Chapter 200: River Valley Victory
Li Ying couldn't help but feel a chill.
It would be fine if only a small group of people appeared here.
He and the team led by Fan Chou strictly followed the marching speed that a large army should maintain on an expedition. Although they came through the mountain road from Chencang to Shanggui, they could not be said to be in a state of spent force.
At most, it's just some mental torment.
As long as there are not too many obstacles ahead, it will not be difficult for them to break through the blockade.
On the other hand, after Li Jue completed the seizure of power from Dong Zhuo, he also took over the troops around Dong Zhuo that did not belong to generals such as Duan Wei and Zhang Xiu.
These were the best men selected by Dong Zhuo from the remaining Liangzhou cavalry in order to ensure his own safety.
They were also assigned to this march to Liangzhou.
There is no doubt about the Xiliang soldiers' ability to charge into battle, not to mention that they are in an environment that feels like home to them.
But their current opponent...
The reason why Li Ying was appointed by Li Jue as the chief general of this trip was not just because they were cousins.
Li Ying still has the basic judgment before a battle.
Although there was still some distance between them, he could see the level of armour of the heavily-armoured soldiers on the opposite side who were blocking the cavalry's advance.
That's equipment bought with money!
It is definitely not just a small group of people!
Even as he was thinking anxiously, the heavy armored shield soldiers led by Qiao Yan took another step forward.
To be precise, they should not be called shield soldiers, but sword players.
In front, a sword and a shield are held together, and in the back, a spear and a lance are extended from behind the shield.
This is the most typical team in Liangzhou that provides front and rear protection to block cavalry.
This left Li Ying with no doubt that the rest of the lineup was also of standard configuration.
Since even the two mountains on both sides of the road are already filled with archers, it is even more so behind the solid shield on the opposite side.
This is truly an iron wall!
If anyone were in Li Ying's position, they would probably feel their breath stop.
The journey along the mountain road had exhausted his patience, and what he waited for was not a chance to vent his anger by attacking the city, but a fortress ready to be built.
Hu Feng couldn't help but whispered: "What should we do, retreat..."
Refund?
Before he could even utter the word "retreat", Li Ying glared at him.
Why retreat?
The valley formed by the Wei River between Chencang and Shanggui is narrow. Although it improves slightly towards Shanggui, it is still a long dragon.
It was not something that could be accomplished by just saying a word to pass the military order from beginning to end and ask all the soldiers to change direction, let alone retreat in an orderly manner.
They were afraid that they would fail to retreat and would be eaten up bit by bit by the pursuers behind them.
"What are you standing there for! Why don't you form a battle formation and charge forward!" Fan Chou interrupted the conversation between the two men and shouted angrily.
Li Ying was so frightened by the interception at the valley entrance that he was at a loss for what to do, and Fan Chou in the rear was not in a much better situation.
But at this time, if you are still wasting time and indecision, you will be caught by your opponent!
It's not the end of the world yet.
Perhaps in order to prevent them from rushing out directly from the valley entrance, this line of defense was not set up in a completely spacious place.
They couldn't deploy their formation, and the formation on the opposite side wasn't very spacious either.
They are in a situation where they are almost in a do-or-die battle, but what about the other side?
When there is a way out, people will inevitably relax.
With the fighting power of the fierce Xiliang Army, we may be able to give it a try!
When Fan Chou shouted this, he had already started to mobilize the troops.
Under the leadership of this deputy general, their charge team was quickly organized.
Fan Chou had to be thankful that they were still some distance away from the enemy, and their opponents seemed to want to reduce losses and did not choose to attack directly.
Even more fortunately, he did not just focus on hurrying on the journey in order to quickly march into Liangzhou, but always kept the team in a state of being able to guard against attacks in the valley.
This made his advance possible.
Didn't he know that if he charged like this, the cavalry in front would suffer heavy losses?
Of course he knows!
However, the difference in equipment between the two sides' armies had made him realize clearly that he did not have the capital to advance steadily in the fight.
