Unknown Knight

Aix continued to let Bandak move towards Kudan City. Ran Hu and the herdsmen actually activated the taunting skill in the Kugit language, and cursed and mocked the Kugits behind them, using all kinds of ugly and inappropriate metaphors. They also understood the taboos and defects of the Kugits, and their curses were very appropriate and accurate.

How could these Kugit masters, who considered themselves superior, tolerate the insults and ridicules of the shepherd slaves who used to kneel at their feet? They shouted and cursed, vowing to hack these two-legged sheep to death with sabers, stab them to death with spears, trample them to death with horses' hooves, and then crush them into meat paste to relieve the hatred in their hearts.

At first, these Kugits were so angry that they rode their horses back and forth in front of the formation. After hesitating for a while and gathering up their courage, these Kugits, who were really angry, still rushed forward. However, they had learned their lesson this time. They moved around and shot at the maximum range of the crossbows. Although they could not cause any substantial damage to this side, they kept a close yet distant state with Aix. The purpose was self-evident, which was to stick to Aix and his party like a magnet and prevent them from moving towards the direction of Kudan City.

Aix saw through the enemy's strategy at a glance, and immediately stopped everyone from shooting to avoid wasting too many arrows. Instead, he concentrated the arrows on sharpshooters like Ran Hu, Desevi, and Bandak, allowing them to conduct precise shooting.

Ran Hu's archers not only shot far but also accurately. In just a short while, more than ten archers shot down fifteen or sixteen enemy riders. The terrified Kugit people dared not to provoke them anymore and retreated obediently to a distance of more than two hundred meters.

Aix saw the enemy being repelled once again, and the morale was high, especially the herdsmen. They were usually bullied and oppressed. Now they saw those arrogant Kugits and those high-ranking Master Na Yan being beaten into a pulp by their own people. They were all overjoyed and encouraged, and they shouted loudly.

On the other hand, the Kugits had suffered heavy casualties of no less than fifty or sixty men. They could not win the fight, and were in a stalemate, and they did not dare to retreat now. Toju Nayan had given them a death order.

Seeing that the Kugits had learned their lesson, Aix ordered Bandak to turn the vehicles around and drive at full speed towards Kudan City. The Kugits could only watch helplessly, lagging far behind, and dared not to provoke them again.

They marched like this until the afternoon, when they suddenly saw thick smoke billowing from farther behind the Kugits on the opposite side. When the Kugits saw it, they shouted excitedly, apparently the reinforcements they had been waiting for had arrived.

Aix's heart sank. After thinking for a while, he finally made up his mind and ordered Bandak to move the convoy to the river not far away.

The Kudan River is the main tributary of the lower Kulau River. The river is wide, about seventy to eighty meters wide, and even more than one hundred meters wide at its widest point. The river is deep and has abundant water flow. Ships can pass through it in all three seasons except winter. There are also wide tidal flats on both sides of the river, which are covered with silt and gravel, making it a terrain that is very unfavorable for cavalry combat.

This was the place that Aix had chosen in advance, and he was determined to fight the Kugits to the death here. He asked someone to call Zhang Ping over, whispered something to him, and then asked him to take five people, each riding three horses, and quickly rush to Kudan City to inform Manide to act according to the plan.

The remaining people and horses formed a C-shaped formation near the river, with six wagons on three sides facing the shore and two wagons on one side facing the river. This formation had a much larger space, enough to accommodate all the people and horses.

After the two groups of Kugits joined together, the chariot formation on Aix's side was basically completed. He was organizing people to use the wooden boards on the carts to dig trenches on the wetland outside the chariot formation. Several pots were set up inside the chariot formation, and they were cooking with dry cow dung.

The few Kugit leaders in the team were so angry that they cursed loudly, but there was nothing they could do as they had come all the way with an empty stomach, so they had to make a fire and cook a meal to eat their fill first.

An hour later, both sides had eaten and rested enough, so they set up their positions and prepared for a big fight.

The two groups of Kugits and one group now have a total of two hundred and fifty or two hundred and sixty people, nearly three times the number of Aix's side. Thinking that they have the advantage, the Kugits decided to use light cavalry to launch a tentative attack first.

