Tiger Guards

Chapter 746 The Xianbei are like tigers
Ji County, Xishan.

The mountains stretch endlessly, and although the roads are accessible, they are far from flat.

Xu Huang's vanguard was a thousand-strong Shuofang Righteous Cavalry unit, mainly composed of Xianbei people.

Seventy or eighty riders were divided into thirteen teams, supporting each other from the front and rear, and slowly advanced along the road, expanding the search area on both flanks as much as possible.

Two days have passed since they crossed the Jundu Fortress. Only the troops from various counties of Youzhou have led their soldiers to join the battle, either to scout the road with the vanguard cavalry or to set up camps for Xu Huang's army in advance.

Whether they were county soldiers or local strongmen, they were all now under the command of the prefects of their respective prefectures, and temporarily formed an unprecedentedly large prefectural army.

However, the higher-level Youzhou army was in turmoil because the governor of Youzhou, Gongsun Zan, was besieged in Yijing, and General Xianyu Fu, the Tiger Fang General, remained in Jinyang to advise on military affairs. This led to discontent among the various counties, making it impossible to elect a temporary leader from within.

If the various prefectures of Youzhou themselves could not elect a suitable military leader, then Zhao Ji had even less reason to appoint such a military leader to represent Youzhou. It was not that Zhao Ji deliberately suppressed public opinion in Youzhou, but rather that since the chaos that had gripped the world, Youzhou as a whole could only be divided into the pro-Gongsun Zan faction and the anti-Gongsun Zan faction, led by Xianyu Fu.

Even if we forcibly appoint Xianyu Fu to act as the military leader of the various armies in Youzhou through an imperial edict, Xianyu Fu will not be able to manage Gongsun Zan's peripheral forces, and it is more likely to intensify the antagonism between them.

Even if Gongsun Zan escapes, he can only lead the Han and Hu chieftains of Zhuojun, Guangyangjun, and Youbeipingjun. He lacks the appeal to the Han and Hu chieftains of Yuyangjun, Daijun, and Shanggujun, and there are still unresolved grudges between them.

Therefore, although the troops in various counties of Youzhou have completed the temporary alliance of Han and Hu chieftains and their troops within each county, no military leader has been elected or appointed at the county level so far.

Either don't set one, or set two.

Lacking a military commander at the state level, although the various counties of Youzhou have begun to assemble their troops, they lack coordination with each other. Currently, only small groups of troops have gone to Xishan to cooperate with the Jin army's scouts to eliminate Yuan's spies.

The search and clearing operation covered an area extending fifty or sixty miles on both sides of the road.

The search doesn't end after just one search. Instead, the scouts advance south after their initial search, and the following troops will send knights to conduct a second search.

The vanguard scouts were mainly Xianbei followers, and out of suspicion of the Youzhou people, they refused their assistance and continued to act alone.

The knights from various counties who came to help could only search the roads with the follow-up troops to ensure the safe passage of the army.

At the southern end of the Xishan area, Wen Chou wore black and green leather armor and rode a blue horse. His overall attire was dark gray. He stood on the hillside, gazing into the distance.

The bushes and grasses in front of the horse were growing vigorously. Looking up from the bottom of the slope, Wen Chou could not be seen at all, let alone the more than one hundred cavalrymen behind him.

Where Wen Chou was looking, two groups of Hebei knights who had been lying in ambush attacked from the left and right, blocking the nearly one hundred righteous knights who were scouting ahead.

Contrary to Wen Chou's expectations, the enemy cavalry, which could be considered an ambush, did not panic. Instead, they hastily split into two, formed separate cavalry formations, and began to charge.

Seeing the enemy charge, Wen Chou subconsciously tightened his grip on the reins, turned to look at Jiao Chu of Zhongshan State who had come to watch the battle with him, and Jiao Chu met his gaze: "Are they all cavalry?"

"Yes, the enemy scouts are all mounted cavalry."

Wen Chou pondered for a moment: "Among the Xianbei, cavalrymen are considered the best, and the scouts in the army have always been selected from those who are swift, agile, and skilled in riding and archery. I never expected that the enemy's scouts would be mainly composed of cavalrymen."