If they can't fight their way out of this valley, all of them will die here!
Perhaps the soldiers recruited from Chang'an had a chance to survive, but those who followed Dong Zhuo to Chang'an lost the opportunity to surrender early.
The greater possibility is death.
This was not just Fan Chou's perception; all the soldiers directly under his command held this idea when he issued his orders.
Everyone wants to survive, and they are no exception.
Because of this, when the first word of "kill" was uttered by one of them, this sound instantly became the loud sound that united the entire team.
In this situation, the soldiers in the rear had no idea what was happening in the front.
Fan Chou's order came just in time before panic spread.
As a result, the soldiers in the rear, who were already used to hurrying on the road, thought that they were just following the team in the final charge to Shanggui City, and they immediately followed suit.
This is exactly what he wants to achieve.
Faced with his quick response, Li Ying and Hu Feng quickly regained some confidence to fight back.
Yes, there is really no need for them to admit defeat yet.
No matter how timely Qiao Yan responded, the most he could do was to bring a number of soldiers from Ji County!
Since she returned to Liangzhou in July this year, most of her men are still stationed in Jincheng and Wuwei.
This has been the war situation in Liang Province for many years, forcing even the top generals to focus a considerable amount of their energy on preventing Qiang people from rebelling.
I think Qiao Yan is the same.
But how could they know that before she was intercepted here, she even made a special trip to carry out a bloody suppression of the four surnames of Hanyang.
It was precisely their negligence towards the direction of Sanguan that allowed her to calmly mobilize all her troops here after receiving the news from Xu Shu.
She looked at her opponents who were advancing with a rather strong attitude. Although there was some appreciation in her eyes for how quickly they adjusted their state, there was absolutely no awe of them at all.
If you want to break through her defense just by relying on this little bit of courage, it would be nothing but a foolish dream!
I also feel sorry for her determination to win this battle.
At her first command, the heavily armored soldiers at the front took another step forward and then placed their shields on the ground.
To anyone, this is not a normal performance.
This defensive formation is often accompanied by spears in the rear extending from the gaps in the shields to guard against approaching cavalry.
But when the two sides have not yet reached the distance for archers to engage in combat, the fall of the shield actually gives the enemy's arrows room to attack.
However, these Xiliang cavalrymen who were running towards them with bows and arrows did not even have time to rejoice, as the expressions of being ready to attack froze on their faces.
Behind the lowered shield, what appeared were not the archers in the rear, but a row of crossbows.
The crossbow was aimed at the cavalry’s chest level!
In the very short time after Fan Chou launched the attack signal, the cavalry had shortened the distance between the two sides to five or six hundred steps.
It was at this moment that dozens of crossbows that had just revealed their formation fired at the same time!
The crossbow arrows broke through the air, making a series of teeth-grinding whistling and hissing sounds.
Before the sound of breaking through the air stopped, there was already the sound of crossbow arrows piercing into flesh and blood, accompanied by the sound of people and horses falling to the ground, interrupting the originally powerful sound of attack and killing on the spot.
Among Qi Fei's long arrows, at least twenty or thirty hit the target directly, and the other half fell to the ground, startling the nearest horses and stopping them.
Whether the target hit or not, and how effective the shooting was, seemed to have no effect on Qiao Yan's condition.
From what Li Ying could see from afar, the second round of crossbow arrows had been loaded into the bed crossbow in an orderly manner, and it was fired again in just a few breaths.
His face changed.
A crossbow with a range of 500 steps!
He could never have imagined that this thing would appear here.
If I have to say, this is definitely not the one with the longest range.
But even with this kind of weapon, its high cost is unaffordable for the soldiers in the border areas, and it can only be used when defending the city.
When they followed Dong Zhuo to fight in Liang Province, they had never seen anyone use it in the charge between the two sides.
Of course, given Liangzhou's mountainous terrain and its own production conditions, it is not suitable to use such things.
So of course they would never have thought that Qiao Yan would come up and give them such a greeting!
