Dozens of wolf bamboo poles were placed across the shield. The wolf bamboo rope brought by Liu Zhong this time was carefully modified by Sima Shangzhi.
Select tough moso bamboos that are more than three years old, install an iron spear head on the tip, iron the thorns on both sides with fire and pour tung oil into it, so that the long knife is not easy to break; tie short sharp thorns on the oblique branches. He also applied poison on the short thorns, which was extremely poisonous.
Qin Qi soon met Lang Zhong, and Liu Zhong held the wolf whip and stabbed the horse. As the wolf passed by, several war horses screamed and jumped up, and were scratched by the spikes on the wolf.
The spear pierced straight towards the Qin army on horseback, and then the crossbow arrows fired with force, causing bloody flowers to appear with a "whoosh". In front of Queyue Formation, the Qin army quickly fell in a circle.
The curved surface of Queyue Formation was only more than thirty feet, and the Qin cavalry were squeezed into one place and could not move. Moreover, their backs were on the Yiluo River. Some Qin cavalry charged too fast and could not rein in their horses. They fell into the river and were killed by the stern ships. The soldiers shot him.
Yao Chong found that he could not take advantage of his military strength, so he ordered his troops to blow the trumpet and withdraw the Qin cavalry. After reorganizing the team, Qin Qi was divided into groups of a thousand people and took turns firing arrows at Queyue Formation.
There were shields erected on the outer ring of Queyue Formation's chariots, and arrows could only be thrown into the formation. Yang Anxuan had been prepared and ordered his soldiers to hold up the shield wall. The Qin army's arrow rain was almost ineffective.
After charging back and forth for nearly half an hour, the chariot remained motionless. Yao Chong became anxious. The Jin people's battle formation was like iron and stone, which could not be smashed or broken. However, his own Qingqi killed hundreds of people.
Yao Chong said to Shi Zhen and Xiao Long beside him: "You two will each lead five hundred cavalry to smash this strange formation for me."
Shi Zhen changed his weapon to an iron caltrop bone, which looked like a hammer. There were many sharp spikes on the hammer head, and it used gravity to hammer the enemy.
He dodged left and right to avoid the incoming arrows and pushed away the incoming wolf spear. He blocked the incoming spear with his shield in his left hand. Shi Zhen's horse rushed close to the chariot.
Shi Zhen stood upright on his horse and smashed the caltrop bone in his hand against the shield on the chariot.
There was a loud bang, sawdust flew, and the shield was smashed, revealing gaps.
Two crossbow arrows shot out quickly. Shi Zhen waved the caltrops to sweep down one crossbow arrow, and turned sideways to avoid the other crossbow arrow.
The crossbow arrow passed by his side, making a harsh friction sound on the armor, and pulled out a string of sparks.
The guards beside him used their shields to hold the wolf from the left and right sides, rode their horses forward, and slashed at the shield wall with their swords and sticks.
Yang Anxuan shouted: "Throw the spear and kill the horse."
With a command, the spear was thrown like an arrow, and the horses neighed. Seeing that the situation was not good, Shi Zhen quickly turned his horse's head and retreated, leaving more than a hundred men and horses on the ground.
Yao Chong gritted his teeth, drew out his knife and shouted angrily: "I don't believe that I can't break this ghost formation, boys and men, charge."
Qi Gong took the lead, Qin Qi waved his saber and howled like a wolf, charging towards Queyue Formation.
Yang Anxuan ordered in a cold voice: "Let the stern ship shoot the crossbow."
Five stern ships were lying across the river. Liu Zhong and others were impatient to wait. When they saw the flags waving, Liu Zhong loudly ordered, "Shoot."
Two Wanjun crossbows in each ship were already ready. After hearing the order, the soldiers pulled the crossbow machine, and the crossbow arrows, which were about ten feet long and as thick as duck eggs, shot out with a "buzz" sound.
The crossbow arrow easily tore apart the galloping horses, and continued to splash backwards with a rain of blood. It penetrated three horses in a row before resting.
Ten crossbow arrows created ten openings. Qin Qi reined in his horse and hesitated to move forward. Then the second batch of crossbow arrows flew again, and another group of people fell on their backs.
Mu Ping stood beside Yao Chong and shouted loudly: "Qi Gong, Wanjun's crossbow arrows are too powerful, please avoid their attack for now."
