Qin Official

Huamachi is not the only saltwater lake outside the Great Wall. Within a hundred miles around it, there are more than a dozen large and small salt ponds scattered like stars dotted on this barren land. But not every lake is surrounded by lush vegetation. Many salt ponds have dried up because of the shallow water, leaving only cracked land mixed with loess and brine salt. Many places in its depths are completely white...

At noon on this winter day, a battle decided by speed was going on on this salt flat.

The Huns were fleeing with their legs tightly clamped on the horses, while the Qin and Rong Buqi were chasing after them.

Although the Huns were all knights and could run very fast, horses also had their own advantages and disadvantages. The strong ones, led by their powerful men, would have run away long ago, but the Huns who rode inferior horses were unlucky and were still beaten. Qin Qi, who was outflanking, caught up.

Everyone has lost their formation and can only see the enemy in front of them. Within a radius of more than ten miles, small-scale battles are everywhere.

After the battles in the past few days, Yiqu Bailang, Fu Zhi and others also understood that the dangerous road is steep and steep, and they can gallop and shoot. This is what the Xiongnu is good at, and China's cavalry is not the same. Their advantage lies in their equipment. Number of people.

Therefore, when Qin Qi caught up with the Huns, he ignored the arrows they shot occasionally. Except for a few unlucky ones who were directly hit in the vital parts of the face and died on the spot, those bone clusters hit the shoulders and shoulders protected by the thick leather armor. There was only a brief twinge of pain on the chest, like heavy raindrops hitting the body, which at most broke the skin but could not hurt the bones and flesh at all.

The Huns also learned the lesson. They immediately began to change their goals and turned back to shoot their horses!

The Qin people's horses were not armored and would still bleed when faced with the rapid arrow clusters, but only a few of their horses fell to the ground due to injuries to their mounts, forcing them to stop the pursuit. The rest of the people are still trying to get closer. The Huns will slow down their horses when shooting. In this way, even if they are lucky enough to shoot down a Qin cavalry, the remaining nine people are constantly shortening the distance...

When they were three to five steps away from the Huns, the Qin soldiers and cavalrymen drew out the long-handled swords specially designed for the Qin army's cavalry: beryllium, and tried to poke the Huns off their horses.

The Huns also tried to take out their weapons to fight back, but their weapons were only shorter knives and swords, which were one inch longer and one inch stronger. There was a difference of several feet in length between the two sides.

Fu Zhi's weapons were different from those of ordinary people. He used a heavier "shu" with a round hammer-shaped head and no edge.

Although he is not good at riding and shooting, he has a trump card, which is his great strength. He can play the "throwing stone" that is common in the army. He is like a strongman in the Olympics. After spinning a few times, he can throw dozens of steps in one breath! Beyond the pavilion!

At the moment, he is holding an iron weapon weighing dozens of kilograms in his hand, just like playing with a light wooden stick. When he was in Beidi County, he played with this weapon, and when he saw it, Lieutenant Heifu was full of praise and even asked the craftsman to He was improved by adding some thorn-like iron nails to the weapon, and gave it a simple and crude name: "Mace".

At this moment, Fu Zhi turned his mace and hit the ugly Huns on the side. He first knocked away the bow and arrow he had raised in fear, then lifted it up and hit the Huns on the chin, causing him to The whole person fell off his horse, leaving a patch of blood on the white salt flat, as well as a mouth full of rotten teeth...

In just a moment, more than a dozen Huns were knocked off their horses by the good men and rolled on the salt flat, trampled by the Qin cavalry behind them.

After dealing with this group of enemies, Fu Zhi saw that there were more than a hundred people fighting in front.

Taking a closer look, they were the sons of good families led by his good friend Qiang Hua. The ancestors of Qiang Hua are Qiang people, and they have practiced riding and archery since they were young. The one hundred good men he led are also good at bows and crossbows. Their fighting style is different from that of Fu Zhi's one hundred people who are good at close combat on horseback. They are different from the Huns. Fighting in a circle, relying on bows and arrows to determine the winner.

I saw the Qianghua tiger's eyes wide open, shouting a fierce battle, letting the wind howl around him, and his messy hair flying in the air. He just kept running to the edge, then stopped his horse, opened his bow and arrows, and fired at the Xiongnu people, almost His subordinates also followed the same example, but they mostly used hand crossbows.

Fu Zhi and others immediately joined the battlefield, penetrated Hu Qi, and quickly helped Qiang Hua deal with the remaining Huns.

Fu Zhi approached and joked: "Qiang Zihua, aren't you trying to be a forward and rushing to support the food team?"

Qiang Hua turned around and glared at him: "Fu Guokui, aren't you supposed to be guarding the county captain?"

Fu Zhi said: "The county lieutenant is far behind, commanding the main force, and ordered me to pursue Hu Qi together. Where is the commander Yiqu?"

