Liu Beijun's flanks were attacked by the cavalry, and the sergeants moved closer to the middle, and suddenly became a mess, Guan Yu and Tai Shici hurriedly restrained their troops, trying to resist the impact of the cavalry with spears.

At this time, Gao Shun's 2,000 traps camp finally began to clash with the enemy, and the 2,000 trap camp may be at an absolute disadvantage in numbers compared with Liu Bei's army, but since ancient times, the battlefield has never been judged by numbers, and there are countless examples of winning more with less. 2,000 men, under the command of Gao Shun, pierced the enemy's central part like sharp knives.

"I am in the trap, I am invincible!"

"I am in the trap, I am invincible!"

Loud slogans resounded throughout the audience, and 2,000 people maintained an "M" formation, like two sharp knives piercing the enemy's heart. Gao Shun is also wearing heavy armor and holding an iron spear, and is located in the center to command the overall situation.

Liu Bei broke away from Gongsun Zan after failing to woo Dong, and some of the troops in his hands were recruited from Pingyuan County, and most of the rest were adapted from the Yellow Turban Thieves. As soon as these people saw Gao Shun's trapped camp and Ma Chao's cavalry team, they were extremely unbalanced in their hearts at first. is also going into battle to kill the enemy, the armor is bright, the weapons are sharp, and they are almost armed to the teeth. What about yourself? He was wearing sackcloth, and if he wanted cowhide armor, he had to find a way to solve it by himself, not to mention weapons, knives, guns, clubs, halberds, forks, bows, and crossbows, all kinds of them, including hunting forks, wooden sticks, shovels and other farm tools.

As soon as the two armies clashed, the two thousand camps were like tigers entering a flock, and no one could stop them. Guan Yu tried his best to keep the formation intact, but the effect was minimal. Although he felt that his strength was superior, he did not dare to attack Gao Shun's trapping camp single-handedly. When the two armies are engaged, they can be different from the generals who fight in front of the battle, pay attention to on-the-spot command, have a stable military spirit, have high morale, and the overall situation of the equipment and quality of the non-commissioned officers, and it is difficult for individual heroism to affect the victory or defeat of a large-scale confrontation.

These ironclad troops are invincible in infantry white-knuckle combat, just like the barbarian rattan armor soldiers, and ordinary bows and arrows are difficult to pose a threat to them. Unless there are heavy crossbows, beds, or heavy weapons such as knife carts, rushing cars, and stone throwers, they can break it, but Ma Chao doesn't have these things, let alone Liu Bei, a poor ghost.

The two armies fought in one place for less than a meal, and Liu Bei's 40,000 troops began to be in chaos under the blows of 10,000 cavalry and 2,000 trapped camps. Guan Yu and Tai Shici couldn't control the situation at all, and the heavily armored infantry army was even more unscrupulous, and the enemy sergeants avoided everywhere they went, and they would be killed if they were one step later, and no one dared to fight with them.

In the midst of the chaos, Guan Yufeng's eyes were full of anger, and he raised the glaive knife and pointed at the trapping camp and said: "Capture the thief and capture the king first, the strength of this infantry army lies in the heavy armor and formation, Ziyi's archery is superb, why not snipe and kill the thief leader?" ”

Tai Shi Ci shook his head and said, "How easy is it to get close to the enemy general within a hundred steps?" If you shoot a bow from a hundred paces away, its strength will not be able to penetrate the enemy's heavy armor at all, and your efforts will be in vain! Besides, does Senior Brother Yun know who the commander is? ”

Guan Yu is not a stupid person, he has been watching it for a long time, and he still hasn't figured out who the commander-in-chief of the team is. First of all, the armor of the two thousand people is exactly the same, and the helmets are all black iron helmets with masks, and the true face of the people is not visible at all. The only difference is the difference in weapons, seventy percent of the two thousand people are sabers and steel shields, which are also interspersed with these hundreds of pikemen, Gao Shun is low-key, his surname is rigorous, and all the weapons are spears, which are inconspicuous in these two thousand people.

