sweeping the world

Chapter 418
The Jin army has shortcomings in cavalry, but that does not mean that all the Jin army are useless. Otherwise, even if there is the Yangtze River as a natural moat, the Hu people should have destroyed the small court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty long ago.

To be honest, once the Jin army is commanded by the right people, the combat effectiveness displayed by the Jin army is actually worth looking forward to, especially in the battle against the infantry.And this is actually a characteristic of Chinese civilization. In foot battles, the formation is used as the coordination hub. There will be defeats if they don't collapse on their own, but it is relatively rare for losers to lose their underwear.

Huan Wen was surprised to see the cavalry dispatched by the Jin army. The small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had 20 regular troops, of which there were only less than 20 cavalry.But what did he see?The Jin cavalrymen who came out of the stronghold were wearing armor, and the front half of their horses also had fish scale armor. What if they weren't assault cavalry?

The Jin army's cavalry came out of the stronghold to fight, which the Han army did not expect. Even Huan Wen would be slow to mobilize his own cavalry to fight with them. Advance in steps.

About a thousand cavalrymen of the Jin army were already shouting, rolling forward with the sound of horseshoes. After they protruded, they slowly turned into a traditional cavalry charge array while galloping. He raised his small buckler to defend against arrows, while the Jin knights slightly behind held their crossbows at a 45-degree angle and prepared to shoot.

The advancing Han army's infantry formation stopped. Amidst the shouts of officers, the tower shield soldiers and pikemen in front were busy placing shields on each other to organize the shield wall, while the pike soldiers stretched out their shields with their own weapons. In the gap in the wall, a shield wall and a forest of spikes soon appeared.

Behind the shield wall, the crossbowmen spread out quickly, and everyone was waiting for the order to shoot.

The crossbows in the Han army's infantry formation readjusted their firing direction. They were almost ready to stand by. The crossbowmen in the formation had already obeyed the officer's command and pulled the trigger. There was a strong recoil in their hands, and then The sound of the bowstring slamming and the sharp piercing sound resounded through the air, and then densely packed crossbow arrows filled the sky.

The cavalry of the Jin army made a detour and turned into a semicircle. Most of them rushed out of the area of ​​the crossbow arrows fired by the Han army. Only a small part of the tail was "gnawed off", and then they took advantage of their speed Roundabout, their entire course of action is like the gesture of a snake.

"It's not an imperial court general." Huan Wen knew the virtues of the regular army of the small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he said: "It's Xie's private soldiers."

The family private soldiers south of the Yangtze River are different from the regular army of the imperial court, and there are certain differences between the family private soldiers. For example, the regular army of the imperial court and some family private soldiers are not in a state of war and need to farm, but some family private soldiers are not engaged in production and only train to kill. Skills, such as the Yu family, the Xie family, the Huan family, and the Wang family all have similar private soldiers, but the number must be limited, and they are all elite cavalry.

The Jin cavalry's snake posture was very slippery. They kept trying to get closer to the shooting distance of their cavalry, but they never got a chance after repeated attempts. That was because the firing frequency of the Han army's crossbows was much faster than Xie Shi imagined. There were so many that they couldn't afford the huge casualties just to get close and then mount fire.

"Ming Jin asked the cavalry to withdraw!" Xie Shi finally lost his smile and was replaced by a solemn expression, filled with confusion and horror: "Why can the Han army's powerful crossbows shoot so fast?"

The strong crossbow of the Jin army needs about forty breaths 1 (elite) to reload after firing. It is a strong crossbow that relies entirely on human hands or pedals.

The firing frequency of the strong crossbow of the Han army is about fifteen breaths, mainly because the crossbow is equipped with a winch part.

If there is a huge gap between the reloading time of the Jin army's crossbow and the Han army's crossbow, and the Han army adopts an arrow array rule similar to "three-stage shooting", the shooting frequency will naturally exceed imagination, but if you want to To adopt similar arrow formation technology, you need to have a sufficient numerical advantage of strong crossbowmen.

Although Xie Shi ordered his cavalry to withdraw in time, they underestimated the Han army's use of cavalry and misjudged the firing speed of the Han army's powerful crossbows.

At the beginning, there were Han cavalry moving towards the Jin cavalry attacking. Although the terrain they were in had restrictions on the speed of the cavalry, they definitely shouldn't be so slow. Wait for the signal from your own infantry.

