Chapter 11: Defeat on the Shore
At the mouth of the Huangshui River, Han Dang led fifty guards to carefully observe the surrounding situation, while the other fifty guards were busy moving the supplies from the small boats to the three ships.
Although there were a lot of supplies, Han Dang did not rush them, but asked the guards who were carrying them to stop and rest every once in a while to maintain their strength. This was what Tian Ze specifically told him, to be careful in everything.
To the northeast, on a hill not far from Han Dang, a Wuhuan scout spotted the movement from afar and hurried back to report.
"General, that fleet has appeared again. This time they are transporting food, several thousand bags of it." The Wuhuan scout said excitedly.
When Jiebi heard this, his eyes suddenly showed greedy looks like a hungry wolf.
"How many of them are there?"
“No more than a hundred people.”
"Are there any weapons or armor?"
"No, most of them are civilians. Only some of them are guards, and they are not armed."
"it is good!"
Jie Jin looked at the more than 170 clansmen who were standing behind him in a threatening manner.
The other side consisted of only a hundred unarmed Han people.
The advantage is mine!
If they rushed forward to rob the food and then took these Han people away as slaves, their tribe wouldn't have to worry about the next few years.
After making up his mind, he raised his saber and shouted, "My men, follow me and kill! Take away the food and slaves!"
"Kill! Kill!"
The Wuhuan people, who had been ready to fight for a long time, followed closely behind Jibi, roaring excitedly and rushing out one after another.
The chaotic sound of horse hooves was soon noticed by the scouts arranged by Han Dang, who immediately blew the whistle.
"Hush! Hush!"
Hearing the urgent whistle, Han Dang shouted without hesitation.
"Second level defense!"
The words trailed off.
The fifty guards immediately gathered in an orderly manner on the shore near the ship, and skillfully took out armor and weapons from several inconspicuous boxes and put them on.
In order to facilitate the needs of naval amphibious operations, Tian Ze specially arranged for craftsmen to design and create this simplified armor that is easy to put on quickly and relatively light. He also adopted pre-assembly and buckle design, and let the soldiers train repeatedly to put it on quickly.
In just a moment, all fifty guards were transformed into regular troops armed to the teeth.
Wearing black iron armor, holding hard bows, carrying spears on their backs, and wearing ring-handled swords on their waists, they were divided into three rows, with their backs to the sea ships, forming a Queyue formation.
The fifty guards transporting the supplies calmly and orderly put down their sacks, walked to the ship one by one, put on their leather armor, and picked up the crossbows hidden under the deck.
Han Dang was not arrogant. He rushed back to the ship and took out the "telescope" given to him by Tian Ze.
Although he couldn't make glass, Tian Ze asked craftsmen to use white crystal to make a batch of "telescopes". Unfortunately, the cost was too high and the production difficulty was too great, so there are only a few available.
Seeing the Wuhuan cavalry coming from a distance, Han Dang's expression relaxed a little: "They are Hu cavalry, the number should be less than 200."
Deputy Chen Rui looked at the ship behind him and said cautiously: "Captain, don't be careless. Why don't we retreat back to the ship and test it out first?"
Han Dang carefully observed the situation of the Wuhuan cavalry and found that their formation was loose and the weapons in their hands were extremely messy.
Putting away the telescope, Han Dang looked at the small boat beside him, which had only taken away half of the grain bags, and said:
"I've taken a look and found that these barbarians are not elite. It shouldn't be difficult for us to eat them. There is still so much food left to be transported. We can't just throw it away."
"And I'm afraid this place has been targeted by the enemy. If we don't give them a hard blow, they will probably harass us constantly in the future."
Chen Rui looked at the fifty guards on the shore and said, "Captain, the Lord said that people are more valuable than food. Especially now that we are short of people, if there are casualties, the Lord will probably hold us accountable!"
Tian Ze spent several years carefully training these two hundred guards.
These are treasures that he had collected bit by bit by relying on the art of gazing at qi all over the world. Each of them has extraordinary talents. If they are trained properly in the future, it will be no problem for them to become generals in the army. He would be heartbroken for a long time if he lost one of them.
"It doesn't matter."
Han Dang pointed to the surrounding terrain on the shore.
"My lord, you have carefully considered changing ships here. The surrounding areas are all depressions and gravel, which makes it inconvenient for cavalry to charge. We have a large number of bows and crossbows, so it will not be difficult to repel them."
Han Dang was absolutely confident in his talent. As a naval commander, relying on his talents in riding and archery, the navy under his command was also not weak in land warfare. Especially in this kind of battle with one's back to the water, the advantage was even more obvious.
Soon, the Wuhuan army rushed to a range of about three hundred steps.
Han Dang and Chen Rui looked at the Wuhuan army's chaotic attack and felt relieved. But Ji Jian had already seen Han Dang's fully armed army and cursed the scouts in his heart.
Is this called a civilian or a guard?
They were clearly elite soldiers armed with bows and crossbows.
For a moment, he had the urge to lead his troops to rein in their horses and return to the Hui people.
