Just like hunting, the Donghu people also have a clear division of labor when looting. They are very sensitive to encountering ambushes, so they often have to place some elite horses outside the large army, scattered out, and climbed high and overlooked. It can be said that if the entire Donghu tribe is compared to a prairie eagle that is hunting, then these sentries are the eyes of the eagle. On the huge prairie, no wind and grass within a hundred miles can escape their eyes and ears.

Therefore, when the large force of the Zhao army surrounded the Donghu people's garrison, there was no way to guarantee a secret approach. As far as more than 20 miles away, the Zhao army's forward first encountered waves of Donghu rangers.

These people were wearing felt hats and drab hides on their bodies, and were drinking horse **** in a makeshift tent. After discovering Zhao Jun, the Donghu people who were on guard outside shouted a warning and jumped on their horses. Some of them turned around and ran towards the main business, while others tried to come over to intercept them, but halfway through they found that Zhao Jun had more forwards than their own. If you want more, turn around and run away.

Zhao Jun's forwards were not many, only a few hundred, all of them were archers. They traveled far to foreign lands and were eager to make achievements. How could they let go of the tails they didn't agree to catch? Immediately chased after him.

However, the Donghu people are simply natural riders. Although Zhao Qi studied hard and practiced hard, it was not as good as the fact that they lived on horseback since childhood. Seeing that they were about to be overtaken by Zhao Jun's forward with dozens of steps, several Donghu Rangers suddenly turned sideways, only using their legs to control the horses, and let the horses run forward, raising their bows and turning around. When I came, I heard the bowstring cracking, and the sparse light arrows shot back.

One Zhao cavalry was unable to dodge, and the arrow hit the center of his chest, falling off his horse and falling to the ground; the other cavalry were also shot by war horses, and their front hooves rolled to the ground, throwing the rider a few steps away.

This is a very difficult archery. With a saddle and stirrups, it is indeed the icing on the cake for the Donghu people. They can even boldly intersperse between the gaps of Zhao Qi, stand up on the stirrup, and open the bow with their right hand. Not all East Huma were equipped with saddles and stirrups, but they still ran fast.

Not to be outdone, the Zhao cavalrymen either used bows and arrows, or took out crossbows that had been prepared for a long time, to fight back. It's just that their riding and archery skills may be better than ordinary people, but the Donghu people who shoot foxes and rabbits are still slightly inferior to those who have been riding sheep and horses since childhood. In a short time, Zhao Qi’s forwards had already fallen from their horses, but very few Donghu people were injured, and in this back and forth, Donghu Rangers ran farther and farther.

Zhao Jun's forward cavalry could only stop, and while their faces were full of unwillingness, they also had lingering fears about the Donghu people's excellent cavalry and archery.

"A few Donghu Rangers are so powerful and difficult to chase down, let alone thousands of Donghu's main force?"

Not long after, Donghu Rider, who was familiar with the terrain and landforms, ran to a slightly safer place and lit the dry wolf dung. As the dark solitary smoke covered the sky, the news of the enemy's attack had been passed on to the Donghu leader Liu He. .

Liu He's felt tent was set on a hill, with the tent facing the southeast. When he saw waves of wolf smoke rising from the west, he immediately stood up, took out a machete in his hand, and closed his eyes again. Pray for enlightenment from the **** of the East Hu and the goddess of Chishan.

After a few words on the spot, he made a judgment.

"Retreat! All the ministries give up their tents and money and silk!"

There was nothing wrong with his response, because living on the cruel grasslands, the Donghu people were very vigilant in camping. In the event of danger, they only need to mount a horse, mount a car, and run away at any time.

Unfortunately, he chose the wrong path.

"Retreat! Retreat to Dazawa!"

…

A day later, the Rao Le water was on the way to Dalai Nuoer.

The vast and empty grassland stretches out in front of the main force of Donghu, flat and wide until the end of the eye. Unlike Dalai Nuoer Lake, which is mistaken by the Donghu people as "the sea", this is a real ocean - a sea of ​​grass. Here, the hills and mountains of the rest of the gravel mountain are no longer, not even the woods, the castle and the road, only the endless grassland.

The climate of the northern grasslands is cold, the grass becomes green in March, flourishes in May, and dry in August. At this time, it is the Dragon Boat Festival in May, the wind is surging, and the long grass blades are swaying like waves, like a very green sea.

But in the bay of this sea of ​​grass, there is a dark red flower blooming, which is the dried blood, the head cut off from the shoulder of the Donghu people in Dalai Nuoer a few days ago, and the neck with a little residual blood. Broken, black hair tangled together, eyes staring big, hundreds, thousands.