The low horn sounded, and Qin Qi retreated, leaving a blood stain on the ground. In Queyue Formation and on the stern ship, there were thunderous cheers and high morale.
Qin Qi retreated 300 steps away, and Yao Chong came forward with a livid complexion. He thought he could avenge the bloodshed, but he didn't expect his teeth to be knocked out.
Seeing Yao Chong's anger rising and his beard exploding, Mu Ping said, "Mr. Qi, the Jin army's formation is strong, and there are powerful crossbows in the river to help. Why not send your heavy cavalry forward."
Yao Chong waved his whip bitterly and said, "It seems that only heavy cavalry can break through this strange formation."
The sun had risen, and Yao Chong led his troops to withdraw several miles away. Yang Anxuan hurriedly ordered to replace his shields and clean the battlefield.
The soldiers guarding the formation rotated with the soldiers on the ship to maintain combat effectiveness.
Liu Zhong led his men off the ship to replace the damaged wolf's trap. He climbed up to the high platform happily and said with a smile: "It's better to fight with General Yang. They say the Qin people are fierce, but they are nothing more than that. An Xuan, what's the name of this formation?" It’s so solid.”
Yang Anxuan said: "Don't be careless. The Qin army has not retreated. I guess they are waiting for the heavy cavalry to come."
Liu Zhong's heart sank, and he said: "Are the armored cavalry equipped? Can they hold on? Should we board the ship and leave before the heavy cavalry arrives?"
He heard from his father and brother more than once that they mentioned armor and riding equipment, saying that swords could not cut through and arrows could not shoot through. If they met on the battlefield, it would be an infantry's nightmare and unstoppable.
During the great victory in Luoyang the year before last, the imperial court received Qin's war horses and armor. In order to boost morale, Sima Daozi specially let the Chinese army wear armor and riding equipment to parade through the market at the ceremony to worship the heaven.
Liu Zhong escorted Lu Zhuang to Beijing to attend the grand ceremony. When he saw the guard of honor decorated with armor and riding equipment, others may only see it as majestic, but Liu Zhong felt chilled.
With such armor and riding equipment, Qin, Yan, and Wei all have more than ten thousand horses. In the future, what can we do to resist the battles on the battlefield except to defend the city? I didn't expect to encounter it so soon.
Yang Anxuan smiled and said: "Brother Liu, don't worry, you will know after the battle."
Yu Fei on the side said: "General Liu, although the armor and cavalry are strong, the arrows in our hands are not vegetarian."
When Liu Zhong saw that all the soldiers were smiling and their morale was high, he couldn't bear to say that arrows could only penetrate the armor and pose little threat to the armor and riding equipment.
Yang Anxuan patted Liu Zhong on the shoulder and said, "Brother Liu, please sit on the stern and watch us defeat the enemy."
Half an hour later, everyone felt the heavy sound of hoofbeats, and Qin's armor and riding equipment appeared like black clouds.
Most of the soldiers of the Jin army had never seen a heavy cavalry with both men and horses wearing armor. The sound of cold air sucking could be heard endlessly, and many people's feet were shaking. How could they attack this body made of iron? If they were stepped on by a horse's hoof, their bones and tendons would not be broken. .
Yang Anxuan got angry and shouted loudly: "Strictly defend the formation, and the archers will change their armor and arrows."
Armor-piercing arrows are arrows made using the steel filling method and the double liquid quenching method. They are many times sharper than ordinary arrows. It is said that steel is used in blades, so Yang Anxuan prepared to use armor-piercing arrows to defeat the Qin army's heavy cavalry and undermine the Qin army's confidence.
Seeing the heavy cavalry arriving, Yao Chong jumped off his horse and changed his armor. Shi Zhen and others selected suitable armors and put them on.
Changing the sword into a spear, Yao Chong stabilized the iron helmet on his head, pointed the tip of the spear forward, and said in a muffled voice: "Follow me, I will trample these Jin people into dust."
The heavy cavalry galloped slowly, followed closely by Mu Ping and his light cavalry. As long as the heavy cavalry broke the Jin army's formation, they took advantage of the situation and charged in. Without the protection of the formation, these Jin troops could be easily destroyed.
Qi Gong hated Yang Anxuan deeply, so he had to pay attention to Yang Anxuan's whereabouts and not let him board the boat and escape in the chaos.
