Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
In an instant, thousands of arrows, each ten feet long, flew through the air with a piercing whistling sound, tracing countless graceful arcs in the sky above Panlong Pass.
By the time the Turkic cavalry, charging uphill, realized the situation was dire and tried to retreat, it was too late.
Arrows as thick as spear shafts pierced the iron armor of the Turkic cavalry with ease, easily shooting them off their horses.
Some Turkic cavalrymen reacted quickly. Seeing the thick rain of arrows coming, they immediately used the skill of "hiding in the stirrups," bending their bodies down and pressing themselves against the horse's belly to avoid being shot by the arrows.
However, their warhorses were not so lucky.
With arrows as thick as spear shafts, the immense inertia of the crossbow made piercing the bodies of warhorses a piece of cake.
In an instant, the ranks of the Turkic cavalry charging up Panlong Pass were filled with screams and the mournful cries of warhorses.
Limited by the trapezoidal terrain of Panlong Pass, which is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, the Turkic cavalry charged in groups. The closer they got to Panlong Pass, the denser their charging formation became, exposing all their men and horses to the range of the Qin crossbows.
In addition, the Qin crossbow was also equipped with a sight, which allowed the Qin soldiers operating the crossbow to aim at the target more accurately and improve shooting accuracy.
To put it simply, the power and features of the Qin crossbow can be imagined as an ancient version of the Katyusha rocket launcher.
Therefore, Wang Jian's elite Qin soldiers dealt a heavy blow to the Turkic cavalry in the first round of crossbow fire.
Arslen, the Turkic general who had narrowly escaped death in the first volley of arrows, had bloodshot eyes and glanced around to the left and right out of the corner of his eye.
All around were stray warhorses, driven by their animalistic survival instincts, continuing to charge alongside the main force.
A rough estimate suggests that at least three thousand Turkic warriors fell to the first volley of arrows fired by the Han army's powerful bows and crossbows.
Arslen didn't have time to stop his charge, grieving for the fallen steppe warriors.
He frantically pounded on the belly of his warhorse, urging it to go faster, faster.
Once he crosses this thousand-step distance and the imperial cavalry sets foot on Panlong Pass, he will make those Han soldiers pay with their blood and lives for the lives of the fallen Turkic warriors.
Similarly, on the other side, the leader of the Turkic Merkit tribe, Surilkh, shared the same idea as Arslen.
In the previous volley of arrows, the Merkit tribe suffered even greater casualties.
Those were more than two thousand vibrant lives of Merkit warriors!
If this grudge is not avenged, Suril and Ke will never have peace of mind for the rest of their lives.
at the same time.
On the central command tower of the Yunhui Army's Heaven, Earth, and Man Formation, the surrendered Turkic general Liang Erhu looked terrified and gasped sharply.
The ballista was actually a powerful crossbow cart!
Liang Erhu beat his chest and stamped his feet, regretting his actions.
He should have realized that Chen Huai'an's army would definitely be equipped with large crossbows.
This thing is not only extremely lethal to cavalry charging in dense formations, but also quite lethal to large numbers of moving infantry.
Although the vanguard of his army was also equipped with a large number of crossbow carts, which were pulled by warhorses and placed at the forefront of the main army's attack sequence.
However, based on his visual observation just now, the crossbow carts equipped by his Yunhui Army vanguard were far inferior to those equipped by the Longcheng troops at Panlong Pass in terms of quantity, power, and range.
Even if the two armies were to face each other and exchange fire, the Yunhui Army would be the one to suffer a complete defeat.
That scoundrel Chen Huai'an, he's gotten even more powerful in just a few days!
Liang Erhu roared inwardly, but immediately ordered the messenger: "Messenger, immediately order the vanguard and the leaping team to speed up their charge!"
"Understood!"
Soon, the messenger stood on the central command tower, waving a triangular signal flag, and issued Liang Erhu's latest combat orders.
Upon receiving the order, the vanguard commander of the Yunhui Army and the commander of the Tiaodang Squad immediately urged their soldiers to speed up their sprint and shorten the distance with the enemy forces at Panlong Pass.
