Chapter 95 Pursuit
Guan Shengyun, who was chasing behind, actually didn't move very fast.
It was already afternoon when Poxiao Battalion drove out from Xin'an City. In order to respond to Zhang Ding's feint attack troops as soon as possible, the entire battalion wore armor and strode all the way to Hangu Pass. Although they were not directly involved in the battle, each person was wearing iron armor, holding a weapon in his hand, a buckler on his back, a day's worth of food in his arms, and a water hyacinth hanging on his waist. The average weight per person was fifty or sixty kilograms. The formation received an order to pursue again. The forced march down the road was very exhausting for everyone.
However, their condition is better than that of Gangfeng Camp. The main force to relieve Zhang Ding in front of the pass was the Gangfeng Battalion of which Jia Wanzi served as temporary battalion officer. Because he was afraid of being slapped by Gu Baihua if he fell behind Poxiao camp, Jia Wanzi led his team to run very fast. It was also an armored charge, and running forward consumed much more energy than walking. Moreover, a small battle was fought, many people were killed, and many soldiers in the camp had bulging trophies in their arms. Now I am following the Poxiao camp for about two miles to support me, relying solely on my breath and excitement. Normally, I would have staggered around and rested long ago.
The situation of the cavalry was not much better. More than ten miles from Xin'an to Guanqian, they rushed back and forth three times at full speed and annihilated the army's cavalry. Although they could still run, the generals who came from the northern frontier army knew that it was time to let the horses rest. The endurance of a horse is very limited. Of course you can run it for three to four hundred miles a day, or let it run at full speed for an hour or two in a short period of time on the battlefield, but you must let it rest and recover in the following days, otherwise, it will be destroyed. Chances are he will die. In the grassland and desert, a pack of prairie wolves hunting wild horses is such a physically exhausting battle. In terms of instantaneous speed, the coyote can never catch up with the wild horse, but its endurance is much better. Whenever the weather is bad and there are not so many yellow sheep, rabbits, and voles to hunt, the prairie wolves will gather together to form a very large wolf pack that can reach hundreds, thousands or more, and hunt the horses. This is the wolf plague that makes even the Great Khan change his expression! The wolves will communicate with each other through howling, forming a huge arc-shaped circle, driving the wild horses to run wildly. In the first two or three days, the wild horses will leave the wolves far behind, but the wolves will always follow the horses with their excellent sense of smell. They are also herbivores. Cows with four stomachs will ruminate, while horses with only one stomach can only absorb as much nutrients as possible through the intestines. The digestion and absorption rate is less than 20%, so they need to spend a lot of time eating every day. Keep drinking water*. Within a few days, due to lack of food and water and continuous running, the horses began to die one after another. From this day on, the good days of the prairie wolf came.
But Guan Shengyun doesn't care much about this. In a pursuit battle, speed is not the most important thing. What is important is to always put huge pressure on the opponent. Forty miles from Hangu Pass to Luoyang, the narrow official road was not conducive to horse teams galloping and slashing, and the front area for sword and shield soldiers to engage with the enemy was too small. After all, the results of the real fighting were limited - the frightened enemy suffered a mental breakdown. The chaos of trampling each other while trying to escape will be much more effective. Therefore, even though this group of people did not walk very fast, the noise they deliberately made was quite large: regardless of whether the deserters in front could hear it or not, it would not take long for the ordering soldiers to climb up the rock wall several feet high and place a few muskets. (At this time, Guan Shengyun's limited number of firecrackers were used for communication). After a while, two of various fireworks were lit and exploded high in the air. Ordinary soldiers did not understand the meaning of various combinations of fireworks, but they made noise to make them lively, so they walked happily. Of course, Guan Shengyun was indiscriminately placed, and he was too scared to scare the officers and soldiers, which was the second best. Seeing these guys for yourself can really boost morale.
If it were a normal march, the official army should be faster than Guan Shengyun. After all, they had a large number of strong auxiliary soldiers to help carry supplies. However, on the narrow official road, the royal guards, soldiers from Luo Mansion, and young men huddled together out of fear, blocking a long section of the road tightly, which greatly slowed down the marching speed. Therefore, Guan Shengyun's pursuers only walked for more than half an hour before they saw the rear of Luofu's officers and soldiers a few miles ahead.
