Chapter 125: The Storm (2)

Yang Hao was angry in the big tent, but Cheng Yi just didn't see it, he said to Lu Fang: "Gather all your cavalry immediately and attack with me!" ”

Lu Fang said loudly: "Obey!" ”

Yang Hao was stunned, and also arched his hand: "No! ”

More than 15,000 cavalry from the three large battalions poured out together and marched towards the north. Most of the Huns within a radius of dozens of miles have withdrawn, leaving only three or two kittens, and they have completely lost the ferocious spirit of the previous few days. When they saw the enemy in a big move, they saw it from afar, and immediately fled to the north on horseback.

The army chased for a long time, and the vanguard cavalry arrived at the city of Lianxian, only to see that the city gate was wide open, and there were many things scattered on the inner and outer roads, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood. The vanguard general sent dozens of men cautiously into the city, and then was stunned.

On the streets of the city, there were corpses lying on the ground.

Half an hour later, Cheng Yi led the army to the city, Yang Hao said on horseback: "Cheng Taishou, the Huns slaughtered Lian County, and only more than a hundred people were still alive inside, do you want to go in and have a look?" ”

Cheng Yi snorted and said, "What are you looking at?" Tell the battalion behind to send the infantry over and collect the corpses. Let's set up camp first, and tomorrow we will continue the pursuit! ”

Cheng Yi continued to lead his troops in pursuit, and caught up with the rear of the Huns less than a hundred miles north of Lian County. The Hun cavalry did come and go like the wind, but the cattle and sheep they drove with them did not have the ability to run more than 100 miles in a day. Seeing the pursuers killed, the herdsmen who were driving cattle and sheep behind were terrified and fled in all directions.

This time alone, Cheng Yi led people to rob tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and killed more than 2,000 Huns. The next day, the rear army of the Huns turned south and fought with the pursuers led by Cheng Yi. The two sides fought fiercely for a day, and began to fight fiercely from the morning, until the afternoon, although the Huns had more troops, but the whole army already knew what happened in Linrong City, and the morale of the people who were left behind would have been very low, and after a day of hard fighting, the whole army finally collapsed.

Nearly 10,000 of the 30,000 troops were killed, more than 4,000 were captured, and the rest fled to the north in a hurry, and were caught up again, and then defeated again. In this way four times, Cheng Yi's army chased two or three hundred miles north, killing and capturing more than 30,000 Huns, but they themselves also suffered a lot of casualties, and more than 6,000 horses were killed, injured and killed violently.

And the Huns dropped another 20,000 men and turned back, ready to fight to the death with the pursuers.

Cheng Yi looked at the Huns who were waiting in the distance, and then at his tired soldiers, sighed, shook his head, and said, "It's a pity, it's a pity!" ”

He pointed to the Huns' military formation in the distance and said, "If we can add 10,000 cavalry, maybe we can eat all the Huns!" ”

Zhao Yun was covered in dust, grabbed the reins, and said to Cheng Yi: "Cheng Taishou, if we can leave one more Huns, there will be less pressure on Jun's side!" Please give the order to fight, I am willing to take the lead with the troops and horses of the headquarters! ”

Cheng Yi smiled bitterly: "It's not that I don't want to continue to attack, it's just that the soldiers can't fight!" General Zhao is loyal and courageous, but you can't be blindly strong for generals! Does General Zhao think that I, Chengyi, am a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death? ”

Zhao Yun couldn't help but be silent, in the past few days, he has been fighting with the Huns repeatedly, and Cheng Yi has taken the lead, charging with spears with the soldiers. That is, generals at all levels are willing to fight in front of them, so that the Huns can be defeated again and again. He knew that what Cheng Yi said was right, being able to catch up here was already the limit of their strength.

The so-called "strong crossbow at the end, its potential can not penetrate Lu Min", and then forcibly advance the army, the money earned in front must be spit out, not to mention, one is not good, but I am afraid that the whole army will be wiped out.

Seeing that Zhao Yun no longer insisted, Cheng Yi also let go of many worries. He was afraid that those generals under Chen Cheng's command would attack without obeying orders, which would cause a big deal. He looked at the sky in the north and said to himself: The king is immortal, Chen Envoy Jun, Chen Envoy Jun, don't let me down!

Cheng Yi turned his head and said to the soldiers beside him: "Mingjin retreats!" ”

The gong sounded, and the soldiers turned their horses' heads and slowly retreated towards the south. When the Huns saw it, they did not dare to chase after them, and watched them disappear from view. When the enemy was completely out of sight, these Huns, who had lost their enthusiasm for battle, galloped north again.

Cheng Yi led his troops back to Lian County, and the thousands of corpses in the city had been collected, but the smell of blood that hung over the city had not dissipated. In addition, the city is full of scorched black marks from the burning flames, and it looks like a ghost town. When Cheng Yi saw this, he was angry and ordered all the captured Huns to be taken outside the city and all of them beheaded at the edge of the tombs of the victims.

Although the Huns who were killed were pale and trembling, they were all obediently led to the edge of the pit, stretched their necks, and then were killed one by one. After Cheng Yi slaughtered the prisoners of war, he counted the harvest and captured a total of more than 200,000 cattle, sheep and horses, four carts of gold and silver, and countless weapons and armor.

Cheng Yi divided the cattle, sheep and horses equally among the soldiers and horses, but the armor, weapons, gold and silver were all put into his own pocket.

