Tiger Guards

Chapter 144: Dust and Chaos
More than ten miles south of Xingcheng, on the Chi Road.

When Zhao Ji returned with 800 chariots and cavalry from the Huben and Yulin armies, and more than a hundred cavalry from Hou Xuan and Li Kan, nearly a thousand people in total, the Huns had already gathered at the battle site.

After the battle was over, they were in a hurry to evacuate, so they just cut off the heads, collected the Roman horses, and quickly left the battlefield.

At this moment, more than a thousand Xiongnu infantry and cavalry formed a battle array on the road. Some Xiongnu people were collecting the dead, identifying them through the headless corpses, and loading them onto carts to transport them back to the north.

Seeing the Han army coming, the Xiongnu infantry and cavalry became more disciplined, and raised a battle flag with a blue background and a black wolf totem.

Their leader Tai'ahou stood in front with a spear in his hand, and the cavalry on the left and right formed a battle formation, and there were also cavalry deployed in the wasteland on both sides of the road.

When the battle formation was formed, Xiongnu herdsmen and slaves advanced in groups from both sides holding shields and spears, providing protection in front of the battle formation.

Another two hundred or so archers came forward in a skirmish line and stood in three rows.

Some archers wore standard quivers of the Han army, or rough quivers or quivers made of leather.

Tai'ahou was a sturdy man with a well-groomed mustache.

He tilted his head to glance at Song Yi, the young commander of the Tiele Xiongnu beside him and said, "Go and tell them I want to talk to the Han general on the battlefield."

Song Yi looked uneasy: "Your Majesty, that was the Tiger Guard Zhao Ji who killed my master. He was a sharpshooter."

"Don't worry, he won't kill you."

Tai'ahou said comforting words, but his eyes did not allow Song Yi to argue.

Song Yi immediately responded, lightly kicked the horse's belly, held the spear horizontally in his right hand, and slowly advanced through the conflicting lines of infantry and archers.

At this time, Zhao Ji's chariots were stationed on the highway, with cavalry on both sides, and cavalry skilled in archery were also deployed in the wasteland on both sides of the highway.

Behind each other, there was smoke and dust, obviously reinforcements were coming.

Zhao Ji's chariot stopped steadily, and two Hu Ben held up the shaft support... When the horse moved forward, the support would be released by itself and would not hinder movement.

Looking at the Black Wolf Battle Flag a hundred and fifty steps away, Zhao Ji turned around and asked, "Who's on the other side?"

"The leader of the Black Wolf tribe, Tai'ahou, has been appointed the chief minister of the Chanyu King's court."

Qubei replied, "The Black Wolf tribe is a different species of Xiongnu. They are better than the mixed Xiongnu, but only to a limited extent."

Zhao Ji nodded after hearing this, grabbed the bow with his left hand, put an arrow on it, then fully drew the string and glanced at the treetops on both sides as he released the arrow.

Seeing that there was no wind and no movement, he released his arrows without thinking, and then shot two more arrows in succession.

Seeing him shooting an arrow, Song Yi, who was about seventy or eighty steps away, immediately threw himself on the horse's back, kicked the horse's belly hard, pulled the reins, and turned the horse.

Tai'ahou also saw Zhao Ji shooting arrows, and thought that his purpose was probably to measure the distance of the arrow.

Whenever two groups meet, they will routinely shoot arrows to determine the distance within one arrow.

When he was careless, the warriors around him sensed the danger, rode their horses forward, stretched out their arms and held small shields to protect Tai'ahou.

But he was still a little slow, and Zhao Ji's first arrow hit Tai'a's waist and abdomen, breaking the leather armor on his waist and abdomen.

When Tai'ahou was first shot by the arrow, he felt a chill in his stomach and instinctively contracted his abdomen, leaning forward slightly.

Only then could he faintly hear the sound of arrows breaking through the air. The second arrow hit the small shield held high by the guard beside him, and then the third arrow pierced the top of Tai'a's thick feather felt hat.

At this moment, Tai'ahou froze on the horse's back and couldn't move.

