MTL - Three Kingdoms-Chapter 2733 initial engagement

  Chapter 2733 The initial engagement

  Gao Shun's scouts and Matthew's men met on the banks of the Krissu River.

  At the beginning, the purpose of both sides was to fetch water, and their attention was focused on the river. When they found each other, they were both stunned, and then they both tried to fight and sent messages to the rear.

  When Matthew received the message, he was building a relationship with the generals left behind by the Guishuang envoy.

   Matthew now has the support of the Guishuang people. Although the Guishuang envoys have not left many troops, it is better that these Guishuang people know the Western Regions better than the current big men. They had already stayed in the Western Regions for a long time before the General Hussars sent Lu Bu to the Western Regions, and they were quite familiar with the customs and geography of the Western Regions.

   The soldiers and generals commanded by the Guishuang messenger are called Taxa.

  In fact, Guishuang is not as good as it was in the past. The drama between the emperor and his ministers is not only unique to Huaxia. Once standing on the wrong team, the light ones will be suppressed, and the serious ones will even be confessed by the whole family. Taxa was one of the people involved in this kind of drama, so he was dispatched to the frontier.

Of course, the military order issued by the upper echelon of Guishuang cannot expressly express distribution, but expresses the need to protect the interests of the countries in the Western Regions that are friendly to Guishuang, protect Guishuang’s expatriates in the Western Regions, etc., so for Taksar, he also There is little reason to refuse such a transfer.

  Even Takesa heard that there might be more drastic changes in the upper layer of Guishuang, which made him think that maybe it was a good thing to come to the Western Regions? At least he has escaped the adverse effects of the follow-up changes in the top management. Maybe he can be promoted and return to Guishuang after he has made some meritorious service in the Western Regions?

  『Your horses can’t do it. ”Takesa said to Matthew, “This kind of horse has no strength. 』

  When the message came, Matthew and Tagusa were chatting.

Takesa knows some Chinese, but obviously not as fluent as the Guishuang envoy. When he speaks, the emphasis is very strange. He can only speak verse by verse. It seems that if he speaks longer sentences, he will get stuck in his mouth. .

  Matthew smiled.

  He was not laughing at Taguza's tone, but at himself.

  This question really embarrassed Matthew.

  War horses need some fat, of course, the more fat the better. These fats are like the energy stored by war horses. When they run, they will burn this fat, giving the horses more lasting running endurance and stronger explosive power. Didn't Matthew know how to fatten up the war horses, but they didn't have enough supplies, and sometimes they didn't even have enough food for the war horses.

   This time, when things caught up, Matthew was able to ride out on those half-raised war horses. After running for a while, he saw that the fat that had been raised so hard had gone down again, which made Matthew feel distressed to some extent.

  Takesa's subordinates are as strong and sturdy as Guishuang's war horses. Like the Han people, they like to wear looser cloth robes, but their armor is completely different from the Han people. Guishuang’s helmet is very pointed, and most of the armor plates on his body are horizontal. The middle of the armor is horizontal from the neck to the stomach. , the hand and foot guards are also horizontal, like the shell of a lobster.

  Many of Taxa’s subordinates are Sogdians.

  But these Sogdians are very interesting. They seem to be very keen on doing business. Many of them can’t even speak Chinese, but they are also enthusiastic about finding people to barter and bargaining.

  Taksa doesn’t seem to like the Sogdians doing this.

Matthew has seen Taksa scolding these Sogdians several times, but it was of no use. When scolding, these Sogdians honestly pretended to be quails. When Taksa turned his buttocks, these Sogdians continued Doing business, let Matthew see it and can't help but sigh, no one's scriptures are easy to read.

"what? Discovered the Han army? Matthew couldn't believe it, "Where is the Han army?" Crisus River? How could there be a Han army here? How many people are there in the Han army? 』

  The sudden appearance of the Han army made Matthew a little surprised, and also a little worried.

   Matthew's worry was noticed by Tagusa, and he was a little disdainful.

