Cao Hong was wearing a delicately crafted bright silver mirror armor and stood on the high platform in the camp.
No matter from which angle you look at it, Cao Hong's armor always shines with dazzling light.
But in fact, Cao Hong's heart was not as full of light as his armor, but was constantly sinking into the darkness.
Because it can be seen clearly on the high platform, the cavalry of Cao's army was almost completely suppressed.
Whether in terms of basic cavalry quality, physical strength and endurance of war horses, or tactics of mutual cooperation between cavalry, the cavalry of Cao's army are all very different.
Cao Hong had some predictions about this kind of gap, but he didn't expect it to be so big.
On the one hand, because Cao Hong himself is not good at cavalry commanding, his concept of the upper and lower gaps in cavalry is not very clear. On the other hand, the cavalry confrontation between Cao's army and the cavalry army was both small troops, and they were not under Cao Hong's eyes, so naturally it was impossible to have a very intuitive impression.
This battle is obviously not easy to fight.
However, there cannot be lost here in Anyi.
At least you can't lose it now.
Anyi is an important support point in Cao Cao's entire tactics. Once lost, it is equivalent to losing all the core points of the architecture in the Yuncheng Basin, which means that the Cao army can only defeat all the way, and even retreating to Zhongtiao Mountain is dangerous, because the cavalry army can circumvent the road...
Of course, the Cao army can also defend or even set up ambush on the jail road, but that means that the Cao army has to defend a larger area, and the Hussar cavalry can obtain greater battlefield convenience and more breakthrough points. On the contrary, the infantry advantages of the Cao army can only be reflected by gathering together, especially the use of the Central Leader and Central Guards, which is a top priority.
The sound of horse hooves of the cavalry roared, rolling up yellow dust.
Cao's war drums were not to be outdone, and they were making a dong dong sound, boosting morale.
Cao Hong stared at him with his eyes narrowed, hoping that the Hussar cavalry would lose patience and launch one or two actions to attack the infantry fronts regardless of the situation...
On the battlefield, the impatient guy will always die the fastest.
Just like a game between a hunter and a prey, it is also a patient competition.
Some traps originally arranged by Cao's army on the battlefield were found and identified by the Cavalry Army.
This is not surprising. Cao Hong even wondered whether to throw some caltrops in other places at night. If the Hussar Cavalry neglect tomorrow and think there will be no problem in investigating the clean area, then he can teach these Hussar Cavalry a lesson.
Suddenly, the large flanks of the Hussar Cavalry began to move forward, which immediately attracted Cao Hong's attention.
Here comes!
'Telling all over the place!' Cao Hong shouted loudly, 'Standard the formation!'
The messenger ran and shouted again.
Cao Hong stared at the sweeping majority of the wings of the Hussar Cavalry, and couldn't help but murmur, "Come on! Come on!"
...
...
The cavalry is indeed "coming".
As Cao Hong wished, but it was different from what Cao Hong thought...
Before, the Hussar cavalry suppressed the battlefield and harassed the Cao army formation, basically all small cavalrymen. But now, the large cavalry unit led by Li Li is completely different from the size of the small army when it moves.
The combination of iron and blood is a high unity of strength and speed.
At the moment of the Han Dynasty, only the only ones who truly brought the cavalry tactics to the extreme were the men and horses of the General Fei Qian of the Cavalry.
If you just ride a horse, be able to run and wave a few weapons at the same time, it is called "elite", then such "elite" is not worth much.
The "elite" of the cavalry, simply put, is "expensive".
Um……
This seems to make sense too?
First of all, the daily expenses and combat equipment of cavalry are much more than ordinary infantry. Even Fei Qian still has large-scale workshops and horse farming grounds, but because the infantry's combat readiness has also improved, it has only been slightly reduced, probably maintaining the level of one to four.
In other words, raising one cavalry is equivalent to raising four infantrymen.
As we all know, war horses perform high-intensity exercises on the battlefield, such as sprinting, emergency stops, rapid turn, etc., which will consume a lot of horse's physical strength. Generally speaking, war horses must control their horse's speed for half an hour, so that the war horse can breathe a sigh of relief to reduce the temperature of the war horse's blood and prevent the war horse from cooking its own heart...
