Tiger Guards

Chapter 67: Fierce Horseback Archery
Han Xian is over thirty years old, in the prime of his life, and has a strong build.

He rode on a strong blue-gray horse, also wearing golden armor and a golden helmet, but without any embroidered robe, only a crimson battle robe.

Seeing that the Tiger Guards in the north dared to line up along the road, they slowly pressed forward in a horizontal formation.

He reined in his horse and said to the leader beside him with a smile, "I thought the Hou family's followers were just lying and bullying me, but I never imagined these kids were so arrogant. After plotting against Li Le, they even dared to attack me!"

The leader held the reins in his left hand and the 'General of the Eastern Expedition' flag on his shoulder with his right. He also said with a smile: "I have come from a long way, and my horse and I are exhausted. I am here to bring you a horse."

"Yes, seize his horse, and then go to Jiangyi to ask Zhao Yan what this bastard wants!"

Han Xian smiled triumphantly and said loudly, "I need to ask the emperor for clarification!"

"That's right, I must get to the bottom of it!"

Another cavalry general carrying the flag shouted back, "The court has failed you, General. You must be made the Grand General!"

He was carrying a battle flag with the inscription "Youzhou Mu" on it. Beside him was a cavalry general carrying a battle flag with the inscription "Han" on it. He immediately glared at them and said, "General, you have established a government office to manage the affairs of the Secretariat. Are you going to recruit me as a subordinate?"

"Haha! Why are you a subordinate? I'll make you a general! A governor!"

Han Xian laughed loudly and raised the whip in his right hand. More than a hundred riders gradually slowed down, and dust was raised in the wind behind them.

A mile to the north, Zhao Ji's four teams had finished forming up. He turned his head to look to the right and saw that the cavalry of Cao, Wang Qi, Chang Mao and his four teams had also circled back to half a mile to the west of the road and began to form up.

There was a slight headwind, and the dust was carried northward.

Seeing that the opposing knights were slowing down and forming a team, Zhao Ji tilted his head and asked Han Shu beside him, "Are you afraid?"

Han Shu was stunned and responded decisively: "Don't be afraid!"

"We are outnumbered, so let's go!"

Zhao Ji lightly kicked the horse's belly. On the chariot behind him, Gao Yanglong held high a newly sewn battle flag with four words written on it: "Fight the enemy in accordance with the imperial edict."

Four teams of Tiger Guards formed a V-shaped goose formation and rode forward, but their formation was not neat.

Zhao Ji was like the golden gem inlaid at the front end of the V, followed by Han Shu, Pei Bao and a dozen other riders.

Even Hu Ban held a crossbow, waiting for the opportunity to engage in battle and shoot and kill the enemy cavalry.

What surprised Zhao Ji was that the more than one hundred riders on the opposite side did not move their horses. Were they just waiting for his attack?

Or did they expect that they were being harassed by horse and arrows?

That’s right. In the days when there were no double stirrups, only truly brave cavalrymen could drive their horses and fight on horseback.

The vast majority of cavalry are mainly engaged in ranged riding and archery, supplemented by close combat.

Only the elite cavalry of Han and Hu have the qualities to launch assault tactics.

The other side refused to move, and Zhao Ji felt that they wanted to wait until their own horsepower was exhausted before striking back.

On the west side of the road, Jia Tong, holding a halberd, pointed obliquely at the bandit infantry marching rapidly to the south: "You go and harass them, and I will lead my troops to support Zhao Zhonglang!"

"Yes!"

Chang Mao was young. He waved his lance and rode away. Two teams of knights under his command followed him and advanced southward.

As Chang Mao began to move, the advancing enemy infantry column began to twist.

Dust was everywhere to the west of the Chidao Road, and the enemy's marching column could only see Chang Mao's team coming in the dust, and could not see clearly what was behind Chang Mao.

Out of caution, the entire infantry marching column defended on the spot, with two to three hundred people in a group, forming roughly three battle groups.

