Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 174
Two days later, at the southern foot of Yangshan Mountain.

On the flat and open grassland, the Chu-Qin coalition forces are slowly advancing.

The infantry of the Chu army set up a standard offensive formation, with the heavy infantry holding halberds and wearing heavy armor as the front team, and the light infantry holding arm crossbows, waist drawing crossbows, and kicking crossbows as the second team. There are three teams of longbow archers, and the cavalry of the Qin Army are responsible for protecting the two wings. Behind the chariot guards, the whole army is slowly advancing towards Gaoque like an iron-clad monster.

In front, on both wings and behind the allied forces of Chu and Qin, there were endless Xiutu cavalry.

The [-] Xiutu cavalry may sound like a small number, but if they are scattered on the flat grassland, it will definitely be an incomparably magnificent and magnificent picture. If you look down from the sky, within a radius of more than ten miles, almost the entire grassland They were all annihilated by the sea of ​​cavalry of the Xiutu people.

Once the Xiutu cavalry started running and sprinting, the momentum was even more astonishing.

However, the generals of Chu and Qin were not intimidated. The Chu and Qin coalition forces in formation are like a reef in a stormy sea. No matter how high the wind is, I will stand still. If the Xiutu cavalry only dispatched a small group of cavalry to harass , I have Qin cavalry to deal with it, but once Hu cavalry with more than a thousand cavalry approaches, I will immediately be struck by the thunder of the Chu army's crossbow!
For the Xiutu cavalry in thin leather armor, the strong bows and crossbows of the Chu army's infantry are definitely a deadly threat.

From the afternoon of the day before yesterday to the present, the Xiutu cavalry had tried hundreds of attacks and countless harassments, and paid a heavy price of thousands of cavalry casualties, but in the end they still failed to stop the Chu and Qin coalition forces. Let the Chu and Qin coalition forces advance to Gaoque Pass.

##########
Looking at the army of the Central Plains rolling in front of him, King Xiutu couldn't help sighing.

Just now, the small-scale attack of the Xiutu cavalry was disintegrated by the Central Plains army. Except for the hundreds of corpses thrown on the battlefield, the Xiutu people got nothing. As for the Central Plains army, there were not even casualties. All they have is arrows, damn arrows, the Central Plains army seems to never run out of them.

At this moment, King Xiutu already knew it very well.

Unless the Xiutu army invests elite cavalry in a large-scale decisive battle at any cost, just investing a small amount of cavalry to harass or launch a small-scale attack is not enough to scare or stop the Central Plains army. What are the chances of winning the Xiutu army in the decisive battle?
But then again, let King Xiutu withdraw from Gaoque and give up his dream of occupying the Hetao. He will not be willing to do so anyway. The Hetao is the jewel in the fortress. Within 50 years at most, the population will surge, and the strength will increase sharply!
Huo Ran turned his head, King Xiutu ordered the captain of the cavalry: "Go, call the captains of Wan cavalry to me!"

The captain of the cavalry suddenly agreed, and immediately took the order to go. Watching the captain of the cavalry go away, a murderous intent gradually appeared on the corner of King Xiutu's mouth.

##############
Chu Jun, under the banner.

Bai Lixian raised his feather fan to cover his forehead, looked at Gaoqueguan City, which was far in front of him, then turned his head and said to Xiang Zhuang and Wei Liao with a smile: "General, military advisor, King Xiutu has no great abilities, he is just greedy." If you don’t let him suffer, he will definitely not give up Hetao, so next, it’s time for the Xiutu army to attack.”

As soon as the words fell, the low and desolate horns of the barbarians sounded in the four fields. Amidst the continuous sound of the horns, the Xiutu cavalry who had been swimming around the Chu army immediately retreated towards the front like the tide ebbing. In less than a moment, nearly [-] Xiutu cavalry formed a dense cavalry formation under Gaoque Pass in front of them.

A sneer appeared at the corner of Xiang Zhuang's mouth, and he said in a deep voice, "Zi Liang is really good at predicting things."

Since King Xiutu wants to play, let's play with him. Xiang Zhuang immediately raised his right hand and said calmly: "The big banner sends an order that the whole army stop advancing, and form an formation on the spot—a large defensive formation!"

Xiang Zhuang gave an order, and the Chu and Qin coalition forces immediately began to change formation.

The heavy armored infantry, light infantry, and archers of the front team stopped one after another.

The heavy soldiers of the rear team continued to move forward, forming more than 2000 heavy vehicles on the periphery of the entire formation to form three barriers inside and outside. The crossbowmen, waist-leading crossbows, and kicking crossbowmen live in the second circle, while the archers, Qin cavalry and Xiangzhuang's personal soldiers hide in the inner circle.

The Chu army was ready to form a good formation, and the Xiutu cavalry in front also began to change.

However, Xiang Zhuang didn't pay too much attention to the change of the Xiutu cavalry.

Because the Hu people at this time were at a very primitive stage in terms of strategy and tactics. Unlike the Central Plains, after hundreds of years of the Warring States period, both strategy and tactics, or humanities, philosophy, etc., have developed. At a very high level, tactics can only be learned in war!
Even the Huns had no tactics at all before Modu.