Of course, if Qiao Yan were to say so, she would not have invested so much money to make every crossbow like the one that was used to shoot Pang De that day.
All she could do was to rely on Bingzhou's increasingly mature border defense equipment manufacturing to create a batch of 500-step small crossbows at a relatively low cost.
The most suitable installation location for such a bed crossbow is still on the top of the city wall. This was the protection she prepared for the cities in Liangzhou, and it was not equipped with a scope to assist in shooting.
But this did not prevent it from dealing a heavy blow to Li Ying and Fan Chou's followers.
The hit rate in the second round of shooting was still over half, causing another twenty or thirty cavalrymen who were intending to charge to fall.
When they were within three hundred steps, the archers high up on the hills on both sides received the order and launched an attack immediately afterwards.
It was a rain of arrows that was far more powerful than the crossbows.
Only then did they discover that there was a group of crossbows hidden behind the archers.
The retreat of the archers allowed the crossbowmen, who were sitting on the ground and shooting arrows with their feet, to fire a round of shots.
Even though they did not launch this round of attack in the form of a square formation with arrows drawn, this dominant position still resulted in a dense attack like arrows flying like locusts.
Compared with the long-range deterrence of the bed crossbow, this round of attack by the Zhang crossbow is the real firepower coverage!
Under the rain of arrows——
The rider was thrown off his horse by the hit mount.
The cavalryman who was hit was killed and knocked down by the penetrating force.
Some even fell to the ground and were accidentally trampled by their companions.
Not to mention, these two rounds of volleys were a huge blow to the fighting spirit of these cavalrymen who fully believed that they could close the distance to engage in bow and crossbow attack.
If that were all, there would still be room for recovery.
It happened that those soldiers in the rear of Li Ying's side did not know what situation they were facing before, but now the crossbow arrows falling from high above undoubtedly informed them of the news.
In an instant, the shouts and cries of their killing were suddenly cut off as if someone had strangled their throats, making the sounds of people and horses falling to the ground in front of them even more distinct in their ears.
The wailing caused by the arrows hitting the target could also be clearly heard in the echo of the valley.
That was clearly not an advantageous attack, but the enemy blocked their way at the valley entrance!
They are by no means well-trained soldiers, so we cannot expect them to be willing to die for their commander.
Li Ying did not have such command ability.
In the face of such heavy firepower suppression, the excuse of "the only way to survive is to rush forward" is useless.
It's hard for them not to have an idea.
After all, there are so many of them...
In this case, if I run faster than the person behind me, is there a chance of escape?
If worst comes to worst, you can always find a way to hide in the mountains and forests.
When Fan Chou looked back, he saw that this retreating mood had quickly become the source of unrest in the rear army.
He felt something was wrong.
Once the confidence in this kind of charge is weakened, it will be difficult to gather it again quickly.
Their opponents didn't give them any chance to breathe!
Seeing the chaos in the opposing team, Qiao Yan made a prompt decision and issued an order to advance.
Without waiting for the surviving enemy cavalry to close the distance to within the standard shooting range of bows and arrows, the shield soldiers on her side had already raised their shields and rushed towards the opposite side.
These carefully selected shield soldiers were wearing heavy armor, but they did not seem to be slow. Instead, they were like a solid wall laid out in the valley, heading straight towards their opponents.
Qu Yi finally got this chance to fight after the Battle of Kuiyuan Gorge, so how could he miss the opportunity to make a contribution here!
It's not just him.
At the moment when the iron-wall-like shield soldiers and spearmen were fighting with the enemy, the cavalry in the rear also attacked from the left and right sides.
Guo Jia said that half of the heroes are on our side, which is indeed true.
And when the opponent does not have the other half of the heroes, what can he use to stop the four armies led by Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Xu Rong and Ma Chao!
Even though Qiao Yan only sent out Lu Bu and Zhao Yun to pursue in two groups along the banks of the Wei River to prevent the pursuit from becoming disrupted, it did not prevent an overwhelming force from coming towards them amid the thundering cavalry.