At the shouts of the military chief, the shield soldiers lined up in front and the archers also lined up to draw their bows.

When Chang Mao noticed the dust rising behind him, he came up with an idea, but unfortunately time was running out and he had no time to put it into practice.

They could only rein in their horses and slow down, controlling the cavalry to stare at the enemy from a distance of 200 steps.

At this moment, Jia Tong was watching nervously, hoping that Zhao Ji would shoot Han Xian.

Even if we can't shoot them, we must disrupt Han Xian's cavalry.

At this moment, Han Xian looked back to the south and saw that the infantry column had suddenly stopped. He cursed, "How dare you, kid!"

What made him even more angry was the execution of the infantry, who began to slack off at the slightest opportunity.

At this time, the south gate of Wenxi was opened, and a cavalry regiment of a hundred people attempted to break out.

A team of nearby Tiger Guards cavalry immediately attacked them. The bandits did not dare to withdraw from the battle on foot and cavalry. They could only use cavalry to cover the two wings, while the infantry used powerful bows to shoot and drive away the harassment of the Tiger Guards.

This team of Tiger Guards belonged to Jing Chun, and he soon led another team to join them.

Cavalry Commander Wang Qi was still in command of two teams of Tiger Guards, alert to any other unexpected events.

He was also watching the battle a mile south of the road, feeling nervous.

“Zhe~!”

Zhao Ji grabbed the ox horn and pulled the bow to its full length, shooting an arrow. Han Xian dodged with his head tilted ninety steps away, and a cavalry general carrying the flag behind him was hit by the arrow in the forehead.

The arrow hit the helmet and flew out. The man's neck tilted back violently, his eyes wide open, and he fainted, slowly falling sideways off his horse.

Seeing the flag about to fall, another knight nearby reached out and grabbed the flagpole, staring in horror at Han Xian as he turned back. Horseback archery usually ranged from thirty to fifty paces, and spear and axe throwing was only a dozen paces. The enemy, riding and shooting against the wind from eighty or ninety paces, was beyond the comprehension of those around Han Xian.

A foot bow can often shoot twenty steps farther than a cavalry bow, and a cavalry bow cannot shoot as powerfully as a foot bow.

When Han Xian turned around, he saw Zhao Ji shooting another arrow at him. This time he lowered his head and lay down. A knight behind him was hit in the face by an arrow and fell off his horse.

"The thief bullies me, no one!"

Han Xian was extremely angry. He kicked the horse's belly with hatred, pulled the reins hard, and forced the horse to turn sideways and leave. Seeing this, the knights around him turned their horses to the sides.

Seeing the enemy cavalry spreading to both wings, Zhao Ji stared at the three battle flags and chased them without taking precise aim.

Pay more attention to controlling the horse to keep the body stable, grab the horse bow and draw it to the full extent to shoot at the battle flag.

As the distance between the two sides quickly narrowed, his shooting accuracy quickly recovered.

When they were about thirty steps away, Han Shu beside him held a crossbow and aimed at the trigger spring in front of him.

Then he loaded the crossbow into the horse harness, took out the horse bow and shot quickly, pulling the bow to 60% to 70% full, mainly to interfere with the opponent's archer.

Pei Bao and Hu Ban held their crossbows but did not fire, and the accompanying mounted slaves did not aim either, but fired rapidly, mainly to suppress the enemy.

As long as the arrow hits the enemy's horse, the horse will be frightened and difficult to control, and the enemy will basically lose the ability to fight back.

The Huben knights on both wings were like flowing water. When they were about 20 or 30 steps away, they turned to the wings and shot rapidly with their bows.

There are many Huben knights, and some of them are hit by arrows from time to time, but they rarely fall off their horses.

The enemy also spread out and retreated to both wings. For a while, the horses were in panic. The frightened horses interfered with the knights who were counterattacking around them, and they were unable to suppress the Hu Ben cavalry archers.

