Chapter 14 Pursuit
As he passed the earthen fortress that had been built up by the thieves' caves a while ago, Sun Jie felt his heart twitching: even though it was clear that he would not be able to see the Jingguan outside the city gate from here, he still subconsciously hurried in that direction. Take a look.
Murderous intent rose in his chest.
However, Sun Jie knew that every member of the cavalry behind him thought so. As long as he starts to vent his anger and chop, the thieves' defeated troops in front of him will be strewn with corpses in an instant - but the thieves will also have the opportunity to lead his troops to leave the battlefield and return to the camp to defend, and the tactical goal of destroying the enemy's camp will be achieved in one fell swoop. will be threatened.
The defeated troops must be gathered into a group, the thieves must be restrained and the generals can coordinate on the spot and annihilate them all at once!
Sun Jie suppressed his urge to kill indiscriminately, and commanded the cavalry team to spread out in a double-layer fan shape. Once again, he gradually gathered together the broken soldiers who were scattered all over the mountains and fields, and drove them towards the enemy's camp.
A few miles away, a line of smoke gradually faded away.
Judging from the dust, there were at most forty or fifty cavalry - obviously, the enemy's commander had abandoned the army with his personal bodyguards.
Abandon the army. Ah! Rats!
But it's strange: the dust from the horse's hoofs is in the form of clumps rather than lines - obviously, the horse is not very fast.
"What's going on? Are you trying to trick me into splitting up my troops? That's impossible - that way we should hedge with armor and cavalry first - hedge first, and the two sides are entangled. I will be worried that the bandit's personal camp will rush up later and trap armor with spearmen. The cavalry, sword and shield soldiers gather to cover the routed soldiers, gather the crowd to resist, and then press the infantry... Then you have to divide your troops, confront the thieves' horse soldiers all the way, and rush over to attack the oncoming infantry phalanx with the other... Could it be horse power? Not good? You don’t need cavalry in a siege, so why are the thieves so weak in terms of horse power?”
"Hey! Who cares - you can't run away! The sky has eyes, and blood debts must be paid with blood!"
As soon as he thought of this, the anger in his heart burned even more intensely, and his flaring blood seemed to burst at any moment. At this moment, once the close victory was confirmed, the forcibly suppressed murderous aura spurted out like boiling magma breaking through the crater of a volcano, straight into the sky!
Waving his sword, he signaled the brigade to continue to drive away the defeated troops, and he led the inner guards out of the formation. Ten Tiger Guards guarded the positions behind Sun Jie on both sides, biting tightly at the smoke and dust in front of him.
While galloping, the Tiger Guards hung their swords, swords, lances and other long weapons back on their saddle rings and drew out their sharp sabers.
Long soldiers are the best choice when charging into battle, and they are also very effective in driving away enemies - you only need to poke out a blade to let the running enemy see it, and he will run to the other side - but the real The chasing effect is not very good: the armored knight sprints at a relatively high speed, the exhausted target is almost stationary, the long soldier stabs the human body, and the sudden resistance may even break the knight's wrist bone! Therefore, the standard charging posture of a standard armored cavalry soldier is to clamp the gun instead of holding the gun (of course, there is also the factor of balancing the weight).
Many experienced cavalry soldiers would thin the barrel behind the head of their lance or nail gun so that if it stabbed a human body, the barrel would break immediately to protect themselves.
The saber is different. Even if it does not hit completely, as long as it is slightly carried, the huge momentum of the man and horse will pull out a shocking wound on the opponent's body. Even if it does not hurt the vital part, most targets will be difficult to get. He died of blood loss due to timely battlefield rescue.
Guan Yehuo, the captain of Guan Shengyun's guard, was extremely worried.
Although it was only half speed, some foam was already flowing out of the war horse's mouth and nose. I looked back and observed the pursuers for a while: If I look like this, I will be overtaken within five miles - if I run any further, my horse will lose its strength, and the opponent's horse just ran out of temper! The pursuers only have about ten cavalry. Although our own troops are large in number, the pursuers have good horsepower. As long as they are held back, sooner or later the enemy's infantry will press forward...
While I was thinking, there was a scream, and a war horse in front of me kicked a small ridge. The tired galloping horse could no longer overcome the sudden impact during the gallop, and stumbled and fell to its knees - just like how a tired person easily falls. , the war horse saw the ridge, and its brain judged that it could jump over it, but its stiff muscles were unable to complete the brain's instructions.
There was a click.
Under the influence of the huge kinetic energy, the broken bones of the war horse's front legs broke out. The rider waved his limbs helplessly like a rag doll thrown into the air by a naughty child, and fell far away.
The rider who followed was inevitably tripped, with one foot stuck in the stirrup, and his upper body and thighs were suddenly twisted 180 degrees. There was silence for a moment, and then a miserable howl suddenly sounded...
The third and fourth riders avoided all dangers, but their mounts were also hit diagonally and their speed suddenly slowed down.
Guan Yehuo made up his mind instantly: Let the fish die and the net be broken! While running, he shouted an order: a dozen of the most powerful guards continued to guard Marshal Guan, while the remaining thirty or so horsemen reined in their horses and turned back to hedge!
This is a suicide order. Even if the war horse is full of energy, it is impossible to move quickly over such a short distance - in a cavalry hedging, speed is life!
