Three Kingdoms New Lü Bu
Lü Bu led two troops of Xiongnu cavalry out of the north gate, heading northeast. Lü Bu knew that this time the Xiongnu nomads were the largest Xiongnu tribe in the Yellow River valley, with a population of about 300 people, and at least 70-80 skilled archers and horsemen, so this was another face-to-face battle between Lü Bu and the Xiongnu cavalry. During the defense of Shuofang, Lü Bu's ten riders launched a surprise attack on the Xiongnu camp at night, although they succeeded, but that was when the Xiongnu cavalry were completely unprepared for the surprise attack. The previous raid was also a case of bullying the weak with superior numbers and strength, which did not prove the true combat effectiveness of the Shuofang cavalry. If this time's surprise attack could succeed, it would be great. However, this tribe is not small, and a surprise attack is difficult to succeed. A direct assault is more likely to succeed, so Lü Bu chose to launch a direct assault.
Two hundred and fifty riders, as before, estimated the time well, approached the Xianbei tribe's camp on the second day in the afternoon. After a short rest, they mounted their horses, prepared for battle, everyone polished their guns and knives, tightened their horse reins, and adjusted their equipment.
Lü Bu mounted his horse first and gave a single order: "Mount your horses."
Gao Shun followed closely behind and shouted: "Mount your horses."
The captains and squad leaders mounted their horses one after another, urging their subordinates to take action. Then Lü Bu rode his horse ahead, leading the way towards the Xianbei tribe. Five miles away from the tribe, Lü Bu gave a loud order: "Deploy the formation..."
Gao Shun, Wei Xu, Cheng Lian, team leader, and Wu Zhang followed the order: "Formation...". Two hundred and fifty cavalrymen led by Lü Bu formed two 'human' characters and one 'slanting' character, rushing towards the Xianbei tribe.
Three miles away from the village, Lü Bu shouted orders: "Speed up..."
"Accelerate..."
Two miles away from the village, Lü Bu placed the Heaven-Shaking Halberd horizontally on the horse's saddle, took out the Dragon Tongue hanging on the left side of the saddle and shouted: "Upper crossbow... clamping gun..."
"Loading crossbows... loading guns..." The sound of drawing crossbow strings and loading arrows filled the air behind him. Riders were busy loading their crossbows and placing them on their backs, while holding a crossbow in their left hand and tucking a gun under their right arm.
One mile away from the tribe, the Xianbei people found someone launching a surprise attack. In the midst of urgency, they shouted loudly and the entire camp was thrown into chaos. The men rushed out of their tents and felt houses to see what was happening, while the women and children hid in all directions.
Lü Bu's cavalry arrived in an instant, a hundred yards away. Lü Bu took out an arrow from the quiver on the right side of his horse saddle and aimed at a Xianbei Han soldier who was about to untie the reins tied to the flagpole. He shouted: "Draw your crossbows..."
Fifty paces... the bowstring rang out and an arrow shot forth, that person died with a response. Lü Bu's left hand inserted the dragon tongue into the bow case, his right hand pulled out the ghostly halberd. Just as he took hold of the halberd, the formation had already rushed forward more than ten paces again.
Thirty zhangs. Lü Bu held high the Heaven-Shaking Halberd and shouted angrily: "Shoot..."
In an instant, a burst of crossbow shooting sounds "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" came from Lü Bu's left and right, and a row of crossbow arrows shot towards the Xianbei.
Within a hundred paces, Lü Bu gave the order: "Retrieve crossbows... Kill!" The northern cavalrymen promptly retracted their crossbow mechanisms into the quivers in front of their saddles and charged into the camp with spears to slaughter.
Lü Bu's cavalry was equipped with a hundred-step crossbow, which was simply made of rattan wood, and its effective killing range was similar to that of the Xianbei bow and arrow. The cavalry only shot once during the charge. Due to insufficient craftsmanship and materials, they could only shoot one bolt at a time. However, this had already caused huge damage to the Xianbei tribe. This Xianbei tribe naturally participated in the battle of Shuofang, where there were originally 70 or 80 able-bodied men. After being attacked by Lü Bu's cavalry at night under the city of Shuofang, more than half of them were killed or injured, and less than 40 people returned to the tribe. In one cavalry formation, the outermost hundred riders on both sides shot their crossbows horizontally, immediately knocking down dozens of people, including over a dozen armed riders.
The Xianbei tribe also had a dozen agile men who quickly shot more than a dozen arrows at the Shuo Fang army. The Shuo Fang army also had several people hit by arrows, but due to the protection of three layers of leather armor, they were only lightly injured at most.
