Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 224 Xu Huang: Bei Gong Boyu, you need to wear a helmet when negotiating!

The morning mist, like flowing silk, clung to the tips of the grass, and the withered autumn grass appeared bluish-white in the hazy mist.

Sun Jian's fingers gripped the ring-pommel sword at his waist. His clothes beneath his black armor were soaked with dew, and the watchtower several feet away was faintly visible in the mist.

Four hundred steps is not a long distance; according to later understanding, it is about five hundred and fifty meters.

Bei Gong Boyu's initial idea was good: with the two sides facing each other at a distance of less than a mile and a half, he would at least not give Huangfu Song the opportunity to send troops to secretly detour through Longxi County or Beidi County to aid Zhu Jun and Liu Bei.

Moreover, this distance is also suitable for raids. Once Huangfu Song's army leaves the camp, their cavalry will immediately raid these troops.

It's understandable that Bei Gong Boyu thought this way, since there were more than 30,000 cavalrymen among the more than 100,000 rebels, and Huangfu Song only had 8,000 cavalrymen under his command, excluding Sun Jian's 2,000 garrison cavalrymen and Cao Ren's 2,000 imperial guardsmen.

Ha, can the horsemanship of the Central Plains people be compared with that of these Qiang and Liangzhou people who grew up on horseback?
Their numbers and combat strength far exceeded those of the Han army, which was naturally due to Beigong Boyu's grasp of the advantage that this distance held for cavalry.

Well, information asymmetry is a huge problem.

Stirrups are not a high-tech product. In fact, stirrups already existed during the Han Dynasty, but they were single-sided mounts designed to make it easier for riders to mount their horses.

Sometimes inspiration is just a hair's breadth away; for hundreds of years, no one has thought of adding a stirrup to make it as convenient as having two stirrups.

As for the high-bridged saddle and horseshoes, they had long been popular in various counties of the Central Plains. Liu Bian did not strictly prohibit their circulation. It is estimated that if Liangzhou had rebelled later, it would have been able to obtain these three items.

Of course, the Han army never worried that these three items would fall into the hands of the nomadic tribes of the grasslands.

The purpose of double stirrups and high-bridged saddles was simply to reduce or even equalize the gap between the horsemanship of Han Chinese cavalry and that of the nomadic tribes who grew up on horseback, through the use of equipment.

Without the advantage of superior horsemanship, the Han army's cavalry were no longer afraid of these barbarians in terms of combat power.

As for horseshoes, since the Han army was able to win, the warhorses that were spared from broken legs and loss due to horseshoes ultimately fell into the hands of the Han army.
My neighbor stores food and I store guns. My neighbor is my granary.

The warhorses were only temporarily stored in these barbarian tribes; in the end, they were nothing more than stablemen for the people of Tianhan!

As the warhorses galloped across the slightly withered grassland, cutting through the waves of grass, the wind they stirred up parted the wisps of mist, and the horses thundered as they charged toward the outskirts of several Qiang military camps.

The vanguard of cavalry was mixed with hundreds of heavily armored infantrymen on horseback. These men were the "vanguard" of the Han army, the assault force. Each of them wore double armor and carried a long-handled axe and a leather shield, or a hooked rake and a leather shield. Each of them also carried two short axes at their waist.

The process by which the Han army's assault troops broke through the wooden palisade involved using hooks and rakes to secure the palisade, and then using long-handled axes to chop down its base.

Typically, when conditions permit, a clay pot filled with pine resin is used to ignite the wooden fence.

Alternatively, wait until the flames completely burn through the wooden fence, or pour water on it when it is partially charred to make it brittle, and then chop it with an axe.

However, it was the dry season on the grasslands, with cool breezes. The place where the two armies were facing off was not the Gobi Desert but a grassland. If they were to set fire to the fence, they would be in trouble themselves. Therefore, no one dared to set fire to the fence.

However, the wooden palisades of the Qiang and Hu rebels were so simple that they were even somewhat crude, and the wood they selected could even be described as thick tree branches.

