I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1150 A Bloody Day

"how come?!"

"How did they manage to bring the catapults over so quickly?!"

Upon seeing the trebuchets with wheels that could accompany the army, the Romans panicked completely.

Admittedly, the giant catapult is inconvenient to move and difficult to operate, but Su Yao and the elites of the engineering college had already made improvements to this, greatly speeding up its deployment time by disassembling and reassembling the parts.

Moreover, in preparation for this battle, they did not assemble a fixed, large catapult for siege warfare, but rather a light field catapult with wheels that could be pushed and moved!

These field weapons, known as "Whirlwind Cannons," are the latest achievements of Su Yao's engineering college, drawing on the strengths of various schools of thought. They borrowed the structure of traditional Central Plains cannons but employed more robust metal bearings and winches, and the counterweight boxes were designed to be detachable. Although the weight and range of the projectiles they launched were far less than those of the giant counterweight catapults used in sieges, their deployment speed was extremely fast, and they possessed a certain degree of mobility, making them a killer weapon prepared for such field encounters!

Even more fatal is that, as a time traveler, Su Yao also introduced the basic concepts of modern ballistics and compiled an "Artillery Manual".

Although limited by the era's constraints and the inability to manufacture precision instruments, craftsmen, through repeated experimentation, were able to create rudimentary firing tables and angle scales. Each "Whirlwind Cannon" was equipped with a trained artillery commander who could quickly adjust the counterweight and launcher angle based on the distance estimated by the observers using the rangefinding method with their bows, greatly improving the hit rate of the first volley!
At this moment, the results of these training exercises are clearly evident.

As the Han army engineers chanted slogans, they pushed the "Whirlwind Cannons" into their designated positions. The artillery commanders then quickly and skillfully adjusted the dials and counterweights on the cannons based on the distances indicated by the flag signals from the front.

"Target: enemy crossbow position, 150 paces away, first charge, elevation 3 degrees—fire!" The engineer captain's shout had barely faded when...

Squeak—Bang! Bang! Bang!

The dull thud of the projectiles rang out faster than the Romans had anticipated! More than a dozen stone projectiles and several "fire bombs" wrapped in flammable material streaked along low and precise trajectories as they hurtled toward their target!

"Scatter!" The centurion beside the Roman ballista cried out in despair, unable to comprehend how the Han army's cannons could be so fast and so accurate!

But it's too late.

A stone projectile, with terrifying accuracy, struck the torsion bearing of a Scorpion cannon directly, instantly shattering the heavy wooden structure and sending flying fragments knocking down several nearby gunners. Even more terrifying were the "fire bombs"—

Boom! Crack!

The earthenware jar shattered, and the oil inside splattered out, igniting instantly and engulfing another ballista and the ammunition box next to it! The towering flames and thick smoke not only destroyed the equipment but also created immense panic and chaos within the Roman ranks.

"Devil! Their cannons are firing so fast and accurately!" "Fire! Fire!"

The Roman soldiers, who had never experienced such efficient long-range firepower, were instantly thrown into chaos. Their disciplined formation began to falter, especially the gunners and mortar operators responsible for operating the precision instruments, who were terrified and whose loading and aiming efficiency plummeted.

Governor Flavius ​​watched with growing fury from the rear. He tried to order the reserves to move forward and stabilize the position, and to order the other crossbowmen to counterattack, but the Han army's attack was like a whirlwind, giving him no chance to catch his breath.

"Tiger Crouching Cannon! Advance! Covert attack!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity when the Roman long-range firepower was precisely suppressed and disrupted by the "Whirlwind Cannon", the Han army's Tiger Crouching Artillery Corps quickly advanced and moved into the optimal firing range.

boom! boom! boom!
This time, the rain of iron bullets from the tiger-squat cannons was even more deadly. Without the constant threat of enemy ballistae, the gunners could reload at their leisure and fire at close range. The dense shrapnel washed over the Roman legion's front shield formation like a storm. Although it couldn't directly destroy the heavy Roman shields, the scattering shrapnel and poison fire could still reach beyond the shields, causing continuous casualties and psychological pressure on the dense infantry behind them.

"Cavalry! Flanking attack!" Guan Yu's phoenix eyes widened, and his Green Dragon Crescent Blade pointed sharply forward, issuing the order for a general offensive. The time had come!
"Zhang Yide of Yan is here! Roman barbarians, prepare to die!" Zhang Fei could no longer contain himself and roared like thunder, his voice shaking the surrounding area.

He led a mixed cavalry force of a thousand Han cavalrymen and several thousand non-Han cavalrymen, like a sharp knife, and with unstoppable momentum, fiercely stabbed the right wing of the Roman army, which was wavering and in disarray due to the long-range firepower!

Almost simultaneously, the light cavalry of the Xiongnu and Wuhuan on the left wing roared deafeningly. They stopped their harassing mounted archery and instead took advantage of the low morale and loose formation of the Roman left-wing Numidian cavalry due to the destruction of the lake fleet. They charged into close combat, their scimitars and spears flashing coldly as they hacked and slashed wildly!

Governor Flavius ​​was deathly pale. He desperately tried to mobilize the reserves and stabilize the situation, but it was too late. The Han army's attack was like a finely tuned war machine, with long-range suppression, infantry advances, and cavalry charges all working in seamless coordination. The water ghosts' surprise attack destroyed their navy and cut off their supply lines; the "whirlwind cannons" precisely struck, breaking their formation and blunting their morale; the tiger-crouching cannons applied continuous pressure with close-range shrapnel; and the final heavy cavalry charge delivered the fatal blow!
The Roman legions' impregnable phalanx, which had dominated the world, finally began to crumble under this combined attack that was ahead of its time and incorporated advanced engineering technology and tactical thinking.

The auxiliary troops on the right flank were the first to crumble under Zhang Fei's heavy cavalry charge, and the panicked rout disrupted the formation of the heavy infantry behind them. Seeing that all was lost, the Numidian cavalry on the left flank fled in disarray. The Roman heavy infantry in the center, though disciplined, still held on, but their formation was broken, and casualties were surging. Even more fatally, at that moment, the banners of the Han army's center moved.

The banner bearing the character "Guan" fluttered in the wind as the final three thousand Han cavalry, led by Guan Yu, made their grand entrance.

This unit is the true elite of the Han army. The first thousand cavalrymen are fully armored, with each rider wielding an extended lance and carrying two "thunderbolts" in their saddlebags. This is the core assault force that Su Yao has painstakingly built.

They had been holding back, like tigers lying in wait, until now, when the Roman army's formation was shaken by the collapse of its flanks and its attention was completely drawn, they finally revealed their sharpest fangs!
"For the Han Dynasty! For His Majesty! Kill!" Guan Yu's voice boomed like a bell, his Green Dragon Crescent Blade pointing diagonally forward as he charged ahead.

Three thousand iron cavalrymen transformed into an unstoppable torrent of steel, crashing directly into the already cracked shield formation of the Roman central army in a well-ordered wedge formation!

The massacre has begun.

(End of this chapter)