Tiger Guards

Chapter 152 The Cost of Trust
In front of the Black Flag Thousand-Man Tiger Infantry Army, two drum carts beat with a slow rhythm.

Zhao Rui and Pei Mao rode on one side of the formation, observing the front under the cover of a dozen Yulin knights.

When they came, Zhao Ji led a hundred cavalry to challenge them, and each time he retreated, he would replace the hundred cavalry.

This went on and on, and by the time the sun was high in the sky, it was the fifth battle.

This time, the cavalry of both sides were entangled, and the cavalry fought in close combat, neither side fought to the death.

The southeast wind was blowing, and the visibility of the Han army formation in the south was relatively good.

The fierce battle lasted less than half a minute before the Huns were defeated again.

This time, Zhao Ji did not retreat. Instead, he ordered the wounded soldiers to carry the fallen knights back and finish off the wounded Huns around him.

The dust gradually dissipated, and a cloud of dust rose in the distance to the north.

Han Shu took a deep breath, steered Zhao Ji's chariot, turned around and shouted, "Convoy, move forward!"

Thirty-two Tiger Guard chariots followed, and besides the main chariot was a drum chariot.

The flag car carrying the battle flag of "Hu Ben Zhong Lang Jiang" remained in the cavalry formation and did not move.

The chariots were arranged in three rows, front and back, raising even bigger dust and looking even scarier.

This caused the Xiongnu cavalry that came south to engage in battle to make a detour and avoid the battle.

In the battle formation, Zhao Ji leaped onto his chariot, discarded his weak horse bow, grabbed an unstrung infantry bow, and asked, "How is Xu Huang?"

"After noon, dispatch the White Flag Corps to the camp to assist in the battle and support the retreat of the other armies."

Han Shu wiped the sweat from his face and said, "If the Xiongnu on the north bank do not make any unusual moves, he will lead the remaining 500 Hedong knights out of the camp to assist in the retreat."

"understood."

Zhao Ji responded, rubbed his lips, picked up the water bag from the car and took a sip. The light salt water refreshed him.

He handed the remaining half bag of water to Han Shu and said, "Go and inspect, pick out those who are exhausted physically and mentally, and bring them back to the formation to recuperate."

Many people have developed a certain 'feeling' for fighting, started enjoying the battle, and ignored their personal physical exhaustion.

"Here!"

Han Shu answered loudly, turned over and rode on his spare horse, and immediately inspected everywhere, selecting the Huben, Hedong, and Yicong knights who had participated in the battle before, and had them all retreat with him to the rear of the formation.

This choice took away nearly a hundred riders.

In the previous melee, Zhao Ji had no time to carefully count and count the knights around him, and many of them were sent into battle repeatedly.

Every time Zhao Ji went into battle, he could change a horse. These people were riding old horses and could no longer run.

It may be that the sixth wave of Xiongnu cavalry made a detour to avoid battle. After Han Shu led his men to evacuate, the Xiongnu people showed no intention of organizing an attack, as if they had given the central area of the battlefield to the Han army.

Without a telescope, Zhao Ji stood on the top of the chariot, supporting himself with his long spear with one hand, standing firm and observing from a high vantage point.

It was seen that the Huns had blocked the road with felled trees for a distance of one hundred steps on each side, and most of the hardened ground in the middle of the road had been closed, and they were building a gate.

Many Huns could not stand the midday heat, so they sat on the ground in groups of dozens, eating dry food together.

Most people, except the slaves, were resting.

Zhao Ji turned his head to observe the rear. The Black Flag Thousand-Man Team had moved its position. There were only four Hundred-Man Teams in the front row. Three of the Hundred-Man Teams were either resting or helping to dig the horse trap.

Looking at the left and right wings, the Green Flag Team and the Red Flag Team have also moved, indicating that they have made preparations to defend against cavalry on their front sides.

As for the volunteer soldiers led by Hou Xuan and Li Kan behind the formation, they were still digging trenches.

Compared to wearing armor and standing in the front row, their work is tiring but the risk is the least.

Just as he was looking around, Qubei came riding up and said, "Minister, we can withdraw now. The Qiangqu tribe has lost their nerve and they won't come again."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ji raised his spear towards the open ground, jumped down, and the spear was nailed to the ground. He then slid down to the ground along the spear shaft.

Qubei also dismounted and explained in detail, "Those who are able to go out into the battle today are all brave and strong from their respective tribes. They are willing to fight once to spread the prestige of their tribe. If there is no profit, they will not go out to fight repeatedly."

The so-called elite cavalry of the Huns refers to this group of people.

Zhao Ji heard this and asked, "Then retreat?"

Qu Bei hesitated, then looked up and said, "Xiao Wang has an idea. Maybe we can try it."

"Your Majesty, please speak freely."

"Yes, I am acquainted with Qiang Qu. He is known for his intelligence, but he also cherishes his life very much."