  Takesa knew that the Guishuang people in the Western Regions were defeated by Lu Bu. Although this incident was not known to everyone in Guishuang, it was not a secret on a certain level. Taxa thinks that these Guishuang soldiers and generals in the Western Regions are slack rather than their opponents being formidable.

  So the sudden appearance of a small group of Han troops made Takesa a little eager to try, "Leader Ma, you go, I go?" 』

  Seeing that Tagusa actually took the initiative to invite Ying, Matthew was naturally happy to go along with the situation, so he kept saying that he would let Tagusa go first.

  Takesa is not stupid. He took the initiative to ask for a fight, not for Matthew, but for himself. After all, he didn't know the current strength of the Han army very well, so he wanted to find an opportunity to weigh it. The small Han army happened to be the object of his experiment. If he wins, he can use it as a reason to refuse to fight next time, and if he loses, he can also be more vigilant and careful.

   After all, there is only a small group of Han troops. Could it be possible to wait for a large number of Han troops before testing the strength of the opponent?

  Thus, Takesa quickly led people and met Gao Shun.

  Gao Shun's men are chasing and killing the horse thief on the banks of the Krissu River.

  Gaoshun has fewer people, and naturally needs less water, while horse thieves have a large number of people, and consume a lot of water every day, so there are more people, more water bags, and more rough horses. Most of the horse thieves who fetched water were not strong horse thieves, so they were basically defeated at the touch of a button. Those who could run ran away, and those who couldn't run became the targets of Gao Shun's soldiers, or were shot to death in the river. Or they were hacked and killed by the river, and the blood flowed down the river, staining a large area.

  Taksa didn’t care about the horse thieves who were killed. He lined up by the river with his men and horses, staring at the Han army on the other side of the river.

  『The armor of the Han army seems to be pretty good. When fighting, remember to use heavy arrows! ’Takuza said to his subordinates. When speaking of his own Tocharian, it was naturally very fluent.

  Heavy arrows can penetrate armor.

  Takeza didn’t attack as soon as he came up, but was demonstrating.

  Gao Shun also quickly arrived at the river bank, and found the queues on the river bank that were obviously different from the horse thieves.

   "Sure enough..." Gao Shun snorted coldly.

  Gao Shun's eyes stayed on the queue of Taxa for a while, then turned away, and landed on the Krissu River in front of him.

  Most of the rivers in the Western Regions are produced by the melting of snow water, so in autumn and winter, the river water will naturally dry up.

Although the river is dry and the water depth is about the belly of the horse, the silt in the river will slow down the horse's movement speed, and the horse's protection is obviously not as strong as that of the soldiers. Once it becomes a target in the river and receives damage, Even if these Guishuang people in front of them are repelled, it will be difficult to chase the horse thief and continue to fight.

  『Send the order, form the team, divide into three rows, and prepare to cross the river! 』Gao Shun ordered.

  Gao Shun naturally couldn't be intimidated by a team like Tagusa.

  The person on the opposite side put on a posture of attacking halfway, the purpose is to win without fighting.

   Bypassing or retreating, the momentum will be lost.

  Besides, after finally capturing the position of the horse thief leader, how could he give up the attack so easily?

  Gao Shun divided into three teams, and the left and right wings went to the upper and lower reaches of the river to cross the river, and he himself led the soldiers of his headquarters, dismounted and prepared to face these people in Taxa head-on and forcefully cross the river.

  The people of Guishuang did not know that what Gao Shun was better at was not cavalry, but infantry.

Tagusa could not help being a little surprised when Gao Shun's soldiers left in the middle got off their horses one after another, and then skillfully took off their shields from their horses, and began to gather together and put on extra protective armor. stand up.

   This is the cavalry of the Han Dynasty?

   Can you still transform on the spot?

  『They are coming! Get off your horse and get ready for battle! 』Takuza shouted, and then jumped off the horse, and took out his own broadsword and shield.

  The silt on the banks of the river was not conducive to the galloping horses of the Han army, and it was also not conducive to the impact of the horses on the Taksa side.