Walking around the wooden fence, one can see that in many places the fence is less than two inches in diameter and thick, and many fences are not even buried deep in the ground. They were either easily split open by axes or hooked up and thrown aside. Once the wooden fence is broken, what remains is the battlefield of cavalry fighting.

As for the other wooden palisades behind, these advance scouts would break them open section by section, giving the main army a chance to enter in single file.

The deafening shouts of battle awakened many tribal leaders in their tents, as well as Zhang Yi, who was not drunk to begin with, and Xu Huang, who had not touched a drop of alcohol, and a hundred Han soldiers.

Xu Huang and his men lived around Zhang Yi's tent, with twenty-five men on each side. So they immediately put on their armor and gathered around the central tent, protecting Zhang Yi in the formation.

"Could it be infighting among the rebels?" Zhang Yi listened to the shouts of battle outside, but had no idea what was going on, and was somewhat flustered.

Xu Huang remained silent. Outside, there were Liangzhou accents and Qiang language, which indeed seemed to indicate infighting among the rebels.

The problem was that he seemed to hear a Hedong accent, and not just a few people with Hedong accents shouting. He had a guess in his mind, and his face became increasingly grim, but he did not tell the Grand Herald about this guess.

Before Zhang Yi could think further, the furious Bei Gong Boyu led hundreds of Qiang soldiers, armed with weapons, straight towards Zhang Yi and surrounded the hundred Han soldiers.

Bei Gong Boyu's face flushed red, trembling with anger as he roared, "Zhang Yi, you Han people are untrustworthy!"

Zhang Yi waved his hand, signaling Beigong Boyu to calm down, and said with a faint smile, "I am the Grand Herald of the current dynasty. Have you ever heard of using a high-ranking official as bait to launch a sneak attack on the enemy?"

"Isn't it possible that your troops are fighting amongst themselves? I heard people from Liangzhou shouting outside. I'm afraid that scoundrel Bian Zhang has taken the opportunity to rebel."

Bei Gong Boyu was taken aback, a look of confusion flashing across his eyes. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he crossed his arms and bowed to Zhang Yi, laughing, "Brother, please don't be offended. I misunderstood you. It must be that treacherous scoundrel Bian Zhang who has rebelled."

Bei Gong Boyu's thinking was simple: since he wanted to kill Bian Zhang, it was normal for Bian Zhang to want to kill him, even if his plan should not have been exposed. But who knows if someone happened to be outside the tent at the time and overheard his private conversation with Zhang Yi?

Of course, it was Zhang Yi's words that ultimately dispelled Bei Gong Boyu's doubts.

As Zhang Yi said, how could anyone use a high-ranking official, a minister of the court, as bait to deceive him?

The price is too high!
What makes him worth that price?
Zhang Yi seemed deeply moved by Bei Gong Boyu's trust. He stepped forward, grasped Bei Gong Boyu's hand tightly, and said in a trembling, tearful voice, "My parents gave me life, but my brother Bei Gong truly understands me!"

However, just as the two were moved by each other, Li Wenhou suddenly arrived with dozens of Qiang soldiers and shouted to Beigong Boyu, "My lord, don't be fooled by this fellow! The Han army has launched a full-scale attack on us!"

At this moment, both Bei Gong Boyu and Zhang Yi were somewhat bewildered, but only for a moment. They immediately let go of each other's hands and subconsciously wanted to step back, but one of them suddenly stepped forward.

Xu Huang tossed his halberd to his comrade at some point and appeared beside Beigong Boyu, holding a palm-sized stone in his hand.

Bang!
Bang!
The stone slammed heavily into the back of Beigong Boyu's head twice, leaving him dazed and bleeding profusely from his head.

"Come here, sir!"

With a shout, Xu Huang swiftly lifted Beigong Boyu horizontally with his long arm and calmly retreated back into the formation of a hundred Han soldiers.
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PS: The above method of breaking through the wooden fence is based on the "Military Orders" from the Han Dynasty bamboo slips from Hantanpo, Wuwei, the Pingqiang Campaign recorded in the second year of Yongchu of Emperor An of Han, Liangzhou bamboo slips, and the "Biography of Duan Jiong" in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)