On the grassland, a team slowly marched north.

The Hun cavalry looked at the bulging bags on the horseback, satisfied and triumphant.

Some of the cavalry had young Han Chinese women tied to their horses, so some of them were unscrupulous in judging these women, and from time to time some women were intimidated or harassed, and they were so frightened that they lost their faces and screamed in horror. The cavalrymen were even more proud, and the whistles came and went.

These Hun cavalry crossed the Great Wall and plundered south, and returned with a full load.

In the middle of the procession, hundreds of Han Chinese were escorted on foot.

Most of these Han people are tired and hungry, and they are staggering, but they can only grit their teeth for support, and dare not stop. Along the way, at least a dozen villagers were killed by the murderous Hun cavalry because they walked slowly, and those villagers who tried to find an opportunity to escape were also killed after being caught up by the Huns, and none of them escaped.

The Han people who were taken captive by the nomadic cavalry were even inferior to livestock, and they fought when they wanted and killed when they wanted.

Many of the Han Chinese who remained in the Hetao area lived in the same ethnic group so that they could help each other when things happened. Hearing the screams of the captive women, several young men rushed angrily, but they were greeted by Hun whips and sabers, one of whom was killed on the spot, and the other two were relatively lucky, and were beaten badly and helped back by the clansmen in the ranks. They were able to spare their lives, not because the Hun cavalry was kind, but because these Huns did not want to lose more slaves.

These Han captives did not know what awaited them in front of them.

From the moment the stronghold was breached, they lost everything, including their lives and dignity.

The leading Xiongnu general was not satisfied with the speed of the procession, perhaps he did not think that the Han people should walk slower than the war horses on foot, and kept scolding and shouting.

The Great Wall is in sight, and it is getting late.

The team stopped, lit a bonfire, and prepared to rest for the night.

The smell of meat soon wafted around the makeshift camp.

The Huns sat around the bonfire, enjoying the food, drinking milk wine, and laughing from time to time.

The captives could only sit silently in a corner of the camp, nibbling on dry and hard dry food, with a heavy heart. Everyone knew that tomorrow the party would cross the Great Wall and enter the most powerful area of the Qianghu, and this time the future was bleak, and it was unknown if anyone would return alive. aunt

"Who?"

The Huns, who were on guard on the periphery, shouted.

No one spoke, and the arrows came off the string.

Arrows suddenly flew out of the darkness, knocking several Huns to the ground.

Immediately after that, the sound of horses' hooves sounded, and the rapid sound of horses' hooves came from far and near, and they rushed towards the temporary camp.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Huns at the campfire rushed to their respective horses, ready to fight.

More arrows flew over.

The night was like iron, and the Huns around the campfire were particularly conspicuous, but the Huns had difficulty seeing the enemy in the distance. In addition, the enemy cavalry was only discovered when it was nearly a hundred steps away from the camp, and it didn't take much time to rush over, and the sound of bowstrings trembling and arrows breaking through the air converged into a killing chapter, and before the two of them could engage in close combat, dozens of Huns had been shot on the spot.

The leading Hun generals immediately gave the first order: run.

There is no imperial court in the Hetao, and there is no so-called royal law.

The people of this land follow the law of the jungle.

If you want to live here longer, you must know how to judge the situation.

The Huns grew up on horseback, and judging the number of enemies by the sound of horses' hooves is the most basic ability. In just a few seconds, the Hun generals judged that the enemy was riding about 500 horsemen, and this Hun cavalry team was only about 200 people.

The Hun generals quickly gave the second order: "Throw away the loot!" ”

Without the hesitation of the Huns, they left the large and small bags on the horseback.

Being targeted by a large force of cavalry, lightening the load can help them escape the pursuit, and although everyone regrets throwing away the loot, it is more important to save their lives.

The loot that had been snatched with great difficulty was gone, and they were shot in disarray, and the Huns were depressed.

"Who attacked us?"

"The cavalry is coming, do you still need to ask? Either the Xianbei people or the Qiang people! ”

"Despicable!"

"All the loot we worked so hard to grab fell into their hands......

The cavalry behind him chased after him, and continued to greet the Hun cavalry enthusiastically with bows and arrows, and from time to time the Huns were hit by arrows, but fortunately, they had left the bonfire area and were no longer eye-catching targets, and the probability of being shot was significantly reduced. The Hun cavalry drew their bows and arrows and shot at the pursuers, regardless of whether they could hit the target or not, as long as they could stop the pursuers for a moment, their hope of escape was greater.

The Hun generals listened to the sound of horses' hooves, and their faces showed a hint of joy: "They are not as fast as us!" ”

Everyone cheered.

"Maybe it's the Qiang people, the riding skills of the Xianbei people are not so bad."

