Chapter 3412 Dear
The Cao army's Tongguan camp and the Zhongtiaoshan camp were built along a river, connected by a floating bridge in the middle. Originally, there was no special defense system between the two camps, because many people in the Cao army thought that the two camps were safe in the middle. Until Sima Yi stabbed a chrysanthemum, they began to set up some sentry towers on both sides of the floating bridge, and set up strong bows and crossbows and catapults to snipe the enemy. In this way, a rosy formation with the floating bridge as the bow back was formed.
Of course, the distance between the two camps is different.
The Zhongtiaoshan Camp is more about defending the Cavalry Army in Hedong in the north, and the important task of fighting against the Cavalry Army in Tongguan is naturally on the Tongguan Camp.
Even if the Zhongtiaoshan Camp discovered that the cavalry army from Tongguan sent troops to counterattack, they would immediately send troops to support it, and it would take at least half a day to walk the mountain road of about fifteen to twenty miles.
And the half-day time difference sometimes determines everything.
After all, Cao's army had no cavalry and had no choice but to have short legs.
Compared with the defense of the camp, the defense system of the floating bridge is still relatively weak. Whether it is the defending troops or the defensive equipment, it is not very strong. This is also an important reason why Pang Tong chose to further breakthroughs and strike on the water surface.
But this weakness is relatively speaking.
After all, the naval forces of the Cavalry in Chang'an were not very systematic, so neither the Cao army was on the defensive line of the floating bridge or the naval forces of the Guanzhong Cavalry, nor the power to directly defeat or crush the opponent.
Pang Tong's combat purposes are of many importance, which can be described as a phased goal. Eliminating Cao's army in the lower city and regaining control of Tongguan Ferry. This is the goal of the first level, and it has been basically completed now.
The second stage was to destroy the formation and traps of Cao's army on the Tongguan Sakura Road, which was basically completed.
Although Liu Fu finally withdrew some Cao's soldiers, civilians and related vehicles and equipment, most of the facilities on Tongguan Sakura Road were destroyed, and they were buried by Cao's own turtle oil. This has to be said to be a wonderful irony.
It was like Pang Tong not only slapped Cao Zhang and Liu Fu in the face, but also shouted "What's wrong with just hitting you?"...
Anyway, Shandong has such a tradition, which is not a big deal.
The goal of the third stage is to destroy the pontoon bridge.
The floating bridge is an important channel connecting the Zhongtiaoshan Camp and the Tongguan Camp. If the connection between these two camps can be cut off, the Cao army will be cut and separated in a short period of time.
Moreover, destroying the floating bridge that destroyed the Cao army could also allow the Chang'an Cavalry ships to some extent threaten the entire supply line of the Cao army...
Although the big river is not as easy to walk as the Yangtze River, there is also such a possibility, right?
This will not only bring convenience to the Cavalry Army in action, but also increase the burden on the Cao army, and it will be more likely to break the stalemate at a certain node and affect the direction of the battle situation.
However, if you want to attack the floating bridge, you must first break down the obstacles set by Cao's army underwater.
Although the morale of the Cao army was not high, the civilians carried were hard-working and meticulous. The underwater obstacles set up in the river were actually created by the flesh and blood and lives of the civilians of Shandong.
When the ice and snow melted, the river collapsed once and then it was restored and built again. I don’t know how many civilians died silently in the river.
Perhaps the turbid water of the river is because it is soaked in these innocent souls.
Cao's army suffered consecutive blows, which seriously damaged the morale and confidence of Cao's soldiers.
Seeing this, Wu Qiu Jian was very hesitant.
If you try to send a few ships of Cao's army to attack the Cavalry Navy, you will naturally be taken care of by the long-range strikes of the Cavalry Navy. Whether you can rush to the nearest is a big problem, but if you don't rush up, the Cao's army with insufficient range will be beaten in vain...
After hesitation, Wuqiu Jian still did not order the ship to attack. Although they could be said to be waiting for work now, Wuqiu Jian did not dare to order the only watercraft ships of Cao's army to fight forward. He only dared to let these ships defend at obstacles in front of the pontoon bridge.
