Chapter 979: Dogfight (12)
Of course, a commander with a bit of a brain would not choose to shoot all the crossbow arrows at once. The crossbowmen were divided into small phalanxes in order to use rotational firing tactics. This is an extraordinary test of the commander's ability. Gao Yang unsurprisingly handed over this important task to Gao Shun, who was famous for commanding troops.
What kind of scene is it for hundreds of thousands of crossbow arrows to be fired continuously? That's a rain of arrows in the truest sense of the word!
The opposing sides are fighting in formation on the battlefield, and it seems that the area is very large when the formation is arranged. However, in fact, when the two sides were fighting, due to various reasons such as weather, terrain, equipment, etc., the real front line occupied a very small area.
In the field, the number of troops that can be invested in each attack is actually very limited. The larger the scale of the campaign, the less likely it is that a single attack will end the battle. Both sides need to accumulate repeatedly and constantly impact the battle in order to accumulate the cornerstone of victory little by little.
In this case, when the attacking troops encountered that overwhelming rain of sharp arrows, how could they break through this path of death within the range of crossbow arrows?
Behind the hoplite formation was the main formation led by Gao Yang himself. Thousands of cavalry are the last hole cards in Gao Yang's hand. They will deal a fatal blow to the Xiliang army at a critical moment.
"Hiss~~~" After seeing Gao Yang's formation clearly, the generals on the side of the Xiliang Army almost gasped in unison.
In this era, due to the backwardness of production technology, things such as strong bows and crossbows were very difficult to produce, and the production was very small. At this moment, he suddenly saw thousands of hard crossbows pointing at his side in front of him, and whoever was changing would be full of drums.
"How can this be fought?" Guo Yan looked at the dense crossbow array, and felt that his scalp was numb for a while, and his strands trembled. No cavalry could escape in the face of so many crossbow bolts. Unless they are so numerous that they can live and die regardless of casualties.
Dong Yue, Li Dao and the others looked at each other, they never thought that they would encounter such a thing? I knew that today, when I first entered Luoyang City, I should have snatched all the strong bows and crossbows in the arsenal!
The Xiliang Legion is a cavalry-based force, and there is no such thing as crossbowmen among them. When he first entered Luoyang City, even if he snatched the bow and crossbow, it didn't make sense, so Dong Zhuo didn't move those things. In the end, it was cheaper for Gao Yang.
"Gotta fight!" Li Wei gritted his teeth and said coldly.
Everyone was shocked and looked at him with strange expressions. This situation launched a charge. It's all about going to die. Gaoyang's army formation was backed by the Luoyang city wall, and those mobile tactics could not play a role at all, so they could only rush straight into battle with their lives. The sergeants here are all fellow villagers who have followed them all the way from Xiliang, so what's the point of wasting them here?
"We don't have any other choice." Li Wei gestured slightly in the direction of the Kwantung Coalition Army in the distance. He explained, "If you don't fight, you won't talk about the morale of the army or anything." Those Kwantung coalition forces saw that we were so cowardly and fearful of war, even if we took the initiative to take refuge in the past, what would people think of us? ”
As soon as these words came out, everyone was immediately moved.
They suddenly remembered. For the current Xiliang Army, there is nothing more important than asking for life-saving food from the Kwantung Coalition Army.
Li Dao paused slightly, a touch of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes, and he said in a cold voice, "It's better to die on the battlefield than to be starved to death, right?" ”
"Yes." Fan Chou nodded and agreed. The rest of the crowd was silent, but their expressions were obviously moved by this sentence.
"And." Fan Chou answered, "We can follow those steppe wolf clans. Hit the old and weak in front and consume the arrows of those bows. The elite followed, taking advantage of the gap to cover up and kill. As long as our iron cavalry rushes into the formation of those crossbowmen, the rest will be easy. ”
Fan Chou's words made everyone's eyes shine, this is a good tactic to deal with the hedgehog array.
These generals of the Xiliang Army did not doubt whether their soldiers and horses would be able to defeat the enemy on the opposite side after they rushed into the enemy formation. The reputation of Xiliang Iron Riding is not blown. They just didn't want to lose too much in the face of a dense rain of arrows. Now that there are means to greatly reduce the casualties of the main force of battle, naturally no one will raise objections. As for the old and weak who are the leaders, who cares about their lives?
Soon, the leaders of these armies agreed that each family should send a part of the soldiers and horses. Not only the soldiers, but also a batch of decoys that attract firepower from the front. Even if it's a decoy, it has to be a bait that can ride a horse.
The total number of soldiers and horses about to attack has exceeded 10,000 horsemen, which is definitely a formidable force even in the northern Central Plains.
If it were to be changed to the south of the river, not to mention that it would not be as good as a huge cavalry, and it would not even be possible to gather so many horses at all. The strong strength of the Xiliang Army can be seen from this.
