Chapter 384: The Moment of Decisive Battle

Chapter 384: The Moment of Decisive Battle

Chapter 384: The Moment of Decisive Battle (Part )

Eight thousand crossbowmen quickly retreated and transformed into spearmen, forming a large formation.

Four large square formations of spears were densely packed, like four iron plates. The first three rows of soldiers were half-crouching on the ground with the butts of their spears touching the ground. The spear tips of the first row of soldiers were pointing upward at a 45-degree angle, the spear tips of the second row of soldiers were at a 60-degree angle, and the spear tips of the third row of soldiers were at a 75-degree angle.

This is the practical experience summed up from nearly a thousand years of fighting against the Hu people on the grasslands from the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties. No matter how the cavalry charged, they would be met with the tip of their spears.

During the Han Dynasty, spears were four meters long, but it was later discovered that four meters was not enough. Even if the enemy's horses were pierced, the enemy could still kill the soldiers in the front row.

The length of the spear was then increased to five meters, thus ensuring that no matter how strong the impact force was, the cavalry still could not reach the spear soldiers.

Moreover, the five-meter length also means that the height is sufficient, and the warhorse can be easily pierced by the spear even if it jumps over the top.

The three rounds of horizontal shooting by the Sui army added three speed brakes to the cavalry, which significantly slowed down the cavalry's speed and weakened its impact.

Thirty steps…..Twenty steps…..Ten steps…..
Amid screams, thousands of cavalrymen crashed into the spear wall. "Puff! Puff! Puff!" There was a series of piercing sounds, the horses neighed, the soldiers screamed, blood splattered, the horses leaped high with their front hooves, and were instantly pierced through the heart by spears, falling to the ground with a bang.

The cavalrymen rolled off their horses, got up, drew their daggers like crazy and rushed towards the first row of Sui soldiers, but were pierced through the bodies by spears from the rows behind them.

Thousands of war horses and cavalry corpses piled up into a mountain in an instant, and the impact force from behind also slowed down significantly, as the war horses had been reined in by the cavalry.

Xiao Xia accurately grasped the rhythm of the battlefield. When the enemy's attack slowed down, he calmly ordered: "Beat the drums and change the formation!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

With the sound of drums, the first ten rows of Sui army soldiers began to separate to the left and right in a rhythmic manner, and the dense spear formation in the front began to become loose.

Seeing their opportunity, the Tuyuhun cavalry jumped over the long wall of corpses, rushed into the Sui army formation, and fought fiercely with the Sui soldiers.

The Sui army obviously had no intention of sacrificing the front-line soldiers in a head-on fight with the Tuyuhun army. They had an army of 40,000, not just a few thousand people in the front row. Their formation change was to turn the four large formations into 800 small square formations.

They formed a small square formation of fifty people, and fought flexibly. At the same time, they cooperated with each other and merged into one. It seemed that they were scattered and fighting separately, which seemed a bit chaotic.

But in fact, there was a rope that tied them together, and this rope was the command flag of the Sui army.
As the main general, Xiao Xia will continue to issue military orders based on various changes on the battlefield. As the deputy general, Qu Tutong must carry out Xiao Xia's orders without fail.

He commanded the flags to change into various combinations, guiding the Sui army to attack the weak links of Tuyuhun.

This flexible fighting style of the Sui army was obviously the nemesis of the Tuyuhun cavalry's fighting style of each fighting in its own formation.

When the enemy cavalry rushed into the formation in overwhelming numbers, each of them felt that there were spears everywhere, making it difficult for them to defend themselves.

Apart from running at high speed, the Tuyuhun cavalry did not dare to stop at all, but countless cavalry were stabbed off their horses by a spear while running.

In the battles against nomadic peoples, this type of Han army formation was extremely sharp. They were able to form a spear formation as dense as an iron plate to meet the group attacks of the nomadic peoples.