Before Modu, the fire between the Huns was basically like a group fight. Whoever has more people and whose fists are hard is the leader, and whoever is the Shanyu.

However, the appearance of Maodun completely changed this situation. Maodun is smart and studious, and he has a few Central Plains slaves who have been exiled to the Mobei Grassland. The enlightenment of family theory laid an extremely solid foundation for his future growth.

It is precisely because of the emergence of Maodun that the Huns were able to conquer Donghu.

At that time, the Donghu people were stronger than the Huns in terms of total population, number of strings and technology, but because of the emergence of Maodun, the Donghu people finally lost to the Huns, and they never recovered until 500 years later. A group of Xianbei talents re-emerged and occupied the entire Mobei grassland.

Therefore, Xiang Zhuang didn't take the change of Xiu Turen to heart.

Wei Liao and Bailixian also did not take the changes of the Xiutu people to heart. Wei Liao and Bailixian were no strangers to the Xiutu people. It is impossible for the Xiutu cavalry to pose a real threat to the Chu army's defensive formation. If the Hugh Tu cavalry don't come, let it go. If they really attack by force, they will definitely be smashed in front of the Chu army's defensive formation!
After a while, the Xiutu cavalry finally launched an attack.

Tens of thousands of cavalry lined up in a slightly scattered horizontal line, slowly crushing towards the circular defensive formation of the Chu army, and as time went by, the Xiutu cavalry ran faster and faster, and at the end , Tens of thousands of horseshoes hit the ground, and the sound of the rumbling horseshoes almost shattered everyone's eardrums.

Many timid soldiers of the Chu army immediately became agitated.

Tens of thousands of cavalry charged in groups, a horizontal formation that could not be seen at a glance, countless moving horse heads, countless galloping horseshoes, countless horse manes fluttering in the wind, and countless screaming Xiutu people brandishing various weapons. The unrestrained scene, the kind of momentum that crushes the world, is simply unimaginable for those who have not experienced it.

However, the vast majority of veterans are not moved at all, because they know that this is just a bluff.

Originally, although the Chu-Qin Allied Forces had a small 2 people, they could be arranged in a dense circular defensive formation. Even with the addition of baggage carts, the width was only a hundred or so paces, but you Xiutu cavalry could not see the side at a glance. What is the practical significance of the horizontal formation of cavalry?It's not just trying to overwhelm the Chu army from the momentum, but to frighten the Chu army psychologically.

For this set, nomadic tribes are very familiar with it.

When they were less than [-] steps away from the Chu army, the rolling forward Xiutu cavalry seemed to encounter a raging torrent on a reef, and suddenly split into two from the middle, and began to cut diagonally towards the left and right sides of the Chu army formation. , The next moment, thousands of Xiutu cavalry wrapped in several layers of leather armor suddenly charged out from the rear.

It's a bit interesting, and a faint smile has formed on the corner of Xiang Zhuang's mouth.

All of a sudden, Xiang Zhuang raised his right hand and said calmly: "The big banner is sending an order, ready to attack."

Jin Xiang, who was standing behind Xiang Zhuang, boarded the chariot with two steps, took the big banner from the hands of the four soldiers, and waved it vigorously towards the front. The battalion masters and generals turned around one after another, and issued combat orders to their respective units. In an instant, the Chu army was already in full swing.

The heavy armored infantry in the outer circle raised their halberds one after another, forming a dense forest of halberds in an instant.

The crossbowmen in the middle circle tightened their crossbows one after another, aiming their arrows at the Hugh Tu cavalry rushing ahead.

The archers in the inner circle also unloaded their longbows, untied the quiver on their backs, took out the heavy spiked arrows in the quiver one by one, and inserted them slowly in front of their right feet.

When the distance between the two armies was less than two hundred steps, the longbowmen of the Chu army took the lead in attacking.

Accompanied by the sound of "whoosh whoosh" piercing through the air, four thousand longbowmen have already shot four thousand spiked heavy arrows into the void, and then intertwined into an endless rain of arrows in the air, aiming at the approaching from the front The heads of the Xiutu cavalry fell down hard, and the Xiutu cavalry was immediately turned on their backs!
Amidst the mournful wailing, at least 200 Xiutu cavalrymen fell off their horses with arrows. Before they got up, the Xiutu cavalry behind them roared past their heads like a storm, and countless horseshoes slammed through the air. In a blink of an eye, the hundreds of Xiutu cavalry who fell off their horses were trampled into meat mud!

When the Xiutu cavalry entered within a hundred steps, the Chu army's kicking crossbows, waist pulling crossbows, and arm stretching crossbows also attacked one after another. The hit rate of the crossbow arrows was much higher than that of the longbows that rely on large-scale coverage to kill the enemy. Now, with the attack of various crossbows of the Chu army, the casualties of the Xiutu cavalry began to increase sharply in an instant.

By the time the group of Xiutu cavalry wearing multiple leather armors rushed to the front of the Chu army's outer chariot formation, the entire cavalry formation had become much sparser. Within a short distance of less than a hundred steps, the Xiutu cavalry had paid at least a thousand cavalry. Casualties!

(End of this chapter)