Shi Tan was so angry that he was furious that he pointed at the city. He gritted his teeth and said, "If I break the city, you will be cut alive!"

Unable to calm down, he raised his horn again and blew it desperately. "Woo--" Hundreds of horns were blowing together. This time, the Jiehu cavalry learned the lesson of underestimating the enemy. All five thousand cavalrymen were put into the attack. Shi Tan went into battle himself. He supervised the battle behind the army, and he must break into the gap.

Ma Dai's face changed slightly. He also realized that the enemy was taking a desperate bet. He immediately transferred 600 soldiers from both sides to strengthen the defense at the gap. At this time, Leng Bao led 700 soldiers to come from the east and west city gates to provide assistance. The Jiehu cavalry did not attack the city gate in large quantities. They did not need to maintain too much force at the city gate. Each city gate was left with only 400 people to defend. The rest of the soldiers rushed to the gap, which made the defense force at the gap reach 2,700, and could vaguely compete with the Jiehu cavalry that was attacking.

Ma Dai quickly adjusted his defensive arrow formation, no longer distinguished between archers and crossbowmen, nor did he care about the distance, but divided into three sections, 900 people in one section, and took turns to shoot. The dense arrows shot towards the Hu cavalry like a storm. Under the pressure of murderous aura, the Jiehu cavalry also became extremely violent. The cavalry in front was shot down, and the dense cavalry behind immediately jumped past without stopping. The dead cavalry were piled up like a mountain, but the Jiehu cavalry was getting closer and closer, and even thousands of spears were smashed by the cavalry, and the violent Jiehu tide rushed towards him.

Seeing that the crossbow and spear sting could no longer stop the enemy's impact, Ma Dai shouted: "The spear army is in formation!"

The Han soldiers immediately changed their formation. They gave up their crossbows, picked up their spears, and quickly formed a spear formation. Three hundred people were in a sect, with a total of nine rows, and densely filled in the gap more than twenty feet wide. The spears were like forests, and the straight spears aimed at the cavalry of the Hu people rushed towards them.

"Kill!" Shi Tan yelled like crazy, and thousands of cavalry shouted together, "Kill!"

The Jiehu cavalry finally rushed to the broken wall, and the gap of more than 20 feet wide could not accommodate the impact of thousands of cavalry. The waves turned into cluster waves, and more than a hundred cavalry rushed towards the spear army. The two armies finally collided with each other. This was an extremely tragic scene. Dozens of Han soldiers were knocked out, and nearly a hundred Jiehu cavalry died tragically under the spear, but the formations of both sides were not chaotic. Another hundred cavalry rushed forward, and the spear army behind them quickly filled the gap.

The two sides fought fiercely at a gap of more than 20 feet wide, with dead bodies piled up and layered, and it was hard to tell whether it was the Han army or the Hu cavalry. The blood stained the city walls and the inner and outer lands red. Although the Jiehu cavalry was brave and powerful, they could not play the advantage of the cavalry in the narrow gap. Instead, the Han army gave up the war horses and fought with spears and infantry, but gained a advantage in the geographical advantage, which offset the superior forces of the Jiehu cavalry. The two sides were evenly matched, with drums like thunder, loud trumpets, and shouts of killing shook the sky.

When Zhao Qian, the army joined the army, saw that the rows of Han army spearmen were almost ineffective, he shouted: "Three rows of soldiers in the back, pick up the crossbow and follow me to the city!"

Nine hundred soldiers picked up the crossbows and arrows again, and ran towards the city from both sides. They occupied the high ground and stood high, laying bows and crossbows, and dense arrows shot towards the Hu cavalry under the city. The cavalry outside the city suddenly became in chaos.

Shitan had already red eyes, and he stared at the blood-red eyes and ordered, "All the cavalrymen are transferred!"

The sound of the trumpet sounded, and the five thousand cavalrymen at the east and west city gates rushed towards the northeast corner and started to fight fiercely. Shitan was determined to rush into the city even if he reached the last person.