Lü Bu charged into the camp, stabbing a Xianbei tribesman who had just mounted his horse with one spear thrust, while shouting: "Disperse the formation..."
At the sound of the order, 250 cavalrymen formed into 50 small squads, with each squad led by a squad leader. The cavalrymen protected each other and killed in all directions. In an instant, wails filled the fields, limbs flew everywhere, and blood splattered all over. A large Xianbei tribe was turned into a hell on earth in just a moment, with incomplete and bloody bodies scattered everywhere.
This time, Lü Bu led the Xī Fāng cavalry, with only a few deaths and fewer than ten injuries. However, they killed over 270 Xianbei men, women, children, and livestock, plundering over 110 horses, more than 1,000 cattle and sheep, and a large quantity of goods and grain.
Lü Bu supported his army by plunder, and the strength of the Xiāng Fáng army increased day by day. However, there were few people in Xiāng Fáng, and most of the strong men had been recruited by Lü Bu as soldiers, only about 400 people remained. But they were all cavalry, with four or five hundred horses. So Lü Bu eliminated dozens of old and weak horses from the army and raised them together with cattle and sheep, waiting for merchants to come and exchange goods for supplies.
The Shuofang army camp was large, but the mixture of people and livestock in one place caused many inconveniences. Moreover, Lü Bu's plundering of cattle and sheep had increased greatly this time, so he ordered Zang Ba to find a deserted area within the city, designate it as a pasture, and raise livestock there. He also called on orphaned children to tend to them, go out of the city to cut grass and feed them.
After Lü Bu moved into the county office, there were one or two hundred people who died in battle while going out to plunder. Among them, there were many widows and orphans left behind. Lü Bu took them all in at the county office. The county office suddenly became lively. There were more than 40 lonely old people and children. Others were well-arranged, some washing clothes, cooking, sweeping the courtyard, or doing needlework, sewing leather armor and clothing, which was also a good use. If the child was a girl, she would be obedient, even if she couldn't help adults with things, she would sit quietly on the side without making trouble. However, among these widows and orphans taken in, there were seven or eight boys aged six to thirteen.
These boys are very active and gather together every day. Yan Ni has never been a mother, but she also likes children. Li Yu'er is about the same age as these kids, and other adults and elders are all taken in by the government office. Yan Ni and Li Yu'er don't know how to manage them, and others are even more difficult to discipline. Lü Bu spends most of his time in the military camp, only returning to the county office at mealtimes or when night falls to rest.
So these children made a big fuss in the government office when Lü Bu was not around. When Lü Bu returned, some adults also told him that these children were very naughty, but he had no time to discipline them and could only scold them severely when they were at home. When Lü Bu went to the military camp or went out of the city for inspection, their lively nature made these children quarrel again.
That day, Lü Bu and Gao Shun had just entered the blacksmith's shop for inspection when Li Yu'er hastily ran over to inform Lü Bu that those children in the mansion were quarreling again.
Li Yu'er found Lü Bu, panting and saying: "Big brother, hurry back and take a look, Zhou Quan and Lü Xin have gotten into a fight, and are even hitting each other with wooden sticks. Even Sister Yan can't persuade them to stop. If big brother doesn't go back now, something bad might happen."
Lü Bu laughed and scolded, "This little brat has caused such a commotion, I'll be gone for just a moment and he'll be acting like the king of heaven." With that, he led Gao Shun, Cheng Lian, and several attendants on horseback towards the county office.
Originally, Zhou Quan was a hunter's child. At the age of 13, when the Xianbei bandits invaded Shoufang, Zhou Quan followed his parents and was taken back to Shoufang City by Zhang Bao. On the day the Xianbei attacked the city, Zhou Quan's father died from an arrow wound while moving a rolling log. Lü Bu then took in Zhou Quan and his mother. After his father's death, Zhou Quan became more unruly and his mother could not discipline him. Lü Xin was 14 years old and was originally an orphan in Shoufang. When Lü Bu recruited strong men, he came to enlist several times. However, Lü Bu saw that he was still young, so he only took him in as a servant and named him Lü Xin, helping to raise horses. Both boys were 13 or 14 years old and were very unruly, often competing with each other for dominance among the children, which frequently led to disputes. Now they have resorted to fighting with sticks, which is really going too far.
Seeking gold medals, seeking collection, seeking likes, seeking comments, seeking red envelopes, seeking gifts, all kinds of seeking, whatever you want, just throw it over!
