Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 540: The Beginning of the First Battle
There was no fog in the morning.

The Xianbei people had no time to reoccupy and repair the breached and burned camp, and as soon as their scouts gathered, they were attacked.

Be it the Xianbei people or the Youzhou rebels, they began preparing for a fierce battle when each camp lit fires in preparation for battle.

Just as the sky was getting slightly brighter and the follow-up troops from Guanzhong arrived, all the camps were already preparing for battle in an orderly manner.

Attacking from south to north, near the core battlefield, the black bear could not find a suitable vantage point to watch.

He observed the distance and said to Gao Jun, who arrived with his personal troops, "The throat is in the northeast, where the Xianbei people are the majority; in the northwest mountains are the rebels from Yuyang and Shanggu counties, among whom there are also people from Dai county."

Gao Jun also led a group of hundreds of generals to observe everywhere. They found that there was no big difference from yesterday. The only change was that the attack last night was successful, and a camp in the connecting area of ​​the two enemy forces was burning.

He thought for a moment and then said, "Your Majesty, do you want to deploy a decoy force?"

"Yes, our army has not yet fought with Xianyu Fu, so he is bound to look down on us. When our army attacks the pass controlled by the Xianbei, the rebels may attack the location of our central army's banner."

Black Bear pointed to the west and said, "It's the north wind now. Send some people to set fire. Burning the wilderness will block each other's vision. This will also prevent them from getting familiar with the terrain and sending people to hide in it to harass and ambush our scouts."

Gao Jun turned his head to observe and found something was indeed abnormal.

When the camp is set up, the soldiers and beasts will first clear away the nearby bushes and grass. There are indeed bushes and woodlands of varying sizes to the west of here, none of which are large, but if they are combined together, it is not difficult to hide hundreds of elite cavalry.

Worried that Gao Jun could not control it, Black Bear opened the map with the battlefield outline marked on it and drew a line with his finger: "Just set fire to it."

"Yes."

When Gao Jun saw this, he immediately understood what was going on and turned around to negotiate with several generals of the hundred.

Seeing this, Black Bear was no longer distracted. He left the White Tiger banner here and mixed in with the "Tai Shi" battle flag team and headed north again.

As this group of four or five hundred infantry and cavalrymen advanced northward, Kebineng, who was on the northern ridge, also stood up, wishing he could get closer to the battlefield and observe.

The night attack in the second half of last night cannot be counted. It’s a loss, so there’s nothing to worry about.

But now is the most meaningful battle since the war began, and all camps are watching and preparing for battle.

This battle directly affected the combat morale of subsequent battalions.

The two sides were less than three miles apart. When they were within a hundred steps, Black Bear saw light arrows being shot from the camp.

Several light arrows fell around him, but he remained unmoved. He stared intently at the front and gave orders with concentration.

The Xianbei camp was as loose as ever, and was far less upright and solid than last night's camp.

There are only simple anti-horse fences, and there are also flexible deer antlers and barricades piled up near the entrance and exit on weekdays.

There were three such small villages in front of him, arranged in a triangle shape, and behind them was the pass.

The temporary reinforcement of the pass was like a dam. During this period, the Xianbei people probably focused their main energy on the construction of the pass and the rolling stones and logs on the hillsides on both sides of the pass.

Manpower is limited and time is even tighter, so we are unable to cope with the construction of small camps.

Perhaps the purpose of the existence of these camps is to provide vigilance. Once the pass is built, these small camps will retreat and choose a new location.

Just as Black Bear was thinking and judging, Lu Bu led more than 40 armored cavalrymen to charge with spears. The archers in the camp stood behind the deer horns and chevaux de frise and aimed carefully. The tribal leaders around them shouted loudly, walked around with knives, and also stared at the armored cavalrymen who were about to charge.

The Youzhou border troops also liked armored cavalry, so the Xianbei people were not unfamiliar with this thing.

But in their eyes, although armored cavalry seemed to have many advantages, it was actually not practical at all.

