Chapter 295 0290 [First experience of riding combat]
The climate south of the Dadu River is warm and humid, so it is basically impossible to march and fight in summer.
This time the troops were sent out one month after the autumn harvest. It will take time for the local grain to enter the warehouse. After the grain arrives, the temperature will be slightly cooler.
Even so, there are still sweltering hot weather occasionally, which makes wearing armor uncomfortable.
Like ordinary cavalry soldiers, Ju Ming wore cloth armor, whose main function was to protect against arrows.
But he also had a chain-mail vest inside, which was a high-end item in the Northern Song Dynasty. Because the metal drawing technology was immature, and it was too labor-intensive to make, and the craftsman's technical requirements were high, Ju Ming asked his father to buy it at a high price because of his connections.
Got one.
The cavalry of the two armies approached, then automatically slowed down and took out their bows and arrows to shoot at the opposite side.
The Han cavalry on Ju Ming's side all use standard horse bows, which have a slightly farther range than the barbarians' native bows.
After practicing bow and arrow for several years, Ju Ming was already extremely accurate in foot shooting, but his mounted shooting still lacked some proficiency. After he stopped his horse, he drew his bow and shot, and the first arrow accurately hit the target.
Li Bao, on the other hand, rode his horse and fired without any pause, and hit the barbarian soldier in the chest with one arrow.
This guy brought his own northern war horses. Due to the shortage of commanding officers, he had been commanding the infantry. In the previous battle, the junior officers who performed well were temporarily promoted by Ju Ming, and some small soldiers were recruited from among the civilians. Li Bao finally escaped and transformed into
Cavalry Commander.
The cavalry from both sides shot at each other back and forth. Zhu Ming and Li Bao alone were killed and wounded more than ten people one after another.
To be honest, this horse fight was very amateurish.
On the northern battlefield, it was more like an encounter between a small group of scouts, with no cavalry formations to speak of.
Especially the Han cavalry and the barbarian cavalry on Ju Ming's side were completely out of touch. The barbarian cavalry could not understand Chinese and fought on their own the whole time. They were led by the leaders to shoot arrows. They also acted very timid and did not dare to get too close.
, most arrows shoot into the air.
"Rush over!"
"Woooooo~~~"
The barbarian soldiers on the opposite side blew their horns, and Piao Li took advantage of the large number of soldiers and launched a charge. He was very annoyed when he was shot by Zhu Ming and Li Bao, and saw that the barbarian cavalry under Ju Ming's command were out of touch, so he gave up shooting each other and chose to charge.
Ju Ming led the Han cavalry to attack head-on, but the first reaction of his barbarian cavalry was to run away, completely becoming two completely unrelated parts.
Cornucopia became extremely excited, spreading its hooves and accelerating continuously, rushing to the front in an instant.
Li Bao and Deng Chun followed on horseback to the left and right, gradually widening the distance. Li Bao Bao was faster and slightly ahead. Deng Chun was slower, holding his mace and shouting to charge.
The more than forty Han cavalry behind them saw how brave the three generals were, and they all rode up to follow them.
The formation was extremely spread out, and the distance between horses was more than two meters.
But it can barely be seen that it is a wedge formation, and Zhu Ming, Li Bao and Deng Chun are the arrows.
While galloping, Li Bao suddenly drew his bow and aimed at the opponent's general.
Piao Li was so frightened that he quickly lay down on his horse, but this arrow was shot at the horse. The arrow hit the horse's neck hard, and the horse under Piao Li's crotch did not die immediately. He instantly went crazy under the pain and killed
Lying on the back of the horse, he was thrown high in the saddle.
Ju Ming rode the cornucopia as fast as lightning, stabbing out an iron spear weighing more than ten kilograms in his hand.
While he was still trying his best to control his frantic horse, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Ju Ming approaching and subconsciously ducked to dodge.
The iron spear thrust out by Ju Ming suddenly pressed downwards, piercing the exquisite leather armor on Piao Li's body. The leather armor was also inlaid with iron pieces, but it only protected key parts. The tip of the spear penetrated instantly, and the huge impact force
He knocked off his horse.
