Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 119 Taking the Head of an Army
The charging cavalry is actually different from the commonly known assault cavalry.

The term "Tuqi" refers to light cavalry, a lightly armed and rapidly mobile force; "Tu" means rapid raid.

Unless they intend to fight to the death or to seize the initiative on the battlefield, cavalrymen generally do not charge into enemy formations larger than themselves. Instead, they usually flank and outflank the enemy, quickly attacking their weak points and relying on their high mobility to create a situation where they outnumber the enemy in a localized battle.

Whether they were Hu people or Han soldiers, the cavalry mostly used bows and arrows, short spears, ring-pommel swords, and javelins, and generally did not use long lances.

Cavalrymen without double stirrups and high saddles have no reliable support for their waist and feet, making it difficult for them to withstand the reaction force of a frontal charge. Charging with a lance can easily knock them off their horses. Therefore, cavalrymen of this era mainly used flanking maneuvers.

Liu Bei's previous tactics were typical of cavalry charges. The hallmarks of cavalry charges were harassment by galloping arrows, circling and cutting, and outflanking maneuvers. In most cases, they would move in an arc and cut through enemy lines.

Guan Yu, however, was employing a charging cavalry tactic. When the enemy's formation was unstable, he used his lances to break through their lines from the flanks, then pierced through the enemy ranks, cutting them off or throwing them into disarray. In other words, he moved in a straight line, slicing them in half.

This is the difference between a fruit knife and a cleaver.

The charging cavalry, often referred to as the iron cavalry, could perform the duties of both assault cavalry and armored soldiers. If their horses were damaged after charging into the enemy lines, the charging cavalry would immediately transform into armored soldiers—in fact, armored soldiers were the ones used for charging into enemy lines.

Of course, even heavily armored cavalry would not charge head-on into a large enemy formation unless they had a specific motive.

Excellent cavalrymen are valuable, and so are their warhorses. It's not worth dying under spears and crossbow bolts. Cavalry has never been a type of soldier that charges head-on. Mobility and the ability to seize opportunities are the advantages of cavalry.

They needed to wait for a breach in the enemy's formation before charging from the flank, relying on the cavalry's high mobility to seize the fleeting opportunity in a short time—if it were heavy infantry, the opportunity might be gone by the time they charged in.

Now, Guan Yu saw a good opportunity.

That is, the moment when the enemy splits up and becomes disorganized.

Previously, Liu Wei's formation included both archers and spearmen, and the array was relatively compact. He was also constantly watching the changes on the outside, so Guan Yu naturally wouldn't charge.

Now the enemy has split its forces and is unable to form a battle formation.

Moreover, the group protecting Yue Hedang had already caught Guan Yu's eye.

Guan Yu's eyes were not just intimidating.

……

Their iron hooves thundered as they charged in; though there were fewer than a hundred riders, they moved like ten thousand horses galloping.

During the division of his troops, Yue Hedang spotted Guan Yu's cavalry and quickly ordered his men to intercept them.

But they were just a mob, not well-trained elite troops. How could they possibly respond effectively so quickly? They were dividing their forces and trying to intercept the enemy, which was asking too much of a bandit.

Only a few armored bandits on the periphery reacted on the spot, attempting to stop Guan Yu from breaking through with their spears.

Most of the rioters' first reaction was to turn around and run away, and even the supervising teams couldn't stop them.

The lances wielded by the armored cavalry were far longer than the spears in the hands of the enemy, and the sparse outer defenses were easily penetrated by the lances, posing almost no obstacle to Guan Yu.

Guan Yu charged into the enemy ranks first, discarding the lances piercing the corpses, and continued his advance with his long sword.

An uncontrollable panic broke out in the enemy ranks.

Very few people can remain calm in a melee between infantry and cavalry, so Guan Yu did not suffer much retaliation.

The first rank of armored cavalry charged into the enemy formation, protecting Guan Yu's flanks as he continued forward.