Armored cavalry required too much logistics and technology, and the productivity and tribal organization of the Xianbei could not maintain a standing cavalry. Therefore, the famous Xianbei Tuqi was a medium-armored spear-carrying cavalry.

Not only them, the armor protection of the Youzhou cavalry composed of Han powerful men was also weakening the weight of the armor.

It's not that they can't afford this little money, but the higher the degree of stacking of protective gear, the lower the cost-effectiveness.

In fact, like the Xianbei people, they are all looking for a good value for money.

Another thing is that the Youzhou border troops have not been able to achieve a high level of cohesion and integration over the years, making it difficult to build an armored cavalry specifically designed to break through enemy lines.

After all, the battle situation was unfavorable. Others had the opportunity to escape, but the armored cavalry really could not escape when they were defeated.

I can't even do something like throwing away my weapons and armor.

Therefore, when faced with the charge of the armored cavalry, the Xianbei people were not afraid. Instead, they felt pity for these armored warriors on the opposite side.

When they were within twenty steps, the Xianbei leader in charge of the command suddenly swung his sword and roared, and more than two hundred archers shot at the same time.

On the northern ridge, Kebineng could already imagine that the horses on the opposite side were injured, the knights were in panic and their formation was in disarray, trampling on each other, and then the momentum of the charge came to an abrupt halt. Under the second and third rounds of close-range bow shooting, only a few knights could escape in embarrassment.

However, this powerful salvo at close range had no effect.

Even the chest-high antlers were of no use. These dozens of armored cavalrymen actually jumped over on their horses and immediately crashed into the pile of elite Xianbei archers.

It was horrible in an instant. Ke Bineng stood up suddenly and widened his eyes: "What kind of horse is this!"

Yan Rou's brother Yan Zhi stood up and stared at the chaotic camp. "We don't know either. But there has long been a rumor that the Grand Marshal of Guanzhong and his deputy, Taishi Wengong, had a horse that could travel a thousand miles a day, and that ran all day long in the counties of Guanzhong. At first, we thought it was just folk rumors, but later when Liu Xuande entered Youzhou, many of his men saw the horse and said the rumor was true."

Yan Zhi said in a low voice: "Looking at the size of the enemy's knights, this kind of dragon colt has begun to breed. If we can't keep him here, we may have to face hundreds or thousands of such cavalry in a few years."

Ke Bineng frowned and said angrily: "How can there be such a dragon-like horse!"

He had completely understood that facing the charge of such powerful cavalry, even if Yan Rou was not careless, he would most likely be hit by the enemy and killed on the spot.

This is just an offensive. If it is a field battle, the opponent can unleash even more ferocious damage.

Our cavalry cannot catch up with the enemy, and our rangers probably cannot escape the enemy's attack and pursuit.

Cavalry are relatively free on the battlefield. You can use military law to restrain soldiers, but it is difficult to restrain frightened war horses, let alone prevent them from being accidentally injured.

Therefore, when facing some strong and almost invincible enemies, some cavalrymen would accidentally leave the battle area because their horses were injured or frightened.

Ke Bineng had almost climbed up from the bottom step by step, and he knew very well what measures some people would take in order to survive.

As he watched, the masked cavalry stirred the camp back and forth. Seeing that they could not be stopped, some Xianbei people in the camp began to flee.

At this time, the enemy's infantry poured into the camp, and the remaining Xianbei people who were still resisting completely collapsed.

Either turn around and flee to preserve the seeds for continuing the fight, or fight to the death. No one surrenders.

This made him feel relieved a lot. The even better news was that he could vaguely see the other side treating the wounded. In this battle, the other side should have lost three cavalrymen. He didn't know whether the knights were injured or the horses were injured.

Taking into account the injured knights, the enemy was not invincible. Ke Bineng felt relieved and turned to look at the nobles: "Order each village to defend to the death!"

The enemy's elite cavalry must be worn down, otherwise when they evacuate, these people will protect Black Bear and they are afraid that they will not be able to catch up.

(End of this chapter)