That's right, this cute girl or the boy with long faces and big eyes and myopia is so stupid.
Among the Three Auxiliary of Chang'an, new war horse populations are being studied, but they have not yet become a climate. According to the future plan of the cavalry, the horses of the cavalry will no longer be mixed, but should be divided into different uses. For example, light horses may be fast but have poor endurance, which is suitable for short-distance charges, while heavy horses have better endurance, which is suitable for long-term combat and marching.
Xiliang horse is tall and has a strong sprint, but it has poor endurance and is very picky. Hetao hordes have high endurance, hard work and no lip service, but it just can't run fast...
What you want and want are often not outstanding in any aspect.
The way Feiqian can solve this problem for cavalry at this stage is to equip multiple horses to use backup horses or rotation systems to ensure that the war horses can continue to play a role in the battlefield, but this also brings higher expenses.
Therefore, Cao's consumption strategy is indeed correct from a theoretical point of view.
Although Fei Qian is powerful at the moment, every link is interconnected and there are very few redundant quantities.
Take the feeding and care of Hussar cavalry horses as an example. If Fei Qian had not educated and gathered a large number of Hu people to fill the cavalry team, it would have been equivalent to free horsemen and veterinarians. Otherwise, Fei Qian would have to add additional logistics support personnel, and not only add additional expenses, it might not be able to take good care of them!
After all, if these Hu people who have rich experience in animal husbandry, these silly big guys will inevitably get bumps and bumps, or even get sick and contagious. If they are not treated in time, they will be useless.
Therefore, in the Cavalry Army, every link and every person are very important.
It is precisely because of this that when Xu Chu and Li Li discovered abnormal signals in the opponent's Cao army formation, they did not choose to ignore it, but chose to test cooperation...
The cavalry and horses were galloping, getting closer and closer to the Cao army's army.
The atmosphere became more and more tense.
The Central Leader and Guardians in the Cao army, who were in charge of the military commander in charge of the commander-in-chief, stared at the cavalry and horses rushing in the distance, shouting to hold on, not knowing whether it was calling for others or for themselves.
The same is true for the Central Leading Army and the Central Guards. The other ordinary Cao army soldiers became more and more trembling. If they had not stood closely together, even if there was a camp behind them, someone would not be able to suppress their fear and turn around and run away!
After all, many of the ordinary soldiers of the Cao army were from peasants.
Going forward, going against the risk of venture capital, it is already...
Um?
Anyway, bronze and diamonds can never be on the same channel.
It's like a cavalry with short swords and long infantry guns.
Cao Hong clenched his fist tightly, gritted his teeth, looking forward to the moment when the Hussar cavalry crashed into the Cao army's infantry array...
There are obvious flaws in the Cao army's infantry array, and there are also some things that obviously seem to be unable to handle the spear, but Cao Hong ignored these issues at all, because in Cao Hong's mind, these Cao army soldiers were all used to consume!
As long as you can consume one more point today, there will be more hope for victory tomorrow!
"Come on! Come on!"
Cao Hong yelled.
If the cavalry loses speed and falls into the infantry array, they often do not have any advantage, so they directly hit the blood and flesh, which will undoubtedly be huge, and it will hit Cao's army's thoughts.
The Cao army hoped that the Hussars would fight hard, exchange and consume!
As long as the cavalry army slows down slightly, the front army will not advance, and the rear army will inevitably be congested with the front army. At this time, it is the best time to order a stone-throwing attack!
...
...
Cavalry? When fighting, the separation and reunion are impermanent. As the commander of the cavalry, there is naturally no preferential treatment for infantry generals. They can command soldiers with flags and drums on the high platform in the rear, and they are in a relatively safe position.
Generally speaking, the cavalry academy must follow the cavalry and need to command near the front row and confront the enemy in person, so it is easy to become the target of the opponent's key attack. Therefore, every time the cavalry generals and school are in battle, the danger of the cavalry generals and school even exceeds that of ordinary cavalry. It is precisely because of this that cavalry generals are more likely to gain the hearts of soldiers...
