Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 712 Killed in Action
At Huo Jun's command, several flags of the central army were unfurled one after another. The officer in charge of watching the flags on the right wing informed Quan Cong and Pang De of the order.

Quan Cong understood and asked, "General Pang, can we attack?"

Pang De put on his helmet and said, "The armored cavalry can be used. You can order Gao Qidu to act according to the plan."

"good!"

Quan Cong ordered, "Tell the high cavalry commander to pretend to be defeated, and when the order is given, he will charge back and attack."

"promise!"

The flag soldiers waved triangular white flags and accompanied the sound of golden drums to issue military orders, which instantly resounded along the banks of the Yishui River.

At this time Gao Xin led the cavalry to fight against the cavalry led by Guanqiu Jian. The Han and Wei cavalry either drew bows and shot arrows on horseback or fought hand-to-hand with spears. Many people fell off their horses and died. The ownerless war horses neighed in the fields. The battle was extremely fierce.

Although the Wei army outnumbered the Han army on the battlefield, the Han army outnumbered the Wei cavalry. The Wei army had more than 7,000 cavalry, while the Han army had nearly 10,000 cavalry.

Because the Han had more cavalry, Wang Ling did not use his superiority in manpower to expand the battle formation, but instead used infantry to thicken the square formation. The role of the Wei cavalry was more to consolidate the two wings, rather than to be used as a chess piece to break the formation.

As for why the Han army had more cavalry than the Wei army, in addition to the influence of the Wei army's successive defeats, it was also because the Southern Han gave a large number of cavalry to Huo Jun for use in the Northern Expedition.

When the triangular white flag was raised, the cavalry informed Gao Xin immediately.

"General, raise the white flag, and our army should retreat." the cavalry shouted.

Gao Xin, with his hair all gray, glanced at the white flag, then looked back at the battlefield not far away, grabbed the reins of his warhorse, and said, "Let's go!"

With his legs clamped around the horse's belly, Gao Xin did not retreat directly, but instead led his left and right cavalry to join the battlefield in search of the Wei cavalry.

"kill!"

Gao Xin came forward with a spear, and using his rich experience, he stabbed the young Wei cavalry to death, and then went to find the rest of the Wei cavalry, brandishing his spear to fight with them. Because he was not as strong as the young people, Gao Xin was out of breath after a short while.

"withdraw!"

While the horses were fighting, Gao Xin seemed to be defeated and took the initiative to lead his cavalry to retreat.

As the Gao flag gradually moved away from the battlefield, the Han cavalry lost their will to fight, withdrew from the battle one after another, and retreated following the flag.

At this point in the battle, although the Wei cavalry did not know why the Han cavalry retreated, they were filled with passion and each of them held their weapons and rode their horses to chase the Han cavalry.

"General, the Han cavalry has been defeated!"

Guanqiu Jian's soldiers beside him looked at the defeated Han cavalry and said with joy.

Guanqiu Jian was full of fighting spirit and laughed loudly, saying, "The southern cavalry is far inferior to our Central Plains cavalry. Order all troops to pursue the enemy cavalry."

"Somebody come!"

As he spoke, Guanqiu Jian pointed at one of his followers with his spear and said with a smile, "Tell the General of Chariots and Cavalry that the left wing has defeated the enemy cavalry and is now chasing them on horseback. When the enemy cavalry is scattered, I will lead the cavalry to attack the center of the enemy army from behind and help you defeat the enemy."

Cavalry defeats one side of cavalry, and then the cavalry charges the infantry, which is a common cavalry tactic. Guanqiu Jian heard the news of Wen Qin's defeat. If he can completely defeat the Han cavalry, he can help the army and become the last straw that overwhelms Huo Jun.

"promise!"

"Chase!"

Holding the spear forward and pulling the reins tightly, Guanqiu Jian put on his armor and helmet and led the charge.

"Woohoo~"

"Wan Sheng!"

With a general leading the battle, the Wei cavalry were extremely excited, shouting all kinds of interjections to boost their morale.

Under the leadership of Gao Xin, the Han cavalry retreated all the way from the flank of the infantry, and their formation became increasingly scattered, while the Wei soldiers continued to chase the defeated Han cavalry.

"Whoosh!"

The pursuing Wei cavalry shot down the lagging Han cavalry with bows. The riders screamed after being hit by arrows, and fell off their horses, rolling on the fields.

Immediately afterwards, the Wei cavalry stabbed down with their spears and followed up with another lance, stabbing the Han cavalry to death.