Qubei gestured, "Later, when both armies were at their wit's end, the Attendant led his charioteers to charge directly at their main banner. The young prince led his cavalry in support, and over three hundred energetic men followed him, charging directly at the Qiang Qu camp. The rest of the troops dragged branches and reeds behind their horses, charging back and forth, creating a cloud of dust." "This way, the Qiang Qu would be unable to respond, and he'd be afraid of death. Seeing our large cavalry charging fiercely, if he turned and fled, the northern armies would surely scramble for the road ahead."

As he spoke, Qubei looked at Zhao Ji with hope, with a humble demeanor and tried to be as kind as possible.

This gave Zhao Ji a creepy feeling that the other party wanted to cheat him of the ring. If they wanted to establish true trust between each other, the cost would definitely be high.

Risk itself is a cost.

Zhao Ji turned his head to look to the north, where the flags of the various Xiongnu tribes were mostly in the front row, and the tribes of royal origin all had the black dragon totem, or variations of the black dragon totem.

The miscellaneous tribes used eagle flags, deer flags, and flags with big tree totems. Some of the flags were too far away and too small to be clearly seen.

Zhao Ji naturally saw where King Qiangqu was, where seven or eight black dragon flags were gathered together.

In addition to King Qiangqu's own flag, there should also be flags of small branches of his close clan.

Due to limited productivity, flags were relatively valuable artifacts to the Huns.

Who would keep so many flags around when they have nothing to do?

Zhao Ji looked at where the Qiangqu King was, and Qu Bei also looked over there: "He is right there. Kill him, and no one will be able to compete with the young king for the right wing."

"Yes, I promised the wise king this. I am worried that if I kill this man in the middle of the battle, the Xiongnu will be defeated and return to the north bank, facing me across the river. That would be bad."

Zhao Ji patted Qu Bei's arm and said, "Recover your horses. In half an hour, we will launch a chariot and cavalry assault. We cannot pursue them beyond the fence they have built. Once we succeed, we will retreat immediately!"

"Yes, the prince will not let the minister down!"

Qubei bowed solemnly, Zhao Ji smiled and waved his hand, Qubei took a few steps back, then jumped on his horse and led a few riders away.

Yang Ji, the Tiger Guards Minister in charge of the chariots, limped over and asked, "Minister, are you really going to attack the Xiongnu main camp?"

He was transferred here just last night. After nearly a month of rest, his sprained ankle still hasn't healed.

Unable to ride a horse or walk, he was assigned to manage the Tiger Guards convoy.

"I had this idea before I proposed it. If I don't charge in, I'll regret it when I look back after I retreat."

Zhao Ji looked at Yang Ji and said, "Tell everyone to rest and replenish their strength first. When we pursue them later, we must not cross the fences built by the Xiongnu. Even if the Xiongnu are completely defeated, we must not pursue them further! Anyone who disobeys this order will be punished, even if they capture the head of a famous Xiongnu king or their battle flag!"

"Here!"

Yang Ji agreed and took a few people to travel around to publicize military orders.

Zhao Ji didn't need to feed the horse, so he returned to the carriage and ate salted horse meat slices and wheat cakes with turbid rice wine. After eating, he took off his helmet and sat cross-legged to practice his skills.

After the new and old Tiger Guards around had their meal, some of the Hedong Knights and Xiongnu volunteers began to rest, and only a few people stood on the chariots to keep watch.

The wounded Hun soldiers who were hacked to death nearby attracted many flies, which made a buzzing sound.

In less than three quarters of an hour, Zhao Ji had almost recovered and carefully checked the strong bows and arrows in the carriage.

I squinted my eyes to look at the location where King Qiangqu was, and was really worried that he would be killed in battle or his confidence would be crushed.

If the Huns in the north retreat to the east bank of the Fen River, it would be really difficult to deal with.

For many people, facing the Huns across the Fen River was equivalent to the Huns not existing.

Without the suppression of the Huns, who knows what these people can do.

Fortunately, the weather is dry, and even if it rains again in the next few days, it will not be enough for grass to grow in the wilderness.

There were about 20,000 Hun horses gathered around, like locusts, and the seedlings could not last for a few days.

Perhaps after defeating the Huns on the east bank, these people would run to the north bank of the Fen River and launch a classic attack while the enemy was halfway across the river.

The threads of various possibilities in his mind were entangled and influenced each other, making Zhao Ji restless and irritable.

I simply closed my eyes, emptied my mind, and thought about nothing.

I don't have the ability to dispatch and command the enemy, so let the Huns do whatever they want.

All you can do is to work hard at every stage. Even if you can't get twice the result with half the effort, at least you can get 50% return for 50% investment.

As long as you don't think about showing off or taking advantage, you won't end up making things worse and doing stupid things that will result in half the effort and twice the result, and ultimately bring about your own destruction.

Being down-to-earth is better than anything else.

Zhao Ji took a deep breath, raised his hand to wipe off the dirt on his face, and looked around with calm eyes.

The surrounding charioteers and soldiers also stood up one after another, seizing the last moment to drink all the water they brought with them or feed their horses.

(End of this chapter)