Chapter 809 The First Battle of Landing (Two chapters in one)
Qiyun knew that this was the ship that the Han tribe was preparing to land on, but what he didn't expect was that the Han tribe would choose to land directly on the west bank of the Qingshui River instead of resting at the mission station first. In this way, it was equivalent to placing troops on their own territory, leaving him with no preparation.
However, the Han tribe was about to land, and there was no time for him to sigh. Seeing those floating bridges built in the water and the people guarding in the water next to the floating bridges, he knew that this was the weakness of the Han tribe. As long as he could find a way to attack those floating bridges, the Han tribe would definitely not be able to land. They could only find a way to retreat to the dock of the mission station to land, so that he would have time to think of countermeasures.
Thinking of this, he did not hesitate at all, and immediately asked the two confidants around him to return to the camp to mobilize troops, call all the archers over, and bring more torches and prepare some rockets. He wanted to take advantage of the Han tribe crossing the river to attack halfway across the river and burn all the floating bridges first.
Seeing the ships of the Han tribe getting closer and closer, and about to start landing, Qi Yun once again found something wrong. The dozen ships of the Han tribe this time were not all landing troops. Some ships did not stop at all when passing the pontoon bridge, but rushed directly past, as if they accidentally drove past the bridge. But he knew that the Han tribe would never make such a low-level mistake. They must be preparing something.
However, the current situation did not give him more time to prepare.
The fleet's first batch of more than 20 ships that entered the port quickly spread out along both sides of the pontoon bridge. The tall hulls of those three-masted sailing ships seemed to be walls standing on the water, which gave people an inexplicable sense of oppression. Countless armored warriors began to pour out of the cabins and gather on the deck. In the middle, they had already aimed their side at several ships on the pontoon bridge. The soldiers also began to build a simple side bridge, extending several wide and thick wooden boards on the pontoon bridge, and were about to start landing on the pontoon bridge.
At this time, the Xin tribe corps, which had been preparing for battle, was finally called up. More than a thousand archers suddenly ran out of the forest in a scattered formation, holding torches and bows and arrows, shouting to cheer themselves up.
Although these Xin tribe warriors were nervous, they were not particularly afraid, because they had just received an order and did not need to fight the Han tribe in close combat. They only needed to use rockets to attack the Han tribe's pontoon bridge, soldiers and boats. In addition, their own "large numbers" made them more courageous. When they ran to the foot of the mountain, they saw that the Han tribe only had more than 20 boats. They were even less afraid. No matter how big the boats were, how many people could they hold?
So without waiting for Qiyun's command, many people put arrows on their bamboo bows while running, lit the arrows with the torches held by the people next to them, and shot arrows in the direction of the pontoon bridge and landing boats while running.
With a series of trembling sounds, countless arrows fell on the wooden planks of the floating bridge and the water beside it. Some were even shot at the large ship that was about to land. Some arrows fell on the deck, causing a commotion, but were quickly suppressed by the officers on board.
More than a dozen fishermen who came from the fishing tribe to help the Han tribe build the floating bridge were injured by the arrows on the shore. They were soaked in the water, relying on their excellent swimming skills, and quickly dived into the water to avoid it. Some simply swam under the floating bridge to avoid the arrows that kept falling on their heads.
The open flames on the arrows quickly ignited the deck of the floating bridge and some of the side bridges, but due to the lack of burning materials, the fire did not cause much damage to the wet wood.
The officers on the ship looked at the more than 1,000 enemy troops getting closer and closer to the shore, and immediately launched a counterattack against the enemy according to the previously agreed plan.
Then they heard the drums beating loudly from the boats on both sides of the pontoon bridge that had no intention of landing, and some people shouting. However, the archers of the Xin tribe on the shore could not see what was on the boats at all, because their perspective was too low. The sailboats were like city walls on the water. If they wanted to see what was on them, they could only look up.
But it would not matter if they did not see it. As soon as they saw it, they were startled. They heard the people on the boats shouting, "Archers, listen to my order. Shoot freely at the targets on the shore."
The next moment, a row of dense figures appeared on the side of the boats at both ends of the pontoon bridge. The Han tribe warriors in red robes and iron armor suddenly showed half of their bodies from behind the side of the boats with their Shenbi crossbows already strung. Under the orders of their respective officers, they aimed at the enemy archers on the shore and pulled the trigger.