In the blink of an eye, the two armies fought for half an hour, and the cavalry of Wen Ping and Chen Zhi had already rushed back and forth for three rounds, beheading countless people, and some of them were constantly falling off their horses. Liu Bei's army also had many archers, and most of the casualties in Wen Ping and Chen Zhi's tribe came from these archers.

Once the cavalry and infantry were in one place, it was difficult to charge again, so the two men formed a circle outside the enemy army, shooting with bows and arrows while acting on the opportune moment.

Gao Shun's trapped camp also fell one after another, but fortunately, the number of casualties was not large, otherwise Ma Chao would have sent reinforcements to attack. At this moment, one hundred and fifty Xiangyang cannons had been assembled, and Ma Chao immediately ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops, and Cao surnamed was waiting to lead the archers to line up in formation to prevent the enemy from rushing over later.

With the rapid sound of gold, Wen Ping and Chen Zhi immediately ordered someone to lead the army back with the wounded, and personally cushioned the back. The same is true of the trapped camp, where the lightly wounded support the heavily wounded, and the army slowly retreats in a safe area in the center of the battle formation.

This battle was extremely tragic, Liu Bei's 40,000 miscellaneous soldiers suffered at least 10,000 casualties, and Ma Chao's cavalry and trapped camp also suffered more than 1,000 casualties. Fortunately, these people were well-armed, and less than 30% of those killed on the spot were wounded.

Liu Beijun had already been disrupted, and Ma Chao's retreat, Guan Yu and Tai Shici immediately had a chance to breathe. When the parts are gathered and regrouped, Ma Chao's two teams have already returned to their own formation.

Ma Chao held the telescope to see it clearly, and as soon as the trapped camp reached a safe place, he immediately ordered the Xiangyang cannon to fire stone projectiles. One hundred and fifty large Xiangyang cannons let go of the ropes at the same time, only to listen to "whoosh!" With the sound of breaking through the sky, the stones and mud pills in the sky flew towards Liu Bei's 30,000 miscellaneous soldiers like locusts.

The power of this Xiangyang cannon is not particularly terrifying, and it can only throw a boulder weighing sixty or seventy kilograms about 200 meters at most. And Ma Chao's first attack was not the city, but also a mess of miscellaneous soldiers, so the "bullets" fired were all small stones and mud pellets. As long as the total weight is between 60 kg and 70 kg, the strike range will not be affected. As for the consequences of the rugby-sized rocks and mud pellets flying out of the body for 200 meters, it is not difficult to imagine what the consequences would be.

The stone thrower was used on the battlefield in the Warring States Period, but it was not popular in the Qin and Han dynasties, and not many people even knew about it, let alone seen it. According to the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", in the battle of Guandu, Cao Ying once built a thunderbolt to fight against Yuan Shao, and the soldiers regarded it as a "strange thing!" ”

When Sergeant Liu Beijun saw this rain of stones, he was only frightened, where did he still listen to the command of Guan Yu and Tai Shici? And he ran to the gate of the city. The 30,000 troops brought by Ma Chao and even Ma Chao himself were also surprised when they saw this, one hundred and fifty Xiangyang cannons fired at least 1,005 stone bullets in one round, and one round could be fired every fifteen seconds, and the horror of the firepower can be imagined!

The last time the Xiangyang cannon was used to attack the Tiger Prison Pass was at the third watch, and the trajectory of the stone bullet flying in the air could not be seen. These stone projectiles fall in a parabolic shape at a 45-degree angle, and if they hit the head, it would be a brain-bursting situation, even with a helmet. It depends on luck if you hit the body, in short, only the unlucky ones were smashed, except for a few people who were scraped on the side, the rest either died on the spot or broke their bones and tendons and fell off the next disability. Even if fierce people such as Lu Bu and Dian Wei are hit, they are not excluded.

