Chapter 162 – Waiting and Hoping
Three thousand five hundred ghost riders quickly left a corpse-strewn battlefield, behind the grain and fodder was burned to cause a thick smoke, this is already the fifth time the ghost riders outside the gourd mouth to help the North Mang ignite the “wolf smoke”. North Mang war soldiers were killed as many as 14,000 people, cattle and sheep scattered nearly 200,000 head. The hoof tracks of the ghost rider’s northernmost, in fact, has stepped on the territory of the dragon waist state, and then quickly south, just now this battle, is not the initiative of the ghost rider’s attack, but the North Mang’s blocking, the North Mang is using two thousand battle strength of the average life of the ranger to determine the location of this elite ghost rider, so as to compress the ghost rider to move around the margins of the belief that the Dragon Waist state soon the main cavalry will hear the wind move.
Yu Luan Blade was on the way to retreat, looked up sharply and saw two flying birds chasing swiftly in the sky, at the same time, Xu Fengyen drew a feathered arrow from his arrow pouch, drew his bow like a full moon, the arrowhead was slowly deflected with the speedy flying of that Haidongqing and Northern Mang Peregrine Falcon, when that Peregrine Falcon was forced to reduce its height to drop down and flee for its life, with a bang, Xu Fengyen shot out his arrow and killed that Peregrine Falcon right on the spot, the huge inertia crashed the Peregrine Falcon into the cloud layer, and the The handsome and extraordinary six-year phoenix then drew up, under the eyes of everyone, only to see this head of the sea east green pierced through the clouds, rushing towards Xu Fengyen, its two claws hooked the peregrine falcon’s body that had been penetrated by the arrow, and gently threw it down, circling around its master’s head for a few times, then flickered away. Xu Fengyen threw away the peregrine falcon’s body and put the arrow back into the arrow bag hanging on the left side of the saddle. Liang crossbows are well made, but a big battle down the heavy crossbows are often unbearable, is still easy to a large number of damage, the ghost riders manually carry a pair of light crossbows although compared to the heavy crossbows in the number of times in the use of the more resilient, but five times to ride down the chase, whether it is the crossbow itself or crossbow arrows, are not much left, so had to replace those after the war captured and got the North Mang riding bows, Xu Fengyen and Yu Luan knife are used with a heavy brand of Western Shu craftsmanship Xu Fengnian and Yu Luanjie both used an iron tire bow with a strong brand of Xishu’s craftsmanship.
Yu Luanjie looked around, worried, if not still able to fight to feed the war, not even need the North Mang follow up troops to siege, their own cavalry army has really collapsed, previously Jizhou run 500 miles, not physically strong cavalrymen can’t carry it, even if at that time it was already a person with two horses, but the war horse is still being scourged very badly, long distance run pursuit of the soldiers and surprise, but since it is the But since it is a “long distance”, then the cavalry can rely on the perseverance of the character to support, but the war horse can not, especially this time of year is not the season of autumn high horse fat, horse fat is not enough, the Beiliang Ranch horse officials are not gods, the same can not change this reality. Later, a little rest, and is rushed six hundred miles to the hulukou outside, good at that time there are collected from the North Mang war horses to minimize this invisible battle losses, but continuous large-scale transfers and gaps short to insufficient for the five riding battles down, even if the horses can still be constantly rotated, but at this stage has become “from a battlefield to another battlefield at a rapid pace! “The cavalry can’t carry it, the reason why it has not shown significant fatigue …… Yu Luan knife subconsciously looked at the side of a cloak of armor Xu Fengnian, Yu Luan knife retracted the line of sight, turned his head to look at the faces around the young general’s heart is full of pride, 10,000 Yu cavalry can fight to this point, even if With Yu Luanjie’s cold temperament, he still feels proud enough. Killing more than 14,000 enemies is not uncommon, the North Mang escort provisions and foodstuffs of the cavalry are the South Dynasty border towns of the second and third-rate fighting force, there are two riding battle from contact to the end, it is simply a one-sided massacre. But the supply line between dragon waist state and hulukou to them to paralyze half, as well as the last involved at least more than 10,000 north mang border elite cavalry passive transfer, to them a few thousand ride holding the nose in a circle, this is YuLuanDao and the phantom cavalry’s greatest achievement.