In an instant, the sound of flying crossbow arrows and the sound of bowstrings being released resounded across the shore. More than a hundred archers from the Xin tribe who had just run to the shore and shot two or three rounds of arrows were knocked down by this volley. Some were hit by several arrows, and their entire chests were shot like hedgehogs. At such a close distance, even wearing bamboo armor could not block the domineering crossbow machine.
The length of the deck was limited, and the entire Xiangjian Guard’s force could not be deployed. After a small number of soldiers shot the first round of arrows, more soldiers were still queuing up behind, so the first row had no time to restring their arrows and immediately retreated to the back. The second row of soldiers soon appeared on the side of the ship and shot a second round of arrows at the enemy on the shore.
Qiyun didn't know when he had already run behind the archers. In fact, he was lying behind a rock at a higher place just now. From his high vantage point, he immediately saw the Han tribe archers running out of the cabin. He cried out in his heart that something was wrong and hurriedly wanted to ask the soldiers to retreat, but he was still a step too slow. When he ran to the place, the Han tribe had already fired two rounds, and nearly three hundred people on his side had fallen.
"Retreat quickly, retreat quickly, the Han tribe's bows and arrows have a longer range than us, retreat quickly." Qiyun shouted while running.
However, in this situation, even a fool could see that it was not in their favor. Without waiting for Qiyun's command, the archers had already started to run back. At such a close distance, would they not run away and wait to be hit one by one by the opponent's crossbows?
However, the arrow guards on the Han tribe side continued to shoot arrows at the fleeing enemy. When the enemy ran from 50 meters to 100 meters, they continued to shoot. When they ran to 200 meters, they began to use projectiles. When they ran
to 300 meters, the archers on the entire deck began to projectile at the maximum shooting angle, instantly forming a rain of arrows to cover the fleeing enemy's heads. It was not until the enemy ran completely out of range that the commander of the arrow guards ordered to stop the attack. Within the range of 300 meters from the shore, there were already sparsely lying enemy archers, at least 400 people. Some died directly, but some were only slightly injured. They staggered to get up and began to retreat, but most people were just getting up and were hit by the concentrated fire of the archers on the ship. In an instant, they would be covered by dozens of arrows. That person was immediately shot into a hedgehog, and died more miserably than those who were seriously injured.
The landing commander on the middle ship saw that the 300-meter archery range of the shore had been cleared by the Archery Guards, so he immediately called out and had his personal soldiers beat the war drums.
"Hu Ben Guards, sword and shield soldiers, go ashore and line up. The Archery Guards will cover us. Don't be afraid, charge!"
"Charge! Brothers, it's time to make achievements."
"Kill one and you will be awarded a title, capture one and you will be rewarded with a horse, brothers of the Six Flags, follow me!"
Following the order of the chief of the Tiger Guards, the sword and shield soldiers, carrying large shields, jumped out of the side of the ship, wearing heavy armor and jumping onto the side bridge, causing the armor plates to clatter, and rushed to the shore with heavy leather boots stepping on the open flames on the side bridge.
The fishermen hiding under the water saw that the people of the Xin tribe were driven away, and they also hurriedly got out from under the floating bridge. Some of them swam over to support the shaking wooden planks of the side bridge, while others used their bamboo hats to pour water to extinguish the rockets on the floating bridge, creating good conditions for the landing of the Tiger Guards.
There were more than a dozen landing ships, more than thirty side bridges, and countless sword and shield soldiers swarmed down from the fleet. As soon as they landed, they drew their steel knives from their waists and swarmed towards the half-dead enemy soldiers on the shore who had been shot and fell to the ground.
If they saw someone with a serious injury, they would directly chop off the head of the wounded with a knife. If they were not seriously injured, they would knock them unconscious with the heavy shield in their hands first. The reward for capturing an enemy soldier was higher than that for killing one. Because the Han tribe lacked labor, Luo Chong had set such a rule. A
lightly wounded soldier with an arrow in his leg fell to the ground in the second round of arrows. When he wanted to escape later, he saw that those who stood up and fled were instantly hit by dozens of arrows. He was so scared that he simply lay on the ground and pretended to be dead.
As a result, before he had been equipped for two minutes, the sword and shield soldiers of the Han tribe came ashore and began to slaughter those half-dead and seriously injured soldiers. He lay there trembling, and a brother next to him who was hit by two arrows in the chest was lying there, breathing out more than breathing in. He was about to die. Suddenly, a shadow blocked their sight, and then a white light flashed, and the wounded soldier's blood sprayed all over the face of the man pretending to be dead, and a big head rolled to his face.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the horrible scene of his companions' bodies being torn apart. He was so frightened that he screamed and struggled to stand up and tried to escape, which also frightened the Tiger Guards who had just recorded a head.