The thunderous sound of the war drums also began to intensify and become more rapid from this moment on.
At the Panlong Pass camp, General Wang Jian remained steadfast and calm in the face of the Turkic coalition army, which was advancing at a rapid pace and sweeping in like a storm.
Behind him, the elite Qin warriors showed no sign of panic, calmly loading arrows and adjusting the angle of the crossbows.
"Nine hundred paces!"
"Seven hundred paces!"
"Five hundred paces!"
Wang Jian's eyes were sharp as he calmly counted the numbers, holding his three-foot sword level with the blade pointed directly at the Turkic cavalrymen who were right in front of him.
When they reached five hundred paces, a sharp shout rang out: "Release—"
"put!"
"put!"
With a thunderous roar, the arrow shot out like a dragon.
The sky was filled with thick arrows, which seemed to transform into the cold scythe in the hand of death, mercilessly reaping all life in the path of the arrow rain.
Whether you are a fine steed of the grasslands or a warrior of the northern desert, all are equal under the crossbow bolt.
Instantly, the sounds of arrows whistling through the air, the collisions of ownerless warhorses, and the screams and neighs of the heavily wounded but not yet dead Turkic cavalrymen and their horses echoed throughout Panlong Pass.
Arslen, who had once again narrowly escaped death, along with Surile and Ke, had tears in their eyes and their hearts were bleeding.
After this volley of arrows from the Han army, both Turkic cavalry units suffered more than one-third casualties.
Fortunately, they were getting closer and closer to Panlong Pass, and it wouldn't be long before they could slash the heads of the Han soldiers with their scimitars.
"Warriors of the Turkic Empire, the opportunity to avenge your humiliation and make a name for yourselves is right before you!"
"The Han infantry don't have time to reload their arrows. Follow my lead, charge forward, and use your scimitars to cut off the heads of these Han bastards, and trample their bodies with your horses' hooves to avenge our fallen steppe warriors!"
"kill!"
Ars, galloping wildly, let out a furious howl, not caring whether his shout, destined to be drowned out by the thunderous hoofbeats, could be heard by the Turkic cavalry warriors behind him, but only to vent the anger in his heart.
"kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
Following closely behind were Arslan's personal guards.
Their desperate battle cries pierced through the thunderous sound of horses' hooves and reached the ears of countless Turkic cavalrymen who were still charging forward.
Those Turkic soldiers who survived the two volleys of arrows had long since turned into mad beasts with bloodshot eyes, howling and roaring tirelessly under the stimulation of adrenaline.
On the other side, at the Panlong Pass camp.
After ordering the Qin soldiers to complete two rounds of crossbow firing, General Wang Jian immediately ordered, "Qin soldiers, retreat!"
"Mo Dao Team, all troops, launch an attack!"
At a command, the Qin elite troops at the forefront of the camp began to retreat lightly and withdraw in an orderly manner.
Between the Qin elite troops, through the deliberately left passage, countless burly, heavily armored soldiers wielding long-handled broadswords poured out and charged toward the front line of Panlong Pass.
Limited by their uphill attack, the Turkic cavalry charging forward only saw the retreating Qin elites, but failed to see the Xuanjia Army's Mo Dao squad advancing against the direction of the Qin elites' retreat.
I thought it was the Qin warriors trying to escape.
Upon seeing this, the Turkic general, Surilheke, who was charging at the forefront on horseback, roared with a ferocious expression on his fleshy face:
"The Han army is trying to escape! Chase after them and kill them!"
"kill!"
The next moment, the jet-black Akhal-Teke horse beneath Surile and Ke leaped high into the air, carrying Surile and Ke as the first to rush up Panlong Pass.
What came into view was a dark mass of Xuanjia Army Mo Dao soldiers, clad in heavy armor and wielding long-handled broadswords.
The Xuanjia soldiers wielded their long-handled Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword), forming a battle formation in the face of the rising sun. The "shield" made up of tens of thousands of Mo Dao appeared particularly dazzling under the sunlight.
It particularly stung the eyes of the Turkic generals, Suril and Ke.
"Mo Dao team, in 'wall-style advance' formation, all troops attack! Kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
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