Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

About fifty li (in Han Dynasty, one li is about 350 meters now). If we are fast, we may catch up in an hour.

"How did they find our tracks? How could they catch up with us after walking so far?" Du Fei asked in surprise.

The grassland is vast, and the wind and snow cover the marching traces. It is impossible to find them unless you happen to run into them. Moreover, there is more than half a month of time and distance in between when they were lost. Even if the Hu people had a dog's nose, they could not smell their traces.

At that time, Amo left someone behind to follow slowly, and he thought it was unnecessary, but he didn't expect that it would really work.

"Now is not the time to consider this issue. Since they dare to pursue us, they must have made some preparations."

Zhang Mo made a quick decision and said, "Zhang Feng, you lead the people and livestock ahead, and the rest of you will follow me back to meet the enemy."

"Why should we go back? The Hu people are charging here and our troops are exhausted. Wouldn't it be better for us to wait here and wait for them to tire themselves out? Isn't there a river over there where we can set up our formation?" Xu Chu asked doubtfully.

"The terrain here is flat and open. Even with the river, we can't defend against the enemy's 3,000-man charge. It's better to go back and defend the Great Wall Pass. With the Great Wall as cover, we can withstand their large-scale charge and their arrows."

The Great Wall that Zhang Mo mentioned was built by King Wuling of Zhao during the Warring States Period, nearly 500 years ago. After Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he repaired and connected the Great Wall built by Qin, Yan, Zhao and other countries, and created the Great Wall we see today.

Before Emperor Wu of Han, the Qin Great Wall had always played an important role in resisting the Hu cavalry outside the Great Wall. It was not until Emperor Wu of Han sent troops to fight the Xiongnu several times, drove them to the northern desert, and rebuilt the outer Great Wall that the Qin, Yan, Zhao Great Wall was abandoned and its military defense function came to an end.

By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, another two or three hundred years had passed, and both the old and new Great Walls were in ruins, and some places had even collapsed. The Hu people then carved out many roads into the Han territory through the landslides, making it a natural "pass city" without forts, gates, or beacons.

To the north of Pingcheng County, there is a pass created by the Hu people. It is more than ten feet wide, enough for cavalry to enter and exit freely.

Xu Chu naturally listened to Zhang Mo's words and said, "I will lead them back to fight the enemy. You and Afeng go first."

"No, I'll go with you!" Zhang Mo turned the horse's head, shouted softly, and the horse raised its hooves and galloped forward.

Soon after they returned to the pass, the Hu cavalry also arrived. Three thousand horses were galloping, and the ground shaking could be felt from afar. When they got closer, Xu Chu took a look and found that, as Amo had expected, the chasing Hu warriors were all wrapped up as strong as bears, especially the people in the front rows. They seemed to have something tied to their chests for protection, and they held wooden and leather shields in their hands. They were fully armed, and the only thing missing was a clay pot on their heads as a helmet.

The Hu people had multiple defenses, and Zhang Mo and others were downwind of the strong northwest wind, so the longbowmen could hardly exert much advantage.

Everyone hastily inserted wooden stakes in front of the pass to resist the cavalry's direct charge. Zhang Mo looked at the Great Wall on both sides of the pass and ordered, "Zhang Hai, Jiang Huai, each of you will lead a hundred men and ambush behind the city wall. When the Hu vanguard rushes in, you will be responsible for cutting off their troops and blocking the pass."

"Longbowmen, scale the city walls on both sides and lie in wait. Your mission is to suppress the rear guard of the Hu people outside the city. Try not to let them in, and protect Zhang Hai and the others from being attacked from both sides."

Du Fei's eyes lit up after hearing this. "This is a great idea! The pass is narrow, and it's difficult for the Hu people to rush in all at once. If we divide and attack them, our chances of winning are very high."

Xu Chu looked at the barbarians coming at him aggressively and said anxiously, "It's too late to climb the city wall."

"The Hu people won't charge immediately, go!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the rumbling of horses' hooves outside the Great Wall suddenly stopped, replaced by bursts of neighing from horses being reined in.