Zhao Ji chased Han Xian, and when he was about ten steps away, he could shoot down one of his opponents every time he drew his bow.

A knight carrying the banner of "General Zhengdong" and wearing tattered silver armor was shot in the back of the head by an arrow from close range, and he fell motionless on his horse's back.

The flag in his hand fell to the ground. Seeing this, a riding slave behind Zhao Ji hid in the stirrup, stretched out his arm to pick up the flag and dragged it backwards.

The riding slave took a deep breath, exerted strength from his waist and abdomen, clamped his legs around the horse's belly, turned over and sat firmly on the horse's back.

Before he could smile, a stray arrow shot from the front and pierced his left shoulder, almost causing him to loosen the reins and fall off the horse.

Han Xian fled westward, and Jia Tong, who was watching the battle on the side, immediately joined the chase.

Seeing this, Han Xian quickly turned his horse around and headed east again, where the water was surging and the river was wide.

Not caring whether he would drown or not, he would rather drive his horse and jump into the Sushui River to risk his life than be surrounded by the Tiger Guards.

He is surrounded by so many Tiger Guards, who can rescue him?
When Han Xian hurriedly turned around, another close friend who was carrying the Korean battle flag was shot in the back and fell down immediately. The flag fell out of his hand, and his left foot was entangled in a single leather stirrup. As soon as he bounced up after falling, he was dragged and slid by the horse.

Han Xian turned around to observe Zhao Ji, and caught a glimpse of the unfortunate cavalryman out of the corner of his eye.

Then another cavalryman was seen abandoning the "Youzhou Mu" battle flag and fleeing south regardless of everything.

The road was only three miles away from Sushui. Han Xian drove his horse into the rice field, but the paddy field was muddy and the horse's hooves sank into the mud.

Zhao Ji chased to the edge of the paddy field and saw Han Xian whipping his horse hard and trudging forward with difficulty. They were only thirty steps apart.

So Zhao Ji jumped off the horse, drew a painted bow from the harness, pulled out an arrow, pulled the bow to full draw, and gently released it.

The arrow left a shadow in his sight and hit Han Xian's shoulder.

Han Xian's whole body shook, and before he could turn his head, Zhao Ji shot the second arrow, which hit Han Xian's helmet and pierced through the back of his head.

"He died a very pleasant death."

Zhao Ji turned around and looked around. Seeing another enemy cavalryman in the distance, he drew his bow and shot another arrow.

Without even looking at the result, he put his painted bow into the harness and remounted his horse. Seeing Hu Ban catching up, he still held the crossbow in his hand and asked, "Brother, why aren't you shooting?"

"When the thief is within ten steps, it is meaningful to kill him with one strike."

Hu Ban panted, his face flushed. "Killing the bandits with Aji and his companions is such a joy!"

Several mounted slaves had already dismounted and were dragging the corpse through the muddy paddy field.

Several mounted slaves drove their horses around the ridges of the fields to catch Han Xian's strong horse.

Zhao Ji looked behind him and saw Pei Bao dismounted from his horse about forty or fifty steps away and was chopping off someone's head with a ring-handled knife.

The fallen battle flag was lying quietly nearby, and Pei Bao had no idea what this flag meant.

After taking two deep breaths, Zhao Ji was still a little confused. He couldn't understand why the other party was so weak.

In his opinion, whether there are cavalry or not, they should hedge against it.

Han Xian actually gave up the most important mobility of cavalry. Without mobility, wouldn’t both the man and the horse become a huge target?
The knight was shot by an arrow, but he was protected by armor and could endure it to some extent, and he controlled his horse to retreat.

But horses don't have this kind of self-control. If they are hit by an arrow, they will basically become frightened and even bring trouble to their companions.

The reactions of horses to arrows while running in a group and to arrows while standing still are two different.

Perhaps Han Xian was already accustomed to the Huns' cavalry tactics, and he did not expect that his horse archery skills would be so fierce.

(End of this chapter)