Cavalry on the way south, earlier Fan Xiao Hairpin and Mi Fengjie have escorted the ghost riders wounded to leave Xu Fengyen softly said, “Our bow is too tight.”
Yu Luan Knife nodded, “Now the difficulty is in finding a place to stop, since the two young generals in the east who are known as the two ‘Pressing Bowls’ in the fall and winter have also started the army, it is no longer possible for us to retreat to the east. Besides, the king has said that the spies have shown that Yang Yuanzan ordered Hong Jingyan to lead half of the Zojiran iron cavalry to withdraw from Hulukou, to block our southward route.”
Yu Luan Blade looked to the west, to the west? That’s the northern line of Liangzhou, the main army of North Mang under the command of the Southern Court King Dong Zhuo himself is there, and is launching an offensive towards Hutou City, both sides must have a total of 700,000 troops. Going there is really throwing yourself into the net to the North Mang barbarians to send head to send military service, not to mention the only remaining 3,500 riders, is 35,000 riders, in the absence of their own army to support the premise, is not enough for the North Mang to wrap dumplings. Even if Yu Luanjie meets those two porters or Hong Jingyan’s Zojiran iron horsemen, he will not go to the west even if all of his riders are killed in battle.
Xu Fengyen also looked distantly to the west and seemed to be waiting for someone.
Xu Fengyen was waiting for that horse thief leader Song Sable, this person’s 1,000 horse thief youths who had been brought together under Huangfu Ping’s secret cultivation might not be able to change the general situation in Youzhou, but after all, it could help Yu Luanjie’s Youzhou Cavalry to take a breath of fresh air. You cavalry at the moment is like an exhausted martial arts master, change a breath of fresh air, that can still fight again, if even this breath can not be changed, then it can only be the end of the oil. The reason why Xu Fengyen didn’t say anything, not to give this cavalry surprise little plan, just because he only one side of the Song Sable dare not hold too much expectation, if not Song Sable horse thieves team have Beiliang masters lurking constraints, Xu Fengyen won’t even let Song Sable rushed to lead the way, put yourself in Song Sable’s position to consider the problem, a thousand horse thieves who is not to throw themselves on the side of who is not to throw themselves on the side of who is not to throw themselves on the side of who is not to throw themselves on the side of? North Mang now the situation is in the upper hand, Song Sable is up against the heart, to take three thousand five hundred Youzhou cavalry as a surrender, by the Yu Luan knife this cavalry tossed to the head of Yang Yuanzan I’m afraid that will not begrudge a 10,000 captains. Even in Xu Fengyen’s opinion, it would be strange if Song Sable, who is originally from the Southern Dynasty’s scholarly clan, did not have any heart at all, and stood on the side of Northern Liang from beginning to end. As for the truth in the end, Xu Fengyen has to meet with Song Sable’s messenger to judge, once Song Sable does not dare to personally come, not in the team, then Xu Fengyen can only regard this chess piece as a color change. Then Yu Luan knife and no way back to the ghost rider, destined to only hard with the two big press bowl or Zuo Ran iron rider dead to the end, and he Xu Fengyen will also single-handedly go to find Song Sable, since he can let Beiliang let Huangfu ping to bring Song Sable to dominate the Guanwai horse thieves power, he Xu Fengyen can also personally get back.
Giving hope and then letting people down, it was better to not say anything in the first place.
Xu Fengyen asked, “How many of Fan Fen’s scouts are left?”
Yu Luan Blade bitterly said, “The original scouts old pawns are now less than sixty, and the latter have been replaced by more than eight hundred riders one after another, only to be able to maintain the number of four hundred scouts. So it can be said that Fan Du Lieutenant’s loss is the most tragic, can’t do anything, in the Guanwai battle, as a scout, will certainly die in the forefront.”
