Chapter 51: First out of Guanzhong (4)

The pseudo-Zhao Empress Liu hated Bin's re-government, and was afraid that it would be unfavorable for the prince, so she planned to leave with Zhang Chai. Bin was in Xiangguo and sent an envoy to pretend to be a fool, saying, "The master's illness has gradually faded, and the king must hunt, so he can stop it." Bin was always fond of hunting and was addicted to wine, so he kept hunting and kept drinking. Liu and Jacky were dismissed from the official position to return, and sent his brother, Long Teng, to guard him. Yichou, Zun came from Youzhou Prefecture to Ye. He ordered the court to receive a bow and sent him 30,000 troops. Zun cried and cried. On that day, the tiger was frightened and asked, "Zun was at the end?" The left and right replied, "It's been a long time since he left." Hu said, "I wish I could not see him!"

--- Introduction Excerpt

Yao Guo held an arrow in his hand and looked carefully under the oil lamp. He saw that the arrow was as thick as an ordinary bamboo chopstick, extremely heavy as it was, and it was dark all over. It should be made of pig iron. The tip of the arrow was a triangular cone, and there was a blood groove on each side, which reached the arrow body. The tip of the arrow and the blood groove were all black and bright, with some blood spots on it.

This arrow was pulled from an officer's leg, and it was easy to pull it off, but the hole in the wound was very abnormal, unlike an ordinary round hole, but a very strange irregular shape. Blood flowed out of the wound and could not be stopped no matter how hard it was. Not long after returning to the camp, he had to watch the officer who had been bleeding from the battlefield died of excessive blood loss due to gasping and cold.

Along the round arrow body, I saw the arrow feathers behind the arrow. The arrow feathers were also made of pig iron, and each piece was as thin as it was made, with some patterns on it. When my hand shook, the arrow feathers were shaking very hard. Years of archery experience told Yao Guo that the terrifying "buzzing" sound was made by the arrow feathers. After a closer look, Yao Guo found that the arrow feathers were a bit strange. Not only did it not have two or three pieces symmetrical like ordinary arrow feathers, but three pieces, and these three pieces were not neatly arranged at the tail of the arrow, but were surrounded at the tail of the arrow in a strange rotation trend.

If he had the opportunity to humbly ask Zeng Hua, the "chief designer" of the arrow, Zeng Hua would explain to him that a blood groove on the tip of the arrow not only easily causes irregular wounds and makes it difficult to stop bleeding, making existing medical methods extremely difficult for first aid of such wounds, and also makes the wound healing more difficult to achieve greater damage. Moreover, there is a blood groove on the tip of the arrow because when the weapon with the blood groove is pierced into the slag, the uneven surface will bring external air into the wound, balance it with negative pressure, and facilitate quick pulling out. Isn't this iron arrow recycled? Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the burden on those responsible for recycling the sergeants. This is the same as the reason for having a blood groove on Mianyang weapons such as horizontal knives, waist knives and spears.

The arrow feathers are made of iron and are arranged in three rotating pieces, just to make the iron arrow rotate. One can maintain the "ballistic curve" and the other can penetrate the enemy's body like a bullet. It is not difficult to understand that although the dead Zhao army officer was rich and covered with iron armor on his legs, he could still "drill" through you within a certain range.

But even if Zeng Hua explains patiently, Yao Guo still doesn't understand, because he doesn't know many of the basic principles at all. Now Yao Guo is thinking about cracking the Jin army's Arrow Cloud Formation in this way.

"No wonder they dared to run to the north to die, because they rely on their strength and sharp arrows. But my men are not vegetarians. As long as I get close to you, we will make you regret coming to Guanzhong Fufeng!" Yao Guo thought hatefully.

"Sir!" Yao Qizi came in.

"How is it? Have you counted the casualties?" Yao Guo asked hurriedly.

"Sir Hui, the three-wheeled crossbow arrow in the Jin army shot 312 people and injured 365 people. The injured 239 people have died now, and the medical officer is helpless." Yao Qizi replied in pain.

Yao Guo was so angry that he threw the arrow on the ground and scolded angrily: "Damn it, I swear to take revenge."

"Sir, you shouldn't call the gold to withdraw your troops today. As long as we rush over, we will definitely kill him without leaving any armor!" Yao Qizi said angrily.

"Bad bullshit! People dare to shoot arrows nearly two thousand feet long. You still run barely like this. How many people can you leave when you run to the top five thousand horses? Do it yourself!" As soon as Yao Guo lost his temper, Yao Qizi immediately did not dare to speak, but just stood there with his head down.

