Fast, really fast.

  It was just a cloud of dust in the distance, but in the blink of an eye it had become a massive storm blocking out the sun, rapidly approaching, with deafening thunder booming in my ears.

  This is really coming.

  Zhao Xi went to see the cavalry again... apart from the first few rows, which were considered tall and majestic horses, the rest were riding horses that were almost as short as donkeys... these were stumpy horses, commonly found in Guangnan.

  It's just the front few rows...

  "The front row is a barbarian horse, which should be caused by sea transportation. The Dahua cavalry also has such a barbarian horse..."

  Di Qing likes horses, and there is no one in the Western Army who doesn't like horses. However, it seems that His Highness the Crown Prince values human footwork more, and doesn't place much importance on cavalry.

  Zhao Xi is not being belittled, but rather, it's a matter of adapting to the circumstances. Given the current state of the country, if one wants to train cavalry that can roam freely across the land... Not to mention the prime ministers, even his own father would sternly refuse.

  No choice, had to choose leg power. Who doesn't know that humans can't outrun horses, but what can you do?

  Cavalry has a natural advantage over infantry in terms of mobility, even if it's just mounted on a pony.

  The guards were also unable to form a square, and even using rifle barrels with bayonets to form a defensive square was ineffective.

  Zhao Xi had never thought of confronting the cavalry. His idea was always to effectively strike the enemy while ensuring safety, and best to destroy the enemy on the road of attack.

  For example, now there are more than 10,000 soldiers, except for the guards who have supernatural powers since birth, they take turns carrying tiger squatting cannons, and the whole team does not have large-scale attack equipment.

  Everyone carries a varying number of bamboo tube fireworks.

  The muzzle-loading rifle of the Manganese Steel, with an effective range of only 20-30 meters, is just the distance of a cavalry charge. Even if it's a volley fire, there's still a chance of injury.

  Zhao Xikai couldn't bear to part with it, as the Imperial Guard was a treasure not only for him but also for the imperial court.

  So Zhao Xi arrived at the ambush site and summoned his soldiers to find a tree trunk with an arm span, connecting two trees with rattan to create a simple launcher.

  The fuse time of the explosive shell has been determined, and after a few trials, the timing of the launch can be basically grasped.

  Zhao Xi's prepared ambush was still playing out its unexpected tricks.

  "Cut off the middle, focus on the rear team, and make damaging their combat effectiveness the top priority!"

  This place ambush, the impression given to the reinforcements is... Langsong has fallen. Therefore, even if the vanguard is spared, once the war begins, the vanguard will not consider supporting Langsong, but instead retreat in the direction of Guangyuan.

  When the first shell burst on the mountain slope, followed by one and then another explosion of shells, what vanguard or rearguard was there? The whole cavalry corps was thrown into disorder.

  It's not the cavalry that's causing trouble, it's the horses; those little ponies have never heard the sound of artillery before.

  This is not the Gatling gun of Guirenpu, even if it's a panic, people can still find danger and avoid it. This is a horse, the horse was frightened, it doesn't have any judgment ability, it will only run wildly...

  The entire cavalry corps was in complete disarray, with horses no longer under the control of their riders and simply galloping wildly.

  Alas, what was truly unexpected was not the ambush, but the effect of the explosive shells on the horses... Once the explosive shells became widely known, this effect would probably diminish, or even disappear.

  Zhao Xi somewhat regretted using the bamboo-sectioned fireball during his battle with Annan. If he had used it against Dashu and Daliao instead...

  "Di Shuai, how did Annan and Daxia, Daliao come and go?"

  "Is Your Highness worried about the news of the explosive shell being leaked?"

  "Di Shuai, to be honest, Annan is just a minor illness for the imperial court, not worth worrying about. The great enemy of the imperial court is still Liao and Xia."

  "If the enemy were aware of the fire arrows, they would certainly reduce their effectiveness, especially against cavalry. If so, this time Xi and Zi Rong's deployment on the battlefield would be a mistake."

  "Your Highness is worrying too much. Even if Liao Xia knows about the gunpowder bullet manufacturing formula, they still can't provide targeted training for the cavalry horses."

  I hope it's really like what Di Qing said! Zhao Xi didn't hold out much hope.

  To say that in terms of refining craftsmanship, no one is better than oneself. To say it's just a simple firework... not to mention Zeng Gongliang's "Wujing Zongyao" which is all over the streets, let alone the Thunderbolt of the Taoist school, which isn't something new either.

  Achieving an effect like a firework explosion is still a bit off, if it's said that there is targeted training...

  Forget it, don't think about it anymore, let's just see how things go. Let's first consider how to fight this battle.

  What else can be done? The enemy has already fallen into chaos. Five thousand horses, all startled, then frantically galloping in all directions, and from time to time, they would jump up and down... In short, it was a complete mess.

  In fact, this explosive shell, unless it hits the person or horse directly, even if it doesn't hit, there's just that shockwave, and the actual damage isn't that great.

  Especially in this situation, compared with the harm of 5,000 frightened horses, the damage caused by gunpowder can be ignored.

  The knight insisted on riding the horse, while the horse wanted to run freely, so at this moment, the knight and the horse lost their coordination... becoming more and more chaotic.

  When they saw that many knights were being thrown off their horses, the soldiers couldn't bear to fire the explosive shells again.

  At this time, the difference between the Imperial Guard and the Western Army was revealed.

  The guards only obeyed, as long as Zhao Xi didn't order them to stop, the attack should continue. As for the horses, that wasn't their concern.

  "General Yang, why have you stopped attacking?"

  "Your Highness, those are war horses..."

  "Now that you know it's a war horse, how can you not understand the cavalry's ability to control the war horse? Once the gunfire subsides, can you be certain that the cavalry cannot control the war horse and escape?"

  If it's because the war horses are running wildly and the soldiers can't take care of them, leading to the cavalry fleeing, then there's nothing that can be done. But if it's because our side reduced the intensity of the attack, allowing the Annan cavalry to catch their breath, reorganize their troops, and break through, then that's inexcusable!

  Yang Wenguang looked at him with regret, then looked at Di Qing who was also like this... and went to supervise the battle again.

  He came running over with the intention of having His Highness the Crown Prince order a halt to the attack, and have the soldiers charge in, hopefully rounding up some warhorses.

  Unexpectedly, he hadn't even opened his mouth when the prince scolded him severely and had to urge the soldiers to continue firing cannons.

  Order each to dispatch troops and gather scattered horses...

  The battle is settled, although Zhao Xi has asked for special attention to the rear team, it is still impossible to leave all 5,000 cavalrymen here.

  The so-called casualties were actually killed by the cannonballs, and there weren't even half as many as those trampled by war horses.

  Actually, the firework shells were launched only a few rounds, Zhao Ximing counted silently, with fast hand combinations, at most two or three firework shells were launched.

  This was already tied to the fire arrow with a wooden stick made of wood, so it was pressed against the tree trunk, adjusted direction, and calculated the time of firing, which took up a lot of time.

  Even at this speed, it's almost enough for two cavalrymen to have one each.

  If this were in a later era, such an operation with hand grenades would already be considered indiscriminate and blanket bombing, and there would absolutely be no possibility of survival.

  But for now, it's just a small victory.