More than fifty light cavalrymen ran and shot along the chariot formation, but the river beach really limited the advantage of the cavalry. As soon as the light cavalry got close, their speed slowed down. Having lost their speed advantage, they were no better than fixed targets. Seven or eight of them were shot down by the crossbowmen from Aix in the first encounter.

The Kugits had no choice but to withdraw their light cavalry. After resting and discussing for about half an hour, the leading Nayans decided to let everyone dismount and fight. Their heavy cavalry led the way with shields held high, and the light cavalry followed behind, slowly surrounding the enemy from three sides on foot.

After seeing the Kugit formation, Aix ordered the archers to launch projectiles to attack the light cavalry behind them, and the crossbowmen to launch horizontal shots to attack the heavy cavalry in front of them. This division of labor made the attack very effective. Before the Kugits reached the chariot formation, they lost another 15 or 16 people.

The Kugits who finally arrived were very excited and rushed over howling, thinking that they could kill indiscriminately as long as they jumped over the convoy. Little did they know that this was just the beginning of their nightmare.

The truck, which seemed to be only as high as their chests, was indeed not high and easy to climb over. However, given the trench less than half a meter deep dug in front of the truck, they could only reach out and climb up.

As soon as the heavily armored Kugit heavy cavalry showed their heads, they were stabbed by at least two spears, shot in the face by crossbows, or had their fingers and hands cut off by swords. They fell down screaming. After trying hard for a long time, they still couldn't attack the chariot formation. The Kugits, who were in a dilemma, persisted for more than ten minutes before they had to retreat in a hurry.

Including those who were shot in the buttocks and back during the retreat, the Kugits suffered more than 30 casualties in this battle, which made several Kugit Nayan so angry that their foreheads cramped and they muttered all the ugly words again.

On Aix's side, only two were killed and three were injured, all caused by the Kugit light cavalry shooting with bows and arrows. This made Aix very dissatisfied, and he scolded the shield bearers harshly, asking them to open their eyes and not just think about killing the enemies. Their most important job was to protect the spearmen and crossbowmen.

Turning around, he smiled and asked them to atone for their sins, encouraging the shield bearers to go out of the chariot formation to touch the corpses and pick up the lost arrows and weapons. The dozen or so dead heavy cavalry must have some good stuff, these people are the elites and nobles of the Kugit people, and they must have a lot of good stuff on them.

Sure enough, the shield bearers returned in just a short while. In addition to collecting more than 200 arrow feathers, they also found many gold and silver rings, armbands, plaques, belt buckles, and other items, as well as several jewel-studded scimitars. They also knew that Aix was indeed angry just now, and they all presented treasures to Aix as if to please him.

About half an hour later, the unwilling Kugits organized another wave of attacks. Still, the heavy cavalry led the way with shields, and the light cavalry followed behind. However, this time, the attacking team actually had nearly twenty heavy cavalry armored horses.

After a closer look, Aix discovered that the man leading the horses was carrying a lasso on his shoulder. He immediately understood what was going on and ordered the soldiers to tie up all the vehicles with ropes. He also ordered that a man with a knife or an axe should be ready in front of each vehicle.

As Aix had judged, the Kugits raised their shields and stopped moving forward about ten or twenty meters in front of the chariot formation. Dozens of lassoes flew out from behind the shield wall and landed accurately on several trucks. The heavily armored horses immediately began to pull back.

However, they did not expect that these trucks were heavier than they had imagined. After pulling for a long time, they only slightly deformed the convoy. Before they could further open a gap, the well-prepared swordsmen on Aix's side cut the ropes one by one, followed by waves of feather arrows shot at the Kugits.

Seeing that they could not break the chariot formation and several horses were killed by crossbow arrows, the Kugits had no choice but to retreat, leaving behind more than a dozen corpses. The Kugits on the opposite side were completely out of temper, their morale was visibly low, and it was slowly getting dark, so they had to suspend the attack.

After searching the battlefield outside the chariot array, Aix saw that the enemy had no intention of continuing the attack, so he started to make a fire and cook. The staple food was roasted horse meat, which was a Kugit warhorse that had died outside the chariot array. It was dragged back by the soldiers, cleaned by the river, and then roasted over the fire.

