Chapter 2420 Attack and Defense
Accompanied by the sudden sound of war drums, the warships of the Jiangdong Army rushed towards Lingxian along the Surabaya River. Against the backdrop of the raging flames and black smoke in the middle of Lingxian County, these warships seemed to be carrying boundless weapons. With anger and fighting spirit, they rushed towards Cao Cao''s position on the north bank and rolled towards Cao Cao on the high platform of the central army.
Amidst the sound of war drums, Jiangdong soldiers flexibly operated the warships, just like the northern barbarians galloping war horses. They leaned against the shore flexibly and quickly. About five or six hundred Jiangdong soldiers jumped from the ships and stepped on them. Knee-deep water rushed to the shore. They did not rush to rescue their defeated troops in Ling County, but chased Cao''s army retreating from Ling County.
??Ling County Fire, Cao Jun''s evacuation situation seems to be a bit embarrassing...
The soldiers in Jiangdong were shouting and chasing and driving the retreating Cao troops.
??Behind these Jiangdong soldiers, the crossbowmen on the Jiangdong warships also began to fire at Cao Jun on the shore. A sharp arrow with a sharp whistle rushed towards Cao Jun''s soldiers.
嗖嗖嗖! 』
Arrows screamed in the air and flew by.
For the Jiangdong Army, which lacked cavalry and was good at ships, bows and arrows had almost become one of their indispensable skills. At the same time, because of the characteristics of the ship, Jiangdong''s archers can have arrow reserves several times greater than those of the army''s archers. The archers of Cao''s army on land would shoot one or two basic arrows, and the quivers on both sides would be empty, leaving only a bow. However, the archers of Jiangdong can still shoot as long as their physical strength can support them.
The cavalry of Cao''s army coming from the flank were forced by bows and arrows, but they also stopped the Jiangdong soldiers from continuing to pursue them.
Even though the crossbows of the Jiangdong Army are powerful, there are still limitations on the range after all. At about 150 steps from the shore, Jiangdong''s bows and arrows are basically weak. Only the crossbows on the building battleships can still be used. There is still enough lethality, but the shooting accuracy of the ballista is really pitiful. After Cao Jun pulled away a little, it was considered lucky to hit one or two of the ten arrows.
?Zhu Ran, who was on the battleship, sneered, leaving part of the battleship to confront Cao Jun''s cavalry, and then continued to move upriver with other battleships...
Yes, there is indeed nothing wrong. The strategy of using distance to limit the archers of Jiangdong ships is indeed useful, but similarly, Jiangdong soldiers can not only land in one place!
As long as the terrain permits, Jiangdong ships can mount and dismount soldiers anywhere in Surabaya to attack!
??Can Cao Jun''s camp and Cao Jun array be moved as easily as Jiangdong''s ships?
?In this era, due to various restrictions, the army must march along the water source, or ensure that there is an easily accessible water source at the place of landing, otherwise it will be a disaster. For example, classmate Ma Su has a strong say.
Cao Cao’s army is naturally no exception. The two camps along Surabaya are actually not far from the river bank. When Zhu Ran moved the ship, Cao Jun suddenly felt embarrassed.
With such a long distance from Surabaya, Cao Jun could not control all the shores, and once he got close to the shore, he would be shot by Jiangdong Army. As long as Jiangdong Army did not come ashore, Cao Jun would have nothing to do with Jiangdong Army. It is not a good idea to follow Jiangdong''s ship. After all, Jiangdong''s soldiers are on the ship, and most of Cao''s soldiers can only rely on two legs. They pull here and there, and their physical strength is exhausted. How else to fight?
??It is not that easy for Cao Jun''s cavalry to pass through Cao Jun''s already lined up array and rush to the rear to intercept Jiangdong''s army.
Even if Cao Cao sends people to blockade this section of the shore, what will Cao Cao do if Zhu Ran sails directly to Cao Jun''s rear?
For a time, Cao Jun felt a little embarrassed.
On the high platform of the central army, Cao Cao frowned slightly.
??It is not impossible to directly order the soldiers to go forward with arrows and kill this small group of Jiangdong troops, but it is not necessary. Because on the one hand, the casualties will inevitably increase greatly if they rush forward, and on the other hand, Jiangdong Army has ships on the shore. Although some Jiangdong soldiers can definitely be saved, Cao Jun will definitely suffer more casualties...
Not cost-effective.
??Although Cao Cao expected that Jiangdong had a plan, he did not expect that Jiangdong''s navy would use this tactic. Of course, Cao Cao is safe here. The Chinese army is well-manned and the battle formation is complete. Even if Jiangdong''s army really comes up to kill them, Cao Cao is confident that he can sit on the high platform and kill these Jiangdong soldiers in front of the formation. However, Jiangdong''s army along the Surabaya River is Cruising around gave Cao Cao a bit of a headache, and he could only hope that the iron cables deployed to block the river in Surabaya would have some effect.
