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The crisp high-five was heard very clearly in the big tent, Sun Shao and Cao Zhang looked at each other and smiled, but only they knew what they were laughing at. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Sun Shao then agreed with Cao Zhang to move the battalion back five miles to ensure that it could protect the rear of the Allied forces while maintaining a certain distance. Cao Chang hid his cavalry behind his flanks in case the Sassanids broke through from both flanks, while at the same time he had to hide his tracks from the Sassanids to see them.

Sun Shao's Destroying Battalion is not entirely infantry, but there are relatively few cavalry, less than two thousand in total, some of these people are Liaodong elite cavalry sent by Su Thick Legs, with Biqiu Jian as the cavalry, and the other part is formed by the Guan family's personal guards of the year, and Zhao Feng is the cavalry, this part of the people had followed him from Xiangcheng back to Xiangyang, which was a great gift from Guan Yu to him. The strength of these guards is not bad, of course, the equipment is needless to say, they are all the best, the training has not been relaxed, the state is maintained very well, after arriving in Aksum, in order to adapt to the march in the desert, they have also specially trained to ride camels to fight, speaking of which are all all-round warriors who get on the horse and horse, but they have no chance to make meritorious contributions behind him over the years, so their reputation is not obvious.

This time, Sun Shao put these two thousand guards and cavalry to use, respectively on both sides, this is a more common formation, whether it is the Han or the Romans, are accustomed to using this formation, even the Sassanids are no strangers to this formation, they often use this formation when fighting, but their cavalry proportion is high, and the foot soldiers are some poorly equipped, weak troops, most of the time are used as cannon fodder, and finally rely on the cavalry to determine the victory, so it is slightly different from the formation of the Han and Romans who are mainly foot soldiers.

Although Cao Zhang hid the cavalry in the rear, he himself often came to Sun Shao's camp, and he was very curious about what weapons Sun Shao would use to kill and injure the Sassanids in large numbers, but what confused him was that in addition to arranging for people to bury a large number of horses in front of the battle, Sun Shao had people dig several pits, and the width and depth of the pits were very standard, enough for the cavalry to jump in and jump up.

If there is an accident, it is not only the slaves or people who dig the pit, but the soldiers of each baggage battalion lead a few slaves, and they make a strange machine, the machine makes a deafening roar, Cao Zhang is no stranger, these steam engines are used a lot in the coal mines of Bingzhou, the technological progress is very obvious over the years, more than ten years, the size is getting smaller and smaller, only half of the original Sun Shao gave him the model, but the surname can be higher and higher, about twice as much, and the stable surname has also made great progress, It's quick and good to dig holes.

"That's all?" Cao Zhang pointed to the roaring machines and asked puzzledly, "Based on these, you want to kill and injure more than 10,000 Sassanids?" ”

"What's the matter with you?" Sun Shao asked rhetorically: "Okay, if I can't kill and wound 15,000 Sassanids, you can stand still." Don't ask about military secrets casually, this is common sense, don't you understand? ”

"And!" Cao Zhang knew that Sun Shao pushed him with a joke, and refused to give up, but instead commanded Sun Shao's army: "We are now an alliance, and we are all part of the Han army, don't stir up disputes." ”

"Hahaha......" Sun Shao smiled: "I said Ziwen, if you win this time, you should be promoted to a general, right?" ”

"You don't change the subject." Cao Zhangcai didn't fall for him, but when he mentioned this topic, he was also a little embarrassed, he had made meritorious contributions, he would definitely have a fief here, should he go back to Luoyang to be a general, or be a comfortable king here? Back to Luoyang, I can only retire, here, hehe, maybe there will be a war at some point.

"Don't care about black cats and white cats, if you catch mice, you're a good cat." Sun Shao said: "What is more effective than rejecting horses, digging pits, and strong crossbows against the enemy with footsteps?" ”

Cao Zhang glanced at Sun Shao with an obviously suspicious gaze, his mouth pouted, the meaning was self-evident, of course he didn't believe Sun Shao's words, but Sun Shao didn't say it, and he didn't want to ask forcibly, so he had to hide his curiosity in his heart. Almost everyone in the allied forces was in awe of Sun Shao, including the Roman Emperor Quintus and the Kushan King Bo Tiao, but their brothers had always been able to look at Sun Shao with equal eyes, and could naturally joke with Sun Shao, including Sun Shao with this disrespectful gaze now.