But Wuqiu Jian didn't know that his mentality fell into Pang Tong's calculations.
There are no hand-to-hand combat troops such as swords, shields, spearmen, etc. on Ma Jun's tower ship!
Although paddlers can also carry swords to fight, they will lose some of their movement ability and their combat power is not as good as special sword and shield hands. So in fact, the tower ship Ma Jun is still afraid of close combat...
But Wu Qiu Jian didn't dare to get on, so the long-range firepower of the building ship carried by Ma Jun was able to be fully utilized.
Ma Jun installed a small catapult and crossbow on the boat, but did not install artillery.
Because the current tower ship is too small, the cannon must be equipped with symmetrical ones, otherwise the possibility of the ship capsized will increase greatly if the unilateral side is too heavy. However, the long-range of these cold weapons is enough to form a three-layer long-range strike mode that is just far, middle and near.
Ma Jun did not know much about naval forces' combat, and long-range strikes did not require too complicated operations. The ships slowly advanced, and once Cao's army entered the strike range, they would become the target of attack.
Wuqiu Jian ordered the archers to move forward and seize the position on both sides of the straits, and to wait for the tower ships of the Cavalry to break through the obstacles in the river before launching a comprehensive counterattack.
Because to break the obstacles in the river, some people must be freed up. Moreover, at that time, the ship is the most unstable because it is necessary to borrow the power of the ship to drag or destroy it. If the crossbows arranged on both sides of the shore and on the pontoon bridge are included, any enemy that launches an attack will be blocked from three sides, so it will naturally be the most stable to counterattack at that moment!
But what Wu Qiu Jian didn't expect was that Ma Jun's ship was not in a hurry to destroy the floating bridge, but instead launched an attack on the Cao army soldiers who were within range.
The unlucky Cao army archers had just entered Ma Jun's attack range and were attacked by a long range.
The catapult cart loaded on the deck of the building ship began to show its power. The gunners raised the wooden hammers high and hit the hook of the thunder chariot with force. The heavy counterweight box sank down suddenly, and the long wooden tips drew an arc, threw it into the sky, throwing the stone as big as a human head out.
This kind of catapult is smaller than the catapult on land, but for Cao's archers, no matter how big or small, you can't stand it.
The stone bullets flew in the air, making a harsh roar, flying towards the archers unit that Cao's army gathered.
"boom!"
The stone bullet fell on the ground, and the sputtered stones hit several unlucky Cao's soldiers.
"Stay! Stay!" Cao's army led the troops in the queue and shouted, "The stone cannon is not sure! They can't hit us! Don't panic! Don't panic!"
If it were normal experience, this was true, but the problem was that the person on the boat now was not ordinary naval generals, but one of the few big craftsmen who were not Huang's family in Chang'an!
When it comes to commanding soldiers to fight on the water, Ma Jun is half a bucket of water in this regard, but when it comes to skills in equipment, Ma Jun is too much beyond ordinary generals.
Generally, when generals see that they miss the throwing car, they will mostly just jump and scold, "They are all Italian cannons..."
But Ma Jun narrowed his eyes and calculated the water flow speed and wind speed, and immediately ordered the parameter correction!
The team leader in the archer array was still shouting and stabilizing, and then he saw the second stone bullet landing directly in the crowd queue!
The stone bullets jumped, outlining a bloody path!
"stable……"
The team leader was still waiting to shout again, but he heard soldiers beside him shouting and be careful. When he looked up, he saw another stone bullet whistling down in the air, as if he was coming towards his position!
"No!"
The team leader was so scared that he was scattered and immediately stared at the direction of the stone bullet attacking, trying to avoid it. However, because the team leader's eyes were looking at the sky, he didn't know what he had tripped under his feet, and he fell out with a grunt!
The stone bullet roared and fell, and happened to hit the unlucky team leader. The bones were gone, and the remaining limbs and flesh flew everywhere!
Some people knew that the team's rate was purely unlucky, but the Cao army soldiers in the distance didn't know that it was a stone bullet, as if they predicted how the team's rate would avoid it and then smashed it into that place!