But if they retreated in such a whimper, it would be hard to explain. Thinking about the hungry women and children in the tribe and the experience of fighting against the Han army, Ji Jian gritted his teeth and did not call for a halt, but just silently slowed down the speed of the horse.
The enemy was armed with bows and crossbows, and fully armored. The usual guerrilla scattering method was unlikely to work. The best option was to lead the army to break through the enemy formation. If these Han people were as weak as the county soldiers, they would just have to withstand a wave of arrows.
"Two hundred steps!"
"One hundred and fifty steps!"
Following the scouts' reports, the charging Wuhuan troops fired a few arrows sparsely in an attempt to disrupt the enemy's formation and dampen their morale.
Horseback archery is the specialty of the Hu cavalry. When they encounter enemies with weak combat awareness, they will often panic under the rain of arrows, and the subsequent charge will be greatly hindered.
However, Han Dangjun, who was wearing iron armor and even a helmet, didn't care about the inferior arrows. Except for a few arrows that were aimed at his face and were dodged by turning his head, the other arrows hit the iron armor without leaving even a white spot.
Han Dang's lips curled slightly.
Don't treat guards as less than elite troops.
These 100 guards have been trained for several years and have been trained by him personally. Although they have not participated in major battles, they often go hunting in the mountains and simulate combat, and have experienced several small-scale bandit attacks. Their combat awareness and combat capabilities cannot be underestimated.
With sophisticated equipment, dealing with these barbarians is no problem.
Seeing this scene, Ji Jian's heart sank, but he had no way to retreat. The surrounding lowlands were not suitable for cavalry to charge, let alone turn around.
He could only take a gamble.
"One hundred steps!"
Han Dang smiled coldly as he looked at the Wuhuan cavalry in front of him, whose horse speed was less than half of the charging speed of ordinary cavalry due to the terrain.
"Release the arrow! Shoot straight!"
In an instant, hundreds of arrows shot straight at the Wuhuan cavalry from above. In just a moment, dozens of Wuhuan cavalry fell.
Han Dangjun, who was well-trained and armed with a specially made hard bow, had an extremely fast shooting speed thanks to his natural talent.
After the first round of volleys, the guards began shooting in three stages according to their positions, and the continuous rain of arrows surged like a wave.
Although the crossbowmen on the ship had a slower shooting speed, their accuracy and power were far superior to bows, and they killed even more enemies than archers.
Han Dang's talent not only increased the firing rate, but also the accuracy of the shooting. With the combination of multiple factors, the Wuhuan cavalry, who were pressing directly, found it difficult to move forward. The Wuhuan cavalry who were at the forefront quickly fell down in the rain of arrows.
You know, these strong bows and crossbows are all fine products made by Tian Ze at a great price, and even the arrowheads are made of fine iron. Although a lot of money and energy were spent, the effect is indeed excellent.
The Wuhuan cavalry, who didn't even have leather armor, were injured immediately after being touched, and many horses fell to the ground.
The twenty archers standing in front of them thrust their spears in front of them, intending to change their weapons when the enemy rushed in twenty steps. However, they found that the enemy was suppressed so tightly that they did not need to change their spears to defend themselves, and they concentrated on shooting arrows.
The Wuhuan cavalry, who were hit head-on, were now in a dilemma. The depression they were in made it impossible for them to increase their horse speed, and they became lambs to be slaughtered in the face of the continuous rain of arrows.
Seeing that his tribesmen had launched several consecutive charges but were unable to get within thirty steps of the Han army, and instead, dozens of them fell one after another like wheat being cut, Jieji's face turned pale and his heart was full of regret.
"withdraw!"
Upon receiving the order, the Wuhuan cavalry reined in their horses, turned around and wanted to retreat in all directions.
However, the horses' hooves were deeply sunken in the soft depression, making it difficult for them to turn around. There was also some gravel mixed in the depression, and many cavalrymen fell to the ground due to their impatience.
Han Dang would not miss the opportunity to strike hard at a fallen dog, and ordered his guards to keep shooting arrows. After the Wuhuan cavalry ran a distance of 150 steps, they switched to throwing arrows without any mercy.
Anyway, Changxing Island has now achieved mass production of arrows through improved hydraulic forging and other means, as well as many excellent craftsmen, and the stored arrows are enough for them to squander.
The more than one hundred Wuhuan cavalrymen who came impatiently fled in panic after leaving behind nearly a hundred corpses.
After counting and finding that no one under his command was killed, Han Dang nodded slightly.
After ordering the guards to bury the bodies and slaughter the horses for preservation, he continued to lead his troops to change ships and head to Changxing Island to transport supplies.
Han Dang had experienced this situation several times. Sometimes he encountered water bandits, and sometimes he encountered Hu cavalry, but the number of them was never as large as this time, and he easily dealt with them all.
As the only naval commander under Tian Ze, Han Dang's naval all-round characteristics are very useful in the north where naval forces are scarce.
Invincible on water and strong on land, he can handle any kind of battle with ease as long as he is by the water.
(End of this chapter)
