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- Chapter 498: Human life on the battlefield is as cheap as grass
The army marched when they heard the drums, and stopped when the drums ceased.
Nearly a million troops from both sides were waiting in formation outside Xiping City, with banners stretching for dozens of miles and iron armor linked together like a vast ocean.
The rebel general Shi Lei looked back at Li Yuanshan, who was surrounded by heavy cavalry, and there was something different in his eyes. Li Yuanshan ascended the throne and proclaimed himself the emperor and established the great Zhou Dynasty. He was granted the title of Duke of Su, ranking first among all the princes and having the highest title among the generals. Although this title was child's play, he was still dissatisfied with it.
Wan Yansong and Zhou Dingguo were Li Yuanshan's personal soldiers. When Shi Lei was regarded as the leader of the Seven Tiger Generals, Wan Yansong was just a personal soldier and Zhou Dingguo was just a brigade leader. After Li Yuanshan raised his army, Wan Yansong was promoted to the rank of fourth-rank general, and Zhou Dingguo was promoted to the rank of fifth-rank general.
During the sneak attack on Zuo Xiaowei at Mandu Banner, Wan Yansong was the first to lead troops into Zuo Xiaowei's camp. After this battle, he was promoted to a third-rank general by Li Yuanshan, the same as Shi Lei.
Shi Lei has followed Li Yuanshan for more than fifteen years, and has been a fourth-grade general for more than seven years. He once thought that he was the first person under Li Yuanshan, but later he realized that Li Yuanshan had actually been wary of the Seven Tiger Generals. Shi Lei knew that when Li Yuanshan raised his army, the Seven Tiger Generals did not agree with it, but in the end, they did not leave and chose to follow him. Because of this, Li Yuanshan began to cultivate new cronies. This change made the Seven Tiger Generals feel uncomfortable.
This is why even now, Shi Lei is the only one among the Seven Tigers who is still standing next to Li Yuanshan.
Wukui was defeated and killed. Chu Feiyun left without saying goodbye after Li Yuanshan became king. Yin Poshan and Meng Wansui each led an army and no longer listened to Li Yuanshan's control. The seven people are now dead and scattered, never to reunite.
As if he felt Shi Lei's gaze, Li Yuanshan, who was wearing heavy armor, looked this way. Shi Lei's eyes flickered and he turned his head to look in another direction. At this moment, Li Yuanshan suddenly felt guilty and couldn't help but look at Shi Lei a few more times. Of the Seven Tiger Generals, only Shi Lei is still following him, and am I too unkind to him?
This thought flashed in Li Yuanshan's mind and disappeared without a trace in less than a second.
He looked at the Sui army array opposite, took a deep breath and then gave the order: "Blow the trumpet, let Shi Lei lead an attack of 50,000 troops, and the left and right wings will feign attack."
As he gave the order, the sound of the trumpet sounded immediately.
Shi Lei put his thoughts back and looked left and right at his trusted generals and nodded. Everyone clasped their fists and looked determined. Shi Lei pointed the long spear in his hand forward, and the 50,000-strong army slowly started to move.
Good weather, good venue.
It seems that today is particularly suitable for a decisive battle.
Shi Lei's rebels began to speed up, and the troops without cavalry moved forward neatly. The formations were still neat while charging forward, which shows that Shi Lei was quite strict in his army management. Of the hundreds of thousands of horses and horses that Li Yuanshan allocated to him at the beginning, now only these 50,000 are left. These people have all fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and their quality is worse than the so-called elites led by the nephews of the Li family. Be stronger.
Seeing the rebels advancing, Jin Shixiong waved the flag. The archers who formed an arrow formation in front placed their arrow pots at their feet. When they lowered their hands, they could easily draw out their arrows. The lookout stood high up and kept waving flags, while the soldiers below loudly reported the distance of the rebels.
The emperor leaned on the seat covered with a layer of blankets, supporting his chin with one hand and squinting his eyes.
"very good"
He said two words lightly.
Su Buwei lowered his head and said, "I don't know much about military affairs, so I don't know what your majesty's praise means."
The emperor smiled and said: "I have entrusted this job to Jin Shixiong. What I am most worried about is that Jin Shixiong has not forgotten the defeat of Mandu Banner more than three years ago. As a general, if his reason is blocked by the resentment in his heart, then his command will be It would be a complete mess. I was just worried that Jin Shixiong would order an attack, so I could rest assured that he would defend his position. At this time, there is no need to trade lives one-on-one with the rebels. The lives of those rebels are worthless, and so is Li Yuanshan's life. It's not worth it. It's unwise to rush forward to fight. Use strong troops to resist the attack of weak troops, and then wait for opportunities to counterattack. Jin Shixiong's leadership is still as safe as ever, so I say it's good."
"Archers, shoot the arrows!"
The archer general commanding from the front gave a loud order. The archers in the front row placed an arrow with red feathers on the bow string. It was much longer and heavier than ordinary feather arrows. He raised his bow and fired, and a row of arrows were sent out neatly. About two hundred thirty or forty steps away, the feather arrow poked the ground, and the wavy red line was clearly visible.
The lookout from a high place stared at the row of arrows and waved the flag immediately after seeing the rebel column passing by.
"Projection!"
The general gave the order and the arrow array was launched immediately. Tens of thousands of feather arrows flew into the air densely, drew a beautiful arc, and then fell down. The covering blow of the thrown feather arrows fell into the crowd of rebels like a heavy rain hitting the beach, making countless small craters in an instant. Each small crater represents a rebel soldier who fell to the ground after being struck by an arrow.
"Raise your shield! Raise your shield!"
