The setting sun was like blood, and the last rays of light lingered between heaven and earth. He raised his shining iron sword high and shouted to Xun: Kill
The first wave of cavalrymen charged into the battle formation with a momentum of no return, their hooves flying alternately and rapidly, dust flying. Several rows of cavalrymen charged at high speeds, covering a distance of several feet in the blink of an eye, like galloping waves. The knights leaned forward, their spears held horizontally, like sharp arrows shot from a bow.
In an instant, they came into close combat with a surge of Liao army cavalry. The horses collided, and the knights of both sides brushed shoulders and passed each other alternately. In a flash, weapons were swung and stabbed, screams were heard everywhere, and the heavy sound of metal colliding and people's screams resounded through the mountains.
Zhang Jianxiong, who followed behind, raised his gun and shouted: "Fight to the death on the battlefield today", and then led a group of cavalry to sprint away at an accelerated speed.
Xiang Xun led his elite cavalry and the large group of cavalrymen who followed him. They also rode their horses and waved their swords, gradually moving from a canter to a charge. The troops rushed forward. Xiang Xun was not Shi Yanchao, so he did not rush to the front. Soon, the soldiers around him passed him and rushed forward. Seeing this, Guo Shao thought that he was following Xiang Xun now, and he could not let the commander rush forward while he hid behind. He also led more than 20 cavalrymen to catch up and charge.
Guo Shao had learned to ride a horse a long time ago, but he had never had the conditions or opportunities to practice horsemanship as a foot soldier, and it was his first time to fight on horseback. He had thought riding a horse was not difficult before, and he rode very well, so he thought horse fighting was similar. Unexpectedly, the warhorse was fine when trotting, but when charging, it was faster than a motorcycle, and it was bumping up and down, as if he was on the bow of a boat in the stormy sea. It was really exciting.
He hadn't found the right balance for a long time, and was shaken on the horse's back. When he opened his eyes, he felt the ground shaking, and countless armored soldiers were shaking left and right. If he hadn't held the reins tightly with one hand, he might have been thrown off the horse during the high-speed stage of the charge; in a state of nervousness, he subconsciously clamped his legs around the horse's belly to stabilize his lower body, fearing that he would fall off the horse. The horse was clamped hard, thinking it was a signal to speed up, and ran very fast.
At this moment, Guo Shao had an illusion that he had stepped on the wrong accelerator while driving.
The warhorse continued to gallop at an unstoppable speed, so Guo Shao looked extremely brave. He passed the elite cavalry in front of him directly. He was so eager to get ahead that he couldn't express his feelings.
At this time, the Liao heavy cavalry was counterattacking in front of them. The first cavalry was very powerful. It swept past the Zhou cavalry and killed several people with its sword. The Zhou cavalry behind it drew its bow and shot arrows at it, but the arrows could not penetrate the heavy armor. The Liao cavalry was fully armored, even the horse was armored, and it held a round shield in its left hand.
A young general in Zhou's army shouted: "Guo Lang, shoot that guy!"
The man who shot and killed Zhang Yuanhui, the most powerful general of the Northern Han Dynasty, was in the army. Everyone hoped that Guo Shao could quickly kill the Liao general and reduce casualties on his side. In a hurry, Guo Shao took an arrow from the quiver, aimed and shot an arrow, but he did not expect the result. The arrow missed the target by a long distance and flew directly over the head of the rider.
Guo Shao was stunned for a moment, then became furious. He rode his horse while shooting two arrows in a row, but neither of them hit the target.
The soldiers were stunned. At this moment, some people might doubt the credibility of Guo Shao's extraordinary achievements, or that he was simply an imposter.
The Liao general was still full of energy and charged from the left wing. He jumped up and down on his horse very skillfully, like he was performing acrobatics. He was very flexible despite his heavy armor. The cavalry of both sides were in the same position as if they were chariots passing each other head-on. They were very fast and the opportunity to get close was very short. Generally, they could only fight one or two moves. The Liao general fought with several knights in succession, and not only was he not killed, but two more knights fell off their horses.