"I don't care if you're a good cat or a bad cat, anyway, if you don't kill half of the Sasanians, don't expect me to do it." Cao Zhang's waist was crossed, the crimson big air was blowing in the wind, he squinted his eyes, looked at the endless land in the north, and after a while, he suddenly said: "I heard that there is a piece of land there, which is a good pasture and produces high-quality war horses. ”

Sun Shao smiled slightly, pretended not to hear, turned around and left, leaving Cao Zhang there alone, Cao Zhang rolled his eyes in self-deprecation, turned around and followed.

Two days later, Sun Feng sent the news that the siege battle officially began, Ardashir was fully prepared this time, he also used the oil tank filled with stone grease water to attack, and burned the city two or three hundred steps into a sea of fire, the Romans and Kushan people who made meritorious contributions suffered a lot of losses, but their oil tanks were of different sizes, and the effect of the attack was affected somewhat, and the oil tanks prepared by the Han army because the distance was adjusted in advance, so most of them reached the predetermined range and attacked the city, Based on the current attack posture of the two sides, it is estimated that at least within two days, the real siege battle will not be launched, and the main thing will be to feint to consume the opponent's reserves.

After another two days, the counterattack in the city gradually weakened, Sun Feng began to arrange a real siege battle, because of the promise of a heavy reward in advance, almost all of them refused to let go of the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, with the strong firepower of the Yue people as the backing, the Romans, Kushan and Tianzhu people rushed to climb the city, for which they almost clashed with Li Yan and Cao Zhi.

Ardashir was very well prepared, he took advantage of the opportunity that the ballista could not get too close to the city wall and the threat to the city wall was insufficient, and repelled the attacks of the coalition forces many times in a row, and the city wall of Ctesiphon was stained with blood, and the loss on the first day exceeded 3,000 people, and the wounded barracks were overcrowded.

Sun Bong did not say that after a day's attack, Quintus and Bo showed remorse, feeling that the losses had been too great, and asked the Han army to increase the intensity of the attack, and at the same time, they questioned Sun Feng's arrangement of only attacking the north gate, feeling that it was more conducive to Ardashir's defense and disadvantageous to the attacker, and asked for more attack points.

In the face of the doubts of Quintus and Bo Tiao, Sun Feng did not move, he calmly accepted their doubts, asked the opinions of the generals, and when most people expressed their support for this view, he agreed to divide the attack into three ways the next day, or as in the first battle, the Romans and Kushans were each responsible for a section of the city wall, and the Han army was responsible for the attack on the main gate.

After the Romans and Kushans left satisfied, Sun Feng left Cao Zhi and Li Yan behind.

"Would you like to take a break?" Sun Feng asked straight to the point: "Tomorrow, our Vietnamese army will be the main attacker." ”

Cao Zhi and Li Yan glanced at each other, a little undecided, they didn't want to be used as a sword by Sun Feng, but they were also afraid that Ardashir had reached the end of the crossbow, and if Sun Feng entered the city, it would be nothing for them. Cao Zhi hesitated for a moment and asked, "Will Your Highness still attack the city like this tomorrow?" Has anything changed? ”

Lu Xun coughed: "Tomorrow will change the tactics, three people attack at the same time, Ardashir may be in chaos, if he mobilizes the army to other places to strengthen the defense, we may have the opportunity to break the city in one fell swoop, but there may also be another situation, Ardashir does not remobilize the defensive force, then we will face the most enemies, and may let the Romans or Kushans break the city first." ”

Li Yan smiled silently, you didn't say it.

