Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 315

On the eighth day of April in the second year of Wende, on Zendan Mountain in the northwest of Tianbao County (west of today's Yongchang County), there was deep silence.

This is a high point in the Hexi Corridor, an important point blocking the military road. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, a fortress was built and troops were sent to defend it.

Why is it necessary to block the way of the army?Because Liangzhou is not an ordinary inland state and county, the water resources are not so abundant. When the army is dispatched, drinking water is necessary, and Zendanling happens to have it.

The same is true for some gap valleys in Yinshan Mountain.

There are obviously so many tunnels in the mountains, why do everyone concentrate on a certain one?It's very simple, there are "ju springs" along the way, which is good for drinking horses, and at the same time it is wide enough for carriages to pass.

Zendanling is also such a place, and it is also called "Shuiquanzi".

Lu Yan, the prime minister of the Yanmo Lu family, led more than [-] cavalry in pursuit all the way, and rushed to the top of Zendan Ridge.

At the foot of the mountain, nearly two thousand cavalry were slowly gathering.They came from the tribes of Yanmo, Tuyuhun, Longjia, Sogdian and other tribes, and the one in charge was the Beiweidu tribe with more than [-] riders.

As for one man and three horses, Leopard Cavaliers, who theoretically are not weak in mobility, have fallen far behind.

The Uyghur cavalry roaming east of Zendan Ridge was no longer a thing of the past, and they were either driven or killed. There were not many left, and it was no longer possible to pose a threat to the logistics supply line of the pursuing army.

Now, the Shuofang army needs to control Zendan Ridge so that the fleeing army can pass through this most convenient channel.

"Whoosh!" An arrow struck, rubbed Lu Yan's shoulder, and nailed into the chest of a knight beside him.

The knight screamed and fell off his horse.

Before Lu Yan could react, more arrows flew towards him.Subsequently, a large group of cavalry rushed out from both sides of the valley and stream.

On this complex terrain, the Uyghurs kept their balance perfectly, the bowstrings rang repeatedly, and the cavalrymen fell off their horses one after another.

Going uphill and downhill is not an easy task for cavalry.

The body has to lean forward when going up the mountain, and lean back when going down the mountain. The terrain is complicated and other adjustments must be made constantly.Archery and fighting are very inconvenient, and the Han cavalry could not do it, but the Huns in the Han Dynasty did it, and the Uighurs at this time did it even better.

The three major advantages of the prairie cavalry: good riding skills, good archery skills, and hard work; three major disadvantages: poor equipment (lack of long-range crossbows, lack of protective armor, and even bone arrows), weak melee fighting skills, and low organization.

But this is not absolute.

At this time, the Uyghur cavalry was well equipped, although they lacked armor.The degree of organization is also stronger than that of ordinary grassland tribes.Melee combat is indeed a shortcoming, but the three major shortcomings make up for two, and on the complex terrain, there is no need for close combat at all, which immediately sets them off like gods descending from the earth.

This is a carefully prepared ambush!

At the end of the day, he was attacked suddenly and suffered heavy casualties.Lu Yan looked at his own children who fell off the horse one after another, feeling extremely sad and indignant, chasing him too fast!
"Prime Minister, go!" The attendants pulled Lu Yan's horse rein and retreated down the mountain with him.

When all the cavalrymen down the mountain saw them, they immediately scattered in all directions without anyone's orders.

Prairie cavalry operations are quite different from those in the Central Plains.

The place is too big and the wiggle room is too much!
Facing the Han army attacking the grassland, the Xiongnu scattered in all directions, riding in groups of dozens, taking advantage of their strong cavalry and archery capabilities to fight.

The cavalry of the Han army simply "dismounted and fought", using powerful crossbows to drive and shoot at long distances.

The two sides battled wits and courage, tried their best to maximize their strengths and avoid weaknesses, and killed each other.But in the end, the Han army is still better, because your Huns’ tribal tent can’t run as fast as a horse. Once I find you, you won’t be able to fight around. Honestly, let’s fight me. .

