Tiger Guards

Chapter 154: Quick Defeat

On the southern front, Zhao Rui and Pei Mao watched nervously.

They really didn't expect that Zhao Ji would dare to join forces with Qubei to attack the Huns' main camp.

The dust gradually drifted to the north. The battle was short. Before the dust could dissipate, the Huben chariots drove out from the dust one after another and headed towards the main camp.

The Black Flag Thousand-Man Team has completed battle preparations. The seven hundred-man formations in the front row are arranged with three on the left and four on the right, leaving a safe passage in the middle.

Three centuries also appeared in the second row as substitutes, two on the left and one on the right, all drawing their bows, ready to fight off the Huns' pursuers at any time.

The Huben chariots retreated rapidly, with no time to dodge to the sides, and filed in along the central passage left by the Black Flag Thousand Man Team.

As they passed by, the Tiger Guards on the chariots raised their heads and waved bows, crossbows, spears and halberds to boost the morale of their companions and Tiger Infantry soldiers.

The Tiger Infantry soldiers turned their heads to observe, while the leading Tiger Guard officer and the Tiger Guard commander of a hundred men waved and greeted the passing Tiger Guard charioteers.

Following the Tiger Chariots were various types of knights who moved even faster.

The weary knights who were watching from the front of the infantry formation moved back through the thirty-step-wide gap in the middle of the Black Flag Thousand.

When he was passing by with three black dragon flags on his shoulders, he reined in his horse and looked back, and then he heard a drum cart coming from behind.

Soon, the Huben drum chariot emerged from the dust; behind the drum chariot was Zhao Ji's chariot.

The two platforms were speeding forward, one in front and one behind, and the Hun pursuers had appeared from both sides.

These pursuers also saw the Tiger Infantry formation, and some of them rushed towards the Black Flag Thousand Man Team without hesitation.

When they were about seventy steps away, one after another Hun knights were knocked over by the low trip ropes.

Blinded by the rising dust, the Hun knights in the rear were unable to react in time and quickly rushed through the tripwire area and into the horse trap area.

Almost rows of Hun knights fell in front of the formation one after another, and now they were approaching the front seven teams thirty steps away.

In Zhao Rui's eyes, the ferocious Huns were almost right in front of him, and the raised lances and swords might hit him if they passed by him at the next moment.

"hair!"

The captains of each team of a hundred men shouted loudly, and bows and crossbows were fired at the same time, and short spears and stones were thrown quickly.

As they attacked intensively, drum trucks drove in from the middle passage.

Zhao Ji's chariot stopped about ten steps in front of the formation. One of the horses was shot by an arrow and fell down, and the entire chariot was lying diagonally in front of the formation.

The driver got off the car, put his left arm on his left shoulder, and hid on the south side of the car body with a shield in his right hand. He raised the shield diagonally to cover his head to prevent himself from being hit in the head by the short spears of the tiger infantry who slipped his hand.

Zhao Ji's right hand felt sore, so he only pulled the bow to 60% and shot at the approaching Hun knights.

The back and shields on both sides of his chariot were densely studded with all kinds of arrows.

The various types of knights who rushed into the Black Flag Thousand Man Team were divided into two groups and deployed on the two wings behind the formation, and also participated in the counterattack with horse bows and short spears.

The Red Flag Team and the Green Flag Team on both sides remained stationary, and the two thousand volunteers who were digging trenches in the rear had also completed their assembly and were urgently putting on their armor, waiting for the melee to break out.

Hou Xuan got back on his horse and watched the situation nervously. He saw that the Black Flag Army of 1,000 men had successfully blocked the charge of the Hun cavalry.

He heaved a sigh of relief and immediately said to Li Kan, "I will lead my men closer and assist immediately if the situation becomes urgent. Bo Cheng, you will supervise the other soldiers and join the battle when they are fully armored!"

"it is good!"

Li Kan responded loudly. Now it was impossible to distinguish whose troops belonged to whom. They had to stabilize the front of the Black Flag Thousand-Man Team.

When the two of them separated their forces, Qubei drew his bow and shot an arrow, killing a Xiongnu noble.