Chen Hai waved his hand, for fear that someone would rob him of merit, and said: "No matter how he Ardashir responds, we still attack the same, you don't have to fight, we will take the lead tomorrow, to be honest, watching you cut people every day, my hands are itchy." ”

Sun Feng smiled: "You have also seen that the generals of my Yue Kingdom are in a hurry." ”

Cao Zhi glanced at Chen Hai, shook his head and said: "What are you talking about, at this time, what else is there to divide the Yue Kingdom and Wei State, since we are here, we are all Han troops, don't divide each other, otherwise, the strength will be scattered." In my opinion, in order for everyone to maintain their combat effectiveness, we will take turns to fight, and this time no one will suffer. Brother Zhengfang, what do you think? ”

Li Yan comprehended, and hurriedly nodded: "It's still Brother Zijian's suggestion, let's take turns to fight, so that we can maintain enough physical strength and maintain enough pressure on the city head." ”

Sun Feng and Lu Xun exchanged a look, nodded in agreement, and agreed to divide the army into three groups, with Chen Hai, Li Yan, and Cao Zhi taking turns to attack.

This method is indeed a good way, although the next day still failed to break the city, but the rotation of attacks allowed the soldiers to maintain their physical fitness very well, the continuous attacks made the city very nervous, often a group of enemies were just repulsed, before they had time to catch their breath, and a group of enemies rushed up along the siege ladder, not giving them a chance to rest at all.

The city was in a hurry, and the horns for help came and went, which further aggravated the tense atmosphere. Hearing these horns, the Romans and Kushans did not dare to slack off, for fear that the Han people would break the city first, snatch the first credit, and also exert all their strength, taking advantage of the lack of troops on both sides of the city gate of Ardashir to attack fiercely, rushed to the head of the city several times in succession, and made the Sassanids embarrassed, forcing Ardashir to send a reserve undead army, so that he could not lose the city gate.

Ardashir felt the pressure and had to give Awad an order to attack the coalition's rear camp and relieve the pressure on the city.

As soon as Awad received the order, he immediately moved the army forward and forced it in front of Sun Shao's formation.

A heavily guarded large array appeared in front of him, crisscrossing the rejection of horses to form a defensive formation with a depth of 500 steps, and the Han soldiers with weapons in their hands stood in the midst of the rejection of the horses, waiting for the formation, the formation stretched to both sides, and on the wide river, there were also the warships of the Yue Kingdom cruising. From a distance, two small groups of cavalry could be seen maintaining a posture of guard on the rear flanks on both sides of the large formation.

Awad breathed a sigh of relief, it could be seen from this large formation that the opponent was only on the defensive, and did not have enough cavalry to attack him, so that he could at least grasp the initiative to attack, and he could take the initiative to withdraw from his position when the situation was not right.

At the same time, Awad also had a little headache, the other party laid down such a formation, greatly limiting the attack power of the cavalry, if you want to pass through this large formation, the only feasible way is to let the cavalry dismount and clear a passage.

Awad had no other choice, and immediately ordered two thousand-man teams to dismount and fight on foot to open the way.

Two teams of 1,000 men dismounted and lined up in front of the formation, two teams of 100 people, one on the left and one on the right, holding shields and sharp axes or knives in their hands, cautiously approaching the rejecting formation, and the other two centurians raised their bows and arrows and followed them closely, ready to cover with bows and arrows.

The soldiers of the Destruction Battalion squatted behind the horses one by one, in the same posture, holding the shield in their left hand and covering them tightly, blocking their shrunken bodies, only revealing a cold gaze from the gap, holding the weapon in their hand in their right hand, placing it on the back of their body, ready to attack at any time.

The drums were low, unhurried, and seemed to beat on people's hearts, and the Sassanids slowly approached the horse-rejecting array, because they were nervous, they did not speak, but only walked cautiously, moving forward step by step, and the silent horse-repulsion array seemed to have an invisible murderous aura, forcing them to breathless, if it were not for the law enforcement array watching behind them, they would probably turn around and run.

At a hundred paces, at eighty paces, the Sassanids began to shoot, and they raised their bows diagonally upwards and shot long arrows into the sky, which galloped through the air for thirty or forty paces, and then turned downwards and pounced on the soldiers of the Destroyer Battalion in the repulsion formation.

As soon as the drum beat changed, two rapid drums in a row suddenly broke the original rhythm, and the soldiers in the horse rejection array neatly raised their shields and lowered their heads. Long arrows whistled down, striking shields, helmets, or nailing to repulsive horses, making a tintiny sound. The soldiers were as still as a rock, and they did not move.

