The rapids are like arrows, and the sound of the water is deafening.
Sun Ce held his sword in his hand and stood on the bank of the river, looking at the rolling waves that never returned, and a strong sense of solemnity and solemnity echoed in his chest.
He hadn't received the news about the Xiuwu battle, but the information about Wang Yu's southward movement was sent to him immediately. Although Sun Ce did not believe that Cao Cao would lose to Wang Yu from the bottom of his heart, the movements of Yu Jin and Jia Xu's ministries
But it has been shown that Cao Cao has become the target of public criticism and is in danger of being surrounded and annihilated!
Of course, Cao Cao was experienced in using troops and would not give in so easily. But there is no doubt about one thing, that is, time has become quite tight.
There is no time to continue to deal with the enemy, and the test is to either advance or retreat. Retreating is not in line with Sun Ce's character and will make him unable to see Jiangdong's elders; advancing is a desperate attempt that leaves no way out and leaves no room for retreat!
Gaotang was empty, and the defenders lacked strength, but they had the Yellow River natural moat to rely on. This was the biggest obstacle for Sun Ce and Xia Houyuan on their way to advance.
With such a long river bank, Sun Ce originally thought it would be easy to find a weak point to cross the river. However, after actually doing so, he discovered that the enemy was much more difficult to deal with than he had imagined. The enemy troops were actually deployed everywhere from Gaotang to Chiping.
Not a single gap was left, which made crossing the river extremely difficult.
Chen Dao, who was in charge of the overall situation on the other side of the river, was not a famous general in the usual sense, but he displayed meticulousness and caution to the fullest. During the past few days of the confrontation, Sun Ce launched more than ten probing attacks, night battles, and raids.
Strategies such as making false claims in the east and attacking in the west, concealing the truth and crossing the sea were used one after another, but they were never able to open a gap in the defense line on the other side.
Nowadays, Sun Ce has fewer and fewer choices. Finally, he becomes determined and prepares to launch a forced crossing.
In order to cooperate with Sun Ce's offensive, Xia Houyuan had led his troops to leave two days ago and headed eastward, aiming directly at Licheng, an important town in the west of Jinan.
Xia Houyuan did this for the purpose of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao. If Zhang Liao and Huang Zhong could not be effectively restrained, the Jiangdong Army during the forced crossing would not only face the trouble of being attacked halfway across the river. It would also easily fall into a dangerous situation of being attacked from two sides.
Sun Ce knew that Xia Houyuan's purpose of resolutely marching eastward was to attack the hinterland of Qingzhou to resolve the Qingzhou Army's siege on Cao Cao's main force. But since the two families have been fighting side by side until now, there is no need to discuss the details.
So clear.
Regardless of the circumstances, he could only carry out the forced transfer to the end!
The day after the Xiuwu Battle, Sun Ce personally supervised the army and launched a strong attack on the north bank of the Yellow River.
The vanguard was led by two generals, Chen Wu and Han Dang, who led 10,000 Jiangdong elites. Sun Ce led 10,000 troops in the center, thinking of stamina. Liu Bei led 5,000 troops to guard the rear and was also responsible for commanding long-range troops.
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Zhu Huan was ordered to build a pontoon bridge for the army. Under his command and coercion, tens of thousands of people jumped into the rushing river with inflated animal urine tied to their waists, carrying planks, bamboo poles and ropes.
The Yellow River is famous for its fast currents. The roaring waves hit the rocks. If a person is sucked in, he will be knocked into the bottom of the water and swept away by the turbulence. What is even more terrifying is the underwater undercurrent and the formation of water on the surface.
No matter how good the water properties are, if you are sucked into the whirlpool of a piece of water, you will have a narrow escape from death.
This is not the scariest thing. As the pontoon gradually took shape and began to stretch towards the center of the river, the Qingzhou people on the other side could not sit still.
They were not Song Xianggong, and they did not know the virtue of letting the enemy cross the river calmly and form a formation to fight. Thousands of soldiers quickly gathered, rushed to the shore, and erected a long wall with wooden shields. Behind the wooden wall, someone pushed three more people
More than a dozen crossbow carts drove the cattle and horses to twist the bow strings, and put the nine-foot-long crossbow arrows on the crossbow bed.
Not only is the current of the Yellow River fast, but the wind on the water is also strong. When the distance is far, ordinary bows and arrows cannot cause trouble to the opponent. The powerful bed crossbow is naturally the most appropriate choice.
The sound of the rushing water was quickly covered up by the whistling sound caused by the crossbow arrows piercing the air.
The first person fell into the river and was gently rolled up by the waves. A circle of red ripples appeared in the yellow river water, which quickly disappeared. Followed by the second person, and the third person who trudged hard in the water.
The people had nowhere to dodge, and watched helplessly as one thick piece of wood flew towards them, passing through the bodies of several people at the same time.
The people were in a mess and wanted to escape, but there was nowhere to escape in the rushing water. If they left the pontoon, they would only be swept away by the waves. They wanted to retreat, but their retreat was blocked by their companions, and the starting point of the pontoon was.
Hundreds of war supervisors armed with spears came forward fiercely, and retreating would be a dead end.
The cries gradually became louder.
The common people couldn't understand why a humble citizen like themselves had to endure such dangers? Is it because they were under the rule of Guo Shijun?
"Don't mess up, don't mess up. As long as the bridge is built to the middle of the river, it will be completed! Those who work hard will be rewarded heavily, ten bushels of corn for each person!" Zhu Huan ran up with more than a dozen guards at the risk of losing their lives.
He walked halfway up the pontoon bridge, shouting with all his strength, and used kindness and power to encourage the courage of the people.
