Chapter 172: Continuous Critical Attacks
Under the powerful and dense flying spears like hail, the five or six hundred Hun cavalrymen who were rushing in the front, along with their horses, were all impaled on the ground, suffering heavy casualties.

It has to be said that the Hun cavalry was extremely fierce. Faced with such a brutal attack, the cavalry in the rear were not afraid at all and showed no sign of flinching, and continued to charge forward.

General Huang Zhong held another thick, straight and long spear at his side, roared again, and rushed forward with thousands of cavalrymen throwing spears.

These thousand cavalrymen all drew their spears, and both the men and their horses were covered in heavy armor, with only a pair of bright eyes showing.

This was the only heavy armored cavalry by Xiang Chang’s side. Originally, he planned to give them all to his father, Overlord, but was forced by Overlord to leave behind a thousand to protect his safety.

Now that everything has been handed over to Huang Zhong, it is natural to hope that Huang Zhong can break the situation with one move.

Huang Zhong led a thousand heavily armored cavalrymen with spears held high, and rushed into the Xiongnu cavalry formation like rolling stones from a mountain, charging and attacking indiscriminately.

The Xiongnu and Chu cavalry also collided fiercely at this time, fighting each other, killing each other with blood and blood, and it was unbearable. These two cavalry, which were considered the most elite in the world, did not have any foreplay or temptation. As soon as they fought, it was like thunder and meteorites exploding, and the fight became white-hot.

The 60,000 cavalrymen were fighting in a mess, and the 40,000 Hun cavalrymen also began to gallop towards the 30,000 Chu infantry camp.

The Right Wise King Maochan was Maodun’s uncle. While commanding the cavalry to charge forward, he turned his head to the west to see the cavalry fighting fiercely. He laughed in his heart and cursed the cavalry commander, the Left Wise King Jizhou, “Idiot!”

The Chu cavalry was well-known throughout the world. Although the Xiongnu cavalry was more valiant, it was undoubtedly a tough nut to crack. In contrast, the 30,000 Chu infantry facing him were as soft and sweet as cream, and could not withstand a single blow.

——If the 40,000 cavalry still cannot defeat the 30,000 infantry, then I, the Right Wise King, can chop off my own head and play football.

Just as Maodun was thinking so proudly, when he was halfway through the charge, he suddenly heard a dull sound of “whoosh, whoosh, whoosh” in the air, like the sound of thunder rolling.

Mao Chan blinked and looked up in confusion, then he saw that hundreds of strange-looking wooden carts had been erected behind the Chu infantry. Then they suddenly poked towards the sky, and a round boulder the size of a man’s embrace came with a rolling sound of breaking through the air, crossed most of the sky, and flew towards the charging cavalry.

King Baochan Youxian was stunned. He stared with wide eyes, watching the small black dots in the sky grow rapidly in size and then fall heavily down.

“Pfft!”

A huge rock hit a noble general not far from him. The upper body of the extremely burly man and half of his horse’s butt disappeared out of thin air, and then a sticky and thick blood sauce splattered everywhere, covering the heads, faces and bodies of the surrounding cavalry.

“Boom!”

The huge rock continued to move forward and hit the ground again, making a dull thud and sending dust flying everywhere.

His heart also started beating violently and almost jumped out of his throat.

“Gululu——”

The huge rock jumped out of the deep pit like a playful bovine bladder, and continued to roll backwards, knocking down the densely running horses, breaking the legs and hooves of four or five horses in succession. The severely injured horses howled shrilly and fell to the ground, and the cavalrymen on their backs naturally fell off and broke their necks.

Hundreds of stones flew down, causing a terrifying blow. Maochan turned around and found that the densely arranged cavalry formation was like the bald spots on a leper’s head, with patches missing abruptly.

Maochan was very familiar with the war equipment in southern Xinjiang and recognized at a glance that this was a catapult used for siege.

However, the size of the stones thrown by previous catapults and the distance of throwing them could not be compared with the catapult in front of us.

He didn’t know that during the Battle of Guandu during the Three Kingdoms Period, the catapult was improved by Cao Cao, its power was greatly enhanced, and it was renamed the Thunderbolt Chariot! Xiang Chang had the craftsmen’s workshop make a major modification based on the Thunderbolt Chariot, and then transported it to the State of Yan.

