Chapter 692: Battle in the Reed Marsh (Please vote and subscribe)
There are countless reeds growing around the salt marshes in the high and cold mountains. Perhaps only a humble and strong creature like reeds can grow tenaciously in such harsh saline-alkali land.
Hidden in the reeds is a large and small salt pond, which looks like a small puddle. Although the surrounding mudflats are muddy, they are covered with white salt frost. At this time, about 300 cannibal totem warriors are guarding their newly captured slaves to collect the naturally formed salt frost here.
On the other side of the reed marsh, dozens of warriors wearing animal skins are quietly staring at them. More large troops are hiding on the periphery. This is a rescue and annihilation operation personally planned by Youye and the patriarch of the survivors who is responsible for hunting.
More than 800 people against 300 people, it can be regarded as a large-scale battle.
The chief of the tribe in charge of hunting was obviously very good at hunting, but when it came to real battles between the same kind, Youye was more experienced. After all, he was considered a veteran of the Han tribe. He joined the Han tribe only after the Tree Tribe and the Black Rat Tribe, and had watched the battles between the Han tribe and several invading cannibals.
Well, he had not participated, but at least he had seen it.
Especially for the formation and use of weapons such as bows and arrows, Youye obviously had more say, so the battle plan was decided based on Youye's tactics.
The 800-man hunting team was divided into two parts, of which the 200 without bows and arrows all used spears and stone axes, as well as shields and other melee weapons. Of course, their purpose was not to rush up and fight the enemy directly, but to act as bait to attract the enemy's attention, divert most of the enemies away, and lead them to the designated attack position, and then the longbow group would cover with long-range firepower, using the superior firepower to take the enemy away in one wave, and try to avoid short-handle handover battles to avoid unnecessary losses to their own side.
There is actually another reason for making such a decision. That is, the cannibal totem warriors are in trouble with their current positions. They are standing with the captives. If they suddenly launch a blanket attack with bows and arrows at this time, it is estimated that the enemy will not kill many, and half of the captives controlled by the enemy will die in the rain of arrows, which goes against their original intention of saving people.
So they must first lead the enemy away, temporarily separate them and the captives into two places, and then concentrate superior forces to annihilate them.
It is obviously a technical job to lure the tiger away from the mountain and lure the snake out of the hole. If there are fewer people, and only 50 or 60 people are sent, the other party may not be interested at all, and sending 100 or 80 people will be enough to deal with it.
If all the people are revealed at once, it will only scare the enemy. At that time, they will either run away directly or simply stick together to defend, which runs counter to Youye's tactical purpose.
Two hundred people are just right. Two hundred open troops will make the other side's three hundred feel oppressed. If the other side does not want to suffer too much loss, at least they have to allocate an equal number of troops to deal with them. Youye is very satisfied with this effect.
If he can kill the enemy's two hundred main forces in one round, then the remaining one hundred people will face the eight hundred superior troops of his own side, plus the captives who are likely to riot. At that time, more than a thousand people will not be able to beat them to death easily.
The chief of the remnant tribe in charge of hunting is also very optimistic about Youye's plan. He agreed to it after listening to him once, and asked himself to lead the two hundred baits. He likes weapons such as bows and arrows, but he doesn't really understand how to use crossbowmen in battle.
Two hundred people had quietly crept up behind the cannibal totem warriors, their straw sandals making no sound as they stepped on the muddy tidal flats. Such terrain was not a place where any animal could run fast, and humans were no exception. However, it was very suitable for sneak attacks, because the surrounding reeds were very tall and could effectively provide cover. Even if there were 20,000 or 30,000 warriors hiding in this reed marsh, they would probably be able to hide perfectly, not to mention that they only had a few hundred people.
They chose to use their first-hand advantage to launch a sneak attack, and try to reduce the number of the enemy by more than 50 after the first round of sneak attacks, so that it would be easier to fight them later.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
the sound of flying stones and spears breaking through the wind suddenly sounded from the reed marsh behind the cannibal totem warriors, and the next moment a scream suddenly rang out.
