When the cavalry led by the Li clan leader himself fell into chaos, although Er Zhujing was also surrounded by two to three thousand cavalry, the situation they faced was much easier than the horse-killing cavalry.
Because the formation of a hundred horn crossbows and more than three hundred hard-stepping bows is still very scary.
The infantry of this era were good at shooting at a distance and able to fight at close range. They were often powerful crossbowmen and were very powerful in close combat.
It is not that there are no descendants of Tang'er among the Li family at the end of the period. Even if they were not, they themselves knew this characteristic of the Central Plains Dynasty's military force.
Therefore, anyone who is not a fool will understand that with their lack of armor and stomach, they will definitely not get any favors from attacking four hundred crossbowmen with full armor and stomach.
There are only two ways to deal with such a large array of bows and crossbows. Either take human lives to fill it, or you have the same archers to shoot against it.
Oh, that’s right! Or you may have some small trebuchets or bed crossbows that can flexibly adjust the direction and angle of long-range killers.
But, even Zhang Zhao only owns a few of these gadgets now, and there is no need to think about the Li family in Lanzhou.
The person responsible for attacking or keeping Er Zhujing under guard was the Po Chou clan party member, an ally of the Shatuo Li family.
These party members have always lived on the snowy mountains of Longyou, Hexi. Some of them moved inland with the Tuoba tribe, and some continued to submit to Tubo.
After the Wang family recruited the people from the mountain to come down from the mountain, the remaining members of the Po Chou family came down from the snow mountain.
Of course, as the Hu people who, like the Shatuo Li family, started out as tenants and vassals and were exploited by the Wang family, they easily came together and gradually overwhelmed the Wang family with their numerical advantage.
The leader of the Po Chou clan and the Shatuo Li clan cavalryman next to him looked at each other. The stout Po Chou clan said with some difficulty: "Let's rush! We have to rush anyway, otherwise how can we be worthy of our clansmen?"
Well, before the fight even started, the thousands of cavalry here were actually intimidated. Even though there were thousands of them, four hundred crossbows were no joke.
General Li also nodded, but he obviously had different opinions. He pointed at the array of bows and crossbows set up by Er Zhujing and said.
"Just looking at the formation of these Liangzhou infantry, we know that it is impossible to deal with them. There are so many iron armors and strict formations. What can we gain by charging forward?
I think it's better to have half of the men dismount and form a formation, and let's try shooting at them with bows and arrows. If they see that a certain group of men are outnumbered and get confused, the rest of the men can mount their horses and charge them away.
.
If these armored soldiers are not in chaos, then if we give it a try, we will be worthy of others. We can't be allowed to wear linen and fight against the armored soldiers, right? Wouldn't that mean we are going to die?"
All the generals and leaders nodded, thinking this was a good idea.
In fact, they were quite scared. Just looking at the formation on the opposite side for two quarters of an hour and not even moving, they knew that they were definitely elites.
A few drums sounded, a few shabby flags were waved twice, and a dozen military generals, large and small, scattered around to make a fuss-worthy display.
Almost two thousand cavalrymen dismounted one after another, and the weapons in their hands were changed from horse bows to more powerful infantry bows.
Even in order to protect against the hundreds of horned crossbows in Yucheng Town, they made several large shields using simple items such as wooden boards and rafts they brought.
The infantry in front held up their shields, and the archers behind them crouched, holding bows and arrows and slowly pressing forward.
The range of the horn bow crossbow is much longer than that of the ordinary foot bow, so they have to get closer before they are qualified to shoot with the Yucheng Town crossbowmen.
Er Zhujing sneered. After waiting for a long time, the cavalry from the opposite side finally came up. However, judging from the fact that they did not dare to come to harass them on horseback, and even charged in sheep's clothing, these people were actually timid.
"Change formation, two attacks! Focus on shooting the three planks in the middle!"
After sneering, Er Zhujing gave a loud order, and the guard in charge of the flag language immediately waved a yellow pennant.
In an instant, the fronts of the crossbowmen arranged in the Queyue Formation protruded, pushing the horned crossbowmen to the front, forming a triangle with a slightly wider tail.
Po Chou's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately regretted it. What a shame!
The crossbowmen on the opposite side were able to change their formations so calmly in the face of battle, and apart from the sound of footsteps and the voices of officers giving orders, there was not a trace of noise. Could this be the arrival of the imperial army of the Central Plains Dynasty?
"Boom! Boom!" The sound of the horned crossbow seemed a bit dull. The powerful thrust of two stones and three buckets pushed the short fine iron crossbow arrows, and their flying speed was at least three times that of ordinary bows and arrows.
As soon as the fifty crossbow arrows arrived, those wooden boards that looked wide and large and should be very strong were directly pierced!
Amidst the popping sound, the soldiers of the Po Chou clan behind the wooden board fainted one after another as if they had been punched in the chest by the void.
Before the screams even started, the second wave of fifty crossbow arrows arrived again, and more people fell this time.