Judging from the clothes, the person running in front was a crossbowman: he was wearing a very old leather armor and cloth pants. One of his shoes had gone missing. The crossbow and arrow box were long gone, and the long dagger on his waist was also missing. Missing, the empty scabbard was not untied, and it swung and slapped on the butt as it ran... Although most of the crossbowmen are elite veterans, if they don't block the road, the culprit will be a mile ahead. Besides, Sun Jie didn't even bother to chase down such an enemy. But this guy was so frightened that he ran wildly in front of his horse with his hands spread out...
The war horses galloped to a parallel position and shouted: "Behead!"
He leaned forward slightly, waved the sword in his hand, and a head flew into the air. The carotid artery spurted out a column of blood half the height of a man. At the same time, the body without the head still ran forward two or three steps, and then fell down. He fell down, rolled a few times, and twitched his limbs a few times, announcing that another life had ended on this day.
The dust in front changed: a small group separated from the large rolling group and continued to run forward, while the large group suddenly stopped and spread in place. A ferocious smile appeared on the corner of Sun Jie's mouth: "Did you think of hedging just now? It's too late!"
Raise the sword high again, stay for a moment, rotate it twice above your head, and point the blade forward!
The tiger guards charging in the shape of wild geese behind them gave up their respective targets, quickly gathered into a double row, and galloped forward!
Compared with swords, which are more powerful in cutting and more protective when wielded, swords look graceful and luxurious, but they are more suitable for thrusting. Although the killing effect is said to be "stabbing to death and slashing to death", if one is stabbed in battle and loses the ability to resist, most of the people will be dead. Actual combat is no better than a performance that dazzles the audience. Defeating the enemy with one move is the most important - you need to deal with the opponent as soon as possible, because there are more enemies ahead! Therefore, the sword is similar to a ceremonial weapon. It is something that the military supervisors and civil servants who do not need to fight on their own like to hang on their waists to show off. Most generals in this era like to use swords in foot battles. But in a cavalry battle, everyone has their own long soldiers, so naturally they will not interfere with the weapons used by their armored cavalry.
Sun Jie is different. He prefers the saber to long-range soldiers such as horse swords and iron spears.
A long time ago there was no need to fight in person. However, since he joined the army as a teenager, Sun Jie has had many brushes with death, which made Sun Jie have a soft spot for the saber.
The result of armored cavalry hedging depends to a large extent on luck: although knights with rich combat experience will definitely take advantage in one-on-one battles, after counting several battles, the overall result is less than 20% - -In obvious contrast to this - the loss rate is also very high! After years of careful observation and personal experience, Sun Jie discovered that the problem lay precisely with the weapons!
The so-called hedging means that the two hostile parties are driving toward each other, and the horses are constantly accelerating. The ideal situation is that the horse speed reaches its highest speed at the moment when the two sides cross each other, avoiding the opponent's weapon, and at the same time using the weapon to stab the opponent... If not When hit, both parties will run a certain distance and then rein in their horses, and repeat again... until one party falls to the ground or flees. Of course, how far you have to run before reining in the horse and charging back will test the rider's experience: if the distance is too close and the horse's speed cannot be increased, he will suffer a big loss. If he runs too far, the enemy has turned around and accelerated, but his horse's speed still cannot be increased. stand up!
On the surface, using long soldiers will give you a preemptive advantage when hedging, but in actual combat, everyone will instinctively choose self-preservation as the first choice, and whether they can hit the enemy is the second choice. Both sides focused on avoiding each other's attacks, so they often clashed several times but still failed to hit the other. Veterans who have been in battle for a long time have some advantages in terms of timing and confidence - and if one party is two riders linked head to tail, the rider behind does not need to worry about the other party's long soldiers that have been sent out and cannot be recovered in time. Even a novice will often achieve results at this time!
It's different with a saber. In high-speed movement, horizontal slashing will definitely have a greater hit rate than vertical thrusting - as long as you are close enough! It is not easy to retract the long sword thrust, but as long as you practice diligently, you can continue to swing the three-foot-long saber, even if the opponent is a two-horse column: block, chop, and block again, these three actions can be completed in one go. Moreover, swinging the sword in different postures can convey various complex commands very conveniently. What's especially important is that this weapon can cultivate a brave spirit - you must have the courage to get up close to the enemy for it to be effective!
The lack of beheading skills in one or two battles can certainly be attributed to bad luck - after several battles in a row, there is still no bloody head of an enemy tied under the horse's neck when returning to camp. This only proves that you are cowardly and go away. Become a garrison soldier!
Thinking of this, Sun Jie consciously asked a dozen horse guards with mediocre records but no lack of courage to replace their main battle soldiers with swords as secondary weapons. After several simulated hedging, everyone was surprised to find that although The other side was a cavalryman with decapitation skills, and the hit rate of the sword team was actually twice as high as that of the opponent!
From then on, although everyone had their own long soldiers to charge into the formation, and Sun Jie did not clearly stipulate it, there was an unwritten rule if he wanted to gain a foothold in Sun Zishuai's cavalry: he must possess the decapitation skill of his saber. !
As for Sun Jie's inner guard cavalry - Sun Jie is born in the year of tiger, and everyone is accustomed to call it tiger guard - it must cross a threshold: the third level of skill.