He showed no mercy, but took an arrow, drew the bowstring, aimed at another Hun knight who had drawn his bow, and shot an arrow, injuring the opponent's horse.

The opponent's horse was frightened, and the arrow flew high, fell freely to the ground, and nailed to the yellow earth.

Zhao Ji was hit by arrows from time to time, but none of them could penetrate his armor. Even if there were arrows stuck in his body, they would only be embedded in the gaps in the outer layer of armor.

He was like a ruthless archery machine. He didn't even need to look at the swaying figure. He just saw the trajectory of the arrow and shot an arrow along the source of the trajectory.

More than a dozen Yulin knights could only participate in the battle. Zhao Rui and Pei Mao only came to ask questions and watch the battle. At this moment, they could only dodge backwards and hide directly on the other side of the newly dug trench.

The trench was less than three feet wide and about four feet deep. It took only two hours to dig, and they barely dug out a length of fifty or sixty steps on each side of the road.

The Huns came quickly, but when they saw that they could not gain any advantage, they withdrew quickly.

Almost as soon as Zhao Rui and Pei Mao ran to the trench, the Huns disappeared into the ditch like a tide.

The sound of horse hooves quickly faded away, and the noisy battlefield soon became quiet.

"The wounded soldiers get on board and return to the camp first!"

Zhao Ji supported himself on the guard plate of the carriage with one hand, and jumped off the carriage with a nimble body. He walked to the Black Flag Team and shouted loudly. At this time, Han Shu rushed up and saw that the two strong war horses pulling Zhao Ji's carriage had been shot by arrows and were lying on the ground motionless.

These were good horses wearing leather armor and cowhide hoods, but they could not withstand the Huns' siege and shooting.

Zhao Ji was riddled with seven or eight arrows. Han Shu didn't dare touch him and immediately shouted to his attendants, "The Minister has issued an order. The wounded soldiers must return to the camp first!"

This was already the second batch of wounded soldiers, and only then were there various wailing sounds among the Tiger Infantry.

As long as they were not killed on the spot, the wounded were quickly dragged onto more than 20 Tiger Guard chariots, with their heads in the chariots, and after loading five or six people, they set off along the highway back to the Northern Army Camp.

The injured knights also began to retreat on their own initiative, and the remaining knights walked forward to finish off the injured Huns in front of the formation.

If the Huns were just unconscious, or their injuries were minor and did not affect their work, they would be captured. Some knights also left the battle to collect the scattered horses in the surrounding area.

At this moment, Zhao Ji did not dare to pull out the arrow from his body. Although he did not feel any pain, his underwear was already soaked with sweat.

After the intense battle, he felt dizzy and his judgment was impaired. He couldn't tell whether the surface of his body was blood or sweat.

He changed to a drum car and roamed around with the Black Flag Thousand Man Team, supervising the cleaning of various battlefields.

The Xiongnu pursuers retreated too quickly, and in the brief battle, they only killed, wounded, or captured about 400 of the enemy's cavalry, nearly half of which were due to traps.

Zhao Jian and his companions pushed the last wounded soldier in their team onto a horse. The wounded soldier had never ridden a horse before and was trembling all over, but he could only barely hold on to the saddle.

The reins were held by another wounded cavalryman, who was leading three horses, all loaded with wounded soldiers.

Seeing that everyone was seated, he drove his horse slowly and dragged the three horses towards the Northern Army Camp outside Jiangyi City.

Various supplies have been prepared there, and you can get treatment immediately after you go there.

Qubei found Zhao Ji and first looked at Zhao Ji's right thumb. He saw that his thumb and index finger were worn and bleeding.

Before talking to him, he lowered his head and looked at his right hand. He was using the same shooting method and the same arrow-holding gesture.

I only shot twenty arrows in total, and now my hands are just shaking a little, but not to the point of breaking the skin.

Soon the candidate arrived with fully armed volunteers, who were more professional in cleaning up the battlefield.

Some brave volunteers even went to the center of the battlefield to dig up the Huns who had been killed in the morning. All the armor and personal belongings were stripped off the headless corpses.

Zhao Ji observed and looked out, and felt that these people from Fenbei wanted to peel off the skin of the Huns.