The pursuit yielded rich results, which led the Wei cavalry to continue the pursuit. They pursued the Han infantry from the flanks and continued to the rear of the Han infantry, getting farther and farther away from their own infantry phalanx.

When the Wei cavalry were attracted by the fleeing Han cavalry, dozens of war drums in the Han army's formation were beaten, and a warm drumbeat resounded across the fields.

If we look down from the sky today, we can see that the Wei cavalry are in a scattered cavalry formation. Because they are chasing the fleeing Han cavalry, the Wei cavalry are not facing the infantry head-on, but facing the infantry from the side.

Those cavalrymen who were hiding in the infantry phalanx rode out from several passages in each unit, with Pang De as the vanguard, and the armored cavalry followed suit, their target was directly the flank of the Wei cavalry.

At this time, Pang De relied on his excellent riding skills to gallop on his horse with both legs. With his freed hands, he did not charge with a spear, but held the bow and arrows with both hands.

Although Pang De did not command the Guiqi Cavalry, Pang De had outstanding cavalry combat capabilities. Since the Northern Expedition, Huo Jun had specially appointed Pang De to be in charge of the cavalry training in the army, and the Guiqi Cavalry was no exception. Therefore, Pang De was able to command the Guiqi Cavalry, and the Guiqi Cavalry could also accept Ding Feng's command.

About a thousand cavalrymen, each holding a bow, were divided into three groups, with Pang De's troops in the middle, forming a three-arrow formation, and charging forward continuously to the sound of drums.

When the distance between them and the enemy was a hundred steps, the Hunqi Cavalry did not rush to ride and shoot, but continued to charge forward with their heads lowered, accelerating their horses. The dust raised by their horses' hooves had already formed a thin mist.

Faced with the sudden attack of the cavalry, the Wei cavalry who were chasing them were caught off guard.

When Guanqiu Jian saw this, he immediately understood that this was a trap set by the Han cavalry. The weak cavalry lured him to pursue, while the elite cavalry hid in the formation. When he gave chase, the elite cavalry cut off the pursuers and defeated the Wei cavalry in one fell swoop, reversing the situation in an instant.

Without hesitation, Guanqiu Jian said to his men, "Raise the flags, turn around, and shoot back with bows." Time was too short for Guanqiu Jian to pass down the order, so he had no choice but to lead the cavalry behind him to meet the Han cavalry that was attacking from the side.

"Bah!"

The sound of horse hooves was like thunder. Because of the sudden attack on the flank, the Wei cavalry had to divide their troops to resist.

"Whoosh!"

Facing the approaching Han cavalry, the Wei cavalry raised their bows and shot arrows, which flew in the air and made a sound of breaking through the air. However, the Han cavalry was extremely restrained and kept their bows pressed. They dispersed their formation to avoid being hit. Even if they were hit, the arrows could not do anything to the Han cavalry because the Wei cavalry were wearing iron armor.

When he was twenty or thirty steps away from the cavalry, Pang De gripped the longbow tightly in his hand, leaned forward and aimed at the oncoming rider. No matter how bumpy the warhorse was, his hands were exceptionally steady.

"Whoosh!"

Pang De was the first to draw his bow, and the heavy arrow flew through the air towards the Wei cavalry with ferocious faces.

At such a close distance, Pang De could not aim at the body, but directly aimed at the weak face of the Wei cavalry. And it was not only Pang De who aimed at the face of the Wei cavalry, the Hunqi cavalry also shot at the face at close range.

In recent years, Huo Jun has promoted the close-range horse archery tactic in the army due to his deeper understanding of cavalry. Close-range horse archery is not uncommon, and even many outstanding horse archers can do it.

However, this was the first time that the rules for cavalry were formed, because horse archers would often shoot arrows in advance due to psychological factors such as fear and timidity. Outstanding horse archers would use their superb riding skills to conduct multiple rounds of horse archery.

Using the range of the bow and arrow to shoot in advance is a normal operation. But in Huo Jun's eyes, it is not the case. In a normal cavalry team, the number of cavalrymen who dare to charge is less than 1/3. But if too many cavalrymen in the front row are killed or injured, the remaining cavalrymen will lose the courage to fight.

Cavalry requires more courage than infantry. Once they lose the courage to charge and fight, their horses will not become weapons of attack but tools of escape.

If one side's cavalry is well-armored and suddenly inflicts large amounts of damage to the cavalry at close range, the enemy cavalry can easily be defeated after a charge.

