The reason is that the terrain in this area is not suitable for cavalry warfare, and if these more than a thousand cavalrymen become separated from the infantry behind them, they will easily fall into a passive position.
The cavalry is too important; Wu Yan cannot allow Guan Sheng to take these cavalry on an easy adventure.
However, the situation is different now.
Wu Yan felt it was too risky to lead the entire army directly into battle.
Wu Shuangren and his group repeatedly surprised him, making him lose confidence in their abilities.
"Grand Marshal, I think Commander Guan is right. Why don't we let him lead the cavalry to probe and test the enemy's strength?"
Wu Yan turned to Lu Yulin and said.
Lu Yulin pondered for a moment, then looked at Guan Sheng:
"Commander-in-Chief of the Cavalry, Guan Sheng, obey my command!"
Guan Sheng stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Guan Sheng is here!"
"I hereby order you to lead the cavalry ahead as a probe, and do not act rashly! If the cavalry suffers heavy losses, I will not spare you!"
"Yes, Guan Sheng obeys!"
Guan Sheng turned and walked out of the tent.
"Instructor Lin."
Wu Yan suddenly looked at Lin Qian.
Lin Qian nodded, immediately understanding. "I'll go with Commander Guan."
With First Rank expert like him by my side, there's no need to worry about Wu Shuangren sending experts to infiltrate the formation and behead them.
After Lin Qian left, Wu Yan turned to Lu Yulin and said:
"Grand Marshal, if it is confirmed that Wu Shuangren will personally lead the cavalry to deal with Commander Guan's cavalry, then you should directly send troops to attack his main camp!"
Lu Yulin nodded, understanding Wu Yan's plan.
Guan Sheng led his cavalry to probe the enemy's strength, serving as both a probe and bait. If Wu Shuangren couldn't resist and led his experts to deal with Guan Sheng, then his side could take advantage of Wu Shuangren's absence and lead an attack on the main camp!
As dawn broke, the more than 6,000 men from Mount Liang left their camp and began to advance.
From a distance, the road stretched out in a dark mass, with several large banners proclaiming "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" fluttering in the wind.
Wu Shuangren's side had also formed a battle formation early on, with spearmen in the center, swordsmen and shieldmen on the left and right flanks, and the archer brigade at the very front.
The formation of over seven thousand men stretched out from the official road, occupying several high points on the hills to the right.
Wu Shuangren, Xu Jing, Wu Dongrong, Liao Yu and others stood on a hillside, looking into the distance.
"Mount Liang probably won't launch a full-scale attack directly; they'll likely send cavalry to probe first."
Xu Jing spoke up.
Sure enough, a cloud of dust billowed in the distance, and a troop of cavalry galloped out from the Mount Liang formation.
It's here!
Everyone, including Wu Shuangren, felt a chill run down their spines.
Although morale is high, will the various battalions of the Yi Province Militia be able to maintain their formation when facing the enemy?
What if they fall into chaos on the battlefield and refuse to follow orders?
They even collapsed before the enemy cavalry could reach them?
Wu Shuangren wasn't entirely confident about this either.
Having more than 3,000 extra men is indeed a good thing, but if these three battalions collapse first, it might in turn cause chaos among the remaining elite troops!
Throughout history, those battles where the few defeated the many, or even where 100,000 men were routed by 800, all demonstrate that once an avalanche of forces forms on the battlefield, no amount of elite troops can compensate for it!
It's not absurd at all that 100,000 people are sometimes easier to slaughter than 100,000 pigs.
This is why, although Guo Jiwang was also shaken, he immediately sent someone to remind Wu Shuangren not to act rashly and to prioritize preserving his strength.
This moment marks the first true test for the Yi Province Militia since its establishment.
"Stand still, all of you!"
"Follow the training instructions and don't move around!"
"Don't be afraid. Militia Commander Wu said that as long as our formation remains intact, these cavalry won't dare to charge directly at us!"
"..."
In the ranks of the Yi Province Militia, the battalion commanders, deputy battalion commanders, and brigade commanders of each battalion spoke up to remind their Militia Private and constantly encouraged them.
Ahead, dust billowed and horses' hooves thundered.
The closer the distance, the stronger the overwhelming sense of pressure brought by the cavalry charge!
More than a thousand Mount Liang cavalrymen, all clad in brown armor and riding gray horses, spread out in formation as far as possible, like a brown wave, sweeping in with surging killing intent.
They're coming!
163. A prophetic foresight, tempered and refined on foot.
Dust billowed along the official road, and horses' hooves thundered.
The Mount Liang cavalry, numbering over thirty riders in a single file, marched in a mighty and imposing manner!
Back when Wu Shuangren was in Bo County, he had Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu ride horses and pretend to charge at the militia in formation as a way to train their courage.
Later, when they arrived at West River Market and then Yi Prefecture City, Wu Shuangren did not miss any of these courage training exercises or the unique trust training.
But training and real combat are different after all, and now it's time to test whether it's effective.
"Stay calm!"
At the very front of the formation were more than a hundred men from the crossbow battalion, Liao Dayong was constantly shouting loudly within the formation.
Fifty archers, holding bows and arrows, stood in a row at the front, kneeling slightly.
