Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 454: Fog of War
Gongsun Zan still persuaded Ma Teng to use more than a thousand Han army infantrymen to lure the Huns to swallow them.

In the past few years, he summed up the defeat at Jie Bridge with shame, and also pondered how to ambush the enemy with crossbows.

What's more, the Han crossbows they carried this time were different from before, and were enough to make the Huns break their heads and bleed.

Ma Teng nodded suddenly. No wonder Gongsun Zan was unwilling to use the new crossbow. It turned out that he wanted to use it on more Xiongnu cavalry for fear of alerting the enemy.

He cupped his hands with emotion and said, "Bogui was brave after knowing shame, and Teng was willing to admit defeat. If we can defeat the Xiongnu in this battle, Gongsun should be the first to achieve the credit."

"It's a pity that Qu Yi is dead, and I have no chance to defeat this bandit. It makes me regretful forever." Gongsun Zan shook his head and sighed, knowing that there was no way to avenge his humiliation in this lifetime.

Today we have to borrow Qu Yi's tactics to defeat the Huns and make that villain famous. Fortunately, he and Yuan Shao died at the hands of Xuande, so it can be considered revenge.

"Buzzing..."

At this moment, the majestic horn of the Huns sounded again, and the 17,000 cavalry in the front were quickly divided into four. Two teams were used to encircle the Han soldiers who had just protruded out, and two teams were on guard against the Qiang cavalry. King Zuo Wenyudi led 10,000 cavalry to support the rear at any time.

The Huns chose to use bows and arrows and surround the Han soldiers in a circle, making it impossible for them to deal with all directions.

First, shoot arrows during the encirclement attack to disrupt their formation. Once they are in chaos, immediately charge forward with arrows to defeat this part of the Han army. Then find a way to separate the Han cavalry and infantry in the rear, surround and destroy them.

Although the Xiongnu King Zuo Wen Yudi had a good idea, he did not expect that while the Xiongnu cavalry attacked, the Han army in front was also changing its formation and forming a circle with large shields.

The armored captain of the Wanqi Army did not pay much attention to the situation. The Han army obviously did not have enough shields, and even if they formed a circle, the gaps in the circle were enough for people to get in.

We have encountered this situation before. As long as we surround them in a circle and shoot upwards, the enemy will definitely be defeated.

The essence of war is to counter each move according to your own strategy. If the enemy wants to use bait to attack from both sides, the Han army will suffer if they can break through it, and if they cannot, the Huns will suffer as well.

It is better to attack the infantry's shield formation than to go forward to attack the chariot formation with coordinated infantry and cavalry. The enemy must be carrying powerful crossbows, but I don't know how many they have.

The commander of ten thousand cavalry waved his hand and asked the bugler to blow the horn, and ordered 2,000 cavalry to surround and shoot test shots.

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!!”

The sound of the Hu people's horses' hooves was accompanied by the sound of arrows breaking through the air, and a rain of arrows instantly flew towards the shield formation.

A considerable number of arrows were blocked, while others penetrated into the formation, but the Han army remained motionless and even rarely uttered a cry of pain.

This undoubtedly made the Xiongnu cavalry commander frown. There was something wrong with the situation.

The Shield Infantry is not an ordinary Han army. Before this thought could be finished, the sound of crossbows being fired could be heard from the opposite side. "Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh..."

Suddenly, a rain of arrows poured down towards the surrounding Hun cavalry. In just one round of arrows, at least thousands of arrows flew out from the shield formation, killing hundreds of cavalrymen in an instant.

The other Huns were so frightened that they immediately turned around and fled from the range of the crossbows. There was no need for the commander to blow the horn to remind them to retreat.

"What kind of Han crossbow is this?!" The Xiongnu cavalry commander was so frightened that his face changed and he blurted out.

The Han people liked to use their craftsmen to tinker with bows and crossbows to bully the Hu people, who could only draw bows with their hands at close range. They also controlled the flow of ironware into the Bingzhou grasslands.

If the Han army that attacked the Xiongnu carried such new crossbows, how could they win?
You can’t pile up human lives, the Han army’s crossbows can fire continuously!
No wonder the thousand men dared to be so arrogant. They directly formed a shield formation and let them attack. It turned out that they had a new continuous-fire crossbow.

