Chapter 190 The gap is too big, how can this battle be fought?
"Surrender? Or will you give me a chance?" General Yu was so angry that he couldn't stand up straight. He cursed, "I am here on the orders of the Emperor of Dayu. I swear to crush your Xuan Kingdom and avenge the Crown Prince! I haven't even reached Xitun Pass yet, and you've already come to me to shout!"
Duan Wu laughed and said, "Who told you to be so slow? Our sovereign even knew we had arrived at Huangsha Pass before you did. Your scouts and sentries were really of no use to us. General Yu, you are an old general, you understand without me having to tell you what this means for fighting a war."
General Yu's face was very grim.
He certainly knew what this meant.
He just felt that Duan Wu's words were a bit of an exaggeration.
Indeed, he didn't know the situation until the Xuan Kingdom's troops arrived outside the Huangsha Pass city walls, but no matter how you look at it, Xiao Qidi couldn't possibly have known before him.
Surely Duan Wu can't possibly transmit his voice over a thousand miles?
"Bring me my heavy bow and fine iron long arrows," General Yu said in a low voice, placing his hands behind his back.
A guard immediately took down his heavy bow and arrows and handed them to him.
This bow was custom-made for him by Daewoo's top weapon smith.
The arrowheads were forged from the finest iron, one in a million, and he was usually reluctant to use them, as it would be too wasteful.
But the situation is unusual now, and Duan Wu is only a few hundred meters away from the city wall. Although he has thousands of soldiers wearing black armor around him, none of them carry shields.
Isn't this an opportunity that's been delivered right to our doorstep?
General Yu sneered inwardly. Duan Wu was still too young. As a general in command of troops, he was so reckless as to put himself in the most dangerous situation.
Do you still want him to surrender?
idiot!
"Duan Wu, you brat! Prepare to die!" General Yu roared, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow.
squeak--
The heavy bow is bent to its limit, and the bowstring is fully drawn.
The fine iron arrowheads reflected a sharp light in the sunlight.
Whoosh!
The arrow, swift as lightning, hurtled straight towards Duan Wu's left chest.
General Yu's arrow was a perfect shot, powerful and precise.
He was absolutely certain he could kill Duan Wu with a single blow!
A soft thud.
The sharp iron arrow struck Duan Wu's left breastplate with perfect accuracy.
The immense impact caused Duan Wu to lean back.
"Hahahaha!" General Yu laughed loudly, "Duan Wu is dead! You Xuan Kingdom soldiers, lay down your weapons and surrender immediately!"
However, the words had barely left his mouth.
Duan Wu, who should have been shot dead by his arrow and fallen from his horse, instead clamped his legs around the horse's belly, hooked his feet into the stirrups, and sat up straight again as if nothing had happened.
"General... he... how come he's not dead?!" The guards beside him were stunned.
Our general is a master archer.
No one dared to face the power of a heavy bow directly, and with its sharp iron arrows, at this distance, it was enough to pierce through two people wearing bronze armor.
And... the other person was still alive?
General Yu's laughter stopped abruptly, his eyes widened and his pupils contracted as he stared intently at Duan Wu's chest.
He then discovered that his fine iron arrow had only penetrated less than half an inch!
"How is this possible?!" General Yu was dumbfounded. "Even the best iron armor forged by my Great Yu could not possibly withstand this arrow!"
"General Yu, what excellent archery skills!" Duan Wu exclaimed. "If I were wearing my old bronze armor, I would surely be dead by now."
As he spoke, he casually pulled out the arrow that was stuck in his left chest.
I glanced down.
There was a hole in the chest armor.
This was sent by Fairy Jinli. According to the fairy, it was made of some kind of steel alloy, modeled after the armor commonly used by the Great Xuan Army.
Apart from being plated in black, it appears on the surface no different from bronze armor.
In fact, it is lighter and harder; bronze weapons cannot even leave a mark when struck, and it is more than enough to deal with the cast iron arrowheads commonly used by the Yu Kingdom.
Unexpectedly, General Yu still managed to pierce through him with an arrow.
Fortunately, it only pierced in by a small half inch, and Duan Wu was also wearing a bulletproof suit provided by Fairy Jinli inside this layer of armor.
Even if the arrow were several times more powerful, it would still not be able to cause fatal damage to Duan Wu.
However, General Yu took Duan Wu's heartfelt praise as mockery.
General Yu's old face twisted with rage, and in a fit of anger, he drew his bow and shot an arrow again.
Whoosh whoosh!
Three lightning-fast attacks struck Duan Wu once more.
Duan Wu immediately raised his hand to protect his face, his whole body tensing up.
