Six hundred and sixtieth chapters wilderness battle
Although it is also the rainy season in late autumn, it has not rained in the wetland area for many days, and the land is dry. Thousands of troops marched past, causing dust to fly.
It was late at night, the sky was filled with stars, and at the northwest end of Juchao City, an army was advancing rapidly on the road.
Thousands of soldiers are marching, the torches are bright, and the moonlight and starlight in the sky complement each other. This is a huge army, with strange-shaped carts carrying some huge objects. Among the two marching teams,
One lane is even occupied by these large vehicles.
On a high slope next to the wilderness, more than a dozen riders were standing upright and looking west, looking at the military formation flowing like a long river under the high slope. In the torch forest, at night, it looked like a fire dragon on the plain.
Just like swimming.
Deng Ai stood on the high slope, his tired eyes full of light. After slowly retracting his eyes from looking at the army, he turned his eyes to the north. Seeing the fire dragon on the ground swimming towards his feet, he
Suddenly he shook his head: "What time is it now?"
A strong, ghostly man next to him immediately flashed out and replied with a rich voice: "There are still two hours before dawn."
"Command, the front army speeds up! I want to see the enemy's flag before dawn."
After Deng Ai gave the order in a deep voice, he immediately galloped down the high slope without looking at Zu Lang who followed the order. The dozen or so riders behind him also swept down with him like a violent cloud.
This is Deng Ai, who was originally stationed in Juchao City. He has come out in full force at this time, just to cooperate with Cao Zhi's army coming south from Hefei to encircle Liu Yao.
The battle in Juchao lasted for more than a month. Even though Deng Ai did not have a numerical advantage, he relied on the solid city defenses and sharp explosives to finally hold off Liu Yao's attacking army.
However, as the war in Danyang was fully launched, Liu Yao no longer focused solely on the gains and losses of Juchao, a city and a place. After being unable to attack Juchao for a long time, he left a part of his troops to stay in Juchao.
The main force quickly changed its target and moved westward, relying on Shuicheng as its base to capture the county seat of Chaoxian County between Juchao and Shuicheng.
The strategic location of Chao County is not important. Shuicheng and Juchao are the gateways to Danyang, and Deng Ai did not deploy many troops there. In the end, after Liu Yao's strong attack, Deng Ai even took the initiative to withdraw his troops and abandon the county.
As the official governor of Yangzhou, Liu Yao was the first to start the war, but the results were far inferior to those of his two subordinates Xu Gong and Zuo Rong. Taking Chaoxian was just a psychological comfort, and it could
Being closer to Sun Ce who was attacking Lujiang, we had someone to rely on to help each other.
Liu Yao was losing more and more confidence in the battle to capture Danyang. The strength of the Danyang defenders and the sharpness of their weapons far exceeded his imagination. A city outside Danyang would require tens of thousands of troops, which was not seen in a month.
I don’t know how long it will take to conquer it and reach its county seat.
When Liu Yaojue was discouraged, his general Zhang Ying persuaded Liu Yao to persist. The enemy's power was disintegrating and dying. Soon Yuan Shu would respond to them in Yanzhou. By then, Danyang, a small place, would have no backup.
, 2. Under the pressure of heavy troops from all sides, the defenders of Danyang counties will be defeated without attacking. The most difficult part in the first battle should be here. As long as we persist for a few more days, there may be a turning point.
Before Liu Yao saw Zhang Ying's turnaround, he received military information from the Juchao defenders. He heard that another new weapon had been shipped. Liu Yao knew that the five thousand troops and horses stationed outside Juchao City were blocking the way.
Unable to hold back the Juchao Danyang army, he could only gather the troops and horses first, and then send out the Chao County soldiers and horses, planning to take advantage of the Juchao defenders to leave the city and start a fight with the Juchao defenders in the wilderness.
Fight in battle, eliminate them in one fell swoop, and then subdue Juchao.
But then something strange happened. Before Liu Yao could transport troops to Juchao, Deng Ai had already arrived. Chao County might still be of some use to Liu Yao, but what value did it have to Deng Ai? Why was he so anxious to find him?
Coming to your door?
Liu Yao was puzzled by the seemingly suicidal counterattack of Cao's army. Liu Yao stood on the earth slope fortifications fifty miles away from Chao County. After looking around, his face gradually became serious. Looking from a distance, that
There are at least fifty densely packed strange weapons called trebuchets. Judging from the menacing posture of the enemy, it seems that they are sure of victory. Although Liu Yao is a fanatic who pursues power, he is not a military man.
Idiot, he immediately realized that there was something wrong with Shuicheng, which now belonged to his rear. But fortunately, he got a report today that Shuicheng was safe and no enemy was found.
This made Liu Yao breathe a sigh of relief. There was no enemy to cut off his retreat, so the problem was not big. Liu Yao could still advance and attack, and retreat and defend. He should have a clear advantage over the Cao army he was facing.
