Hearing the passionate war drums sounding on the opposite side, Guan Yu was slightly stunned and turned his head to watch.

He was nine feet tall, a lot taller than the other soldiers, and his gaze could easily pass over the heads of others, giving him a wider field of vision. Seeing that the Chinese army did not move, Zhang Fei's right flank did not move, only the Jizhou army opposite him moved, slowly approaching, and couldn't help but sneer.

"Here comes the knife! Malay! ”

Zhou Cang led the horse and walked over with a knife. Guan Yu turned over and got on the horse, and then held the knife in his hand, holding the blade of the Qinglong Yanyue Knife carved with light patterns, feeling the texture of fine iron, looking down at the graceful arc of the blade, Guan Yu felt indescribably comfortable in his heart, and chuckled: "Treasure knife, drink blood today." ”

The soldiers on the side saw Guan Yu on the horse, although his body was majestic, his posture was extremely vigorous, and they cheered in unison.

"The general is mighty!"

"All the soldiers......" Although Guan Yu's voice was not loud, it was like thunder, and it was clearly delivered to everyone's ears. He squinted, his big fan-like hands stroking his long beard, and gently pushed forward, and he snapped. "Work hard!"

"Whoa!" Three thousand soldiers shouted in unison. They have not followed Guan Yu for a long time, but Guan Yu loves them like children, usually trains strictly, teaches them martial arts, teaches them the way to survive on the battlefield, and today he took them to fight and take the lead. They believe that as long as they follow Guan Yu, even if they are the number one general in Hebei, they can be invincible.

"Knife and shield hands, spear hands, adjust your breathing and relax your body! There is no need to be afraid. ”

"Whoa!"

"Crossbowmen, dense formation, pay attention to protect yourself, don't act rashly!"

"Whoa!"

One after another orders were issued, and the soldiers agreed loudly, one after the other, like rolling thunder. Guan Yu's voice was loud, and he was on the front line, even if he didn't need a herald, the sword and shield men at the front could hear his orders. Under the command of Guan Yu, the sword and shield men and spearmen in front thickened the formation, and the shields five or six feet high were overlapped, which was enough to cover the soldiers squatting behind, and the crossbowmen were lined up in three rows, kneeling in front, squatting in the middle, and standing in the back, waiting for the crossbow.

The sound of war drums became tighter and tighter, and the sword and shield men and spearmen of the Jizhou army covered each other and came to the front of the formation, stopped outside the place of an arrow, set up a protective formation, and the crossbowmen rushed over, stood up behind the shield, and then moved forward as a whole.

Entering the firing range, both sides began to shoot tentatively. The arrows staggered in the air, making a "whoosh" sound of breaking the wind. The sword and shield hand did not dare to be careless, and leaned sideways, holding the shield on his shoulder, ready to withstand the attack of the opponent's strong crossbow, keeping the shield stable, and at the same time keeping a distance from the partners on both sides as much as possible, so as not to have too much gap.

For the defender, the position is stable, the shield can stand on the ground, there is no need to worry. For the attacker, this distance is the most difficult, and it is inevitable that there will be mistakes during the march, either there is a gap between the left and right companions, or the feet stumble, or the body unconsciously stands up straight, the protection is not good, and even the companions behind are too nervous, and the weapons in their hands will hurt people. Even if everything is fine, it is an ordeal to listen to the arrows coming through the wind.

Fortunately, these Jizhou troops have been fighting in Montenegro for many years, with rich experience and tacit understanding, although there are some small mistakes and a few injuries, they will not affect the overall situation, and gradually come to the front.

The two sides followed sixty paces and entered the range of ordinary bows and arrows, and the crossbowmen on both sides began to shoot intensively, and the rain of arrows became more and more dense, hoping to take the lead and overwhelm each other from the momentum, and occupy the first opportunity. The crossbowman's long-range strike ability has a great impact on the battle, if you can inflict heavy damage on the opponent's crossbowman at the beginning and obtain suppressive power, you will have a clear advantage in the next hand-to-hand encounter, and your own reinforced foot soldiers can continue to attack without worrying about the opponent's crossbow long-range damage.