"Your Majesty!"

Another guard shouted urgently, but at this time Song Yi had already turned sideways off the road, whipped his horse and galloped away recklessly, making a big detour around the formation of more than 300 Hun cavalry to escape.

At the same time, Zhao Ji's chariot began to charge, and the three drum carts behind him started beating, and fifty Tiger Guard chariots followed suit.

Each Huben chariot was driven by a heavily armored Huben. There were three Huben on the chariot, one holding a spear on the left, one in the middle holding a crossbow, and one on the right holding a bow. The one holding the crossbow was responsible for commanding and giving priority to shooting enemies close to the chariot.

They are all tanks modified from various vehicles. Their structures are not very reasonable and they are also old.

But when chariot soldiers appeared on the battlefield again and were only used along the highway, they made up for their various shortcomings.

When more than fifty chariots were charging forward, Zhao Ji was the first to shoot arrows, and the archers only started shooting when the other chariots were about seventy or eighty steps away.

In the rear, Guanqiu Yi led the cavalry, holding his spear horizontally, observing the front and waiting for the opportunity to charge.

On both sides of the road, Hou Xuan and Li Kan heard the drumbeats and led the cavalry to attack.

The Xiongnu cavalry also spontaneously launched into battle. The two sides rode past each other, arrows flew back and forth, creating dense dust that was far greater than that on the road.

After seeing the chariots smash through the Xiongnu's pitiful infantry and archery formations, Guanqiu Yi glared and shouted, "Brave men on both sides! Follow me and charge!"

"Kill Hu!"

He was leading the way, and at this moment there was no need for any adjustments. He just had to focus on the front and charge forward together.

Before they had charged for thirty steps, more than ten of Guanqiu Yi's followers and fellow villagers passed over him from both sides with spears and halberds, becoming the sharpest attacking spearheads.

Only a battle flag of the General of the Imperial Guards followed Guanqiu Yi all the time, but the dust raised by the cavalry on both sides of the road slowly spread over.

As the chariot rushed forward, Zhao Ji fired rapidly, aiming only at the figures near the Black Wolf battle flag.

If you interrupt or interfere with the actions of these people, the other party's command will definitely not be smooth!

Behind him, flag officer Gao Yanglong was wearing heavy armor and holding the battle flag of "Tiger Guards Lieutenant General". He held the carriage with one hand and stared at the front.

Gao Yanglong was nearly nine feet tall and had not yet had his coming-of-age ceremony. He had a round face full of fat, a pair of large round eyes, and dark red cheeks.

The Xiongnu cavalry charged slowly, hampered by their own weapons and infantry archers, with only a few dozen cavalry charging across the formation. Before the battle even began, some insightful warriors turned their horses around and slipped through the wide gaps in the sparse forests on either side of the road, avoiding the oncoming chariots.

The Huben chariots advanced steadily, and the archers fired rapidly, without pursuing accurate kills at all.

Even the crossbowman who served as the chariot captain just held the crossbow and did not attack the Xiongnu infantry who were fleeing with their backs turned, but only shot the Xiongnu cavalry rushing towards them.

The charioteers on the left either held a spear or a halberd, and they also carried a bag of short spears behind their waists.

They do not easily use spears and halberds in combat, and mainly throw short spears.

Zhao Ji's chariot crashed into the enemy's cavalry formation. The horses neighed in pain and the chariot stopped quickly.

Zhao Ji supported Gao Yanglong with his backhand, picked up the long-handled horse-slashing sword and slashed left and right, forcing back several Xiongnu cavalry who were trying to approach.

More and more chariots crashed into them, and the Xiongnu cavalry found it difficult to respond effectively.

As Guanqiu Yi led the cavalry charge, the dust completely obscured the view.

When Zhao Ji saw a chariot overturned, he immediately jumped off the car and slashed forward with a sword in both hands.

As long as the enemy cavalry is not in red uniform, kill them on sight.

Gao Yanglong also got off the chariot, holding the battle flag and following closely, and the flag guard also started fighting on foot.

