The great man will live forever

Chapter 76 Battle of Mobei (Suppression of Five Weapons)
Starting from Youbeiping and Daijun, Huo Qubing's troops marched all the way north. They marched continuously for more than 2000 miles, setting a rare long-distance march record in Chinese history.

Ancient desert marches were extremely difficult, dealing with multiple challenges such as extreme climate, lack of water, difficult navigation, sandstorms, and lack of shelter and safety.

Only with adequate preparation, strong physical strength and willpower can we survive and move forward in such an environment.

Even Liu Han and Huo Qubing, who had walked through the desert several times, still felt uncomfortable.

You have to save water and food, and you can only march at night and early in the morning. The temperature is too high during the day, so you are always wary of getting lost, and there are always sandstorms...

The horses of the soldiers wandered in the long yellow sand and desert. Some soldiers were homesick, with tears streaming down their faces.

Yes, whoever wants to come to the desolate Gobi Desert to fight, wants to live a life where his wife and children are on the hot bed.

In this regard, Liu Han had to cheer them up. Fortunately, most of them were hardened soldiers. Many of them had participated in the Battle of Hexi and marched thousands of miles. They were mentally prepared, otherwise they might not be able to make it down.

Finally, they walked out of the Gobi. Just walking along the way alone resulted in a loss of 1532 people and 2046 horses.

"Oh!"

Huo Qubing was about to drink water from the river when Liu Han stepped in front of him. Water splashed everywhere, shocking Huo Qubing.

"What are you doing?"

"What are you doing? I told you to check whether the water source is clean before drinking water?" Liu Han was a little angry.

"Xiong Da, Xiong Er, immediately organize people to check the surrounding water sources, then have people boil water, notify the whole army, and drink hot water."

"promise!"

"It's not necessary. We have all crossed the Gobi. Besides, is the plague so easy to contract? The water is so clear, it doesn't seem to be polluted. The Huns will not pollute their nearby water sources, right?"

"There's no need to be ridiculous, be careful with the Wannian Ship."

"But the fighter plane is fleeting. If we waste more time boiling water, the Huns might just run away."

"How much time will be wasted by boiling water after running away? Besides, it's really no good. Once it's boiled, drink it on the road. You can't take any chances if you know clearly that they put cattle and sheep that died of illness into the water source."

"alright."

In fact, Huo Qubing was an impatient general. He did not want his soldiers to march too slowly.Because he knew that as long as the speed was slightly slower, the enemy might slip away.

But since he knew that the enemy might poison the water source, he had to worry about it, and only Liu Han could persuade him.

……

The steps of boiling water, then cooling it, and drinking it are quite complicated, but the soldiers still carried it out to the letter.

After drinking the water, Zhao Ponu came over not long after.

"General, we have discovered King Zuo Xian's main force."

"God helps me." Huo Qubing had a smile on his face.

"How many people are there?"

"Maybe a hundred thousand, but not particularly elite."

"Pass my order, the whole army will attack, kill!"

The [-]-strong Han army gave the order and rushed towards the Xiongnu army.

On the Xiongnu side, the Han army was also discovered.

"Report to King Zuo Xian that a large number of Han troops have been discovered."

"how many people?"

"At least 5."

"Whose flag are you flying?"

"Huozi."

King Zuo Xian sighed with emotion, "That's Huo Qubing. He fought in Hexi in two battles and swept the enemy. The reason why they were like that was because they were all useless and they were defeated by a general in his early 20s. I am not the king. King Hunxie He is truly a traitor to my great Huns.”

"Then, Your Majesty, what should we do now?"

"What else can we do? Let's fight. The enemy has bullied us right at our doorstep. They must be exhausted after crossing the vast desert. We are waiting for work. Our number is twice theirs, 10 to [-]. The advantage lies with me.

Pass on my king's order, let the Tuntou King attack from the left, the Han King attack from the right, and I, the king, attack from the front and annihilate the Han army. Victory belongs to our great Huns. God Kunlun protects us. "

"Yes!"

The large banner of King Zuo Xian is floating in the air. The eagle is embroidered on the front, which is Tamir. It is the sacred animal of the Huns' belief, but it is not pure white, with a little mottled color. Only the flag of the Xiongnu Chanyu is Pure white eagle.

There is a gold wolf head hung on the tip of the flag, and underneath it is occupied by King Zuo Xian's escorts. They are all the most elite troops, at least thousands, wearing elite armor.

"Shoot the arrows!" "Shoot all the arrows first, and then kill the enemy."

Huo Qubing roared and took the lead, followed closely by Liu Han.

"Shhhhhh!"

The sky was full of arrows, flying towards the Huns army.

"what!"

"Help."

"Clap!"

"Pfft!"

Huns soldiers were constantly being shot by arrows and falling from their horses. Some were even still alive, but were trampled to death by the horses behind them before they could react.