The Sassanids began to run, and one of the centurions found that the Han army had no archers in the array, because until now they had not fired a single arrow. He was overjoyed, gave an order, and began to gallop with his men.

The distance of eighty steps was in a blink of an eye, and the two hundred people were divided into several groups, each group of one or two tithes, and flew to the rejection horse, and the few people in front bypassed the rejection horse, and directly pounced on the soldiers of the Yishi Destruction Front Battalion hidden behind the rejection horse, and the people behind picked up the axe in their hands and slashed down at the rejection horse with all their might.

"Kill!" The ten warriors who were squatting behind the rejection horse suddenly stood up, and the four warriors who were facing the rejection showed the crossbow in their hands, and pulled the crossbow machine with a cruel smile, and there were three warriors on each side to form a small triangular formation.

The Sassanids, who were about to chop the horses with their axes, did not think of this at all, although they raised their shields as fast as they could, but the speed was obviously not enough, and the two Sassanids who rushed to the front were immediately shot by crossbow arrows, and they could not control their steps, and staggered and fell on the stake sharpened by the horses, and they were suddenly angry, and the axes in their hands were thrown out.

The soldiers of the Destroyer Battalion kept holding their shields when they were shooting, and when they saw the axe flying, they did not panic, but only raised their shields slightly to protect their heads and upper bodies, and the axes touched the shields, slid down the shields, and landed on the ground in front of their feet.

The blood of the Sassanids who had been stabbed by the stake was dripping on the axe.

Unhurried, the four crossbowmen aimed at the enemy who was shouting through the rejection of the horse, and the Sassanid hurriedly raised his shield to block the continuous burst of fire, while swinging his weapon and slashing at the rejection with all his might. On both sides of the rejection of the horse, the two triangular formations held their positions steadily, and the three warriors were like one, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, although the place was not large, but it did not affect the cooperation between them at all. Their assassination is very concise, there is absolutely no fancy place, and there is not much change in the action, most of them first use a shield to hold the opponent's weapon, and then swing the weapon in their hand at a speed that is too fast to see, and the knife flashes, either cutting the opponent's neck, or cutting off the opponent's arm, or stabbing into the opponent's body, almost no miss. If there are two enemies in front of him, the commander in front will take a step back, and the two warriors in the back will meet him, using shields and knives to force the opponent to fall out of the empty door, so that the captain can step forward again and kill the enemy accurately.

Although the Sassanids were quite numerous, they could not be used in a narrow space, and only two or three people stepped forward at a time, and they would often squeeze each other, unable to use their hands and feet, far inferior to the soldiers of the Destroyer Battalion. They also wanted to cooperate with each other, but they couldn't be so skilled at all, and they were unconsciously led by the opponent to mess up, and fell into the siege of the other three.

The Sassanids huddled together in the cramped space, and in the blink of an eye several men fell, and the bearded Ten-Captain shouted in a hurry, pushed away his companions and rushed forward, only to be stopped by three Destroyer Battalion soldiers. He was furious, waved the battle axe in his hand and chopped three axes in a row, but the other party used a shield to hold up, he took a step back, wanting to take a breath and cut again, but the soldiers of the Destruction Battalion who had been holding the shield to parry followed him like a shadow, silently stabbed the war knife into his chest, and then quickly slid away, swinging the knife straight to cut his companion behind him.

The ten-captain only felt a chill in his chest, and a stream of blood spurted out, shooting straight into the shield of the Han soldier opposite, and the hot blood splashed a bewitching flower on the shield, and on the side of the blood flower, a sneering face was revealed.

The face and the blood on the shield came close to each other, knocking him into the air, crashing into the body of his companion behind him, who could not avoid it and became a mess, and the three enemies who had been leaning together suddenly scattered, rushed into the chaotic crowd, and waved their weapons to kill mercilessly.

The Captain of the Ten slowly turned around, and suddenly he found that there were no more companions standing in front of him, only the three devil-like enemies, who had returned to the triangular formation just now, and quickly retreated behind the rejection of the horse. The ten's eyes widened, and he slowly fell to the ground.

The last thing he saw was a dead face of his companion.

(To be continued)