I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1148 The Roman Counterattack
In peacetime, when attacking large cities, the Han army would first use large catapults (with a range of nearly 500 meters) to destroy the defensive weapons on the city walls, and then use tiger-squatting cannons to fire at close range, calmly destroying the city gates from outside the range of the archers.

But now, the Han army has come on a long expedition, and their large catapults are unable to move with the vanguard, which gives them the best time for a decisive battle!

Governor Flavius ​​seized this opportunity! He bet that the Han army, for the sake of mobility, only carried the light tiger-squat cannons and would not be able to deploy the giant catapults with extremely long range in a short time.

Therefore, he boldly pushed the heavy scorpion cannon, whose range far exceeded that of the tiger crouching cannon, to the front of the battle line. Before the Han army's artillery could enter effective range, he took advantage of the waterway coordination to launch a preemptive strike.

"put!"

"Aim at those thunder tubes from those Easterners!"

"Hit me hard!"

With a roar from the Roman centurion, several meticulously tuned heavy scorpion cannons were suddenly fired! Huge crossbow bolts, as thick as a child's arm, hurtled through the air with a piercing whistling sound, flying in parabolic arcs far exceeding the range of ordinary arrows, precisely striking the advancing Han army's tiger-squatting cannon positions!
"Raise shields! Protect the artillery!" the Han army garrison commander in charge of covering the artillery unit shouted sternly.

The well-trained Han shield bearers immediately raised their tall shields in an attempt to protect the soldiers towing the cannons and their precious artillery. However, the Romans' heavy ballistae were far more powerful than ordinary bows and arrows!

boom! boom! boom!
Heavy crossbow bolts slammed into the shield formation and the cannon. One bolt even pierced through the wooden shield, pinning the two shield bearers behind it together! Another bolt accurately hit the carriage of a crouching cannon; amidst flying sawdust, the cannon tilted violently and nearly tipped over, but fortunately, the surrounding soldiers held it back tightly.

The advance of the Han army's artillery was halted.

"Good!" In the Roman ranks, Governor Flavius, seeing the initial sniping attempt succeed, clenched his fist. "Keep firing! Suppress their devilish weapons! Don't give them a chance to set them up!"

More heavy crossbow bolts came whistling in, and although their accuracy had decreased, they still caused considerable trouble and casualties to the Han army's artillery. The Han soldiers had to slow down and rely more on shields and makeshift cover to advance with difficulty.

"Second Brother! This won't do! Our cannons can't reach them!" Zhang Fei shouted anxiously.

Guan Yu's expression was grave. He hadn't expected the Romans to have such a tactic, using the ballistae's extremely long range as a countermeasure. He glanced at the muddy flanks and the sturdy front, knowing that a direct assault would inevitably result in heavy losses.

"Order! The artillery should retreat to a position outside the range of the ballistae and take temporary shelter. Yide, take your main cavalry and attack their right flank wetlands to draw their attention, but do not go too far in!" Guan Yu quickly adjusted the deployment.

"Understood!" Zhang Fei roared, rousing his hundreds of elite cavalry to charge like a whirlwind toward the right flank of the Roman army. He roared like thunder, his momentum terrifying.

Upon seeing this, the Numidian cavalry on the Roman right wing stirred, their formation slightly shifting towards Zhang Fei's direction, and the horse archers stepped forward to intercept them.

Just as the Romans' attention was drawn to Zhang Fei, Guan Yu suddenly opened his phoenix eyes and ordered the trumpeters behind him: "Blow the horns! Order the Xiongnu and Wuhuan light cavalry to spread out and charge from the shallow waters on the left flank, harassing the enemy with mounted archery, and never engage in battle!"

Woo——woo——woo——

A mournful horn sounded. Nearly ten thousand barbarian cavalry, who had been waiting for a long time, let out a howl like ghosts and wolves, surging out from the relatively dry shallows on the left flank like a flood bursting its banks. They did not attempt to charge the Roman's solid shield wall, but after entering the range of the arrows, they quickly split into several groups and galloped along the outer perimeter of the Roman lines, while simultaneously hurling volleys of arrows into the Roman phalanx.

Although the Roman hoplites' shields and large shields provided excellent protection, the relentless rain of arrows still caused harassment and sporadic casualties. More importantly, this constant harassment severely tested the discipline and patience of the Roman legions. Governor Flavius ​​frowned; he knew this was a common tactic of attrition used by the Easterners, one they were quite familiar with.

Flavius ​​immediately raised his hand to signal, and a synchronized sound of shield pounding rang out from the Roman phalanx.

Their heavy infantry held their square shields firmly in front of them, forming an impenetrable "tortoise shell formation." Arrows fired by the barbarian cavalry were either deflected by the shields or embedded deeply into the wooden shields, but they could never break through the defense.

Governor Flavius ​​stood on the command platform, coldly watching the swarm of barbarian cavalry raining down arrows, a hint of disdain on his lips. He was well aware of the advantages of his own formation and the discipline of his legion's soldiers.

"Order: First and second battalions, raise your shields and maintain formation! Third and fourth battalions, prepare your javelins!" Flavius's voice was quickly relayed to the front lines by messengers.

The well-trained Roman soldiers immediately obeyed the orders. The front ranks formed an impenetrable shield wall with their massive square shields, blocking most of the arrows. The rear ranks gripped their heavy javelins (pilum) and awaited further commands.

"Throw the javelins—fire!"

With the centurions' roars, thousands of heavy javelins rose from the Roman phalanx like a deadly rain, tracing deadly arcs as they hurtled towards the mounted archers.

"Scatter! Scatter now!" the leaders of the Hu cavalry shouted in terror.

However, Roman javelins had a wide coverage area and were specifically designed to penetrate shields and armor. Despite the efforts of the Hu cavalry to dodge, many horses were still pierced by the javelins and fell to the ground screaming in agony. A single volley of javelins halted the Hu cavalry's harassing offensive, resulting in the loss of several hundred riders.

"Retreat! Retreat!" The Hu cavalry hurriedly retreated, no longer daring to easily enter the range of their javelins.

Zhang Fei's feint attack on the right flank was also thwarted. The Numidian cavalry used the complex terrain at the edge of the wetlands to harass the enemy with light arrows and javelins. Whenever Zhang Fei attempted to penetrate deeper, they would quickly retreat into the muddier areas, making it difficult for the Han heavy cavalry to exert their impact.

"Third brother, come back!" Seeing that his probing attack had failed, Guan Yu decisively sounded the retreat.

Zhang Fei led his troops back dejectedly, his armor covered in mud. He yelled angrily, "This Roman tortoise formation is really frustrating for me!"

Guan Yu stroked his beard, deep in thought, his phoenix eyes slightly narrowed as he carefully observed the Roman army formation. He found that Flavius's formation was indeed shrewd, making full use of the terrain and equipment advantages to prevent his own iron cavalry from operating freely.

Zhang Fei said anxiously, "Second brother, what do we do now? Our cannons are being targeted, our mounted archery is useless, and we don't have enough infantry... How about I just lead the heavy cavalry to charge into the enemy lines? If I can't take that Roman barbarian's head, I will bring it back to you, brother!"

"No, no rush," Guan Yu stroked his beard and replied, "Let's retreat first."

"Huh?" Zhang Fei exclaimed in surprise.

(End of this chapter)