"Damn, this kid actually pretended to be dead and scared me!"
He cursed angrily, swung his oak shield with his left hand and hit the back of the man's head. With a dull thud, the poor kid who pretended to be dead was almost scared crazy, but he still didn't run away and eventually became a prisoner of the Han tribe.
The first batch of 1,000 Tiger Guards sword and shield soldiers who landed quickly pushed the battle line into the range of the crossbows, cleared all the fallen enemy soldiers within 300 meters, and then quickly gathered together to form a shield wall to defend against the counterattack that the Xin tribe might come at any time.
The Xin tribe clan soldiers who had not experienced much war, seeing the Han tribe so cruelly chopping off their compatriots' heads and hanging them on their waists, were so scared that they cried like ghosts and howled like wolves. Some of them were trembling and crawling back to escape with feces and urine flowing. Some of them were braver and wanted to avenge their relatives and brothers who died tragically under the knives of the Han tribe, but they were eventually called back by Qi Yun. With only a thousand people fighting against a thousand people from the Han tribe, he knew very well that he was definitely not a match.
"Quick, go back to the camp, we will use traps and the village wall to stop them." Qi Yun called out and began to lead the remaining archers to run back. He only had so many long-range soldiers, and he must not consume them here directly, otherwise the subsequent defense would be more difficult.
On the farmland on the shore, with the long-range attack of the Xiangjian Guards on the ship and the defense of the sword and shield soldiers of the Hu Ben Guards on the shore, a safe landing area of 300 meters was finally opened up on the west bank of the Qingshui River. Seeing that the time was ripe, the officers on the ship immediately ordered the remaining spearmen and archers of the Hu Ben Guards to land. In just over ten minutes, the entire 4,000 troops of the Hu Ben Guards were sent to the shore.
Yang Feng, a member of the Hu Ben Guards who landed, immediately organized the troops to form a formation for defense and continued to push the front forward. Finally, a landing area of one mile wide was opened up in the farmland on the shore, providing safety for the subsequent landing of troops.
The empty ships quickly raised their sails and turned around, heading back to the direction of the strait. The subsequent horse boats and troop transport ships quickly followed, and all the 3,000 Xiaoqi Guards were sent to the shore. At the same time, tens of thousands of war horses and the 20 vehicle-mounted field guns of the Hu Ben Guards, as well as a large amount of ammunition and baggage, also landed on the shore.
It took a whole morning just to send these 7,000 people and tens of thousands of war horses ashore. During this period, the two frontline corps of the Xin tribe under Qiyun's command never came to harass again, and all of them huddled in the mountaintop defense line and refused to come out.
The landing of the Han tribe continued. Such a big movement, the mobilization of tens of thousands of troops, of course, was still noticed by the nearby people. Some people in the Shi tribe village at the foot of the mountain, not far from the farmland, bravely ran to check their farmland, but saw countless people and horses occupying there. All of them were wearing the same clothes, red robes and iron armor, wearing helmets on their heads, and some people had bloody heads hanging around their waists. They were so scared that they screamed and rolled back to the village to hide.
Xue Tu, who had already landed with the army, ignored it and continued to command the landing of the follow-up troops. He also sent the 2,500 Leopard Guards recruited from the Tang Tribe to the shore, followed by the Sea Wolf Guards, the Flying Bear Guards, and the Arrow Guards. At this point, all the participating troops, except the Navy's Fu Bo Guards, all other land forces had landed on the shore.
Although the Yingyang Guards formed by the Fishermen's Tribe were not here, they had also arrived at the side and rear of the mission and were ready to guard the flank of the mission.
After all the personnel landed, the subsequent two-masted sailing ships continued to move towards the Qingshui River, sending boatloads of supplies to the shore, in addition to food and grass, there were also carriages and currency.
Xue Tu only cared about fighting and could ignore other things, but the military commander had to be responsible for the local political situation. The Han tribe army had just arrived, and the first thing to do was of course to appease the local people and explain the legitimate reasons for their tribe's attack on Zhudao. The local people must not be made to think that the Han tribe was here to destroy and massacre, so as not to provoke unnecessary resistance.
So when all the troops and supplies were landed, the military commander of the Huben Guards immediately led the logistics troops and the commanders of other guards to several nearby villages to "give them gifts".
Xue Tu wrote down today's battle report, wrote down the battle process and details, and immediately sent it to Luo Chong by flying eagle. He did not forget Luo Chong's request for a report every day.
(End of this chapter)
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