Therefore, Huo Jun established military discipline for the mounted archery for the Hungui Cavalry, which required them to start shooting when they were thirty or forty steps away, and their aim must be at the face, not the body.

The next moment, the Wei cavalryman with a ferocious face shot an arrow at the head, and with Pang Dao's strength and accuracy, he actually hit the Wei cavalryman's eyeball.

His eyes popped out of focus, the pain was so excruciating that he let out a terrifying scream.

"what!"

The Wei cavalry screamed and immediately fell to the ground, dying on the spot.

As Pang De raised his hand and continued to shoot arrows, hundreds of arrows flew out from behind him. Perhaps the archery skills of the crowd were not as good as Pang De's, but at such a close distance, hundreds of arrows were enough to hit many Wei cavalry.

When the two armies were more than ten steps away, dozens of Wei cavalrymen were killed or wounded in an instant before the two armies had even started fighting. Most of them were shot in the face, and only a few were shot in the throat, chest, arms, etc.

In an instant, nearly a hundred cavalrymen were killed, and the surviving Wei cavalrymen were frightened on the spot. Before they could react, the next round of closer-range shooting came.

"Whoosh!"

Nearly a thousand arrows poured out, and another wave of Wei cavalry were hit in the face, with more than a hundred casualties.

Two waves of arrows caused nearly two hundred casualties among the Wei cavalry, which was really scary!

Seeing that the Han cavalry was still in high spirits and wanted to continue shooting arrows, the timid Wei cavalry turned around and fled. Someone led the escape, and more Wei cavalry fled.

"How come the enemy cavalry is so elite!"

Guanqiu Jian gripped the reins tightly, his voice trembling slightly.

It's not that Guanqiu Jian had never seen such elite cavalry before, but the excellent equipment, outstanding archery skills, and collective close-range shooting of the Hunqi cavalry made him inevitably a little nervous and fearful.

While Guanqiu Jian was amazed, Pang De and the Han cavalry did not stop. Those who were good at using long spears abandoned their bows and took up spears, charging the Wei cavalry with great courage; those who were good at using bows and arrows followed closely behind the spear cavalry, providing bow and arrow cover for the spear cavalry.

At the same time, Gao Xin led his cavalry to turn around and counterattack. Under the attack from the front and flanks, the Wei cavalry was divided into several groups. It did not last long. Under the impact of arrows and long spears, the Wei cavalry fell into chaos, fighting on their own, and then fled.

As a cavalry general, Guanqiu Jian was targeted by Pang De early on because of his conspicuous flag. Even if Guanqiu Jian abandoned his flag, he still could not escape Pang De's pursuit.

Guanqiu Jian was surrounded and pursued by Pang De and the Han army, and because of the obstruction of Yishui, he had to face Pang De's troops.

As the Wei cavalry scattered and fled, Guanqiu Jian, who originally had more than 3,000 cavalrymen, now had only about 300 cavalrymen left. Pang De had a similar number of cavalrymen around him, but they were more elite.

"kill!"

In order to save his life, Guanqiu Jian became determined and decided to lead his cavalry to launch a charge.

Pang De, a veteran of many battles, looked calm as he led his armored cavalry and held spears to fight against the enemy.

As the two cavalry teams wedged in, sharp arrows, swords and spears tore their skin and blood vessels. Some people were shot down by bows and arrows, some were pierced by lances, or hacked to death by ring-handled swords.

Many people may have escaped the disaster, but their horses could not be saved.

Guanqiu Jian fought with his spear and finally stabbed a cavalryman to the ground. He then found that the warhorse under his crotch had slowed down. He looked down and saw a huge spear wound on the horse's chest. Blood flowed through the armor, staining the vest red.

The battle situation was urgent and Guanqiu Jian had no time to care about so many things. He wanted to speed up his horse to help him escape from the battlefield.

Unfortunately, the speed of the war horses continued to slow down, and several Han cavalry broke through the obstruction of the guards and waved their weapons at him.

Guanqiu Jian used his spear to block the blow, but two fists were no match for four palms. A Han cavalryman smashed his head with the spear, causing the side of his helmet to cave in instantly. Guanqiu Jian was dizzy and almost fell off his horse.

Immediately afterwards, an arrow came from nowhere and hit Guanqiu Jian in the face, and blood gushed out.

Under continuous severe blows, Guanqiu Jian fell off his horse and was trampled to death by the horse's hooves!

(End of this chapter)