This bloody siege battle ranged from noon to dusk. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and corpses piled up like mountains. More than 4,000 Jiehu cavalry were killed and injured, and more than 1,000 Han army suffered more than 7,000 troops, three times that of the Han army. At this time, both sides were exhausted, and the Jiehu cavalry had entered the city more than ten feet and surrounded by the Han army. Seeing that the Han army could no longer defend the gap, the Jiehu cavalry was about to break into the city.

At this moment, drums suddenly came from a distance, and all the soldiers on both sides were stunned. They saw dense black spots appearing in the distance, yellow dust spreading all over the sky, and the earth began to tremble. This was a cavalry of thousands of people coming, was it the Huns or the Han army? Everyone was full of hope, and at the same time there was despair.

Hundreds of Han soldiers on the top of the city suddenly burst into cheers. When they saw the red flag of the Han army, everyone shouted excitedly, "It's the Han army! It's our cavalry!"

The arrival of reinforcements greatly boosted the morale of the Han soldiers and killed the enemy and retreated step by step. The Jiehu cavalry was driven out of the city, and the stone-tanned face was ashes. He felt extremely hated. Why didn't the Huns come to help him? Helplessly, he had to shout, "Retreat!"

He turned his horse's head and ran north. Thousands of Hu cavalry were defeated and they fled desperately. At this time, Pang De led 6,000 cavalry to kill from the side. The overwhelming Han cavalry killed Xiang Jiehu and cut the Hu cavalry into two sections. Ma Dai was extremely excited when he saw Pang De. He forced himself to yell: "Get on the horse and chase!"

The remaining Han soldiers boarded their horses and rushed out of the gap. Following reinforcements to pursue the enemy, killing the Jiehu cavalrymen and overturned the horses and corpses everywhere. They chased for more than twenty miles. Shitan only fled from the Han army with less than four thousand cavalry, and more than 13,000 cavalry lost 9,000 people. Shitan was extremely sad. He did not dare to return to the camp and directly led the remaining cavalry to escape to the Jie tribe in the north.

But the Han army also paid a heavy price. Nearly half of the five thousand cavalry were injured or killed. If they had not retreated to the old city of Guyuan in time to defend, they would have been wiped out. Despite this, the heavy casualties of the Han cavalry were also the heaviest losses of the Jiangxia cavalry since its establishment in Wuchang County.

Ma Dai led the remnants of the army to finally return to Xiaoguan. Liu Jing personally went five miles away to welcome this cavalry team that suffered heavy losses but also created brilliant achievements.

When Liu Jing appeared in front of this team, Ma Dai turned over and dismounted, walked up to Liu Jing and knelt down on one knee, clasped his fists high and apologized: "I am so reckless that the cavalry suffered heavy losses. I am willing to be dealt with by military law!"

Liu Jing dismounted and helped him up, sighed and said, "It was my order to pursue the Wuhuan people. It had nothing to do with you. Who would have thought that the Hun cavalry would go south so quickly? You thought that 5,000 cavalry against 13,000 cavalry would suffer heavy losses, but in the end they would cause heavy damage to the enemy. Even if you were defeated, you would still be honored."

Ma Dai was extremely moved, and tears couldn't help but roll down. Liu Jing patted his shoulder and came to the cavalry again. He urged his horse to run to a high ground and bowed deeply to all the soldiers. This was a silent gratitude, the commander's gratitude for the soldiers after the hard battle, and the recognition of the soldiers' fighting to the death. It can touch people's hearts more than thousands of words. The soldiers were extremely excited. Many soldiers couldn't help but raise their arms and shout loudly, "Long live!"

Their shouts inspired the emotions of all soldiers, "Long live His Highness, Your Highness, King of Han!" The cheers resounded through Yunxiao

In a large tent in Gaoping County, Liu Jing summoned senior generals to discuss the battle against the Huns. Ma Dai first reported to Liu Jing about the detailed experience of his encounter with the Hun cavalry. Finally, he sighed: "Although our cavalry is well-trained, we are weaker than the Hun cavalry in terms of horse control technology and individual combat capabilities. We are just superior in terms of armor and formation. If we were not supported by the old city of Guyuan, we would definitely be wiped out. Although it was severely damaged by the enemy in the end, it was still the method of defending the city with infantry, and it had nothing to do with cavalry. If we want to defeat the Huns in the end, we must start with the weapons we are good at."