However, it is said that the Marquis of Xubu Gudu was anxious to set off with an army of 20,000 Huns, traveled more than 100 miles a day, exhausted countless horses, and finally arrived at Shuofang County six days later. He arranged for his Xiongnu soldiers to rest for a day on the banks of the Yellow River to recover their horsepower.

The closer you get to Linrong, the more Huns you will encounter who have escaped from the city. The noble leaders of the Xiongnu already knew what happened that day, knew that almost all the Xiongnu nobles in the city were killed, and also knew that the attacking soldiers and horses were only more than 1,000 horses, and they did not flee after breaking through the city, but stayed in Linrong City.

The Huns were indignant, and Ertian began to set up a sheepskin raft in the morning, found a place with a slower current, and began to force the Yellow River. The men and horses neighed along the river, the pontoon bridge was quickly erected, and the cavalrymen carefully led the horses over the pontoon bridge for several days.

Just as the Huns began to cross the river, Chen Cheng ordered people to open the gate to the south of the city and quickly left the city with 3,000 cavalry. Then run directly to the place where the Huns crossed the river.

In the past few days, Chen Cheng and the soldiers under his command have not been idle. Xu Rong and Yang Qiu originally proposed to send more men to repair the walls of Linrong before the Huns' army returned, and increase the height and reinforcement, and then withdraw all the surrounding men, horses and livestock to defend, but this idea was rejected by Chen Cheng.

He said to Yang Qiu, Xu Rong, Li Kan and others: "It's okay to repair the city wall, but it's not necessary to increase the height and reinforcement." Instead of waiting for the Huns to attack the city, it is better to take the initiative and fight a decisive battle with the Huns outside the city! ”

At that time, Yang Qiu and the others were so surprised that they couldn't do it, they knew that Chen Cheng's martial arts were outstanding, and they also witnessed how he killed the city wall alone, and then led people to kill through the Huns' battle array, but the Huns who stayed in Linrong before were all old and weak women and children, even if there were some elites, there were not many, so it was not difficult to deal with.

But when the elite of the Huns returned to the army, it was not so easy to deal with. Moreover, siege is completely different from field warfare, and the Huns' ability to attack and defend cities is not at the same level as their ability to fight at night.

Xu Rong directly objected: "Lord, I said that Linrong can be defended, but I didn't say that I want to fight with the Huns!" ”

Yang Qiu also said: "Although more than 8,000 Han people have been rescued, half of them are women, and it is okay to let them help defend the city, and it is useless to pull them out to fight." ”

Li Kan hesitated for a moment, and under the gaze of other generals, he stubbornly said: "Lord, there are more than 200,000 arrows in the city, and there is also a lot of grain, plus the captured livestock, which is enough for us to defend for a long time. ”

Xu Rong added: "There are many craftsmen in the city, and they can make 10,000 pieces a day in a hurry. With strong bows and crossbows, the Huns are not good at attacking cities, so they will definitely not be able to attack them. ”

Chen Cheng looked at the fiercely opposed generals and said with a smile: "You may think that I am carried away by the victory. ”

Everyone's heart said: Not possible, but certain!

Chen Cheng ignored the subtle expressions on the faces of the people in front of him, and said, "I just asked the craftsmen in the city to make some things, and you all came over to take a look." ”

He led the generals to the school field, pointed to the red war horse on the edge of the school field, and asked, "What do you see?" ”

Yang Qiu was one of the princes of Xiliang, and he was extremely skilled in the use of cavalry, and when he glanced at it, he immediately said "Huh". Xu Rong and other generals also rode across the vast sand sea, and they were very familiar with the equipment of the horses, and they also saw the clues.

"This saddle, and this stirrup ..........", Yang Qiu circled around Gollum twice, pondered for a while, and said: "Very good, if you equip all the war horses, then the soldiers will be able to use weapons better on horseback!" ”

"That's right," Xu Rong gestured and said, "I can use a longer weapon, and I can also draw a harder bow!" ”

Some things are like a piece of paper, as long as you poke it lightly, there is no mystery to speak of. Yang Qiu and Xu Rong only glanced at it, and they understood the benefits of bilateral stirrups and Takahashi saddles, but they did not expect that these two things and the other thing would bring revolutionary subversion to the cavalry.

From then on, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry will completely surpass that of the infantry, and it will become the absolute protagonist on the battlefield. Wait until the age of firearms comes. Cavalry was still a very powerful class, an indispensable part of a large army, until it was replaced by another type of "iron cavalry".

Chen Cheng said with a smile: "Your eyes are like torches, and what you see is not bad, but it is still missing." ”

He walked over, lifted the soles of his horse's feet, and exposed the horseshoe. Yang Qiu saw it and said, "Wrap iron on the hooves...... That's a lot of money! ”

Chen Cheng said: "Compared with the improvement of combat effectiveness, this cost is completely worth it. Which of you is going to try it? ”

Yang Qiu said loudly: "I'll come first!" ”

He walked towards Gollum with his fists, but the red war horse neighed and aimed its hooves at Yang Qiu. As it grows larger, so does its temper.

Yang Qiu scolded with a smile: "What a brute, he has such a big temper!" ”

Chen Cheng coughed and said, "That's not what I'm talking about. ”

He ordered someone to lead another tall war horse and said, "The equipment is the same, Yang Taishou will try it." ”