Looking at the head that had been thrown underfoot by Zhao Jun's demonstrations and allowed to be trampled by horses' hooves, Liu He, the leader of the East Hu, was trembling with anger.

After he encountered Zhao Jun's forward a hundred miles to the south, he immediately made the decision to retreat. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong path. The Donghu people never expected that there were already thousands of Zhao Jun infantry and cavalry. Rao Le Water is waiting for them. It was even more unexpected that these Zhao people had already swept away their spring pastures in Dalai Nuoer, the men were slaughtered, and the women and children were strung together by ropes, only to be taken to Fudai County as prisoners after the war, and dedicated to them. Zhao Hou…

But now, Liuhe and Wanyu Donghu people don't even have the time to mourn and resent those who died tragically, because with the Zhao Jun of the Postal Service Department's cavalry riding in front, the rear, the two branches of Xinzhigou and Xuqu Zhao Jun has also attacked the Donghu people like a tong, and his striker is only more than ten miles away!

Almost all sides were blocked, and the nearest station, Dalai Nuoer, had also been occupied by the Zhao army, and the Donghu people were in a dilemma...

As the first Jie Xiong on the grassland, the cunning Liu He has faintly realized that a powerful enemy is coming, and he has never been so close. This is a critical moment related to whether Donghu can continue. Whether it is to go a step further and become the master on the eastern and western grasslands, or to be wiped out, let Donghu disappear before he fully rises. It all depends on his decision at this moment. …

"Bao!" Liu He rode on his steed and drew out his saber: a curved-blade bronze dagger. The grassland people of this era did not have iron machetes, and most of the weapons were copper and stone. Liu He's sword was Among them, the golden hilt gleamed with rubies, and the bronze blade reflected sunlight.

"There is no room for two eagles on the grassland. Whether it is Zhao or Donghu depends on today's battle!"

…

"Huangzhu flag, Liuhe will be under this flag!"

Looking at the main force of Donghu, who was half surrounded by Zhao Jun, although he had traveled a long way and was out of breath, the new puppies still had bright eyes. They were busy on the grassland for more than a month, and paid the price of annihilating the entire Yan army of 2,000. Finally, they finally caught Liu He, the cunning tiger wolf.

Thinking that this battle will determine the ownership of the grassland in the next hundred years, and that the feud between Tu He and Donghu's Qingxiong Huangzhu will also be completely divided today, Xinzhigou is extremely excited.

But he did not dare to be careless. As a native of Daibei, he was very aware of the strength of the Donghu people. At this moment, although he was surrounded by Zhao Jun on three sides, under the waving of the Liuhe flag and driven by the natural good at fighting genes, the Donghu people were Still make the most appropriate judgment.

Liu He set aside 3,000 people to monitor the postal division, and then aimed the main attack direction at the Xuqu and Xinzhigou divisions that had just arrived and still failed to form an army formation. Because he expected that the postal service was waiting for work, and there were more cavalry, but the two chasing vehicles behind, foot and cavalry each had some, and they arrived one after another.

A large number of Donghu Rangers rushed directly to Xinzhigou's flag, ready to harass the Zhao Jun's cavalry who had not yet completed the formation. They relied on the cavalry Zhan, shuttled in front of the formation and shot light arrows with their cavalry bows, trying to seduce Zhao Jun to fight and disrupt their formation, but Xinzhigou was not fooled.

"Once the Donghu people encounter the enemy's formation, they will continue to cluster together in threes, threes, fives, and fives, gathering or dispersing, appearing or disappearing, coming like falling from the sky, going like thunder. These wanderers constantly harass our front and lure When our soldiers leave the formation or are shaken, once the formation is unstable, the Donghu people hiding behind the rangers will rush on their horses and make a concentrated attack on the weakest position, which will cause the entire formation to collapse.”

"It's similar to Zhao Jun's Raven Soldier's Star Array. How should we deal with this situation?" The clerk who accompanied the army quickly recorded it on the wooden board.

"It's not difficult to say, first of all, there must be an indestructible fortress to protect the army in the rear to complete the formation." At this time, he heard the roar of the chariot, and Xinzhigou looked back. Xuqu's chariot soldiers It's here, and although it's exhausting enough, it's enough to go into battle.

"Please use the chariot soldiers to set up the Wugang chariot formation as our strong base. In this case, the Hulu will definitely have nothing to do!"

…

The chariot, the overlord of land warfare in the Bronze Age, began to change from an absolute main force to an auxiliary position after the rise of the infantry phalanx. After the Zhao family first advocated cavalry and won the other countries to follow suit, it accelerated and gradually withdrawn from the war arena. Now, the state of Chu is still equipped with a large number of chariots.

