The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 418 Suffering a Loss
The Jin army has always been in high spirits. Although they suffered heavy losses from a volley of musket fire, they are not easily routed.

After spreading out the troops and circling halfway around the battlefield, Meng An realized: "We can't give them time to reload! Next time we charge in, after firing our arrows, don't pull back, keep advancing, draw your swords and fight them."

"Ouch!"

The Jin army began to regain its morale...

But their maneuver just now gave the cuirassiers enough time to react.

At least half of the cuirassiers had already loaded their bullets, while the other half, who didn't have time to load, simply hung their short muskets on their waists and drew their sabers.

In reality, cuirassiers in history often carried several short muskets, firing one and then switching to another without reloading. However, the logistical capabilities of the Northern Song army at that time were not sufficient to provide them with multiple short muskets, so they had to resort to the acrobatic skill of loading them on horseback.

Yi Zhangqing drew a long spear. Although she was a woman, her martial arts skills were better than her husband Zhang Yong's. Zhang Yong was able to fight Yue Fei for more than ten rounds without dying, which was truly impressive.

Seeing this, Niu Gao suddenly became excited, drew a long spear and held it horizontally in his hand, chuckling, "Young Master Yue, I'll go and charge in too."

Yue Wenxuan smiled, ready to watch the show.

"Whoa whoa whoa!"

The Jin cavalry let out a strange roar and charged forward again...

Seeing this, Yue Wenxuan couldn't help but secretly admire: Historical records show that the Jin cavalry was extremely difficult to defeat. Even if you defeated them in one or two waves, they would retreat and regroup, and then launch another attack. Based on this alone, they were much stronger than the cowardly Song Dynasty.

"Charge!" Yi Zhangqing roared, pointing his spear in Meng An's direction: "Kill all these bandits!"

"charge!"

"Ouch!"

The two sides began to approach each other rapidly...

At a distance of thirty meters, the Jin cavalry unleashed a flurry of arrows, their powerful shots piercing the air and striking the gleaming breastplates of the cuirassiers. Most were deflected, but a few managed to pierce the armor and penetrate a fraction of the flesh, causing the cuirassiers to howl in pain.

Yi Zhangqing and Niu Gao charged ahead, receiving the most arrows, but as generals, their armor was of the highest quality, so the arrows barely made a sound.

After firing their arrows, the Jin cavalry stopped their horizontal thrusts and simultaneously drew their swords.

The distance continues to close!

"Bang bang bang!"

The cuirassiers opened fire, bullets flying everywhere. The leather armor of the cuirassiers couldn't stop them, and they fell in droves in an instant.

But the Jin cavalry did not retreat at all. The front ranks fell, but the rear ranks, brandishing their swords, continued to charge forward.

The cuirassiers casually slung their short guns onto their belts and drew their swords.

"come!"

"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch."

"Whoa!"

The two sides were hurling insults at each other in their own languages, which was incomprehensible anyway, so it didn't matter...

In the blink of an eye, the cavalry at the front had already engaged in combat.

A horseman with a crooked steed swung his sword at Yizhangqing, but Yizhangqing flicked his spear, sending the horseman flying off his back. He landed heavily and was clearly beyond saving.

But after that exchange, Yi Zhangqing's spear was already deflected to the side. Then another horseman charged in from behind, brandishing his saber and delivering a vicious blow to Yi Zhangqing's head.

In an instant, Yi Zhangqing released his left hand, holding only the shaft of the spear with his right hand. With his left hand free, he drew his waist knife with a whoosh and parried the saber swung by the hunchbacked horse with a clang.

The opponent used his right hand, while Yi Zhangqing used her left. However, the right-handed Guai Zi Ma did not gain the upper hand and was held back by the strength of her left hand, which was that of a woman.

With that slash, the two horses had already crossed paths!
With a swift twist and drag, Yi Zhangqing's knife swept across the side of the hunchbacked horse.

After the horse charged for more than ten meters, its side suddenly split open, revealing a sloping waist... and then it fell off the horse.

Upon seeing this, Yue Wenxuan couldn't help but give a thumbs up: "What amazing skills, heroine!"
On the other hand, Niu Gao's style is completely different. Niu Gao is not a skill-based athlete, but a power-based athlete.

Although his strength was not as great as Xiang Yu's, he was still a monster who could be ranked in the top ten in real history! (If we don't include fictional characters like Li Yuanba to occupy a place.)
Niu Gao's iron spear was slightly lighter than Xiang Yu's Overlord Spear, but not by much. With a single sweep of the spear, no horseman could stay on his back within the range of the spear's shadow. He swung the spear wildly and instantly charged into the formation of the horsemen, sweeping left and thrusting right, looking quite happy.

Both generals were highly skilled in martial arts, and the fight was quite easy for them.

But the cuirassiers didn't have it so easy!

They were just ordinary soldiers, with mediocre martial arts skills and far inferior horsemanship compared to the Jin cavalry. When the sabers of the cavalrymen swung, the cuirassiers found it extremely difficult to dodge.

As a cuirassier and a cavalryman passed each other, the cavalryman swiftly swung his sword, dodging it at the cuirassier's chest. However, with a "clang," the sword was deflected by the cuirassier's armor.

The cuirassier was overjoyed and quickly returned the blow. The horseman narrowly dodged and was not hit, but he was so frightened that his face turned pale.

Only then did they realize that they were only lightly armed, wearing only leather armor, or even no armor at all, while their opponents were fully armored...

Cuirassiers were originally heavy cavalry, but they evolved into light cavalry as times progressed.

The same situation was happening everywhere: after a cavalry charge, a large number of the cavalrymen suffered losses, with only a few cuirassiers falling from their horses. This kind of fighting was too disadvantageous for the cavalrymen.

As it turns out, light cavalry cannot defeat lightly armed heavy cavalry.

The cavalrymen roared, "Something's wrong! The enemy has armor; we can't win in close combat either!"

Meng An was a bit frustrated. He couldn't win with long-range shots, and he couldn't win with close-range attacks either. How was he supposed to play this game?
We need to find our strengths!

By the way, our advantage is that we travel light.

Meng'an had no choice but to blow the horn: "Retreat, retreat first, run, run further away and then we'll figure out how to fight."

The kidnapper Ma Xin had no choice but to flee...

They ran, and the cuirassiers chased.

Although lightly armed heavy cavalry was slower than light cavalry, it was still cavalry, and much faster than the infantry musketeers of the Northern Song army. When chasing the cavalry, it could make them run like dogs.

The steeds galloped wildly, and as the distance between them widened, they breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the steed in front cried out in pain: "There's a Gray Fort ahead... there's a Gray Fort ahead!"

Meng An looked ahead and was shocked to see a gray fortress standing there!

He looked back and saw that the cuirassiers were still chasing him from a distance, and the Grey Fortress was blocking his way.

In an instant, Meng An understood, understood everything.

The Northern Song Dynasty built gray forts everywhere in order to cooperate with cavalry and defend against their mobile cavalry.

The cuirassiers don't need to run faster than them; they just need to chase them until they're running around aimlessly. Once the Grey Fortress appears ahead to provide support, the Rangers are finished.

(End of this chapter)