Guo Shao thought that archery on horseback and archery on foot were two completely different things. Seeing that the guy was about to kill him, Guo Shao calmed down, quickly put away his bow, and pulled out the saber from his back. The handle was long and the length of the two-handed weapon could effectively increase the attack distance, and it was suitable for both cavalry and infantry; if the archery on horseback failed, he had to prepare for close combat.
At this moment, Yang Biao shouted: "Brother, let me ride my horse with Luo Mengzi past Guo Shao's position." Soon they were close to the Liao general. Yang Biao shouted loudly, swung his iron knife with both hands and swept across the waist; but the Liao general leaned back, his upper body was pressed against the horse's back, and he suddenly became short, so Yang Biao's sweep missed, and the two sides immediately crossed each other.
The Liao warrior then ran into Luo Mengzi, who was holding an ugly and rough iron hammer. He moved closer to the Liao cavalry and then swung the hammer down. The Liao warrior caught it with his shield, and there was a loud clang. The warhorse under him neighed, but the Liao warrior remained steady on the horse without being affected. Instead, he used his shield to push the hammer behind Luo Mengzi. In order to hit the opponent's horse's back, Luo Mengzi's body tilted to the left and his center of gravity was unstable. He was pushed and fell straight off the horse's back. Luo Mengzi had always been a foot soldier, and he was probably not much better than Guo Shao on horseback. Among the three brothers, Yang Biao was probably the only one who had ridden more horses, and he had been a captain for quite a while.
Haha, the Liao warrior turned around and laughed loudly at Luo Mengzi, while reining his horse to the left and sitting upright again on the horse's back nimbly.
But before he finished laughing, he was shocked to see a Zhou general rushing out from behind him. This man was Guo Shao. Luo Mengzi had just fallen off his horse and had no time to get up. The Liao cavalry that followed would trample him. If the iron hooves stepped on Luo Mengzi's fat belly, the scene would be too beautiful. Guo Shao didn't dare to imagine it.
Guo Shao's method was quite stupid, but it was very timely. As soon as he rushed out diagonally, he immediately met a Liao cavalryman who was running towards him. At that time, the situation was like everyone was driving in their own lane on the road, and suddenly a guy drove his car sideways into the opposite lane. The Liao cavalryman who was running on hurriedly reined in his horse. The warhorse could not avoid it at such a close distance, and the inertia could not stop. With a bang, the horse's shoulder hit the middle of Guo Shao's mount. The mount was hit and neighed in pain, and fell to the side. Guo Shao took advantage of the situation and rushed off the horse. The double armor on his body plus the weight of more than 200 pounds fell heavily to the ground. He was immediately dizzy and stars flew in front of his eyes.
At this time, Luo Mengzi had already climbed up and rushed to save Guo Shao. Guo Shao felt pain all over his body, and he didn't know if he was injured or not. He gritted his teeth and climbed up. He looked angrily at the Liao general who ran ten steps alone on horseback, and then looked down to find that his bow had fallen to the ground, so he picked it up. With a finger guard tied on his right hand, he immediately took the arrows from the quiver. The two-stone strong bow was the bow used by the soldiers of Xiang Xun's army to practice arm strength. Basically no one used it in actual combat. One stone and two is already a strong bow for actual combat, and most of the equipment for archery is also eight dou one stone bow.
Guo Shao was so angry and embarrassed that he immediately pulled the two stone bows into a full moon shape and aimed at the guy at a close distance of ten steps. The Liao army general turned around and saw Guo Shao drawing his bow and arrow, so he raised his round shield to protect his vitals. The bowstring trembled, and an arrow whistled away, and the heavy arrow suddenly pierced through the round shield.
Even the double protection of a round shield and armor could not save the Liao general. With a scream, the guy finally fell off his horse.
Guo Shao was in a mess for a while and was furious. He stood where he was and started shooting wildly. The sound of the strings never stopped.