If you look down from the air, on the forty-mile long winding official road, closest to Luoyang City, there are nearly twenty riders far ahead, only four or five miles away from the city. These are naturally the deputy general Kou Zhizhang and his servants. them. Five or six miles behind, there was a small team of about a hundred people, and the speed was not slow. This was the officials of the Luo Mansion that Sun Houhou was escorting. Behind them, there were some people running sparsely. These were the lucky ones who struggled out of the crowd. Five or six miles behind, there is a large group of overcrowded people, tearing each other, entangled and stuck together. The official road is tightly blocked by the large vehicles swaying on the road. From the east end of the crowd, a few people break free from time to time. The lucky ones desperately used their last strength to rush forward, but most of the people were crowded together, and there was almost no sign of progress in this group of people. There were flashes of swords, guns and armor on both sides of the road. These were the royal guards who had broken free from the crowd, waiting helplessly for the crowd to pass before forming formations on the official road to stop the enemy. About two miles further back were the two hundred guardsmen from Guan Peizhong. They all stopped and blocked the official road and formed a column of six or seven people wide, facing the west, waiting for their uncertain fate. Two or three miles further to the west was the Poxiao Battalion, which was pursuing them one after another. Although the soldiers looked tired, their morale was as high as rainbows. They marched with steady and confident steps in four columns along both sides of the official road towards Guan Peizhong. The defender pressed forward. There are enough passages left in the middle of the official road for the detective horses to pass military information and issue orders back and forth.
It was almost dusk, Guan Shengyun was not in a hurry. Butang, who had already climbed the mountain to look out, reported that there were only about 200 people in the army rearguard. It would not take long for his Poxiao battalion to defeat this group of frightened birds, and they would soon catch up with Luofu's brigade. However, the officers and soldiers themselves blocked the road, and the Poxiao camp could not get through either. While he was thinking, there was a sudden sound of hoofbeats behind him. He stopped his horse and looked back. It was a personal guard of Luo Military Division who was stationed in Xin'an. When the personal guards came forward and conveyed the advice of the military advisor to Guan Shengyun, Guan Shengyun laughed loudly: "The military advisor is really great! You go back and tell the military advisor, and I will act according to the plan. On the way, I told Gu Baihua and asked him to send all the archers. Tune it up.”
Poxiao camp stopped about half a mile away from Guanpei's central defender column. Guan Peizhong, who was standing by the road in the middle of the column, knew that the thieves were recovering their strength and would launch a charge soon. However, despite the misfortune, he should still be able to complete the task of blocking the enemy: although he did not resist the horse, there were some temporarily cut and dragged branches piled up on the road as cover and obstacles. The road was so wide that it would not be very difficult to defend. Disaster. The sky was getting dark, and as long as it lasted for more than half an hour, it would be completely dark. Regardless of the officers or thieves, most of them are night blind like blind men. In the chaos, the chance of being chopped down by the brothers next to you is even greater than being injured by the enemy. In this case, the thieves can only stop and withdraw their troops.
The noise from the east did not weaken at all. It was obvious that the crowd was still crowded together, and Commander Sun could not count on backup. However, as long as they can hold on until dark and the thieves stop, most of the people in Luofu can always stumble back. As for myself, just leave it to fate. As a warrior, you will die on the battlefield sooner or later. Guan Peizhong straightened his chest on his horse and shouted: "Brothers, cheer up! Let the thieves see that our guards in Prince Shou's Mansion are all heroes!" The soldiers in the column cheered up and shouted. A burst of color.
However, before the colorful sound stopped, someone exclaimed. Looking in the direction of his finger, a thick black smoke came out from the direction of Sun Fugui's main force in the east! The palace guards in the rear guard column were in an uproar.
not good!
How could there be a fire in the backyard? Could it be that the thieves have taken advantage of him?
its not right! There is only one way from Hangu Pass to Luofu. If so, could it be that the thieves had wings and flew over their heads?
Guan Peizhong shouted sternly, barely suppressing the noise of the guards: "We can't control that many, we can only guard them for a while."
The thieves obviously also saw the fireworks, but it was strange that they did not rush over in a hurry, but stayed half a mile away, as if waiting for something. Time is passing, and about two moments have passed. After a while, it will be completely dark. What are the thieves doing? Taking advantage of this moment, Guan Peizhong gave the order to move all the archers to the front row. When thieves attack, archers launch long-range suppression shots to disrupt the rhythm of the attack, which is a standard procedure in field battles. However, there were not many archers in the rear guard, only thirty or so. Their physical strength had already been exhausted, and there were not many arrows left in each arrow pot. Seeing this, the management training center sighed: It's better to wait for the thieves to get closer before shooting at them. The precious arrows can't be wasted.
Suddenly, there was a flash of fire in the bandit's team, and then, two fire dragons snaked towards the distance to the west!
"No! The thieves are going to attack at night with fire!" Guan Peizhong heard a "buzzing" sound in his head. Before he could think about it, two fire dragons rushed towards him. Looking at his subordinates through the vaguely discernible light, the morale they had just mustered up was completely gone. They were all speechless and their faces were ashen.