"Let me know which tribe they come from, and I will take revenge for today!"

As soon as the voice fell, a change occurred.

In the darkness ahead, arrows whistled, and the sound of horses' hooves slowed down and rushed straight towards the Huns.

Forward and backward strikes!

The Hun cavalry was full of souls, and it was not difficult to judge from the sound of horses' hooves that the number of cavalry intercepting them was also quite large, equal to the number of pursuers who were the first to launch a surprise attack, that is, they were being surrounded by a thousand-man cavalry.

The Hun generals put down their bows and arrows, drew their swords and shouted angrily: "If you can't rush over, you have to die here!" ”

All the Hun cavalry knew that the time had come when they had to fight hard.

"Choke!"

With the sound of the saber unsheathed, the two teams of cavalry met in a narrow way.

A military general rushed out of the darkness, the halberd was handed out, and the saber of the first Hun was easily blocked, and the halberd branch swept through the belly of the Hun cavalry, bringing up a canopy of blood. The military general took advantage of the situation to urge the war horse to kill into the enemy formation, and where he passed, the people turned over on their backs, and there was no one under his command.

This brave halberd general, of course, is Qu Chen.

Qu Chen's mission to lead his troops this time was to get some population for the Dragon Leader upgrade.

The Hetao is inhabited by many ethnic groups, including the Qiang, Xiongnu, Xianbei and Han people. The Han people are an agrarian civilization, and they are content to have a piece of land that can allow their tribes to live and multiply, and they are not aggressive. The Huns, Qiang and Xianbei are different.

Nomads are greatly affected by the environment, and when they encounter bad years, they usually turn their ideas on their neighbors and start looting. There is no absolute strength in the Hetao, and there are often fights between different races, and mergers and fights between different tribes of the same race are not uncommon.

Wars between tribes were frequent, and wars produced a large number of prisoners of war.

Prisoners of war of the same race are relatively easy to deal with, and directly absorb and strengthen the tribe. Prisoners of war of different races were more troublesome, and it was more difficult to absorb them directly as tribesmen, and even if the captives expressed their willingness to join, the tribes were not necessarily relieved, and simply used as slaves or as bargaining chips for trade with other tribes, and were traded back and forth like goods.

Normally, the independent Qianghu tribe would have some slaves taken captive.

Qu Chen led his troops north, just to find the weaker Qianghu tribe to attack, hoping to capture some slaves. Dragon Collar is Han territory, and it is naturally best to be able to rescue Han slaves, but if there are really not so many Han people, it is acceptable to take some Qianghu slaves, after all, now Longling is waiting for the population to upgrade, there is no capital to pick and choose, slaves have no autonomy, and they have the opportunity to be accepted by Longling and become free people, I believe that many people will not refuse.

The more powerful the Qianghu tribe, the more slaves they tended to have.

However, the Great Horde is not something that the Breaker Rider can provoke now.

There are only 1,000 cavalry breakers, although they have participated in several battles and have good performance, but Qu Chen knows that the performance of the cavalry is excellent because the opponents they encounter are all foot soldiers, and the cavalry fights infantry, which has an advantage. The superiority of the cavalry in the Hetao area has been completely reduced to zero, and on the basis of the superiority of horsemanship, any nomadic cavalry can completely blast the cavalry and attack the big tribes, which is purely self-inflicted.

With the current strength of the Broken Cavalry, at most the idea of fighting those small tribes.

Qu Chen thought very clearly, safety is the most important thing at this stage, even if there are too few slaves in the small tribe, it doesn't matter, defeat them and take them back as slaves, dare you disobey?

On the way, the scout cavalry sent by Qu Chen discovered this Hun cavalry team.

Knowing that the Hun cavalry was heading north with the captive Han Chinese, Qu Chen immediately decided to take them under his sword.

It is undoubtedly easier to ambush a Qianghu squad with captives than to attack the Qianghu tribe; Moreover, it is still unknown how many slaves or population the weak Qianghu tribe has, since the Hun cavalry is holding hundreds of Han people, it is a ready-made population to be rescued, which can solve the urgent need of the dragon leader!

The Huns were skilled in bowing and horses, and in order to reduce their own casualties, Qu Chen instigated this night attack.

The Huns were carrying a large number of prisoners, and the march could not be fast, so the captives rode around in front of them in advance, waiting for them near the Great Wall to throw themselves into the net. Qu Chen expected that the Huns would not dare to fight to the death after being attacked, so he divided half of the cavalry to launch a night attack from the south, and he took the rest of the men and horses to wait for the rabbit on the north side of the Great Wall.

Qu Chen took the lead and was invincible.

More cavalry appeared, shouting and rushing towards the Huns.

