Chapter 145: Be the first to die
The next day, the north wind was howling and the green waves were surging.
Above the vast grassland, a dark tide is surging on the skyline.
Nearly 10,000 cavalrymen led by Zhang Liao stood like a steel torrent, with their flags fluttering in the wind.
Zhang Liao was wearing heavy armor, his eyes were as sharp as an eagle, and his stern face revealed his fearless determination.
The Han cavalrymen behind him stood tall and straight, their fine standard armor gleaming coldly in the sun. The horses stamped their hooves nervously, spewing white air, as if they also sensed the coming storm.
At the forefront of the army were a thousand vanguard soldiers wearing special light armor and carrying powerful crossbows.
Although they are infantry, riding a horse is a basic skill under Tian Zezhi. They have already blindfolded the eyes of the war horses under their crotch for future use.
At the back, Zhang Liao personally led 5,000 fully armed elite cavalry in the center of the army, and behind them were the two wings responsible for harassing the light cavalry that followed.
Budugen's side, however, had no formation at all, just a few rough formations. Although there were many people, most of them were only wearing leather armor, and few had iron armor, and the weapons in their hands were even more varied.
It was an alliance put together at short notice, and they were all on guard against each other. Naturally, they would not put their troops under the control of others.
Although he was at a disadvantage in terms of equipment and formation, Budugen was not at all panicked.
With a military strength of five to one, no matter how strong the enemy is, how strong can they be?
Wasn't it the same with the cavalry led by Xia Yu and other Han generals? In the end, they were easily wiped out.
Qu Yi looked at the mighty Xianbei cavalry on the opposite side, his eyes revealing a ferocious look like a wolf. After seeing Zhang Liao's flag waving, he led his troops to charge without hesitation.
"kill!"
Seeing that this group of Han troops dared to take the initiative to attack, Budugen became instantly furious.
As the trumpets sounded, several cavalry phalanxes in the front also launched a charge.
The enemies were all cavalry, and their side was too large to be organized and coordinated. It would be easy for them to be defeated one by one by adopting the tactics of cavalry harassment. Therefore, Budugen directly chose to attack head-on and crush the enemy with numbers.
And this is exactly what Zhang Liao wanted to see.
Both sides activated their talents. Compared with the various bonus talents mainly based on speed in the Xianbei army, the talents of Zhang Liao's army were relatively special.
As Zhang Liao's talent of "bravery and strategy" was activated, thousands of cavalrymen felt that their qualities in all aspects were constantly improving.
Tian Ze, who was giving the "small map" talent to his thousand cavalrymen, felt the rhythm of Zhang Liao's talent and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Wenyuan is truly a natural born talent!
It's a pity that such a talented person is confined to the Central Plains. It would not be an exaggeration to let him fight directly to the west, grant him a title of nobility and establish a country for him.
After Zhang Liao's talent "Bravery and Strategy" is activated, he will provide all-round bonuses to his own soldiers based on the number of enemies. The more enemies there are, the stronger the bonus.
This talent destined Zhang Liao to have an unshakable position in large-scale battles. Although the bonus will be reduced when there are more people on his side, this bonus is comprehensive, including organizational ability and morale.
Combined with Zhang Liao's outstanding command ability, he can display amazing combat power whether fighting between large armies or leading a small group of elite troops against the enemy.
Just when Tian Ze was admiring Zhang Liao's talent, he suddenly discovered that in addition to the troops under him and Qu Yi, Liao Hua had also activated his own talent to cover the thousand cavalrymen he led, instead of letting Zhang Liao's talent cover them.
Moreover, Tian Ze keenly noticed that it was Zhang Liao who first activated his talent and deliberately avoided the 1,000 cavalry led by Liao Hua.
Out of curiosity, Tian Ze felt Liao Hua's talent fluctuations a little, and it didn't seem too strong.
Although he had some doubts in his heart, Tian Ze quickly calmed his mind and prepared for battle.
When the distance between the two sides reached about 300 steps, Qu Yi's army, which was in the front, had formed a goose-shaped formation that could best utilize the crossbowmen's shooting advantages, and had already opened up some distance from Zhang Liao's army in the rear.