Qubei came to the drum cart where Zhao Ji was with a water bag, and Zhao Ji reached out and pulled him up.

Qu Bei observed the surroundings, took a few sips from the water bag, and handed it to Zhao Ji: "Did the Minister really cut off Liu Cheng's head?"

"King Qiangqu?"

"It was him. When he followed the former Chanyu, he called himself Liu Cheng. His title as King of Qiangqu was also appointed by the imperial court."

When Zhao Ji went to ask Bei, he pointed at the chariot in front of him, and then took the water bag handed to him by Bei without any objection.

If I were any thirstier now, I would almost hug the Huns' corpses and drink their blood.

Qubei got off the car immediately and walked quickly to the chariot abandoned by Zhao Ji. He saw a dense stream of arrows outside the carriage and was stunned.

He then climbed into the carriage and saw more than a dozen heads piled up inside, many of which were decorated with gold and precious stones.

Just looking at the back of the head, he reached out and grabbed the head of King Qiangqu and lifted it up. He held it in both hands and examined it carefully, grinning: "You traitor, you have come to this day!"

As he spoke, he spat a mouthful of phlegm mixed with black and brown dirt into the other person's face.

He unlocked the door of the carriage, jumped out, found a lance from the ground, picked up the head of King Qiangqu and went to find Zhao Ji.

At this time, Zhao Rui and Pei Mao also came to Zhao Ji's side, looking at the arrow stuck in Zhao Ji's body, and they were very worried.

It was not easy to ask about Zhao Ji's injuries, but Zhao Ji's chariot was in that state, so Zhao Ji's injuries must be serious.

Zhao Rui sighed, "The Xiongnu were so weak that I never imagined they would reach this point."

Zhao Ji handed the empty water bag to Zhao Rui and said, "It's not just the Xiongnu. Our Han army has also grown weaker. If Sanming from Liang Province were here, he would have led the entire army in pursuit."

Zhao Ji coughed twice, spitting out a mouthful of black phlegm that looked like blood clots. He felt extremely relieved. "I dare not pursue. Our army is still weak. We can only fight with the wind. If we have a slight headwind, we will be swiftly counterattacked and collapsed."

Pei Mao took a look at the black spit that fell to the ground. It absorbed the sand on the ground and looked like a mud ball.

Pei Mao immediately consoled him, saying, "Don't underestimate yourselves. Our army's equipment and fodder are far superior to the Xiongnu's. Furthermore, the emperor is personally leading the expedition, and our morale is high. How can the Xiongnu even compare?"

"That's right, our army is led by the emperor himself."

Zhao Ji saw Bei coming with his head held high, so he asked, "Wise King, will the new Chanyu lead the troops south?"

Qu Bei frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "His country is unstable, so he dare not leave the royal court lightly."

If someone dares to leave the royal court, the powerful Tuge Xiongnu will not mind supporting a distant relative of the royal family as the new Chanyu.

Zhao Ji nodded, a look of regret on his face, and said to Pei Mao, "The fighting is fierce today, so I'm going to withdraw early. I'll ask the Chief Censor to come to the North Camp later to review the heads of the troops. I think we'll have a peaceful night."

Seeing Zhao Ji chasing his men away, Pei Mao bowed and said, "We two will report back to the Emperor and tell him about the battle situation here. The Emperor misses you very much. After the Minister of War has made arrangements for the military, you can come to the camp to pay your respects to the Emperor."

"Okay, I can come later in the afternoon."

Zhao Ji bowed in return and watched Pei Mao and Zhao Rui leave.

Seeing the Yulin Knights escorting them away, Qubei spoke up, "In the battle just now, these two men nearly escaped, but were stopped by Li Kan and stopped at the trench."

"That's normal. I would be terrified if they drew their bows to help in the battle."

Zhao Ji wanted to take off his helmet, but the south wind was blowing, so he had to stop and take off his armor and bathe after returning to the camp.

In fact, today's gains were only a little more than half of yesterday's. Many Huns were injured and escaped, and there was no time to cut off some heads.

Overall, I didn't lose anything today, so I can take a few days off.

(End of this chapter)