The Han army formed an array and walked forward to cross the river. Although it is true that Taxa can charge and attack on the side of the river bank, it is only such a charge, and then there is a high possibility that the horses will not be able to hold the momentum and rush directly to the middle of the river. , Even if you can get some results during the impact, but you can't help but become a target in the middle of the river, and the damage can't be said but more.

   Therefore, the best coping strategy is to block the Han army in the middle of the river, so that the Han army is at a disadvantage and you have the advantage. After defeating the wave of Han troops in the middle, the Han troops circumnavigating on both sides naturally retreated. Even if the Han army still wants to fight at that time, my own horses will be able to save more energy than the Han army's horses coming across the river, so they will naturally have an advantage...

  Takesa waved his saber, slapped the shield twice, "Give them some refreshments first!" Throw! 』

The subordinates behind Tagusa bent their bows and set their arrows, and there was a sound of bowstrings, and then Tagusa saw that many arrows thrown out did not land on the heads of the Han army who were crossing the river, as he expected. Instead, it landed on the riverside on this side!

  Takesa thought he had made a mistake in calculating the distance at first, but he quickly realized, and then yelled at the Sogdians beside him, "Pig! Who told you to use heavy arrows! 』

  The Sogdians were also unambiguous, "It was the general who said to use heavy arrows!" 』

  Tagusa's face was sullen, if it wasn't for the upcoming battle, he even wanted to kill this idiot with one knife, "Do I need to say more about heavy arrows and light arrows?" ! Light arrows are used for long-distance throwing, and heavy arrows are used for close-range armor piercing! Next time this kind of error occurs again, be careful! 』

  The leader of the Sogdians didn't dare to say anything more, then turned his head and muttered something to the rest of the Sogdians, and they all changed their arrows.

  The arrow soared into the sky again, roaring towards Gao Shun and the others.

  When Gao Shun heard the bang bang, he put the shield on his head, covering the vital parts of his head and face.

   There was a sound of puffing around, and Gao Shun's left arm suddenly sank, and there was a muffled "duh". He knew it was a light arrow without looking, and it would definitely not be able to penetrate his armor.

  The arrows continue to fall, but because of the shield and armor, the lethality is actually very limited.

   After a while, the arrow stopped.

  Gao Shun did not let down his vigilance because of this, he loudly reminded the surrounding soldiers, "Pay attention, they are going to replace heavy arrows!" Will definitely be shooting again when we get to the river! 』

   Sure enough, when Gao Shun and the others started to cross the river and approached the other side of the river, they heard the sound of bowstrings not far away again, and heavy armor-piercing arrows roared out.

Takesa and the others thought that under the heavy arrows, they could see the appearance of the Han army being shot one after another, because they could shoot through the cowhide shields with armor-piercing heavy arrows before. It can directly break the armor, but they didn't expect that those cunning soldiers of the Han army would lower their bodies and hide behind the shield the moment the bowstring sounded, and the heavy arrows they were proud of could not pierce the shield of the Han army , just aggressive on the shield!

Perhaps some of them were shot at the body of the Han army, but they didn't think what Takesa and the others expected. Seeing the Han army being shot dead in the river, at most they just staggered a bit, and then quickly stood up again to continue move forward…

   Before Takesa could react from the fact that he had never been able to break through the defense, he saw a row of Han soldiers standing up straight in the rear row of the Han army lying low!

"Be careful! 』Taksa subconsciously roared, and quickly raised his shield, reducing his frontal area.

  A Sogdian on the Takesa side, I don’t know if it’s because he doesn’t understand the Tocharian language of Takesa, or because he couldn’t react, he is still grinning stupidly...

In the next second, Takesa saw the Sogdian's head popping, and was directly pierced by a crossbow arrow. He fell to the ground without even making a cry, and the blood soon soaked out, staining him red. dropped land.

  『Idiot! fool! 』Takuza cursed.

   These Sogdians, he has had enough!

