Warring States Odyssey

  After more than an hour of fierce battle, the sky was already bright, and every place on the battlefield could be seen very clearly. Li Mu was watching from one side under the protection of over a hundred cavalrymen. However, at this time, the battlefield stretched for tens of miles, so it was impossible to see the entire situation completely. But Li Mu's focus was on observing the combat effectiveness of the new cavalry.

  After continuously watching several new cavalry troops break through the Qin army's resistance, Li Mu also nodded repeatedly and asked Zhao Xuan beside him: "Zhao Xuan, what do you think of this new-style cavalry's combat effectiveness?"

  Zhao Xuan said: "Indeed very strong, I didn't expect that just making a few small changes to Ma's work would be able to increase the combat effectiveness by several times. If we can establish an army of 10,000 cavalrymen like this, it will probably be invincible and unstoppable. It seems that the future war pattern will have a big change."

  Li Mu smiled and said, "The changes to the horse equipment are only one aspect. The key is the tactics used by this cavalry unit, which are completely different from the infantry, chariot, and cavalry tactics we've known in the past. To be honest, I never thought of such tactics before. However, it's undeniable that using cavalry in this way brings out their full strength and achieves the best results. Perhaps this is the true power of cavalry. Of course, the changes to the horse equipment are also very important, as they are the foundation of cavalry. Without these changes, the cavalry would not be able to fully execute these tactics. You're right on this point, future wars will indeed undergo great changes, and cavalry will become the main force on the battlefield."

  "But I still don't quite understand, how did Gao Yuan come to know these tactics? If he really came up with them out of thin air, then his intelligence would be truly astonishing."

  Li Muo chuckled and said, "You can't view the highlands with ordinary logic. No matter what, we were able to win this battle, and the highlands played a huge role in it. If he hadn't trained such a cavalry, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been easy for us to win. And even if we had won, our losses would not have been small. Do you still remember the Battle of Fei three years ago? Although we won that battle, our casualties were also extremely heavy, unlike the minimal losses in this battle."

  Zhao Xuan also nodded and said, "The general is right. With the plateau and this cavalry, it will be more advantageous for the general to lead the army in resisting Qin's attack in the future."

  A faint shadow appeared on Li Mu's face, but just then a soldier rushed to the front of Li Mu's horse and said: "Report to General, General Yuan has arrived with his troops."

  Li Mu listened and was overjoyed, although the Zhao army had already gained a decisive advantage on the battlefield. However, the current strength of the Zhao army was too weak to encircle and annihilate the Qin army, so they could only pursue and attack the Qin army in a limited way. Although the Zhao army could defeat the Qin army, the damage would be limited and would not cause significant casualties to the Qin army. Therefore, after retreating, the defeated Qin army could regroup and quickly recover its combat effectiveness within a short period of time, and then launch another attack on Zhao.

  Now Yuan Xuan is leading the infantry to arrive, although there are only 30,000 people, but it's much better than the few thousand cavalry now. Although it's also impossible to annihilate the Qin army, it can greatly enhance the killing power against the Qin army. Therefore, Li Mu immediately ordered Yuan Xuan to lead the army to attack and expand the results of the battle, trying to destroy as many of the Qin army's effective forces as possible.

  At this time on the battlefield, most of the resistance forces of the Qin army had been defeated by the Zhao army. Therefore, after Yuan Xue led the Zhao army to join the battlefield, the situation on the battlefield changed immediately. The Zhao army not only pursued and killed the Qin army but also adopted a strategy of dividing and surrounding them, gradually encircling and annihilating the Qin army step by step. The casualties of the Qin army increased sharply, and a considerable number of Qin soldiers threw away their weapons and surrendered to the Zhao army after being surrounded.

  However, at this time, the main general of the Qin army, Huan Yi, had already gathered nearly 5,000 soldiers and dozens of war chariots by his side, and was retreating from the battlefield while fighting.

  The original guards of Huan Yi were all carefully selected elite soldiers by Huan Yi himself, who far surpassed other Qin troops in both physical strength and combat effectiveness. Moreover, there were dozens of war chariots, so after the Zhao army launched a surprise attack on the Qin army, Huan Yi also commanded his own guards to form a defensive formation, relying on the war chariots for cover, to resist the Zhao army's offensive. Although Huan Yi's guards had only over a thousand men, they were able to maintain their complete defensive formation throughout, leaving no opportunity for the Zhao army to attack.

  At this time, Huanzi could have easily escaped from the battlefield if he had wanted to, but as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, he was not willing to flee in such a way. Therefore, on the one hand, he commanded the troops to resist the attack of the Zhao army, and on the other hand, he also gathered the defeated soldiers. The defeated Qin army saw that their commander was still on the battlefield, so they felt a little more at ease and all came together to gather around Huanzi. As a result, there were already 5,000 to 6,000 Qin soldiers and 60 to 70 war chariots gathered around Huanzi. Huanzi led this Qin army, fighting and retreating, trying to withdraw from the battlefield.

