Chapter 273: Destroy your -man army! Liu Bei: I love to knock you down from the clouds at your peak moment!

Streams of blood flew into the air, and Yuan soldiers fell to the ground one by one...

In an instant, countless five thousand Youyan cavalrymen were shot down, and wailing sounds were heard everywhere.

Under a hail of arrows, hundreds of enemy cavalry fell to the ground, and Yuan's army's charge was blocked and fell into chaos.

This is just the beginning.

After firing a round, the crossbowmen quickly replaced the quivers with new ones, and before the enemy cavalry could react, the second round of volleys arrived.

"Uuuuuu——"

The buzzing sound was like the flapping wings of thousands of birds, covering all other sounds between heaven and earth. Another three thousand sharp arrows formed a dense wall of arrows and pushed forward.

The Youyan cavalry, who had not yet reacted, suffered another heavy blow, with blood splattered everywhere and falling to the ground in large numbers.

The howling of soldiers and the neighing of horses echoed across the plains.

The second wave of arrow rain ended.

During the brief gap when the crossbowman changed his quiver, Han Meng finally got a chance to catch his breath and put down the sword in his hand.

He looked around and took a deep breath.

He relied on his martial arts skills to block the incoming arrows, but his Youyan cavalry were not so lucky.

In two rounds of attacks, nearly a thousand cavalrymen were shot dead or wounded.

Such a casualty ratio is enough to defeat any elite army in the world!
Moreover, such heavy casualties occurred in the blink of an eye, which dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the troops.

really.

The Yuan army's cavalry was stunned and their indomitable fighting spirit collapsed at this moment, turning into endless terror.

The collapse begins!
Their wills were broken, and without Han Meng's command, they turned around and retreated.

The third round of crossbow volleys was whistling in.

There was another wailing sound, and another cloud of blood mist rose into the air.

The Yuan army cavalry who had just turned around did not even have the chance to swing their swords to resist this time. Their vital backs were completely exposed to the rain of arrows.

People and horses were thrown to the ground, ghosts were crying and wolves were howling, and no one knew how many riders were nailed to the ground.

"What kind of magical crossbow is this? How can a few hundred crossbows severely damage my five thousand cavalry?"

"If I continue to be shot at like this, will my entire army be wiped out?"

Han Meng was terrified and stunned, and the remaining trace of self-confidence had collapsed at this moment.

"Retreat, the whole army retreat~~"

Han Meng shouted with a trembling voice, and taking advantage of the gap when the third round of arrow shooting ended, he turned his horse and fled towards the main camp.

Yuan's cavalry retreated across the board.

The 70,000 soldiers of Liu’s army witnessed the scene of Yuan’s cavalry being defeated. After a moment’s silence, they burst into thunderous cheers.

"My lord, the Yuan army's cavalry has been defeated!"

"Military Advisor Jinglue's magic crossbow destroyed the Yuan family's cavalry!"

Chen Dao pointed at the defeated enemy cavalry and shouted excitedly.

Liu Bei was also surprised and excited, and couldn't help but sigh:

"I didn't expect Jing Lue to be so smart and ingenious, and to be able to come up with such a powerful weapon as the Crossbow."

"No wonder he dared to release the Youyan Iron Cavalry at the military meeting, saying it was nothing..."

Putting aside his emotion, Liu Bei focused his eyes and murderous intent burned in his heart.

The double-edged sword was unsheathed and pointed directly at Yuan Jun:

"Send the second order, all cavalry corps out, chase after Yuan's cavalry!"

"Infantry, listen up! Move forward with all your strength and defeat the main force of Yuan's army in one fell swoop!"

The order for the general attack was given.

The Youyan cavalry suffered heavy losses and was already defeated, and the morale of Yuan's army must have been greatly shaken.

If we don't take advantage of the enemy's weakness and launch a full-scale attack now, when will we do so?
"Boom-boom--"

The deafening sound of war drums rang out in the central army formation.

Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci and other generals were all filled with fighting spirit, urging their troops to move forward.

Dozens of Liu's army formations, accompanied by deafening shouts of killing, rushed towards the oncoming Yuan's army.

