Jinting Han people

Ping Xian's resounding victory greatly dampened the morale of the Zhao King's army. The generals and soldiers had initially held the rebel army in contempt, but they never expected to suffer such a crushing defeat on the battlefield, causing unrest throughout the army.

Upon seeing this, Sun Hui was initially slightly shocked, but after regaining his composure, he immediately cursed, "Xu Chao is foolish! If you can't beat him, just shoot him dead! Why send someone to fight him one-on-one?"

Sun Mao was momentarily speechless. He thought to himself: How could killing someone be so easy? Since we had won before, how could we not send someone to fight back? Otherwise, what would happen to the morale of the army? He just really didn't expect that there would be such a master in the enemy army.

But since things had come to this, someone had to take responsibility. Sun Mao had no choice but to shoulder this responsibility and comforted the army, saying, "The enemy only has one brave general. How many people can he fight? We'll shoot him with crossbows later, and that will naturally avenge He Gui! The enemy is truly out of ideas. If they could win on the battlefield, why would they resort to such methods!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers of King Zhao's army were somewhat encouraged.

But this did not prevent the morale of the rebel army from rising steadily. Seeing that the people were eager to fight and their morale was high, Sima Yi was overjoyed and asked Liu Xian, "Lord, it is getting late. Should we have fought the decisive battle now?"

Liu Xian waved his hand and said, "Your Highness, you must restrain your temper. If our army were smaller, we could consider a quick victory and a surprise attack. But now the army is arrayed for miles, and we cannot command them all. If we commit the entire army, there will be no room for correction if any general makes a mistake."

"Therefore, when commanding a large army, it is best to be as cautious as possible. Try to induce the enemy to make mistakes while avoiding making mistakes yourself."

Sima Yi, having heard all this, roughly understood Liu Xian's meaning. He smiled and said, "So, Lord Prefect, you want to provoke the other side into fighting first, to make them make the first mistake."

"That's the truth."

Liu Xian summoned a messenger and instructed him to relay the order to Liu Hong: "Go and tell the Duke of Xuancheng to send a thousand light cavalry to test the other side's attitude."

"manner?"

"If the enemy does not respond, harass them with long-range shots; if they also send a small number of cavalry to fight, engage them briefly; if they are determined to fight, withdraw. I will respond accordingly."

Liu Hong, a renowned general of the border army, immediately understood Liu Xian's meaning. He immediately ordered that 1,200 light cavalry be selected and led forward by his son-in-law, Xiahou Zhi.

These 1,200 light cavalrymen were mostly recruited from the border regions by non-Han people. Among them were Wuhuan, Xianbei, and even Goguryeo people. They had been accustomed to archery and horsemanship since childhood and were skilled in riding and archery. After years of training by Liu Hong, even at high speed, their formation remained disciplined and orderly, maintaining a unified whole.

Like a swimming fish, they drew a beautiful arc from the right flank of the army, with the apex of the arc just eighty paces in front of Sun Hui's main force. In a moment of pause and turning, under Xiahou Zhi's command, they shouted in unison, and thousands of arrows flew towards the enemy soldiers.

Sun Hui had prepared for battle, but after only a volley of arrows, they were out of range again. Ning Shuo's light cavalry slowed down between the two groups, and the men drew arrows from their quivers and nocked them. Once they were ready, they stepped back into range and began firing at the Zhao King's army.

The Zhao army was caught off guard by the first round of shooting and suffered dozens of casualties, a bitter loss. They finally realized that the enemy didn't intend for close combat, but rather for archery, so they all raised their bows and arrows to retaliate.

But this is precisely where light cavalry's advantage lies: cavalry is too fast for infantry to aim in time. As long as they maintain proper formation, even a hail of arrows from the enemy is enough to significantly reduce casualties. However, when cavalry fires at arrayed infantry, the dense formation means they hardly need to aim carefully, and their shots are almost always successful. In a firefight, the light cavalry's advantage is virtually limitless. The only effective countermeasure is simply to wear more armor and raise shields.

After several exchanges of fire, the situation caused some unrest among the Zhao King's army. Although Ning Shuo's army had not suffered many casualties, this near-one-sided defeat deeply dissatisfied the soldiers. They longed for a counterattack against their defeated adversaries.

Liu Xian closely observed the enemy's formation and movements, thinking to himself:

If the opponent is an experienced player, sending over a thousand cavalry to counterattack, and you then reinforce your own forces while the opponent reinforces theirs, it becomes a piecemeal tactic, increasing the unpredictability and resulting in heavy casualties even if you win. However, if the opponent, unable to contain their resentment, launches a full-scale attack on your formation, you can lure them into attacking your well-prepared main camp. This gives you a geographical advantage, the advantage will undoubtedly tilt in your favor, and victory will be a foregone conclusion.