As the arrows and crossbows of the two sides exchanged, Takesa slowly became anxious. He looked behind the shield slightly, and saw several Han army shields connected back and forth, which were already approaching the river bank. He shouted, "Ready for battle!" 』

  Gao Shun buried his head and face behind the shield, and the thick shield gave him a very strong sense of security.

   This is the third-generation hussars-style equipment. It looks the same as the original shield, but it is actually completely different from the shield used by the big man before. The earliest Han-made shields were made of wood, and it was enough to cover a layer of cowhide, and because of the difference between cowhide and wood, the quality of the shields was also uneven.

Since the hussars entered the main pass, the research and development of weapons has not stopped because the situation is relatively stable. Now the shields Gao Shun and others are holding are still cowhide on the outside, but there is a large part of their inner guts. Changed to fine steel, the weight control is similar to the original wooden shield. Although it looks thinner, in fact, the protection power has been further strengthened. It is said that there are newer shields, all stainless steel, and then there is a sandwich in the middle, but it is said that because of the high price, it is not equipped for the time being.

  The weapons and armor on Gao Shun and others are also excellent.

It is the same as making shields. All weapons have numbers and hidden marks, which can be used to identify the place of origin and model, as well as the craftsman and user, etc. Once there is a problem, whether it is a quality problem or any other problem , can find people.

Gao Shun didn't buckle the armor, so the armor he was wearing was actually the same as the other soldiers. When he went to the soldiers, it was like a drop of water collected in the river, and outsiders couldn't tell the difference at all. That one person is the general, and naturally there is no way to make any targeted arrangements in advance.

The arrows were still whistling, piercing the shield from time to time, and sometimes piercing Gao Shun's battle skirt, but because the armor of the battle skirt stacked on each other like scales, if it weren't for the tricky angle, it would not be able to penetrate. Even if it penetrates through the first layer of hard armor, it will be blocked by the second layer of cowhide and the third layer of silk cloth, and the penetration into the flesh will not be too deep.

So don't look at the fact that Gao Shun and others are constantly being shot by arrows, but in fact it is like a heavy stone hitting the armor plate, pain is inevitable, and the armor must be blue and purple after the battle, and the real There were not too many bloodshed from armor piercing.

Of course, the closer the arrow is, the more powerful the arrow will be, and the risk of being penetrated will be greater. Therefore, how to get to the river from the river as quickly as possible, and then enter the opponent's formation, so that the opponent's rear Once the archers in the column lose their function, it becomes the most dangerous and difficult part of the road at the moment.

   Gao Shun moved when he saw the opposite shield. He knew that the opposite side wanted to block him at the riverside, so that the opposite side would have a relatively hard riverside under their feet, and they could only fight by stepping on shallow river mud...

  Gao Shun made a corresponding strategy.

  Behind the shield, Gao Shun held the copper whistle in his mouth, and then blew a short signal. At the same time, he hung the knife behind the shield, and then took out the short cavalry crossbow from behind.

The cavalry short crossbow is not as good as the strong crossbow used by infantry, but it is short and easy to carry. The stringed one can also be opened directly with the arm without using the strength of the legs, feet, waist, etc. Although it is slightly insufficient in power, it cannot penetrate thick Armor, but at close range, or against unarmored and thinly armored targets, it still has a lot of lethality.

  Gao Shun blew a short whistle again, which meant that he was ready to shoot, and the target of the shooting was the opponent's lower body.

Of course, this is not because Gao Shun himself has any special hobbies, but on the battlefield, the opponent is also holding a shield. In addition, Gao Shun and the others are all using short cavalry crossbows. If the upper body of the opponent is protected by a shield, the effect will definitely be not good.

After being baptized by the opponent's arrows again, Gao Shun seized the gap and blew a long whistle. Immediately, like the soldiers around him, he tilted the shield slightly to the left, revealing the shield hidden behind the shield. The short crossbow, and then buckled the hanging knife...

  The crossbow bolt roared out!

  (end of this chapter)