The Hexi Corridor, a dry and barren land, once witnessed a tragic battle. Huo Quzhi, a young Han general, led an army of 10,000 people and embarked on this road full of unknowns and dangers. Flying between the sand and the rocks, they encountered fierce conflicts with the wild nomads. Swords met, and blood stained the mountains of Gaolan. It is rumored that Huo Quai's army suffered heavy losses, and 7,000 warriors were killed. How exactly does this battle play out? Will Huo Qubing finally win, or will he fall into a situation from which he will never recover? Let's go down the road of history and discover the fascinating truth of war.
The journey under the iron hoof
In the first four years of Taichu, Huo Quzhi, a young hussar general in the Western Han Dynasty, led an elite army of nearly 10,000 people to embark on an unprecedented expedition. Their goal was to completely eliminate the remnants of the nomadic rebellion in the Hexi Corridor and consolidate the security of the frontier.
Cavalry accounted for the vast majority of this large army, and the heavily armed iron cavalry was brave and fearless. They held halberds and spears in their hands, and wore steel armor and armor, and they waited for the day to forge ahead. There is also a small number of foot soldiers, who are responsible for transporting baggage and providing manpower support. The whole army was boiling with blood, whistling horses' hooves and raising the yellow sand, and they were all full of confidence in this expedition.
The Hexi Corridor, a long and narrow oasis passage, is bordered by the Hetao Plain in the east, the Shule River Valley in the west, and the desert Gobi on both sides of the north and south, which has been the crossroads of the Western Regions civilization and the Central Plains civilization since ancient times. It is remote and harsh, and the Western Han Dynasty has never used troops in this area on a large scale before.
Embarking on this difficult road, what difficulties and dangers await Huo Qubing and the sergeants will be? What kind of cruel methods will the brutal nomads use? However, the indomitable pride of this elite army of the Central Plains is destined to set off a bloody storm in this Gobi land, and a cruel and tragic scene will be staged.
The wolf smoke gradually burned the field
At the foot of Longshou Mountain, the Han army camp was heavily entrenched. Huo Quai's soldiers are reorganizing their equipment and gradually recovering their fighting spirit. They had just smashed the stubborn resistance of the Xupu tribe and made a start for the Hexi expedition.
The Shopu tribe is a hard-line local rebel group that hibernates the oasis day and night, wreaking havoc on the cause. They had more than 1,000 elite cavalry, and they were familiar with the terrain, so they dared to arrogantly provoke the ironclad men and horses of the Han army. The king of Yunpu even said that if he dared to set foot in the territory, he would be killed.
In the face of such a madman, Huo Qubing did not show weakness. He led his army to skillfully outflank and occupy the commanding heights, forcing the Yunpu tribe to retreat one after another. The life of the king of Yanpu was guaranteed, and the defeated army fled in a hurry. The Han army divided into several routes, pursued the victory, and killed the remaining captives. From then on, the Yunpu Department was completely wiped out and no longer caused chaos.
Subsequently, the three parts of Jimo, Khotan, and Tu along the line also suffered one after another. These three are really small, and they have fallen one after another. The Han army has not had time to penetrate deeply, and these tribes have already put on a deferential posture, hoping that the rain will benefit Ze. Huo Qu was ill and saw that he had ill intentions, so he went to the tent alone to ask the whole story. The leaders who were afraid of sin and surrendered themselves all prostrated themselves and pleaded for mercy.
In the end, Huo Qu's illness was mitigated and the sinners of the head were punished. The rest of the soldiers were all opened and incorporated into the Han army. In this way, he swept away many hidden sins.
At this moment, an alarm suddenly came from the Evil King City further north. The evil king of Hun is ruthless, commanding 3,000 nomadic cavalry, and is stepping up the reorganization of his troops to make a final fight. Huo Quzhi realized that this was the biggest test of the entire expedition.
He pondered for a moment, and then ordered the military camp to move to the foot of Gaolan Mountain, and defend the upper hand. When the Hun evil army slowly pressed the border, the Han army camp was already full of guns and arrows, and they were all under control. A bloody battle is inevitable, and both sides will live and die, and a drama of life and death will be staged at the foot of Gaolan Mountain.
The Han army was in trouble
After the capture of the city of the evil king, the Han army did not stop. They turned eastward, determined to purge the remnants of the Hexi region once and for all. However, this decision is destined to lead them to a place of no return.
Traveling from the foot of Longshou Mountain, there is only a desolation along the road, and the yellow sand is permeated. The army of guilt in the army suffered various unexpected attacks, resulting in a shortage of war horses and arrows. First of all, the quiver was almost bottomed out, and several fierce battles in succession had exhausted the elite cavalry's sharp arrow light array. There are even more treacherous enemy troops from time to time, sniping at the Han army and then retreating without a trace.
