The bilateral stirrup has no scientific and technological content, and since it was brought to the world by Liu Wei a few years ago, it has become the most common military equipment. It's just a matter of words, and even stupid princes can make it.

Xiliang athletes are the best at galloping on horses, and before the advent of bilateral stirrups, this team led by Ma Teng was already able to shoot left and right. However, relying only on the support of one-sided stirrups, it is necessary to release the reins with both hands at the same time, and non-horsemen cannot, so this team only has a scale of 2,000 horsemen at the beginning, and all of them are knights who are one in a hundred.

Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the law of the Han Dynasty strictly forbade a strong crossbow of more than ten stones to go out of the customs, so the Xiliang soldiers under Ma Teng did not have crossbows but bows, and the standard was to be able to shoot a bow on a horse. After the horse surpassed the weak crown, Ma Teng handed over the most elite team under his command to the command of his brave eldest son.

Ma Chao lived up to his father's expectations, and with his skillful riding skills and outstanding martial arts, he made the combat effectiveness of this elite division to a higher level, and became a tiger and wolf division that crisscrossed the West Liang. Almost invincible in Liangzhou, the Qianghu, Xiongnu, Xianbei and other foreign cavalry were frightened, and when they saw the banner of the Ma Jiajun, they absconded and fled, and no one dared to compete with them, and established the dominance of the Ma Jiajun in Liangzhou in one fell swoop.

The reason why Ma Chao was able to make the combat effectiveness of this elite division skyrocket was to turn the archers into lancers. After Ma Chao took control of this army, he gradually abandoned the bow and crossbow and used a specially made long iron lance as a weapon. A kind of spear that is about one zhang long and weighs about seventeen or eighteen catties, and its shape is similar to the javelin before Liu Wei crossed.

When fighting, this team galloped with skillful horsemanship, and then used the power of the horses to sprint at high speed. Throw the long iron lance in your hand forward, and the distance can reach about 50 zhang at most. Ordinary soldiers can also throw forty zhang away.

Although the javelin has less range than a bow and crossbow, it has the advantage of being heavier in its own right. The impact is strong, and the lethality is far greater than that of the bow and crossbow. Sometimes a soldier can fight with a wound after being hit by a bow and arrow, or even after being hit by several arrows, but if he is shot by this kind of long iron lance, he basically passes through his chest and dies on the spot.

In history, the reason why Ma Chao was able to kill Cao Cao in Tongguan was to rely on the strong combat effectiveness of the lancers under him. Facing the dense infantry of Cao Cao's men, this spear cavalry was completely harvesting heads. A javelin is thrown, and sometimes it will penetrate several at once like a toad, and the morale of the Cao army who killed directly collapses and is invincible. In the end, fortunately, Xiahou Yuan led troops to help, otherwise the west of Chang'an would no longer be owned by Cao Cao.

After the gradual popularization of bilateral stirrups, Ma Chao expanded the 2,000-strong tiger and wolf army to 5,000. With the assistance of bilateral stirrups, the Xiliang soldiers, who were slightly worse at riding, were able to shoot bows and throw javelins on their horses. Over the past few years, this lancer has gradually become the trump card army that Ma Teng relies on the most. Unless it is absolutely necessary, you will not reveal your hole cards.

The wind and sand were blowing, and it was nearly evening.

The two teams in the wilderness collided head-on like a tide against the current, and without backing down, they rushed forward with a hard head. Either devour the other or be devoured by the other. The smoke and dust from the trampling on covered the sky, making the sky, which was already close to evening, suddenly much darker, as gloomy as a dark cloud pressing down on the city.

In the wilderness. The lancers led by Ma Chao were trained in a team of five hundred horsemen and charged forward side by side. The procession of 5,000 men was divided into ten rows. Moving forward like a wheat field.

"Throw a gun!"

With Ma Chao shouting, the two rows of Xiliang knights who charged at the front were full of strength. threw out the long standard iron lance in his hand about a zhang, and instantly set off a "rain of guns" falling from the sky.

"Whoosh", a thousand long standard iron lances carried a huge sound of the wind, drew a beautiful arc, and smashed into the cavalry formation of the Luoyang Army in the shape of a parabola.

If a crossbow arrow is shot head-on, the knights of the Luoyang army can also use swords and guns to dial the carving feather, but in the face of the powerful and fast javelin, they can only obediently suffer death. For a time, the soldiers who were stabbed by javelins were like carp crossing the river, and there were countless of them.

It was not only the knights on their horses who were stabbed by the javelins that fell from the sky, but many people and horses were pierced together. Some were thrust from the shoulder, some were pierced through the chest, and the more horrific one was directly from the head, and the sharp javelin penetrated the entire body and plunged directly into the horse's back, so that even if it was dead, it would not be able to fall from the horse.

In the blink of an eye, the screams of the soldiers and the neighing of the war horses were intertwined, making people chill and shudder.

After the first wave of the Xiliang lancers threw the rain of guns, a total of 1,000 long iron lances were thrown, killing and wounding about 600 Luoyang cavalrymen, more than 200 war horses, and the killing rate was as high as 60 percent.

Just when the Xiliang lancers killed and injured the Luoyang cavalry with the long standard iron lance in their hands, the Luoyang army that rushed to the front also responded to the Xiliang army with bows and arrows, but most of them were blocked and landed, and there were very few arrows in the Xiliang army, and it looked like there were only about twenty or thirty people.

"Separate sides!"

With Ma Chao's order, the two rows of Xiliang iron horsemen who rushed to the front quickly separated on both sides in the shape of "human", took off the halberd from the horse and started hand-to-hand combat with the Luoyang army in chaos, and opened up the space for the companions behind to throw.

"Throw a gun!"