The densely packed arrows no longer chased the advancing cavalry, but covered some positions where the Jin cavalry might retreat, forcing the Jin cavalry to choose uncovered positions to move, and then ran into the oncoming Han army. cavalry.

Before the cavalry of the two sides collided, Xie Shi, who was on the nest car in the camp, couldn't help clenching his fists. What he saw was that the cavalry of both sides fired arrows at almost the same time. When the arrows were still floating in the sky, the two cavalry Each issued its own battle cry.

What the Jin army is shouting is: "I am invincible!"

The Han army roared: "The Han army is mighty!"

When the sound fell, the arrows from the sky also fell. The cavalry in the front used their shields to protect their bodies as much as possible. When the arrows rained down, the "clinking" sound of arrowheads and shields was endless. More The most striking thing is that the empty arrows are nailed to the ground and tremble, and naturally the sound of people being shot and horses being shot is indispensable.

Huan Wen, who was also observing the battle in an absolutely safe position, heard the battle cry of the Jin cavalry and said with a smile: "It is indeed Xie's private soldier."

The private soldiers of each family south of the Yangtze River have their own war cry. The Huan family's war cry is "brave and fearless", the Yu family's is "there are enemies but no self", and the Wang family's is "our army is mighty". Each has its own characteristics, which are a bit of the "feudal characteristics" of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.For example, the battle cry of the small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was very targeted. They shouted "Wang Shi is invincible".

The shooting at each other only caused a small loss to both sides. The two armies collided soon amidst the sound of horseshoes. It was when the cavalry collided with the cavalry and fell on their backs, or the cavalry staggered past each other and swung their weapons to kill each other ( injuries), the cavalry in white and red robes "eroded" each other, and knights became dead souls on the battlefield every moment.

After the cavalry battle between the two armies, Huan Wen and Xie Shi made the same move, which was to mobilize infantry. The difference was that Huan Wen needed his infantry to be close enough to the Jin army's defense line, while Xie Shi wanted the infantry to respond to his cavalry. Retreat.

"They are evenly matched!" Yuan Qiao used a monocular to watch the cavalry confrontation and said, "It's basically one for one, and we have a slight advantage."

The Han army's shock cavalry (non-system troops) no longer use pierced armor, but use lighter plate armor styles.The knights of the Han army were equipped with plate armor on the chest and leather armor on the rest of the body. Compared with the armor style, it was lighter and more flexible. It also reduced the weight of the war horse. It has been proven time and again that plate armor is not weak in terms of protective power. Yu Zhajia also has more advantages in speed and endurance.

Huan Wen knew what Yuan Qiao meant by those words. It was nothing more than that the cavalry of the Han army had an advantage in equipment, but the cavalry of the Jin army had an advantage in fighting skills.

"We can afford it." Huan Wen said realistically and cruelly: "Even if the one thousand cavalry fighting against him are all gone, we still have two thousand, and the Jin army's fourteen hundred cavalry will be lost." gone."

In view of the fact that the elimination of the cavalry of the Jin army is very important for the next battle, Huan Wen issued a frightening order, that is, let the approaching Han army archers cover the positions of the cavalry indiscriminately, and let the spears The soldiers charged.

There is a tactic in Europa. After the cavalry charges, the archers in the rear don't care about the cover of the enemy and the enemy. They use the corpses of both the enemy and the enemy to form an obstacle wall. (You can watch the sixth season of Game of Thrones, it seems to be the sixth episode? At the same time, this tactic is also used in reality, and there are still many times)

Xie Shi slapped his palm on the guardrail of the nest car immediately after discovering the indiscriminate coverage of the long-range troops of the Han army. There was a loud "bang" and there was a burst of pain from his palm. He roared: "Shameless! Shameless! It's really both shameless and a beast!"

The cavalry from both sides were covered indiscriminately. Only a small number of them found that they could not be covered separately. After all, the current enemy army who was more concerned about the fierce fighting did not have time to pay attention to what was going on around the periphery. They only thought that the other side was enough. They are so powerful that they can shoot arrows between charging each other, even if they are shot to death, they are considered dead for no reason.

When the infantry of the Jin army came out of the camp, they walked a certain distance and had to stop in a more rigorous battle formation. That was because the other two arrows in the Han army's trident made a threatening gesture. Continue to advance in a loose formation, and being attacked by the two cavalry of the Han army will not only cause heavy casualties but also collapse.

Xie Ping, who organized the troops to prevent the two groups of Han cavalry from succeeding, received an order. He was asked not to stop and to do his best to rescue his own cavalry.

