Chapter 9: The Battle of Lushui

As mentioned in the last chapter, the Shu army built pontoon bridges to cross the river step by step, and when the pontoon bridge entered the range of the barbarian army, Meng Xu ordered to shoot arrows at the front pontoon.

Liu Hou had already prepared and ordered the soldiers to stand on the front three sides of the left and right sides of the pontoon with a one-man high tower shield to protect the pontoon platform tightly. And the soldiers and craftsmen working on the pontoon still have a big hat on their heads.

What they put on their heads is not so much a hat as a rattan card. This thing is woven from tree vines and tied to the head with two straw ropes to make a fixation. The vines are tough and elastic, and are difficult for arrows to penetrate.

And this thing is very large, enough to help the person wearing it block most of the arrows thrown from above, but the appearance is a little weird, it is a little heavier on the head, it is easy to touch people or objects, and it is not so convenient to work. But these shortcomings are nothing compared to life-saving.

Meng Shu saw on the shore that Shu Jun had a wooden plank on his head, not affected by the rain of arrows at all, and was still busy doing his own thing, so he was angry.

He took his 5-stone bow and was about to shoot through one or two tower shields, when he suddenly saw the shooting holes on the tower shields being opened, and the muzzles of black holes appeared in the shooting holes. Meng Shu was horrified in his heart, he had seen the power of this kind of thing in the last battle, and knew that it was a powerful hidden weapon of the Shu army, and the hidden weapon shot out was nowhere to be found, and the one who was in it would almost die.

Meng Shu immediately put down his 5-stone bow, retreated, and ordered the shield men to line up in front to protect the archers to continue to suppress the floating platform of the Shu army.

As soon as Meng Shu walked with his front foot, he heard a crackling sound like fried beans behind him, Meng Shu trembled in his heart, and couldn't help but speed up his pace.

Due to the distance, the musket could not penetrate the barbarian's rattan card with a single shot. The rattan of the barbarians are all made of thick and tough rattan that is old enough, and the rattan is soaked in tung oil first, and then woven horizontally and vertically, so that there is no gap between the rattans.

The rattan brand knife chopping, spear stabbing, archery are invulnerable, the protective performance is good, and it has many advantages such as light weight and floating in the water, but the shortcomings are also obvious, we all know this fatal shortcoming, and we will talk about it later.

Even if the brute soldiers have rattan cards to cover them, they still can't cover everyone, especially the archers, who always have to probe out to shoot arrows, so the brute ranks "Ah, ah, ah! The sound was endless, and with these screams, the brute soldiers fell to the ground one by one.

On the other hand, the Shu army, because it was shot from a small shooting hole on the tower shield, and the rest of the body was still under the protection of the shield and the rattan card on the head, so there were few wounded. Unless there is a marksman like Huang Zhong, it is impossible to shoot an arrow into such a small shooting hole at such a long distance, and it is almost the same as the chance of winning the lottery with a two-color ball.

However, there are no absolutes in the world, even if the protection of the Shu army can be said to be impenetrable, there are still some arrows that fly in from some gaps, injuring several soldiers and craftsmen. When Liu Hou saw this, he was furious and ordered all ten hot air balloons to rise into the air and float to the opposite shore to attack the enemy.

The barbarians saw ten behemoths flying, and many of them dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground and worshipped. The angry Meng Shu scolded ¥ Niang again and again, he ordered his own soldiers to be the supervising team, and strictly ordered the barbarians to take up arms again against the Shu army.

After the overseers cut off a few heads and hung them on the flagpole, the barbarians finally overcame their fear and took up arms again to fight the Shu army. However, during this delay, the pontoon bridge of the Shu army approached the shore a lot, and the archers of the barbarians were also defeated.

Meng ordered the overseers to regather the archers and let them hide behind rocks and trees to continue shooting. The shield soldiers turned into spear and shield soldiers, each holding a shield in one hand and a spear in the other, approaching the shore, preparing to stab the Shu army into the river with a spear when the Shu army landed.

But how could Liu Hou let them get their wish, and before the pontoon bridge was about to land on the shore, a group of grenadiers rushed over. After they threw two rounds of thunderbolts, almost none of the spear and shield soldiers were still standing.

In addition, the pilots on the 10 hot air balloons threw thunderbolts downwards without money, and when they landed, thunder rolled on the shore, and then it turned into a sea of fire. Meng Shu had to order the troops to retreat and make room for the Shu army to land.

When the vegetation on the shore burned out, the pontoon bridge of the Shu army was finally built. As soon as Liu Hou waved his hand, the team began to cross the river. The musketeers were the first to land, and as soon as they came ashore, they found favorable terrain and lined up to guard the four sides. However, they were not attacked. Because the hot air balloons in the sky were still throwing thunderbolts in front of them, driving the barbarians away.

By the time the bombs from the hot air balloon were dropped and returned, the Shu army had already crossed the river with 2,000 people. At this time, the barbarian army finally launched a charge.

The ground was shaking, accompanied by a earth-shaking rumbling sound, as if thousands of troops were galloping, the Shu army raised its head in shock, and found that many monsters as big as houses were rushing over themselves.

Many Shu soldiers had never seen this kind of monster with a huge body, two long white fangs, a long nose, and an earth-shaking roar.

It's not that they don't train hard enough, it's not that they haven't seen the scenes of killing people on the battlefield, it's just that these monsters look too terrifying, they haven't had a chance to see them, they haven't even heard of them, and they suddenly see this thing like a giant beast in the wilderness, it's strange not to be scared and stupid. Even Guan Xing, who led the team, was so frightened that he forgot to issue an order.

As soon as Liu Hou landed on the shore, he saw the elephant running in the distance, and secretly screamed in his heart, it turned out that Meng Shu had hidden the killer elephant soldier until now, and it did play a role in killing the Shu army by surprise.