What will the other party choose? Liu Xian waited for their move.

The enemy didn't keep him waiting long; about half an hour later, the bugles of the Zhao King's army sounded. The mournful sound was reminiscent of the cries of souls. Then, the main force in the center began to move. It was clear that the enemy wasn't sending a portion of their troops out of formation, but rather the entire main force was advancing. Before long, a wedge-shaped vanguard of cavalry in front and infantry behind was formed, launching an attack on Liu Xian's left flank.

As the enemy's central army moved, the left and right armies hesitated for a moment before sounding their horns and slowly advancing northward, their speed increasing with each step. In an instant, the three armies formed a black wave, charging towards the rebel army with overwhelming force!
Upon seeing this, Liu Xian was overjoyed. He immediately discerned the reason for the change in the enemy's forces—the central army of the King of Zhao had launched the first attack, and the flanks, not daring to let it advance alone, had no choice but to follow suit, thus launching this general offensive! Thinking of this, he couldn't help but clench his fist in the air and exclaim, "Heaven is on my side! This battle is already won!"

He immediately ordered his troops to prepare for battle. At the same time, he sent a messenger to Lu Zhi, advising him to prepare to attack the enemy's flank after their attack, thus diverting their attention from the rear.

At this point, the key to victory lies in the success of the enemy's first wave of attack. Once the first wave is held, the outcome of the subsequent battle is a foregone conclusion.

However, despite this, the Changshan soldiers facing the enemy on the front lines were somewhat nervous. After all, this was not only Sima Yi's first time participating in a battle of this scale, but also theirs. Seeing thousands of troops charging towards them, billowing smoke trailing behind, any normal person would feel fear. But how to regain courage after the initial fear is what determines the difference between new recruits and veterans. The officer in charge at the forefront was Linghu Sheng, leading the Shengnu Battalion in the center of the left flank. He could see the enemy's central and left armies forming a massive pincer attack, and could also see that approximately a thousand armored cavalrymen formed the sharpest arrowhead of this offensive.

Linghu Sheng wasn't sure if the hastily dug barricade would be enough to stop the enemy. He could already picture the cavalry breaking through the wooden stakes and tearing apart the enemy lines. But in an instant, a surge of heroic spirit welled up within him, and he thought: How many people in the world have witnessed such a scene? Only when swords clash can true heroes be revealed. Even if I were to die in such a battle, it would be a life well-lived.

So he encouraged his soldiers, saying, "Life is but a few decades, fleeting like a white horse galloping past a crack in the wall. It's better to die a glorious death than to live a life of mediocrity! If we can defeat the enemy, our names will be remembered for eternity!"

Linghu Sheng brought up the Battle of the House again, saying, "Do you remember when we breached the city of the House and climbed the four-zhang-high city wall? Were the iron armor on the other side even harder than the four-zhang-high city wall?"

As they said this, the soldiers of the Victorious Crossbow Battalion gradually felt a sense of pride, and their wrists, which had been trembling, calmed down.

They held their breath, watching the approaching army intently. They drew specially made shovel-shaped arrows from their quivers and nocked them onto longbows two inches longer than standard longbows. The thousands of armored cavalrymen drew ever closer—hundreds of paces, a hundred paces, fifty paces…

When they were about twenty paces away, the archers could see the sharpness of the enemy knights' long spears, and they finally released their arrows.

This volley of arrows was like a curtain of iron appearing out of thin air, sweeping across the battlefield in a flash. Logically, Liu Xian's Victorious Crossbow Battalion was designed to deal with ordinary cavalry, and wouldn't be effective against such heavily armored cavalry. But this time, the volley of arrows produced an unexpected result—they weren't aimed at the enemy's necks, but rather at the horse's legs.

At this distance, horse armor offered little protection for the legs. The crescent-shaped arrow flew out suddenly, slicing through the air almost like bamboo, severing the horse's foreleg and embedding itself firmly in the ground. The first rank of Zhao King's heavy cavalry was caught completely off guard. In an instant, the armored riders neighed in pain and crashed to the ground without warning. The riders on their horses also lost their balance and tumbled to the ground. Nearly a hundred riders and their horses fell to the ground, forming a wall of flesh.

This forced the knights behind to rein in their horses and slow down. Some reacted quickly, turning their horses around to avoid the collision, but many more were too slow. Even when they managed to pull on the reins, their horses were caught off guard and trampled the riders in front of them, eliciting another round of screams. Broken entrails and blood flowed out, quickly turning the area where the two armies clashed into a gruesome and foul-smelling mess.