"Sir, what should we do?" Yao Qizi asked aggrievedly.

"Tomorrow we will still be on the 5,000 infantrymen, bring more shields, quickly approach the Jin army formation, and then fight them in close combat. I don't believe that our five thousand elite soldiers cannot defeat the cowardly Jin people! As long as our infantry storms the Jin people's formation, I will lead three thousand cavalry to attack his rear wings, and I will eat this Jin army!" Yao Guo said hatefully.

Yao State had a reason to be so "rampant" because most of his ten thousand people were recruited from the Qiang people in Tianshui, Longxi and other counties, and they have always been brave and good at fighting. Not only did they make great achievements in the war to conquer Liangzhou, but when they were besieging Liangdu Gaoli's army not long ago, Shi Bao's elite and Ma Qiu's elite suffered a great loss, but Yao State's army did not hurt anyone.

"Okay! I will cut off the heads of a few Jin people tomorrow and avenge the brothers who died unjustly today!" Yao Qizi said with a flushed face.

Yao State was planning, and in Ji County, there were also several people planning for tomorrow's war.

"Tomorrow, Yao's troops will definitely have another bloody battle with us. Today he did not expect that we would suffer a secret loss if we had a divine arm crossbow. We would definitely find this face tomorrow." Gan Rui said first.

"I think it's certain. According to Tanma Si's situation, the troops of Yao State should be a relatively brave and good fighter in Guanzhong, with more than 7,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry." Xu Dang added, "The strong force is in our hands, and Yao State can't afford to lose this face." It seems that Xu Dang knows the position of the Jin army in the hearts of the generals of North Zhao.

"No matter how bad he is, if he dares to come again, we will shoot him into a hedgehog!" Xu Dang's deputy, the commander of the front military wing, shouted. He came first in Yizhou and worked in the Liangzhou army for two years. He is considered an old man. He is naturally full of confidence in the equipment, quality and morale of the Liangzhou army.

"I'm afraid that Yao Guohui is using conspiracy. He shot his head today, and he wouldn't be foolishly queuing up tomorrow and let us shoot." Yang Su, the commander of the cavalry wing army, said a little worriedly. Yang Su is Yang Xu's distant nephew, and his parents died early. He has followed Yang Xu since he was a child and became his adopted son.

According to Mao Muzhi's idea, Yang Xu was going to be sent to Jiankang to meet his nephew. However, Zeng Hua stopped Mao Muzhi's approach and asked the court for a title of Shunyi Marquis to Yang Xu, and then expressed his high position as the governor of Yizhou, so that his family would go to Chengdu for retirement with beautiful scenery and pleasant climate. Yang Xu finally understood that he was still a little naive. No matter who took charge of Qiuchi, he would not leave the old Yang family in Wudu. It would be a blessing not to eliminate the roots. Moreover, Yang Xu also knew that Zeng Hua was doing this with great pride and thoughts. If he sent himself to Jiankang, a surrendered marquis who had no power and no position, anyone would step on his feet. How could such a trembling and worried life be as comfortable as being a high-ranking lieutenant in Chengdu and then being a marquis?

Yang Xu, who thought everything, admired Zeng Hua's methods and thanked him for his kindness. After searching for him among his sons and nephews, he found that his adopted son Yang Su was the most talented and had been suppressed because of his background problems. So Yang Xu recommended Yang Su to Zeng Hua, one to serve Zeng Hua, and the other to leave a memorial for the old Yang family.

Zeng Hua found that Yang Su was indeed good. Although his martial arts skills were a little bit inferior, he was resourceful and calm, with strategy and courage and decisiveness, and was especially good at capturing cavalry, so he asked him to lead the commander of the only cavalry army of Liangzhou Army.

After hearing Yang Su's words, Gan Rui nodded, thought for a while and said to the three of them: "If you are Yao Kingdom, how should you deal with our army with strong crossbows?"

Xu Dang thought for a moment and replied: "I'd better attack with infantry first, mainly shield hands. Once our army shoots arrows, stop and protect them with shields. Then move forward quickly in the gap between our army's arrows, and move slowly in this way."

"General Wu Lie said that Yao** of the Northern Zhao Dynasty had cavalry, but cavalry was a noble horse for our army, and the same was true for the Zhao army. If you let the cavalry charge as soon as you come up and be baptized by our army's arrow rain, I think Yao State is not so generous. As for cavalry, the best time to strike is when you can't expect it. When you are caught off guard, the best direction of strike is your flank or rear army, rather than the front front army that is ready for battle." Yang Su continued.