The three wooden planks in the middle and the large shield clanged a few times before falling to the ground, revealing the archers behind them.
The leader of the Po Chou clan roared loudly, hoping that the soldiers holding wooden boards on both sides could come over to fill the vacancy, but who dares? Who is willing?
The soldiers holding wooden planks on both sides were covered in cold sweat. They were stomping on the spot, pretending to be very anxious, but they would not lean towards the middle.
The archers in the middle immediately panicked after losing the cover of the wooden planks, and they rushed to both sides one by one.
The crossbow arrows could even penetrate the wood, and the rotten leather robes and linen clothes they were wearing couldn't even stop them.
This is the truest appearance of soldiers from this era who were pulled directly from the fields and grasslands and pastures without rigorous training.
The equipment is not good, and the fight is not motivated by the original intention. The first thought on the battlefield is not to make achievements.
Instead, I was thinking about how to save my life? How to go back alive? I still have my wife, children, and children waiting at home.
It's okay to let them fight with the wind going smoothly. When the war goes well, maybe they will unleash their destructive desires and do some burning, killing and looting.
But when it's obvious that they can't be beaten and they have to fight with their lives, their fighting will is quite low.
In the chaos, the second batch of one hundred crossbow arrows arrived as promised, and they were still shot in the middle. This time, the lethality was great!
The fine iron crossbow arrows penetrated into the chests and abdomens of different people one by one. The blood made small round holes with the strong kinetic energy and flew outwards wantonly.
For a moment, those who had been hit by arrows but did not die were rolling around on the ground.
"Grandma! Grandma, save me!" A young party slave may have been shot through the lungs. He screamed miserably, and blood began to creep out of the corners of his mouth.
As he cried, his hands were twisted like chicken claws, and his fingers dug blood marks one after another on the dry, hard and cold ground.
But this still couldn't relieve his pain, but with the loss of life, the crying gradually became lower.
Next to him, another older man with a beard also had his chest pierced. He looked at the small hole in his chest that was constantly bleeding out, and kept breathing hard.
This party slave didn't even dare to cry, because he couldn't breathe even if he cried a little. His eyes revealed his love for life, but life was no longer interested in him.
After taking a few breaths in horror, he found that no air had entered his body. Dang Xiangnu raised his eyes and looked at everyone around him, with a baby-like aggrieved look in his eyes, as if asking, why is there no air?
"Change formation, archers release arrows!" Er Zhujing would not be merciful to any enemy. Following his order, the flag soldiers around him raised another purple flag with wild geese painted on it.
The archers who were watching the show behind them saw this flag and immediately began to spread out, forming a wide inverted T-shaped formation.
The horned crossbowmen were still at the front shooting in the middle, while the archers started covering the shooting.
Wave after wave, the energetic elites of Yucheng Town fired very fast. In just a few breaths, six waves of arrows were thrown out.
The more than two thousand armed herdsmen who could not be called archers gathered on the opposite side quickly collapsed under this rapid blow.
They cried and howled and dispersed to both sides. Many people even ran to both sides, simply rode on a horse and went straight home.
Only hundreds of hapless people were left crying and moaning on the battlefield. Even the leader of these cavalry, the leader of the Po Chou clan, and the Li family cavalry general were frightened and ran away far away.
And just when they were still trying to gather some cavalry to keep Er Zhu Jing under guard, even greater cries of fear were heard.
This was the cry of the rout formed after the cavalry led by the head of the Li family was defeated by the horse.
The ground is full of broken soldiers running around, and no one knows who is who. What should we do?
The leader of the Po Chou clan did not look at the Li family's cavalryman this time. Instead, he pulled the reins and ran away with his entourage without looking back.
The damage caused by more than 6,000 cavalry to the more than 900 people under Ma Shacai's command was less than one-tenth of that in Hongchiling and Yemaling.
Ma Shacai no longer restrains his soldiers. After running so far and going through so many difficulties, they need to vent. Harvesting the enemy's life is the best way to vent.
....
In Lanzhou City, the battle also entered its final stage. As soon as the sky dawned, the goals of both sides of the Melee City Group immediately became clear.
The entire majestic temple was in chaos, with twenty or thirty people in a group, entangled and strangled each other.
The fighting here is much more brutal than outside the city, because these patrols are the elite of the Li family, while those outside can only be called armed herdsmen.
"Jincheng Wang family, come to help kill the enemy! We wear red scarves on our heads!"
After Wang Tinghan arrived, he did not rush in directly. Now that both sides are fighting like this, it would be bad to be regarded as a patrolman of the Li family by the soldiers of the Guiyi Army.
But of course they could tell who was the Li family patrolman, so they immediately made the Wang family children around them shout.
Hearing their shouts, Yue Saonu and others began to approach the Wang family's children wearing red scarves, and soon resumed their formation. The situation was completely unfavorable to the Li family.
At this time, a group of people from the northwest, carrying several large flags with the word "Su", also arrived at the Majestic Temple.
"Su Lunlu is here to help the heavenly soldiers! The one wearing the red scarf is one of our own!"