If it weren't for the lack of food, they would have been forced to be nailed here. The astonishing mobility and powerful combat effectiveness of the Xiliang Legion were completely allowed to gallop across the world. Dong Zhuo was able to control the court of the Han Empire because he had such a strong strength in his hands.
This large cavalry force was led by Dong Zhuo's younger brother, Dong Min. After a pre-war mobilization. The huge cavalry formation soon launched an attack on the opposite side of the strong army formation. At present, the first is the more than 3,000 cannon fodder who are used as old and weak in the Xiliang army.
The Western Liang cavalry was a very strong force.
These elites who were born in the bitter cold land of Xiliang are all elites who died after a long bloody battle with the Qiang people. Among them, there are even many Qiang people who have taken the initiative to take refuge in Dong Zhuo.
They have been with horses all year round, and they are skilled in riding and martial arts. Moreover, in the perennial fighting, he has cultivated a unique courage in the world. Once such a formidable cavalry unit made up its mind to launch a decisive assault, the attack power was absolutely terrifying.
Large-scale cavalry charges rarely happened in this era. The main role of the Eastern cavalry was to movably attack. Chase and cover kill.
The main reason is that there are almost no heavy cavalry in the cavalry of the East. The light cavalry mainly won by mobility, and their main means of attack was also bows and arrows.
Of course, that's not to say they can't charge. As long as the determination to die is kept, the assault of thousands of cavalry is still a nightmare that ordinary infantry units cannot resist. Without the need for heavy armor spears, just the horses that galloped quickly and weighed hundreds of pounds were enough to kill a large group of people.
When Dong Min formed an attack queue. After giving the order to blow the desolate and low horn, the more than 10,000 cavalrymen began to move slowly in turn.
Such a large number of cavalry formations were extremely impressive when they attacked. Tens of thousands of huge horses' hooves pounded the ground, and the earth trembled. After the entire cavalry cluster gradually accelerated, the overwhelming momentum like an endless tide was really too amazing.
Armies that are poorly trained, or have not been on the battlefield, are likely to collapse directly due to psychological stress in the face of such a level of assault. Even the army under Gao Yang's command was also slightly commotionous. However, it was quickly suppressed by generals at all levels. After all, they had undergone rigorous training before, and they had also been on the battlefield when they exterminated the Yellow Turbans, and these sergeants were enough to be considered elite.
Regarding the cavalry of the Xiliang Legion, Gao Yang was not worried at all. He took out his high-powered military binoculars and carefully observed the situation on the battlefield. With Gao Shun commanding the crossbow army formation in front, Gao Yang was very relieved.
The pinnacle of the Han Dynasty's ordnance production, the rhubarb crossbow, has a range of more than 400 meters. The alloy hard crossbow brought by Gao Yang from modern time and space adopts an almost perfect design scheme and the best process materials. When using specialized armor-piercing heavy arrows, its effective killing range is more than 500 meters! This is a completely unimaginable thing in this day and age.
During the Battle of Jieqiao, Yuan Shao's general Lu Yi led 800 elite soldiers to the camp as the vanguard, and with a strong crossbow as a cover, he defeated the most elite thousands of white horse servants under Gongsun Zan in one fell swoop. Created a classic example of the crossbow crushing the cavalry.
And at this moment, Gao Yang has more than 10,000 hard crossbows in his hands that are far stronger than Lu Yi, against the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, whose strength is similar to that of Bai Ma Yicong. There is hardly any doubt about the odds between the two sides.
Lu Sheng is a brave general under Dong Min, and he is also a famous brave man in the Xiliang Army. This time, the more than 3,000 old and weak people who rushed to the front of the battle were led by him.
Lu Sheng, who had received the military order, looked at the dense crossbow array as dense as a hedgehog in front of him in the distance, the muscles on his face continued to twitch, he breathed in the cold air, and looked ahead with a fierce look in his eyes.
After feeling that the distance was about the same, Lu Sheng suddenly raised the ring head knife in his hand and swung forward, "Rush!" Rush!! Rush!!! ”
Even the old and weak in the Xiliang army should not be underestimated!
These elderly auxiliaries are not weak, they can also ride fierce horses, draw hard bows, and dance swords!
The forward cavalry, which was still gradually speeding up, immediately squirmed after hearing Lu Sheng's order, and soon formed a loose charging formation.
Thousands of swords almost came out of their sheaths in unison, as if they had pulled out a long, dazzling ribbon of silver light in just a second or two! This scene made the crossbowmen on the opposite side squint.
"Okay." Gao Yang, who had also led a powerful cavalry unit himself, couldn't help but shout in a deep voice. This momentum, this action, this indomitable determination. These Xiliang Iron Riders were known as the best in the world in the early stage of the Three Kingdoms, and they definitely have this strength.
Jia Xu glanced at Gao Yang in surprise and didn't say anything more.
The striker commanded by Lu Sheng, which was composed of thousands of old and weak members of the Xiliang army, had done everything he could. They've done well enough.
It's a pity that they are facing an army that is doing even better! (To be continued.) )
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