Yu Luan Blade pursed the lips that were dry and cracked and oozing blood, a smile surfaced, his voice raspy, “But these battles we have fought are not in vain, the 3,500 horsemen have increased their combat power a lot compared to before they left the territory of Youzhou, as long as we are allowed to loose our breath, and are able to completely slow down, against the Zojiran Iron Cavalry of the same strength as Hong Jingyan, we dare to say that we will also win. Before this, who in Youzhou, which is only known for its foot soldiers in the world, would think so, and these 3,500 men, if they are able to return to Youzhou alive, will surely be of great benefit to the entire battle situation in Youzhou.”
Vice generals Shi Yulu and Su Wenyao both looked subtle and did not dare to chime in, they were afraid that Xu Fengnian would misunderstand the words of the main general and mistakenly think that the You Riders were complaining about their awkward situation of being caught in a dead end.
Yu Luan Knife suddenly laughed and said cheerfully, ”Giving us this mess, not only are the three states of Dragon Waist Hexi Orange hurt and wounded, I’m afraid that the northern grasslands will continue to cut down the meat, and those Daxi ticks that Tuoba Bodhisattva had a hard time suppressing before might start to stir up again. They would have had objections to the first to fight the northern Liang, in the opinion of these guys who do not see the rabbit, gnawing a place with only hard bones and no fat meat, no one is happy, where compared to go to fight the empty strength of the Jizhou, as long as after the Jizhou, it is a thousand miles of fertile land in the fertile plains of the country, countless gold and silver and the population, robbed to the soft hands. Otherwise hit the two Liao can also be, once and for all, as long as the defeat of Gu Jiantang, that is the long drive south, the soldiers under the city. Our trip to Hulukou, not to mention the number of kills, can definitely make the Dong Zhuo and Taiping order, who insisted on going down to Northern Liang and then plotting for the Central Plains, hate their teeth so much that they may be jumping to their feet and cursing at this moment, right?”
Su Wenyao was looking down and checking the arrows in the arrow capsule one by one, all of them were hardwood shafts with meticulous texture, and the arrows were very heavy, only that there were still some subtle differences compared with the arrows of Northern Liang, but they belonged to a class of arrows in general, which were just like the “close relatives” of the two, and the bows and arrows of many bows and arrows within the territory of Liyang could be said to be the opposite of the two types. The latter is more important to the range and speed and adhere to the ancient book of war “three strikes against the enemy”, it is not that the latter to go off the road, but the mainland fighting to foot soldiers to foot soldiers mostly, the speed of advancement compared to the cavalry charge is naturally slow. And the former Liang Mang feather arrow which even with the outstanding brawn of the northern children support, the request is still just “broken armor death” four words, in fact, the North Mang cavalry at the beginning and did not embark on this extreme road, just two decades in the confrontation by the iron armor is better in the north of the Liang serious impact, or else the North Mang’s superb mounted archery, on most of the other away from the sun border army, many times can kite generally put the enemy in the middle of the battle, but also to the north of the north of the North Mang. Otherwise, with Beimang’s superb riding and shooting, against most of the other Liyang border troops, many times they can fly a kite and generally wear people out alive.
Su Wenyao casually threw away two arrow shafts appeared a crack of the arrow, after hearing the main general Yu Luan knife harmonic statement, gently laughed out loud, looked up and said: “those Sydney ticks are not all really stupid, but also know that do not beat us down the northern Liang, what by the Jizhu knocking southward to plunder the Central Plains, what all the way to Tai’an City, are all false, how many of our Yu cavalry only? We’ve already made their supply line jump around, if all the Northern Liang border troops are left unattended, do they still want to lose the Southern Dynasty? Maybe even the North Mang Royal Court will be smashed by us. Only reason is reason, is a person, all want to do less work more profit. Their North Mang power and nobility want to go to fight Jizhou to fight Liaodong, I Su Wenyao still can’t wait for them to do so much, how many less people can we die in North Liang.”
Shi Yulu nodded his head and said in a deep voice, “Fatty Dong and that Order of Peace really deserve to die!”