"We have already caught up to the front."

Qiang Hua pointed forward, and Fu Zhi could see the end of the salt flat. On the wasteland, there were two streaks of smoke, one in front and one behind. They were Dayuan soldiers chasing the Huns who had escaped from the encirclement, followed by Gong Ao and others. Two thousand disciples.

They also saw more horses in front of them that had lost their owners and were running around on the salt flats. There were also Huns who had lost their mounts and were rolling on the ground in embarrassment, like fish trapped on this salt flat. .

The Xiyan people, who had been feeling aggrieved for several days in the city as they watched their compatriots being wantonly plundered and killed by the Huns, were angrily retaliating. They killed all the Huns they saw, and only a few were outflanked and outflanked. The disciples who came over were treated as prisoners and tied up...

Half an hour later, when the military chariot of County Lieutenant Heifu arrived here, Yiqu Bailang also sent his waiting cavalry back to report: "The commander of Yiqu and others failed to catch up with the Xiongnu commander, and only forced him to dare not return to the camp. , continue to escape to the west..."

Hei Fu did not blame them: "The Huns have been resting and preparing for a long time, but you have traveled ten miles south and run north for more than ten miles. Although you have changed horses once, you are already weak. It is unusual for you to be unable to catch up."

This encirclement was an improvised strategy, a temporary location selected, so he did not expect a total annihilation. When asked about the results, he killed more than 700 Huns on foot and cavalry, captured hundreds of people, and captured hundreds of horses. It's a pretty good result.

What's more, the Huns did not dare to return to their camp more than ten miles away. Those in the camp plundered a large number of people, cattle and sheep from near Huamachi, and naturally became the spoils of war for the Qin army.

"This battle was the first battle outside the Great Wall. The Huns fled in panic and lost nearly a thousand troops. This is enough to strengthen the power of our Qin army."

The translator asked the captured Huns prisoners again, and learned that there were two commanders of the Huns, one was You Da Dang Hu, and the other was You Gu Duhou, who fled with the main force of the Huns. The one who went south with two thousand horses was Guduhou.

Wu Shiyan said from the side: "Lieutenant, it took nearly an hour to pursue the Huns. I thought that the two thousand Huns would come back to help, but unexpectedly, there was no trace of them. Could it be that they really went to rob our army's food team?"

The oxen, carts and horses used by the Hou army to transport food were mainly provided by their family, so Ushi Yan was inevitably interested.

Hei Fu nodded and issued subsequent combat orders.

"One thousand people went to pick up Yiqu, Gong Ao and other generals and bring the people, cattle and sheep from the Xiongnu camp back to Huamachi City. The remaining four thousand people will go south with me to help Gongsun County Lieutenant!"

Fu Zhi and Qiang Hua both asked for orders to serve as the vanguard and follow the troops to clear the way, and Heifu agreed.

"The grain team may be dozens of miles away in the south. It's been an hour now. I guess at this moment, a fierce battle with the Huns is in full swing?" Fu Zhi whispered before setting off.

"I don't know if Gan Chong and the others can hold on."

Qiang Hua was also very worried. Two thousand cavalry attacked the grain team escorted by two thousand disciples. No matter how you think about it, it is more dangerous than bad.

After Heifu's words and deeds, they also realized the importance of baggage to the army in the later period. If the food team was intercepted and all the food was burned, then the Qin army would suffer greater losses in this battle...

They could only comfort themselves like this: "Gongsun County Lieutenant is also a veteran general who has been on the battlefield for a long time. He has often fought against the Zhao cavalry and the Hu Rong outside the Great Wall. Generally speaking, waiting for the cavalry sentinels to be released for twenty miles, but he had to be released Thirty miles away, the Huns are still far away in the horizon. He knows their tracks and should be well prepared to defend against the enemy!"

"Who told you that the grain team only has two thousand soldiers escorting it?"

At this time, a voice came from behind, but it was Wang Wei who was the first to serve as personal guard after Heifu became the Beidi County Lieutenant.

Wang Wei was also considered a good family man, but he was older and had been with Hei Fu for a longer period of time, so he had more access to confidential matters than Fu and Qiang. Fu Zhi also saw in the morning that the county captain summoned Yiqu Bailang, Wu Shiyan and Wang Wei alone to give advice. When he left with a serious face, he bumped into him.

"There are more than two thousand people. Could it be that there are other people?" Fu Zhi and Qiang Hua saw another glimmer of hope.

"Beidi County cannot send more soldiers, but Shangjun is different. You know, His Majesty is supervising the battle in Gaonu, and ordered Shangjun to send troops to assist Beidi."

Seeing that the two of them still didn't understand why, Wang Wei laughed twice and did not directly explain the reason. He just said: "Besides, the things carried by those ox carts this time are enough for the Huns who went to attack. !"8)