With Wei Yan's order, the soldiers jumped off their horses one after another, and everyone did almost the same thing. Instead of rushing to solve their hungry bellies, they took out horse feed and fed their beloved war horses first. For the cavalry, the war horse was not only their weapon in battle, but also a good companion who accompanied them day and night, just like their relatives.

Soon a battle was about to be ensued, and the soldiers fed only half of their horses. They themselves are the same, a mouthful of fried noodles and a mouthful of snow, and they can eat half full.

After half an hour's rest, the soldiers gradually recovered from the fatigue of the long march. Wei Yan waved the big knife in his hand and roared angrily: "Get on the horse, kill!" ”

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Ten thousand people shouted in unison, and the sound shook the sky.

The Xiongnu men and women who were singing and dancing by the bonfire were panicked by the faint sound of shouting and killing, and were looking around, looking for the source of this sound. Suddenly, they felt the earth tremble slightly. This situation is all too familiar to the people living on the grassland, and this is a movement that only happens when a large number of war horses gallop by.

Soon, the joyous bonfire dance came to an abrupt end, and the adult Hun men and the half-grown boys rushed to their tents. Although they didn't know who these cavalrymen were who suddenly attacked, the harsh living conditions on the steppe made them dare not let down their vigilance at any time, and they were ready to fight at any time. Because, their enemies are not only the Han Chinese, but also other tribes from within their Xiongnu.

This tribe was the same Xiongnu tribe that attacked the border of Liangzhou and slaughtered the entire village. This was originally a medium-sized tribe, but the men in the tribe were first recruited by Liu Bao to participate in the war in Guanzhong, and as a result, none survived. Later, the civil strife of the Xiongnu inevitably involved this tribe as well, and once again caused heavy casualties. At present, there are less than 1,000 capable warriors in the entire tribe, including more than 600 and a half children. Not only did the soldiers suffer serious losses, which lasted for nearly a year of war, but also affected their horses and sheep, and the shortage of food made them usher in a difficult winter, so they would uncharacteristically harass the Han border in winter.

This situation did not only happen to this tribe, but also to the thousands of tribes within the Xiongnu who had problems of one kind or another. Therefore, when they felt that a large group of cavalry was coming, they did not expect that the enemy would actually be the cavalry of the Han Dynasty, but only thought that other tribes wanted to take advantage of the fire to loot.

By the time the young men and the half-grown children in the tribe led their horses and rushed out of the camp with bows and arrows, Wei Yan had already taken the lead and led 4,000 cavalry to the front.

The 10,000 cavalry led by Wei Yan consisted of 4,000 heavy cavalry and 6,000 light cavalry. These heavy cavalry, both men and horses, were clad in sturdy armor. These armors are all iron armor produced by the research institute after several experiments, which can not only prevent knives and arrows, but also not be particularly heavy, which can minimize the burden on the war horse.

Facing the thousands of Hun riders who had just rushed out of the camp and had not yet had time to form a formation, Wei Yan did not have the slightest relent, the big sword in his hand was raised, and the cavalry behind him threw out the short spears in their hands together.

Those who can be selected into the heavy cavalry team are some people with great height and strength, and their war horses are also very tall, and the short spears they threw with the rapid gallop of the war horses were as fast as thunder, and many Hun riders did not react, so they were pierced through the chest by these short throwing spears, and even the war horses under their crotches were stabbed over.

The Hun riders had never seen this kind of formation, but in the blink of an eye, most of the warriors around them fell, and before they could react, the heavy cavalry had already rushed in front of them. The Huns were proficient in mounted archery, and they were not good at this kind of hand-to-hand combat, so they heard a strange cry from the ranks, and the remaining 400 people rushed to both sides of the camp.

By the help of the bonfire, they had already seen that the cavalry team that had rushed over was not only far superior to them, but also well-armored and well-equipped, far from being something they could directly confront them. And the Xiongnu tribes they know can't have such a cavalry, obviously this cavalry is from the Han people. They wanted to take advantage of their ability to ride around the flanks of these ironclad cavalry and crush them with their bows and arrows, and they did not believe that the Han Chinese would be superior to them in cavalry and archery.

But before they could fully break out of the camp, they were greeted by a dense rain of arrows, and they ran into a group of black knights, who were real and rode and shot, and seemed to be far above them in both riding and archery. At this moment, the Huns finally understood that they had been surrounded.

The remnants of the Hun cavalry of more than 400 people, in the face of 10,000 Han elites armed to the teeth, were almost powerless, and the entire Han army did not suffer a single casualty, and all the Hun cavalry that this tribe could fight were annihilated.

The Hun women and children who remained in the camp only heard the sound of killing and screaming outside, and did not know that the enemy they were facing was an elite soldier from the Han Dynasty, they just gathered together, anxiously waiting for the end of the battle. In such a harsh living environment as the grassland, for these women and children, how to survive is the most important thing. No matter which tribe is attacking, as long as they do not resist, the attackers will generally not kill them, and the worst outcome is to steal their cattle and sheep. And very few people will do something to kill them, and they will not take all their food, and they will leave them a little bit. Of course, it is impossible to survive the winter in such a raid, and at least half of them will die of starvation.