The Cao army's archer queue suddenly became an uproar, and then the entire queue became scattered. Everyone's attention was focused on the stone bullets flying in the sky, and they had no intention of paying attention to the iron chain-clearing battleships that drove out behind the Ma Jun Tower ship had quietly approached Cao's raiding iron chains.
Under the technical conditions of the Han Dynasty, this kind of iron chain that blocks rivers cannot be as thick as that of later generations. Even if it is really made, because of the weight of the iron chain itself, it is impossible for the opponent to break it directly.
The Guanzhong battleship approached the iron chain, pressed it on the iron chain with a support pole, and swung the hull horizontally. The soldiers hooked up the iron chain with a fishing rod and placed it in the checkpoint on the ship board.
Iron chains in the Han Dynasty were usually cast and there was no hydraulic press, but this kind of cast iron would be relatively brittle...
Soon, the soldiers aimed the jaws of the caliper at the chain, while the other soldiers held the hammer and smashed the chain open in just a few strokes.
The Cao army soldiers on the floating bridge only found that the iron chain had been broken at this time, so they screamed.
Wu Qiujian was also startled and shouted, giving the death order to let the Cao army soldiers go to the floating bridge. It is necessary to stop the Chang'an navy of the cavalry from destroying the second underwater interception obstacle, otherwise the floating bridge will directly face the attack of the cavalry!
But Wu Qiu Jian miscalculated again...
When the iron chain of Cao's army blocked the river was broken, Ma Jun did not send a ship to drag or destroy the underwater barriers as Wu Qiu Jian had imagined, but released the fire ship directly from the rear of the building!
The fire ship is not one, but two in front and behind.
The front ship is used as an attack, and the rear ship is used to escape.
The oars in the fireboat used force together, and controlled the ship to rush down the river!
In order to reduce the risk of being hit, fire boats are generally narrow. In addition to ignition-driven objects placed in the cabin, there is only space for paddlers to row.
The oarsman was naked, lying and half sitting on both sides of the cabin, shaking the long oars soared. Although it was already late autumn, he was still sweating all over and the heat was rising.
On the top of the paddler's head is the latest "armor" installed.
This is a rare configuration for a fireboat.
Perhaps because the fire ship itself is used for burning and destroying, most fire ships are relatively simple, and even the paddlers who operate the fire ship seem to be used as consumables by default. They don’t care too much about the quality of the fire ship and the protection devices of the paddlers themselves for the paddlers.
But it is different in Guanzhong, Chang'an.
Once the fire ship was released, it was like a card display on the card table, and everyone knew what to deal with.
Wu Qiu Jian blushed and his voice was hoarse. He had to regain some face in this battle. Otherwise, the previous close leader led the troops to fight him and proved that he was a coward. Now that he proved that his ability to command in the rear was also low, then his best end in his life, even if he could survive after the war, he might only be a clerk in a certain county. When he was old and weak, he could only recall the battles he had participated in, the opportunities he had made, the wrong choices he had made, and then indulged in the paralyzing nerves and painful alcohol or Wushi Powder to end his life.
Thinking of this ending, Wu Qiu Jian was chilling!
He hurriedly took a few steps forward, almost rushed to the bank of the river, and shouted orders to the Cao army soldiers and academy.
According to Wu Qiu Jian's order, the soldiers of Cao's army rushed to the floating bridge, enduring the damage of being hit by the crossbow stone projectiles of the cavalry's tower ship, and shot rockets at the fire ships that were going downstream!
The archers on the Ma Junlou boat also knew that this was the critical moment, so even if they shot all the way, their physical strength was somewhat reduced and their arms were numb, but they still gritted their teeth and shot desperately!
There were three hundred crossbowmen in a tower ship, three or four of them lined up, and the arrows shot out instantly were in a thousand!
Although the hit rate of arrows thrown by the tower ship is relatively low due to the wind on the river, the number cannot be large!
