Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 563 Devastated
In the evening, after a hearty meal, the infantrymen from each camp left the camp.

The main force gathered in the northern part of Yuan’s army camp, where the terrain was still higher and provided an advantage in vision when commanding.

Even when shooting arrows, it has the advantages of range and field of vision.

The most important thing is that at night, the cold wind from outside the Great Wall howls in.

Yuan Shang also appeared in the northern part of the camp. When he saw the enemy's chariot soldiers outside the camp carrying carts of firewood and grass, he said to his attendants: "They are going to attack with fire. Do you have any countermeasures?"

"My lord, I have prepared many torches. When the enemy pushes the haystacks forward, I will throw the torches to ignite them and prevent them from getting close."

A general guarding the place pointed to a nearby campfire, where soldiers were wrapping bundles of grass with cloth and compacting them to make flammable torches.

Some soldiers lacked cloth and leather, so they used hand-rubbed straw ropes to wrap and secure the straw bundles. In order to increase their combustion performance, they dipped the straw bundles in a pot of boiling horse oil.

Yuan Shang saw the enemy transporting arrows in carts. Even if the arrow feathers were not very neat, they were effective arrows that could be shot at this moment.

Yuan's soldiers were reinforcing the fences, dismantling the accompanying vehicles, and building defensive nodes inside the camp.

This passive way of taking a beating made Yuan Shang feel that his chances of winning were slim.

Fortunately, the enemy can only send out infantry, and the cavalry needs to be deployed on the periphery to defend against the invasion of the Wuhuan knights... This also means that if the Wuhuan knights sit back and watch the outcome, or directly withdraw, then the enemy's cavalry, who are well-rested, will definitely be able to kill them!

In the chaos of the army, Black Bear's personal promise was ineffective.

Even if the entire army was notified, Yuan Shang's personal safety could not be guaranteed.

Sensing the danger, Yuan Shang and Li Fu looked at each other. Li Fu nodded slightly without saying anything.

Yuan Shang could not easily abandon his army unless it was absolutely necessary.

As night fell, war drums began to beat in the north.

As expected, the shield soldiers were in the front, and one by one the crossbow battalions came forward and began to fire long-range shots at Yuan’s army camp.

"Rocket?"

Yuan Shang was astonished, looking at the overhead shot that slowed down in mid-air, but was ignited like dense fireflies, which surprised him even more.

Arrows are entangled in oilcloth, and rockets often go out after being ignited, so the combustion reliability is not very strong.

The rain of rockets that were fired into the air gradually reached its highest point and its speed dropped to the lowest, then began to accelerate towards Yuan’s army camp.

As the rocket rain descended, its speed became faster and faster, and the pyrotechnic wool filling it burned brighter.

Clinking and clanging, fire rain fell everywhere in the camp, sparks flew, and wailing was heard everywhere.

Yuan's military officers repeatedly encouraged the defenders with resounding drumbeats, maintaining order.

After this round of rain of fire, before there was enough time to extinguish the rockets nailed to the fences and wooden boards, the second round of rockets had already lifted off to the highest point and hovered in the air for a short period of time, as if embedded in the night sky, brighter than the stars.

Yuan's soldiers hurriedly took shelter, and soon the rain of fire fell, with rockets nailed everywhere, illuminating the outline of the camp.

Then the third round of fire rain rose into the sky, and almost at the same time, piles of firewood outside the camp were ignited, providing a huge source of light.

To the sound of drums, the cavalry outside the camp were the first to move out, and then the infantry, who had abandoned their bows and crossbows, charged forward with spears, halberds, swords and shields like a tide.

The third round of fire rain continued to fall, and the officers in various places on the front line of Yuan’s camp began to urge them to draw their bows!

"Strong crossbow!"

"Stand by! Hold on!"

Just as Yuan's army was trying to get close to the enemy soldiers and shoot them, the cavalry team galloped over a fence and entered one after another.

"It's Taishi Wengong!"

Then, without waiting for the enemy soldiers to approach, another round of ordinary arrow rain fell on the inside of the camp.

The rockets provided illumination, and the defenders' outlines were clearly visible.

This sudden rain of arrows caused heavy damage to many Yuan army archers who were concentrating on aiming, and the order that had just been formed was disrupted again.

Without waiting for them to reorganize, Gao Shun's 100-man team followed the Iron Cavalry and crashed into the fence, slashing with long-handled axes and halberds. The defenders stabbed with spears and halberds, or shot with bows and crossbows at close range.

But the defenders' spears and halberds were chopped off or smashed by heavy axes and halberds, and the fence structure was quickly destroyed.

However, the strength at close range could not stop the heavy armored infantry's aggressive pace.

In less than two breaths, they broke through the fence and started a melee with the defenders.

This team of 100 men did not want to fight, but gathered their strength and pushed forward, breaking through the walls of defenders one after another to make room for the follow-up troops.

On the other side, Dian Wei led the assault team to break through the fence almost at the same time. Unlike Gao Shun's team, which had to gather manpower to attack together, Dian Wei was stronger. He rushed forward alone, and his pair of heavy hook halberds set off a storm of death when he swung them.