The unaware "white devils" were attacked from behind. Some of them were hit by flying stones, or pierced by spears, and the unlucky ones were even hit on the head by flying stones. In such a dense crowd, there are always two "lucky" ones, who were either knocked unconscious on the spot or had their heads cut open and died tragically on the spot.
However, the fighting qualities of the cannibal "white devils" are not bluffing. They have all grown up in constant battles. The moment they were attacked, they determined the position of the enemy.
Then these people picked up their weapons and began to line up without panic, as if this was not the first time. Some people did not participate in the battle here, but stared at the captives around them vigilantly, and shouted a few incomprehensible ghost calls from time to time to make them behave.
The Han tribe camp that succeeded in the sneak attack did not continue to hide. Their purpose was to lure the tiger away from the mountain and lure the snake out of the hole. If they did not show up, how could they lure the enemy away?
So, the two hundred people who had just completed the sneak attack rushed out directly, shouting and yelling. In order to make it easier for the enemy to count the heads, they could even divide into many small teams, with fifty people in a group, and then divided into four teams, so that the enemy could judge their number at a glance.
Then they did not rush forward directly, but continued to attack with flying stones or javelins and stone axes, and threw another round of throwing weapons into the enemy's crowd. The white devils of the cannibal tribe also began to counterattack defensively, first carrying rattan shields to block a wave, and seeing that there were only these two hundred enemies who suddenly appeared, and there was no movement in the reed marsh behind them, the leader instantly made a judgment that they would pursue.
And they had to send most of the people to pursue. This was just a group of rookies who had never fought. Seeing their timid appearance, they only knew to stand in the distance and throw stones. Even if this attack method could hit people, how many could it hurt? The enemy was obviously a mob. As long as their superior forces were sent to attack once, this group of people would definitely become their prisoners.
So a dramatic scene appeared. The cannibals left 70 to 80 people to guard the prisoners. The remaining nearly 200 people, including the lightly injured soldiers in the sneak attack, all chased after them.
The prisoners were tied up with ropes. In addition, they had no suitable weapons. Facing the spears in the hands of the white devils and their ferocious outfits, they did not dare to resist for a while. Moreover, they also saw that the group of people who came to sneak attack the white devils this time was not large in number. They might be defeated soon, and there was little hope of saving them.
The pursuit on the other side started soon. In such a muddy field, neither side could run fast, so they had to chase while exchanging fire.
The Han tribe camp in front threw a wave of stones from time to time, but the stones they carried were almost used up. Stone axes are not easy to make and cannot be thrown around. At the end of the team, there were people carrying shields, which were also crudely made simple shields. Some were woven with rattan, and some were simply made of a row of unevenly sized wooden sticks tied together. Although the carpenters in the camp were capable of making wooden boards, the hand-sawn boards were not enough for other things, so how could they be used to make shields? These crude weapons were also made by the soldiers themselves according to the methods provided by Youye.
The stones hit the wooden boards, but few people were injured. The cannibals also had javelins, but in this kind of pursuit, javelins were the most useless weapons, because the effective range of these things was not far, and the Han tribe camp in front had shields for protection, so
it would be a miracle if they could kill anyone. However, during the pursuit, some people were still injured, some were hit by stones, and some were hit by stone axes. They could only blame their bad luck. Fortunately, there were not many such wounded, and they were not injured in the legs, so they could still run and did not fall behind for the time being.
The cannibal white devils who were chasing behind felt that something was wrong. Where did this group of people come from? They attacked and then kept running? Did they want to lure them away and then send another group to rescue the captives?
Well, it seems possible.
The leader was about to order the pursuit to stop, but when they just reached a small muddy pond, the two hundred Han tribe members who were running in front suddenly stopped. They stopped running, turned around in formation, and faced them head-on with their weapons raised, as if they were going to fight them to the death in this muddy place.
However, the leader obviously thought that things were not that simple. He quickly swept the dense reeds around the three sides of the muddy beach, alerting that more enemies would suddenly rush out of it.
However, they did not. The two hundred people in front of them seemed to be real noobs, and they did not know any tactics such as sneak attacks, lures, and ambushes. Such a good ambush location, but there was no one around. Are they fools?