The rebel general shouted loudly: "Run, speed up! Let the arrows fall behind you, hurry up! Run for me!"
As the rebel soldiers ran forward like crazy, the formation began to become scattered. But this kind of dispersion is not an unstructured dispersion, but a deliberate distance created to avoid the arrows. There are not enough shields. If we continue to gather together and rush forward at this time, the result will only be that more people will be sent to hell by feather arrows.
"Ballista!"
The Sui army general raised his right hand high, and then pressed it down fiercely: "Put it down!"
Phew!
With his order, hundreds of heavy crossbows flew out flat. The speed of the heavy crossbows was far faster than the feathered arrows, and the strength of the coiling rope was far beyond that of human power. To attack enemies in the distance, archers have to throw arrows to cause damage, but the heavy crossbow flies forward parallel to the ground.
Thin iron is the feather, and fine steel is the front.
The heavy crossbow, which was as thick as an arm, was like cutting wheat with a sickle, knocking down all the rebels at the front. The force of the heavy crossbow was so powerful that the shield could not withstand it, even if it was covered with one layer. The thick leather shield will be easily smashed by the heavy crossbow at the moment of contact. As for the soldiers behind the shield, there is no way to survive.
A heavy crossbow shattered the shield and passed through the chest of the rebel soldier, leaving a blood hole as big as a bowl on the chest. There were several wounds extending outward around the blood hole. That was the heavy crossbow iron. The traces left by the feathers. Under this intensity, the leather armor on the rebel soldiers was like a piece of window paper, which could be broken with a single poke.
The heavy crossbow that passed through the rebel's body was only slowed down by the obstruction, and then crashed into the body of the second rebel soldier. The crossbow cut off the soldier's arm from the shoulder, and still held the steel knife. His arm fell to the ground with a thud. His body was knocked backwards, and the wailing sound immediately started. The soldiers who came up from behind all moved out of the way, but there were still some who couldn't dodge and stepped on the wounded soldier.
He shouted frantically, but could not stop the trampling from his colleagues.
Soon, his shouts were drowned in the crowd and gradually lost their sound.
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Because the speed of infantry is much slower than that of light cavalry, archers can easily shoot six arrows after the enemy enters the shooting range. Even the weakest person can send out five arrows. Shi Lei's 50,000 rebels were wiped out by the rain of arrows time and time again. Almost no one in the four or five rows of soldiers at the front survived. The sound of arrows falling down and hitting the shield was continuous, mixed with the muffled groans and painful howls of the person who was hit by the arrow.
The rebels fell one layer at a time, and the people behind them immediately came up. For the attacking party, there is no effective way to isolate the lethality of the enemy's arrows. The most effective way is to rush forward with a shield, running as fast as possible. The spearmen and swordsmen who rushed at the front had nothing to cover them. Their defense against feather arrows relied entirely on their leather armor and luck.
As a spearman whose marching speed is second only to the cavalry, if he wants to survive the covering blow of the arrow formation, he can only keep his head down and run forward regardless.
The equipment of the pikemen is the simplest, with only a piece of leather armor on the upper body, and the weapons in their hands are also the cheapest. The cost of a finely crafted long spear can be exchanged for hundreds of spears.
While sacrificing defense, you gain the fastest speed.
The horn sounded again, and the imperial army began to change its formation. The ballista must retreat after firing two rounds because it moves too slowly to risk firing a third heavy crossbow. The archers also began to retreat, handing over their positions to their colleagues. Although the quality of these soldiers cannot be compared with the soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, the fighting in the past year has made them qualified soldiers. There was no confusion when the archers retreated. They retreated in lines. The space left between the two lines allowed the soldiers behind to fill in as quickly as possible.
The formation change was completed in just two minutes. As the long spearmen and giant shieldmen moved forward, the archers and ballistas were out of danger. But they did not dare to stay. Once there was a close encounter, the archers had to withdraw to the rear of the military formation, otherwise they would block the follow-up troops from supporting the front formation.
A giant shield as tall as a person was struck on the ground with a bang. The people holding the giant shield were all strong men with big shoulders and round waists. After they poked the giant shield on the ground, they squatted down and held the shield tightly with both hands.The handle of the card is carried on the shoulder to hold up the shield. Behind each layer of giant shields is a row of long spears. They put their long spears on the giant shield, ready to welcome the enemy's impact at any time.
"kill!"
Shi Lei waved his sword and shouted hoarsely. The rebel soldiers who finally no longer endured the rain of arrows understood that this was the time to fight. The rebel soldiers who had been suppressed for too long knew that life and death depended on this battle, so they An unprecedented burst of courage.
Boom
The torrent of rebels slammed into the embankment of giant shields, immediately creating a wave of blood. The impact that the giant shield bearers suffered can be imagined. Although they are behind the giant shield, they are not safe. Once they are knocked down, without any weapons or armor, they will immediately become the target of the enemy's anger.
The long hand kept poking forward, shouting, and there was a layer of blood in front of everyone's eyes. They won't look at the face of the enemy on the opposite side, they just mechanically thrust their swords out. There are not many people who are still alive after the war, and they are still scared to the point of vomiting or incontinence due to the flying blood and flesh.
Human life is of the least value at this time.
As more and more rebel soldiers crowded over, the first layer of giant shields was overturned. The shield bearers without weapons and armor had no other choice but to meet the enemy's blade. The Sui army commander behind them tried their best to resist, but they had no way out and were soon submerged by the torrent. Two people fighting for life and death hugged each other and died, just like a pair of old friends hugging each other after not seeing each other for a long time, so tight.
The main theme of the battlefield has never changed.
dead person
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