Chapter 44: The Bow and Crossbow Show Their Might (I)
"Line up!" Chen Fei said to the soldier next to him.
Soon, three thousand crossbowmen also came out and stood outside Jingyang County in a phalanx. And these phalanxes were divided into three rows, and then they had these modified pulley crossbows in their hands. The rate of fire of these crossbows is literally heaven and earth compared to the crossbows of the past, and the power is not much less. The reason for this is that the pulley crossbow requires a lot less force to pull, so it is perfectly possible to wind it very quickly and continue shooting.
"Every lieutenant looks at the order flag, and then directs his soldiers to shoot, and there is an exchange of queues." Chen Fei shouted.
The lieutenant was the leader of a regiment in the Tang Dynasty, but a regiment in the Tang Dynasty only had 300 people. But don't look at it as only 300 people, but the level is very high, they are all seven-rank officials, and they can be about the same status as a county commander. If it weren't for Wei Chigong's repeated orders to let these lieutenants obey Chen Fei's command, I'm afraid Chen Fei really wouldn't have been able to make them obey the command.
"Ready, once the Turks get close to a hundred zhang, they will shoot alternately!" Chen Fei said.
In the distance, the Turkic Tuli looked at Chen Fei's bow and crossbow formation, and was a little puzzled for a while. Because Tuli was also a little puzzled, because Chen Fei actually sent infantry to meet their cavalry, and the infantry suffered a big loss in front of the cavalry most of the time. But the other party still took the initiative to leave the protection of the city wall, and instead took the initiative to come out to meet the battle, which is simply a little unimaginable. So Tuli was a little puzzled, because he was far away, so he didn't see that the weapons in the soldier's hands were crossbows.
"No matter what you want to do, I'm going to break through Jingyang. If I can't take advantage of this opportunity to build up my prestige, it will be very detrimental to my future fight for the position of Khan! Turry thought.
Tuli has never given up the idea of competing for the position of Khan, so he continues to accumulate strength. And now attacking Datang together is a good time for Tuli to establish his prestige, so it is naturally impossible for him to miss this opportunity. As long as he can establish enough prestige, he will have a chance to win when Tuli and Jieli turn their faces. Now Tuli's strength and prestige are not as good as Jieli's, so he hasn't turned his face yet. If the Central Plains falls into civil strife again, then I am afraid that the pressure on the Turks will be reduced, and then it will be greatly reduced, and then naturally they will start to fight. This, as in many cases, when external pressure is higher than internal pressure, internal conflicts are often abandoned and external enemies are fought together.
"Stubborn and unconscious, you lead 10,000 people to break through the formation of these infantry!" Tuli shouted.
"Turkic warriors, follow me!" The Turkic general shouted in disarray.
Zhi Zhi Sili began to rush towards the direction of Jingyang County with 10,000 cavalry, and the charging cavalry got closer and closer, and finally gradually approached 3,000 crossbowmen.
"Five hundred meters!"
"Four hundred meters!"
"Three hundred meters!"
"Shoot!"
The soldier who was in charge of carrying the flag next to him immediately began to wave the flag, apparently ordering the soldiers to shoot through the flag.
"Whoosh, whoosh......" The soldiers in the first row immediately shot a thousand arrows.
"Click......"
"Woo woo woo ......"
Dozens of Turkic cavalry fell from their horses and fell to the ground, which was the result of a thousand arrows. And the loss of thinking power did not feel any surprise, because when the cavalry charged, the enemy would definitely fire bows and crossbows. Now that the enemy has gone through one round of fires, the enemy will be able to fire at most twice. According to the convention, crossbowmen on the battlefield are generally only able to shoot three arrows against cavalry. After three arrows, the crossbowmen were to retreat, for the cavalry was already very close to them.
"Whoosh Whoosh ......"
Again dozens of Turkic cavalry fell from their horses.
Before he could react, he was immediately stunned by the next wave of arrows. Originally, according to his plan, the second wave of arrows of the Han people should be at least half a minute later, because it takes time for the enemy's bow and crossbow to be wound. But now this wave of arrow rain is less than five seconds away from the previous wave of arrow rain, and it will be shot out in three or four seconds at most, which is really hell. This is already very unexpected, after all, this is not in line with the past routine. In the past, they were all experienced, but now there is suddenly something that does not match their experience, which is too surprising to them.
While he was still surprised, the third wave of arrows immediately struck again, and more than eighty cavalry of the Turks fell again.
"What the fuck is going on? Don't Han Chinese crossbows need to be wound? Obsessiveness suddenly said angrily.
Zhi Sili finally realized the problem, that is, there was a problem with the Han people's crossbowmen, and they actually fired arrows so quickly. This speed is simply against the sky, it is launched once in three or four seconds, and dozens of people are taken away each time. Although a few dozen people are nothing to ten thousand people, they are also very scary. It takes about two minutes for the cavalry to charge in front of the enemy, and this once in three or four seconds, dozens of casualties each time, if you really want to reach the Han crossbowmen, I am afraid you will have to pay the price of two thousand.
"Whoosh Whoosh ......"
"Whoosh Whoosh ......"
"Whoosh Whoosh ......"
A continuous rain of arrows flew in front of the Turkic cavalry, each time bringing dozens of casualties. And the losses of the Turks are constantly increasing, and they are constantly suffering heavy losses. Dozens of people at a time, when the Turks rushed to a place of more than 1,180 meters, the casualties had already exceeded 1,000.
"The Han people's bows and crossbows are too powerful! Walk! "If you don't fight, you won't fight, the Han people's bows and crossbows are too powerful!" "Let's go, we can't rush through at all!" ……
"General Stubbornness, we can't rush through!" The thoughtless lieutenant shouted.
"Damn! Retreat," he scolded.
Although it seems that 10,000 Turks lost just over 1,000, the meaning is different. The biggest difference between the ancient army and the army of later generations is that the will to fight is relatively poor, the ancient army suffered one-twentieth casualties, and the morale began to plummet, and when the casualties reached one-tenth, deserters began to appear. And a deserter can take a piece of people, and a piece of people can immediately cause the collapse of an entire army. Being able to hold out until one-fifth of the casualties is already a super elite in ancient times. This is simply incomparable to those armies of later generations who were able to hold out to the last soldier. And these Turks were not the absolute elite, so they began to retreat after a tenth of their casualties.
I also know that if I insist on continuing to rush, I am afraid that I can only slap myself in the face in the end, because if I continue to rush for a hundred meters, I am afraid that the army will not be able to stand it and begin to retreat. Once your army can't bear the pressure and retreats, it will really be a big shame, so it's better to retreat as soon as possible.