Well, so, Shandong generals later dominated the army with infantry. Could this be the factor involved?
After all, when the situation is wrong, the infantry generals have horses and can turn in at any time, and the infantry under their command can be thrown to the opponent like a gecko tail to block the road. If they are cavalry generals, they are likely to be surrounded by the enemy and cannot be returned. Therefore, there are more and more infantry generals left in Shandong, and more and more people choose infantry arrays.
After all, Guanzhong is different from Shandong. As a cavalry military academy, being on the front line for command is the basic requirement of almost every cavalry general.
The same is true for Li Li.
He led the cavalry to rush towards the flank of Cao's army, and also directly led and commanded the front line.
As the Husbands approached the Cao army's front, the sound of war drums sounded from the Cao army's camp. As the soldiers shouted loudly, some white-tailed feathered arrows as marks were shot out and slanted on the ground. This used as marks to warn the Husbands and horses, and could also boost morale for their infantry fronts.
During normal field battles, cavalry generally use a huge scattered scattered scattered soldiers to harass the enemy's infantry front line. The front-line commander controls the timing of concentration and dispersion, lures the enemy's infantry front line to scatter or waver, and then take the opportunity to conduct an assault, which in turn causes the entire enemy formation to collapse.
But it is obvious that the infantry of the Cao army would not leave the protection area of the camp, so there is no question of temptation or pulling.
Similarly, the Hussar cavalry could not run wildly without restrictions, throwing away the infantry front of their midfield, giving Cao's army the opportunity to counterattack from other directions of the camp.
Li Li didn't care about the long-range light arrows shot out from the Cao army camp. On the one hand, the lethality of these arrows relies entirely on the falling gravity, and in fact the armor-breaking ability is not strong. On the other hand, these arrows have no accurate head at all. Occasionally, they are shot by chance, just need to cover their own heads and faces, protect weak parts such as the war horse face.
When approaching Cao's army's array, Li Li suddenly ordered the cavalry beside him, "Turn!"
"Play the flag!"
The guards took the order and skillfully unfolded the flag that had been rolled up behind them.
The three-colored flag was immediately pulled straight by the wind, and it was particularly conspicuous among the bright red croaker tassels.
The Hussar Cavalry began to turn on the edge of Cao's range.
The three-colored flags began to sway and rose and fell.
...
...
"What is the Cavalry Army going to do?"
Cao Hong frowned.
"Like it's a demonstration?"
The guards on the side responded.
Cao Hong remained silent and frowned.
The cavalry and horse seemed to have a fake shot and did not really attack the Cao army array, which made the originally nervous Cao army infantry array breathe a sigh of relief.
I don’t know how many Cao’s soldiers were breathing heavily at the same time, just like the sound of a crosstalk theater.
In the eyes of others, the Cavalry Army changed from vertical to horizontal seems to be to "scarry" the Cao army, or try to force the Cao army to change the array in this way and lead to flaws.
But Cao Hong felt that the Cavalry Army would not be so stupid.
Horsepower and manpower have a certain limit in a short period of time. If the cavalry runs so hard for a while, but does not gain anything, it is equivalent to losing!
Unless there is another idea...
"General, where the stone cannon..." the guard asked.
Cao Hong frowned and pondered for a moment, "Don't move for the time being."
While the Hussar Cavalry is moving at high speed, not to mention whether these catapults can perfectly estimate the advance movement of the Hussar Cavalry, even if the advancement can be accurately estimated, what happened again?
It is difficult to ensure accuracy in vertical direction, so it can only cover the victory, if it is used to smash horizontal movement...
That's too difficult!
Therefore, the killing weapon in Cao Jun’s camp could only remain silent.
『What is this to do...』
Cao Hong suddenly thought of something, and a little suspicion appeared in his eyes.
...
...
Just when most of the Cao army soldiers thought that the Hussar cavalry would go back in just a circle, Li Li shouted in the queue of the Hussar cavalry: "The archers are outside! Throwers! Prepare to cover!"
The copper whistle sounded, and it was passed from the front of the queue to the back.
The Hussar Cavalry, which was generally parallel to the Cao army's array, began to exchange positions as the order was issued.