The two sides were two hundred steps apart.

Without a grappling hook, the longbowmen could only tie a wooden stick to one end of a rope and throw it over the wall. Those with good skills could get the stick stuck in the groove between the two parapets in one throw, while those with poor skills could not get the stick stuck even after several throws.

However, as long as one person climbed onto the city wall, the rest would be much easier. Just drop a rope from above, and all two hundred longbowmen would climb up in a moment.

Outside the Great Wall, Muyetti, the leader of the Khokar tribe, pointed at Xu Chu and his men blocking the pass and asked Gai Loufang in Mongolian, "Are these the people who robbed your tribe? Can their bows really penetrate leather armor from two hundred steps away?"

Gai Loufang nodded vigorously. "It's them, there's no mistake. Their swords are sharper. Otherwise, my warriors wouldn't be defeated."

Muyetti had already seen from the scimitar that was cut off while building the building that the weapon used by the other party was indeed extremely sharp, otherwise the cattle and sheep would not be worth his effort to chase.

Ironware is scarce on the grassland. If he can destroy this group of horse bandits and seize their weapons, his Hokar tribe may be able to replace Budugen.

Muyetti frowned and pondered for a moment, then whispered a few words to the soldiers around him. The soldiers ran to pass the order, and dozens of fully armed Hu cavalry immediately drove their horses, holding thick shields, and slowly galloped towards the pass.

Everyone pricked up their ears and was on guard carefully, fearing that sharp arrows that could pierce armor would suddenly fly from the opposite side. However, when they walked to a distance of a hundred steps, still no arrows were shot, and the enemy's men didn't even move.

The more this happened, the more worried Muyetti became. He asked Gailoufang, "Where is the archer you mentioned?"

"I, I don't know either!" Gai Louzhan was also a little confused. Even if the wind was against him, a shot from 200 steps wouldn't penetrate the armor, but a shot from 100 steps would definitely be able to penetrate it. However, the other party didn't make any movement.

"How about we try shooting arrows?" suggested Gailoufang.

"Yes!" Muyetti waved his hand, and immediately three hundred light cavalrymen without leather shields on their chests rode forward. When they were a hundred steps away, they drew their bows and shot towards the pass.

Seeing the enemy archers coming, Xu Chu and others rode their horses and retreated. The two sides kept a distance of a hundred steps. The archers fired several rounds of arrows, but because the distance was too far, they had no effect.

"Why did these horse thieves suddenly become cowardly?" Gai Loufang was surprised. They were very brutal when they killed his tribe that day.

"Is there another ambush?" Mu Ye asked.

"Have the archer stop first, let me take a look."

As he spoke, he stood on horseback, his gaze passing through the pass to Xu Chu's group. After a moment's estimation, he said, "According to Amina, when the bandits got lost, their accomplices found them and helped them escape from the grassland. There should be over a thousand men now, but it seems they are a little short!"

"Then there is an ambush."

Muyetti looked at the pass and frowned. "This opening is too narrow. We can't rush too many people in at once. The enemy must be lying in ambush behind the city wall, waiting for us to rush in and then attack from the side."

"What should I do?"

Muyeti said, "Have the archers disperse on both sides of the pass and shoot into the interior to see if they can draw out the ambush troops behind the city walls."

In such a strong cold wind, the effect of projectiles is far inferior to that of direct shooting. In order for the bow and arrow to pass over the thirty or forty-meter-high city wall, it must be at least within sixty or seventy steps.

The Xianbei people had no stirrups to use as leverage, and the archers had difficulty exerting force while riding on their moving horses. They tried firing a round at a distance of eighty steps, but finding that they could not hit the city wall, they continued to move closer.

Inside the pass, Zhang Mo saw the Hu archers scattering to the left and right, and her expression changed slightly.

Just now, the Hu man stood on the horse, and it was obvious that he was counting people. Excluding those who had gone back earlier, there were still more than 700 people left under Xu Chu's leadership. Now there were also about 600 people at the pass. How did they know that there were ambushes behind the city wall?