However, in Zhao State, as Sun Wu's art of war came out one after another and was applied to practice, the chariot was developed by Sun Tzu again and became an indispensable armament in the Zhao army.

Wu Gang car, it is in this situation came into being. This chariot is not the same as the previous military chariots, but more like a chariot, with a length of two feet and a width of four feet. They usually transport soldiers, food, and weapons. But when it came time to fight, he was covered with cowhide rhino armor, tied with spears, and erected a sturdy shield.

Now, facing the harassment of Donghu Rangers, the 2,000 chariots led by Xu Qu have arranged hundreds of Wugang chariots in the front row to form a solid fortress. Inside, shoot arrows through the shooting holes, because the distance of foot shooting is farther than that of horse shooting, it is difficult for Donghu's rangers to get close. They tried to circumnavigate the formation, but were pushed back by the cavalry infantry placed on the flanks by the young dogs.

Sure enough, seeing Zhao Jun's formation, Liu He was a little stunned. They also fought against Yan State's chariots, but those chariots were cumbersome and slow, and they couldn't catch up with the speed of Donghu's cavalry, like clumsy old men. The cattle were preyed on by wolves and had no ability to resist. However, Zhao Jun's chariots were different. They formed a formation like a herd of cattle that worked together. The spearmen and bows and arrows on the chariots were like the sharp horns of cattle. , if the wolf rushes on it rashly, it will be crushed.

Liu He did not dare to be careless, and after letting the rangers try to harass them several times to no avail, he scolded bitterly: "If there are not many enemy soldiers, you can still ride around the cavalry to sparse the sentry, and send a single arrow every now and then to make the enemy work hard. The army will go on a hunger strike and run out of water, the formation will shake, the army will rush over, and there will be no one that will not collapse.

So Liuhe asked the riders from the north to stop the postal department from dragging wooden rakes and branches, causing dust to rise to the sky and covering the battlefield here, so as to delay the time, and here, he resorted to the old trick of fighting against the Yan army. .

Donghu is usually a man with two horses, but now there are nearly 10,000 riders, but there are nearly 20,000 horses and oxen pulling the cart. Liuhe is so cruel that people gather 5,000 cattle and horses that are not ridden by anyone, and keep driving them away, causing them to rush towards Wu Gang’s cart. go!

This recruiting horse stirs the ground, and it is Liuhe's trump card. For ten years, there are few undefeated enemy formations.

However, compared to the arrows shot in the Wugang chariot, the densely arranged spears, and the thrown torches, the driving and whipping of the Donghu riders was nothing to the cattle and horses. The herd stopped in front of Wugang's chariot. There are even those who, in turn, swept away the formation of the Donghu people...

There were also some oxen and horses fleeing to the left and right. These rampant beasts did indeed break up part of the Taiyuan infantry phalanx that had just been formed, and trampled and trampled dozens of people to death...

But in general, Liu He's move was still useless. Before he had time to make a new response, he saw that the originally airtight Wugang car formation made the rumbling sound of the wheels again, and the car formation that was one mile long, Begin to slowly separate to the sides...

The 500 Wugang chariots changed from a defensive array in a line to the moon-shaped ones arranged on the left and right flanks. The middle was replaced by 3,000 armored soldiers. There were 2,000 cavalry on both sides. mobile force. This can not only defend against the enemy's attack, but also take the initiative to attack the enemy. As the Wugang chariot slowly moved forward, the formation that was only used as a defense just now began to become a heavy-armed battle formation for assault!

The chariots slowed down, in order to resist the steady stream of arrows and stones from the Donghu people. In close combat, the infantry showed their skills under the cover of the military chariots, and the spears on the military chariots could also effectively kill the enemy. The cavalry following the chariots could not only be covered by the chariots, but also provide strong support for the chariots.

In short, the Zhao army's coordinated formation of foot, cavalry, and chariot soldiers was very effective whether it was defensive or offensive.

Seeing that the Donghu people continued to retreat under the pressure of the great formation, Xu Qu couldn't help but admire: "Apart from Sun Wuzi and Junhou, who would have thought that a horse can defeat a chariot, and a chariot can also defeat a chariot!"

The great formation of chariot, foot, and cavalry has been completed. The Zhao army began to slowly advance towards the Donghu people, who were not very skilled. To the north, behind the smoke and dust stirred up by the Donghu people, a heavily armored cavalry also marched their heavy weight. Footsteps appeared in front of everyone...

In the contest between the farming people and the nomads, this time it was the people of the city who walked ahead.