Liu Hou shouted hoarsely: "Quick, hurry up, release the gun, throw the thunderbolt if there is a thunderbolt." Shoot right away, shoot freely, don't aim, shoot free. ”

Screaming as he ran to the front line, he pulled out his giant revolver pinned to his holster and fired six shots at the elephant herd in front of him. After emptying the bullet, he quickly swung the nest to the left, and as soon as he raised his pistol, six cartridge casings fell to the ground with a clang, and then he quickly took out a particle bullet from his belt, stuffed it into the hole of the nest, closed the nest, and continued to shoot.

Led by Liu Hou, some musketeers came to their senses and began to shoot along, especially the veterans who came back from Jingzhou, who were much more psychologically oriented, and after the initial fear and confusion, they gradually calmed down and began the normal process of shooting and loading.

At this time, some people also took off the thunderbolts on their waists one after another and threw them, and Liu Hou actually saw that a few thunderbolts were thrown out without ignition, which shows how nervous the soldiers were.

When the bullet hit the elephant, it couldn't kill the elephant for a while, and sure enough, it was a guy with thick skin and thick flesh, Liu Hou couldn't help but gasp when he saw that an elephant was hit by 6 bullets from his own and didn't fall to the ground.

However, the loud sound of muskets and thunderbolts managed to disturb the elephants. The elephants were not killed by these firearms, but they were frightened by the noises and became riotous, some of them scurried around, and some of them turned around and ran. Although the elephant is large, it has a very docile personality, and the animals are naturally afraid of fire and loud noises, and the Shu army has muskets and thunderbolts on the side, which scares these cowardly giant beasts.

At this time, several elephants scurried into the Shu army, after the pillar-sized elephant legs, the flesh and blood flew sideways, and dozens of Shu soldiers were hit or trampled into a blur of flesh and blood, miserable.

The barbarians were even more miserable, they had already charged behind the elephants in a dense formation, but now most of the elephants were so frightened that they turned around and fled, so the barbarians who followed behind were killed.

The brute soldier who was knocked into by the huge body of the elephant was like a kite with a broken string, spitting blood and flying far away. And those who are stepped on by the elephant's legs will turn their hands, feet and body into a puddle of mud. There are also some elephants whose trunks are arched or rolled up and thrown away, and they are also either dead or injured.

Driven by the elephants, the barbarians also turned around and fled, and a surprise attack turned into a rout in an instant, which made Meng Shu feel painful. Originally, this raid on the Shu army Meng Shu was done with heart, and his trick was very famous, called half-crossing and attacking, and fighting against the water.

Half-crossing is a good strategy or tactic, and under normal circumstances, he works very well. When the enemy crosses the river halfway through, he attacks the enemy, then the enemy cannot advance or retreat, advance, there is a strong enemy attack, retreat, there is a river to block, can only fight to the death.

And because the enemy has just crossed the river, he often has not yet formed a formation and is not ready for battle, so he will inevitably suffer a lot if he rushes into battle at this time. In addition, the focus of the half-crossing attack is one and a half words, that is, only half of the enemy's numbers have crossed the river, and half are on the river or are still waiting to cross the river on the opposite bank.

In this way, the enemy will be at a disadvantage in strength, and he will be able to destroy the half of the enemy who has crossed the river first, and then seek an opportunity to destroy the other half of the enemy who has not crossed the river. There are many examples of this trick used in ancient wars, and there are three places in the romance alone, it seems that this Meng Shu is not simple, he is a person who has read military books.

As for the idiom of fighting against the water, it refers to a state and a situation, and the afterlife refers to having no way out, which is a metaphor for fighting to the death with the enemy. But in the art of war, it is a taboo for soldiers, and ordinary people will not do this.

"Sun Tzu's Art of War" has a cloud: "more wins, less wins", the average general will inevitably consider various factors before the battle, take the worst case into account, and will also reserve a way out, or even multiple ways to retreat.

And in the case of the river behind, once the army is defeated, there will be no way for your side to retreat, although the back of the river to cut off the retreat can arouse morale, but putting yourself in such a dangerous situation is not something that ordinary generals dare to do, and those who dare to do it are either extremely confident or crazy.

But there are no absolutes in everything, and there are no lack of successful examples in history, such as when Han Xin attacked Zhao, it was because he was the god of war, a person with extreme self-confidence and even conceit; Xiang Yu also did it, he not only turned his back to the river, but also chiseled through the boat and smashed the pot. Of course, that's because he's a madman, he's a war maniac, and he can't be justified by convention.

Now Liu Hou is also facing such a situation, of course, it is not that he took the initiative to create this passive situation. Meng Shu deliberately retreated, let the Shu army go ashore first, and then attack, otherwise when the fire was almost extinguished, he could first use the bow and crossbow to carry out a long-range attack to delay the process of the Shu army going ashore.

And the ensuing battle of 2,000 people was also rushed to meet the battle, and Liu Hou did not deliberately put himself in that situation like Han Xin and Xiang Yu, in the final analysis, the Shu army was still passive, or because of the plan.

Originally, Meng Huo dispatched a killer elephant soldier to give the Shu army a thunderous blow at this time, this trick was used very well, and the timing was also well grasped, and it would definitely be bad this time if the cold weapon troops were replaced. However, the Shu army is a firearms unit.

The power of these firearms was not enough to cause much damage to the thick-skinned elephants, but one of the side effects of firearms was to make loud noises that frightened the elephants and caused a riot in the elephant herd, so that Meng won and lost in a short time.

Thousands of calculations, Meng Shu missed the point that the animals were afraid of loud noises, if he thought of this in advance and deafed the elephants, then the worst thing today would be Liu Hou and his Shu army.