When the chariot overturned, Zhao Ji killed seven or eight Huns. Some of them only had their legs cut off by him, and were thrown to the ground by their injured horses, crying and rolling in the dust.

More and more Tiger Guards on chariots got off and fought on foot, following the drum carts on both sides and protecting them as they moved forward.

The air was filled with dust, and with just one breath, Zhao Ji felt that he had enough trace elements needed for a year.

My nose and throat hurt, but I couldn't stop at this moment and could only keep pushing forward.

The Xiongnu cavalry found it difficult to maneuver, their vision was limited in the dust, and many people were at a loss as to what to do and could only fight passively.

I wanted to escape, but I couldn't tell friend from foe from foe everywhere.

Due to the interference of the dust, the cavalry fighting on both sides could only follow one after another and shoot in the suspicious direction.

No one dared to stop, as stopping would disrupt the formation, causing disconnection between the front and rear teams and leading to accidental injuries.

Three miles to the south, Xu Huang stared at the rising dust that was two or three miles wide from east to west in the north.

Qubei retreated from the front and asked, "Captain Xu, when will we attack?"

Xu Huang frowned: "Do the Xiongnu have reinforcements?"

"Yes, I don't know how many."

Qubei quickly replied, "The enemy cavalry is covering the left and right, making it difficult to detect."

Xu Huang remained calm and ignored Qu Bei's urging. "Right Wise Prince, please come with me and watch the battle. If you and I go to help, who will support us?"

Qubei took a deep look at Xu Huang and saw that he still didn't trust him, so he immediately whipped his horse and returned to his own camp.

If Xu Huang is not in a hurry, why should he be in a hurry?
In the melee, Guanqiu Yi lost his spear and his soldiers, so he had to dismount and avoid the battle.

He covered his face with a cloth and led his horse to a tree, where he saw several ragged Hun spearmen rushing towards him excitedly.

Guanqiu Yi held his sword and leaned against the tree trunk. At this time, several spears were thrown at him, and all three Xiongnu spearmen were shot in the chest and fell backwards.

There were a few spearmen following behind, who turned around and left when they saw this.

Guanqiu Yi turned his head to look, and saw Zhao Ji still walking quickly in the yellow dust. He passed by Guanqiu Yi three or four steps away without even looking at him.

Zhao Ji's armor was stained with blood, and the blood was stained with yellow earth and dust, making him look like a man wearing yellow mud armor.

A dozen Hu Ben soldiers followed the battle flag of "Hu Ben Zhonglang Jiang" and passed by Guanqiu Yi one after another. Next came a drum cart. Dozens of Hu Ben soldiers moved around the chariot, killing all the Huns who passed by and throwing the severed heads into the drum cart.

As the drum cart passed by, blood dripping from the rear of the cart formed a line.

Guanqiu Yi picked up the spear on the ground, got back on his horse, and shouted repeatedly before he gathered a dozen cavalrymen.

A fellow villager came up and shouted to him, "General! The enemy cavalry have fled to both sides. If we pursue them, we will surely accidentally injure the cavalry!"

Another officer, whose identity was unknown and whose face was covered in blood, also shouted, "Should we chase them?"

"Don't chase!"

Guanqiu Yi shouted, "Blow the horn! Rally the cavalry! Blow once short, then long! Repeatedly!"

Several military officers carrying trumpets immediately began to blow the trumpets. Soon after the trumpets sounded, the candidates on both sides and Li Kan also began to order people to blow the trumpets.

We can't fight anymore. If we continue, it will be difficult to identify friend or foe.

The Xiongnu cavalry also retreated northward and left the battlefield at the urging of the horn.

At the sound of the horn, Zhao Ji stopped the pursuit and said to the guards who had caught up with him, "Tell the drummer to stop chasing!"

Two or three people immediately walked towards the drum cart that was approaching about ten steps away. The first drum cart began to change the melody of the drum, and soon the rhythm of the other drum cart followed suit.

Zhao Ji covered his face with his cloak and never heard the third drum car respond to the rhythm.

Either the car overturned or the drummer was injured.

(End of this chapter)