??Had we known that the soldiers in Jiangdong were so cunning, we should have built a dam...
Well, in fact, building dams is just a superficial idea, and there is not much room for actual operation. This section of Guangling Surabaya is already close to the downstream of Surabaya. The water surface is vast and there are not many high mountains and deep valleys on both sides. It is not like the upstream area of ????the water flow with two mountains sandwiched between streams, which can easily store water. Even if you can find one or two places suitable for building a dam, it will be of little use if it is too far away from the battlefield.
order! The rear army formed a formation outside the camp to prevent enemy invasion! 』
?Cao Cao frowned and ordered. The current strategy is to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing situations.
The iron cables that Cao Cao had arranged on the Si River in advance to block the river played a certain role. The stern of a Jiangdong soldier did not notice the iron cables under the water and ran into it. The entire hull of the ship became sideways and lost its balance. The tail was high. Gao Qiao was buckled on the water, and all the soldiers on the stern fell into the water. Some were rescued by other ships, while others could not be rescued in time. They sank and floated in the current, and were taken to the Downstream…
The soldiers of Cao''s army cheered immediately, but they did not stay happy for long.
Just like Cao Cao''s cavalry also trained on how to defend and destroy the traps of horse ropes, Jiangdong''s army on the water was also very experienced in dealing with such chains that blocked the river.
A fighting ship moved forward, extending a long pick pole from the bow, detecting the water under the water like mine clearance in later generations, and soon picked out the iron rope from the water surface, and what happened next was It''s even simpler.
The cast iron craftsmanship and forging technology of the Han Dynasty were not enough to construct the crushingly thick iron chains of later generations. Therefore, under the destruction of Jiangdong''s army, Cao''s army''s preset river-blocking iron cables quickly broke into two pieces and sank into the water. .
Then the second iron cable was also discovered...
The third way…
??Jiangdong Navy dismantled the trap with ease, causing Cao Jun''s slightly higher morale to fall back again.
However, these three river-blocking iron cables were not completely ineffective. In addition to the previous stern ship, they also successfully delayed the advancement of the Jiangdong navy, allowing Cao''s rear troops to calmly list their battle plans outside the camp. Array.
After receiving Cao Cao''s order, the sword and shield bearers of Cao''s army began to line up outside the camp facing the direction of Surabaya. The sword and shield bearers were at the front and raised their shields. The three sword-shielders formed a solid shield wall, and the other spearmen and archers hid behind this shield wall.
Long arrows are like a violent storm. Continuously beating the shield formation.
If you are a new soldier who has just entered the battlefield, you will inevitably be panicked and nervous when faced with such an arrow attack. Once you are panicked and nervous, your movements are unbalanced, it will cause gaps in the shield array, followed by casualties, which will lead to the collapse of the shield array. However, the swordsmen and shieldmen currently in formation are all veteran soldiers who have been on the battlefield for a long time. They have seen bigger scenes and have resisted denser arrow formations. The rain of arrows pouring from Jiangdong soldiers is not considered a threat at all to them. What a big deal.
Even if some arrows landed in places that the shield could not defend, causing some damage, the movements of these Cao Saber shield-hands were not deformed because of this. If the front fell, the back would make up for it...
?Seeing this scene, Zhu Ran couldn''t help but secretly admire it. Just as Cao Cao found Jiangdong Army''s navy to be very difficult to deal with, Zhu Ran also felt that Cao Cao''s army was too powerful on land to give him a headache.
If Jiang Dongjun''s old opponents, whether they are fierce pirates or cunning Shanyue, are all defeated under such a rain of arrows, and now Cao Jun is like a hard reef, no matter how Jiangdong Army washes away, they will be destroyed. Hard to shake.
Seeing that the arrow rain attack had no effect, Zhu Ran frowned and decisively ordered the infantry to attack.
The arrows continued to rain down, and they gradually stopped until the soldiers from Jiangdong got off the boat and began to line up in formation.
The sky obscured by the arrow array returned to brightness, and the four to five hundred Jiangdong troops who had already formed their formation began to advance, with one team in front and two teams behind, forming a triangular attack formation.
Jiangdong''s army was not marching slowly, and it didn''t matter if some formations were scattered because of this, because they had to take advantage of this time difference to ensure that the retreat route after the attack was still open, otherwise Cao Jun''s soldiers from other places would outflank and fall into Cao Jun''s army. In the battle formation, it will definitely be the end of the entire army being annihilated.
??Cao Cao''s central army is giving orders to make way for some passages from the tight formation. Soon, Cao Cao''s cavalry will arrive here!