Since you want to fight to the death here, then come on. With the combat experience of the cannibal totem warriors and their fearless fighting style, they can definitely win with one wave of impact against the group of noobs in front of them.
The cannibal leader raised his arm high, and when he was about to wave it down and issue the charge order, the leader of the Han tribe camp on the opposite side spoke first.
"You Changshi, they are coming, shoot arrows!"
The cannibal leader was stunned after hearing this, but because of the language barrier, he didn't know what the other side was shouting just now, and just looked at them curiously. Why did their leader finish shouting, but the two hundred people behind him stood still?
Hmm? No, yes, why don't they move? Didn't the man just shout an order? This is impossible, there must be something wrong.
Is he talking to someone else?
The cannibal leader looked around the reed marshes on three sides again with caution, but there was still no movement around.
But just when he relaxed his vigilance a little, he suddenly felt something flying in the sky in groups, which sounded like insects and birds, but birds shouldn't fly that fast.
He looked up at the sky around him, and the next moment, six hundred feather arrows suddenly appeared in his field of vision, gliding through high parabolas from all directions and shooting at them from overhead.
Knowing the range advantage of the longbow, and in order to avoid being too close to the enemy and being discovered, Youye ordered his men to ambush at a farther distance, and all members to launch overhead attacks by projectiles. After hearing the signal from the patriarch of the bait team, the longbow team immediately launched a wave of neat projectiles.
The cannibal totem warriors standing under the rain of arrows were startled. The muddy ground of the salt marshland sank directly to their ankles. They couldn't run away, and the direction of the rain of arrows came from all directions. They had no place to hide. Moreover, there were no less than 200 enemies on the opposite side, and they dared not disperse and run around. So they had to huddle together on the spot and raise the few rattan shields to cover their heads. Several people squatted or stood to share a shield.
The next moment, six hundred arrows fell from the sky, and many people were shot and fell to the ground in an instant. However, before they could breathe a sigh of relief, another six hundred arrows covered the sky.
The whistling sound of feather arrows rang in their ears, and the next moment there was another scream. Because they did not expect the other party to have bows and arrows, and did not expect the other party to have so many bows and arrows, they did not prepare so many shields. Under such intensive shooting, the white devils of the cannibal tribe, who were short of protective equipment, immediately suffered heavy casualties. After two rounds of arrow rain, nearly half of the two hundred people were shot, and the covering attack of the feather arrows had not ended.
When the third round of arrow rain came, the white devils of the cannibal tribe were already scared. This intensive attack came one after another, and their protective equipment was pitifully few. They could not run away, and running around under such a dense rain of arrows was a dead end.
Another six hundred arrows covered them like locusts. Among the two hundred cannibal warriors, the only ones who were not injured were basically the dozens with shields in their hands.
However, the density of the arrow rain attack seemed to be smaller at this time, and it looked much sparser than before, but this was not much better for the few dozen intact warriors.
This round of arrows seemed to be only half, about 300, and it was not very dense on such a large battlefield. However, this situation did not make the cannibal warriors feel relaxed, but even more nervous.
Because they suddenly heard a rustling sound from the surrounding reeds. The next moment, 300 young men with longbows suddenly emerged from the reeds and began to shoot at the enemies in the middle.
This time, the rain of arrows flew from all directions again, but it was not thrown from the top of the head, but shot horizontally from face to face. At this time, the cannibal warriors with shields were also dumbfounded, because in the face of such close-range shooting, they could only put the shield in front of them to resist, but they could block the front but not the back and the side. Facing the siege from all directions, those warriors with shields quickly fell down like mowing the grass.
Some smart people put up several shields to block the shooting from all directions, but the next moment, another 300 feather arrows flew over their heads. They could only take care of the upper part but not the lower part, and soon they all fell to the ground seriously injured in such a rain of arrows.
The battle did not last for five minutes. The Han tribe camp shot less than six rounds of arrows and killed all the 200 people. The only survivors were just lying on the ground wailing and gasping.
(End of this chapter)
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