Gan Rui smiled. Yang Su dared to argue with the army leader about cavalry tactics, and was naturally more familiar with cavalry than those of his own infantry. Yang Su was different from the Qiang generals under the army leader. Mi captured deer, Fei Tingpu, fox slave, Zhong Cunlian, Fu Nandang, Dangdang, Dangdang, Gong Tangxiu, Dangzhu, Feng Yangli and others were all wild-style backgrounds. What they liked was to travel suddenly, like lightning flying, coming like a sudden rain, and going like a string. What they were best at was Zeng Hua's great detour, if the enemy was strong, they would be floating around, and if the enemy was weak, they would be whistling.

Yang Su is good at regular cavalry confrontations, making full use of mobility, flexibly searching for or creating fighter jets within a certain range, and then giving the enemy the greatest blow.

"Yes, as Changmu said, Yao State could not easily join his cavalry. But what should we do if the Zhao army was full of shields attacking our army?" After everyone's argument, Lin Can already know that the Northern Zhao army would not be able to shoot away with an arrow. Realizing the seriousness of the problem, he began to think correctly about how to fight this battle.

"Then let's use segmented shooting! Let's see how they hide!" Xu Dang said gritting his teeth.

"Okay!" Gan Rui said with a touch of his hands, "Let's considerate more, we will definitely want Yao Guo to look good tomorrow!"

On the second day, Yao Guo asked Yao Qizi to lead the five thousand infantry troops to form a formation, and he led the cavalry to hide behind the formation.

After the Zhao army was fully formed, the Jin army left the city of Mei County. Without going far, they actually formed a formation under Mei County.

Yao Qizi saw that he was a little troubled. The Jin army was carrying the city to form a formation, so naturally he was not afraid of you sneaking and surrounding him from behind. He stood there, ordered an attack, and stayed still. Finally, he had to turn his head and look behind him, and turned his gaze for help to Yao Guo far behind the formation.

Yao Guo gritted his teeth and waved his right hand down, and the flag behind him suddenly began to shake.

Yao Qizi knew what he should do at a glance, so he quickly turned around and shouted at the waiting team in the array: "Go forward!"

The formation was still the cone formation of yesterday, or five thousand people. Whether it was the more than 4,000 people I personally experienced the day before yesterday, or the hundreds of people who were replenished from the Central Army today, the arrow rain yesterday had already shocked them. If someone's ancestral grave was not buried, then a little bit of a sudden, according to the screams in the camp's medical tent last night, it would be a bit of a disaster.

So when Yao Qizi ordered to bring more shields before going to battle today, shields became rare. There were not many soldiers equipped with shields, so the others did it themselves, found a wooden board, and tied a handheld area to treat it as a simple shield. Some even took out the pot lid of the kitchen and the bucket lids of each battalion, which was at least easier to handle than the temporary handmade ones.

Because the Jin army was "lazy", the distance between the two armies was five or six miles away. The Zhao army gathered and walked slowly over, and it took nearly two more hours to approach the front of the Jin army formation.

One thousand five hundred feet, yesterday it was this distance. A rain of arrows made them all escape from death. Now it has reached this dangerous distance. Experienced veterans have measured that it is only one thousand five hundred feet away from the Jin army ahead by their eyes. They used their eyes to convey a message of vigilance to the comrades on both sides. Soon, all the Zhao army in the forefront knew that the danger was coming soon.

Suddenly, someone seemed to be yelling behind the Jin army formation, and then a slight mosquito screamed from the sky. The alert front Zhao Jun immediately squatted down and raised the shield in his hand to cover his cramped head and body. When Zhao Jun saw this, he squatted down and raised his shield as he was before.

Yao Qizi looked at his team with great depression and turned into strange mushrooms all over the ground. When the "root of disaster" arrow flew over, he didn't look for so many mushrooms, but he just found a Zhao army soldier who was holding a small wooden board but not caring about his feet. He nailed the sergeant's solemn to the ground with one arrow, making the Jin army's arrow cloud formation a good luck.

On the battlefield where I was breathless, I heard a scream from low to high, and then suddenly increased. It turned out that the soldier felt a pain in his feet, and immediately threw away the wooden board of his right hand, screaming loudly and touched his feet with his hands, but he forgot that his left foot had been nailed to the ground by an arrow. When his body moved, his left foot could not move, and his center of gravity suddenly tilted, his body fell backwards, and his left foot, which was "fixed" there, suddenly seemed to be torn apart, and he couldn't help but raise the scream octave.