However, what happened next surprised them, and it was not other Xiongnu tribes who rushed into the camp, but tens of thousands of Han cavalry. Before they could react, the Han cavalry began to kill people and set fires.

Some of the older men and some of the slightly taller boys who remained in the camp were quickly pulled out of the crowd by the Han cavalry, and without saying a word, they were stabbed in the head. The women and young children were also evicted from their tents and gathered outside the camp.

At the same time, some Han Chinese slaves were also freed. Except for a few of these Han slaves who were sold, the rest were captured by these Huns when they raided the Han border, and the thirty-seven young Han women who had been taken captive in the village that had suffered the catastrophe a few days ago were among them.

Soon, the soldiers counted the captive Han Chinese slaves, numbering 154 people, most of them young women. The slaves were all yellow-skinned and apparently subjected to inhuman abuse, and many were still terrified and could not believe that they had been freed again. When they understood, they couldn't help but cry bitterly.

The soldiers carried out their work in an orderly manner, drove the horses, cattle and sheep of the Huns together, and dragged out the fodder they had accumulated to spend the whole winter, so that their horses were full. A large number of cattle and sheep were slaughtered on the spot, roasted or boiled, so that the soldiers and the rescued Han people could have a feast.

Wei Yan nibbled on a leg of mutton while listening to the soldiers report on today's results. In the raid on this camp, a total of 1,324 Xiongnu men were killed, more than 4,000 horses, more than 500 cattle, more than 7,000 sheep were captured, and 370 young Xiongnu women were captured.

In fact, there were more than 3,000 women in this Xiongnu tribe, but Liu Xin's order was to let the Huns repay them tenfold for the sins they had committed, so Wei Yan didn't dare to take too many people away, and it would be enough to gather 370 people.

After listening to the report, Wei Yan took the last bite of mutton, threw the bones in his hand, and said loudly: "Come on, set fire to these tents!" ”

The Xiongnu women who were gathered together realized that something was wrong, those tents were their homes, and they relied on whether they could survive this winter, and now they actually lit a raging fire.

Wei Yan watched the fire reflect half of the sky, waved his hand, and asked a team of 1,000 people to escort the rescued Han slaves, escort the captive 370 Xiongnu women and a large number of cattle, sheep and horses back to the Han border, and he himself had to continue to go deep into the desert, because his task was not yet completed.

In fact, the task given by Liu Xin was not too arduous, but they were asked to kill 4,390 Huns and capture 370 Hun women as revenge. This was the general task assigned to the five cavalry teams, but Wei Yan automatically "took over" all of this task, in his opinion, he still needed to kill another 3,006 Huns to complete the task, so he still needed to continue to attack.

The Han army was disciplined and well-trained, and soon the cavalry of 9,000 men was regrouped and feasted, and both men and horses seemed to be in good spirits. At this time, the sky in the distance suddenly exploded into a cloud of turquoise sparks, which looked both beautiful and a little weird on this endless prairie.

Wei Yan looked up and muttered, "I almost forgot this stubble, quick, let's put one too!" ”

It turned out that this was the signal fireworks that Xu Huang distributed to them when he was leaving, which were divided into red and green. Xu Huang repeatedly emphasized that if he succeeded, he would set off a green firework, and if he met a strong enemy, he would set off a red firework. This kind of fireworks is naturally a new achievement of the research institute. Liu Xin and Ma Yun from later generations of course wanted to develop gunpowder to enhance their strength, especially Ma Yun, she also had a relatively rich knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry, and thought that this was just a simple thing, but when it came to actual operation, she found that there were still many problems that were difficult to solve. However, although the artillery was not produced, the gunpowder was already made.

With gunpowder, Ma Yun decided to produce some fireworks in order to make the New Year more lively for the children. And the beautiful fireworks will naturally be more popular with children, and it has become the main direction of the research institute. Based on her knowledge of chemistry, Ma Yun asked the craftsmen to add different metal and mineral components to the fireworks, so that the flames emitted a variety of different colors.

Liu Xin, who has the heart to dominate the world, wants to apply almost every invention to the military. This time he sent troops to fight against the Xiongnu, and after seeing the fireworks set off by the research institute, Liu Xin thought of distributing the fireworks to his army. There is no shelter in the vast grasslands, and the fireworks can still be seen clearly from afar, which is a great way to convey the message.

Hearing Wei Yan's order, the soldiers hurriedly took out the fireworks, and before they could light them, a green point of light flashed in the sky farther away, obviously another cavalry team had succeeded.

The pro-soldiers hurriedly lit the fireworks in their hands, and almost at the same time, to their right, two lights rose in the sky. For a while, fireworks flew all over the sky, and the turquoise light was dazzling, adding a bit of life to the silent night.