Usually when people use bows and arrows in a melee, they don't draw the bow to its full length because the distance is close and their own physical strength is depleted. But Guo Shao didn't care about many things at the moment. He drew a full moon every time and used a strong bow. The Liao soldiers who rushed up one after another shot one by one, accurately and fiercely, and the heavy arrows pierced through the armor every time. After a while, seven or eight empty horses ran past.
After killing seven or eight people in a row, Guo Shao's anger subsided a little, and his physical strength was exhausted, so he finally stopped. Suddenly, he felt his arms were weak and sore, his palms were full of sweat, and his fingers were shaking, and he could no longer keep steady.
Guo Lang was so powerful that a general in the Zhou army saw him killing people like crazy and cheered loudly from the side.
At this time, Yang Biao and his twenty personal soldiers also rode to Guo Shao's side and surrounded him. Yang Biao shouted: "Everyone dismount and fight on foot!"
The whole team was made up of soldiers from the various divisions of the Xiaodi Army. They were used to the hard days of fighting on foot, and their horses were useless. They were really a group of infantrymen on horseback, worse than fighting on foot. Everyone got off their horses, picked up their weapons, and gathered together to fight. Only four soldiers were still riding, and they followed the Zhou army cavalry that was moving on the flank with their horses, unwilling to abandon their horses.
Yang Biao was at the front of the infantry battle formation, holding a long-handled iron broadsword, and violently clearing the way. The Liao heavy cavalry rushed over, and most infantrymen were afraid of them because they were in a high position, and only used their spears to defend themselves; but Yang Biao was the first to charge forward on horseback, not retreating at all, swinging the iron sword in his hand with great force, killing people and slashing horses, like a tiger descending from the mountain.
It is said that the iron knife commonly used by Zhou army infantrymen evolved from the Mo Dao of the Tang Dynasty. It is not known whether this is true or not. However, this iron knife is made entirely of iron from the long handle to the wide back of the blade. It is very heavy and is indeed a weapon that only strong people like to use.
The iron knife in Yang Biao's hand was heavier than almost all long weapons, and far heavier than the hardwood shaft of the spear and lance. When he swept across, the weight and force took precedence, and the enemy soldiers dared not parry. He had a horse face and a hard beard on his cheeks. When he was angry, he looked ferocious and bloody, like a murderous demon, and his momentum was also very terrifying.
In the surging herd of horses, Guo Shao's small infantry unit moved slowly. Fortunately, a cavalry unit from Xiang Xun's army was galloping left and right nearby, so Guo Shao and his men were not surrounded or trampled to death.
At this time, there was a whoosh, and an arrow hit Yang Biao's breastplate. Yang Biao cursed and pulled it out. Guo Shao looked in the direction and saw a Liao cavalryman not far away raising his bow to shoot the second arrow. Guo Shao shouted and reached out to take the arrow.
The Liao cavalry was about to continue shooting at Yang Biao, but when he heard the shout, he suddenly noticed the bow and arrow in Guo Shao's hand and immediately turned to aim at Guo Shao. Guo Shao also raised his bow, and the two looked at each other from more than 20 steps apart. In just a moment, they started shooting arrows at each other.
Guo Shaoxian was hit by an arrow, and his chest felt heavy. There was a forged steel plate inside and a layer of chain mail outside, so the arrow could not penetrate. Almost at the same time, the Liao soldier in front screamed in pain and dropped his bow and arrow. An arrow had already pierced his shoulder. The Liao cavalry covered his shoulder with his hand, turned his horse and ran away.
It was so close, but he only shot the shoulder. His arm strength was exhausted and his hand was not steady. If he hadn't seen Yang Biao in danger and felt anxious, he would have almost not pulled the bow. At this time, he immediately looked around and shouted: "Who brought the bow and arrow?" A soldier in the team hurriedly took a bow of normal strength and brought it up.
Guo Shao and others continued to cooperate with the nearby cavalry, and the fighting on the battlefield did not stop.