Soon everyone was having a great time eating barbecue and drinking wine. Everyone was enthusiastically bragging to each other about their achievements of the day, and their fatigue had been recovered a lot.

On the other hand, the morale of the Kugits on the opposite side was obviously low. The entire position was silent, without any noise, and there was an indescribable desolation.

After nightfall, Aix looked worriedly at the Khugit camp in the distance. There were sporadic fires there, but more of it was invisible darkness. From time to time, the sound of "do, do, do" came from the darkness. It was the Khugits chopping wood. Aix estimated that they were using the felled wood to make long planks for attacking. Imagining that the Khugits might attack at any time carrying long planks, Aix felt anxious.

They only needed to put up more than ten long wooden boards, and the chariot formation here would be useless. Aix could even imagine the tragic scene when the Kugits attacked. Their heavy cavalry were all wearing heavy armor, and except for a few key personnel on Aix's side who wore chain mail, the others wore leather armor at most. Once they broke into the chariot formation, there would be only misery for their side.

These inner deductions made Aix more and more anxious. He paced back and forth, and from time to time he looked back at the dark river behind him, as if hesitating whether to make a decision.

During the darkest hour before dawn, the sounds of "puff, rustle" footsteps were heard near the chariot formation. Those were the Kugits who came to launch a sneak attack. They had no intention of waiting until dawn, but chose to attack during the darkest time of the day. This not only provided them with good cover and reduced the exposure to the sharp bows and crossbows from Aix, but it was also the time when people were the most sleepy, greatly increasing the success rate of their sneak attack.

The bonfire in the enemy's convoy had gone out at some point, and it was pitch black inside. They had all gotten close but there was still no reaction.

"It seems that the continuous running and fighting have exhausted these two-legged sheep. They are really a group of fragile two-legged sheep. They deserve to be killed by us! Sleep well, two-legged sheep. Grandpa will sacrifice you to Changshengtian now!" The leader Kugit Nayan thought to himself.

"Toot, toot, toot." Dozens of long wooden planks were put on the carts by the Kugits at the same time. The leading Kugit, Nayan, shouted at the top of his voice:

"Kill! Kill these damn two-legged sheep and sacrifice them to the Eternal Heaven!"

A group of Kugit heavy cavalry, led by several Nayans, jumped into the chariot formation first, but found that the chariot formation was empty except for two horse bones being roasted, and there was also half a human figure there.

Just as he was in a daze, the leading Na Yan suddenly smelled a familiar smell. It was a smell that only the Na Yan masters were familiar with, the smell of olive oil that they often consumed. A bad feeling came over him, and he shouted to his subordinates who were still jumping into the car formation:

"Run! This is a trap!"

However, the Kugit people, who were eager to make a contribution, had no time to brake their car. They were pushed by the people behind them and more than a dozen people jumped into the traffic jam.

At the same time, four or five glowing clusters of fire suddenly lit up in the middle of the river, and shot into the convoy of cars with a "whoosh" sound.

"Whoosh!" In just a moment, the traffic jam turned into a sea of ​​fire like hell. The Kugit standing on the edge was not burned and tried desperately to climb out of the traffic jam. However, it was not easy to climb a truck coated with olive oil. After sliding down once, he was caught up by the flames and burned into a fire man before he could try a second time.

Standing on a small boat in the middle of the river, Aix looked coldly at the blazing hell in the caravan. At least fifty or sixty Kugits were burned to death this time. The remaining twenty or so cans of olive oil in the caravan were not wasted, and it was worth it for him and his men to stay and wait for an extra hour or two.

It turned out that as early as the second half of the night, Manide, who had received a notice from Zhang Ping, had brought five rented boats to secretly come to meet them. They secretly boarded the boats and led the horses at the stern. It only took two trips for all the people and horses to cross to the other side safely, and then everyone quietly rushed to Kudan City in the dark.

Only Aix was left with five sharpshooters, waiting for the moment of lighting the fire. Looking at the sky, he thought that the Kugits would really not attack until dawn. By then, he would have no choice but to light the bonfire in disappointment and burn all the supplies in the chariot formation, leaving no trace for the Kugits.

Unexpectedly, the Kugits did not let him down in the end and chose to launch a sneak attack at the darkest moment of the day. It must be God's will that he would not spare the wicked!