Just when the Han army was on the brink of urgency, Huo Qubing ordered the whole army to wrap the remaining brand-new arrows in sheepskin as the last nothing. Although this plan misled the temporary opponent, it could not completely solve the urgent need. Seeing that the way is cut off, there is no way back; To push forward is to expose ourselves to a more helpless situation.
Although Huo Quzhi is brave and good at fighting, he is also proud and complacent because of his youth. He insisted on not listening to the earnest dissuasion of the veteran generals in the army, and rested on his laurels here. I thought this was just a small obstruction, but I didn't know that this was a ruthless move carefully deployed by the enemy.
Soon, a brave and powerful cavalry team approached the Han army camp. They were none other than the most hard-line nomadic tribe in the region---- the cavalry of King Hutu's own army. I saw that they had a spectacular lineup, with a momentum like a rainbow, and they clearly planned to kill the killer.
It is useless to resist stubbornly, let alone break through. King Hutu not only recruited the remnants of the rebellious nomads near the nearby Han army camp, but was also making a final containment strategy in the vicinity. In the twilight sky, the situation has become desperate......
Bloody battle at the foot of the dragon's head mountain
At dusk, the smoke of gunpowder gradually rises at the foot of Longshou Mountain. Under the leadership of the remnants of the Hun Evil King City, the Hutu cavalry quietly outflanked the Han army camp. They took advantage of the momentum and rushed straight to the camp, and a fierce charge immediately broke up the Han army's defensive line.
Huo Qubing was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly ordered the garrison to be on alert. However, although the cavalry was numerous, the cavalry tactics against the nomads were overstretched. Hugh Tu's cavalry took turns to harass and shoot through the Han army's crossbow arrows. Seeing that the camp was broken and the army was gradually in a desperate situation, Huo Quzhi realized that the difficulty of this battle was beyond imagination.
Just when the Han army thought it was extremely critical, the army of the evil king suddenly turned over and fled. This gave the Han army a temporary respite, but an even greater calamity was already on the way. I saw that dozens of miles away, the army under the command of the evil king himself was surging like a tide, echoing with the Hutu cavalry from afar, and surrounded the Han army.
Caught in a pincer siege by two cavalry armies, the Han army fell into an unprecedented desperate situation. The arrows were almost gone, the horses were devastated, and the makeshift fists were no match for the brave nomadic knights. At this critical juncture, Huo Qubing ordered the whole army to get out of the encirclement, give up all baggage, and break through the encirclement along the line of Longshou Mountain and flee eastward.
Seeing the situation, the cavalry took advantage of the victory and encountered a tragic battle with the Han army. Bows and arrows pierce the forest, iron hooves step on thunder, and the two sides are equal to each other. There were even more brutal nomadic cavalry wielding halberds and charging into the middle of the Han army, intending to cut down the grass and eradicate the roots. This battle was too tragic, the corpses and stumps were all over the place, and the gurgling blood stained the foot of Longshou Mountain....
At the foot of the tragic Gaolan Mountain
The difficult breakout continued until dark, with heavy casualties on both sides. By the time the final battle raged from the foot of Gaolan Mountain, the Han army and the nomadic cavalry had exhausted all their strength. Blood-colored smoke enveloped the mountains, and the smell of rust and gunpowder wafted through the air.
In the evening, the two armies decided to temporarily separate their lines and prepare for the final battle. The Han army hurriedly built a camp at the foot of Gaolan Mountain and simply bandaged the seriously wounded. Everywhere you look, you can see the devastation, and the wails are endless. Even Huo Quai, who is brave and good at fighting, can't hide his tiredness at this moment. He personally inspected the battle formations and instructed the officers of the battalions to be on extra alert.
On the other side, the two nomadic warlords, King Hutu and King Hun Evil, were also gathering the surviving cavalry. They were embarrassed by each other, wearing clusters of flawed arrows on their heads and covered in blood. But both sides attach great importance to this decisive battle that could lead to racial annihilation. Soon, they deployed a new combat policy, and surrounded two elite cavalry on the Gaolan mountainside, preparing to launch a final charge.
As the night grew darker, the two armies began this life-and-death struggle like two long-hated beasts. The Han army dispatched all the cavalry and foot soldiers to hold the mountainside with the strength of the chariot battalion. The nomadic cavalry, on the other hand, used the tactics of cavalry and archery, and suddenly formed a detachment around the camp. The battle heated up in an instant, and the two sides could no longer tell the winner.
Just when the two sides were fighting hard, the clouds suddenly dispersed, and a bright moon slowly rose on the heights of the Gaolan peaks. The moonlight shines like water, illuminating the valley in full view. In this brief silence, the brutal scene of the confrontation between the two sides is unobstructed—piles of corpses and dying horses streak across the valley, blood glittering with a disgusting sheen in the deep moonlight. It was at this moment that all those involved in this tragedy truly realized the cruelty and horror of war.
Fighting all night, the smoke of gunpowder is thick at the foot of Gaolan Mountain. But in the end, this tragic battle triggered by a young hussar general came to a bleak end...