Originally he was planning to use it to attack the city, but he didn’t expect to use it on the Hun cavalry first, making them suffer the most.

Mao Chan measured the distance to the Chu infantry, and the “Thunderbolt Chariot” behind him calmed down briefly. He knew that it would take time for the “Thunderbolt Chariot” to reload, and at most it could only launch one more round of attacks. It would be useless as long as it engaged in combat with the Chu infantry. He immediately made up his mind and let the Hun cavalry continue to attack.

Most of the Xiongnu cavalry were uncivilized and stubborn. Once the order to charge was given, they would charge without stopping until they were killed.

The reality was undoubtedly calculated by the fake, and when the second round of boulders came, the Xiongnu cavalry was not far from the Chu infantry. Although they killed countless Xiongnu cavalry and caused great panic, they had already started fighting with the Chu infantry before the third round of boulders came.

The reason why catapults can only be used for sieges and rarely used in battles between two armies is that it takes time to load, and the army is constantly moving. Once two armies engage in battle, the catapult will completely lose its function – it can’t kill its own army as well.

“Kill them ruthlessly! Chop all these southern Xinjiang short-legged sheep into meat paste! Don’t leave any alive!” The man who was hit by the catapult was restless and furious. He waved the scimitar in his hand, his face twisted and fierce, and kept shouting angrily.

Just as Maochan had expected, these dwarf sheep in southern Xinjiang were indeed extremely weak. Faced with the approaching Hun cavalry, they all turned around and ran to the rear of the formation, dragging their weapons with them.

“Hahaha, run? Where can you run? Let’s see whether you run faster on your two feet or on four legs of a war horse?” Mao Chan couldn’t help laughing so hard that snot bubbles came out of his nose.

In this flat wasteland, once the cavalry speeds up and starts charging, no matter how many infantrymen there are, they will only be trampled and abused. For a moment, Maochan even saw the golden light of victory flashing.

The Xiongnu cavalry, whose heads were dazed and countless dead and wounded, became excited at this time, waving their scimitars and spears, shouting “Ahhh” like wolves and foxes, and chasing on horseback, just as Mao Chan said, they would catch up with the fleeing Chu infantry, and then brutally hit them to death with their horses, trample them to death with their horses’ hooves, and hack and stab them to death with their weapons!
However, as expected, the accident happened again.

As soon as they rushed into the Chu infantry position, the horses of the Xiongnu cavalrymen in the front suddenly neighed, their front hooves softened, and their entire bodies lost control, and they plunged headfirst into the ground, breaking all their bones. As for the Xiongnu cavalrymen on their backs, the ferocious and violent expressions on their faces instantly turned into inexplicable fear, and their screams of “Ah Ba” turned into exclamations of “Ah Ba”, and they plunged headfirst into the ground, knocking their bodies into a state of shock.

Some were thrown to death on the spot, which was undoubtedly the luckiest. Those who were lucky enough to survive were trampled into pieces by the cavalry that continued to charge forward, and their deaths were horrible to watch.

The cunning Right Wise King Maochan, who was hiding in the rear of the 30,000 cavalry, saw the cavalry in front of him falling down row after row and dying tragically. The madness and arrogance on his face froze in an instant.

He had rich experience in battle and realized instantly that the ground was covered with things that would prick horses’ hooves, which were scattered by the dwarf sheep!

The speculation about the fake birth was extremely correct.

Xiang Chang brought the “iron caltrops” made by the craftsman’s workshop, and used them to trick the Xiongnu cavalry. Just now, the Chu infantry soldiers quietly scattered them on the ground while retreating. The Xiongnu cavalry’s horses stepped on them at high speed, and their hooves were directly pierced…

He was filled with anger and rage, and smoke was coming out of his seven orifices.

First, thousands were killed or injured by the catapults, and now thousands more were killed by the vicious iron spikes. Before a single Chu infantryman arrived, nearly ten thousand of the elite and brave Hun cavalry had been killed.

Seeing the heavy casualties in front of them, the charging Xiongnu cavalry panicked and tried their best to rein in their horses, not charging forward. Although they were stubborn and did not care about their lives on the battlefield, they were not fools after all.