The Cao army archers who rushed to the floating bridge and tried to intercept the fireboat were fighting back against the rain of arrows. Almost every moment and every second, the Cao army archers screamed and were caught in the arrow, and then fell into the river, floating down the river.
The rockets that Cao's army counterattack fell one after another...
Wu Qiu Jian stared at the trajectory of the rockets falling from the air...
According to general circumstances, these fire boats carry fire-induced objects and flammable objects, so once they are ignited, they will immediately lose control and will most likely be blocked by underwater stakes in the river!
And those hidden stakes under the river are not afraid of burning!
There are not countless fire ships and cavalry troops. As long as this group is burned, it will be even if it blocks the cavalry's attack on the floating bridge!
That's the moment!
The rocket fell.
Cao's archers were not too bad. Many of the rockets shot, and some of them happened to land on the fire ship...
"well……"
Wu Qiu Jian subconsciously cheered, but when the second "good" sound came out, his expression changed a little, and the smile that appeared froze on his face.
"Why... it didn't burn?"
Wu Qiu Jian's eyes widened.
Is it because Cao's soldiers made a mistake in their busy schedule and forgot to ignite the rocket's cloth strip?
No, I clearly saw that it was a fire-ridden person and hit the fire ship...
"The fire ship has armor! They have armor on the fire ship!"
The sharp-eyed Cao army soldiers shouted.
When Wu Qiu Jian heard this, he felt his head buzzing!
Why are you still covering your armor on the fire ship?
Isn’t it too much for a bamboo tent to get over it?!
"Detect the fighting ships! Stop them!" Wu Qiujian felt a little dizzy and his brain hurt a little, as if all the blood in his body was pouring on his head. "Stop! If you can't stop, you will die! You will die!"
Wu Qiu Jian’s decision cannot be wrong, it is just too late.
On the battlefield, one step slower is one step slower!
What's more, Wuqiu Jian is more than just this step?
The fireboat quickly drew an "S" shape on the river surface, bypassing the hidden pile obstacles under the water of Cao Jun, and then crashed straight into the floating bridge!
When entering the final collision stage, the oarsman in the fire ship opened the plate armor on the ship, evacuated to the rear ship, cut off the pulling rope, and lit the fire-induced object on the fire ship...
『Stop! Stop...』
Wu Qiu Jian howled, his face turned red, and he wanted to cry without tears.
The fire boat crashed directly into the floating bridge like a galloping horse!
The battlefield was close to each other, and almost all the soldiers and generals on both sides stopped at this moment, staring at the fireboats that had hit the floating bridge...
Ma Jun clenched his fists tightly, his heart raising it to his throat.
『Burn quickly!』
Although he was sure that the fire ship was qualified, there was a possibility that the fire ship was not.
Although this probability is small, it cannot be denied that there is no.
Therefore, the soldiers and generals on both sides, at this moment, had recited the title of the god countless times...
It seems that I feel the feelings of the soldiers and soldiers on the side of the cavalry, and they are more unified in praying, all of them are Gods from the five directions, and the Shandong side is naturally much more chaotic...
This moment seems extremely long.
The fireboat on the pontoon bridge finally burst out with fireworks, and in the blink of an eye, the flames rose into the air!
『Okay!』 Ma Jun clenched his fists excitedly, raised his roar, 『Wan Sheng!』
"The cavalry won thousands of victories!"
The soldiers of the Cavalry Army were also inexplicably excited and cheered in unison.
On the other hand, Cao's army was very depressed.
Wu Qiu Jian stood there for a while, looking at the raging flames, his expression distorted, and he unconsciously walked forward two steps...
"Langjun, what do you want to do, Langjun?"
The guards on the side asked.
Wu Qiujian did not answer, but looked at the fire and began to run towards the direction where the fire rose. "God was jealous of me! What can I do?"
Wu Qiujian's guard was a little puzzled at the beginning, but when he saw Wu Qiujian running towards the fire without looking back, he was shocked and rushed up to knock Wu Qiujian to the ground.
"Woo... God is jealous of me, jealous of me..."
Wu Qiujian was pressed to the ground by the guards, and was still crying and shouting in pain.
Chapter completed!