Piao Li was so proud of his bravery that he actually charged forward and was gone as soon as they met. The guards on both sides had no time to rescue him.
Ju Ming withdrew his gun and swept away, and his bodyguard was swept off his horse in front of him.
Deng Chun had also followed up, wielding his mace and charging forward, almost one at a time.
Li Bao is actually still shooting arrows, with an extremely amazing shooting speed, specializing in picking out barbarians with exquisite leather armor.
The cornucopia is becoming more and more excited. It does not need to be controlled by its owner at all. It rushes forward spontaneously and knows how to avoid various obstacles.
Ju Ming moved forward with the momentum of his horse. He was wearing chain armor, his horse was tall and powerful, and he had excellent weapons in his hands. He rushed into the midst of these barbarian cavalry, like a tiger rushing into a herd of sheep, and there was no enemy wherever he passed.
This made Li Bao and Deng Chun behind them much more relaxed. The three of them were like sharp awls, forcibly cutting a passage through the barbarian cavalry.
The Han knights further behind were greatly inspired, and they accelerated their charges one by one. Their momentum actually overwhelmed the enemy who was ten times their size.
The barbarian knights who surrendered to Ju Ming fled a short distance away and then stopped, intending to continue observing the situation. Seeing how brave the Han army was, they also followed suit.
One thing faded and the other waxed and waned, and the barbarians began to collapse.
The main reason was that their general was dead. Then he was cut open from the front. The command system had failed, and the cavalry in the rear row subconsciously turned to escape.
Ju Ming's blood boiled all over, and he finally felt the thrill of a cavalry charge.
"Of the one hundred cavalry, only two or three can really be used, five or six can follow up, and the rest are all useless." This was the sentiment of a French cavalry officer in the Napoleonic era.
It was extremely rare for ancient cavalry to engage in confrontation and strangulation. Often, before a head-on contact, one party would take the initiative to avoid the battle. Or after the contact, one party's formation was broken, and the remaining cavalry began to flee.
The two sides were involved in a melee, which meant that both sides were elites.
If the two sides pass each other, they can turn around and reorganize the charge. This kind of scene will not be seen once in a hundred years.
There are only a few people out of a hundred who decide the outcome of a horse battle, so strong generals are extremely precious.
Zhu Ming, Li Bao, and Deng Chun were the first to charge into the enemy's formation. There were more than forty cavalry behind them who could follow up. This battle had already been won. The barbarian cavalry who followed at the end were just the icing on the cake.
Looking down from a high altitude, hundreds of barbarians were fleeing on horseback, being chased by a smaller number of enemies in a panic.
After several miles of open space, the flat land next to the river quickly became narrow.
The barbarian cavalry scrambled to escape, often colliding with men and horses. Some simply jumped into the river and swam for their lives in fear. Or they abandoned their horses and climbed up the mountain. They could survive in the mountains.
Ju Ming took the lead and rushed into the narrow area. When he caught up, he fired his gun, one shot at a time. The enemy had no strength to resist. What he needed to pay more attention to was the cornucopia, not to step on the corpse and get tripped, or collide with the horse that lost its owner.
Come together.
The enemies who fled slowly could not reach the narrow areas at all, and were surrounded and killed in the open areas. A large number of barbarians chose to dismount and surrender.
After chasing for seven or eight miles, until he could see the main force of the barbarians, Ju Ming reined in his horse and stopped.
Li Bao rushed behind Ju Ming and laughed: "It was so refreshing to kill!"
Ju Ming said: "Go back and clean the battlefield."
"Yes!" Li Baole immediately turned around.
Ju Ming, however, continued to advance on horseback. Ju Meng, who had been marching before, panicked and formed a formation to meet the attack.
"The thief chief comes forward and speaks!" Zhu Ming shouted.
It was too far away to hear clearly. When Zhu Ming came forward alone, Ju Meng took Sun Shu as an interpreter and also rode over to negotiate.
Ju Ming turned over and dismounted, letting Cornucopia take the opportunity to rest.
Ju Meng shouted: "That Han official, why do you want to attack me? I pay tribute every three years and I am very loyal to the court. But it is you Han officials who bought things and did not give me enough money."
