flstandardbreds Chapter 229: The Final Battle (2)
Chapter 229: The Final Battle (2)
At Zhang He's command, the Wei army charged out of the hillside where they had been hiding for several days like tigers descending the mountain, forming ranks and attacking the Shu army camp three miles away.
Although the Wei army was excited by the pre-battle mobilization, they still had to pay attention to tactics and could not charge blindly.
Zhang He first dispatched 8,000 infantrymen, who formed a square formation with shields and slowly moved towards the Shu army. Archers and catapults, on the other hand, advanced at a snail's pace behind the shield formation, waiting to fire once they were within range.
The Shu army's bows and crossbows are famous throughout the land. When faced with the Wei army's attack, they will definitely respond with bows and arrows. At that time, a rain of arrows will come down on you. If you don't have a shield to block it, wouldn't you be deliberately throwing your life away?
As for the cavalry, they cannot move at the moment. It's obvious that the Shu army's front line is full of horse traps, and there are also deer antlers blocking the way behind the traps, so the cavalry simply cannot get through.
The cavalry could only charge after the infantry's corpses filled the horse traps and paved the way to the Shu army's camp.
It's cruel to think about filling pits with corpses, but there's no other way; war is just that brutal.
Eight thousand Wei soldiers advanced, shields raised, getting closer and closer to the Shu army camp...
Wu Ban, who was defending the north gate, watched the Wei army pressing down on him like a dark cloud, his palms sweating with nervousness. In his mind, he kept counting down five hundred meters, three hundred meters, two hundred meters...
Under Wu Ban's watchful eye, the Wei army finally charged into within a hundred-meter range. Without hesitation, Wu Ban immediately raised his hand and roared, "Loose the arrows..."
At Wu Ban's command, the Shu army, which was on high alert, simultaneously pulled the triggers of their crossbows, released the fully drawn bowstrings, and fired arrows at the Wei army.
In an instant, countless arrows drew arcs in the air, whistling towards the Wei army like raindrops, but they struck the shield wall formed by the Wei soldiers, causing negligible damage to the Wei army.
But it didn't matter, the Shu army also had catapults and ballistae. With the creaking sound of wood rubbing against each other, the large stones were launched into the air by the catapults, flying towards the Wei army like meteors and finally crashing hard into the Wei army's shield wall.
Stones are heavy weapons; their weight combined with the impact force generated during flight is enough to kill an enemy on the spot.
Dozens of boulders crashed down on the shield wall at the same time, causing the shields to shake violently. Many Wei soldiers holding shields could not withstand the force of the stones and fell to the ground with screams. This instantly created many holes in the originally intact shield wall, and arrows shot into the holes and hit the Wei soldiers behind the shields, causing them to scream in agony.
Not only that, there are also ballistae.
The ballista is no less powerful than a catapult. Its arrows are several meters long and as thick as an arm. Once fired, they are like cannonballs. When they hit a shield, they knock the shield and the person flying backward.
The seemingly impenetrable shield formation of the Wei army was instantly shattered by the Shu army's bows, arrows, crossbows, catapults, and other weapons. The Wei army suffered casualties before they even got close to the Shu army.
This is the disadvantage of taking the initiative to attack; no matter the time or place, the attacking side will always suffer losses.
However, the Wei army was not without its own strength. They also had bows and arrows and catapults. Arrows and stones were relentlessly fired at the Shu army under the cover of the shield wall. The ranged weapons of both sides whistled as they shot at each other. Many arrows and stones collided in mid-air and fell helplessly to the ground between the two armies with a thud.
After exchanging fire for nearly 35 minutes, when both sides' arrows and archers had to slow down due to exhaustion, another group of Wei soldiers appeared pushing carts filled with rafts, piled higher than a person. The Wei soldiers pushing the carts could not see the road clearly because of the rafts, so they could only charge forward blindly.