Guan Yu was anxious when he saw this, the casualties caused by the first round of stone bullets were not large, but these stone bullets completely broke the morale of the army, and the soldiers fled to Xiaopei City one after another, and their fighting spirit was lost. On Ma Chao's side, there are not only archers waiting in formation, but also cavalry teams and 10,000 infantry troops guarding it, and it is difficult to rush over and destroy the Xiangyang cannon.

Liu Bei, who was on the city wall thousands of meters away, couldn't help but sigh when he saw this scene, his face was gloomy. It is impossible to destroy Ma Chao's Xiangyang cannon now, it is better to let the soldiers into the city, and maybe save the vitality. made up his mind, and immediately ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops!

Guan Yu and Tai Shici heard the sound of Mingjin and immediately began to withdraw their troops, and at this moment, the second round of stone bullets arrived as scheduled. The accuracy of this round was far greater than that of the first round, causing a lot of casualties, and Sergeant Liu Beijun ran desperately like a frightened bird, even at the cost of killing each other.

Fortunately, the firing cycle of the Xiangyang cannon is about 15 seconds, and 15 seconds is enough time for a person to run more than 100 meters. As Liu Bei withdrew his troops, the artillerymen in charge of the operation also reduced the number of stone bullets accordingly, so that the range increased. After a few rounds, the firing cycle of one hundred and fifty Xiangyang guns was also staggered, and although the stone shells were not as dense as salvos, they could be continuous.

The rain of stones in the sky was like maggots attached to the bones, chasing straight out for more than 500 meters, and the range reached the limit before stopping.

Ma Chao didn't want to give Liu Bei a chance to breathe, so he immediately ordered the whole army to advance. First the cavalry opened the way, and the infantry was responsible for clearing the open space of corpses and obstacles. At the rear, the men and horses joined forces, pulling one hundred and fifty behemoths and slowly marching towards Xiaopeicheng, which was thousands of miles away.

After about a meal, in addition to the wounded and logisticians, the main battle troops and Xiangyang artillery lined up on the bank of the moat. Xiaopei City and Xiapi City are also located on both sides of Wenshui, and the moats are all living water, wide and deep. Liu Bei has specially repaired it since he settled in Xiaopei, and even the city wall has been reinforced.

Ma Chao visually measured that from the bank of the moat to the city wall, it was no more than 100 meters at most, and the Xiangyang cannon had to retreat to exert its maximum power. The Xiangyang cannon was immediately ordered to be prepared, and the rest of the infantry and cavalry were looking for large and small stones everywhere to prepare for the siege. Xiaopei's area belongs to the plains, there are not many stones, fortunately, there are many small Wu forts built by landlords outside the city, Ma Chao directly ordered the soldiers to demolish Wu forts, and the stones were used to siege the city.

While the sergeants were preparing, Ma Chao led a pair of people to the drawbridge, lifted the Tianlong Broken City Halberd and pointed at the head of the city and scolded: "Liu Bei is here?" Come forward and answer! ”

In the city, Liu Bei was urgently discussing countermeasures with Guan Yu, Jian Yong and others, and when he heard the report from the sergeant, he immediately led the crowd to climb the city tower, looked at Ma Chao with a vicious face, and shouted: "Ma Chao is a thief, you bully the king, despise the imperial power, control the government, and slaughter the ministers, but I, Liu Bei, have never offended you, why do I lead the troops to force each other!" Now that you have killed my third brother's surname, I swear that I will never die with you! ”

Ma Chao laughed, and said with disdain: "Big-eared thief, you don't talk to Ben General about anything unrealistic!" Will Ben be as easy to bully as Kong Beihai? The three brothers of you are also rare talents, and the general also gave you the opportunity to serve the imperial court, but as a member of the Han family, you have no heart to prosper the Han, and you have no foundation and are trying to win the world! The general will ask you, what virtue do you Liu Bei have? (To be continued.) )