steps against fifty, the Blue Army's deputy team was doomed...

  "What a strong bow! What tactics! Hundred steps to shoot the enemy, I chase and he flees, he escapes and I pursue, like a maggot attached to bone, not stopping until death." Taishi Ci struck his palm with his fist, excitedly flushing red in the face. "With this strong bow, combined with such tactics, even the famous cavalry of Wuhuan and Xianbei would only have the share of fleeing. If used to attack the armies of the Central Plains that lack cavalry and rely on infantry, it would be... simply a disaster."

  Tian Yu was also emotionally stirred: "In the past, when Bai Lang's cavalry was still known as the Han Ge cavalry, they had used this tactic before, but unfortunately, the bows and arrows were not effective, and the advantage over the Wuman fine cavalry was not obvious... If only we had this crossbow at that time when the Han Ge camp was surrounded, how could Wu Yan, the old thief, have been so arrogant?"

  Ma Huan, however, was not as excited as the two of them. He pointed to the Red Army and said: "When the Red Army defeated the Blue Army's main force, they fired a total of five rounds of simultaneous shooting, but the scattered shots were countless. Did you notice that at least half of the arrows did not shoot within 100 steps, but fell outside 70 or 80 steps? Some didn't even reach 60 steps. If it weren't for this, Tang Nu's Blue Army main force might not have had any chance to escape and would have directly dispersed."

  Tai Shi Zi also calmed down, furrowed his brow and said: "Could it be... that the performance of this crossbow is unstable?"

  "It's probably like this." Ma Huan nodded and ordered, "End of exercise, gather troops, count, inspect bows and arrows."

  This battle, needless to say, the Blue Army lost miserably, without even touching a single hair of the Red Army, and suffered a loss of over 400 cavalrymen. Such a high casualty rate for the cavalry is equivalent to complete annihilation. Moreover, during the exercise, more than ten minor and serious accidents occurred, with the most severe one being a broken leg bone caused by falling off the horse and being trampled by the horses.

  Such losses are within the acceptable range of Ma Yuan, what is a real combat exercise? Except for reducing the lethality of weapons, everything else is no different from a real battlefield. In such a simulated real-war situation, it's already very good if no one dies. And wounded soldiers will receive timely treatment, and if they become disabled as a result, they can also receive veteran treatment.

  Wu Zui was excited and enthusiastic, while Tang Nu hung his head in grief. As soon as he saw Ma Xun, he strongly demanded that the new-style bow be equipped for his cavalry. Ma Xun ignored him and repeatedly asked about the experience of using the Red Wolf Cavalry, finally finding the problem.

  The main problem is still the battlefield environment and seasonal climate. Here in Beijiang, it's March now, with strong winds and sandstorms, which causes dust to accumulate on the surface of the pulley, increasing friction between the bowstring and pulley, resulting in insufficient pulling force, so it can't shoot far. This will also wear out the bowstring, damage the pulley, and shorten its lifespan.

  Ma Xian immediately summoned Meng Yuan and Ma Gun, proposing the use of a closed eccentric wheel with a string groove active opening piece. This can maximize protection for the eccentric wheel, maintain lethality, and extend its service life.

  This supplementary device is not difficult, and it's easy to understand, Meng Yuan said that all modifications can be completed within a few days.

  Just as he finished speaking, he turned his head and saw Taishi Ci playing with his own magic pupil bow with a hundred refined steel eccentric wheel. After the modification, the magic pupil bow saves one-third of the effort, and only needs to have the pulling force of a seven-stone bow, can be used freely this twelve-stone super-strong bow. In other words, Ma Han can hold the magic pupil bow to complete hundreds of shots without being exhausted. Even Taishi Ci could barely shoot three or five arrows.

  "Castle guard, I want a bow like that too." Taishi Ci and Tian Yu almost spoke in unison.

  "No problem, you can customize it according to your own bowing strength for Mong Yuan."

  "Cheng Shou, how about dividing some of these 200 strong cavalrymen for me..." Tan Nu's eyes also lit up.

  "Don't be too proud!" Ma Han waved his hand, "This new-style crossbow is still too few, we must concentrate on using it to exert its power. I plan to draw out 200 strong cavalry and establish a strong impact riding army, led by me directly."

  "This time even Tian Yu expressed his support: 'The city guard should have had a cavalry unit directly under its command long ago.'"

  Tai Shi Zi smiled and said: "Such a strong army must have a name."

  Ma Xun stroked his smooth chin and said, "This cavalry originated from the White Wolf Cavalry, it's the sharpest fang among the wolf cavalry, hmm, let's call it... Wolf Tooth Flying Cavalry!"