Han Khan

Chapter 49, Bloody Battle

The old, weak, women and children of the Jinshan tribe were all resting fifty miles behind.

Among the enemies before us, except for the thousand heavy armored infantry, the rest are not to be feared.

Zhang Sheng looked at the guards beside him, turned around and said calmly: "My brave and fearless Jinhan warriors, my guards, and the warriors of Lord Haotian, can you charge again?"

"Yes!" The brave guards all responded loudly.

"Come, pray with me!"

"The supreme God of Heaven is above, and his divine light shines forever!" Zhang Sheng took the lead in reciting the prayer.

The soldiers who heard this followed suit, "The Supreme Lord Haotian is above..."

"I am your loyal believer, fighting for your will! I am your warrior on earth, and I will ascend to heaven in battle..."

"I am…………"

“Although the enemies are numerous and fierce, Haotian and Jinhan are with us.”

"Only the Holy Way will last forever, eradicate the barbarians and dissidents!"

Zhang Sheng raised his lance again, "God's warriors, follow me to charge, destroy the enemies of Jin Han, and eradicate the evil barbarians!"

"Fight for Haotian, fight for the Emperor!"

Everyone followed and cheered enthusiastically!
Then the Guards followed Zhang Sheng and charged towards the chaotic Uighurs again.

In their hands were raised sabers or held lances, and they continued to charge towards the enemy in three formations.

The Guards often fought against the Hu people and had extensive experience in combating the Uighurs, so they did not feel afraid at all.

Zhang Geng sat upright on a majestic black and yellow warhorse, which was covered with horse armor made of connected armor plates.

He was wearing black armor and his black cloak fluttered in the wind as he charged quickly.

Anpolala, who had already formed his battle formation, saw the Tang cavalry charging again and felt helpless. He could not defeat them. Without the assistance of the infantry, he could not resist the charge of the Tang cavalry at all.

The might of the charge, the oncoming impact, the cold light flashing on the uniform spears, and the sabers chopping from high above made the Uighur cavalry terrified.

Anpola looked at the unstoppable Tang cavalry charging towards him with spears in their hands, knocking his own soldiers off their horses, and his own light cavalry was unable to resist.

When the Tang cavalry charged into their own ranks, some of them did not stop, but continued to charge forward until they reached their own rear, while others rushed in and slashed left and right with their sabers and iron bones.

He saw many of his tribesmen being hit so hard that their ribs were broken, and some were even flying into the air, bleeding in the air, and died before they hit the ground.

Holding a bone flower in his hand, he fought hard with the Tang people. Several Tang cavalrymen were knocked off their horses by him and trampled to death.

Anpolak was born into an aristocratic warrior family of the Gaochang Uighur Sai people. When he grew up, his sister became the Khatun of Yidu Hulu, so he also became a centurion of Yidu Hulu's guards. Later, he led the Khan's guards to fight in Beiting, Yanqi and other places.

Anpolak was particularly good at spearing and had extraordinary waist strength. When the Uighurs and the Tang people in Beiting were fighting for a fortress, he followed the army northward and often wrestled and wrestled with the warriors, using sheep as stakes. He always won and rarely encountered an opponent.

At this moment, he wielded his iron spear, and with the help of his superior warhorse, he took the opportunity to pierce the Tang cavalry in front of him. He had been in the army for more than ten years, and had fought against the Tibetans, the Khitanese, the Khotanese, and the Han people. Among the Uighurs, he had a high vision.

Today he needed to adjust his vision upwards, because he could tell at a glance that the Tang knights in front of him were elite cavalry, not the ones he led. They were cavalry composed of tribesmen and slaves. Most of the slaves did not even have complete weapons, equipment, and armor, and even the rhythm of their riding charges was uncoordinated.

In the past, he relied on this army, and because of his military merits and his in-laws, he was appointed as the Protector of Yidu, and ruled the Yizhou area after the Tang people withdrew. He collected taxes everywhere and lived a life of singing and dancing, feasting and revelry. Now it is hard to say whether he can return to Yizhou City.

Looking at the heavy infantry surrounded by two or three thousand people, shooting arrows at them, the infantrymen wearing heavy armor, although not dead, have become like a hornet's nest. There is no way to escape.

Zhang Sheng also saw that the soldiers of each hundred households were frantically besieging the Sai heavy infantry who were trying to break free from the encirclement, while avoiding close combat with them.

He knew that what he had to do now was to quickly defeat the thousand Uighur cavalry in front of him.

"Shanxiong, sound the horn! Order the guards to temporarily withdraw from the battle, do not engage in a fight with the enemy, quickly gather here to rest, the enemy can't escape! In the next round, we will surround the enemy and shoot them with arrows, don't charge again." Zhang Sheng said to Yin Shanxiong who was always guarding beside him.

"As you command, Your Highness!"

"Woo woo woo woo!" As the dull horn sounded, the Jin Han guards who were constantly hacking and killing the enemy quickly broke away from the enemy formation and ran towards the high slope where Zhang Sheng was.

After a while, the surviving guards had gathered around Zhang Sheng according to the order. This place happened to block the connection between the Uighur cavalry formation and the infantry formation.

"Move, everyone, form a circle around the enemy and shoot your sharp arrows at them." Zhang Sheng shouted loudly. Riding on his horse, Zhang Sheng's sharp eyes stared through his iron helmet at a Uighur cavalryman who was pacing back and forth. "Bang!" Zhang Sheng shot a long arrow with red feathers. The arrow head made a sharp whistling sound, and the Uighur cavalryman fell off his horse on the spot, and immediately attracted the attention of the guards beside him.

