Dong Zunhui led his troops to set up wooden ladders and entered the thick smoke. They hardly fought, as if they were just going in to clean up the battlefield. The Shu army suffered countless casualties in the dense camp behind the earthen fort, and the rest were defeated. Dong Zunhui led his troops to chase for a mile and easily captured several defensive barriers of the Shu army.
Upon hearing the news, Guo Shao led a group of troops to reinforce, while the people behind him hurried to build roads and fill trenches.
The smoke was thick, and Guo Shao could not see the situation clearly when he passed the Shu army fortress. Anyway, there was no resistance. He thought it was better not to look. This method was a bit immoral, but it was indeed the fastest way. At least it could avoid greater casualties in his army. It was said that Zhuge Liang was so cruel in burning the rattan armor soldiers that he shortened his life. It was not known whether it was true or not.
As we walked westward, the smoke gradually became thinner. When we looked back, the thick smoke had already spread to the surface of the river, covering the water with a layer of white smoke, as if fog had suddenly fallen.
The visibility on the river surface in the west was very light. Guo Shao walked for a while and could already see a dark object on the river surface from a distance. It was too far to see what it was, but there was a report that it was the Shu army's water defense line of the river pontoon bridge. But Guo Shao did not intend to pay attention to that defense line for the time being: as long as the shore was occupied, the pontoon bridge could not float on the river surface without being washed away by the water.
There were still many Shu soldiers on the shore, forming a long dragon formation on the road near the shore. The Shu army had indeed deployed a lot of troops along this line.
They were rushing to build fortifications in front, perhaps trying to defend against the advance of the Zhou army layer by layer. Dong Zunhui was not in a hurry to attack the Shu army. He was there to reorganize the chaotic troops after the attack. Regardless of victory or defeat, it was not easy to redeploy the army into a line after the chaos.
Ask Dong Zunhui to come over, Guo Shao ordered.
Not long after, Dong Zunhui came over with a dark face and bowed, saying: Uncle.
Guo Shao grabbed the wet towel from his shoulder, wiped his face, and encouraged: You did a good job.
Dong Zunhui wiped his face clean. His forehead was full and his features were regular. He looked good. He said: I didn't do anything. I just led people to walk a mile. The gunpowder was too strong, but I always felt unhappy. There were still Shu soldiers ahead who wanted to resist. My uncle asked me to continue.
If we go into battle, we will die. If we can win in one go, we will win. Guo Shao said, he turned around and looked at the first heavy armored commander he brought with him. We have enough troops. We don’t need to wait for your men to reorganize the formation. Tell them to go to the back. You take 500 heavy armored soldiers up.
Dong Zunhui clasped his fists and said: Yes, sir.
Guo Shao observed for a while and felt that it was useless to have too many people in this place. After leaving space for traffic in front and behind on the riverside road, the widest place could only accommodate ten people walking side by side.
On this kind of road, 500 people can form a team of 50 rows deep, which is already a very solid formation. Even if there are 100,000 troops, it will be useless because there is only so much space for the battle line. Elites are more useful here than numbers.
Guo Shaorang went to the side of the road, found a gentle slope on the mountain wall and climbed up, and asked the first commander of the left wing first army to move forward. This commander was the most elite infantry, so only a few hundred sets of plate armor were equipped to them. All members were young and strong under the age of 35, each with a broad chest, thin waist, long legs and feet. This kind of men has the best physical strength, so they are elite soldiers. If they are not physically strong, wearing armor weighing 40 to 50 kilograms and holding weapons and rushing to fight, they will probably be unable to move without being beaten.
Zhou Tong led his men forward, and Dong Zunhui took over the military power. The fierce general named Zhang Jiankui that Guo Shao met a few days ago did not come. He was injured. Although they were all minor injuries, he could not recover in a few days. Injuries would affect combat.
The two groups of soldiers and horses slowly approached each other between the mountains and rivers. The Shu army did not move, while the Zhou army was like a moving dragon, with the square flag with tiger embroidered on it waving gently in the wind. The noisy sound had a sense of loneliness at this time, and there was no human habitation on the two high mountains.
Green mountains and clear waters, the plate armor on the road reflected the light, making it very clear. Although there were many people, there was no dust or fog on the road; this place was different from the northern plains, the road was made of hard soil and rocks that had been washed countless times by rainwater flowing from the mountains, and the air in the river valley was also relatively humid, so dust could not be stepped on.
