Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 834 Cavalry Battle
Li Guangshun came ten steps ahead of the formation and looked at the Liao army lined up opposite him. He didn't need to say anything about mobilization. For a month, because of the lack of troops and the fact that His Majesty the Emperor didn't want to suffer too much damage in battle, he adopted a strategy of mainly defending the city. The strategy made the whole army suffocate from top to bottom, especially the cavalry.

Both sides are excellent war horses, but the state of the Liao army's war horses is obviously not good.Most of the warhorses in Xiangfu Kingdom came from the Dangxiang clan. These horses felt the atmosphere of the battlefield, and the violent ones began to paw the ground with their front hooves, snorting and shaking their heads from side to side.

The standard-bearer came to Li Guangshun holding the flag of the regiment commander, and another communication-standard-bearer pointed the red pennant obliquely forward. During the sound of the marching horn with five short sounds followed by a long sound, ten thousand cavalry simultaneously mobilized their horses and began to march forward. Li Guangshun needed Accurately judge the distance to ensure that you can confront the enemy at the highest speed of the charge.At present, the distance between them and the enemy is about one and a half miles. They have to keep a slow pace to about two hundred paces. The charge at a distance of two hundred paces is their most proficient subject. The difficulty lies in how to maintain a dense formation when the speed is gradually increasing.Under strict training, these [-] cavalry have been able to approach and charge at a distance of up to [-] steps.

The [-] horses of Xiangfu Kingdom advanced slowly, and nine cavalry battalion commanders with flags on their backs stepped out of the formation and came five steps ahead of the right side of the formation. They used lances with small triangular flags and set them up behind their heads The subordinates of the platoon can also clearly see the position. These battalion commanders turn their heads from time to time to observe the position of the regiment commander. advance.

Speaking of which, Yang Jiye's strategy for fighting today is very simple. The cavalry will charge first and kill the spirit of the Liao army. By the way, in front of the Khitan cavalry, who have the strongest cavalry in the world, they will test the effect of the latest cavalry tactics researched by the whole army of Xiangfu Kingdom.The infantry defended in place, waiting for the Liao cavalry to take the initiative to attack.Break through the mountains on both sides and use the trebuchet to launch gunpowder packs even when the timing is right.

At this time, Yang Jiye had left the front with five hundred soldiers, commanding flag bearers, and drummers, and retreated from the gap in the army formation to the rear. People went up.

Yang Jiye glanced at the entire audience on the podium, and the infantry had already lined up. Behind them were five medical and health teams. The field hospital had been basically set up with five cowhide tents, ready to treat the wounded at any time. Soldiers prepare.

Finally, Yang Jiye turned his attention back to the cavalry battlefield.

Nearly two miles away, the Liao army's central army sounded the trumpet. The first battle was extremely important to maintain the morale of the Liao army. Xiao Dage sent out the most elite [-] cavalry with the best horses.The opponent came like a rainbow, and if they were defeated, their morale would plummet, which was unimaginable for the Liao army in its current state.However, for the cavalry confrontation, Xiao Dage is full of confidence in his subordinate Erlang.

In addition, it wasn't that Xiao Dage didn't want to send more cavalry, but that [-] cavalry was the limit of the terrain in front of him, and any more would be a burden.Obviously, Xiangfu Kingdom chose to fight at the mouth of the valley, and deliberately blew up half of the ravine with explosives.

The main team hadn't officially started charging, and both sides sent out rangers to start fighting.The rangers sent by Li Guangshun began to retreat to the two sides, to get out of the middle position, and some of the ranger skirmishers of the Liao army in the middle rushed directly to the formation of the Xiangfu army, ready to harass the formation of the Xiangfu army.These squads scattered to the two wings, shuttled in front of the formation and shot light arrows with riding bows.

This is the "Lava Tactic" most commonly used by Liao cavalry, and it is one of the housekeeping skills of the Khitan cavalry. The formation may be shaken, and the group in the back formation will look for the opponent's weak position to conduct a concentrated charge, which will cause the entire enemy formation to collapse.

But the harassment that has been very effective in the past is more like a kind of trouble. The horses in the first row of the cavalry of Xiangfu Kingdom have leather masks on their heads, and there are arrow curtains on their chests, which can resist light shots from a small angle. arrow.A total of only five or six horses were shot and wounded, and the second row of cavalry with spears quickly stepped forward to fill up.

Xiangfu Kingdom's cavalry's best containment also limited the opponent's performance, and the [-] cavalry continued to advance against the harassing light arrows.

The gentle speed brought up the chaotic sound of horseshoes, and the two sides approached [-] steps. Li Guangshun's military flag leaned forward again, and the trumpeter blew the second marching horn.The command of cavalry is different from that of cavalry, which can stand in the rear and command, but cavalry has to charge forward, and it has to lead while charging and command at the same time.

Li Guangshun ignored the light arrows flying from afar, and while running he observed his formation from left to right. Ten thousand cavalry began to jog, with surging horse heads everywhere. They all effectively controlled the team, and the formation was not chaotic due to harassment. The results of half a year of hard training reflected that the formation was still stable.