The Zhao army heard the screams from low to high and from high to high, and from high to high, and felt awe in their hearts. At this time, a huge "buzzing" sound suddenly sounded on their heads, and they immediately reacted. The rain of arrows fell down, hitting various shields in Zhao army's hands like rain hitting banana leaves.

It was different with a shield. Except for the 30 or 40 soldiers who were extremely lucky and had no shrinkage, they were found in the gap by arrows. The other Zhao army was safe and sound. However, when dozens of people screamed, the sergeant who was the first to scream stopped screaming, because he had already been lying there with several arrows blended with the earth when he was screaming, so when others screamed, he had already calmed down with his big eyes.

When the rain of arrows completely fell, Zhao Jun quickly stood up and lined up to run forward quickly. Unexpectedly, just after two steps, another "buzzing" sound came out. All Zhao Jun was almost crazy. How could he have such a fast arrow speed? Is it a strong crossbow or a strong bow? If a strong bow still makes people live?

These are all later stories. The key is to avoid this rain of arrows first and then say something, and leave it to life before saying anything. So the Zhao army squatted down and raised the shield. However, the effect of this rain of arrows was much stronger. Many Zhao army soldiers who had no time to squat down and raised the shields and were unlucky were shot in one after another, and dozens of Zhao soldiers fell to the ground.

There is no way, I am already at this level, so I can only rush forward, otherwise I will return in a defeat today.

Zhao Jun did not run two steps, and another "buzzing" sound was heard, and the arrow rain fell with the sound. However, this time, Zhao Jun finally felt that the arrow rain was much more sparse than yesterday. Yao Qizi also thought, it was broken, was it the Jin army shooting in segments? How could it go if someone was called like this?

This time it was Yao Qizi's turn to grit his teeth. He rode his horse and shouted at the sergeant in front of him: "All up, rush for me, hold a shield for me!"

The officers immediately shouted when they heard the order, and ordered the soldiers to get up quickly and rushed forward with their shields. After rushing through the arrow rain formation, the Jin army had no choice.

So the Zhao army soldiers held the shield and ran quickly. The shield could indeed block many arrows flying from the sky, but as soon as the man raised his body, the targets were large. The arrows not only flew above his head, but also to his body. The shield in the hands of the Zhao army soldiers was only so big that they could not care about their heads. Many Zhao army soldiers fell to the ground in the "buzzing" sound along the way, but they did not hesitate or retreat at all, and were still moving forward desperately. They had only one belief in their hearts, and the Jin army had only the axe of a powerful crossbow. As long as they got close to their close bloody battles, they could still defeat them.

When they ran nearly a thousand feet, the Zhao army soldiers had been shot twice; when they ran nearly six hundred feet, the Zhao army soldiers had already lost more than 400 people in the four-wheeled volleys. When the Jin army saw the Zhao army on the road, they had already changed to volleys. Seeing that the Zhao army was getting closer and closer, there was a sudden "whim" sound in the buzzing sound. The Zhao army was very familiar with the sound, like the sound of their infantry bows, but their infantry bows were either still in the central army or on the back of the running sergeant. Although they have now entered the range of the Zhao army archers, the Zhao army is now determined to rush up and fight. As for shooting in a row in the rain of arrows, the Zhao army did not think about it.

Amid the whistling sound, arrows that were much lighter than iron arrows flew over behind the buzzing crossbow arrows. If the iron arrows were raining, then the wooden pole arrows behind them were like wind. But their purpose was the same, and they all cost lives.

The Jin army's longbowmen had a very fast firing speed. Their quiver was right next to him, keeping their feet apart, holding the bow in his left hand and quickly taking out the arrow from the quiver with his right hand, then putting the arrow on the bowstring, leaning back, and with force on the index finger and arm, the longbow was pulled over, and the arrow pointed to the sky with a slant angle. Then, let go, the arrow flew out with a whirlwind, gathering a new rain of arrows in the air, flying towards Zhao Jun's head.

The Longbowman easily shot out four rounds of arrow rain in that moment (about twenty seconds), and the Divine Arm Crossbow could only barely shoot out two rounds, especially the two rounds of direct shots behind the shieldman made the oncoming Zhao Jun feel a bit overturned.
Chapter completed!