**The heavy crossbow has always been a sharp weapon to deter the four yi, and now it has become a key weapon for the rear army of the Shenwu Army to make up for the lack of combat power. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

After returning to the barracks as quickly as possible, the battalions in the army had been fully mobilized, and they were preparing for battle, and the bundles of arrows were unloaded from the carts, and before they had time to disassemble and distribute them, they were stacked within the wall. The heavy crossbowmen are checking that the heavy crossbow in their hands is in good condition and that it can be activated as usual.

The tension before the battle quickly spread throughout the barracks in an instant, Pei Jing looked in the direction where the faint sound of horses' hooves came, and he could already see that the long strings of firelight gradually increased, it was the cavalry of the rebels who turned the mountain pass, and more and more rebels appeared in the field of vision with the light of the torches.

The crossbowman beside Pei Jing had dry lips nervously, and his hands tightly clutched the bow arm of the heavy crossbow, as if a life-and-death battle was already close at hand. However, Pei Jing's state of mind was relatively calm, judging from the sound, the number of cavalry of the rebels was large, at least more than 10,000 people, and as for the foot soldiers following behind, the number would definitely not be less than the former. In other words, Pei Jing and the others suddenly encountered the main elite of the rebels entrenched in Jiangzhou.

The rear army of the Shenwu Army, which is dominated by foot soldiers, is obviously not suitable for frontal combat with cavalry with a scale of more than 10,000 people, but at this time, it is suddenly caught, and it is too late to retreat.

"General Pei, what we encountered must be the main elite of the rebel army......"

Chen Qianli was one step slower than Pei Jing, and he quickly made the same judgment as Pei Jing. In practical terms, his actual combat experience surpassed Pei Jing, after all, he had fought hard in Xin'an and the rebel infantry cavalry. Although Pei Jing also has experience in several major battles, it is the first time that he has fought against such a large cavalry.

"The soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, and it is too late to retreat at this time, not to mention that it is not known who will kill the deer......"

Pei Jing's remarks were not all out of motivation for the morale of the army, but a judgment made after synthesizing the battlefield situation. The topography of Hedong Road is very different from that on both sides of the Weishui River in Guanzhong, with the former being mountainous and the latter being an endless plain.

Therefore, the latter is more suitable for cavalry field combat, while the mountainous terrain of the former greatly reduces the combat effectiveness of cavalry.

At present, the northern foot of Jishan where the rear army of the Shenwu Army is located is a winding and complex mountainous terrain, out of the Jishan Pass to the direction of Jiangxian County, there is a large flat bottom of the alluvial water, but the cavalry of the rebels took the initiative to give up guarding the plant and waiting for the rabbit, but chose to take the initiative to attack, intending to cross the Jishan, its purpose is self-evident.

Despite the rugged terrain, the rebels marched at a very fast pace, far faster than Pei Jing had expected. The light of the torches that appeared in the darkness was too much to count.

The marching formation of the long snake is also gradually changing, and this change somewhat calms Pei Jing down, which can prove that the rebels did not know that the rear army of the Shenwu Army was stationed here, and this encounter was sudden for both sides.

"Order, the heavy crossbow battalion is on full alert, and the rebels will attack the barracks and immediately fire back!"

Pei Jing was not sure if the other party would attack the barracks at the first time, so he decided to brake quietly.

In fact, he hoped that the rebels would take the initiative to attack the camp, and the camp of the rear army of the Shenwu Army was set up on the mountainside, and if the other party wanted to attack the barracks, they would have to go up the slope, and the Shenwu Army would have a sufficient advantage if they were condescending.

"Kill, kill......"

Soon, the shouts of Hu and Han mixed in rang out one after another at the northern foot of Jishan Mountain, and several torches marched into the Shenwu army camp on the mountainside.

Pei Jing secretly told himself that he must deal with it calmly, this is his last chance to be ashamed, if he messes up again this time, I believe that he will not have the opportunity to lead the army alone.

"General Pei, the rebels are full of fighting spirit and seem to be going to attack ......"

Although Chen Qianli is named Hou Jun Changshi, he does not have the slightest command power, and after experiencing the dialogue just now, Pei Jing completely put away his thoughts about resolving the estrangement between the two sides, and simply stopped giving him the slightest chance.

"Thanks to the 100,000 arrows sent by Chen Changshi, otherwise, I really don't know the good fortune and the bad luck. ”

**The range of heavy crossbows is generally around 400 paces, and the rebels are close to 500 paces away from the Shenwu army's camp at this time. Pei Jing, who had always hinted at his composure, was still inevitably nervous, and he was too concerned about the victory or defeat of the first battle of leading the troops again, so he made a bold decision, when the rebels entered the range of the heavy crossbow range of four hundred steps, he still did not give the order to open the crossbow fire, but quietly waited for them to attack the mountainside at a very fast speed.

Pei Jing did this to paralyze the rebel infantry attacking the mountainside, making them mistakenly think that the number of heavy crossbows in their own army was scarce, so they unscrupulously huddled together to launch an attack.

This was Pei Jing's plan, when the rebel advance arrived less than 200 steps away from the camp, the heavy crossbow fire could cover a wide range between 200 and 400 steps from the camp, plus the rebels charged in a dense formation, so the damage caused was far greater than usual.

