Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 429: Battle in Hedong (Seventeen)
In a conventional cavalry battle, the Yu-Yan coalition had no chance of winning, and Fu Jian and Yue Wan knew this very well.

After all, the battle between cavalry, after all, is a competition of courage, and the cavalry of the Yu army had long been frightened.

As for the cavalry under Yue Wan, they could not be considered elite.

Therefore, if one wants to defeat Liang's melee cavalry, one cannot hope that one's own cavalry can perform exceptionally well. The key to victory or defeat still lies in the coordinated operations of infantry and cavalry.

Following Fu Jian's order, the five thousand Di cavalrymen under Fu Fei's command were tied together with iron chains.

This was also the tactic that Fu Jian and Yue Wan had prepared in advance. They wanted to imitate Murong Ke's capture of Ran Min alive, use iron chains to connect the horses, delay the cavalry of Liang, and then cooperate with the infantry and cavalry to nibble them away.

During the three days before the decisive battle, Fu Jian and Yue Wan did not do nothing.

Fu Fei was still shouting to boost the morale of his troops:
"This battle is not only related to the safety of Dayu, but also closely related to the future of us Di people. Once the Jin people take control of Hedong, they will seize our farmland and rape our wives and children. The Di people will be enslaved by the Jin people from generation to generation!

"It has taken us so many years to rise up! Are you willing to be bullied by the Jin people?"

As soon as the words fell, the blood of the young soldiers boiled and they shouted:

"I do not want to!"

The indignant soldiers echoed:

"I don't want to either!"

"I would rather die than be enslaved by the Jin people!"

Fu Fei was very satisfied with their reaction, but in this battle, the 5,000 soldiers of the Iron Chain Cavalry were destined to be killed or wounded, just like the 5,000 Yan cavalry back then. Therefore, in order to dispel their concerns, Fu Fei still needed to move them with benefits.

"The Heavenly King has ordered that after this battle, regardless of life or death, you will be promoted three levels. Those who died in battle will be succeeded by their children. The court will support your parents and raise your children. What you have to do is to bravely move forward and serve your country and kill the enemy!"

Everyone shouted in unison:

"Fight forward bravely! Serve our country and kill the enemy!"

Seeing that the army was in good spirits, Fu Fei quickly sent someone to inform Fu Jian that he was ready.

Just when Fu Fei thought that Fu Jian would send a flag-bearing officer to deliver the message, he came in person.

Fu Jian rode on his horse, looking at the five thousand soldiers in front of him, and said solemnly:
"I am waiting for you to come back and drink a celebratory wine with you!"

If the soldiers at the front were not still facing the rain of arrows from the Liang army, Fu Jian might have asked his personal followers to pour wine and drink a bowl with them first.

Five thousand cavalrymen, carrying Fu Jian's expectations, led by Fu Fei, appeared in front of the battle.

Huan Xi looked at the cavalry from afar. They were not an armored cavalry, at least the horses were not wearing armor.

At the same time, this cavalry of the Yu State did not carry long-handled weapons, such as lances and horse spears, which had been abandoned. Instead, they held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, giving people the feeling that they were a group of sword and shield soldiers among the infantry riding on horseback.

However, what attracted Huan Xi's attention most was the iron chains that connected them together, five by five.

Huan Xi quickly figured out the other party's intention of abandoning long-handled weapons and using swords and shields.

The shield is not for people, but for protecting horses.

During the charge, if a person was hit by an arrow and fell, that was it, but if one horse fell, it would trigger a chain reaction, and the other four horses would also fall due to inertia. Fu Jian did not have time to build so many horse armors, and after losing the salt pond, he no longer had the financial resources, so he could only think of this method to replace the horse armor.

As for the lives of these 5,000 Di cavalry, as the saying goes, a kind man cannot command an army, Fu Jian no longer cared about it, otherwise he would not have imitated Murong Ke's tactics of connecting horses with iron chains.

At that time, Murong Ke wiped out the last 10,000 elite infantry of Ran Wei at the cost of 5,000 cavalry, and captured Ran Min alive.

Fu Jian no longer dared to hope to capture Huan Xi alive, he only hoped to drive him out of Hedong.

Five thousand cavalrymen were lined up in a row. Unlike previous cavalry charges that used multiple stages, the horses were connected by iron chains. If one row fell, the cavalrymen in the back row would certainly not be able to bypass it. The reason was that it was extremely difficult to turn around.

Fu Fei rode his horse and stood on the far right of the queue. His mount was not connected to the soldiers. It was obvious that this group of people were going to die, but Fu Fei was not one of them.

He was a great general of the royal family and a powerful enemy in the army. How could he lose his life so easily?

Fu Fei drew out his steel knife, raised it above his head, and shouted:
"For Dayu! Charge!"

As soon as he finished speaking, drums sounded, and five thousand cavalrymen lined up in a row launched a suicidal charge towards the Xianbei archers on the right wing of the Liang army.

However, Huan Xi had already thought of a way to deal with the situation in his cramped situation.

At the same time as the Yu army's cavalry charged, 3,000 archers also rushed out from the Liang army's right wing position and lined up in a row. The only difference was that these 3,000 archers each rode two horses. In addition to the war horse they were sitting on, they also led a blindfolded horse in their hands.

As early as the battle of Yinchuan, 2,000 cavalrymen of Baibao Xianbei blinded their horses with black cloth and fearlessly charged towards 10,000 elite cavalrymen of Yu army, eventually scaring off the enemy. Since then, Huan Xi asked his cavalrymen to always carry a piece of black cloth, which now came in handy.

Fu Jian's vision was blocked by the charging cavalry, and he could not see the situation ahead. However, Fu Fei could see it clearly. He thought that Huan Xi was ready to abandon his three thousand archers and cavalry to block the charge of Yu's iron chain cavalry with his flesh and blood, and he felt a little disdainful in his heart.

In Fu Fei's opinion, as long as the distance was close, these 3,000 archers would be defeated without a fight.

Just like the charge of Baibao Xianbei last year, they covered the horses' eyes with black cloth to show that they had no intention of retreating, thus frightening the elite cavalry of Yu State.

Now the Yu cavalry were tied together with iron chains and could not retreat, so the only ones who could retreat were the Liang army's archers.

"Huan Xi, you little brat! You're just a name for nothing!"

Just as Fu Fei was looking down on them, the 3,000 archers of the Liang army, who took action almost at the same time as the Yu army, left their blindfolded horses on the field after marching forty steps, and rode back on their war horses.

Even though the Yu army could not increase its speed too much because of the iron chains connecting their horses, the distance between the Liang and Yu armies was only a hundred steps. By the time the 3,000 Xianbei archers retreated, the Yu cavalry were only twenty steps away from the group of abandoned horses.

At this moment, even if Fu Fei realized that Huan Xi wanted to use these 3,000 blindfolded horses that were unable to see the danger as obstacles on their way forward, the Yu cavalry would have no time to turn around.

How could the cavalry, which were connected in a 55-50 manner, complete a turn and bypass the group of horses in front of them when they were charging?

"Stop! Stop now!"

Fu Fei shouted at the top of his lungs.

Fortunately, the distance of twenty steps was enough for the Yu army cavalry to slow down. However, the cavalry had lost their speed and was blocked, and it was inconvenient for them to turn around. At this time, they were only forty steps away from the Liang army's formation.

In other words, they had become living targets for the Liang army's archers.

(End of this chapter)