In just seven or eight breaths, the northern section of Yuan's army camp was filled with soldiers from both sides, poking at each other through the fence, or throwing torches, short spears, and stones. "I don't like night battles."

Black Bear sighed to Gao Jun again. Within his sight, he had already controlled Lu Bu's cavalry to break through two command nodes, but there was a melee again in the dark night. The low-level military officers of the surrounding Yuan army were not disturbed and were still concentrating on command.

But at this moment, the Wuhuan knights were watching the battle from a farther distance. If they defeated Yuan's army tonight, the Wuhuan would scatter and retreat, and they would be easily wiped out when they were chased and killed.

If the Wuhuan knights also attacked and won in the end, a large number of war horses would be lost.

On the west side of Yuan’s main camp, Liu Bei also sent his defected Dai soldiers to engage in battle, but it was just a feint attack. The two sides shot at each other, but no close combat broke out.

After a close observation, Zhang Fei retreated to Liu Bei's side and said, "Brother, there are less than 5,000 soldiers guarding the front!"

"Well, beware of Wuhuan attacks."

Liu Bei just responded and was not prepared to send out the cavalry. Black Bear was reluctant to see the cavalry suffer further losses, and Liu Bei was also reluctant.

After so many years of fighting across the world, and only in recent years of cooperation with Black Bear, he now has a fully-organized cavalry under his command.

Although he is at a disadvantage now, he still dares to go to Qingzhou to fight Cao Cao with his current army, relying on the cavalry advantage that Cao Cao cannot match.

On the northern front, the scouts galloped up to the black bear and said, "Report! Thousands of Wuhuan cavalry are harassing our camp!"

"What did Fa Zheng say?"

"Lord Fa Ling said that the camp is as safe as before, please go ahead and defeat the enemy!"

"understood."

The black bear responded and turned his head to look to the west. Sure enough, a backup campfire was lit in the northwest area of ​​the camp, but he couldn't see clearly what was there.

He looked straight ahead to the south, squinting his eyes: "We are surrounded on three sides and one is missing. If Yuan Shang doesn't leave now, he will have no chance."

At this moment, under his command, although Lu Bu's cavalry was small in number, they moved freely in Yuan's army camp and set fire to tents and food everywhere.

During wartime, the most taboo thing is to be reluctant to burn things.

The most important thing is to win quickly, as the supplies that are burned can be easily replenished later.

Even if it was just a mountain of Shu brocade, as long as it had tactical value, it would be burned, not to mention tents, food and fodder.

He didn't know that the Iron Cavalry had already penetrated Yuan Shang's guards and was obsessed with the arson mission, and did not pursue the chaotic Yuan Shang guards.

The sword in Yuan Shang's hand had broken, and his arm holding the sword was numb and shaking.

He was running away with his other hand being pulled by Li Fu, with only a dozen guards following him, and pitifully, he only had a torch.

Li Fu held a sword in his other hand and saw the chaotic figures in front of him. He immediately chopped the opponent's front with his sword and pulled Yuan Shang to continue running towards the central army camp.

But the Iron Cavalry was faster, and the central army tent was very conspicuous. It was identified by the firelight everywhere and had become the target of the Iron Cavalry.

The guards guarding the central army tent were killed in an instant, and the central army tent as well as nearby tents and vehicles were set on fire.

"To the stables!"

In the chaos of the army, Li Fu was inexplicably shot in the back by an arrow, but it didn't matter. Instead, he turned around to look at Yuan Shang and said, "My lord?"

"It's okay, the little thief is fierce, run away!"

Yuan Shang loosened his right hand as he spoke, and the broken sword fell to the ground. He then said to the guards around him, "Blow the horn and gather our troops!"

If we want to withdraw, this responsibility cannot be left to Li Fu.

Yuan Shang took the shield from a guard and held it above his head, while two guards took out horns and began to blow them.

Many scattered guards heard the unique sound of the horn and immediately gathered towards the source of the sound.

If they encountered a defeated defender along the way, they would break them apart if they could, or take them away if they couldn't, or they would kill them on the spot.

When Yuan Shang arrived near the stable, Yuan's army, which had already arrived here in the dark, began to attack and kill the guards of the central army.

At the sound of the horn, more and more guards from the central army gathered and quickly killed the hundreds of soldiers who intended to seize horses and escape.

Yuan Shang jumped onto his horse and his vision suddenly became much clearer. The fire in the entire camp was spreading out of control and there were people fleeing and chasing everywhere.

He could no longer hear any sound. The neighing of horses, the beating of drums, and the burning sounds accompanied by wind and fire gave him a headache.

As he was watching, he vaguely heard curses and a round of sparse arrows shot towards him.

The arrows failed to penetrate his armor and the armor of the central army guards, but several horses hit by arrows suddenly neighed and became wild, causing a chaos that was quickly quelled by other guards.

Seeing that Yuan Shang still wanted to stay, Li Fu raised his whip and lashed Yuan Shang's horse: "My lord, please leave quickly! Don't hesitate!"

(End of this chapter)