Chapter 1458: The initial battle is unfavorable (Page 1/1)

Xun Yan was blocked by stone fat in Huangshui and failed to break through the position of the road strike in time and reinforcements. Although it was not his responsibility, he attached great importance to this matter. He not only reported to Yuan Shao, but also solemnly reminded the generals to pay attention to it in the subsequent military discussions. Once he found that there was a stone thrower in the other side, he should pay attention to the stone fat. This black viscous substance not only smelled bad, but also had black smoke when burned, and its lethality was much stronger than tung oil.

The stone thrower is a heavy weapon and is inconvenient to move. Zhen Yan took a lot of effort to transport the stone thrower from Junyi, while Sun Jian installed the stone thrower on the warship. In order to deal with these warships equipped with stone thrower, Zhen Yan deployed his stone thrower on the shore, but he did not deploy it directly against Sun Jian's position. He did not expect that Sun Jian would deploy the stone thrower in front of the formation while the night was dark. Only when he smelled the smell did he realize that trouble was coming.

Hundreds of clay pots were shattered in front of the formation, and black stone fat flowed everywhere. The pungent smell drifted with the southeast wind, and Zhen Yan's entire position was shrouded in it. The soldiers had not realized the danger, but just cursed loudly. When a few rockets were shot out, the ignition of these stone fat was raised, and the pungent smell was even more pungent. Many soldiers were burned to death and screamed in pain. The terrifying atmosphere spread through Zhen Yan's formation.

Zhen Yan did not dare to be careless, and immediately ordered the soldiers in front of the army to retreat, and at the same time ordered the powerful crossbowmen to shoot volleys. In the dark night, it was difficult to distinguish between the enemy and us. The black smoke from the burning of stone fat blocked the view again, and it was very likely that they would fall into a trap when attacking easily. At this moment, it is safest to use a crossbow to conduct long-range strikes.

Three thousand powerful crossbowmen in Jizhou shot with all their might, and bursts of arrows shot into the sky, passing through thick smoke, and shooting towards the opposite bank of the Yuanshui.

On the east bank of Yuanshui, Huang Gai stood in front of the formation, looking at Zhen Yan's position in the distance, looking at the crossbow arrows passing through the thick smoke and shooting in front of the formation, estimated the distance of the powerful crossbowman, with a slightly raised corner of his mouth, showing a disdainful sneer. Without his instructions, the observation hand of the stone thrower had begun to reduce the number of pottery jars and increase the range. Stone fat is a very costly killing weapon, and of course the ordinary soldiers to deal with, but the strongest lethal crossbowman in the Jizhou army.

The number of clay pots was reduced by half and the range increased by one third, just enough to cover the position of the powerful crossbowman. With a command, more than 50 stone throwers began to fire volleys. Almost at the same time, the crossbowman also shot out rockets with fire-induced objects. In cooperation with tacit understanding, the timing was just right. The clay pot hit the position of the Jizhou strongman. When the stone fat splashed everywhere, the rocket also arrived and ignited the stone fat.

In fact, the number of this batch of pottery jars is not large and the fire is not large. However, the Jizhou crossbowmen were frightened by the fire in front. When they saw that the pottery jars were cracking around them, they panicked first, and then when they saw that there was a flame, they immediately became disorganized. They no longer had to worry about shooting and used the prepared wet straw bags to extinguish the flames.

Feeling that the arrow formation on the opposite side was weak, Huang Gai immediately launched an attack. The soldiers held up the prepared pontoon bridge and rushed to the edge of the Yuanshui River, pushing the pontoon bridge into the water. The pontoon water is not wide, and it is much easier to build the pontoon bridge and quickly formed it. The sword and shield hands first cross the river and set up the formation, followed closely behind, forcing the burning position, and shooting with all their might.

At this time, these crossbowmen had entered the range of Jizhou's powerful crossbowmen. If Jizhou's powerful crossbowmen were not blocked by smoke and had not disturbed the position by stone fat, just a wave of scattered shots would be enough to severely damage these crossbowmen. But they were busy saving themselves at this moment and did not notice that the enemy was ready. By the time they realized this, the devastating rain of arrows had fallen from the sky.