  But this way, the Qin army on the battlefield was also extremely eye-catching, and naturally attracted the Zhao army to surround them. As a result, three or four thousand Zhao soldiers gathered around this Qin army to attack. Just then, Yuan Xue led the rear support troops of the Zhao army to arrive on the battlefield. Huan Yi also knew that if he didn't retreat from the battlefield now, he might not be able to leave.

  It's easy for the Qin army to defend, but it's hard to withdraw from the battlefield. Not to mention that there are more and more Zhao troops surrounding them now, although the Qin army has a force of over 5,000 people, but the combat effectiveness of the gathered Qin army is far inferior to the Wei army of Huan Gui, most of whom are timid and have no intention of fighting to the death. They gather together just because they rely on their commander, thinking that following him will make them feel more secure. But if you want them to fight with all their might, it's hopeless.

  Although the number of Qin troops has increased, their strength has not improved accordingly. On the contrary, due to the large number of infantry and lack of cavalry and chariots, they have slowed down the progress of the Qin army. Therefore, although the Qin army began to retreat, they were unable to withdraw from the battlefield at full speed.

  However, this made the Qin army more conspicuous on the battlefield, and there was also a large flag of Huan Yi on the chariot. At this time, Gao Yuan and Li Yihong were leading two hundred men to charge and kill on the battlefield, so they also discovered this Qin army. They found that there was actually the main general of the Qin army among them, so the two immediately led the Zhao army to rush over and join the battle to surround this Qin army.

  This is also the only Qin army on the battlefield that can still maintain a certain scale of combat effectiveness and organize resistance. However, at this time, more than 2,000 Zhao cavalry and nearly 2,000 infantrymen had gathered around the Qin army. The two sides chased each other, and for a while, they were also stuck in a stalemate. But after Gao Yuan and Li Ying joined forces, the situation of the Zhao army changed greatly.

  First, the two men each led a hundred-man cavalry team to charge into the Qin army's formation in a diagonal manner, and then quickly killed out from another side. Originally, the Qin army was still able to maintain an overall situation, but after the Zhao army repeatedly charged and killed for two or three times, the Qin army immediately became chaotic under the impact of the Zhao army, and was divided into five or six large blocks, unable to confront the Zhao army as a whole again.

  At this time, Huan Yi on the chariot also saw this process very clearly and was shocked. Although he had heard that the Zhao army's cavalry had become extremely powerful in the previous battles, Huan Yi hadn't seen it with his own eyes and thought it was just an exaggeration by the defeated troops. But now, seeing these two hundred or so cavalrymen, their riding skills were excellent, their killing methods were bold, they could come and go freely in the Qin army's formation, and in a short while, they had already dispersed the Qin army, who couldn't resist at all. Although the Qin army was already disheartened, the impact force and combat power displayed by the Zhao army cavalry should not be underestimated, and it far exceeded that of the Qin army cavalry.

  Although Zhao was the first country to form a large-scale cavalry and use it on a large scale, the Qin army's cavalry was not much smaller than that of Zhao. Huan Yi had fought against the Zhao army's cavalry many times in the past, and the combat effectiveness of both sides' cavalry was basically equivalent, with neither side having an advantage. How did the combat power of Zhao's cavalry suddenly increase? Although Zhao's national strength is far weaker than Qin's, there is a general like Li Mu who can hold his own, and now there is also such a powerful cavalry, making it extremely difficult for Qin to defeat Zhao.

  But now is not the time to think about these things, Huan Zhuang of course knew that at this moment he was also powerless, so he immediately ordered, regardless of other soldiers, all chariots to advance at full speed, and quickly escape from the battlefield, otherwise even himself would be hard to survive.

  The Qin army's formation was disrupted by the Zhao army, but it wasn't all bad, at least the Qin army's chariots were freed up and could speed away without worrying about other Qin soldiers. Therefore, the Qin army's chariots also suddenly accelerated, quickly fleeing the battlefield in disarray.

  But Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong immediately discovered that the Qin army's war chariots were fleeing from the battlefield, and the two immediately led the cavalry to chase after them.

  At this time, there were about thirty or forty chariots that escaped with Huan Gong, and each chariot had three armored soldiers. Huan Gong's heart was slightly settled, thinking that he would be able to escape the battlefield safely.

  But just at this moment, Zhao Jun's cavalry suddenly appeared on both sides and chased after the Qin army. The distance between the two armies was getting closer and closer. Moreover, seeing that Zhao Jun's cavalry were all galloping at full speed, Huan Yi couldn't help but be greatly shocked.

  Although a chariot with soldiers is not light, each chariot has four horses pulling it, so if the chariots are running at full speed, they are extremely fast. In a short period of time, the speed of the chariots is not inferior to that of the cavalry. However, in this era, the cavalry's equipment was backward, and only a very small number of soldiers with the most exquisite riding skills could urge their horses to run at full speed. But among Zhao's more than 200 horsemen, they were all able to gallop quickly, and not one rider fell off his horse. In Huan Zhu's heart, a chill arose.