The distance between the two sides, which was a short distance of more than a hundred steps, quickly shrunk under the sudden advance of Jiangdong soldiers.
咚! Boom! Boom, boom, boom! 』
The low drums of war rippled, ringing in the ears of every soldier.
"kill! 』
『Hold it! 』
??Cao Jun''s sword and shield bearers raised their shields to block the fierce attack of Jiangdong''s army with swords and spears, and at the same time fought back tenaciously.?????After a brief confrontation, Zhu Ran''s expression showed some changes.
The Jiangdong soldiers brought by Zhu Ran cannot be said to be the strongest, but they are three points better than the average Jiangdong soldiers. However, such soldiers were unable to effectively break through when facing Cao Jun''s rear line. !
You must know that this is Cao Jun’s rear camp!
Strictly speaking, the combat effectiveness of Cao''s soldiers here is worse than those on the front line...
Thanks to the habits of the hussar generals, Cao Jun''s current equipment is much stronger than that in history. Cao Cao''s rear soldiers are equipped with Cao Cao''s new swords, which are stronger and sharper than those commonly used by Jiangdong soldiers. Coupled with Cao Jun''s stronger combat skills on land, Jiangdong''s soldiers not only failed to break through the line, but were faintly overwhelmed back.
The Jiangdong soldiers came with a rush of energy, but their rhythm was disrupted by Cao Jun''s formation. Facing the tenacious blockade of the sword, shield, and spearmen, these Jiangdong soldiers could not gain the upper hand at all. Although the scene still looked like a fierce battle, but Unable to gain the upper hand, there was no hope of breaking the formation.
Archers at the back! Shoot Cao Jun''s reinforcements! The archers in front got off the boat and threw rockets into Cao''s camp! 』
?Jiangdong''s army attacked, and Cao''s army defended. As soon as Zhu Ran saw that Cao Jun''s array was tenacious and strong, he immediately adjusted his attack method and attempted to attack with intrusive rockets. On the one hand, he could confuse Cao Jun''s rear, and on the other hand, he could see if he could ignite something and cause some trouble for Cao Jun. , if it can affect the morale of Cao''s army, that would be even better...
?On the other side, Cao Jun’s reinforcements are coming to outflank here.
The two sides just fight quickly.
With the changes in Jiangdong Army''s tactics, Cao Jun''s array was inevitably affected. Under the crazy attacks of Jiangdong soldiers, the Cao Jun sword and shield men who faced the front were finally seized by Jiangdong soldiers. They took an opportunity and killed two or three people in a row, causing Cao Jun''s A small crack appeared in the shield formation.
The soldiers in Jiangdong were overjoyed and advanced even more fiercely.
The commander of Cao''s army''s rear camp, Tuntian Zhonglang General Ren Jun, arrived just at this moment. He roared and danced his spear up and down like flying. After killing two Jiangdong soldiers in an instant, he interrupted the attack momentum of Jiangdong soldiers. , not greedy for success, took two steps back, retreated into the formation, adjusted his breath, and at the same time issued an order: "Back in the middle, push out with both wings!" 』
?? Cao Jun, who was almost destroyed by Jiangdong soldiers, responded loudly, and then retreated slightly in the middle. Jiangdong soldiers followed subconsciously, and then found themselves trapped in three sides of Cao Jun''s siege! The swordsmen, shieldmen and spearmen on both sides of Cao''s army surrounded them, sandwiched the Jiangdong soldiers in the middle, and killed them painfully.
??The surrounded Jiangdong soldiers were attacked from three sides and were cut down to the ground one after another. They suffered heavy losses for a while. The battlefield changed in an instant. The Jiangdong soldiers who had just made some progress suffered heavy losses. The arrows caught in Cao Jun''s formation were forcibly bent. The soldiers behind did not dare to face Cao Jun who was pinching them like scissors. He then rashly advanced and stopped the attack. The offensive that had been brewing for a long time was suddenly interrupted.
??Cao Jun, who was outflanking, was also resisting Jiangdong Army''s arrows, trying to cut off this part of Jiangdong Army''s retreat!
??Cao Cao sat on the high platform of the central army, squinting his eyes and stroking his beard, "Jiangdong boy, his skills are poor!" 』
The Jiangdong soldiers near the county seat of Ling County could no longer withstand Cao Jun''s offensive. They abandoned dozens of corpses and fled back to the boat. Cao Jun left a small number of Jiangdong soldiers on the shore to monitor these Jiangdong soldiers. The cavalry had also withdrawn and ran towards Cao Jun''s rear camp.
In a moment, if Jiangdong''s soldiers don''t retreat, they will all be killed on the shore!
??Jiangdong''s army is strong on the water, so what can it do?