【Little Master, can't you see the situation clearly? ] Xie Ping only hesitated slightly, and the next moment he shouted: "Keep going!"

The cavalry of the Jin army who went out to fight were Xie's private soldiers, but the infantry were the imperial army. No matter how hard it was, Xie Ping could sacrifice the imperial army and rescue the family's private soldiers, so he didn't have to think too much about his choice.

"Hey!" Huan Wen was full of gloating: "Look, if there is a chance to save him, that kid will definitely decide to sacrifice the imperial army."

There is nothing to laugh at, the elites or aristocratic families in the small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty are all virtuous, not only Xie Shi would do this, but any aristocratic family, including Huan Wen or Yuan Qiao, would make that choice.

"The enemy general is in chaos." Yuan Qiao kept observing the overall situation on the battlefield and suggested: "Our cavalry should be divided into groups to threaten the left and right wings of the enemy's defense line. Both infantry and cavalry should advance with the whole army to break through the enemy's defense in one fell swoop. chain."

Huan Wen accepted Yuan Qiao's suggestion without any hesitation.

Waves of war drums began to sound from the Han army, which was the signal for a general attack. The troops in the front received instructions to attack more fiercely, and the troops behind them began to advance forward.

In the two cavalry battles before, the soldiers of both sides who were not killed in battle unknowingly found that their space for movement became smaller and smaller, and there were piles of corpses piled up by people and horses everywhere. Without arrows, it is more like a dense arrow jungle suddenly growing on the ground.

The heads of the surviving cavalry were basically blank. The Han cavalry suddenly discovered that there were figures of their own spearmen on the battlefield. They appeared from the gaps between piles of corpses and then harvested them.

The Han army's spearmen who entered the battlefield trotted forward shoulder to shoulder with their guns raised. When they encountered the surviving Jin army cavalry, more than one spear was stabbed out in an instant. They were in all directions, killing the stunned enemy troops. Send the wounded enemy soldiers on the ground to the last leg.

The Han army pressed forward in an all-round way, and the two wings of the Jin army's defense chain were threatened. First, the first Han army broke through the Jin army's defense line, followed by the second, third, and so on, until the first line of defense arranged by Xie Shi Completely lost, the isolated Jin army lost direct connection with the rear.

Xie Ping, covered in blood, came to Xie Shi who had already retreated to the rear. He didn't have any extra nonsense, and immediately shouted: "Our army in front has been flanked and will soon be unable to hold on. The second line of defense can't hold on." How long will it take? I will try my best to hold back the Han army with my men. My little master, please quickly lead your men to break out!"

Since the development of the situation became unfavorable to the Jin army, Xie Shi was in a state of tinnitus and dazed. In fact, he didn't remember how he retreated to the back at all, and he didn't know how the battle situation developed.He stared at Xie Ping blankly, his ears filled with long ringing sounds. He couldn't hear Xie Ping's words and could only see his mouth moving.

It was not until Xie Ping asked Xie's private soldiers to hold Xie Shi that Xie Shi finally woke up from his complete daze.

"Are we defeated?" Xie Shi's face was unusually pale: "It shouldn't be! We have an absolute advantage in geographical location and have more troops than the Han army. Shouldn't we fail!?"

Xie Ping ignored Xie Shi, who seemed to be talking to himself, and yelled at the family's private soldiers: "What are you doing standing still? Take the young master away. After leaving the battlefield, find an opportunity to send the young master back to Jiankang!" "

"No, no. No!" Xie Shi began to struggle, roaring: "Impossible, how can I fail, I won't leave, I will definitely not leave, and I can still fight the Han army for another [-] rounds!"

As the private soldiers of the Xie family who directly guard Xie Shi, they must all be strong and powerful. If it weren't for the fear of hurting Xie Shi, Xie Shi would not be able to twist his body at all.They glanced at Xie Ping, and one of the guards struck Xie Shi with a knife, causing Xie Shi to collapse with a groan.

It is not a simple matter to get out on the battlefield, especially when the two armies are completely mixed together. It is absolutely necessary to get out of the battlefield without being caught. The best way is to find someone who can hide The place is hidden, not rushing out directly.

Xie Shi woke up again and found that he couldn't see anything. When he was about to yell, his mouth was covered. The next moment he immediately knew what situation he was in. He should be hiding in a cellar with no light.His next move was to touch his waist, feeling both ashamed and determined to kill himself, but he didn't touch anything...

(End of this chapter)