Chapter 320: The Great War Begins

Budugen organized several large-scale assault operations against the Han army, all of which ended in failure. The Xianbei people usually have two methods of fighting, one is guerrilla, that is, riding on a horse, walking around the enemy while shooting arrows, through this rogue method to slowly consume the enemy's strength.

However, this method is not a panacea, depending on the range of the arrows on both sides and the protection ability of the troops. The cavalry of the Central Plains army is not as good as the Hu people, but archery is not necessarily inferior. The Central Plains Dynasty was highly productive, and the bows they made were usually better than those of these uncivilized Hu people, and some Han troops even used crossbow arrows, which had an even longer range.

For example, there is a crossbow in the Qin crossbow, which is to step on the bow with the foot, pull the waist with the arm, and wind it with the strength of the whole body, and its range far exceeds the humble riding bow of the Hu people. The common crossbows in the army of the Han Dynasty were "Gu crossbows", which were divided into more than ten kinds such as "two stone crossbows", "three stone crossbows", "five stone crossbows", "six stone crossbows", "eight stone crossbows" and "ten stone crossbows".

Compared with the performance and range of the bow, the Hu people can only have an advantage over riding on a horse. The Hu people are running at high speed on the horse, and the Han army is equivalent to hitting a moving target, which is more difficult, but in the battle of the large army, it makes little difference whether to move or not, because the dense arrow rain relies on a covering blow, and besides, the Hu people shoot the Han army in the high-speed movement of the horse, and their accuracy will also be affected, and they also rely on the covering strike.

The only advantage of the Hu people is that because the formation is scattered, the probability of being shot ~ is a little smaller. The Han army is generally in a dense formation, and it is easy to shoot ~ people when the arrow rain falls, but the armor and shields of the Han army are generally better than those of the Hu people, so on the whole, the Hu people may not be able to play the Han army when they play counter-shooting.

The Xianbei people can't even compare to the Han army that used cold weapons in the past, not to mention the first division that is now equipped with fire ~ guns, and the range and lethality of the new guns are definitely far greater than their riding bows.

Since archery is not cheap, the peoples on the steppe can only find another way and use another tactic, which is cavalry charging into battle. The tactic was simple: the cavalry of the brigade formed a sharp formation and rushed towards the enemy's formation at maximum speed.

As long as the enemy's formation is dispersed, the battle will be won seven or eight times, especially with the Han army, the Han army is generally infantry, in the face of cavalry generally rely on dense formations, forming a spear formation and cavalry confrontation, once their formation is scattered, then these infantry will become lambs to the slaughter.

This move is very fierce, a cavalry rushes at high speed, can knock over seven or eight infantry, even if you use spearmen to deal with it, it is useless for the pikemen in the first row to kill the horses in time, because the horses and cavalry will smash into the formation under the action of inertia, and they can still smash several rows of infantry before stopping.

This move is very high in terms of both killing effect and killing efficiency, and the exchange ratio between the two sides is also considerable. This tactic was also the only way for cavalry to deal with infantry, and the most successful use of this tactic was the Mongols of later generations, who fought from Asia to Europe and were almost invincible. Although the Xianbei people were not as powerful as the Mongols, they were more primitive and savage than the Mongols, and their momentum in charging was not much better than that of the Mongols.

Some people may not believe it, thinking that at that time in the Han Dynasty, there were no stirrups and high bridge saddles, and it was difficult for people to sit firmly on horses, so they could not shoot arrows on horses, cavalry could not charge into battle, and could not beat people with long weapons. Those who think this may be based on archaeology, because these two things have not been found in ancient tombs before the Han Dynasty dug up from the ground. (Copper stirrups have been excavated in Han tombs)

However, although nothing has been dug up, there are records of cavalry archery and cavalry charging in many ancient books, how can this be explained? The most famous allusion is that Zhao Wuling King Hu Fu rode and shot, that is, in

During the Warring States Zhao Wuling Dynasty, cavalry could fire bows and arrows on horseback.

So, regardless of whether there were stirrups and Takahashi saddles at that time, people had a way to do those things. Perhaps there were stirrups at that time, but it may have been made of perishable materials such as ropes, cowhide ropes, cowhide covers, and horseback flail foot covers, and they had long since decayed after more than 2,000 years, so it is impossible to see the remains in archaeology.

The saddle may also exist, but it may not be the style of the modern Takahashi saddle, and as for what style, it is impossible to know what it is. However, based on the cavalry battles recorded in ancient books, it is very likely that these two things existed at that time.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that there was no such thing as either of these things, but the cavalry at that time, after a long and hard training, could still sit on horseback like a clock. For example, rely on your feet clamp~ tighten the horse's belly to stabilize your body, and then free your hands to shoot arrows or swing weapons.

This may be one of the reasons why people at that time had to tie up their horses for several hours when they practiced martial arts. To kill the enemy, you must first train your feet very strongly, otherwise you will not even be able to ride a horse.

Of course, everything above is speculation and cannot be verified, and now the soldiers of the first division see a scene of thousands of horses galloping. The endless Xianbei cavalry rushed over, and the sound of horses' hooves was so dense that it had turned into a "boom" sound like a flood lacking embankment. The dust raised high obscured the sky and the sun, and in terms of momentum alone, the Xianbei cavalry was indeed quite terrifying.

However, the 1st Division had already received the warning of the hot air balloon, and had already lined up its vehicles in a thick formation, with the vehicles outside, and the livestock and people were protected in the formation. One by one, the gunners hid behind the carriages, reloading and aiming, waiting for the enemy to enter the firing range.

The Xianbei had already failed to charge twice before, and this was their third attempt. The battle had not yet begun, in fact, both sides could already predict the outcome, and using the flesh and blood of cavalry to attack a thermally armed unit protected by a chariot formation was no different from hitting a stone with an egg.

But knowing that he knew that Budugen had to be ruthless and drove a large army to attack the position of the Han army. Because it was less than two days away from Danhan Mountain, they did not attack again, and when the enemy arrived at Danhan Mountain, he was a Xianbei sinner, an incompetent monarch who had lost the royal court left by his ancestors and the land of glory of the Xianbei people.

When the time comes, he, the descendant of Tanshi Huai, will not have to come out to mix in the future. Originally, his prestige was insufficient, causing Xianbei to fall apart, if this kind of humiliation and land loss happened again, then his appeal will inevitably continue to be greatly reduced, not to mention the unification of Xianbei in the future, maybe even the tribes he can control now will break away from his rule.

Therefore, Bu Dugen really had no choice, and was forced to take the initiative to come out to fight the Han army. Even if he knows that he is invincible, he has to take risks.

"Raise your gun—aim—put!" With the commander's order, the fire ~ gunner in the front row released the first shot. A sound of "ping pong" fried beans sounded, and a puff of black smoke rose on the grassland, the grassland was unobstructed, the wind was particularly strong, and the black smoke was quickly blown away.

However, with the release of the second row of fire ~ gunners, a puff of black smoke rose again, followed by the third and fourth canopies