The big tent of the Uyghurs is in Zendan, Ganzhou, and Zendanling is located in Tianbao, Liangzhou. There is no place to defend for the time being, so they can take advantage of the complex terrain here.

They had already experienced the hardships of large-scale cavalry battles in the south of Liangzhou City, and they didn't want to suffer a second time.

A Uyghur cavalry general fired his horn bow in succession, shooting down three Gamo cavalrymen, and then clipped the horse's belly, attaching another man, smashing down the iron bone in his hand, directly knocking down the man off the horse.

The combination of horse and man is very good!

During the charging process, the ground was rough, but his movements were not out of shape at all, and he completed this kill perfectly through the leverage and combination between the people and horses.

If Li Shaorong was here, he would probably also admire him.He once ridiculed the cavalry and infantry of the Xuanwu Army who became monks for their poor riding skills, but the equestrian skills of this Uighur cavalry general seemed to be better than his.Let's not compare riding skills with the prairie people who ride horses and graze, just focus on giving full play to our own advantages.

The battle continues.Taking advantage of the momentum of the successful ambush, the Uighur cavalry chased and killed them all the way, and rushed down the mountain.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Arrows flew horizontally, screaming again and again.

The cavalry on both sides, without any formation, rode and shot at mid-range on the grassland, constantly going in circles.

The people behind Weidu rushed up.

Hundreds of cavalry were divided into two groups, and suddenly circled around the largest group of Uighur cavalry, firing arrows at the middle distance.

Classic pinch tactics!
The Uighur cavalry rushed straight forward, but dozens of spears flew towards them, and more than a dozen people fell off their horses without making a sound.

The remaining people continued to accelerate, trying to break out of the shooting circle of the back Weidu cavalry.

But after throwing the gun, the back Wei Dujing soldier pulled out the lighter two-meter short horse lance from the holster, and rushed up without any fear.

The sound of horses piercing flesh, the clash of knives and guns, the neighing of war horses, and the screams of dying were intertwined.

The Uighurs lacked armor, and suffered a lot in melee combat, and were scattered in an instant.

The clipping continued.

The soldiers of Beiweidu were no worse than the Uyghurs in mid-range riding and shooting skills. They also had the unique skill of throwing spears at close range. They were also protected by armor when fighting face to face. Therefore, this group of more than a hundred Uighur cavalry was directly worn to death by them. , while their own casualties were no more than twenty.

Small and medium-sized cavalry fights on the grassland may not be as spectacular as a large-scale cavalry group charge, but the degree of blood is even more bloody, and the number of casualties will not be small.

The elite soldiers of Beiweidu, who had been ridiculed by cavalry soldiers who were good at melee combat, directly showed their value at this time.

Even if they go to the Central Plains, they still have an advantage when encountering small and medium-sized enemy cavalry on the vast wilderness.

As for the large-scale cavalry group, I just don't want to fight, that is the matter of the cavalry of each army.A considerable number of them gave up riding bows and used cumbersome long horses in order to cooperate with infantry in combat.

The iron cavalry is a separate soldier and has no obligation to cooperate with anyone.

The Uighur cavalry who rushed down the mountain were quickly wiped out.

"Shangling!" a lieutenant general of Beiweidu ordered.

With the prestige of Liangzhou's great victory, the orders of the Shuofang Army are still very effective.The leaders of Yan Mo and other departments began to gather riders and rushed up along the flat and gentle slope.

He had suffered from an ambush before, but now he came back to his senses and began to take advantage of the number of people to shoot long distances and attack upwards little by little.

Still short of cavalry infantry!At this time, if there are hundreds of infantry armed with infantry bows and crossbows, it will be so troublesome.

******
On the grassland to the east of Zendan Ridge, a large caravan of camels is marching.

These were all contributed by the mobilized departments of Liangzhou, carrying corn, beans, and arrows, and desperately sending them forward.

Beside the camel caravan, there were still a large number of chariots and horses heading in the opposite direction.

The carriage was full of goods and goods, and tens of thousands of men, women and children followed numbly, with tired faces.