Jiao Chu was speechless. When he was defeated last time, Zhao Ji's cavalry, though fierce, still managed to make some sense.

And now, they've gone so far as to use elite cavalry as scouts.

Assault cavalry are meant for close combat, so they need to wear good armor and can be considered lightly armored knights.

Most importantly, cavalry training costs are low, and combat losses are also low; while assault cavalry training costs are high, and combat losses are also high.

Based on the Jin army's combat experience, the elite cavalry currently in the army are definitely battle-hardened! Cavalry that have charged several rounds with spears and survived, or even made meritorious contributions, are completely different from cavalry that have just come out of the training ground!

In the short time it took for Wen Chou and Jiao Chu to exchange a few words, the Jizhou knights who had come out of the ambush completed their battle formation while running and charging.

They also prioritized surprise attacks by cavalry, and even more so, they employed ultra-lightly armed cavalry.

The two groups of knights together numbered only about three hundred, three times the size of the besieged enemy cavalry.

However, the cavalry in each of these two groups numbered only twenty or thirty riders.

The idea was that these elite cavalrymen would bravely charge forward, breaking through and driving away the enemy cavalry, who were mainly composed of rangers. If they were lucky, they could reap some kills; if they were unlucky, they could only rein in their horses and watch as their own rangers, with their superior numbers and situation, carried out a hunt.

Unfortunately, more than fifty enemy cavalrymen, all armed with spears, charged towards them at full speed...

In the instant the battle began, the two sides charged past each other, and nearly twenty riders fell from their horses.

The Xianbei cavalry, whose numbers were greater, charged forward at full speed without slowing down, maintaining a relatively orderly formation as they met the arrows fired by the enemy's scouts.

Although some riders were hit by arrows and fell from their horses during the charge, this unexpectedly powerful charge knocked down at least one and a half platoons of Hebei cavalry.

Two or three miles apart, Jiao Chu and Wen Chou naturally couldn't hear the shouts of the knights on both sides of the battlefield.

However, it can be seen that the Hebei knights who were intercepted from the south collapsed at the first contact.

Upon seeing this, Wen Chou sighed, "The Wuhuan righteous followers are not very durable in battle."

Although Hebei had its own Han cavalry, it was naturally better to entrust this task of probing the enemy's advance to the hired and conscripted Wuhuan volunteers.

Upon hearing this, Jiao Chu nodded earnestly.

Back then, when he and Yuan Xi were defeated, it was because the Youzhou knights and Wuhuan knights were generally undisciplined and not good at prolonged battles. After suffering heavy losses in an instant, they would collapse even faster.

Overall, among the various nomadic tribes, the Xianbei were on the rise, and the Xianbei loyalist knights were the best among the nomadic loyalists.

The Wuhuan tribe was only slightly better than the Xiongnu and Goguryeo.

It is probably because they, along with the Xianbei, originated from the Donghu that they have benefited somewhat from this and have received a good reputation.

As Jiao Chu nodded, he suddenly realized and exclaimed, "This enemy cavalry is Xianbei barbarian cavalry!"

"Xianbei!"

Wen Chou suddenly realized, but upon closer inspection, the enemy's scattered flags, which were already few in number, were too far away to see clearly.

According to the scouts, the enemy's armor and clothing resembled those of Han cavalry. How could they possibly be Xianbei cavalry with primitive leather armor, felt clothing, and third-rate weapons?
The Xianbei and Wuhuan people spoke almost the same language. Although the Wuhuan cavalry had a large number of men, they were at a great disadvantage once the Xianbei cavalry got close.

It is reasonable that upon hearing the enemy's voice during close combat, recognizing them as Xianbei cavalry, and then being utterly routed upon hearing the word "Xianbei," one would be willing to accept the outcome.

Once Wen Chou understood this, he immediately reined in his horse and shouted, "Retreat!"

Jiao Chu didn't say anything more. Even if they lost a small skirmish, it wasn't a big deal. They had already discovered too much important information. If they stayed here any longer, the captured Wuhuan Yicong would reveal it, which would be bad.

(End of this chapter)