A few arrows flew from the sky and landed on the road ahead, as if the Shu army wanted to shoot them to stop the enemy from advancing. However, the Zhou army soldiers did not stop at all, and continued to move forward in an orderly formation, gradually closing the gap.
The heavily armored soldiers walked slowly but steadily, as if nothing could stop them.
Soon, the Zhou army's vanguard entered the farthest range of the bows and arrows. The arrows flew from the air into the Zhou army's ranks. All that could be heard was the clanging sound of metal collisions, like the sound of hail falling on tiles. These arrows, which were thrown at least 70 or 80 steps away, could not hurt them at all. Most of them could only hit the helmets and shoulder armors when they fell from above. These parts were exactly the places where the wrought iron plate armor and chain mail double-layer protection were located, and the arrows were bounced off one after another.
Soon they were within fifty steps, but the Zhou army did not charge at such a close distance, but kept their speed and advanced steadily. The heavy footsteps, the cold light of the sophisticated armor, and the pressure were very strong; it was like an executioner slowly and calmly wiping the blade before execution, gradually putting pressure on the Shu army.
The sound of strings continued to ring out. The front row of the Shu army had already used crossbows to shoot horizontally, but they still couldn't penetrate the chest armor of the Zhou army. The Zhou army soldiers didn't even have shields. The front rows were all holding crossbows, and the back rows were holding bows and arrows. They were only equipped with short weapons. But they didn't fight back, and kept advancing under the rain of arrows from the Shu army.
Dong Zunhui, who was behind him, became excited. This sense of power made him inexplicably excited. Dong Zunhui had four long sabers on his back, a sword on his waist, and a bow in his hand. He looked like he was covered in weapons, but he could only walk. Here, a horse took up the space of several people and could not run away. He was like a large, stationary target, which was only a living target and had no benefit.
More than twenty steps away, the Zhou soldiers in the first row had arrows stuck in their breastplates, and some of them might have been injured, but the only ones who could kill them were the Shu archers in the first row who were shooting horizontally. The thrown arrows still had no effect on them.
The two sides were about 20 steps apart, and the Shu soldiers were clearly visible, looking at the strange heavy armor with confused eyes. They had no choice but to continue shooting with crossbows. The long-term pressure had already caused the Shu soldiers' camp to show signs of instability, but the Zhou army had not fired a single arrow so far.
The people on the opposite side watched a clear tiger square flag fluttering. At this moment, the commander of the front camp, Zhou Tong, shouted: Get ready.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise. The first row of Zhou's army squatted down, the second row knelt on one knee, and the third row stood up, all ready with crossbows; the people behind them drew their bows and arrows and raised them up. Release the arrows, Zhou Tong shouted.
Suddenly, arrows were fired out like a rainstorm. Three rows of crossbow arrows had already shot into the Shu army camp at high speed, but the arrows in the air were still flying. There was a scream. Any army would put some soldiers with excellent armor in the front, but the Shu army's chain mail could not withstand the violent horizontal shooting at a distance of more than 20 steps. The arrows flew through the armor and hit the target accurately. The first row in front was shot by three rows of crossbows, and all ten Shu soldiers were hit by arrows, and all were killed or wounded.
Zhou Tong shouted again, "Shoot the arrows!" The soldiers calmly drew their bowstrings.
At this time, the Shu army had no strength to fight back. The sound of bows and crossbows rang out everywhere. The Zhou army's bows and crossbows fired rhythmically, and each time they launched a intensive attack.
The front row of Shu soldiers fell down in rows like harvested rice, and the soldiers behind were constantly killed and wounded by arrows thrown from the bows and arrows.
What army could withstand such casualties? The Shu army's vanguard collapsed immediately, turned around and ran back, and the front camp was scattered.
With a clang, a soldier held a copper-capped gong in each hand and clapped it in the middle, and the square tiger flag in the front fell flat in response. The entire operation of the army was full of neat rhythm and methodical like a skill.
Kill Dong Zunhui shouted from behind. The Zhou army soldiers had already put away their bows and crossbows, picked up their short weapons and rushed forward. The Shu army in front of them was in chaos and was scrambling to squeeze back. There was no place for them to fight. The Zhou army soldiers rushed up again, and the scene became very ugly for a while.
...
I would like to ask for a free monthly ticket for the updates at the beginning of the month.