On the stern ship, Liu Zhong's heart seemed to be rising and falling with the progress of the heavy cavalry. The heavy cavalry was approaching a hundred paces, and the armor shone coldly in the sun, making people feel suffocated.
"Shoot," Liu Zhong shouted loudly. "Bang" and "Buzz" sounds exploded, and the crossbow arrows shot towards the "iron wall" with an indomitable intention.
The arrow body of the crossbow is made of jujube wood or Tangli wood, with red jujube wood as the top, and the front end is wrapped with fine iron. It is fired by a powerful crossbow. It can penetrate several feet into the wall and penetrate the hull of the ship. It is extremely sharp.
The crossbow arrows either penetrated the shield, knocking the knight to the ground, or penetrated the horse's armor, causing the horse to neigh in pain and fall to the ground, while the knight behind them stepped straight past, surging continuously.
Yang Anxuan watched coldly as the "iron wall" approached, a hundred steps, eighty steps, sixty steps. Yang Anxuan shouted loudly: "Archer, change your arrows."
Those armor-piercing arrows were placed in another quiver. Yu Fei reached out and took the arrows in his hand, aiming at the tall Qiang man in the front row and shooting. This guy was the Qiang general who smashed the shield just now.
Seeing the arrow shooting toward his chest, Shi Zhen subconsciously dodged to the left. Then he thought of wearing heavy armor, pulled out his chest, and faced the sharp arrow without dodging, so heroic.
In Shi Zhen's view, an arrow shot into heavy armor cannot penetrate the heavy armor even if it is not bounced away. Even if it can be shot into the armor, it is just a mosquito bite, so there is no need to panic.
With a "pop" sound, the arrow easily penetrated the armor, leaving only the arrow feathers outside.
Shi Zhen
His copper bell-like eyes bulged as he looked at the arrow feathers in disbelief. What kind of arrow was this? Why was it so sharp?
Looking around with difficulty, the entire row of heavy horses kept falling off their horses, and there was a constant "plop" sound. His vision went dark, and Shi Zhen lay prone on his horse, unable to stand up again.
"Be careful, arrows are only sharp." Mu Ping woke up from his surprise first and shouted loudly: "The tree shield blocks the arrow."
The soldiers and horses in armored riding equipment have great inertia. Once they move forward, they can stop their steps. The sound of hooves is like thunder, and they continue to gallop forward, constantly falling off their horses and falling to the ground in the rain of arrows.
Yao Chong reined in his horse tightly and watched with eyes wide open as the proud heavy riders fell one after another on the charging road.
The heavy cavalry rushed twenty steps away. Meng Longfu and Kuai En led the spear-throwing team to throw short spears. These short spears were also made by pouring steel. They easily tore through the iron armor and took away a group of Qin cavalry. life.
Layers of corpses falling to the ground blocked the way forward, and the heavy cavalry were heavy and difficult to turn around. They clustered together and became targets for sharp arrows. The seemingly sturdy heavy cavalry fell down row by row, piled high. The wall of flesh, pungent blood mixed with screams, painted a picture of hell on earth.
The retreating horn sounded long and whimpering. Yao Chong saw that only four or five hundred of the two thousand cavalry were able to turn back, and the loss of the light cavalry was over a thousand.
It was another disastrous defeat, and he was defeated at the hands of hundreds of infantry. Yao Chong felt suffocated in his chest, had difficulty breathing, and opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of blood.
"Take care, Duke Qi," Mu Ping shouted urgently, "Victory and defeat are common affairs for military strategists. The war is not going well, so we will withdraw our troops for the time being."
Yao Chong waved his hand feebly and said: "Withdraw, be careful of the Jin army pursuing you."
Mu Ping saw that Yao Chong had blood on his lips and was weak, so he quickly asked his bodyguard to help him change his mount and protect him before leaving.
In Queyue Formation, Yang Anxuan saw the Qin army beginning to retreat and ordered Liu Zhong to transport the horses on the other side across the river.
A quarter of an hour later, six hundred Qingqi were full of energy, and under the leadership of Yang Anxuan, they chased the fleeing Qin Qi. The remaining Jin army happily cleaned the battlefield. The Qin army left no less than a thousand "armor and riding equipment" in this battle.
This victory was beyond most people's expectations. They defeated many with less, and the infantry defeated light cavalry, especially the two thousand heavy cavalry. The morale of the Jin army was high, and the Qin army was no longer difficult to resist in their hearts.