If the crossbows and crossbows only posed a threat in terms of weapons, then in this serious confrontation, what Li Ying and Fan Chou faced was a real attack from the army led by Qiao Yan.
In a fight with cold weapons, the difference between swords and guns can be clearly seen in the split second.
Not to mention, this was the time when the accumulated momentum of one side had reached its peak, while the other side had already begun to feel defeated.
There was never a moment when Li Ying hated himself for not choosing to step back a little and not being so anxious to attack the city.
But it was too late for him to realize this now.
When Lu Bu led his troops to attack Fan Chou, Zhao Yun's spear was already pointed directly in front of him.
The experience of assisting Qiao Yan in farming and governing Wuwei did not make him feel unfamiliar. On the contrary, the increase in the number of generals under Qiao Yan made him more determined to hone his talent in commanding troops and his military strength.
Therefore, Li Ying could not stop the power of Youlong's spear, nor could he stop the pursuit and attack during his own defeat.
As he breathed his last, all he heard was his subordinates shouting to escape.
But where can they escape to?
Escape to the mountains?
There is another force accompanying the army.
The Qiang troops led by Yao Chang were already waiting there.
Fighting the Qiang people in this kind of mountainous area was another fatal problem for the soldiers recruited in Chang'an.
So, in addition to the sounds of cavalry chasing, hacking and slashing, there was another kind of sound that came from the valleys and mountains one after another -
"surrender!"
"I surrender!"
Since I can't escape, I can only surrender. There is no other choice!
In August in Wuwei, the heat of summer is still at its peak.
Duan Kui had someone fan him and directed the cool air from the ice cubes taken out from the Ling Yin in front of him towards him, but he still found it difficult to calm down.
This is really not because of the weather.
It was still Qiao Yan's fault for besieging Guzang City and holding Yan family accountable, which made him pay a sum of money afterwards to make up for part of Yan family's losses.
If it were just that, it would be fine, but another news came a few days ago.
She sent troops from Yuzhong, joined forces with the defenders in Wuwei in Dingxi, and marched south.
Even though the Bingzhou troops stationed at the Wuwei military camp withdrew and took away some of the Lushui Qiang people who had joined the army, the pressure on the Duan family was reduced a lot.
As the head of the Wuwei Duan family, Duan Kui was confident that he had some vision.
Qiao Yan showed that she was wary of the Xiliang families, but that didn't mean she would give up what she deserved.
The military settlements along the banks of the Lushui River were about to reach the autumn harvest, and there was no way she would just give away the harvest to others.
It is somewhat strange to leave only these guards behind.
Unless... sending troops is a more important matter for her.
Seeing his subordinates coming back with inquiries at this time, Duan Kui quickly turned over and sat up, asking, "Have you found out why she suddenly mobilized troops?"
The subordinate took a breath, his face still in a state of panic. He faced Duan Kui's sharp gaze, urging him to reply, and replied, "She...she took over Ji County and killed all the people of the Four Families of Hanyang."
Duan Kui almost thought he was hallucinating.
What does it mean to kill only two or three out of ten of the four families in Hanyang?
He couldn't help but ask a question that was almost the same as the one Jiang Huai asked when he heard Qiao Yan was attacking the city: "Is she crazy?"
The noble families of Xiliang are all vulnerable to influence if one move is pulled out of their posts.
Did she really think that she was invincible just because she had successfully robbed the Yan family in Wuwei and brought back a batch of rare BMWs from the robbed horses in the Western Regions, and could form a fierce cavalry?
The breeding period for those BMWs hasn't even arrived yet, how come even the Four Families of Hanyang dare to touch them now!
But what surprised him even more was obviously yet to come.
The subordinate who had reported the incident replied, "The other families in Hanyang have no objection to this. No... it's not just that."
He wept bitterly, "She fought against Dong Zhuo's 20,000 troops attacking Liang Province in the Wei River Valley, killed 4,000 enemies, captured more than 10,000 enemies, and is now preparing for war to take Chang'an."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
