All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 246 Strange Soldiers
There were constant wars at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the huge empire fell apart.

The once powerful and invincible Tang cavalry gradually disappeared in the long river of history as they lost one horse farm after another.

By the time of the Song Dynasty, the army was extremely short of horses and had to rely on archers and crossbows as its main combat force.

Among the millions of Song troops, only the Western Army was able to obtain horses from the Qiang people in Qingtang and the Dangxiang people in Hengshan, and formed a large-scale cavalry corps.

Wang Anshi also saw this, so he came up with the horse protection law.

As for the result, once it passed through the hands of the government, even the best law would be distorted. The people could not hand over their horses and could only sell their children, daughters, and themselves, until chaos broke out and the law had to be cancelled.

In fact, if the Song Dynasty really wanted to raise horses, it was not impossible.

For example, after the Hehuang border was opened up, we also obtained land for raising horses.

But before the recovery of the Hehuang area, tens of thousands of horses could be purchased every year.

However, after taking over the Hehuang area, only three to five thousand horses were handed over each year.

The reason is very simple. The government of the Song Dynasty does not handle personnel matters.

The people were treated directly by exploitation or even robbery, and people everywhere were unwilling to raise horses for the court.

After all, raising horses is not only unprofitable, but you will also lose money. People are not stupid, so who would do such a business?

The several thousand cavalrymen under Chen Ran's command were mainly based on the tens of thousands of military horses seized during the attack on Zengtou City. They were trained by recruiting men who were proficient in riding skills.

If training archers takes at least one to two to three years, then training cavalry is even more troublesome and longer.

The grassland herdsmen have been playing with horses since childhood, which is a skill given by the geographical environment.

For the Han men who had been using hoes and sickles since childhood to be trained into cavalry, it would take at least several years, in addition to strict training and sufficient material support.

It is obvious that the cavalry under Chen Ran's command are more like infantry who can ride horses than cavalry.

When he led a large group of cavalry around the fierce battle and rushed to the river bank, the Western Army naturally noticed the movement early and quickly mobilized its own cavalry to meet the attack.

The Western Army's cavalry numbered over 10,000. Not only did they have an advantage in numbers, but their quality was also much stronger than that of the cavalry under Chen Ran.

Under normal circumstances, unless Chen Ran can activate the Musou mode, he will not be able to win.

Chen Ran did not use the invincible power, he chose to use cheats to fight.

When more than 10,000 cavalrymen from both sides formed their battle formations on the river bank and prepared to launch a cavalry charge, Chen Ran's troops began to play suonas and wave many flags. The generals of each city led their cavalrymen and ran to both sides to make way for them.

The Western cavalry on the opposite side were puzzled and didn't know what was going on.

Then, they saw the deadly drug!
More than a hundred elephants, controlled by elephant drivers, appeared in front of Chen Ran's cavalry!
The Song Dynasty did have elephants, which were mainly captured and tamed from Lingnan, Wuyue, and even Dali. They were then sent to Bianliang City as gifts to the government.

The Zhao Song government even set up a special government office specifically for these elephants, called the Elephant Breeding Office.

To put it bluntly, the zoo of the Song Dynasty was of course the royal zoo.

In the Song Dynasty, no one had ever thought of sending elephants to the battlefield. It was not because they thought elephants were too delicate, but because these animals were the private property of the officials!
When Chen Ran captured the city of Bianliang, he paid attention to the elephant breeding ground and summoned elephant drivers for training.

It was originally intended to be used to deal with the Jin cavalry, but this time it was brought here specifically to destroy the main force of the Western Army.

More than a hundred elephants wearing large armor made by blacksmiths in Bianliang City ran towards the Western Army on the opposite side.

A mount with a fender is tied to the elephant's back. The sweaty elephant driver is trying his best to control the elephant to run forward, but he must not let it go astray.

On the Western Cavalry side, most people had never seen or even heard of such a giant beast.

The same was true for the war horses under their crotches. When they saw the herd of elephants covered in iron armor and with long tusks rushing towards them, they immediately became agitated, neighing, roaring, and kicking their rear.

After all, they were the elite of the Western Army, and they did not collapse under such circumstances.

While calming the horses, he arranged for the archers to dismount and quickly move forward to form a formation, and waves of arrows fell into the herd of elephants.

The reason why Chen Ran equipped the elephants with oversized horse armor and elephant armor was to guard against this move by the Western Army.

Unless they use crossbows, or powerful crossbows such as the God's Arm Bow to shoot at close range, they will not be able to penetrate this specially made elephant armor, which is more than twice as thick as horse armor!

There were too many arrows raining down, and some of them always hit unprotected places, such as the constantly swinging elephant trunk. It was impossible to cover this thing with armor.

Most of the elephants in the herd are male elephants, because male elephants are larger and more deterrent.

After all, the main purpose of a herd of elephants is to intimidate, and their actual combat power is far less terrifying than in movies and TV dramas.

The male elephant had a bad temper. An arrow had pierced his nose, the most sensitive part of his body. Even the elephant driver couldn't control his temper. The elephant went crazy and rushed forward, howling.

Dozens of male elephants led the charge. Their terrifying momentum and huge size brought a strong deterrent effect to the Western cavalry.