Scouting officer Fan Fen rode a sudden arrival, and several generals reported military intelligence, “due south direction 30 miles away there are 800 riders, armor than earlier we encountered those North Mang cavalry to be better, should be from the Hulukou withdrawn from the vanguard of the army, look at the situation if we continue to the south, at most two or three more sets of this kind of bait of small groups of cavalry army, and then very soon you can meet the iron cavalry of the Rouyan. .”
Yu Luan knife skin smile meat not smile, handsome face is full of those who have accumulated a long time of hostility, hideous: “Zoran iron horsemen do not iron horsemen of the first regardless of the bait do not eat white not eat, we will first take the eight hundred horsemen to play the teeth! Shi Yulu, Su Wenyao, follow the old rules!”
Playing the number of only eight hundred riders of the enemy army have to play eight hundred playing method, playing eight thousand enemy riders also have to play eight thousand playing method, now Yu Luan knife hand Yu cavalry is only three thousand and five, everything has to be how to “hold the family way” how to, because in the final analysis, now the Yu cavalry’s enemy in addition to the surface of the North Mang cavalry, and the Yu cavalry” themselves”. Yu Luan knife must take into account the physical strength of their own soldiers, spirit and horses and crossbows and other potential battle losses. Today, the riding and shooting feel of the You Cavalry can be said to have climbed to the peak, but then there is too much sustained and prolonged entanglement, it will also lead to irreversible sequelae, which means that now the You Cavalry can only play the “three-axe” battle, to minimize the number of times of the charge to quickly solve the enemy, quickly withdraw from the battlefield, and quickly enter the safety of the area for rest and recuperation. After getting the military information from Fan Fen, the main force of the You Cavalry began to take the initiative to slow down the speed, the front line pulled out three levels, in the last battle “bottom” Su Wenyao led a thousand horsemen to be the first, Yu Luanjie led more than a thousand horsemen to be in the center, Shi Yulu’s one thousand cavalry escorted a large number of horses and horses, “rear”. “Fan Fen’s four hundred scouts with the most horsepower are the first to start the attack, “circling” on the left flank to prevent the fish from being lost.
Yu Luan knife to do is to rely on the number of advantages, split out that is equal to the simultaneous launch of a number of charges, and strive for three brushes will take away the eight hundred riders, not as a last resort, never let the subordinates back and forth to kill. The horses of the ghost cavalry can’t carry it, and the cavalrymen who are already tough enough to fight can’t carry it either. Abandon the more lethal but very cumbersome heavy weapons, mainly to the war sword to the war sword of the light cavalry hedge, even if each heart must die, but in the two sides of the convergence of the staggered that line of death, leaving behind the body originally will not be too much, but in the Yu Luan knife under the authorization of, in addition to Jibei silver harrier outside the city of the kill, in the Hulukou outside the six large and small battles, the light cavalry of the state of You have been asked to kill people in the charge, the price of this order, is that killing, as well as being killed, lightly wounded and then fight fewer, seriously wounded to death more. The most hidden and cold-blooded part of Yu Luan blade’s method of fighting is that the Yu cavalry can easily lay down a victory at the beginning Outside of that, the wounded cavalrymen of Youzhou who left the main army to withdraw to the east after the battle, not many. Shi Yulu and Su Wenyao know it all by heart, and those school lieutenants are all clear, but no one opposes it, no one voices a question.
And then stirring border poetry, also can not write this kind of everyone had to light life of the cruelty of the sand field.
Youzhou cavalry one person three riders, which horse does not hang the sword of the dead robes?
For this kind of extra weight, the main general Yu Luan knife even if again iron heart, again demanding details, also can not bear to discipline.
Outside of the battlefield, a group of five horsemen from the North Mang Province were running in the opposite direction from the 800 horsemen, quickly and furiously running towards the south, trying to pass on important information to the main army in the south that they had already encountered the Youzhou cavalry army.
Suddenly, from the rear of the flanks appeared an inconspicuous small black spot around the main battlefield, this figure running like lightning, actually far faster than the war horse gallop.
He circled out in a semicircle, stopping the five horsemen on their way, his feet stepping on the yellow sandy ground and sliding out a burst of flying dust.