"The rebels underestimate the enemy, they will pay the price!"

Pei Jing actually turned around and said a word of contempt for the rebels to Chen Qianli, which made Chen Qianli stunned. Pei Jing's confidence seemed to be more than he imagined.

The voice fell, and Pei Jing suddenly ordered again.

"Heavy crossbow shooting!"

The sound of the bowstring urging immediately buzzed, like a rain of arrows shot out, followed by one scream after another.

Pei Jing stared intently at the dark battlefield in front of him, the first round of salvo of crossbow arrows disrupted the rebels' attack formation, the originally regular, dense torches extinguished a large area, and those that were not extinguished became more and more chaotic.

Seeing this situation, Pei Jing breathed a sigh of relief, if he followed this momentum, he was sure that he could completely repel the rebels' attack within seven volleys.

However, the second round of salvo was not launched immediately, Pei Jing waited, he had to wait for the rebels to advance another fifty paces, and more rebels were covered by the range of the heavy crossbow.

"Volley!"

Another round of arrows rained out, and judging from the light points of the torches, the effect of this round of salvo was not as obvious as that of the first round. But Pei Jing was not discouraged, this had long been expected, no matter how fast and dense the salvo of crossbow arrows was, as long as the rebels were prepared, the effect would always be reduced.

The third salvo no longer waited, but immediately followed the previous one, and another large torch was extinguished. Pei Jing looked intently at the battlefield on the hillside, and couldn't help but pout, how the rebels of Shi Siming's department were rumored to be brave and good at fighting, it was better to see than to hear, and it was not worthy of the name.

Only three volleys killed at least more than a thousand rebel soldiers and horses. According to this calculation, it is impossible to dream if you want to rush under the walled wall and not leave 5,000 corpses on the hillside.

His eyes widened and he tried to see the rebels' tragic situation clearly, but the night provided cover for the Shenwu army, and it could also provide cover for the rebels.

As soon as my mind turned, another thought came to me. At the same time, Chen Qianli's voice also sounded in Pei Jing's ears.

"Beware of rebel tricks!"

The thoughts of the two coincided again, and it was under the cover of night that Pei Jing only judged the opponent's combat state by the light of the rebels' torches, which was obviously not cautious enough. What if the rebels used torches to change their points of light, just as a means to confuse the Shenwu Army? That is to say, what Pei Jing saw was very likely to be what the other party wanted them to see.

As soon as he thought of this, Pei Jing's gaze quickly swept to the wider darkness on the hillside, as if under the cover of night, countless rebels were attacking the Shenwu military camp on the mountainside. With another flash of thought, Pei Jingdeng's chest was cold, and he suddenly found that the Shenwu Army's Tanma seemed to have lost its original role.

Believing too much in the horses that were thrown out may become his biggest negligence in this battle. Otherwise, if the horses were scattered ten miles away, why did the rebel cavalry suddenly discover it when they marched under their noses?

An ominous premonition rose suddenly, Pei Jing suddenly realized that he had underestimated the combat effectiveness of the rebels, if the other party really only had this level, why did he kill the ** defeated again and again, and then occupy the eastern capital Luoyang?

"On the left and right flanks, send scouts and horses, and immediately raise fire when you find the traces of the rebels!"

It's just that Pei Jing's order was a little late, just when the horse was about to leave the camp, the wall on the right side of the camp was suddenly hooked by an iron hook, the end of the iron hook was a thumb-thick hemp rope, with a few long neighing of war horses, a large piece of the wall collapsed, and the arm-thick wooden stake was buried deep in the soil, still uprooted.

At the moment when the Shenwu army did not react, the shouts and killings mixed with various languages of Hu and Han suddenly rose, and a river of people and horses poured in one after another.

Since the heavy crossbowmen were concentrated on the front of the camp to shoot the rebels, it was difficult to have any deterrent effect on the rebels who broke into the camp by surprise.

Pei Jing knew that something was wrong, and knew that he had fallen into the paralysis of the rebels, so he didn't have time to think about it, and immediately took his guards to meet him in person, no matter what, the gap must be blocked, otherwise there would be a danger of annihilation in the first battle tonight. Raising a knife to kill the rebels who rushed into the camp, Pei Jing secretly scolded himself in his heart, always thinking that he was in control of the situation with one hand, but he didn't want to be played by the other party between applause, it was really a shame.

"Don't act rashly, the heavy crossbowmen continue to fight the enemy, and those who are preparing for war will be killed with me, and the rebels will be driven out!"

Pei Jing gave the task of commanding the heavy crossbowmen to his general, and he had to make up for his previous mistakes no matter what.

Pei Jing's guards are all veterans of the Shenwu Army, and both their training level and their will to fight far exceed the vast majority of the Shenwu Army's rear army.

The rebel soldiers who kept pouring into the breach of the walled wall were blocked, and they were actually blocked.

But what followed was a tragic and abnormal hand-to-hand combat, the elite of the rebels were all veterans of a hundred battles, and they could also defeat Pei Jing's guards with one enemy and two, and almost in the blink of an eye, a large number of guards had fallen.