Generals Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu, commanding more than 1,500 cavalrymen, pursued the defeated Yuan cavalry.

It still takes some time for cavalry to turn and accelerate.

The Youyan cavalry were still crowded together and had no time to speed up when the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry attacked like thunder and lightning.

One sword after another ruthlessly slashed at the panicked cavalry of Yuan’s army.

There were people and horses falling to the ground, and ghosts crying and wolves howling.

In an instant, thousands of defeated soldiers and cavalry were torn into two and fell into a situation where they were attacked and crushed by Liu's cavalry.

In the midst of the chaos.

Zhang Xiu was unstoppable on horseback, spear in hand. Wherever he passed, countless Yuan soldiers were like fragile wheat stalks, and his lives were harvested in large numbers.

His eagle eyes pierced through the blood mist and locked onto the general of Yuan army who was blocked by his defeated army under the "Han" flag.

There are four courtyards and one pillar in Hebei, and one pillar is Han Meng.

This is a great achievement!

Zhang Xiu's eyes instantly became bloodshot and he shouted:
"Zhang Xiu is here, Han Meng, where are you escaping to?"

He squeezed his legs against the horse's belly, and the man and the horse were like thunder and lightning, rushing straight to Han Meng's back and killing him on the bloody road.

Han Meng, who was secretly groaning, suddenly heard a loud shout behind him. When he turned around, he saw a man standing in front of him.

With a silver spear in his hand, he filled it with all his strength and stabbed forward with overwhelming force.

"Zhang Xiu?"

Han Meng was startled and had no time to think, so he quickly drew his knife to block.

Half a beat slower.

He was only thinking about escaping, and only realized it when the gun was about to strike him, and he was already half a beat too late in drawing his sword.

"puff!"

The silver spear was as fast as lightning and pierced Han Meng's chest.

With a scream, Han Meng's sword slipped out of his hand, and his body was hit by the violent force of the silver spear. He flew backwards and fell heavily to the ground.

There was a bloody hole on his chest, and large streams of blood were gushing out.

"I, Han Meng, will die here today?" "I, I——

Han Meng was lying on the ground, blood gushing out of his mouth, his face twisted with unwillingness and despair.

A blood-red spear tip ruthlessly swept across and cut off his head.

Zhang Xiu then hung Han Meng's head on the saddle, continued to ride his horse with his spear, and charged towards the fleeing Yuan cavalry.

The main general was beheaded, and the remaining fighting will of the Youyan Iron Cavalry collapsed.

They were like frightened lambs, completely losing the pride they had when they swept across Hebei in such a majestic manner, and they just kept running towards the main formation of Yuan's army with their heads in their hands.

Liu Jun's cavalry was like tigers and wolves, chasing and killing all the way.

Yuan Tan, who was two hundred steps away, saw this scene clearly.

He watched helplessly as his five thousand cavalrymen were shot down for no apparent reason.

He even watched helplessly as the fleeing Youyan cavalry were slaughtered by Liu Bei's cavalry until a river of blood flowed and the scene was filled with the cries of ghosts and wolves.

"How could this be?"

"My five thousand cavalry were defeated in the blink of an eye?"

"How is this possible? How can this be..."

Yuan Tan's mouth opened wide, his eyes bulged, and his face was twisted with endless shock and confusion, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Could it be that the big-eared thief has deployed thousands of crossbowmen not only in the front, but also on the flanks?"

"But this shouldn't be the case. Han Meng has been on the battlefield for a long time. Since he avoided the enemy's crossbowmen head-on, if he found that the enemy had crossbowmen deployed on the flank, he should have turned around in time. He shouldn't have rushed forward blindly, right?"

Xin Ping's expression of shock was mixed with deep confusion.

The master and his minister, as well as the entire Yuan army, were all shocked and stunned.

At this moment, a horn sounded, and the main formation of Liu's 70,000 troops began to move and pushed forward.

The defeat of the Youyan cavalry had dealt a heavy blow to the morale of Yuan's army.

Now that Liu Jun was attacking in a massive way, Yuan Jun's army was terrified and they retreated unconsciously.

Seeing this, Xin Ping could only advise with a bitter face:
"My Lord, our army is in disarray. We have no chance of winning this battle. We must withdraw immediately!"