In close-quarters combat between infantry and cavalry, cavalry cannot stop; they must keep moving forward, breaking through all obstacles in their path. If they pause even slightly, they will be surrounded and attacked.

The armored cavalry in the rear still held their lances. If they saw someone attacking their comrades in front from the side or front, they would charge with their lances, then abandon their lances and follow with their swords—the lances were not used to charge straight ahead, but to deal with those to the side or front.

Enemies directly in front will be left to the comrades beside you.

If the enemy is not killed by passing by their side, the armored cavalry in the back row will take over.

The armored cavalry will not stop, much less engage in circling combat. Their warhorses have limited stamina, and they will only slow down after breaking through enemy lines. If there are enemies they cannot avoid, they will simply charge through them.

The breastplates on the neck and chest of warhorses were designed for ramming people.

Before long, a blood-soaked trench appeared in the enemy ranks.

This kind of violent charge that cuts through the enemy lines is most likely to demoralize the enemy, especially when facing untrained bandits.

Whether it was Guan Yu or the other armored cavalry, none of them had a single enemy in front of them, and no one could stop them even half a step, so everyone was terrified.

Panic began to spread widely.

On the other side of the enemy lines, Liu Bei saw the enemy in disarray and knew that Guan Yu had confirmed the location of the enemy leader, so he led his troops to charge into the enemy lines.

Liu Bei also charged towards the bandits led by Le Hedang, who had just separated from the main force, but instead of entering the battle, he patrolled along the enemy's perimeter, killing those who fled to the north and east.

To the west lies the Juma River. Liu Bei intends to force the enemy to either flee into the river or disrupt their main force by heading south.

The goal is to keep the fearful and fleeing enemy disrupting the enemy's formation.

The chaos intensified again with Liu Bei's arrival, and the enemy began to flee in large numbers, retreating in droves.

Although they were a motley crew, the enemy was not entirely without command. Their retreat direction had to be controlled in order to achieve the greatest results.

Liu Bei deliberately pursued the mounted soldiers in the enemy ranks, chasing after the enemy to find their leader, causing the enemy to break through their formation and scatter the elite troops around their leader.

Guan Yu cut through the enemy formation, Liu Bei swept away the fleeing soldiers, and the two cavalry units crisscrossed the battlefield, leaving the enemy in complete chaos.

……

Liu Weitai's decision to divide his forces was actually the right one, but dividing forces at the last minute is a major taboo.

In particular, these untrained bandits cannot complete a large-scale diversion in a short period of time.

Before becoming Gongsun Zan's sworn brother, he was just a fortune teller and a charlatan. His skill in deceiving people far surpassed his ability to command on the battlefield. He was good at inciting mobs, but actual combat tactics were not his forte.

But he could no longer make up for this mistake.

The panic and chaos on Lehedang's side had affected all the bandits, who were all fleeing in all directions in a frenzy.

The fleeing rioters disrupted Liu Weitai's formation, forcing him to gather his elite troops and cut down the fleeing soldiers to prevent them from being completely scattered and making it difficult to command the other rioters.

The situation was even worse for Le Hedang; he had hardly anyone left with him.

At this moment, Guan Yu had already rushed to Yue Hedang's side.

When Yue He tried to rally the chaotic troops, he saw Guan Yu leading his armored cavalry in a storm-like charge and was so frightened that he could not move.

Guan Yu didn't know the fat man's name, nor was he interested in knowing.

Anyway, this must be one of the leaders of the thieves. He remembered clearly that one of them was fat and the other was thin.

The knife rises and falls.

Heads flew up.

Guan Yu dismounted, grabbed Yue Hedang's head, ran a step, grabbed the saddle, remounted, raised the head high, and shouted: "The traitor has been beheaded! Disarm and you will not be killed!"

The armored cavalry behind them shouted, "Disarm and you will not be killed!"

(End of this chapter)