Three muffled thuds followed.
Three sharp iron arrows were embedded in his arm armor.
"Impressive, General Yu!" Duan Wu lowered his arm, clicking his tongue in amazement. "Luckily, I reacted quickly, otherwise those three arrows would have pierced my eye sockets, and I would have been dead for sure!"
"Come on, everyone, let's give General Yu a round of applause!"
Duan Wu raised his hands and clapped vigorously.
The thousands of Xuanjia soldiers nearby, eager for a good show, clapped and shouted, "General Yu, what excellent archery skills!"
"You..." General Yu almost fainted, clutching his chest, and was unsteady on his feet.
"General!" The guards quickly helped him up.
General Yu swallowed the blood rising in his throat, gritted his teeth, and ordered, "Let...let the archers...go up the city wall!"
"Yes, General!"
The bugle call sounded to signal the order.
The archers, who were already prepared, quickly scaled the city wall.
High in the sky, several drones flew by silently, but no one on General Yu's side noticed.
"General Duan, they have deployed several thousand archers," a soldier in black armor informed Duan Wu while looking at the screen of a remote control in his hand.
"We retreat three hundred meters," Duan Wu ordered.
Although the armor and protective gear worn by soldiers and even warhorses can effectively block iron arrows, if there are too many arrows, exposed areas such as the face and hands may also be injured. Therefore, it is still necessary to avoid them when necessary.
Once the thousands of archers from the Yu Kingdom were in position on the Huangsha Pass city wall, Duan Wu and the thousands of Xuanjia soldiers around him had retreated to a distance of seven or eight hundred meters.
Wow!!!
On the city wall, arrows rained down in parabolic arcs!
It was quite a grand affair.
But they all landed about ten meters in front of Duan Wu.
A distance of seven or eight hundred meters was still too far for the archers on the city wall.
“Now it’s our turn,” Duan Wu grinned. “Everyone, load up your crossbows!”
Thousands of Xuanjia soldiers immediately took out their small but powerful repeating crossbows from their backs.
This was also provided to them by Fairy Jinli.
The crossbow bolts are only a few inches long, and twenty bolts are placed together in the quiver. Once the quiver is loaded onto the crossbow, pulling the trigger will fire one bolt. If the trigger is held down, twenty bolts can be fired in quick succession.
In addition, it is not only easy to use, but also very powerful, with a range of up to 1,000 meters.
Duan Wu led his army on a rapid advance, and the vanguard and scouts of the Yu Kingdom that he encountered were first scouted by drones and then quickly wiped out with crossbows.
The same method was used to deal with the hidden sentries and scouts near Huangsha Pass.
Soon, thousands of Xuanjia soldiers had raised their repeating crossbows.
With Duan Wu's wave of his hand—
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
A dense cacophony of whooshing sounds filled the air.
A volley of crossbow bolts flew upwards in a larger parabola, like a torrential rain, before crashing down on the walls of Huangsha Pass like a waterfall.
Before the thousands of archers from the Yu Kingdom could react, they were riddled with thorns.
General Yu was spared only by being blocked by a dozen guards wielding shields. However, by the time the crossbow barrage ended, most of the guards were either dead or wounded, and their shields were shattered into pieces.
General Yu was both shocked and angry upon seeing this.
After two defeats, he slumped against the wall and muttered, "Our Great Yu has always been proud of its iron weaponry among the major states of the Central Plains, but I never imagined... that the armor and bows of the Xuan Kingdom... would be so formidable... How did they manage to do that..."
"General, it's too dangerous on the city wall. You should retreat first!" the guards advised.
General Yu had no other choice but to descend the city wall in a disheveled state, under the protection of the remaining guards.
Having personally experienced the terrifying level of weaponry and equipment of the Xuan Kingdom's army, he understood that even with 300,000 troops under his command, he would probably be no match for the 110,000 Xuan Kingdom soldiers in a direct confrontation.
Even their own fine iron arrows couldn't penetrate Duan Wu's armor, while the enemy's bows and arrows were more powerful and had a longer range. Once a head-on battle broke out, the Dayu soldiers would only be crushed!
"General! What's the situation?!" A group of lieutenants quickly surrounded him after he came down.
General Yu, pale-faced, gritted his teeth and said, "Pass on my order... to defend Huangsha Pass to the death... Fortunately, I did not rush to lead troops to attack Xitun Pass, and had the city walls here reinforced early on, so I believe we can still hold it."
"What?!" Everyone was shocked.
"General, we were supposed to conquer the Xuan Kingdom and crush it! How come... before we've even made it there, we're already stuck defending the border?"
"General, please grant me permission to lead the army out of the city to fight!"