Yuan Tan was in shock and confusion, as if his self-esteem was stabbed hard, and he immediately became angry and ashamed.

"It's fine if I lose to the big-eared thief in Xuyi, but if I lose to the big-eared thief again today, where will my reputation as Yuan Tan be?"

"How will they take advantage of the opportunity to attack and slander me?"

"What will my father think of me?"

Yuan Tan gritted his teeth and asked Xin Ping angrily with a sullen face.

Xin Ping was so frustrated that he had no idea how to respond.

Yuan Tan led his troops south to go to war with Liu Bei, wasn't it just to capture Huainan, re-establish his prestige, and ensure the Yuan family's succession to the throne?

If we lose this battle again, it will be a complete loss of face, and all the merits and prestige we had gained from taking over Xuzhou will be lost.

If you do the math here, it’s a huge loss!
"I still have 70,000 infantrymen. I haven't lost this battle yet!"

Yuan Tan drew his sword, pointed it at Liu Jun, and shouted:
"All troops, listen up! Push forward and fight the enemy to the death!"

Xin Ping was shocked. He never expected that Yuan Tan, in order to save face, would force a battle despite the heavy losses of his cavalry and the decline of morale and military spirit.

But seeing that Yuan Tan was so angry that he had lost his mind, he did not dare to persuade him anymore.

War drums sounded.

Jiang Qi and other generals of the Yuan family could only urge the 70,000 Yuan troops, whose morale was unstable, to charge towards Liu's army.

A moment later, the two armies collided.

On the plain stretching for hundreds of steps, the two armies engaged in an unprecedented battle on the banks of the Si River.

The sky and the earth changed color, and the fertile fields were stained with blood.

The sounds of killing, screaming, roaring...swallowed up all the sounds in the world and made everyone's scalp numb.

Xin Ping’s worries soon came true.

The two armies are of equal size, and the key to victory or defeat is morale.

The morale of Yuan's army was crushed, but the morale of Liu's army was greatly boosted. As one rose and the other fell, the gap in combat power between the two sides was bound to widen.

In a short time, Yuan's army was killed and forced to retreat step by step, and the front line was forced to move back continuously.

Even on the east and west wings, some soldiers began to lose their morale and left the front line on their own, fleeing to the north.

The most fatal blow came from Liu Jun's cavalry.

After defeating the Youyan cavalry, more than a thousand cavalry led by the two Zhangs took advantage of the head-on confrontation between the two armies and attacked the enemy from the flank.

A thousand cavalrymen charged forward, unstoppable, and in an instant they had shattered Yuan's army's front line.

The collapse begins.

Under the pincer attack from both cavalry and infantry, the morale of Yuan's 70,000 troops finally collapsed and they began to flee.

The army was defeated like a mountain!
Yuan’s army was defeated across the board!

"No escape allowed! Anyone who dares to escape without permission will be killed immediately!"

Yuan Tan was still waving his sword and shouting almost hysterically.

Since he took command of the army, he has pacified Qingzhou and captured Xuzhou, and has never been defeated.

However, he would not have expected that today, when he was commanding an army of 70,000, he would be defeated by Liu Bei at the peak of his glory.

Still a miserable defeat!
Naturally, the eldest son of the Yuan family could not accept such a cruel fact.

Xin Ping could only look anxious and advised:
"Young Master, let's retreat. The situation is over. We have been defeated!"

"If we don't leave now, we will be wiped out here, and I'm afraid the eldest master will also--"

The word "也" just came out of his mouth.

A volley of arrows came whistling towards us from the front.

Yuan Tan's face changed, and he quickly waved his sword to block the incoming arrow.

Xin Ping was not so lucky, as he was hit in the face by an arrow.

The splattering blood splashed all over Yuan Tan's face. His face was frozen in fear and despair, and he fell off his horse with a bang.

The dirty blood splashed all over his face instantly made Yuan Tan feel cold to the bone, making him shiver all over.

"Retreat, the whole army retreat~~"

Yuan Tan's spirit collapsed. He turned his horse around and fled while shouting in a trembling voice.

(End of this chapter)