The two nations each sent 2,000 cavalry, a total of 4,000 cavalry from the Western Regions, to rush to the hillside, but they soon learned a hard lesson, and their thin leather and cloth armor were powerless against crossbows and longbows.

The two regiments of the Ninth Brigade dismounted first and acted as infantry, and they made full use of their long-range advantages, greeting the enemy with crossbows and longbows, and the cavalry of the Western Regions did not know how to disperse, but gathered into a group.

Poor protection, dense formations, and the hit rate of the Central Army was so good, then their fate can be imagined, and many fell on the way to the charge.

After the long-range attack, a regiment of the 7th Brigade rushed down the hill under the leadership of Pound and launched a counterattack.

The cavalry of the Central Army was fully equipped and condescending, and the charge of 2,000 men easily defeated the 4,000-strong cavalry of the Western Regions, of course, half of the credit was due to long-range attacks.

The halberds and crossbows of the Central Army, as well as the horizontal swords, all made them remember deeply, they had never encountered such a powerful enemy, maybe the legendary Han army and Hun cavalry of their ancestors were so powerful!

The result of the almost complete annihilation of 4,000 people made Wang Meng, who was still excited just now, pour a basin of cold water on his head and quickly calm down.

Han Sui explained: "The troops you invested are too small, giving them a chance to break through, so let's attack, the Western Qiang Army and the Western Regions Alliance Army each send 6,000 people to attack them together, see how they can take into account the attacks from both sides?" ”

None of these ethnic minorities have generals who can lead troops in war, so they are still quite convinced by what Han Sui said.

So the horn sounded, and 6,000 cavalry were each dispatched from the ranks of the Western Regions Alliance Army and the Western Qiang people.

The 6,000 men of the Western Regions Coalition came from seven countries, and they were still a rabble of disheveled costumes and weapons of all kinds.

On the contrary, the soldiers and horses of Xiqiang are all uniform, and their combat effectiveness is obviously much higher than that of the Western Regions Coalition Army.

At first, the two cavalry rushed towards the hill in a swarm, and soon found that so many people could not spread the queue on horseback, so many dismounted and turned into infantry, opening the way in front.

This time, the Central Army replaced two regiments of the 7th Brigade as infantry, using rudimentary stone and wood fortifications to carry out long-range attacks.

However, this time the enemy also learned well, and they began to use shields to cover the vital points with shields, and charged desperately, and those who did not have shields also tried to lower their figures, scattered, and never gathered together again.

Sure enough, the effect was significantly better than the first attack, and most of the men resisted the long-range attack, entered the range of their hunting bows, and were finally able to shoot at the Central Army.

The Xiqiang people, like all nomadic peoples, also grew up on horseback, and they are also very good at riding and archery.

The archery skills of the Western and cavalry are uneven, and the soldiers of some countries are as good as the Xiqiang people, while others are purely here to make up the numbers.

However, in any case, they put a lot of pressure on the Central Army, and the casualties increased significantly.

Both sides charged while shooting, and when they rushed together, hand-to-hand combat began.

The cavalry of the Central Army was not equipped with large shields, and the cavalry became infantry, just like ordinary infantry, there were no special tactics, except for throwing an extra wave of throwing spears, the same halberd to spear, horizontal knife to scimitar.

Ma Teng looked at the tragic hand-to-hand combat and frowned, the two regiments of the Seventh Brigade were less than 4,000 people, but it was very difficult to resist the charge of tens of thousands of opponents.

He ordered the Ninth Brigade to make a charge, and Zhang Yang did not hesitate to lead the two regiments that had just rested for a while to turn over their horses, rush out from both flanks, and insert themselves into the flanks of the attacking enemy.

Many of the Western Regions cavalry and Xiqiang people who were still riding on horses also met the attacking central army on both sides.

The Central Army was obviously more adapted to its cavalry role, and the combination of halberds and repeaters effectively killed and wounded a large number of enemy troops.

The two regiments of the 7th Brigade, which had significantly reduced the pressure, also fought back and knocked the enemy back one after another.

The cheering slogans of the clerks and the loud chanting of the exploits of the war also added a lot of courage to the soldiers.

The difference between the regular army and the rabble gradually became apparent, and when someone began to turn and flee, it was like dominoes, and it was contagious.

The Western Regions Coalition Army couldn't bear such high casualties in the first place, and took the lead in fleeing. The Xiqiang people were unable to support themselves and retreated one after another.

Finally, the Central Army repelled the enemy's second attack, simply cleaned the battlefield, carried back the corpses of comrades, carried back the seriously wounded comrades, and recovered crossbow arrows and throwing guns as much as possible.

There is no logistical supply, and everyone has a limited number of arrows.

Although the cavalry of the Central Army was equipped with both longbow and repeater, the number of arrows could only be carried so much.

Moreover, the tactics of the Central Army are mostly based on long-range attack methods, and the consumption rate and number of arrows are also amazing.

In peacetime, when fighting a war, there is the support of the logistics department, and the number of arrows should be sufficient.

But when they entered Liangzhou, especially in this thousand-mile pursuit, the logistics support troops were still in Hanyang and Longxi!

The enemy's second attack inflicted considerable casualties on the Central Army, destroying four or five thousand enemy troops while also suffering nearly 1,000 casualties of its own.

Seeing the wails and painful shouts of his wounded subordinates, Ma Teng was also distressed, and it was also the reason for the light advance, the military doctors and medical personnel of the Third Cavalry Division stayed in Ji County.

Only some soldiers who were trained in first aid were used as paramedics to rescue them, but fortunately, many first-aid kits were brought, and the lightly injured ones did not lose their combat effectiveness, and most of the seriously injured were able to stop the blood loss.

Wang Meng and the leading generals of several Western Regions countries, as well as the leaders of the Xiqiang tribe, surrounded Han Sui and questioned him about his false description of the combat effectiveness of the Central Army.

The Western Regions Coalition suffered far more casualties than the Western Qiangs, who had not fought against the mighty Han army for nearly a hundred years, and had long forgotten how the Han army slaughtered their ancestors.

Their two attacks resulted in 6,000 casualties, which is already equivalent to the overwhelming force of many small countries.

If this continues, there is no need to fight Liangzhou, and the 40,000-strong coalition army will be finished, so how can we occupy Chang'an and plunder the Central Plains?

Wang Meng also began to doubt the beauty that Han Sui had described to him!

He clearly told Han Sui that if he refused to make such a senseless sacrifice again, he would let Han Sui's own troops go up.

There are only 3,000 people left under Han Sui's hands, how can he be willing to die here? There are at least seven or eight thousand Han troops on the mountain!

The people of Xiqiangtou also refused to attack again, so why not surround it?

Anyway, there is no food or drink on the hill, and they are trapped for ten days and half a month, and they can win without fighting.

Han Sui didn't dare to tell them the truth, and told them that Ma Teng still had tens of thousands of reinforcements!

In that case, these wildlings will definitely hack him first!

There was no way, Han Sui could only agree with the opinion of the majority, besiege but not attack, and trap Ma Teng.

After all, Han Sui was a person with experience in battle formations, and he commanded the coalition army to build a camp at the foot of the mountain, dig a trench on the side of the mountain, and build a wall to prevent Ma Teng from breaking through.

(End of chapter)