Nowadays, the cavalry's war horses have different types, and the cavalry are also beginning to evolve towards their different professionalisms.
People are different, and even the same cavalry will have some subtle differences.
For example, some people have good bows and arrows, some people have good use of swords and guns, and some people have good at throwing, especially Hu cavalry...
The thrust rope used by the Hu people was originally used to shepherd sheep. Some guys who were good at throwing stones could even use long whips to roll up stones to accurately hit the horns of the leading sheep!
This is almost comparable to the archer technique of passing through Yang in a hundred steps, but after the Hu people became the Han cavalry, there was no place to use it. But no one expected that after Fei Qian tried to rush out the grenade, this kind of stone-towing technique became popular in the cavalry queue again.
Because this skill can be used to throw larger "stones"...
As for why not use a crossbow?
The range of cavalry crossbows is too short, and even due to the limitations in materials, even if they have been improved and reduced, the weight of cavalry crossbows is still not light, which makes many cavalry rather choose bows and arrows than use cavalry crossbows. Of course, some cavalry with poor talent shooting skills can still use cavalry crossbows, after all, it is more convenient.
As for infantry crossbows, even double-person yellow crossbows with a longer range, they are undoubtedly a big burden for cavalry and are generally difficult to carry. So in the final analysis, it is because of the characteristics of cavalry and current technological limitations that the Hussar cavalry has embarked on an unusual path on the evolutionary route.
The Cao army was thinking about how to deal with the cavalry, and of course the cavalry army was studying how to deal with the infantry.
After Sima Yi "sacrificed" his blood relatives, he opened his meridians and suddenly discovered that the heavy armored and heavy arrows of the archers was undoubtedly a nightmare for the infantry front.
But as mentioned before, it is impossible to both require it on the battlefield. The heavy armored and heavy arrows of the infantry will be controlled by the middle-mounted lancers, and the middle-mounted lancers will in turn be skewed into barbecue skewers by the infantry's densely packed spear formations.
In order to break the simple restraint of this scissors and stone cloth, the Hussars mixed in with tigers and insects...
The stick is a heavy armored archer, and the bug is a throwing soldier.
Tigers are used to eat chickens, and bugs are used to chew on the tiger's sticks.
In the game, riding and shooting always roars and flying arrows are like rain. However, in fact, this kind of riding and shooting is often mainly suppressed and does not seek to kill. It often consumes a huge number of arrows, just jingling and unable to kill a few people. The real practical standard riding and shooting was created by Sima Yi, and perhaps it is not Sima Yi's original creation, but the archer tactics formed by Sima Yi's first summary and reporting to the martial arts lecture hall.
Sima Yi wrote in the report of the war in the martial arts lecture hall, "If a rider and shoot as an elder, he will rush his horse to a distance of fifty steps, and then shoot his weakly. The flying arrows whistle like rain. Although the enemy has the advantage of weapons and armor, they can gather to resist, can they hurt me beyond fifty steps?"
Avoiding direct melee combat with infantry is the core focus of cavalry and shooting tactics. Although cavalry has a high posture and strong impact, they may not always defeat infantry in melee combat.
Especially when the infantry's sword and spear are lengthened.
Just like at the moment, the spearmen of Cao's infantrymen put the spear on the front shield and built a dense array, like a hedgehog stretching out the spikes.
Li Li wanted to fight with Cao's army at close or zero distance.
So, Li Li wanted to try a new tactic, and he wanted to post it with Cao Jun.
It is close to a very close distance and can avoid the attack of infantry cold weapons.
Even the other party’s bow and arrow!
Because infantry archers are normally not placed in the first row to shoot against the cavalry, and because of their own shooting boundary and the concealment of the front row of soldiers, although infantry archers have stronger crossbows, it is undoubtedly extremely difficult to keep up with the cavalry's movements and catch the shooting window that is lost in the flash in the cracks.
The rapid and powerful copper whistle sounded again!
With the order representing the attack this time, the archers who were good at bows and arrows quietly changed to the outside world, turned their horses' heads and stuck them up towards the somewhat relaxed Cao's army array!