"This humble general also humbly requests to go into battle!"
"..."
Seeing this, General Yu had no choice but to recount in detail the initial confrontation with Duan Wu on the city wall.
The lieutenants went from disbelief to shock, and finally to silence.
A deep sense of powerlessness welled up in their hearts.
The enemy's troops moved with lightning speed, and their equipment and weapons exceeded their expectations.
Faced with such a huge gap, how can this battle be fought?
"No wonder...no wonder that back then, the 200,000 elite troops of Dayu plus the 300,000 barbarian soldiers of Shayue were all wiped out at Xitun Pass..." General Yu looked up at the sky and sighed helplessly.
"No wonder Xiao Qidi dared to cut off the heads of my Great Yu envoy and even the Crown Prince. It turns out... it turns out that the Xuan Kingdom's army has become so powerful."
"I finally understand. Xiao Qidi did it on purpose... This isn't Yu Kingdom attacking Xuan Kingdom; it's him... trying to annex my Great Yu Kingdom!"
His words sent chills down the spines of the lieutenants present.
"General!" a lieutenant suggested, "We have catapults. Even if we're going to focus on offense rather than defense, we should at least make them suffer a bit first! No matter how strong their armor is, can it withstand such massive stones?!"
General Yu pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "This suggestion is good, approved."
The deputy general accepted the order and left.
General Yu had regained his composure by now, and while thinking it over, he carefully instructed his other subordinates:
"As soon as Duan Wu leads his troops close, we will attack with catapults. We must not go out of the city to fight."
"Fortunately, Xuan Kingdom has to take care of the rest of the border and cannot send more troops. Duan Wu only has about 110,000 troops, so he cannot besiege Huangsha Pass, let alone cut off our food supply from the rear. We have nothing to fear."
"On the contrary, they are far from Xitun Pass, so their food and supplies will definitely be limited. Moreover, there is no water source outside Huangsha Pass. They won't be able to hold out for long. As long as we hold the city gate first, when they run out of food and water and their troops are exhausted and have no choice but to retreat, we can take advantage of the situation and launch a full-scale attack to kill them!"
Based on the known situation, General Yu quickly formulated a battle strategy.
No matter how you look at it, this is the best way.
The lieutenants breathed a sigh of relief and then split up to lead their troops to reinforce the defenses of the remaining positions at Huangsha Pass.
In no time, the catapults on the city wall were in place.
Countless soldiers from the Yu Kingdom formed a long line and quickly carried stones onto the city wall.
General Yu stood on a watchtower behind the city wall, observing the situation. When he saw Duan Wu retreat to a distance of more than a thousand meters and stop, he couldn't help but sneer, "Boy, you can't dodge my catapults at this distance."
Buzz—
A faint sound came from high in the sky.
General Yu looked in the direction of the sound and saw several small shadows flash by. However, because the sun was shining brightly, the shadows disappeared into the clouds before he could get a better look.
He didn't think much of it, assuming it was just a few strange birds flying overhead.
At the same time, Duan Wu held the drone remote control, watching the shooting footage displayed on the screen with great interest.
"They're quite efficient," Duan Wu remarked with a smile, then asked his subordinates, "Are we ready?"
The subordinates took out their walkie-talkies and asked the question, and quickly received a reply that they were all ready and could launch an attack at any time.
Duan Wu nodded. "Alright, let's attack then. Be careful to concentrate your attacks on the city walls and gates, and don't shoot too far to avoid hurting the people inside the city."
"Yes, General!"
The subordinate immediately relayed the instructions via walkie-talkie.
On the Huangsha Pass city wall side, the deputy general reported to General Yu that the catapults were ready.
General Yu waved his hand and said, "Smash it hard for me!"
Immediately, thunderous drumbeats resounded from the city wall.
Just as the catapults at Huangsha Pass were about to start, General Yu suddenly saw something seemingly flying out from Duan Wu's army in the distance.
That thing was about the same size as the stones used in catapults, cylindrical in shape, and had a silvery metallic sheen.
In the blink of an eye, the thing slammed heavily against the side of the city wall.
Before General Yu could get a good look, a loud bang was heard!
In an instant, flames shot into the sky, and the city walls trembled!
The immense impact sent everyone on the city wall staggering.
Even the watchtower behind the city wall looked like it was about to collapse.
"General! Lie down!" the adjutant beside him shouted.
General Yu hurriedly threw himself to the ground.
Whoosh!
A piece of broken brick that flew out from the explosion on the city wall grazed General Yu's helmet and smashed right through the war drum next to him!
"What...what is that?!" General Yu looked up in shock.
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