The horseshoes on the gentle slope were no longer a chaotic sound, but the dense hoofbeats gradually merged into a rumbling sound, which was like fairy music to Li Guangshun's ears.

The distance between the two sides was only [-] steps soon, and because of the reason for advancing, Li Guangshun thought it was only a hundred steps. The flat array was like a moving wall of horses. retreated before the cavalry.

The Liao cavalry appeared in front of Li Guangshun in a complete manner, with shining armor. Most of their weapons were spears and knives, and they also used maces and sabers. The same orderly formation began to jog, but the strictness was only compared to the ordinary cavalry of this era. Said, such as the Song Dynasty cavalry and the former Dangxiang Bashi cavalry.Compared with today's Xiangfu Kingdom's cavalry formation, the order and order of the cavalry is much worse. Their cavalry is more widely spaced, and the troop strength is not evenly distributed. There is a garrison in the left, middle and right. scattered.

Li Guangshun's blood surged and he roared, "Three speeds!"

Another sound of the marching horn, the flag-bearer turned the flag of the general commander in a circle and leaned forward. The nine battalion commanders gave orders loudly, and the pennant gun leaned forward again.The [-] cavalrymen of Xiangfu Kingdom heard the sound of the horn, and at the same time beat their horses to speed up. The sound of rumbling horseshoes was like thunder rushing from far to near in the sky.

None of the harassed Liao rangers dared to stand in front of the soldiers, so they fled to the sides one after another, aiming bows and arrows at the two wings and shooting at random. The Xiangfu army on the two wings was shot down, but this loss had no effect on the overall cavalry formation.

After facing each other, the distance between the two sides is only the last hundred steps in a blink of an eye, and it only takes a few breaths of time.

"Charge!" Li Guangshun yelled against the biting cold wind, and four trumpeters blew their horns loud and clear.Li Guangshun and the ninth battalion commander leveled their black flag guns.

"kill!"

The cavalry of the Xiangfu Kingdom shouted collectively according to military regulations, and the spears erected in the first row were leveled, followed by the spears in the second row.The Liao soldiers also sounded their horns. They also leveled their spears and raised their swords. Both sides began to charge.

On the podium, Yang Jiye stood up involuntarily, staring at the battlefield intently. His eyes were full of galloping horses. The dirt and grass clippings brought up by tens of thousands of horseshoes were flying everywhere. arrive.

The people in the front row of the infantry lined up with their mouths wide open, their eyes open for a moment, holding their breath and waiting for the moment of collision.The dense formation left no way for both sides to retreat, and there was no room for dodging. Killing and being killed only happened at the moment when the horses intersected. At this time, personal combat skills and riding skills were useless. It is best reflected in cavalry warfare.

The oncoming Liao army began to show panic. Under the threat of dense spears in front of them, some horses ran diagonally sideways regardless of the rider's control, but diagonally, the Xiangfu army was also rushing in. Their formation It became scattered, but at this distance none of the cavalry on the hedge could retreat.

Under the rapid running, the cavalry formation of Xiangfu Kingdom finally inevitably began to curve, but the short distance was not enough to affect the integrity of the formation.

Fifty paces apart, the horse speed rose to the fastest speed, and the two sides approached at a speed of about 20 meters per second. Li Guangshun's face was flushed, his eyes were wide open, and he clenched the command gun with the black triangular flag in his hand, pointing the gun at the opposite side. Liao Bing, this Liao Bing had a fierce face and was leading the way with a big knife in his hand. He was finally a little flustered at this moment because he had to face at least two spear attacks.

There were still people in the front row of the Liao army trying to shoot arrows. A wave of light arrows from a cavalry bow swished towards them. More than 100 Xiangfu cavalrymen were hit. Because of their good armor defense, only a dozen fell off their horses. Short distances are fleeting.

"Kill!" Xiangfu Kingdom's cavalry burst out the last roar at the same time.

boom!
The torrent of two horses collided head-on, countless broken gun shafts and fragments of blades flew, the sound of breaking and the collision of men and horses continued, the sound of gun blades rubbing against armor made the teeth sore, and the horses that couldn't avoid it collided with each other until their bones were shattered , Some horses were knocked into the air, and some fell to the ground with their riders, rolling desperately on the ground.

At the last moment, Li Guangshun's mount deflected slightly to the left disobediently, but he did not let his spear deviate too much. He kept staring at the oncoming Liao soldier, lowered his figure, and roared at both sides The hoofbeats staggered past.

The next moment, he felt a huge impact from his hand, his mouth numb, and the gun body flew out of his hand in an instant. With a scream, the figure of the Liao soldier turned backwards, and then flashed in front of his eyes And passed, submerged in the cavalry waves.

"It's stabbed. In this case, it is better to use a spear than a saber." The cavalry of the Dangxiang clan led by Li Guangshun used to use sabers, so he, like other Xiangfu cavalry, was also the first time to use a spear to fight cavalry. combat.

(End of this chapter)