The nomadic tribes are good at riding and shooting, galloping across the boundless grasslands, with super mobility, and often choose the strategy of "fighting if they can fight, fleeing if they can't" when they encounter the enemy, which is also the main reason why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu in that year, but could not cut them down and eradicate the roots. But this is not the biggest advantage of the nomadic tribe, their biggest advantage is that all the people are soldiers, just like this small tribe in front of them, which is only 500 young and strong, can quickly mobilize two or three thousand capable "soldiers" when encountering danger.

At this time, the two or three thousand men and women, old and young, had already jumped on horseback, and the moment they got on horseback, they regained the self-confidence of the children of the grassland. Soon, they realized that something was not quite right.

Because there are often people moving, there is not much snow in the place where they are stationed, which should be suitable for war horses to gallop, but there are short throwing guns everywhere in the camp, like small wooden stakes erected there, and there is very little room for war horses to maneuver, let alone run. If this is the case, they will try to break out of the camp, and the vast grassland is their real world. However, not anymore, the camp was covered with thick snow, and the horses could not move their hooves at all, and the situation would not be much better than in the camp.

While they were stunned, their enemies were like ghosts shuttling back and forth in the snow around the camp, and they couldn't even see them clearly. The Huns could not understand why they were able to walk on the snow like flying, and could only feel their arms lightly raised, and arrows like locusts shot at them. These Huns became the best targets on their horses, and many of them could not dodge and fell off their horses.

In the grassland, the most important thing is to let yourself survive, seeing that they are not the enemy's opponents, and they can flee from a distance, the first choice of the Huns is to jump off the horse and crouch on the ground. Since you can't fight and you can't escape, it's better to surrender, as long as you can save your life, it's more important than anything else.

Ma Chao was very familiar with the habits of these nomadic tribes, so he did not order the soldiers to rush into the camp immediately, but shot them with special short crossbows on the periphery. In fact, regardless of the factors of training and equipment, in terms of numbers, the 5,000 Han army alone exceeded the total population of this tribe.

This short crossbow was developed by the research institute specifically for cavalry use. No matter how skilled a soldier is at riding and arching, he must use both arms to draw his bow, and although the addition of stirrups frees the knight's hands, it only makes it easier to ride and shoot. However, as long as this short crossbow is loaded with an iron arrow in advance, it can be operated with one hand, and Ma Yun also designed a safety similar to a firearm for this short crossbow based on his own knowledge, which can avoid the short crossbow with an iron arrow preloaded from "misfire". The fly in the ointment is that this short crossbow can only be loaded with one iron arrow at a time, and it takes a lot of time to reload the iron arrow, so the interval between shots is much longer than using a bow and arrow. Of course, all of the Han cavalry were armed with three "ranged weapons" - short throwing spears, short crossbows, and cavalry bows.

For the Han cavalry who abandoned their horses and switched to skis, the short crossbow at this time was the best weapon, although it could only shoot once, but for those Huns, it was the best deterrent. People often have an innate fear of the unknown, and in the face of these enemies who use strange weapons, dress strangely and can fly in the snow, the men, women and children of the tribe can no longer have the slightest sense of resistance.

Ma Chao saw that the people in the tribe jumped off their horses one after another, and knew that the situation had been decided, so he stood up straight, waved his hand, and the soldiers swarmed up and rushed into the camp of this tribe.

Soon, everyone was gathered together and knelt on the ground. This tribe has only more than 500 years of young and strong herdsmen, and more than 300 people have been stabbed with short throwing guns and shot with short crossbows, and more than 200 women and half-grown boys have also died. Although there was no short-handed encounter, there were dozens of casualties in the Han army, all of whom were injured by the arrows shot by the Xiongnu herdsmen in a hurry, this is the cruelty of war, as long as they go to the battlefield, no one can guarantee that they can come back alive.

Ma Chao looked at these Huns kneeling in front of him, and asked in a deep voice, "Who is your leader?" ”

Hearing Ma Chao's question, the men, women and children in the tribe all showed a look of panic on their faces. Of course, they couldn't understand Ma Chao's Chinese, but because of this, they were even more afraid. Some time ago, the news that the Han army had bloodied dozens of tribes on the grassland had already spread throughout the Xiongnu tribes, and all the tribes that had been attacked by the Han army were wiped out without exception. After listening to Ma Chao's questioning, the men and women in this tribe realized that the enemy who attacked them was actually a Han Chinese thousands of miles away, and how could they not panic.

The interpreter had already translated Ma Chao's question into Xiongnu, and an older Xiongnu woman trembled and pointed to the big tent in the middle of the camp.