The Qu Yi army dismounted calmly and quickly formed a tight formation. The position where they stood was a carefully calculated small slope, which was not high but high enough to shoot from above.
The specially trained war horses seemed to have gotten used to it, and they continued to charge forward with their eyes blindfolded. The Xianbei cavalry at the front couldn't help but sneer in their hearts when they saw this scene, and they charged forward with even more excitement.
The Han people are really getting more and more stupid. They actually dare to place crossbowmen in front of the formation without any means of defense.
They did not take seriously the behavior of the first wave of soldiers riding their horses to disrupt the formation. Their formation was loose to begin with, and although it would still be disrupted a little, it was only a thousand horses and was not a big deal.
Looking at the disdain and ridicule in the eyes of the Xianbei cavalry on the opposite side, Qu Yi curled his lips into a cruel sneer.
The standard equipment of the first-line soldiers actually includes a heavy shield, so there is no defensive weakness. However, he did not bring it with him in this battle because he believed in Zhang Liao's ability.
Although the vanguard soldiers are extremely vulnerable in their current state, their offensive capabilities have been released to the maximum extent.
The talent "Brave" was instantly activated, and the vanguard soldiers formed three rows, stood in a staggered manner, and launched an attack towards the galloping Hu cavalry.
What is the most important thing about crossbowmen?
There is no doubt about the shooting accuracy.
Qu Yi's talent can greatly improve the shooting accuracy of the vanguard soldiers and enhance teamwork to a certain extent.
It may not sound particularly impressive, but when you take a deeper look at this huge effect, you'll understand how terrifying it is.
The Xianbei before them undoubtedly witnessed this.
Thousands of arrows were fired, and in just a moment, several rows of Xianbei cavalry in the front fell down in unison. There were no less than three hundred of them in total.
Such terrifying and precise killing power immediately intimidated the Xianbei army.
Just as the Xianbei people were horrified, the second round of volleys was fired again without interruption. Although there was some deviation due to insufficient aiming time, more than two hundred people were still knocked down.
Seeing this scene, Qu Yi's smile became more and more arrogant.
In order to maximize the power of Qu Yi's thousand vanguard soldiers, Tian Ze put a lot of thought into it.
He did not hesitate to summon many great craftsmen and brainstorm to design a "Xiandeng Crossbow" that could fire three arrows in a row and was easy to load arrows.
Although this sacrificed a lot of range and could only cause effective damage within about two hundred steps, it was enough.
Although this powerful crossbow was extremely expensive and time-consuming and labor-intensive to produce, Tian Ze still gritted his teeth and equipped Qu Yi with it, because it was worth it to be the first to die.
The vanguard soldiers equipped with "vanguard crossbows" fully demonstrated the ultimate form of crossbowmen, became the ultimate nemesis of cavalry, and were almost able to compete with the trap camp.
At this moment, facing the Xianbei cavalry whose charge formation was loose and defense was fragile, the vanguard of death soldiers fully bared their terrifying fangs for the first time.
After three arrows, nearly a thousand Xianbei cavalry were knocked down, and they were all those who were rushing in the front.
Not only did it hinder the Xianbei cavalry charging from the rear, but it also prevented the Xianbei cavalry from making any progress, and they still maintained the original distance from the vanguard soldiers.
The three rounds of volleys had the effect of a submachine gun, directly stunning the Xianbei cavalry.
However, after the "three axes" were swung, the vanguard of the death squad had to start reloading their crossbows. Although the attack was divided into three waves, which reduced the frequency of crossbow shooting to about one-third of that at the beginning, it still effectively suppressed the Xianbei cavalry.
However, the distance between the Xianbei cavalry and the vanguard soldiers began to gradually narrow.
After defeating nearly three thousand Xianbei cavalry, the distance between the two sides was less than a hundred steps.
Seeing hope, the Xianbei cavalry immediately roared and charged towards the vanguard of the death squad.
However, they did not realize that Zhang Liao's army in the rear had already arrived at this time, and they smoothly gathered together and charged towards them, brushing against the flanks of the vanguard's death squad.
(End of this chapter)