Ju Ming shouted: "You yourself do pay tribute every three years, but you don't allow other tribes to pay tribute, and even intercept the trading teams of various tribes. The imperial court treats the barbarians leniently and has tolerated you for many years. If you don't change after repeated reprimands, you can only send troops. Now take the lead.
If I surrender, I can still spare your life!"
"I am the Great Ghost Lord of Baimandu. The barbarians here are all my subordinates. It is not the court's turn to intervene in how I treat them!" Ju Meng shouted.
Zhu Ming shouted: "That Han man, go back and tell the various ghost masters, big and small, that whoever is willing to defect in battle, his crime will be forgiven, and he will be rewarded for his meritorious service. Anyone who kills Ju Meng will be rewarded heavily, and the minor ghost master will be promoted to a big ghost master.
The Great Ghost Lord is promoted to the Great Ghost Lord!"
Ju Meng was furious and drew his bow and arrow.
Ju Ming also took off his bow and arrow, and both sides shot out almost at the same time.
The distance is too far, no hits...
But Ju Meng was so frightened that the arrow flew past him. He immediately turned around and ran back to the formation. He also warned Sun Shu: "Don't say those words to others!"
"yes!"
Sun Shu quickly agreed, but his belief in betrayal became even stronger.
This magistrate was so fierce that he actually led the cavalry himself and defeated the Piaoli vanguard cavalry.
Seeing that the barbarians were about to complete their formation, Ju Ming was too lazy to waste any more time and rode back to inquire about the situation.
Deng Chunying came up and said: "More than 300 war horses have been captured, and the ears that have been cut off are not counted. Five Xiang army horsemen were killed on our side, two of them were shot to death, and three were killed by arrows thrown by the war horses."
.More than twenty were injured, most of them from arrow wounds."
Casualty rate 50%?
Although it is outrageous, it is still normal. The barbarian bows and arrows are not very powerful, and the arrow injuries only need to be treated in time.
But it was said that Ju Ming returned with more than 300 war horses, both Han cavalry and barbarian cavalry, all showing off their victory loudly.
When the news came out, the whole army was shocked.
Empress Yu Wenchang said fearfully: "You can't take such risks again to succeed!"
Ju Ming smiled and said: "How can these horse troops be trained without fighting head-on? Don't worry, Governor, I will lead the army to charge when I am sure. Those barbarian cavalry have no rules at all, and their bows and arrows and armor are also crude. Barbarian generals
Even more reckless, he actually rushed to the front, and there would be no suspense if he killed this person."
Yu Wenchang was both impressed and worried at the same time, and said, "You still have to be careful in the future."
"Listen carefully to your words." Zhu Ming didn't take it to heart.
He is not a fool. If the enemy general Qiao Li is hiding in the army, he will not attack the enemy head-on with a small number and a large number.
The barbarian leader rushed forward to kill him, so Ju Ming certainly couldn't let go of the opportunity.
Ju Meng, the Great Ghost Lord of Baimandu, is in a dilemma at this moment.
Piao Li is his bravest son. He has fought and charged into battle for many years and has never lost a battle.
When barbarians from various tribes faced Piao Li, they were often frightened by Piao Li's vicious reputation before even making contact with him, and they were fearful from top to bottom.
Now he died in battle in a daze, which was a blow to Ju Meng and seriously affected his military morale.
Still want to continue attacking?
Just when Ju Meng was hesitating, a speedboat came from behind.
A barbarian soldier came to report: "Master Du Dagui, the Lianglin tribe is attacking our village!"
This was Qiao Huan's persuasion. The two forest barbarians learned that the Han soldiers had won a great victory, and finally decided to send troops to stab the chrysanthemums. Moreover, they were timid and did not dare to attack Pugu Lung. They only went to sneak attack the remote small village of the Qiongbu Sichuan barbarians.
Ju Meng thought repeatedly and gritted his teeth before ordering: "Go over and kill all the Han people in front!"
Having come this far, he could not withdraw his troops. He had to defeat the Han soldiers first, and then turn around and go back to deal with the two forest barbarians. Otherwise, if he led his troops to retreat now, he would probably be flanked by the Han soldiers and the two forest barbarians.