Ma Chao looked in the direction of the woman's finger, and saw a big fat man next to the tent, a short throwing gun pierced through his chest, pierced through his back, and firmly stuck on the ground, making him tilt there in a strange posture, and he would not fall down. Ma Chao frowned and asked, "He is your leader?" ”

The dead man was short and fat, and he didn't know how he usually jumped on the war horse, such a person could actually become a tribal leader, no wonder the scale of this tribe was only so big, and Ma Chao was disgusted.

The Huns who knelt on the ground nodded their heads again and again, proving that the fat man who died was their leader. In fact, many people have secretly regretted in their hearts, if they had known that it was the Han army that attacked, they would have fought to the death. Because, according to the rumors some time ago, these Han soldiers were very fierce, they would kill all the men who were taller than the wheels, and then rob their cattle and sheep, and burn down their tents, and those who survived would not even survive the day when they were taken in as slaves by other tribes, they would freeze and starve to death.

Seeing that their leader was dead, Ma Chao pointed to the older woman and continued to ask, "You say, to whom are you attached?" ”

This is just a small tribe with 500 young and strong people, such a small tribe, if it is not attached to a large tribe for protection, it will not be able to survive in the grassland of the jungle, so Ma Chao will definitely not think that they are an independent tribe, which is why he asked.

When the woman saw Ma Chao pointing at her, she thought that Ma Chao was going to pull herself out and behead her, and she was so frightened that her face was pale, until the interpreter translated Ma Chao's words into Xiongnu, and then she trembled and said: "I, we are attached to Yu Luo Danyu." ”

Hearing that they were attached to Fu Luo, Ma Chao was very relieved, he was always worried about one thing when he gave the order just now, if these people were attached to Hu Chuquan and them, then he would be innocent by mistake.

Just when the Huns thought that there was no way out, Ma Chao turned to the interpreter and said, "Tell them that as long as they are obedient, they will spare their lives." If they don't want to die, they quickly kill cattle and sheep and let the soldiers have a full meal. ”

This time, they sent troops to the steppe, and the orders they received were different from the last time. The last time Liu Xin ordered the Xiongnu to pay ten times the price, but this time, Liu Xin asked them to kill and injure as few Xiongnu lives as possible. Because Liu Xin wanted to completely incorporate the Xiongnu into the Han Dynasty, these people would all be the subjects of the Han Dynasty in the future, and it would be more advantageous to keep them than to kill them for the future Han Dynasty.

When the Huns heard the interpreter say this, they were like being pardoned, and some of them actually showed happy smiles on their faces, and they had a feeling of escaping death. The men hurriedly got up from the ground and hurriedly prepared a sumptuous feast for the soldiers.

Liu Xin ordered not to kill innocents indiscriminately, this order Ma Chao did not dare to violate no matter what, five thousand pairs of eyes are staring here, if he kills on a large scale, he will definitely not be able to hide it. Ma Chao attacked this camp mainly to inquire about how to get to the tribe of Yufro. However, now that this camp has been captured, Ma Chao does not plan to cheapen these people.

The rations his soldiers carried were fried noodles, and they had come from the snow for the past five days, but they ate a little less of the fried noodles, and they didn't know when they would find Yufro's camp. Although the tribe in front of him is small, it has a large number of cattle and sheep, which can just give the soldiers a full meal, and they should improve their food.

The people of the steppe slaughtered cattle and sheep with good hands, disemboweling, evisceration, skinning, deboning, lighting bonfires, and setting up shelves, and in a short time, the camp exuded a tempting smell of meat.

Ma Chao sat in the largest tent, gobbling down a browned roast leg of lamb. To be honest, the nutrition of fried noodles is enough, and it can also fill the belly, but for Ma Chao, who grew up in Xiliang, eating it in his mouth is really a bit too tasteless, or this roast leg of lamb is more attractive to him.

This tent is owned by the tribal leader and is larger than the others and slightly more ornately decorated. Four pretty Hun maidens stood aside, holding mare's milk wine, roast mutton, and boiled goat's milk in their hands. They used to be the maids around the tribal leader, but now they are prisoners of the Han army, but they understand their situation very well, and obediently stay in the big tent to serve Ma Chao as a maid.

After a short panic, these girls were no longer very afraid of Ma Chao, and secretly aimed at him with a pair of pretty eyes. Although this Han general was young, he was very handsome, and exuded a masculine air from top to bottom, which was much better looking than their leader.

Ma Chao casually dropped the leg of mutton bone, and when he looked up, he saw that the eyes of those girls were on him, grinned, and asked, "How to get to Yufuluo's camp from here?" ”