As Ma Chao roared again, the thousand Xiliang knights in the third and fourth rows once again threw the long standard iron lance in their hands towards the Luoyang army formation. There was another scream, and this wave of gunfire shot five or six hundred horsemen again, and then with Ma Chao's order, they were separated again in the shape of "people".

Immediately followed by the fourth and fifth platoons, another wave of gunfire was projected over, and five or six hundred cavalry Luoyang troops were shot again. With the sound of people shouting and neighing, the formation of the 30,000 Luoyang cavalry was already in chaos, and many frightened horses began to control the horses, turned around and fled back, but instead rushed their own positions, and many soldiers stumbled down their horses and died under their own horses' hooves.

Ma Chao's roar continued to sound in the wilderness, and the tiger and wolf army kept projecting javelins at the Luoyang cavalry like a wave pushing the front wave, and five waves of gun rain passed in a row, shooting more than 3,000 Luoyang cavalrymen, and stabbing to death and stabbing more than 1,000 Luoyang war horses. The Luoyang army was in chaos, and it was difficult to organize an effective counterattack, and the number of Xiliang cavalry killed was only about 200; After a fierce confrontation, the Luoyang army, which had been killed directly, was terrified, and many began to flee in defeat.

In the midst of the chaos, Ma Chao saw Xu Da galloping back and forth, restraining the defeated soldiers loudly, and immediately roared, flew under the crotch of the fire phoenix and burned the plain, and raised the tip of the dragon rider in his hand to take Xu Da directly, "Ma Chao is here, the thief will die!" ”

Ma Chao was menacing, like a tiger descending from the mountain, he picked up more than a dozen Luoyang soldiers in a row, and killed Xu Dama in the blink of an eye. The shot was like lightning, and the spear carried the sound of the wind, stabbing Xu Da in the upper, middle and lower three ways, and a cloud of silver light enveloped Xu Da in it.

Xu Da shook his spirits, brandished the Ugin Hook and Scythe in his hand and fought to the death, barely parrying for about twenty rounds, and could no longer resist, so he had to turn his horse and leave.

"Where will the thief go, he will not get off his horse and die!" Where is Ma Chao willing to give up, patting the horse and chasing after him, seeing that he is about to catch up, the dragon rider in his hand stabbed Xu Da in the back of the head and stabbed a shot.

Hearing the wind whistling behind his head, Xu Da was so frightened that he hurriedly lowered his head to dodge, but fortunately he dodged fast enough not to be stabbed by Ma Chao's spear. But he was stabbed in the helmet, and he was picked off his head at once, so that Xu Da was scattered and fled in the wilderness.

"Hugh my general!"

At the critical moment, Xu Da's personal guards rushed over, and hundreds of people waved the spears in their hands to block Ma Chao and protect Xu Da's escape.

Xu Da left, the cavalry of the Luoyang Army was even more chaotic, although there were 30,000 people, but they were killed by the lancers led by Ma Chao, and there were countless casualties. Ma Teng saw that the Western Han army outside the city was routing, so he ordered the drum to go out of the city, abandoned Shi Wansui's troops trapped in the city, and broke through to the direction of Tianshui together.

After all, the purpose of this campaign was to advance and retreat to break through to the south, not to fight hard with the enemy. The dog jumped over the wall in a hurry, and if the remnants of Shi Wansui were forced to fight to the death, they would not be able to get any benefits. It is still the best policy to break through and leave when the Luoyang army is in chaos.

Ma Teng personally sat in charge of the Chinese army, Qin Liangyu led the white pole soldiers to open the road first, and Ma Tie and Ma Xiu led the cavalry to follow, swarming out of the city, following the pace of Ma Chao's lancers, heading south. Ma Dai and Ma Yunluo were behind the palace together, guarding 30,000 Xiliang cavalry and 10,000 foot soldiers, and rushed along the post road towards Tianshui.

Shi Wansui was ambushed by the Xiliang soldiers in the city, half of the 10,000 horses were lost, and he was dizzy when he was killed, and he was about to fight desperately, but unexpectedly, the Xiliang soldiers suddenly left the city and went south. While rejoicing in the endless road, he didn't dare to chase anymore, so he could only put up a big banner and gather the remnants.

Xu Da led the tribe to go away, and Ma Chao did not chase after him, and led the lancers under his command to attack Yang Su's camp that was guarding the road to the south. Ma Teng supervised the soldiers, and nearly 40,000 horses broke through the first hurdle unharmed, approaching Yang Su's camp in the vast night.

Hearing that Shi Wansui and Xu Da were ambushed, and the main force of the Xiliang Army broke through to the south, Yang Su was shocked, but the cavalry had been taken away by Yang Lin, and Xu Da's cavalry was killed in pieces. had to order the men and horses of the headquarters to go out of the camp to swing their antlers, reject the horse and guns, desperately block the Xiliang army, and at the same time send people to Zhu Yuanzhang for help.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was twenty miles away, read Yang Su's letter and frowned and thought to himself: "The cavalry of the Ma family is too strong in combat on the plain, if our cavalry does not resist it, it is simply a mantis arm to block it with infantry." Anyway, it is a long way to go to Wuguan, and I am not afraid that the Ma Jiajun will fly away, let Yang Su fight a battle to consume the strength of the Xiliang Army, and I will lead the troops to take a shortcut to the sky and water, and use the mountains of Duangu to ambush the Ma Jiajun, and I will definitely win. ”

Having made up his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang threw Yang Su's letter into the furnace, ordered Xu Da to collect the defeated soldiers, and went south overnight in the direction of Duangu in Tianshui County, leaving only Yang Su's headquarters and Shi Wansui's remnants to confront Ma Jiajun near Wuwei. (To be continued......)