However, they forcibly stopped their forward charge. The people behind them still had no idea what was happening and were eager to rush forward to kill the pygmy sheep. They continued to rush forward, and many of them were trampled to death by the wayside…

Seeing that the cavalry troops were crowded together and in chaos, Mao Chan cursed loudly and ordered the general beside him to go forward and take command and reorganize the formation.

The Chu infantry on the opposite side waved their flags and weapons, cheered and laughed, and cursed at the Xiongnu cavalry:

“Come here! You Xiongnu dogs, why are you hiding? Keep charging!”

Maochan’s chest was filled with gas, his nostrils were thick and round, and he was breathing out thick white gas like a cow. He ordered the Xianbei King Aqiletu and the Wuhuan King Hadan Zhaorige to lead 10,000 cavalrymen to go around the two sides of the Chu infantry and attack at the same time. The front battlefield was covered with caltrops, and at least thousands of cavalrymen would have to be added to rush forward. Maochan was naturally unwilling to continue to order the charge.

Xianbei King Aqiletu and Wuhuan King Hadan Zhaorige led the cavalry to the left and right wings of the Chu infantry. They were also full of anger and charged. But the Chu infantry in the front row, fully armored and neatly lined up, quickly retreated, revealing the three-bow crossbows that were blocked in the back!
On the huge bed frame, three bows were opened at the same time, and loaded with sharp, long, thick and straight iron arrows.

With an order, they were fired at the same time with an ear-piercing bang.

Iron arrows like iron spears were shot out one after another, “LIN”, “LIN”, “LIN”, and all the war horses and Hun cavalry they encountered were pierced through and torn apart easily.

After piercing through the men and horses, its momentum did not diminish at all, and it continued to penetrate without stopping, dragging its long blood-red tail. It would often penetrate four or five layers of formations in one go before its force was exhausted.

The first four or five rows of Hun cavalry were cut down to the ground in unison, and the gushing blood instantly covered the ground.

During this period, the craftsmen in the workshop worked day and night to produce thousands of “three-bow crossbows”, and this time Xiang Chang brought all of them here, making a great achievement in one fell swoop.

The Xianbei king Aqiletu and the Wuhuan king Hadan Zhaorige were also two brave generals. Even though they were frightened when thousands of cavalry were shot dead in one fell swoop, they knew that these powerful crossbows, like the catapults just now, needed time to reload arrows. Therefore, they commanded the Xiongnu cavalry to charge forward, trying to get to the front in one go and engage in battle with the Chu infantry.

In their view, as long as they can engage in battle, the outcome of the war will be decided!

After all, cavalry attacking infantry is a dimensionality reduction attack and is absolutely foolproof.

Just as the two cavalry armies rushed to the front of the Chu infantry despite heavy casualties, the neatly-lined Chu infantry calmly picked up the Chuchang crossbows and pulled the trigger at the same time, and countless crossbow arrows burst out, shooting over like dense locusts.

The modified Chuchang Crossbow has great power, long range, strong accuracy, and fast shooting speed. It can be said that its power far exceeds that of a bow and arrow.

As a result of this blow, the Xiongnu cavalry fell off their horses one after another like beans popping under the scorching sun.

The Right Wise King in the back had his eyes wide open and his round, round face was dull, as if he had been raped too many times and had become submissive.

The Xianbei King Aqiletu and the Wuhuan King Hadan Zhaorige were almost in despair. At this point, they couldn’t retreat any further, could they? They had to finish the battle they had agreed to, even if it meant tears. They had no choice but to charge forward.

Of course, according to the two kings’ estimation, the distance between the two armies is now very close, and loading the crossbows will undoubtedly take time. There is no time for a second round of shooting, and the hooves of their cavalry will trample heavily on their faces.

However, the world is unpredictable and there are unexpected surprises everywhere.

Once again, a scene that was beyond the two kings’ expectations appeared.

After a round of crossbow shooting, the team of Chu army soldiers put away their crossbows at the same time, raised them to the sky, and retreated backwards, revealing a new row of Chu army soldiers who were also holding crossbows and ready for battle.

As the mechanism was turned, the dull and powerful sound of shooting rang out again, and a new round of harvesting began.

The Xiongnu cavalry, who were rushing in the front with their fangs and claws bared, also faced a new round of fate of being shot.

Some war horses were shot in the chest, face, mouth, and even eyes. They kept jumping wildly in severe pain, not only throwing the cavalrymen on their backs off and trampling them to death, but also killing and breaking countless cavalrymen and war horses around them.