A circular encirclement was formed. Jin Han's guards kept shooting arrows at the Uighurs in the circle. Anpola heard a uniform "bang!" sound, like a swarm of bees leaving their nest.

The few tribesmen in front fell directly to the ground. Anpola even saw the blood spurting out of the chest of the soldier in front.

What frightened him even more was that his side was now completely surrounded by the Tang people.

He immediately reorganized his guards, turned his horse around, and prepared to escape, but what he saw was the gradually closing encirclement, and he suddenly felt absurd and desperate.

He didn't have time to think before there was another buzzing sound, and to his horror, the second wave of arrows arrived!

At this moment, as nearly a hundred cavalrymen fell off their horses, the neat formation quickly became chaotic again. The Tang people fired continuously, and their own side was completely shot to the ground.

The wounded war horses screamed in fear and ran around, the cavalrymen who were hit by arrows also groaned and screamed loudly, and some people and horses lying on the ground blocked the charge from behind, causing complete chaos.

Under the dense hail of arrows from the Jin Han guards, a large number of Uighur cavalry fell like hedgehogs, and the surviving Uighurs had no way to escape.

Anpolala was not dead. His guards surrounded him closely and swore to defend him to the death, because he was the lord of Yizhou City and its surrounding areas and the master of all tribes.

"Don't scatter, don't run away, we have been surrounded. Now quickly get close to the Tang people and fight them!" Seeing dozens of people falling in front of him, Anpolat, who had just calmed down, glared at his subordinates.

His guards consisted of only a few dozen people, which was already a small number. Now most of them had been shot to death by arrows from the Jinshan soldiers.

Zhang Sheng saw that he was tall, with a strong and sturdy physique, and a thick yellow beard outside the helmet extending to his chest.

Although he was wearing chain mail and holding a spear, looking very brave, he could not kill anyone. He could only rush towards Zhang Sheng under the cover of his guards, because he had discovered that Zhang Sheng was the leader of this group of people. Only by killing him could he survive. Anpolat thought at this time.

"Charge towards the Tang warrior in black armor and black cloak opposite. He is the Tang general. Only by killing him can we escape. Those wearing armor go in front and charge with guns. Those without armor take bows and follow my command to shoot together."

There was nothing wrong with Anpolla's arrangement. Now the only 600 or so remaining Uighur cavalry were organized by him, and their charge was extremely powerful.

If Zhang Sheng's guards were just an ordinary team, the momentum of the 600-man cavalry charge alone would be enough to force him to quickly break the encirclement and let them escape. The attack of the armored cavalry with guns in front alone would break their formation.

The Uighur light cavalry bypassed the road that was blocked by the corpses of men and horses and rushed towards Zhang Sheng in a semicircle.

But Zhang Sheng and his Jin Han guards were all wearing armor and were cavalry. They were very proficient in mounted archery, spear charges, and sword strikes on horseback. If the horses were also equipped with armor, they would be armored cavalry.

So they have chosen the wrong target, and they are about to face a severe blow.

After the Guards had fired their arrows, they mounted their horses immediately. Why did they shoot arrows while dismounted? Because the accuracy, range and strength of archery on foot were much stronger than those on horseback.

For Zhang Sheng, the 2,000 troops in Yizhou City were indeed much more difficult to deal with than Tugerdagan's troops in Qilian Mountains.

The Yizhou Uighurs had strong fighting beliefs and a high rate of armor wearing among their soldiers.

However, Jin Han was better and was determined to fight to the death. If he was defeated, he would have to flee with nothing, so Jin Han's troops must not lose this battle.

Although no one said it explicitly, everyone believed that withdrawing from Dunhuang and not fighting with Cao Yijin was a shameful escape, and it was also a heavy blow to Zhang Sheng's prestige.

Therefore, he had to use this battle to establish his unquestionable authority as the leader of the Jinhan tribe and make everyone obey his orders.

Defeating the Uighur cavalry in front of them would be an excellent battle to restore some of their reputation.

He is the leader of the Jinhan tribe, the emperor of the Holy Religion, and all the soldiers and civilians of Jinhan are his subjects. As a leader, although he is only 16 years old, he dares to lead the troops. He will lead his people to regroup and defeat the enemy.

The enemy's defeat must be used to highlight one's own victory, and the enemy's embarrassment must be used to highlight the strength of the Jinshan tribe led by Zhang Geng, the leader of Jinshan in the Western Han Dynasty.

Since these Uighurs have fallen into the trap and come here to die, don't blame me for being ruthless with my horse lance.

Zhang Sheng smiled slightly and asked, "Are you ready?"

A gust of wind blew, and his cloak was lifted up by the wind, fluttering on the armor of the guards knights behind him. The subtle sound was intertwined with the sounds of the knights drawing their weapons and the neighing of their horses, adding a somewhat cold atmosphere to this relatively flat hillside.

"We are ready." The Knights of the Guards answered in unison.

Zhang Sheng put down his helmet mask, picked up the lance stuck in the ground, waved his hand, and rushed into the enemy army at the head of the charge.

The guards, with 600 men in a row and more than 1800 men divided into three rows, quickly followed their master and launched the fourth rotation charge against the remnants of the Uighurs.

(End of this chapter)