God Three Group Chat: Three Kingdoms

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The crossbow-wielding shield guards who followed the front-line shield guards had many shortcomings in actual combat, and Sun Guan gained a thorough understanding of this through actual contact.

Its defensive capabilities are significantly inferior to those of a regular shield guard.

The shield guards can ignore most regular elite attacks. The only attacks that the crossbow shield guards can ignore are probably light bows. If they switch to longbows, they can effectively kill the crossbow shield guards.

The crossbow shield guards, whose defensive capabilities have been greatly reduced, have not seen any improvement in movement speed or reaction speed. The soldiers also lack the sense of security that regular shield guards provide due to their heavy equipment. In actual combat, their reaction to orders and judgment lack the composure of regular shield guards.

This series of issues can be seen as the difference between the crossbow shield guard and the regular shield guard.

Moreover, even though the crossbows used by the crossbow shield guards for offense have gauntlets to prevent injury from the crossbow strings and a winch to greatly increase the speed of cocking, it still takes a very long time to cock them.

A regular archer unit can fire five or six shots, while a crossbowman or shield guard might not even be able to prepare one.

This excessively low rate of fire, along with the various negative effects on the legion as a whole and the drastically reduced defense, all piled up on another attribute.

"Release!" Sun Guan, after glancing around to make sure everything was alright, immediately gave the order to the crossbow-wielding shield guards who had already raised their crossbows, as the regular shield guards in front raised their shields and leaned back.

With a piercing whistle of a crossbow string cutting through the air, a crossbow bolt, about the size of a smaller pistol, flew directly over the heads of the shield guards in front, creating a series of orderly air ripples.

The Kushan soldiers who were originally charging forward instinctively responded differently after seeing the Han army's preparations and reactions.

Most of the regular soldiers, based on their past training, raised their shields for defense, attempting to withstand this round of close-range long-range attacks.

Some elite veterans, who had participated in a large number of battles, immediately abandoned the idea of ​​raising their shields to defend themselves when they saw the crossbows raised by the crossbowmen and shield guards. Instead, they threw their shields out as fast as they could, and then, following the momentum, rolled forward from the ground.

As these veterans rolled, they heard a whooshing sound as they went through the air, followed by the constant clanging of metal and the volleys of bullets that pierced through shields and armor.

With just one volley, two or three rows of Kushan soldiers charging at the forefront fell down.

This sudden massacre stunned many Kushan soldiers on the spot, but the continuous charge eventually had momentum, and they forcibly stepped over the dead soldiers in front of them to continue charging.

Experienced Kushan veterans would not miss this opportunity, especially when the Han army's crossbowmen and shield guards displayed their overflowing destructive power, they basically knew there was no way out.

Charge forward, kill these soldiers, and there's still a chance to survive.

If you can't defeat the opponent, you'll die from a crossbow-like attack, even if you release your internal energy.

"Rotate." Seeing that the crossbowmen and shield guards at the front had completed their volley, Sun Guan immediately gave the order, signaling the crossbowmen and shield guards who were already prepared to change positions immediately.

The crossbow guards, holding crossbows in both hands, sat down on the spot with extremely high efficiency, then braced their feet against the crossbow strings and used their hands to turn the winch to begin winding the crossbow.

Seeing the Kushan soldiers in front of him fall and be crushed by the Kushan soldiers behind, Sun Guan immediately added, "Second rank, fire!" The same thing continued to happen, and Sun Guan shouted for the third rank to fire. After the last rank of volley was fired, he shouted again, "Shieldbearers, raise your shields, charge ten paces!"

Taking advantage of the fact that the Kushan army had suffered a fatal long-range attack and that the front-line military organization was not in good order and had huge openings, Sun Guan directly ordered the front-line shield guards to launch a charge, forcibly ramming into the Kushan soldiers and directly advancing the battle line by ten steps.

When charging at Kushan soldiers and advancing, it is difficult to kill the corresponding Kushan soldiers. At this time, the melee guards behind the crossbow shield guards will cross the crossbow shield guards' cocking area, clear out the enemy behind the shield guards, fill the corresponding area, and prepare to prevent the enemy from counterattacking from a distance.

In just a dozen breaths, Sun Guan commanded the Shield Guard Legion to complete preparations for defense, counterattack, attack, mopping-up, and long-range defense.

This instinct, developed through intensive training, to some extent compensates for the officers' lack of command ability, but sometimes it can seem somewhat superfluous.

When the melee legion completed its defense against ranged attacks, Sun Guan suddenly realized that the Kushan soldiers' ranged attack capabilities had been largely wiped out. Even if there were any remnants, they would hardly pose a threat to the crossbow legion.

The long-range defensive preparations made under such circumstances will, to some extent, reduce the sustained output of the crossbow legion.

However, since things have come to this point, there haven't been any negative consequences.

Garth, who had also witnessed and learned all of this, was completely stunned.

It was thought that only by launching a counter-offensive could they avoid the enemy's long-range attacks, thus buying more time and giving their own army a chance to survive. However, it now seems that even in close combat, the gap between the two sides is simply too great.

The high quality displayed by the Han army's frontline defensive troops truly matched the equipment possessed by the enemy.

Their well-trained and efficient offense and counter-attack defense are a real headache to watch.

"Just as I thought." Guan Yu, who was closely monitoring the battlefield situation and giving orders, nodded seriously as he watched everything that was happening on the battlefield.

Targeted training for basic military branches can effectively address most situations on the battlefield; the remaining few situations depend on the commander's judgment and command.

If soldiers can do this, it can greatly reduce the commander's command and response burden, allowing the commander to have more time and energy to think, observe, and counter the enemy's command tactics.

The only legions that were ever able to do this were basically the Three Rivers Five Schools and Danyang.

Danyang's strength stems from the unique nature of its legion, while the Three Rivers and Five Schools represent true hard power and organizational coordination.

Nowadays, apart from the Three Rivers and Five Schools, the basic military units of the Han Empire, especially the Shield Guards, receive the most training in this area.

Excellent defensive equipment stabilizes the soldiers' state, allowing them to respond calmly and providing a high degree of tolerance for error. This makes it particularly effective when executing rigid offensive and defensive tactics.

Rigid responses and countermeasures are not a problem; as long as they can be implemented, they are sufficient to handle the vast majority of situations.

After all, they're just basic unit types... (End of Chapter)