Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 55 Bow Power
Compared with Li Sheng and Tao Yong who died with their eyes open, Zhou Yu was much more cautious. He grasped the enemy's situation in advance, and arranged the spearmen who were good at fighting against cavalry in the front to form a dense horizontal formation, and then carefully rushed to the south gate.

The two different ways of responding were also related to the mentality of the generals. Li Sheng and Tao Yong rushed to guard the city gate when they thought the city gate was not lost, while Zhou Yu already knew that the city gate had been lost, so he turned his focus to Yan Yi's troops.

When they were about to reach the intersection, they heard the faint sound of hurried horse hooves coming from the rain. Zhou Yu immediately ordered the entire army to stop and let each unit get ready.

The two groups met unexpectedly on the street.

At this moment, the two teams have become the strongest force in the hands of the warring parties. No matter who wins, it will have a profound impact on the ownership of Qian Gonglei.

Because Chen Gan was injured, the commanders of the Liangqu cavalry were replaced by Xu Sheng and another fake military marquis Han Yang who was temporarily promoted.

Han Yang was originally a captain of a cavalry unit. He had followed Yan Baihu in battle for many years and was brave and experienced. He was a perfect complement to Xu Sheng, who knew military strategies but lacked practical experience.

The two men led 400 cavalrymen and galloped all the way. When they approached the intersection of two avenues, they saw the army formation in front of them ready for battle.

The soldiers were arranged in rows of ten, with long spears like a forest pointing at the charging cavalry, and the archers in the rear had already pulled their bowstrings to full length.

"It's a gun array!" Han Yang exclaimed, subconsciously pulling the reins and shouting, "All troops, stop!"

Xu Sheng also saw clearly at this time that there were at least twenty rows of spearmen, each row of ten, crowding the streets. It would be difficult to break through with only four hundred cavalrymen, and even if they did, they would pay a heavy price.

Both of them were horrified and shouted loudly, trying to stop the cavalry's charge.

However, how could a cavalry unit that had already accelerated be easily stopped? The entire army rushed forward for fifty or sixty steps, barely stopping two or three meters from the intersection. The horses neighed and the horses' hooves stamped in a chaotic manner.

"Shoot!" Across the street, Zhou Yu looked at the dense cavalry, his face pale, and even his voice trembled when he gave the order.

If he hadn't had such an idea and made preparations in advance, how could such an elite cavalry be alive at this moment?

Yan Yi, this bastard, has really taken out all his family fortune. He is determined to fight to the death!
Zhou Yu was startled at first, and then a huge rage surged in his chest. While loudly urging the archer to release the arrow, he took out a magpie-painted bow from his back, pulled the bowstring to its full extent, and shot at the face of a young general opposite him.

This magpie-painted bow has exquisite carvings and a picturesque bow body, making it a "magic weapon" that shows off one's elegance. However, it is not very practical, with a bow force of only one stone and two dou.

Xu Sheng clamped his legs around the horse's belly, exerted force from his waist, and leaned his body to the right, easily avoiding the arrow that was accurate but lacked power. He waved his spear and deflected several other arrows.

The other cavalrymen did not have his martial arts skills. Faced with more than 200 arrows flying from the air, they could only hurriedly take off the wooden shields on their backs to protect their vital parts.

clap clap clap!
Accompanied by the dense sound of arrows piercing the shields, more than ten cavalrymen fell from their horses with a muffled sound.

If the cavalrymen had not been wearing iron armor and raising their shields in time, and the army had not been arranged in columns, the casualties would have been far more than these.

"Retreat quickly!" Han Yang saw that the archer on the opposite side had pulled the bowstring again, and he was anxious and shouted loudly.

"Wait!" Xu Sheng suddenly shouted, his voice like thunder: "The rear team retreats and keeps an eye on the enemy. The front team moves to the east and west streets!"

The cavalrymen were crowded together, and the line was more than a hundred meters long. It was difficult to turn the horses around, so how could they evacuate in a short time?
Furthermore, Xu Sheng didn't want to let this enemy army escape easily.

Everyone saw how much Yan Yi trusted Xu Sheng. Han Yang immediately said, "Listen to General Xu and go!" Nearly four hundred cavalrymen quickly divided into three teams and retreated in three different directions.

The second round of arrows rained down, and more than ten cavalrymen fell off their horses.

It was not until the fifth round of arrow rain that the entire cavalry escaped the threat zone of the archers.

Fortunately, they were divided into three teams and evacuated quickly. After entering the streets on the east and west sides, they were sheltered by buildings, so the damage caused by the last two rounds of arrow rain was limited.

Even so, more than forty cavalrymen were lying on the streets, dead or wounded. Most of the wounded were shot to death by subsequent arrows, and only five or six wounded soldiers survived after crawling under cover.

The remaining cavalrymen stared at the enemy in the distance with bloodshot eyes.

"Those with 1.5 dan bows, step forward. The first row, squat down and release your arrows!"

Xu Sheng ordered the cavalrymen on the East and West Streets to guard the street entrances, and took two cavalrymen around the house to the South Street and ordered them to shoot arrows.

Upon hearing this, some strong cavalrymen came to the front, took arrows from their quivers, drew their bows and shot.

At this time, the strength of the archery power of the two armies was reflected. The cavalry were all the best selected from the army. They were generally stronger than the infantry. Many of them could pull a hard bow of one stone and five dou. However, most of the archers under Zhou Yu still used a small bow of one stone, and the range was more than fifty steps less.

puff puff!

More than twenty arrows shot straight into Zhou Yu's army formation. More than ten spearmen in the front row had no cover at all and were all shot and fell.

The archers of Zhou Yu's army followed suit and shot arrows subconsciously. When the arrows were still fifty or sixty steps away from the Nanjie cavalry, they fell limply to the ground.

The cavalrymen were overjoyed when they saw this. They drew their bows and shot more than twenty arrows, and the spearmen in the second row fell down.

This action quickly caused a commotion in Zhou Yu's army. Zhou Yu hurriedly ordered the sword and shield soldiers to move forward. When dozens of sword and shield soldiers raised their shields in front of the formation, forty or fifty spearmen had already been shot dead.

Xu Sheng continued to order arrows to be shot. Although most of the arrows were blocked by the wooden shields, they still hit four people.

After shooting for more than ten rounds, Zhou Yu couldn't bear it anymore. If it continued like this, even if they were not completely eaten up, their morale would collapse.

However, there were enemy troops on both the east and west streets, and he did not dare to move forward. If he retreated too quickly, he was worried that the army would collapse. After hesitating for a while, he could only order the entire army to retreat slowly.

But every time he took a step back, the cavalrymen around him took a step forward, like a hungry wolf staring at its prey, biting it tightly.

Yan Yi stood in the gate tower and watched this scene. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the defenders were defeated and fled, but this would take a lot of time. If these defenders were forced to retreat to the north gate, the situation would be even more troublesome.

He looked at Fan Yan standing aside and ordered, "Choose one hundred elite soldiers, take four hundred Danyang soldiers, and call back the Fourth Division. You will lead them personally to reinforce. Order Xu Sheng to lead a division of cavalry, circle around to North Street, and launch a simultaneous attack from the north. Within two quarters of an hour, I want to see this defenders defeated!"

Fan Yan knew that Yan Yi was willing to sacrifice more troops to capture Qian Gong Fort as soon as possible, so he said solemnly, "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)