The first ones to collapse were the Western Army's war horses. These delicate animals knew best how to seek benefits and avoid harm. Even the trained war horses, faced with the terrifying giant elephants, especially giant elephants that had never been seen before, turned around and ran away, even though the riders shouted and whipped them.

Someone took the lead and ran away, and what happened next could not be stopped even by Pangu.

More than 10,000 Western Army cavalrymen were actually scared away by more than a hundred elephants.

The Western Army soldiers were not really that scared, but their war horses were.

Chen Ran seized the opportunity and immediately ordered "Charge~~~"

The cavalry under his command shouted and drove the blindfolded horses under their crotch, rumbling around the two sides of the elephant herd to pursue the Western cavalry.

No matter how big the difference in combat power between the two sides is, once one side falls into a state of disarray and fleeing, the outcome is determined. Tong Guan, who was standing on the viewing platform, stared at the disintegrating cavalry in the distance in amazement. "How is it possible? Even if the enemy is the Tangut Iron Harriers, they won't be defeated so quickly, right?"

It was indeed not that serious, but the Western Army's horses had never seen an elephant, and the result of their panic and panic was fatal.

"Husband, please leave!"

The personal guards came forward and dragged him down from the viewing platform.

The main force of the Western Army was fighting with the infantry of the Bianliang Army, and the large formation stretching for several miles was filled with people.

The cavalry, which served as the reserve, collapsed at the first touch. Except for his personal soldiers, Tong Guan had no other manpower around him.

Seeing that the enemy cavalry was heading straight towards this side, if we didn't run away at this time, we would end up being captured.

"I won't leave, I won't leave!" Tong Guan was not stupid. He knew that if he ran away at this moment, the already shaky formation would surely collapse, and that would be the end of everything.

The problem is, we have to leave.

After all, the cavalry from Bianliang City were already two miles away.

The guards didn't care about anything else. They carried Tong Guan and ran towards the floating bridge not far away.

"It's over." Tong Guan, who was carried onto the pontoon bridge, turned his head with difficulty to look at his viewing platform. He watched his flag being chopped down and a mouthful of blood spurted out immediately.

The flag representing the commander-in-chief fell, which dealt a devastating blow to the morale of the Western Army on the battlefield.

Many Western troops began to flee, and their escape created a chain reaction, leading to more and more Western soldiers running away, eventually causing a large-scale rout.

Chen Ran, standing on horseback, looked at the completely collapsed Western Army formation and sighed, "When hundreds of thousands of Western Army soldiers came to rescue Taiyuan City, they were also defeated and scattered like this."

The city of Bianliang surrounded both wings and continued to press forward.

Chen Ran personally led the cavalry to block the pontoon bridge and took control of the boats on the shore. With a group of elephants on duty, he cut off the only way out for the Western Army deserters.

In fact, even if the pontoon bridge had not been blocked, it would have been the same if hundreds of thousands of Western troops had fled, and it was impossible for a pontoon bridge and a few boats and rafts to pass through.

This is also the reason why Chen Ran deliberately chose the battlefield here.

What he wanted was not to defeat them, but to annihilate the elite main force of the Western Army.

"No killing for surrender! No killing for surrender~~~"

"Tong Guan has been killed, why don't you surrender quickly?"

"Those who resist will die, those who kneel will live!"

The morale of the Bianliang Army was greatly boosted, and they shouted at the Western Army to surrender. Indeed, a large number of Western Army soldiers were left with no other options and chose to surrender to survive.

But that’s not all.

Some Western troops fled to the shore, took off their clothes and armor, and jumped directly into the river to swim across the river.

However, there were too few Western soldiers who understood water, or were good enough to swim across the river. Most of the Western soldiers who entered the water disappeared while swimming, leaving behind only a string of bubbles.

Some brave Western troops chose to launch a desperate attack and rushed towards the pontoon bridge desperately.

Most of these Western troops were defeated by the charging elephants and had no way to regroup.

Only a few strong men rushed to the floating bridge where Chen Ran was stationed.

"Kill!"

Han Shizhong roared loudly and led his companions to charge towards the floating bridge desperately.

The spear in his hand kept flying, shooting down one Bianliang cavalryman after another.

Relying on their bravery and desire to survive, this group of Western troops actually made their way to within dozens of steps of Chen Ran.

Chen Ran, sitting on the horse, stood still.

Wu Song behind him was full of fighting spirit, so he simply dismounted and walked forward quickly holding a big flag.

The flag weighing hundreds of pounds became a soul-calling banner in Wu Song's hand. When he waved it, not to mention people, even horses were swept to the ground.

Seeing this scene, Han Shizhong's eyelids twitched.

"Where did this humanoid monster come from?!"

Although he was in a desperate situation, Han Shizhong remained calm, knowing that the most important thing now was not to fight the monster, but to escape safely.

When he saw Chen Ran dozens of steps away, a bold idea suddenly came to his mind.

Han Shizhong had made many attempts to charge into the enemy's lines and capture the enemy's main generals alive, such as the prince consort of Western Xia and Fang La, who were all his achievements.

He now plans to take down Chen Ran who was standing in front of the banner!
Needless to say, this must be the enemy chief!

The companions around him dispersed and tried their best to create a path for Han Shizhong.

Han Shizhong did not hesitate at all, he rode his horse and charged towards Chen Ran with his spear in hand.

(End of this chapter)