Even so, the war had to continue. Although the Shengnu Battalion suffered a great setback, the entire left flank army barely moved before the battle lines merged together without any hindrance.

Seeing the chevaux-de-frise in front of the rebel army, the mounted soldiers paid no heed. They dismounted and began wildly thrusting and stabbing at the soldiers behind the chevaux-de-frise with their long spears. Liu Xian's men, not prepared with many long spears, used wooden shields to parry the thrusts while simultaneously hurling arrows upwards. Alternatively, they used ring-pommel swords to cut down the spear shafts before closing in.

Sima Yi stood beside Liu Xian, only a few dozen feet from the front lines. He watched as his soldiers engaged the enemy in fierce combat, the battlefield filled with the deafening cries of battle, and countless warriors fell to the ground. His heart swelled with patriotic fervor. He said to Liu Xian, "Now that we're on the battlefield, wouldn't it be cowardly not to fight? My lord, you command from here and watch me slay the enemy for our country!"

Having said that, without waiting for Liu Xian's reply, he had already taken the lead and led his men to the front line.

Sima Yi had practiced martial arts for many years and was skilled in both horsemanship and archery. Facing the sounds of battle and the smell of blood coming from the opposite direction, he felt excited. As he moved, he glanced around and saw a tall knight from the Zhao King's army. He took out two armor-piercing arrows with eagle feathers from his quiver, held one arrow between his fingers, took the other, nocked it into his bow, silently recited Sima Yi's name, aimed at the man, and released the bowstring.

The arrow entered through the left eye, pierced the back of the head, and exited. The victim didn't even see the person who was taking his life before his soul was instantly extinguished, and his body fell to the ground as the arrow struck.

Beside the knight was a mounted attendant. Seeing his master fall from his horse, and with the archer only half an arrow's distance away, he shouted and tried to spur his horse forward, spear in hand. Sima Yi immediately twirled his fingers, nocked the arrow between his fingers, and pulled back the bowstring with his thumb. Just then, the knight's horse, its gallop exhausted, scattered withered grass and broken stones, and the ferocious iron-faced horse's head was pointed directly at him, spear tip thrust forward, barely inches away!
But in that instant, Sima Yi had already drawn his bow to its fullest extent, and with a swift shot, he narrowly dodged the spear, then turned and galloped towards an area with fewer enemies. Behind him, the Zhao King's cavalryman, holding the reins, sat motionless, while the arrow pierced his face, a wisp of fletching sticking up high and trembling slightly with the rise and fall of the corpse.

That was truly superb archery! The surrounding soldiers cheered loudly. Upon closer inspection, they realized the archer was Sima Yi, and they shouted even louder, "King Changshan! King Changsheng!"

Those further away heard that the King of Changshan had entered the battle, and the morale of the righteous soldiers soared. They encouraged each other, saying, "Even His Highness has personally entered the battle, so why should we be afraid of death?" Thus, they fought even harder, and the so-called fear of battle was no longer relevant to these new recruits.

But when the soldiers of the Zhao army who came to fight heard that Sima Yi had entered the battle, they were both surprised and excited. They thought to themselves, "If we can capture or kill this Prince of Changshan, we will probably have made the greatest contribution since the start of the war! If word gets back to Luoyang, we might even get a county dukeship! Then we won't have to worry about anything for ten generations!"

Sun Xiu's generous reward was highly appreciated, and driven by this idea, the soldiers of the Zhao King's army were in high spirits, charging forward fearlessly and trying to spot Sima Yi in the crowd.

The battle on the scene reached its climax.

When Sima Yi entered the formation, Liu Xian was directing the battle and was completely unprepared. He was startled and broke out in a cold sweat. But seeing Sima Yi moving freely in the formation, and his attendants Shangguan Si and others gradually catching up to protect him, he breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself, "This Prince of Changshan is truly audacious and extraordinary. Even among my acquaintances, his courage ranks among the best."

However, looking at the entire battlefield, it's not hard to see that the difference in quality between the two armies is quite obvious. The Zhao King's army mainly consisted of imperial guards, whose physical strength and equipment far surpassed those of the rebel army. Even under various disadvantages, their battle with the rebels was evenly matched, with no clear victor in a short time. To exaggerate a bit, if it were simply a matter of pure combat, the Zhao King's army still had a chance of winning.

Fortunately, Liu Xian didn't hide his trump card here. From the beginning, his plan was to lure the enemy forces away, not to win through a direct confrontation. (End of Chapter)