Ma Dai's words caused a lot of discussion in the big tent, and most of the discussions were skeptical. Ma Dai obviously lacked confidence. At this time, Zhao Yun asked: "General Ma, what would happen if we did not use 5,000 people to fight 13,000 people, but 10,000 cavalry to fight 10,000 cavalry, what would happen?"

"If it is 10,000 to 10,000, we should be able to defeat the Huns by relying on the advantages of formation and weapons. But the problem is that our cavalry now has only 10,000 people, and the Huns cavalry has at least 100,000 people, and the military strength is completely unmatched. I am not a big deal of the Huns' ambitions and destroying my own might, but the answer is based on fact that the Huns' cavalry is indeed very strong, and our cavalry does not have the upper hand in combat."

Wei Yan next to him said angrily: "As far as I know, Cao's army also fought against the Xiongnu in Youzhou. They defeated the Xiongnu cavalry twice, and even Cao's army could defeat the Xiongnu people. Why can't we do it!"

Wei Yan's doubts resonated with the generals, and the tent suddenly became a quarrel. Liu Jing slapped the table and shouted: "Silence me!"

The big tent suddenly became quiet. At this time, Jia Xu stroked his beard and smiled: "Your Highness, can you allow me to say a few words?"

"Military advisor, please tell me!"

Jia Xu said calmly: "I need to clarify some things for you. First of all, the enemy cavalry that General Ma Dai encountered was not the Huns, but the Jiehu cavalry. This is a branch of the Yuezhi people. They have always been famous for their fierce fighting. The Huns also used them as military slaves. The Jie people were fierce and cruel and plundered. This time they could damage them severely is a blessing for the Han people. Secondly, the Cao army was able to defeat the Huns twice because there were 30,000 Wuhuan cavalry in Cao's army, which was recruited from Liaodong. The Wuhuan cavalry was brave, no less than the Huns, and they also had advanced weapons and armor. The Wuhuan people were like tigers and had wings. Together with the tiger and leopard cavalry, the Cao army had 50,000 most elite cavalry, and was currently commanded by Cao Zhang, and they would be our strong enemy in the future."

Liu Jing nodded, "The military advisor is right. First of all, we must know ourselves and our enemy when fighting. If we can't even distinguish between Jie people, Xiongnu, Wuhuan people, etc., if we don't know that the main force of the Cao army's cavalry is the Wuhuan people, then if we continue to fight in a mess, we may encounter severe setbacks. We must lower our stature and know that we can seize Xiaoguan not because we are strong in combat, but because our troops are far superior to the other side. More importantly, the Wuhuan people cannot defend the city at all and cannot be complacent. We must realize that our cavalry strength is far inferior to the enemy. This is a fact."

The generals in the tent were silent. At this time, Zhao Yun said to Jia Xu in a deep voice: "Can the military advisor talk about the differences between these Hu people? We may be able to take advantage of the contradictions between Hu people and defeat them one by one."

Jia Xu smiled and said with a smile: "General Zhao said this is the key. Although the Jie people were regarded as slaves by the Huns and were oppressed for a long time, the Jie people themselves are very cruel and willing to be the lackeys of the Huns. Therefore, all ethnic groups in the grassland hate the Jie people very much. This time the Jie people suffered a heavy blow. I believe that other tribes will take the opportunity to attack them. Wuhuan, Xianbei, Rouran, etc. are possible. I think the Wuhuan people can win over. As far as I know, since Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan people in Liaodong, the Wuhuan people in Liaodong have gradually changed from nomadic to farming in recent years. From the farmland around Gaoping County, it can also be seen that the Wuhuan people are in the transition from nomadic to farming. If our northern expedition is successful this time, the Wuhuan people can completely transform into farming and finally integrate into the Han people. But if we fail this time, I am afraid that the Wuhuan people will be annexed by the Huns and become nomadic people again, and become a major disaster in our north."

Liu Jing was also in deep thought. He also realized that he was not fully prepared for the north this time and did not have a clear strategy. He needed to calm down and think carefully. At this moment, a soldier outside the tent reported loudly: "Report to Your Highness, there is a scout urgently!"

"Come in!"
Chapter completed!