Liu Chan's army, which successfully broke through the snake formation and passed through the Western Mountains of Kunze, did not rush to besiege Dianchi Lake because they could not figure out the details of the opponent.
Instead, after leaving the mountain, they steadily began to cut down trees and build camps.
After leaving Kunzexi Mountain, the opponent is indeed in no danger of defending. However, if our side is unfavorable in the battle, we will also face an embarrassing situation with no way out.
For example, the Cuan family who had raised an army before were killed all the way and hid in the swamp area in a panic.
The soldiers under his command are already familiar with the matter of building camps, and the Red Star Army soldiers are even more good at it.
In addition, there are many large and good trees in Nanzhong and good materials are everywhere, so the construction progress is gratifying.
Build high camp walls, watchtowers at four corners, dig deep trenches, and set up many antlers...
The outside of the camp was beginning to take shape. At the same time, after learning that the other party was a clan that was good at controlling beasts, Liu Chan felt that the so-called "gift" of the other party was probably the elephant soldiers.
Elephant soldiers have few victories in battles in history, and there are many counter-examples in which they kill the enemy without causing much damage to themselves, but this does not mean that this behemoth is without threat on the battlefield.
Therefore, when digging the trench, the depth and width required by Liu Chan were obviously not prepared for war horses.
"Prince, is this trench dug too deep?" Zhang Yi was a little confused, "There are also hidden stakes and wooden spikes underneath. It took several days to build this trench alone..."
When he thought that the opponent was no longer in danger, and the army drove over, it would not be difficult to capture Dianchi Lake as long as he protected the thunder cannon and took advantage of its range.
Can less than 10,000 poorly equipped barbarians break through their own battle formation and destroy the Thunder Cannon?
"This should be just right, Cuan Sima, do you know what kind of fighting method the beast control clan is best at?" Liu Chan looked at Cuan Xi.
Cuan Xi pondered: "Well... this department has little contact with outsiders, and my subordinates really don't know. But I heard that King Kunming had a giant beast mount, which was presented by this department. It is said that this beast is three to four feet long and has thick tusks. It’s like an adult’s arm. It’s as heavy as a mountain and has infinite strength. This beast alone can destroy a city or a stronghold..."
"Hmph!" Zhang Yi snorted coldly, "That's nonsense. If they can control this strange beast, why don't they just go north and dominate the world? It must be all exaggeration and bluff."
Liu Chan was noncommittal. Judging from the description, this was undoubtedly an adult male elephant.
If we talk about destroying a city, it would not be an exaggeration if it were a smaller city in Nanzhong.
"In short, it may not be without reason, but we still..."
"Report——!"
Just as he was about to give a few words of advice, Red Star Scout Pegasus came to report.
"Prince, there are a large number of enemy troops driving giant beasts from the direction of Dianchi Lake, and they have arrived more than ten miles away from our military camp! Those giant beasts have a similar appearance to the prince's 'elephant' in Chengdu, and they should be of the same kind."
The soldiers of the Red Star Army have all seen Liu Chan's elephant, so they recognized it at a glance.
It turned out to be an elephant soldier. Liu Chan raised his eyebrows. He came quite quickly.
"How many elephants does the opponent have? How many soldiers and horses does it have?"
"My subordinates are incompetent... In addition to the elephants, the enemy also has cavalry scouts driving groups of wolves and dogs outside. They quickly discovered us, so we were unable to find out the details."
Liu Chan waved his hand and said, "This is not your fault. Go down."
"Prince, the barbarians dared to take the initiative to leave the city. We just happened to annihilate them in one fell swoop, which saved us the trouble of siege and siege. The last general is willing to be the vanguard!" Zhang Yi said with cupped fists.
Cuan Xi and Li Hui also stepped forward and said: "The last general is willing to be a pioneer."
Li Er, Ding Feng and other Red Star Army generals also stepped forward and said: "The Red Star Army is willing to be the vanguard and kill the enemy for the prince!"
Although it is difficult for ordinary bows and arrows to cause damage to the target, the throwing spears and big yellow crossbows of the Red Star Cavalry should still have a killing effect.
Although it is estimated that it will be difficult to kill those giant beasts, if you can stimulate them to go crazy and attack and trample them indiscriminately on the battlefield, it must be enough for those barbarian soldiers to drink a pot.
I have heard similar battle cases before. Once the war elephant goes crazy, it is often a more terrifying disaster for friendly troops than for enemy soldiers.
"Okay, let's go meet these barbarian beast soldiers for a while and see what's strange about them." Liu Chan saw that the generals were high in fighting spirit and reminded, "High morale is a good thing, but we should not underestimate the enemy. If that elephant The soldiers were indeed in trouble, so they retreated to the camp in time."
"As you command!"
The crowd immediately led their troops out and marched in the direction from which the barbarians came.
After marching for a while, we saw many behemoths in the distance, mixed in the enemy crowd.
"Form up and prepare to meet the enemy!"
Liu Chan gave the order and all the troops quickly formed their formations.
Zhang Yi led two thousand soldiers in front, and all the large yellow crossbows he brought were delivered to the front army.