Therefore, before the two sides really engage in hand-to-hand combat, it is crucial to shoot each other with bows and crossbows.

There are many influencing factors whether the arrow array is strong or not. One is the number, the more the number of crossbowmen, the more numerical advantage can be formed, and usually, this advantage will increase as the battle progresses, and the psychological impact on both sides is very obvious; The second is quality, which is related to the killing efficiency of the bows and arrows used by both sides and the protection ability of the opponent's armor.

It's like the relationship between spear and shield, where each general wants his bow and crossbow to be lethal and indestructible, and he wants his armor to be strong. Even if it is impossible to achieve, you want the advantage to be on your side. Strong bows and crossbows and fine armor are not easy to obtain, and they cost more money, so in the final analysis, it is still money.

Obviously, the quantitative superiority is in the Jizhou Army, but the qualitative superiority is in the Youzhou Army. All the money Liu Bei borrowed from Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang was used on the blade, and the fine armor purchased provided better protection for the crossbowmen. Although the Jizhou army had an obvious numerical advantage, the losses of the Youzhou army's crossbowmen were obviously smaller than those of the Jizhou army. Many people's armor was pierced by the crossbow, and when they saw blood, they did not lose their combat effectiveness, and they could continue to fight with a simple bandage, or even without bandaging, as long as the arrows were pulled out. Only those crossbowmen who were unfortunate enough to be shot in the face could not fight again. The Jizhou army's arrow array on the opposite side suffered heavy losses, nearly one-third of the crossbowmen were injured, and two percent of the crossbowmen lost their combat effectiveness. The non-commissioned troops of the Jizhou army suffered a major blow, and their momentum was obviously not as high as Guan Yu's subordinates.

Guan Yu had been paying attention to the situation on the other side, and when he saw that the Jizhou army was in chaos and its morale was low, he immediately turned his horse out of battle.

"Defend the song, follow me into battle!"

"Whoa!"

The two hundred paces of the guards responded violently, and rushed out of the position with Guan Yu. Guan Yu's horse is fast, the distance of sixty steps is in a blink of an eye, the Jizhou army saw him attack, although he reacted in time, raised the bow and crossbow in his hand to shoot, but Guan Yu was wearing fine armor, and used his arm to protect the face door, he didn't put these arrows in his eyes at all, kicked the horse and galloped, and rushed into the Jizhou army position in one breath, the Qinglong Yanyue knife waved, and the two crossbowmen were killed, and then swinged, a spearman was cut into two pieces with a spear.

People are like tigers, horses are like dragons, Guan Yu rode alone into the battle, and the Qinglong Yanyue knife slashed left and right, all of them were invincible, and no one could walk in front of his horse. The Jizhou army suffered a loss, and its morale was not high, but it was broken into the battle by Guan Yu, and dozens of people were killed in a blink of an eye, and it was suddenly chaotic.

Zhou Cang and the others seized the opportunity, smashed into the formation, spread out to the two wings, and slashed and killed.

The Jizhou army collapsed quickly, and few people dared to confront Guan Yu head-on. The strong crossbow captain ran a step slower, and was caught up by Guan Yu with a sword. Captain Geng Zhan had a mount and a personal guard to protect him, so he ran faster and fled back to his base before Guan Yu arrived.

The battle was quickly decided, and Guan Yu chased and killed the two back and forth, and ordered a retreat. He immediately crossed the sword, and after breaking it himself, Zhou Cang and the others carried the severed ears and the quiver they picked up, and retreated to the main formation.

Guan Yu's subordinates were elated, erupting in cheers of victory, and their morale was high.

Liu Bei saw it from afar, and he was also relieved, and ordered the drum to be beaten to cheer for Guan Yu.

As soon as the drums sounded, the whole army shouted long live.