A dozen or so carts rushed forward past the shield formation, but after only a few steps, they plunged into the horse trap with a thud. The carts overturned instantly due to loss of balance. Fortunately, the Wei soldiers pushing the carts were prepared and quickly retreated to avoid being hit by the bouncing rafts.
These carts were originally built to probe the location of the Shu army's horse traps, and now they have fulfilled their mission.
After probing the location and width of the Shu army's horse trap, the Wei army once again pushed carts and pulled rafts to begin building a bridge over the trap.
The Shu army, of course, would not let them get away with it so easily, and launched a fierce counterattack with arrows and catapults, inflicting heavy casualties on the Wei army.
But the Wei army was too frenzied. Their goal was simple: to clear the path to the Shu army's camp, rush in, and engage the Shu army in hand-to-hand combat. They were willing to pay any price for this objective.
The Wei army advanced frantically despite the attacks from the Shu army, which alarmed Wu Ban, Huo Yi, and even Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, who were watching from the arrow tower.
As expected of the elite Wei troops led by Zhang He, they really fight with all their might.
The effect of their desperate struggle was obvious. After more than half an hour of fierce fighting and at the cost of thousands of casualties, the Wei army finally built wooden bridges more than ten meters wide over the three horse traps, broke through the hundred-meter death zone between themselves and the Shu army, and reached the Shu army's deer antlers.
There is also a horse trap in front of the antlers. Fortunately, the horse trap is only two or three meters wide and there is a half-meter distance between it and the antlers. This half-meter distance can be used as a leverage point for the raft, allowing the raft to be placed on both sides of the horse trap.
The Wei army launched an attack on the deer antlers from rafts, while the Shu army's spearmen thrust their spears wildly at the Wei army through the deer antlers, repeatedly knocking the Wei soldiers to the ground.
The Wei troops who charged first were basically cannon fodder to be used for attrition; death was their only fate.
But even cannon fodder has its uses. Under their cover, the Wei army carried rafts and frantically built bridges over the first three horse traps, continuously widening the bridge surface.
Another group of Wei soldiers, carrying sacks, rushed across the wooden bridge towards the Shu army's deer antlers at top speed. Upon arrival, they emptied the contents of the sacks into the horse traps in front of the antlers, then turned and ran back with the empty sacks.
After emptying the contents, they discovered that the sack was filled with yellow soil; the Wei army intended to use the soil to completely fill in the horse trap.
There was no other way; the pitfall in front of the antlers was too deadly. With it there, not only cavalry but even infantry couldn't charge, so it had to be filled in.
Fortunately, this place is located on the edge of the Loess Plateau, and the soil is loose and easy to dig. However, the Wei army did not have many burlap sacks, so they could not be extravagant enough to throw the soil and burlap sacks into the pit together. They could only empty the soil and then collect the burlap sacks for reuse.
Half an hour later, the Wei army finally filled in a passage a hundred meters wide in the horse trap, and used blades and axes to cut down many of the wooden pieces used to build the deer antlers, tearing a gap in the Shu army's deer antlers.
People were dying every moment during this process, and the blood had completely stained the area red. Even the yellow soil that had just been poured into the horse pit had been soaked into bloody mud. Looking around, it was like a hellish scene. The word "horrific" was not enough to describe it.
Fortunately, their efforts paid off. The Shu army's antlers were breached, and the Wei army, already in a frenzy of fighting, charged into the Shu camp through the breach, desperately destroying the antlers to widen the gap so that subsequent cavalry could break in on a large scale.
Seeing the Wei army's ferocity, Wu Ban, the commander on the defensive side, was somewhat alarmed and quickly ordered his troops to counterattack, attempting to drive the Wei army out of the camp and out of the deer antlers.
Having finally entered, the Wei army was naturally unwilling to leave again, and the two sides engaged in a bloody struggle over the gap in the antler-shaped pass.
For a time, the gap in the deer antlers became the focus of contention between the two sides, turning into a veritable meat grinder on the battlefield, with people from both the Han and Wei sides constantly screaming and falling to the ground.