Liu Chan personally led the Red Star Army and three thousand soldiers in the middle, and Li Hui and Cuan Xi led three thousand soldiers behind.
The crossbowmen are arranged on two wings and spread diagonally forward. If viewed from the air, they look like an eagle spreading its wings.
Hu Li led the Red Star cavalry on his side.
The reason why he chose this infantry square formation that was relatively far back was because Liu Chan fully estimated the power of the target soldiers. This thing cannot be blocked by a spear formation...
The Han army, which had completed their formation, waited for the enemy to enter firing range.
When the enemy soldiers gradually approached, their clear appearance was revealed in front of the Han soldiers.
There are about 20 war elephants, walking side by side at the front.
Among them, there is a white elephant with extremely long tusks that is very eye-catching. Not only does it have larger tusks than others of its kind, it even wears a metal armor!
This discovery made Liu Chan frown. Nanzhong was also short of iron, so it was impossible to build a valuable metal elephant armor with such a large amount of money.
Sitting on this white elephant is a strangely dressed barbarian holding a large shield, who must be the leader of the Kunming clan.
On the other war elephants, there are two people sitting in front and behind, one should be responsible for controlling the elephant, and the other is responsible for attacking.
Each war elephant was followed by about ten barbarians. The two in front were holding long sticks and seemed to be assisting in controlling the elephant. The others were holding shields, spears, or bows and crossbows.
When Liu Chan saw it, he couldn't help but think that this was probably the earliest "Bu-tan collaboration"...
There are also some barbarian cavalry on their flanks, each with a number of wolf dogs, grinning and barking.
Behind these groups of elephant soldiers were a large number of barbarian infantry. Although these people could not be called a battle formation, their march was chaotic, even noisy and lackluster.
However, they are not as poorly equipped as the Qingqiang infantry in Huo Buli.
Some of them actually wore well-made leather armor, and the craftsmanship was clearly made by Han people.
Moreover, the swords and guns in his hands are bright, and the style is probably made by Han people.
Coupled with the concrete armor just now, Liu Chan immediately guessed that this was probably the work of Jiangdong Wu Laoer.
A sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth, since you plan to play like this, don't blame me for taking the medicine as prescribed.
Liu Chan had already made preliminary plans for his revenge on Soochow, but the more important thing was to achieve the immediate victory.
Meng Huo held a long sword and rode his horse far behind the war elephant group, waiting for King Pu to attack first.
He knew the power of war elephants very well. The rest of them didn't need to do almost anything. They just waited for the elephants to charge into the enemy's formation and then attack to harvest.
The tactics are simple, but extremely difficult to crack.
Yong Kai, who was originally worried, also regained his confidence along the way. With these giant beasts standing in front of him, it really made people feel very at ease.
This time we must let the Han army die here!
"Charge!" King Pu Citu raised his right hand high and issued an attack command. The monkey on his shoulder also made a squeaking sound, looking very excited.
"Ugh——!"
Driven by their handlers, the war elephants gradually began to speed up.
"Fire arrows to stop the enemy, cavalry guerrillas!" Liu Chan also waved his hand, and with the flag waving, the confrontation between the two sides officially began!
What happened next was also expected for Liu Chan.
However, for his generals and ordinary Han soldiers, it was the first blow since the campaign in Nanzhong.
War elephants are huge and don't move very fast at first, making them perfect targets.
However, ordinary bow arrows hit many war elephants, but they did not cause any damage at all. At most, they were only pricked bloody by crossbow arrows...
The barbarian soldiers who followed the war elephant tried their best to hide their bodies behind the war elephant, and then used wooden shields to avoid much damage.
Ordinary soldiers who didn't know much about this kind of beast were suddenly panicked. These things turned out to be like copper skin and iron bones? How to fight this?
The barbarian soldiers had already expected this and ignored other attacks. They just drove the giant elephants towards the Han army's infantry square.
"Raise the gun—!"
Hu Li, who led his cavalry to approach in a roundabout way, was very angry at the elephant soldiers who ignored them. He led his team to charge towards a war elephant from the side, assessing the distance between the two sides.
However, just when he was about to enter the shooting range...
"咴咴儿!!" The originally very obedient horses suddenly began to slow down against their owners, and some even stood up, causing the cavalry to be embarrassed and almost fell off their horses...
"Drive! Drive! What's wrong? Come on!" Hu Li anxiously urged the horse on his hip. The usually obedient horse was tapping its hooves restlessly and refused to step forward.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Seeing the miserable appearance of the Han cavalry, the barbarians behind the elephant herd burst into laughter.
The one who laughed the most was Yong Kai, who had been deflated before.
He couldn't help but said to Meng Huo beside him: "In this battle, we must call that Liu Chan kid to taste the power of our southerners, hahaha..."
"That's right! Brother Yong, let's see how we avenge your defeat!" Meng Huo was obviously also full of confidence.
The war elephants, who were constantly being harassed by bows, arrows and crossbows, gradually became angry and began to increase their speed. Only twenty war elephants trampled the ground like thousands of troops, and rushed towards the Han army with rumbling sounds. come over……
(End of chapter)