The five horse fences were frozen for a moment by the strange scene in front of them, a hundred paces ahead stood a skinny child who carried a Beiliang sword diagonally.
This indifferent child and the five horsemen began to charge, and the first horsemen were twenty paces apart, the route of the child has dodged four arrows, jumped up high, grabbed the last arrow that shot at his chest, and then the horsemen who drew out their swords were punched in the head of the horse, and the head exploded and the front legs were broken, and the horse was almost lifted up, and the horsemen, who were the captains, lunged out. Horse fence out, chest to the back of the sword child is another fist smashed, directly behind a horse fence knocked out, the third horse was thrown by the child’s arrow through the throat, fell dead, the left and right sides of the horse fence to avoid a disaster do not dare to fight, fast horse whip, steering the horse to charge forward.
The child turned around and ran wildly, catching up with a horse after a horse fence hands pulled a horse’s tail, feet must be, the wildly running horse froze by his hooves, horse tail broken, painful neighing, desperately accelerated forward.
The child swept out a step, and the war horse side by side, casually swept out a fist in the abdomen of the war horse, the horse on the back of the Northern Mang scouts together with the warhorse smashed flying out, the feet could not leave the stirrups of the horse fence fell to the ground hard by the back of the warhorse to the sliding crash dead.
The child’s figure did not have the slightest stagnation, quickly catching up with the last horsemen who were scared, a stoop, each hand clutched a horse’s hind leg, and with a twist of the feet in place, the hoofs off the ground of the horse were rotated in the air, and only then were they ruthlessly thrown out.
After that horse fence was thrown away from the horse’s back, struggling to try to stand up, the child came to his body, drew out the Beiliang knife from his back, and heavily inserted it into the heart of this North Mang barbarian, pulled it out and put it back into the knife sheath, the child’s face was calm and said, “Big man, the three hundred and seventy-ninth one.”
The captain Fan Fen and the four hundred scouts who arrived later all saw this scene from afar and did not come forward to speak, but began to form up to the north. Among them, after Fan Fen helped the boy bring a warhorse, he patted the Northern Liang Sword at his waist and laughed softly, “Little General, why don’t you take the warsword after I die, I’m not greedy, just help me slaughter fifty Northern Mang barbarians when the time comes.”
Yu Di Long jumped onto his horse and stood with his back sword up his sleeve, the bloodstained child rolled his eyes.
Nowadays, the Yuzhou cavalry likes to nickname this kid Yu Dilong as “Little General”.
Two days ago, Yu Di Long should have been arranged by Xu Fenian to escort the 60 wounded riders to the east, but the child refused to do so, even though Xu Fenian was furious, the child only held the horse with the iron armor that was a relic of the big man in one hand, carried the Beiliang Sword on his back, and did not say anything, nor did he leave. Later on, it was a lightly wounded lieutenant who took the initiative to request to leave the main force and personally escort the wounded to retreat, and before leaving, he joked with this young general who had killed so many people in the previous battles, saying that he would take it as owing him fifty military honors for the Northern Mang barbarians. It was only then that Xu Fengnian acquiesced to Yu Di Long’s stay. The child is probably really in awe of Xu Fengyen as his master, even if he stays in the army, he doesn’t dare to show up beside Yu Luan Knife and the others again, one person and one rider hanging alone on the tail of the cavalry army, and he never talks to anyone. In addition to Fan Fen’s scouts to go out to spy on the army, it is always so lonely and silently follow the rear of the army.
On the front battlefield, North Mang’s eight hundred cavalry were killed or wounded in the three charges before and after. The seventy to eighty loose and fleeing horsemen were also killed by Yu Di Long and Fan Fen’s four hundred scouts. All the Northern Mang cavalrymen who had not yet breathed their last were mopped up by the Phantom Riders who cleaned up the battlefield.
Xu Fengyen used his iron spear to poke a North Mang centurion who died with a resentful look in his eyes before he died, gently raising his head to look to the west, outside the battlefield there were more than a dozen riders appearing in the distance from the other side of the battlefield.
Xu Fengyen’s heart sank, in his vision, he did not see that familiar figure.