They were all captives abandoned by the Uyghurs, mainly Gamo.In addition, there are many Liugu Tubo tribes. These are descendants. The strong and strong members of the tribe don’t know where they went. Some people say that they were kidnapped by the Uighurs, probably so.But leaving so many old and weak, wouldn't they be captured by others?

Not to mention, there are more than [-] Liugu Tubo, all of which are sent to the three counties of Shengzhou and registered as households of Qimin.

As for the rescued Gomo women and children, they were sharp weapons to control the Gomo tribes who were chasing the Uyghur cavalry. They were all temporarily placed in Guzang and Shenniao counties in Liangzhou, and they were also registered as Qimin.

Shao Shude led the Tianzhu army on a [-]-step bike on the post road to Ganzhou.

Now the battlefield is in chaos again.

The Iron Cavalry Army, the Leopard Cavalry, and the various tribes, with a total of more than [-] cavalry, are being divided into several echelons, chasing the defeated Uyghur and Tubo allied forces westward.

At the beginning, the Uyghurs sent a small group of cavalry to harass and chase the army, but the effect was not very obvious.In the end, Lord Wumu finally despaired, and gave up the idea of ​​fleeing westward with the Tubo tribesmen, but took his strong and strong body and rode westward.

This person is also really interesting!
At first, they wanted to take captives, cattle, sheep, and goods with them, but later found it unrealistic. After Liangzhou was defeated, the Tang army pursued them from all directions, so they gave up these, and instead persuaded Liugu Tubo to migrate together.

But it's also slow.After the slow action had no effect, Lord Wumu finally recognized the situation and gave up Liugu Tubo women and children, taking away only Jingzhuang.

Tossing back and forth, not crying without seeing the coffin, this is a bad idea!
"Commander, General Wang, the envoy of Feng'an Army You Yi, is here." Lu Ming, the tenth personal soldier, rode over and reported.

"Let him come over."

Wang Qianyu rushed over quickly: "I have seen the commander in chief."

"General Wang, you have done a great job in raiding Hongyuan Valley and Zhuanglang Valley in this battle and breaking the enemy's morale." Shao Shude said, "How many people are there in your department?"

"The two armies of Feng'an and Jinglue have nearly a thousand cavalry soldiers, and another thousand fan cavalry."

"Is there a short horse or a riding spear?"

"Some soldiers brought horned bows and short horses."

"Don't take the long horse lance, take the short horse lance and horn bow, and immediately chase the Uighurs."

"As ordered."

Chase!Chase as fast as you can!This is the top priority today.

The cavalry of the Kingdom Dynasty, adhering to the legacy of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, used horse lances that were thick, long, and heavy, with long blades, much heavier than the lances of later Ming and Qing Dynasties, because the training direction of cavalry was not purely for immediate assassination——Ma lance Martial arts are different from riding spears and spears. They are more complicated and comprehensive, and the training cost is also higher.

The ones hanging next to the saddle are usually short lances, and the long lances can only be held in hand, which makes it difficult for them to leave the supply troops to march alone.

Now to chase Uighurs, it is natural to use lighter long weapons in order to carry bows and arrows to kill the enemy.

In the future, is it necessary to reform the traditional cavalry training subjects?Ma Qian, can we be eliminated?

In fact, Shao Shude had a plan. If Ganzhou could be flattened in this battle, then he would recruit troops from the Ganzhou Uighurs and form a special cavalry unit.

This troop has a good foundation in riding skills and superb archery skills, and specially made very light and cheap riding spears to equip them as long weapons-yes, it is too light that many horse warriors despise, so that there is no large-scale Spear riding became popular.

After several years of special training, see if it is better to use the cavalry with light cavalry spears or the cavalry with long horses.

If the price/performance ratio is high enough, then simply don’t use the horse in the future, even the bow can’t be used at the same time.It's even more fucking difficult to practice, the blade is more than 60 centimeters long, and the front is extremely heavy. The training time is much longer than riding a spear, and it is even more difficult to master.

After Wang Qianyu left, Shao Shude thought about which other cavalry hadn't been sent out.

"Where's Yang Yue? Where is he now? Where are his more than 3000 Tibetan cavalrymen?" he asked.

(End of this chapter)