The Xiongnu commander opened his mouth to curse, but he didn't know what to say.

The reason why the Han army attacked the Xiongnu was that the tribal kings refused to go to Jinyang to pay homage to the Han emperor, but the entire Bingzhou Xiongnu had to bear the consequences. Many Xiongnu nobles did not want to go to war with the Han Dynasty at all. There was only a few counties to maneuver, but they had to fight the Han army from all directions.

If he ran north out of the Great Wall, he would have to compete with the Xianbei tribe for pastures. If he did not run away, he would have to think about defeating the Han army and then compromise with the emperor.

I didn't expect that the other party actually carried a powerful crossbow that could fire continuously. Do we still have a chance to win?
The commander of the Wanqi Army gritted his teeth and waved his hand to order the cavalry to test the specific range and speed of the Han crossbow. After three times, hundreds of people had been killed.

According to the firing speed of the Han army's crossbows, at least five or six thousand cavalrymen had to be deployed at one time to have a chance to fight for their lives in close combat, but close combat was not the Huns' strong point.

What's more, the Han army also had cavalry and infantry watching covetously. Given the fighting will of the Xiongnu cavalry, they could not be so cruel as to use short swords to forcibly break through the shield formation when attacked from both sides.

Moreover, when the arrows were shot before, there were fewer cries of pain from the wounded in the Han army, which may also mean that the Han army had a large number of people wearing iron armor, and if the battle continued, the casualties would be greater than those of the enemy.

It would be better to withdraw temporarily and send cavalry to watch from far behind the Han army. As long as the main general of the Han army makes a mistake, they will immediately seize the opportunity to attack. This way, they will have a better chance of defeating the enemy.

When the Xiongnu cavalry commander looked at the flag of Zuo Wenyudi King in the distance and sent scouts to inform the Han army of the situation, the sound of drums suddenly sounded behind him.

"Dong dong dong..."

Gongsun Zan intuitively sensed that the Huns were planning to escape, and used the beating of drums as a signal for the entire army to attack.

Under the leadership of Ma Teng, the Qiang cavalry on the left and right sides immediately rode forward to encircle the Xiongnu front army. The Han infantry trotted out of the chariot formation, formed spears and shields, and then advanced forward, placing crossbowmen in the formation.

Some Han cavalry, led by Duan Wei, went around to the rear and cut off the Xiongnu cavalry's escape route.

The more than a thousand infantrymen in the front holding crossbows became the key to blocking the reinforcements of King Zuo Wenyudi.

The Han army had nothing in abundance but a lot of arrows. As long as they had a foothold, they could shoot at the Huns from a long distance.

The Huns had few armored troops, and even though they outnumbered the Han army, they had no way to forcibly capture these thousands of Han troops. They could only find ways to cut off their food supplies.

The Han and Qiang people all had fierce brows and gritted their teeth as they rushed forward despite the arrows, which shocked the Xiongnu.

This Han army is completely different from the previous ones. They never fought so hard in the past. The Xiongnu herdsmen showed a bit of confusion, mistakenly thinking that they were attacked by the Han army for revenge while on the way to the grassland.

But if you think about it carefully, it was obviously you Han people who brought the Qiang people to plunder. We were still grazing in early spring. News came from the royal court that the Han emperor was not satisfied with the Xiongnu grazing in Bingzhou and wanted to rob livestock. The herdsmen had no choice but to mount their horses and bows and come to resist the Han army.

"kill!"

The Xiongnu herdsmen had no time to think before they engaged in battle with the Han cavalry that was charging at them. The sounds of arrows from both sides breaking through the air were endless, and the sounds of fighting were mixed with wailing.

Suddenly, a sharp bone flute sound came from the rear of the Huns, and King Zuo Wen Yudi had ordered a retreat.

"Don't get entangled, retreat!"

"Get out!"

The Xiongnu cavalry leader had red eyes and waved his hand to order the bugler to blow the bone flute immediately.

There were more Huns who fell than the armored Han people. I felt so sorry for him, as they were all his herdsmen.

(End of this chapter)