Ziad indeed pinned his hopes on these catapults to gain the initiative in the war. Its projection distance indeed exceeded the Fuyuan Crossbow. In fact, the Tang Army also had a three-bow bed crossbow with a longer range, but this expedition did not
I didn't take it out because it was too heavy to carry.
The opponent can have enough time to wait for work. This is the benefit of the convenience of the main venue. As long as there is enough time, they can make more and heavier equipment to wait for work.
With such long-range weapons, the Dashi Army can take the initiative. The Anxi Army's original advantage was the long-range suppression of bows and crossbows. The enemy's improved catapults reversed this advantage. The Anxi Army has a small number and cannot fight head-on.
You have to sacrifice your life to fight with the enemy, so destroy these catapults as soon as possible.
Li Siye turned his head and said to Tian Zhen beside him: "The range suppression of these dozen catapults on us must be lifted, otherwise it will be a psychological deterrent to everyone. We have fewer people than them, so we cannot lose it in vain."
"But this car looks very strong. It is very difficult to destroy it. Besides, the enemy's elite cavalry are guarding the catapult. It is impossible for them to let us get close to them." Tian Zhen raised his whip and pointed into the distance.
.
Duan Xiushi suggested from the side: "One thousand of our army carry fierce fire thunder, which can combine the arrows of the Fuyuan Crossbow with the fierce fire thunder. Although the range of the Fuyuan Crossbow is not as good as that of the catapult, it is not much worse, and it
The accuracy can be controlled. Select dozens of soldiers who are good at shooting far-reaching crossbows in the army, move forward a few dozen steps, blow up the enemy's catapults, and then move back. This must be done
Use a short time to complete it.”
Li Siye nodded firmly: "Then it's up to you to organize the manpower and get rid of the catapults on the opposite side as soon as possible."
Here, the Great Eater's catapult is slowly advancing. When the distance between the two armies is nearly 400 steps, the Great Eater's army suppresses the catapult. After a while of tinkering, you can see a Great Eater general riding a horse in the distance.
The long scimitar in his hand was swung down mercilessly.
The stones thrown by the trebuchet drew a parabola in the air. When they fell, they knocked down the Tang Army soldiers holding shields in the front row to the ground. The whole wooden shield shattered into four pieces. Two people were injured and one died on the spot.
Then whistling rocks flew in, and several more people were hit and killed.
Li Siye immediately ordered the Chinese army to wave the flag and start to draw teams to retreat. That is, the people in the first row quickly retreated to the last row, and then the people in the second row continued to retreat. This way, it was always possible to ensure that the battle formation was facing the front and would not be moved.
Leave the back to others. A square formation of several thousand people must go through many careful drills before it can maintain a stable formation.
The big eater began to push the trebuchet forward. It was much easier for the phalanx to advance than to retreat. Even if it carried heavy baggage, it could still pursue the Tang army without letting go. Moreover, this form of retreat would not be of much significance. Once it retreated to
By the river or separated terrain, the army's formation was scattered and turned into a retreat. This time, there would be no Geluolu pretending to pursue them in front to block them, they would only be chased and dispersed by the big eater.
"Bring out Fuyuan's crossbow!"
Duan Xiushi shouted, and led more than a hundred people to charge forward with dozens of crossbows. They set up a place 250 steps away from the catapult. This place was beyond the reach of the Dashi infantry archery team.
The catapult began to adjust its firing range to attack the crossbowmen. Unfortunately, this heavy weapon was only suitable for fighting dense military formations, and its hurling speed was even more random than casual marksmanship.
Li Siye stared in surprise. He didn't expect that Duan Xiushi was going to play in person. He hurriedly shouted: "Duan Xiushi is back! Don't take risks yourself!"
Duan Xiushi turned around and smiled, and said with a simple and honest expression: "No one knows Fuyuan Nu better than me."
Why does it sound so wrong to say this?