Guan Shengyun's Poxiao Battalion advanced to about ten feet away from the rear guard column and then stopped. At the same time, Guan Peizhong rode forward for a short distance. Looking through the firelight, he saw two rows of spearmen standing on the ground in front of the bandits. , the protruding spear tip is like the sharp teeth in the mouth of a monster that wants to bite people. In the gap between the spearmen and behind them are a group of leather-armored archers! Seeing this, Guan Peizhong subconsciously leaned over, with his upper body lying on the horse's back. He hugged the horse's neck with both hands and shouted: "Beware of arrows! Archers shoot at each other!" Before he could finish his words, he heard a voice coming from the other side. There was a sound of strings, followed by a series of "click" and "click", which were the sounds of arrows. Then, there was an exclamation in the column!
Ordinary feather arrows have limited damage to armor, but their psychological effects cannot be underestimated, especially for defenders who are in a highly stressed state. Many arrows failed to penetrate the iron armor, but those who were hit by the arrows were still staggered back by the impact. Those soldiers without arm armor and armor skirts were far from being so lucky, and the one hit was painful to the heart and lungs. Scream loudly. After hearing Guan Peizhong's order, the archers in the guard fired back regardless of fatigue. However... the effect is almost zero!
As long-range suppressive weapons, bows and arrows have a standard tactic of firing in formation, with coverage shooting having the best effect. There are thousands of cavalry soldiers in the training, and they don't know how to command the archers to fire in a unified manner. The archers in the rearguard team do not have the command commands of professional team officers. The arrows that are fired freely are only sparsely falling, which is better than nothing. There is also a lack of shield soldiers. After four or five rounds of arrow rain from the opposite side, more than half of our own archers, who only wore leather breastplates, had lost their ability to fight back.
It was not that Guan Peizhong had never thought about trying to make a desperate counterattack. However, the branches lying in front of the column became his obstacles at this time. No matter what, it was not a problem to be suppressed and unable to fight, but it was easy to drag them away at the cost of five or six casualties. The column only advanced seven or eight steps under the rain of arrows before it had to stop again. It was almost dark, and there was a torch lighting up the opposite side, so I could see clearly, but I couldn't see anything under my feet! The thieves' archers shoot flatly or even downwards at such a short distance! Although the palace guards were well equipped, it was impossible to equip all the soldiers with iron boots and leg armor. Those in the front row who were hit by arrows in their lower limbs fell to the ground. One person in the front row could stumble and knock down three or four rows. The entire column stumbled and completely lost its formation! In this way, even if he passed, he would just die, so Guan Peizhong had no choice but to stop again.
At this time, the only thing Guan Peizhong could do was to hold on for as long as possible, hoping that the armor could provide as much protection as possible, and hoping that the thieves' arrows would be shot out quickly... However, at this time, there was also a fire on the cliff to the north. There were flickers of fire, and then, arrows struck from top to bottom!
These are the archers of Gangfeng Battalion. Guan Shengyun just waited for them to arrive in light clothes, and then he selected half of them and asked them to work in groups of two or three to raise fire and climb the mountain to harass them! Since the archers of the official army have lost their combat effectiveness, there is no need to consider the threat of counterattack from the opponent. In addition, the fierce bandit spirit imbibed from Gu Baihua, and in order to show their faces in front of the highest commander of the army, Marshal Guan, these guys are laughing and joking. Using hands and feet, they climbed up the mountain wall and advanced to a point two or three feet above the heads of Guan Peizhong's team. They leaned on branches and rocks and leisurely took aim, aiming at the defenseless officers and soldiers below. They screamed and shot!
*Off topic, human eating habits.
Although humans around the world have different eating habits, if you look closely, you will find that they have great similarities: the staple food is all kinds of wheat/rice, and the meat livestock are mainly pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, etc. - in Over hundreds of thousands of years, why have humans scattered around the world made such a common choice?
In fact, our ancestors had to follow several principles when choosing food:
If it is a crop, it must have high yield, mature quickly, be easy to grow, and be resistant to pests. In this way, the survival needs of the tribe can be met. Similarly, if it is a meat animal, it must grow quickly, produce high amounts of meat, and have easy access to feed.
There are some misinformation, such as the meat of carnivores is not delicious. This is fake. Whether it is lion meat or tiger meat, they are both delicious. The real reason we don't eat them is that our ancestors found them to be too expensive to raise. For example, if you want to raise a lion and wait for it to eat meat when it grows up - you may need to feed it several thousand kilograms of meat before it grows enough to provide you with 100 kilograms of meat.
The same goes for horses. Except for nomadic people, few people eat horse meat. This is because although they also eat grass, the digestive system of horses is much worse than that of cattle and sheep. The latter will regurgitate, while the former can only be digested through the intestines. Relatively speaking, the food intake is too large. If it is used as a meat animal, the cost is too high ( Horses are not fattened by night grass (including time cost), so most of them are only used as draft animals and are only eaten occasionally. From Asia to Europe to North and South America, pigs are the most widely raised: they have a diverse diet, grow quickly, produce a lot of meat, and have a high reproductive rate.