The Hun general's eyes were split, he roared angrily, brandished his saber and rushed over, slashing towards Qu Chen. I only heard the sound of "dang", a huge force came, I couldn't hold back in my hand, the saber didn't know where it went, and then the halberd gently crossed his neck, and the strength of the Hun generals suddenly disappeared, and he fell down.

The leader was killed, and the other Huns were terrified, and they had no intention of fighting, just wanting to flee. Their troops are at a disadvantage, the front fled was shot for a few miles, continued to attrition, and now in an ambush, there are less than 100 people left, wanting to break through the interception in a short period of time is tantamount to wishful thinking, the rear pursuers are coming in a blink of an eye, breaking the captives and riding before and after, killing the Huns in a hurry, and finally only more than ten horsemen escaped with excellent riding skills.

The first battle after entering the Hetao ended in a complete victory for the captive cavalry.

The cavalry happily cleaned the battlefield, but Qu Chen's face was solemn, and there was no trace of a smile on his face.

Although the battle just now was short, it exposed a lot of problems.

When he was in Jizhou, the captivity cavalry could always rely on the advantage of four legs to bully the infantry, galloping across the battlefield, no matter attacking or attacking, they all seemed to be at ease and majestic. But this time with a small group of Hun cavalry, the captives rode in many links such as horse control, riding and shooting, and close combat, and there was an obvious gap with the horseback national cavalry. Fortunately, the cavalry had an absolute advantage, hitting the opponent with a front and rear attack, and Qu Chen himself was at the forefront, causing chaos among the Hun cavalry, and the casualties of the cavalry themselves would definitely not be so few.

However, it is impossible for the Breaker to have a strength advantage every time, nor can it be able to flank the opponent every time.

The Qianghu tribes are herdsmen who lay down their arms, and they are warriors when they take up arms, which can be described as all the people's soldiers, and the more powerful tribes can mobilize thousands of horsemen. The thousand cavalry who chased the deer were nothing in the Hetao.

You must know that the Broken Cavalry is already the second strongest soldier stationed in Hetao under the Zhulu Command, and its combat power is second only to the Wudang Flying Army. From the perspective of mutual restraint of the troops, the Wudang Flying Army is a foot soldier and is good at mountain warfare, and it is unfair to bet the burden of fighting against the nomadic cavalry on the Wudang Flying Army, and the Broken Cavalry should play a backbone role.

The "nail plan" must be participated in by the cavalry, precisely because the Hetao is the most suitable for cavalry play.

But the quality of the cavalry warriors is poor, and the nomadic cavalry is a cut, how can they gain a foothold in the Hetao?

Qu Chen muttered to himself: "There is still a lot to practice!" ”

A transferred military general urged Ma to come to Qu Chen's side, and the person who came was named Li Fu.

Li Fuben was a guard of the Su family's joint caravan, and was sent by Su Shuang to help Su San do things, Qu Chen saw that he was very good at riding and smart, so he asked him to come over from Su San's command and became a transferred general. The strategy of flanking the front and rear was set, and the cavalry was divided into two routes, and it was Li Fu who attacked the Hun camp.

"Report to my lord, the captive villagers are grateful to our army for their life, and all 617 people are willing to join the dragon leader."

"More than 600 people? Okay, it's enough for Long Ling to be promoted to a township! ”

Qu Chen's face is a little gloomy, the deer leader has just arrived, the territory has not yet stepped on the heat, the Hetao is in danger, at this stage, try not to wander around outside, can avoid some unnecessary risks. With these more than 600 villagers, there is no need to continue to look for the Qianghu tribe, take these people back, and the task can be completed.

"What else? Say. ”

Seeing that Li Fu had no intention of leaving, Qu Chen immediately asked.

Li Fu's face was full of shame: "Seven brothers died in the front, and more than 20 others were injured. ”

Qu Chen frowned: "The Huns didn't fight with you in close combat, what's the matter?" ”

"Shoot."

Li Fu was annoyed: "I waited for the Huns to shoot in the ass, and the Huns fought back, and it was dark to see clearly, and it was difficult to react." The Huns shot arrows quickly and accurately, and there were people on our side who were hit by arrows one after another, and several of them were not fatal from arrow wounds, and they ...... after falling off their horses."

Li Fu had tears in his eyes, thinking about the brothers who were trampled to death by the war horse, and he couldn't speak anymore.

Qu Chen unconsciously clenched his fists.

During the night pursuit, he fell from his horse and was trampled by the follow-up horses, making it difficult to save his life. The loss of Li Fu's department, in addition to the accurate archery skills of the Huns, also exposed the poor cavalry skills and the lack of experience in cavalry pursuits.

Qu Chen sighed: "After you go back, gather the whole army and summarize it well." I'm waiting for my husband and I'm going to be a daughter. ”

"No!"