Duan Xiushi squatted in front of the Fuyuan crossbow lying flat on the ground. He asked two strong crossbowmen, one on the left and one on the right, to kick the crossbow with their legs and grab the string with both hands. They used the strength of their legs to mobilize their waist strength and even the muscles of the whole body to wind the crossbow. Then someone carried the crossbow on their backs.
The front constantly adjusts the height.
He aimed his eyes at the plane of the crossbow and kept shouting: "Raise it higher, then higher! Move it a little to the left, and then to the right!"
"good!"
"Light up the fire and thunder."
The big rocks thrown by the trebuchet kept falling around them, like tiles that were thrown out of water, Duan Xiushi stared straight ahead and immediately deactivated the crossbow machine.
The crossbow arrow did not fall on the trebuchet, but just fell on the horse formation in front of it. The cavalryman looked down at the arrow that fell on the ground thankfully, and looked at the iron pipe tied to the front end of it. The twist at the head of the pipe was gradually burning and disappearing.
, the cavalrymen had an ominous premonition in their hearts, feeling that this was not a good thing.
"boom!"
The fierce thunder arrows rolled with fire waves and smashed the pot open. The two horses were frightened and screamed, leading their owners to run around. The nearest horse was directly overturned to the ground, and the man on the horse was lying under the horse.
Crying for father and mother and screaming miserably.
Ziad screamed: "What kind of witchcraft and magic is this!"
"Send a team of cavalry to charge up and chop these things over for me!"
As soon as the cavalry of the Dashi Army ran out of formation, Li Siye immediately ordered a group of Hanhai cavalry to dispatch, rush out from between the formations, and confront the Dashi Cavalry to prevent them from destroying the Fuyuan Crossbow.
Duan Xiushi didn't adjust the distance correctly the first time, but finally found the feeling the second time. The arrow that flew out accurately nailed the wooden arm of the trebuchet, causing the gunners to run away in all directions. But in the next second, there was thunder.
A fireball rolled up with a loud explosion, and the arm of the trebuchet broke, burning and crackling.
Small groups of cavalry from both sides were fighting in the field. For the time being, no one could do anything to the other, but the explosion of the trebuchet brought a sense of crisis to Ziad. He rode on the horse and raised his fist loudly and ordered: "Give me the trebuchet."
I took aim and smashed it, and smashed Tang Jun's magic crossbow to me."
Apart from its lethality and long range, things like trebuchets have only shortcomings, such as being bulky and low in accuracy. Now that the Tang army has the magical power of fierce fire and thunder, the competition between the two sides in the first battle seems to be clear.
Duan Xiushi's first shot was successful, causing thunderous cheers. He turned around and shouted to everyone: "Did you see the angle I just made! Just adjust it according to this!"
Dozens of crossbows fired dozens of fierce thunderbolts one after another, destroying most of the catapults that Ziad had worked so hard to build. He was furious, staring into his deep eyes and shouted loudly: "Withdraw the catapults.
The heavily armored cavalry attacks the enemy's front line! The light cavalry closely follows behind and outflanks the two flanks. The phalanx of soldiers follows the cavalry and crush the Tang army!"
Ziad seemed to be really anxious. He sacrificed the treasure at the bottom of the box. You must know that the entire Khorasan region only has a few hundred sets of horse armor. The Arabs do not produce heavy cavalry equipment, they only produce light cavalry.
All horse armors were captured after defeating the Byzantine Empire.
Due to the complex and changeable terrain and vast territory of Qixi, neither the cavalry in the Four Anxi Towns nor the Han Haijun Cavalry in Beiting were equipped with heavy horse armor because the equipment did not meet the characteristics of long-distance raids.
But Li Siye and the others felt no pressure when facing the wall of 400 armored cavalry running in parallel, because they had been quite experienced in fighting this kind of armored cavalry since the beginning of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and now they had powerful weapons like fierce fire and thunder.
, how could he be allowed to take advantage of it.