??Cao Cao squinted his eyes, "Hasn''t the thunderbolt stone cannon been adjusted yet?" 』
Originally, Cao Cao thought that Jiangdong Army would attack his Chinese Army in order to break through the center, sneak attack on the commander, etc., so he aimed the catapult at the shore of Surabaya on the Chinese Army''s side, but he did not expect that Zhu Ran jumped over his Chinese Army''s formation. After a while, he ran directly towards the rear army, and it was so smooth when cutting off the iron cables blocking the river that Cao Cao did not order an attack with a catapult in the end...
?But what’s more, now there is a chance!
Just like the catapult in later games, it takes time to fold and unfold, and the catapult moves slowly. Even if it has a long range, if you want to move from the Chinese army to the rear camp, you can attack it. It will still take a certain amount of time to park the Jiangdong battleship.
?While Cao Cao was making deployments, Zhu Ran was also secretly frightened. Standing on the building ship, he also saw some strange movements among Cao''s army, but since he had never directly seen Cao''s catapults, he did not pay much attention to those instruments. Zhu Ran''s eyes were more attracted by Cao Jun''s cavalry at this moment. Seeing the cavalry passing through Cao Jun''s central position, he couldn''t help but start to estimate the time, and then shouted loudly: "Archers!" Retreat after three rounds of rockets! 』
??The archers from Jiangdong must go ashore to attack Cao Jun''s rear camp. Once the archers go ashore, even if they retreat, they will inevitably occupy the original retreat channel, and it will take more time to gather the troops. Therefore, if we cannot directly gain an advantage on the battlefield at the moment, we must consider retreating...
Therefore, although firing a few more rounds of rockets will definitely increase the probability of igniting Cao''s rear camp, time is running out at the moment, and greed for too much will inevitably lead to serious problems in the future.
It is the subtleties that truly test a general.
The duel between masters on the battlefield is definitely not a simple F2A.
Zhu Ran had to reconsider the combat effectiveness of Cao''s army. He raised his eyes and looked in the direction of Cao''s army''s formation, looking at Cao Cao on the high platform, and seemed to see Cao Cao''s gaze directed here.
The rocket takes off!
There was an uproar in Cao Jun’s camp!
『Withdraw! Escape! Zhu Ran ordered, "The rear ship suppressed Cao..."
?There seemed to be some unusual noises in the air.
?Then the next second, a huge stone bullet hit the water not far from Zhu Ranlou''s boat, causing a huge splash of water in an instant!
What? ! ” Zhu Ran suddenly felt chills all over his body, as if he had a very bad premonition.
?One after another, strange roars came over!
Zhu Ran raised his head, fuck! These stone bullets were obviously heading towards his building ship!
Weigh anchor! 』
『Set the ship immediately! 』
?Zhu Ran''s voice was a little out of shape.
Captain! There is still our son on the shore! 』
Leave four ships to take over! The other ships immediately weighed anchor and left! 』
As soon as Zhu Ran finished speaking, a stone bullet hit the building he was on. With a huge sound of flying wood chips, it directly penetrated the deck and fell into the cabin!
Another stone bullet roared over and hit the bow of the ship, smashing the nose of the ship to pieces. The whole ship trembled violently and swayed. Several Jiangdong soldiers standing on the side of the ship were unsteady and fell into the ship screaming. into the water.
‘Set the ship quickly! ” Zhu Ran shouted while holding on to the wooden railing. Jiangdong soldiers showed amazing potential in the face of life and death. He lifted anchor as quickly as possible, broke away from his original position, and quickly began to withdraw from the battlefield. He ran so fast that the second wave of people headed towards the building where he was. The ship''s stone bombs basically fell into the air.
The Jiangdong soldiers and ships left on the shore and on the shore were not so lucky. After losing order in the panic, everyone wanted to escape first. As a result, no one could leave. In the end, the four Only two of the broken battleships escaped with injuries, but the other two and most of the Jiangdong soldiers who came ashore, totaling about a thousand people, were outflanked by Cao''s army and were all killed, stained with blood. The shore of Surabaya turned red...
"Jiangdong kid..." Cao Cao laughed loudly, "I escaped pretty quickly..."
??Cao''s soldiers were very excited, shouting and shouting, and their morale increased.
??The soldiers of Cao''s army who chased them to the edge of Surabaya were obviously not satisfied. They issued provocations at the fleeing Jiangdong ships. Some people lifted up their shirts and took out their penises to urinate in Surabaya, saying that they wanted Jiangdong''s army to have a taste...
For a while, everyone in Cao''s army was just laughing.
Smiling, Cao Cao, who was on the high platform of the Chinese army, suddenly stiffened his smile. He turned his eyes away from the escaping Jiangdong ships and looked in the direction of Chang''an...
(End of this chapter)