The trebuchets were set up in an open space behind the enemy line in the evening, and the last sunlight had gradually set. These trebuchets were arranged very rigorously. In the evening, when the last ray of the sun disappeared on the horizon, the trebuchets were
At that time, the battle began.
During the first wave of attacks by more than fifty trebuchets, dense stone bullets roared from the sky and fell like rain.
The target of Cao Jun's concentrated attack was Liu Yao's main phalanx. When the dense stone bullets fell, Liu Yao's officers roared and ordered the soldiers to dodge. There was chaos in the battle array, and huge stone bullets fell and hit the ground.
Stone chips suddenly flew into the air, and the soldiers in the phalanx looked for bunkers to dodge amidst the officers' scoldings, but there were still casualties. Even more stone bullets hit the crowd, and they were killed on the spot with a roar like drums.
Turn into meat paste.
For a moment, the volley of Kung Fu trebuchets left a shocking trace in Liu Yao's square formation.
Cao Jun's trebuchet roared for a full meal before stopping. Liu Yao's defenders, who had built simple fortifications, stood up tentatively. Seeing that the opponent's attack had stopped, the officers immediately shouted and urged the soldiers to return.
His position is "Prepare to counterattack!"
Liu Yao's forehead was bleeding. His brow bone had been broken by a piece of rock during the bombardment. Now one of his eyes was covered with blood. His normally generous face was filled with ferocious murderous intent. He raised his sword and shouted:
"fight back!"
Liu Yao gave the order, and his troops immediately launched a counterattack enthusiastically.
An infantry phalanx of a thousand people charged at the front with shields. When trying to approach Cao Jun, Cao Jun's bows and crossbows fired in unison, but Liu Yao's infantry held huge iron shields specially made for northern infantry.
This is an excellent piece of armor for infantry. An iron shield is one or two meters long. It is raised high, and two or three people can be hidden underneath. Facing the attack of the sky full of arrows, in the open space where the two armies are facing each other, only
Seeing Liu Yao's attacking infantry, they charged upwards in dense numbers.
In the end, Deng Ai saw that something was wrong and ordered the use of arrows tied with explosives. The explosion was loud and deafening, with screams and severed limbs flying across the air. The first wave of Liu Yao's army and horses attacked, but Cao Jun's
Bows, arrows and explosives were fired back, killing and wounding hundreds of people.
Before the attacking troops who had just retreated could take a breath, the stone bullets whistling in the sky were once again rushing towards their formation.
Deng Ai made a change in this wave. He did not seek to expand the results of killing enemy soldiers. Most of the trebuchets attacked the enemy's village towers and observation towers built with earth, stone and wood blocks.
Stone bullets fell all over the sky for a while, smashing Liu Yao's array behind him so much that people fell on their backs. Many village buildings were hit by stone bullets and immediately burst into pieces. There were soldiers who dispersed with howls and screams, and some even more
He screamed and fell from the fortifications of the village wall.
Not to be outdone, Liu Yao's army immediately began to fight back. You threw stones, and we fired arrows. Both sides used long-range attack weapons to attack each other. Stones and arrows whizzed back and forth in the sky. From time to time, soldiers on both sides could be heard.
Screaming and howling, flesh and blood flying everywhere.
This mutual attack lasted for about another meal. The soldiers of Cao's army who were responsible for launching the trebuchets survived this round and were so tired that they could hardly lift their arms.
The trebuchet, known as the most dangerous long-range weapon, naturally has sufficient reserves of stone bullets and ammunition in Cao's army. Moreover, these stone bullets are polished into a round shape. Even if they are hit empty, they can still roll and cause casualties when they fall on the ground. This is also a period of actual combat use.
After time, the soldiers in the army summed up their own experience. After Lieutenant General Cao Jun officially put the trebuchet on the battlefield, the stone bullets were initially projected without polishing. If they hit the target, it would be fine. If they missed the target, they would be wasted.
Unlike today's polished stone bullets, whether it is attacking solid city defenses or attacking battle formations, their effectiveness has been greatly improved.
Unfortunately, the number of trebuchets in Cao's army is still too small. Polishing such round stone ammunition is extremely labor-intensive. Usually, the stones are polished from local materials after the transport vehicles arrive there. Therefore, the current stone ammunition storage in Cao's army is
It may not be sufficient, but it doesn't matter. Even if there are not many round stone bullets stored, these locally sourced stones are not everywhere, and it doesn't matter if there is no time to dig them. During the war, as long as the war requires it, the general can give orders.
By demolishing the nearby houses, you can replenish the stone. It can be said that this is a sharp and low-cost offensive weapon.
Just before the moon climbed up the mountain in the evening, Liu Yao's army and horses were covered by the archers in the arrow tower. They separated into two square formations and held up their shields in an attempt to pass through the Cao army's defensive camp again and directly attack the trebuchets lined up behind the formation.
.So, an inevitable fierce battle began on this plain. Although Cao Jun repelled Liu Yao's army, he also paid the price, suffering heavy casualties.
Both sides were tired after a close combat, so they both stopped fighting and retreated about a mile from each other, resting on the spot and preparing to fight again tomorrow.