Once the charge was over and the battle began with individual soldiers, the army formation quickly expanded and dispersed, using small square groups to deal with individual enemy soldiers. They stood back to back, with fifty spears facing all directions.

This also caused each cavalryman to face spears from all directions. At this time, the guard cavalry on both sides quickly retreated and became garrison troops to protect the commander and the command system.

This is actually a question of combat efficiency. Although the enemy seems to have a large number of troops, in fact, most of the soldiers are running ineffectively most of the time, and there are very few close-range attacks on Sui soldiers.

With the distance, the five-meter-long spear can fully demonstrate its long weapon combat advantages. Every stabbing attack with the spear is an effective combat. Every three stabbings, a Tuyuhun cavalryman will be pierced and fall off his horse.

The Tuyuhun cavalry, which was fighting in a dispersed manner, was unable to make use of its advantage in terms of large numbers. On the contrary, its weakness of being attacked from all sides when fighting alone was fully demonstrated.

This was also a leap forward in Xiao Xia's military capabilities. He no longer charged into battle as a general, but instead commanded the decisive battle between the two armies as the group's commander-in-chief.

Xiao Xia was able to adapt to local conditions, adjust his tactics at any time, and find the enemy's weak points to attack. This was the purpose of his crossbow shooting. He would rather fire one less round of arrows than create artificial obstacles to slow down the impact of the nomadic cavalry.

The change in military formation, from a whole to a dispersed state, seemed to give the enemy a chance to fight, but in fact it sucked them into the formation. At this time, the Tuyuhun army would be passive if it changed its attack method again, and the Sui army would not give them the opportunity to adjust calmly.

The Sui army's flexible, small-scale, multi-point attacks caused the Tuyuhun army's ranks to become chaotic. They gradually became like the Sui army, each forming their own camp. They had no unified command, no coordination, and appeared to be in a mess. More and more soldiers were killed, and the Tuyuhun army gradually fell into a disadvantage.

At this time, Xiao Xia saw that the time had come, and he immediately ordered: "Shoot the rocket!"

Dozens of rockets took off into the sky, trailing long trails of black smoke. Suddenly, 10,000 Sui cavalrymen came from the north and south of the Tuyuhun army. They were lined up in neat rows, forming a complete square formation. Their horses were galloping, and the Sui army, with murderous aura, swept towards the Tuyuhun army.

As the fresh troops of the Sui army rushed out from the ambush, the morale of the Tuyuhun army collapsed instantly. The Qiang people were unwilling to fight any more and began to turn around and flee on a large scale.

The Tuyuhun King Fuyun was anxious. The cavalry behind him fled, but what about the tens of thousands of cavalry trapped in the army?
He immediately ordered in a stern voice: "Ring the bell and retreat!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The shrill sound of retreat bells echoed across the grassland.

Xiao Xia also immediately gave the order: "The formation will shrink!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of war drums was actually a reminder, telling the generals of each army that new orders had been issued. The generals looked at the command flag, which meant to seal the formation.

The soldiers began to run, the formation changed, the retreat routes were blocked, and the originally neat and orderly streets disappeared, turning into rugged rocks, dangerous everywhere, and dazzling. It was very much like the kaleidoscope we played with when we were children. When we turned it, everything in front of us became another appearance.

Throughout the winter, the Sui army was training in a large formation. The formation was unpredictable and the tens of thousands of Tuyu cavalry trapped in it had no way to break out. They could not tell the directions and there were countless sharp spears waving in front of them.

At this time, Fu Yun and the remaining Tuyuhun troops gradually ran away under the pursuit of 20,000 Tuqi troops.

The Tuyuhun soldiers trapped in the formation dismounted and surrendered one after another. They were completely demoralized. Thinking of their wives and children at home, and thinking of the ewes about to give birth to lambs without anyone to help with the delivery, tens of thousands of Qiang soldiers were no longer willing to fight for the Xianbei people.

(End of this chapter)