"Don't be afraid, our crossbow is coming up too!" The sound of the crossbow bolts' squeaking sound was also heard from the river bank behind them.
Xia Houyuan marched eastward with light troops, focusing on speed. The generals only brought five days' rations with them, and they were completely in a desperate situation. He left all the remaining equipment and food to Sun Ce who needed to attack the enemy.
The quality of these imitations in the hands of the Jiangdong Army is inferior to those of the Qingzhou Army, but they are superior in quantity. After Sun Ce gave an order, hundreds of crossbows and catapults were unleashed at the same time, making a mess in the river.
The villagers felt that the light above their heads dimmed, and the next moment they heard dull crashing sounds and shrill screams from the other side of the river.
"No retreat, no retreat! Keep building the bridge. Anyone who retreats will be considered a deserter and will be killed without mercy!"
Zhu Huan's team of supervisors raised their spears and stabbed the civilians who had fled ashore to death on the shore. The blood spread along the river and mixed with the blood of those who were shot by crossbow arrows to dye half of the river red. Going forward is also death.
Retreating would mean death. The civilians had no choice but to accept their fate. While tying ropes to the bamboo poles and wooden stakes used to build the pontoon bridge, they prayed to the gods and gods, hoping to survive safely.
The shooting continues.
More Qingzhou troops gathered from other places, holding shields and pushing crossbow carts. More and more crossbow carts turned their targets from civilians to Jiangdong crossbowmen on the other side.
"Set up the crossbow!" In front of the crossbow formation, a silver-armored military general raised his spear high and majestic.
"Set up the crossbow..." Dozens of soldiers shouted in unison. Amidst the sound of the horn, dozens of soldiers exerted force at the same time. The crossbow arm creaked in protest and was slowly pulled into a half arc. Two strong men shouted loudly.
Then he lifted up a huge crossbow and got stuck in the crossbow slot.
Hundreds of crossbowmen repeated the same action, and more than fifty giant iron-clad crossbows dazzled and chilled in the sun.
"Wind!" The silver spear swung down heavily, bringing up a gust of wind.
"Buzz!" More than fifty spears of death flew into the air with the sound of wind, swept across the river, and smashed down on the enemy.
The shields raised by the first row of Jiangdong soldiers were smashed to pieces, and the shields of the second row were erected in the mess. In an instant, the shields of the second row also collapsed, and several delayed giant crossbows flew through the gap between the dead bodies.
Toward the crossbow chariot being deployed by Jiangdong Army.
"Raise your shield to protect the ballista, raise your shield to protect the ballista!" the Jiangdong general supervising the battle shouted at the top of his lungs.
Bed crossbows and slingers are new units. Because they fight far away from the front line, the generals are unwilling to waste their elite strength here, so they are mostly used as auxiliary soldiers.
The courage of the auxiliary soldiers was limited. They were frightened by this tragic scene and most of them dispersed. Only a few brave ones raised their small log shields regardless of life and death and formed a semicircular array in front of their own ballistae. But they flew into the air.
The incoming giant crossbow arrows were beyond the power of human power to withstand. Wherever they passed, shields were scattered in all directions, people flew upside down, and a bloody rain fell out of thin air above the protected crossbows.
The firing frequency of Jiangdong's ballistae was instantly disrupted. Although they fought back hard, as more and more Qingzhou troops gathered, the crossbows were replenished very quickly. Moreover, the Qingzhou militia's combat effectiveness was not necessarily better than that of Jiangdong's army.
High, but they are well-trained and can make adjustments in the fierce battle. Even though the number of ballistas is relatively small, they are not at all inferior in the battle.
Amidst the whistling of crossbow bolts, Jiangdong Army's crossbow and catapult array gradually became sparse, and their numbers gradually became equal to those on the opposite side, and then fell into a disadvantage. But their sacrifices were not in vain. They lost the threat of crossbows, and the pontoon bridge's
After all, the progress has been accelerated.
By the time the long-range confrontation gradually decided the winner and the Qingzhou Army gained advantages in both quantity and quality, the pontoon bridge had already extended to the middle of the river.
Although the Yellow River is not like the Yangtze River, which often stretches for tens of miles, which makes people sigh and sigh, it is not comparable to ordinary rivers. The section of the river specially chosen by Sun Ce is about three or four miles wide, and the pontoon extends to the middle of the river.
It can only be said that it was a good start. However, when the pontoon bridge was extended to the center of the river, the Jiangdong Army's formation erupted in cheers.
Following Han Dang's order, the logs that looked like bridge construction materials were piled on the edge of the river bank. The logs connected by ropes were pushed down into the water in a row. After sinking suddenly, they immediately floated up.
"Boys, follow me!" Chen Wu jumped onto the raft first, roaring like thunder. He held a shield in his left hand and a halberd in his right hand. He stood on the crudely made raft, and his figure was as stable as a mountain.
"Kill!" Jiangdong's army boarded the raft one after another. Someone in front was pulling the rope hanging from half of the pontoon, and someone behind was rowing an oar and holding a pole, and they were moving forward very quickly.
More rafts were pushed into the water, and more soldiers boarded the rafts, like ants, clinging to the sides of the three pontoon bridges. At a glance, it seemed as if an island in the middle of the river had appeared out of thin air.
"As the saying goes: Northerners are good at riding horses, southerners are good at boats, and it is indeed true." Seeing Jiangdong's army crossing the river on rafts, Wang Mo sighed with emotion: "But are they too impatient? What if they wait for the pontoon bridge to be restored?
If you stretch a few hundred steps forward, you might be able to rush over in one breath."
Chen Dao was silent and just watched intently. After a moment, his expression suddenly changed and he said in a voiceless voice: "No! That raft is not for crossing the river, but for quickly building a bridge!"