There were very few powerful crossbowmen who were burned to death by stone fat, but countless powerful crossbowmen who were shot by crossbows. With the sound of the whistling arrow feathers breaking through the wind, screams came one after another. The positions of the powerful crossbowmen in Jizhou were in chaos and soon collapsed.

Zhen Yan rushed to the front of the formation and looked at the collapsed crossbow position and was shocked. He was afraid that Sun Jian would take the opportunity to attack, so he had to order to give up the position he had run for several days, retreated 300 steps, and set up the formation again.

Zhen Yan was ordered to replace Xu You and confront Sun Jian for more than half a month, but no problems occurred. This time he was ordered to block Sun Jian, and he was very confident and made a lot of preparations for this position. He thought he could block Sun Ce for ten days and half a month, but he didn't expect that he could not even hold on for a night and his confidence was hit a lot. He was afraid that any mistakes would affect Yuan Shao's overall deployment, so he reported to Yuan Shao overnight and requested reinforcements.

Yuan Shao was not asleep yet. He had already received the news that Zhen Yan was fighting Sun Jian, for fear that something would happen to Zhen Yan.

After receiving Zhen Yan's report, he immediately asked someone to call Guo Tu and Ju Su over. Both of them lived in a nearby tent, only a few dozen steps away from the Central Army's tent, and they arrived as soon as they called. After reading Zhen Yan's report, Ju Su was relieved.

"Lord, Zhen Yan's response is no problem. Sun Jian is a long-standing general. Although Zhen Yan suffered a small setback, he was not defeated. It was much better than we expected."

Yuan Shao also breathed a sigh of relief. Zhen Yan was the representative of the Jizhou family. Zhen Yan's sister Zhen Mi and Yuan Xi had a marriage contract. This time, Zhen Yan was promoted to general and replaced Xu You to command troops. There were a lot of private discussions, saying that he was nepotism. Although Zhen Yan was quite well-organized in using troops and did not make any mistakes outside Junyi City, some people still thought that it was just a good luck. Sun Jian did not go out of the city to fight back, and Zhen Yan was lying to get credit. Now that he was going to fight in the field, Zhen Yan would definitely not do it. If Zhen Yan was really defeated by Sun Jian once, he would have to replace Zhen Yan to block the public.

"But after all, I was defeated, so there must be some remedies. Otherwise, Sun Jian would force me to the front and our army would not even have a place to marching."

Ju Su said, "Let the armored cavalry go. Sun Jian is mainly infantry. Judging from the scout's report, there are not many crossbows. The terrain near the Shengnu Pond is suitable for cavalry conflicts. It should be able to defeat Sun Jian and stabilize the left-wing position."

Yuan Shao looked at Guo Tu. "Public, what do you think?"

Guo Tu smacked his lips and said slowly: "Lord, the Arc Cavalry can be regarded as the lord's strongest killing weapon. It is probably inappropriate to take action easily. Because Zhen Yan and his lord have a marriage, the generals in the camp have already criticized them. Now that Zhen Yan is defeated, the lord sends Arc Cavalry to help, which may prove the rumors. In my opinion, it is better to send Shen Ying and Shen Jun to fight. Sun Ce humiliated Zhengnan and killed him. If they can help Zhen Yan defeat Sun Jian, they will be considered revenge."

Ju Su disagreed with Guo Tu's opinion. "This is a battle between Yuan and Sun. It is not a personal grudge between Shen's father and son and Sun's father and son. It is not advisable to lose the big one because of a small amount. Sun Jian has been fighting for many years, and Shen Zhengnan may be able to fight in his lifetime. Shen Ying's brothers are not enough to match, so he is only insulted."

Yuan Shao hesitated, thinking that Guo Tu was justified, and that Ju Su was worried. Seeing this, Guo Tu chuckled softly: "Mr., I know that Shen Zhengnan had entrusted his nephew to you before his death. But after all, they are already adults and are not children in their infancy. If they want to become real famous generals, what better way to fight besides fighting? As you said, Sun Jian has been fighting for many years and has rich experience. He will benefit a lot even if he is frustrated. Sun Ce is more cunning than Sun Jian and does not allow them to fight Sun Jian first. How can they fight against Sun Ce? If they don't fight Sun Jian or Sun Ce, how can they avenge their father to kill him?"
Chapter completed!