What shocked the Xiongnu cavalry was that after this round of crossbow arrows were fired, this row of Chu infantry immediately put away their crossbows and retreated as they had done before, and then another row of new Chu soldiers holding crossbows appeared.

——This goes on round after round, and there seems to be no end.

The Hun cavalry also became more ferocious at this time. They rushed forward under the dense rain of arrows and suffered heavy casualties.

The Right Wise King waved his fist vigorously and exhaled fiercely, thinking that the situation would be reversed. However, the Chu infantry retreated rapidly while firing, revealing another object – a series of heavy and tall hurricane-like obstacles with sharp thorns extending outwards, giving off the aura of “keep away from strangers and die if you collide with them”!
The only combat formation designed against cavalry – the chevaux de frise!

The Hun cavalrymen who were rushing in the front couldn’t stop and crashed into it, and their bodies were pierced. Their blood and intestines were dripping, and their screams were shrill and heart-wrenching.

The Hun cavalry in the rear were horrified and reined in their horses, only to find that there were five or six layers of barricades in front of them. The Chu infantry hiding behind the barricades continued to pull the trigger and shoot crossbows at them.

These ferocious and violent Xiongnu cavalrymen, like wild beasts, finally lost hope and collapsed! They howled miserably, turned their horses’ heads around, whipped them hard, and fled in panic.

The Xianbei king Aqiletu and the Wuhuan king Hadan Zhaorige, who were leading the charge, had no choice but to flee with them.

The Chu infantry was relentless and chased after the Xiongnu fleeing soldiers. They immediately raised their crossbows and fired another round, shooting down countless of the slower cavalrymen. At this time, the three-bow crossbow was also loaded with arrows and fired another round of violent shots…

After such repeated devastation, only a few thousand of the 20,000 Hun cavalry escaped, and more than half of them died on the road of charging and fleeing.

This bloody and terrifying scene not only stunned the Right Wise King Maochan, but also shocked Maodun who was far away.

Who could have thought that while the cavalry of the two armies were still fighting each other, the Xiongnu cavalry, which seemed to have a sure victory in attacking the Chu infantry, would actually lose first. Of the 40,000 cavalry, only a few thousand were left.

On the front battlefield against Mao Chan, teams of Chu infantrymen in full armor strode forward, holding spears, and ruthlessly stabbed to death one by one the Xiongnu cavalrymen who were half dead after their horses were pierced by caltrops.

Seeing the Hun warriors being killed like chickens and dogs, his eyes turned bloodshot and he was furious. He was about to order the cavalry to dismount, rush into the battlefield waving daggers to fight a life-and-death battle with the Chu infantry, and rescue the injured Hun cavalry who were lucky enough to survive.

But at this moment, from the opposite Chu infantry formation, the sound of “whoosh, whoosh, whoosh” like muffled thunder was heard again.

The “trebuchets” had just finished loading with rocks and were started again, throwing huge round stones into the air and hitting over.

“I’m so stupid, really, how could I forget about these ‘catapults’? How many tricks do these pygmy sheep from southern Xinjiang have?” Looking at the hundreds of huge rocks that were smashing down on his head like a meteor shower, the Right Wise King almost vomited blood, feeling inexplicably angry.

Up to now in the battle, the cavalry under his command had not yet engaged the Chu infantry, and not a single Chu infantryman had been killed.

“You bastards from southern Xinjiang, can’t you fight like men and be fair?” Mao Chan stretched his neck, wielded his machete and hit his heavy chest, with his messy beard and his mouth wide open, and shouted at the opposite Chu army formation.

The next moment, his roar stopped abruptly.

A huge stone bullet covered with bright red blood smashed a large hole in the ground in front of him, then suddenly bounced up from the spot and hit him right in the chest, taking away the upper half of his body…

As the Right Wise King lost half of his body, more than 10,000 cavalrymen behind him were smashed to pieces by stone bullets. The remaining Xiongnu cavalrymen screamed “God is angry”, “Run for your lives”, “God is punishing you”, and scrambled to escape.

The Xiongnu cavalry really couldn’t hold on any longer and were terribly frightened.

No matter how ferocious and brutal they were, they were still human beings after all. Faced with round after round of brutal massacres, they completely collapsed.

(End of this chapter)