The armies of the five provinces, Khorezm, Sogdian, and Herat, were all known for their cavalry, and it was finally decided that the cavalry of these three provinces would be responsible for clearing these small groups of Han cavalry.

Khorezm's legions sent 5,000 cavalry, Sogdia as host, and Herat 3,000 camel cavalry.

The three cavalry teams were briefly divided, each responsible for the scope of protection, and agreed that once the battle with the Han army was engaged, the other two would come to help.

The Han army dispatched very frequently, and they did not wait long, and a grain convoy from Kabul unsurprisingly encountered a thousand Han cavalry.

The Han army easily wiped out the convoy guards of 300 people, and then greedily wanted to transport the grain of the more than 100 wagons back to Dawan.

The Khwarazm cavalry, who had been waiting for them for a long time, was the first to get the news, and immediately went out to chase the convoy, and informed the Sogdian and Herat cavalry of the news as soon as possible.

Although the cavalry commander of Khorezm thought that his 5,000 cavalry would be able to easily eat the 1,000 Han cavalry, the agreement still had to be observed, so let them come and observe their results!

Khorezm, like the rest of Central Asia, was rich in fine horses, so they quickly followed the obvious trail and caught up with the hijacked convoy.

Sure enough, there were 1,000 Han cavalry escorting the convoy, forcing the coachmen to drive the carriage in the direction of Dawan.

To their surprise, the 1,000-strong Han cavalry saw the pursuers, not only did not abandon the convoy and fled, but stopped the convoy, and then formed a horizontal formation ready to attack.

The commander of Khorezm admired the courage of the Han army on the other side, but he was even more confident in his subordinates.

Like all other nomads, they grew up on horseback and excelled in riding and archery, but they had a small population and were always enslaved by the Kushans.

Over the years, they have been seeking independence, just like their neighbor Kangjuguo.

This time he was forced to send troops, completely under the pressure exerted by the prince of Botiao, and the son of the governor of Khorezm was still a hostage in Peshawar, so the Kushan Empire's troop transfer order did not dare to disobey.

I only hope that the distant and mysterious East can be as rich as the royal family of the Kushan Empire proclaims, full of gold and silver, and every family has a large amount of silk.

However, looking at the cavalry on the opposite side, it seems that the equipment is indeed quite well-equipped, and the armor is obviously well made, but the helmet is ugly.

This time the Kushan Empire was an unprecedented national mobilization, and it had never fought with the Rest Empire before, and it had never been so powerful.

It is rumored that this is the crown prince who is inheriting the throne for himself, rehearsing and setting the mood, in order to promote his great strength.

As people who had never fought against the mysterious and distant countries of the East, they only knew that the armies of the Kushan Empire had defeated the many invasions of the equally powerful Rest Empire to the west of the empire.

Therefore, the army of Khorezm, like all the vassal provincial armies of the Kushan Empire, saw this as an opportunity to make a fortune in the East and hunt for treasure.

When the Han army charged at them, they gladly responded with the same charge.

It's a pity that they overestimated their own strength and wrongly underestimated the combat effectiveness of Ma Dai's 1,000 cavalry.

When the Han cavalry was still eighty zhang away from them, everyone picked up a kind of crossbow that they had never seen before, and shot wave after wave of crossbow arrows at them.

I heard only the sound of rattling, but I didn't see them loading their bolts.

Although the cavalry of Khorezm did not use crossbows, but used traditional hunting bows, they had seen the crossbows of the Kushan cavalry.

It is a weapon that can be reloaded after shooting an arrow.

Moreover, after flying a distance of eighty zhang, these crossbow arrows of the Han army were still strong and extremely sharp, and the iron armor on their bodies was easily shot through.

Khorezm's iron-smelting technology was relatively backward, and most of their iron armor was purchased or exchanged from Sogdia.

When, at the cost of considerable casualties, they finally entered the range of their hunting bows and could aim and shoot arrows.

I saw that the Han cavalry removed a rectangular wooden box from their crossbows, and then took out an identical wooden box from the back of the saddle and installed it, and then after a rattling sound, another wave of crossbow arrows "swished" over.

The brave cavalry of Khorezm, after struggling to shoot the arrows in their hands, were often shot by the oncoming crossbow arrows at the same time.

Then before they die, they will be amazed to see the arrows they are trying to shoot into the body of the Han army, and then they will be bounced off by the armor of the Han army, and only the arrows that pass through the gaps in the armor will hurt the enemy, but there are not many such unlucky people.

When nearly 2,000 Khorezm cavalry were killed or wounded and fell on the way to the charge, the Han army on the opposite side suffered only a few dozen insignificant casualties.

When the two sides finally approached within forty zhang, the cavalry of Khorezm raised their spears or sabers, ready to show the Han army their superb martial arts.

But I saw that these Han cavalry put away their crossbow bows, took out an iron lump with a long wooden handle from their waists, and then untied the reins with both hands and went to fiddle with the long-handled guy.

One hand pulls out a long, thin line, and the other hand holds the wooden handle, leans back, and then as if a bow and arrow are released, the body quickly bounces up, and the arm is thrown out.

The wooden-handled iron lump flew head-on towards him, with a white smoke behind him, and a thousand Han cavalry threw out a thousand of these things.

At this time, the general of Khorezm suddenly discovered that the front of the saddle of the Han cavalry had a wooden pedal-like thing, which was tied to the saddle with a rope and hung down to the feet.

It was on this pedal that the Han cavalry's feet stepped on so that they could keep their hands free of the reins and still be able to balance on the back of a horse that was running and bumpy.

Yes, they did not have stirrups, the cavalry of the entire Kushan Empire did not have stirrups, and even the cavalry of the entire continent of Central Asia, West Asia and India did not have stirrups.

The most elite longbow cavalry in the Kangju Kingdom also did not have stirrups, but after forming an alliance with the Great Han, the stirrups introduced from the Great Han made their longbow cavalry much stronger.

No matter what he thought about stirrups, a thousand grenades flew over a distance of forty feet, drew a beautiful arc, and fell into the ranks of Khorezm's cavalry.

Some exploded after hitting the ground, while others simply burst overhead.

The familiar flash, the explosion was staged again.

Unprotected horses were the most severely injured, and the iron armor on the cavalry could more or less withstand the fragments.