Behind them, fifty crossbowmen, each holding a powerful crossbow, stood in a kneeling line.
The last row consists of eleven crossbows, each manned by two crossbowmen.
The ground was shaking, and the cavalry were four hundred paces away from the archers' positions. (Note 1)
"Prepare--"
Liao Dayong shouted loudly.
Three hundred and fifty steps.
"Divine crossbow, fire!"
The eleven crossbows at the very back fired their arrows first.
Eleven crossbow bolts whistled out!
After firing the arrow, the crossbowman immediately lay down on the ground, braced his feet against the crossbow arm, and pulled the bowstring with his hands to nock the arrow as quickly as possible.
The second crossbowman standing to the side also quickly took out a crossbow bolt and put it into the mechanism.
After completing this series of actions, the bowstrings of the eleven crossbows emitted a series of crisp sounds, firing a second volley of bolts.
At this point, the cavalry was about 250 paces away from the archers' position.
"Second rank crossbowmen, prepare!"
Liao Dayong shouted again.
One hundred and fifty paces later, the crossbowmen behind fired a third volley of arrows.
"Crossbowmen, fire!"
The fifty crossbowmen in the second row, each wielding a powerful crossbow, also fired their arrows.
At this moment, the twenty-two crossbowmen in the third row, two by two, carried a Divine Arm Crossbow and quickly retreated to the rear formation.
The second rank of fifty crossbowmen cocked their crossbows at top speed and fired a second volley of arrows.
After completing the second round of firing, the fifty crossbowmen quickly turned and ran towards the rear formation.
The spear formation in the very center of the rear had a 'gap' deliberately left between the battalions; this was a temporary passage specifically for the archer and crossbow unit to retreat.
The crossbowmen of the archery brigade retreated to the rear of the column through this makeshift passage.
At the forefront, the Mount Liang cavalry were only about 120 paces away from the front ranks of the Yi Province Militia.
Only then did Liao Dayong lead the last fifty archers to fire their arrows.
The archer's shooting speed was extremely fast; he fired three volleys in the blink of an eye.
"Withdraw!"
Liao Dayong gave a shout and led fifty archers through the temporary passage to retreat to the rear.
Most of the archers were going to battle for the first time and were extremely nervous! When shooting arrows, they didn't care about accuracy at all; they just wanted to shoot the arrows as quickly as possible and then turn around and retreat.
Therefore, these volleys of arrows did not cause significant casualties to the Mount Liang cavalry. The Mount Liang cavalry at the forefront were all carrying shields and wearing armor, and their formation was very spread out.
About a hundred paces from the front of the Yi Province Militia, the Mount Liang cavalry suddenly turned their horses around, and the entire formation drew an arc to the right.
They did not charge into the enemy lines, but merely swept across them sideways. As they swept across, the cavalrymen on horseback simultaneously raised their crossbows, which were already cocked, and fired!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The arrows whistled through the air as they fell toward the front ranks of the Yi Province Militia.
"Raise your shields!"
Within the ranks of the Yi Province Militia, someone had already loudly given the order, and the Militia Private holding shields raised their shields in unison.
The shields almost completely obscured everyone in the front row of the Yi Province Militia.
The arrows struck the shield with a crackling sound, like a hailstorm.
"Hold on, don't move!"
"Don't shake your hand!"
"Stand still, all of you!"
"..."
The front ranks of the Yi Province Militia stirred, but amidst shouts and reprimands, many Militia Private, many of whom were on the battlefield for the first time, managed to regain their composure and avoid making any mistakes.
This round of arrow attacks also did not cause any casualties to the Yi Province Militia.
However, after the front ranks of the Mount Liang cavalry completed their turn, the cavalry behind them also turned their horses around, drawing an arc horizontally in front of the formation.
These cavalrymen did not carry crossbows, but instead used bows and arrows to hurl at the ranks of the Yi Province Militia.
Next, the Mount Liang cavalry began firing in waves, with one cavalry unit after another sweeping past the front of the formation and completing their volleys.
Arrows rained down in waves as the Yi Province Militia launched a counterattack.
The archers were all hiding in the middle and rear of the formation, outside the range of the mounted archers.
Because it is difficult to exert force on horseback, foot bows usually have a longer range than horse bows, and the same is true for crossbows.
The crossbows and crossbows, which had been reloaded, were the first to fire, and the archers followed suit, drawing their bows and nocking their arrows.
Because everyone was at the rear of the formation and could not see the enemy, they could only fire projectiles and rely on 'firepower coverage' to kill the enemy.
Following the usual training requirements, Liao Dayong adjusted the archers' positions and shouted commands to get everyone to fire together in order to increase the 'firepower coverage' range.
The Mount Liang cavalry's wave-like firing continued, when suddenly, more than a dozen arrows flew over the shields of the front ranks of the Yi Province Militia and landed in the ranks of the archers!
Puff puff puff!
A scream rang out; arrows were being fired from crossbows.
However, the Mount Liang cavalry initially fired volleys from about a hundred paces away, but suddenly a group of cavalrymen moved even closer, rushing to a position sixty or seventy paces from the front ranks to fire volleys!
Like two martial artists exchanging blows, the Mount Liang cavalry were the first to change tactics.
"Don't panic, everyone stay calm!"