"How is it possible? How can the Han people shoot arrows so fast? How come they are so good at riding? They shoot arrows with both hands and are not afraid of falling off their horses?"

King Zuo Xian was shocked. There were obviously more people on his side than the Han people. Why were they suppressing archery?

How did they manage to be so good at riding when everyone was shooting arrows on horseback, without pulling on the reins or holding the horse's mane?

But how did he know that this time, under Liu Han's suggestion, all the Han soldiers were equipped with repeating crossbows, and some even had more than one.

The bow is one of the most important long-range weapons in ancient times. Its advantages are self-evident, but its shortcomings are also obvious.

In actual combat, shooting an arrow requires a series of precise actions such as pulling out the arrow, buckling the string, stretching the string, aiming, and shooting. A skilled archer can probably complete a shot with general accuracy within 10 seconds.

For those with slightly less skilled skills, it may take more than 20 seconds or even half a minute to shoot an arrow.

Of course, in front of a large army, you can omit aiming and just pull the arrow, buckle the string, stretch the string, and shoot. This can save half the time, and you can shoot an arrow in two seconds.

When the two armies are facing each other, the key is to be fast. If you shoot with your eyes closed against the densely packed army, you may be able to hit it.

In order to speed up archery and suppress arrow rain, the ancients came up with some low-tech means to make up for it.

For example, if you form a shooting formation in turns, the first team shoots, the second team takes aim, and the third team reloads the bow.

This cycle is repeated to ensure continuous output of bows and arrows.Although this idea is brilliant, its shortcomings are still obvious.

First, the continuous shooting formation requires a separate formation, but its self-defense capability is weak. Once it is penetrated by enemy soldiers, it will inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

Secondly, the attack surface of this formation is relatively narrow and can only attack enemies in front or behind. If the enemy soldiers make tactical detours and attack from the left and right sides, it will be very difficult for the archers to adjust the formation.

In order to deal with these, the "continuing crossbow" that can fire multiple arrows continuously came into being.

There are two types of so-called repeated crossbows in terms of technical principles.One can shoot multiple arrows at the same time by pulling the string once, and the other can shoot a single arrow continuously.

The first one appeared first. Pulling the string once can launch multiple arrows at the same time. It was already used in actual combat during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

"Mozi Bei Gaolin" has a detailed explanation of the winch continuous crossbow. The general principle is that several crossbow arms are arranged horizontally or vertically, and the crossbow strings are connected to the same crossbow machine. Pulling the crossbow machine can open multiple crossbow arms at the same time. , and then shoot.

This kind of large crossbow is often used in defensive operations. One crossbow can shoot several enemies at the same time.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, because the old-fashioned winch repeating crossbow was too bulky and inconvenient to use, the crossbow machine and locomotive device were improved, making them less powerful and lighter to use.

Li Ling of the Western Han Dynasty fought against the Huns army, mainly using repeating crossbows to block the Huns cavalry. The "Hanshu Biography of Li Ling" records: "The Ling army fought among the trees and killed thousands of people again. Because they shot the Chanyu with repeated crossbows, the Chanyu walked down."

After research, Yan Shigu believed that the repeated crossbows of the Han army at that time were "thirty crossbows with one string".Thirty crossbows use the same string. This technical complexity is staggering.

The scope of application of large repeating crossbows is also limited. After all, the maneuverability of vehicle-mounted repeating crossbows is very weak and they are not flexible to use.

Moreover, if the enemy soldiers are scattered far apart and multiple crossbows are fired at one time, it is easy to shoot in vain.

So the ancients developed a second type of repeating crossbow, a crossbow that could continuously fire single arrows.The crossbow mechanism of this crossbow is relatively sophisticated.

There is an arrow warehouse above the crossbow machine, which can be loaded with several arrows in advance.

When shooting, the bottom arrow is first strung and fired, and then the upper arrow falls to the string groove by gravity. The crossbowman does not have to work hard to load the arrow, which greatly saves time.

Of course, the crossbow technology at this time was still at the technical level of three consecutive shots. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records that "Chen Wang favored the crossbow shooting with three consecutive rounds as a miracle." Still very limited.

But even if it is limited, if you shoot one arrow and I can shoot three arrows, isn't it just suppressed by the rain of arrows?

In this wave, King Zuo Xian suffered a big loss. It has to be said that science and technology are the primary productive forces, and if you fall behind, you will be beaten!
"Rush forward and engage in close combat with the Han army. The entire army will press forward and defeat the Han army in one fell swoop."

King Zuo Xian reacted and immediately gave orders. He was worthy of being a king who had been fighting for many years and the second most powerful figure in the Hun Empire.

Unfortunately, he was facing the most elite cavalry of the Han Dynasty. They were not good at archery and would only be worse at close combat.

(End of this chapter)