Chapter 1223 Ambush and Counter-Ambush
On the other side, Macrinus, who tried to launch a surprise attack on Cao Cao's retreating army, encountered an ambush set up by Cao Cao.
Xun You's talent seems to be very useful at any time.
A large number of shield guards held their shields diagonally in one hand and advanced rapidly forward under the rain of arrows, which gave Macrinus a headache.
They came to Beigui and fought against the Han Dynasty many times, but what gave them the most headache was not the elite troops of the Han Dynasty, but the shield guards of the Han Dynasty. Everyone had ways to restrain each other's high-level combat forces.
But they really had no good way to deal with tens of thousands of shield guards. These steel meat cans were lined up in a row and rushed forward in unison, which could easily break up their formation.
What's worse is that even if these tin cans are scattered and separated, they can still fight in small groups of three or five and spontaneously gather in one direction.
It's like a copper pea that can't be broken or deflated.
"catapult!"
However, the Kushan Empire was a big empire after all, and it was difficult to deal with, but that didn't mean they had no solution at all. A group charge like the Shield Guards didn't need Macrinus to command at all.
The Kushan front-line officers have already begun a spontaneous counterattack. After all, the two sides have fought many times, and they have seen large-scale shield guards. They dare not say that they are used to it, but they are indeed not under any pressure.
The Kushans' current method of dealing with shield guards is long-range stone throwing, which has almost no accuracy but is extremely powerful and can severely damage shield guards, but its shortcomings are also obvious.
"Chi~" With a sharp roar, stones weighing dozens of pounds were thrown towards the Han army's front line. These simple trebuchets were carried back and forth by the soldiers.
The stone directly knocked over the shield guard . The stone, which was blessed with talent, was extremely powerful and it was impossible for an ordinary shield guard to withstand it.
Even the officers among the shield guards found it difficult to cope with.
"Bang!" The stone hit Ma Er's shield, causing him to shake slightly and then spit out a large mouthful of blood.
Fortunately, he was just injured and it was not serious. Shield guards like Ma Er are gifted. Even among the group of krypton gold extreme shield guards who just set out from the Han Dynasty, there are not many shield guards like Ma Er.
There are quite a few soldiers who have taken muscle-building injections, but there are not many like Ma Er. Ma Er, who is currently 220 cm tall, has exceeded 300 catties in weight, but he not only does not look fat, he even looks a little thin, which means he can continue to grow.
From this point of view, if Ma Er had not cultivated his internal energy to the point where it could leave the body, he would not be just a captain of a thousand men.
"Where's the crossbow? Counterattack! Counterattack!"
Ma Er, who was hit by a stone again, roared angrily and called for long-range attack cover.
The crossbow shield guards in the rear did not disappoint him. They picked up medium-sized crossbows and launched a counterattack in the direction of the catapults. The frontal battlefield became extremely brutal before they even had time to fight .
The long-range attacks of both sides were extremely violent and direct. Whether it was a crossbow or a stone, it was almost a fatal blow once it hit the body.
"Troublesome troops!" Macrinus had a headache. Ordinary bows and javelins were meaningless to shield guards.
Their current means of countering the shield guards is trebuchets, but the problem is that the trebuchets can only throw a few times before being knocked down by the crossbows carried by the shield guards.
If the Kushans can run around carrying catapults, then the shield guards who are famous for their heavy loads can naturally run around carrying crossbows. What's more, it was the shield guards who ambushed them this time, and the crossbows they left behind were far more than the catapults they carried.
"Spiral Lancers, get ready!" Macrinus gave the order helplessly, intending to send their powerful attackers into the field.
Using the power of the spiral to increase the intensity of the straight stab attack can be considered a way , but it is still just a confrontation and is completely at a disadvantage.
"City wall defense!" Cao Ren sneered and deployed his legion's talents. The shield guards, who were already thick-skinned and tough, had their defenses further enhanced.
They were not on the city wall, and Cao Ren's legion talent was not very effective. It had little defensive effect against massive attacks, but it was still very effective against spiral spearmen.
The spearmen, who already had difficulty penetrating defenses, became even weaker in their attacks. Some of them even had their spear tips rubbed round, but were still unable to penetrate their shields.
"Die!" The crazy barbarian soldier stabbed the shield with his spear beyond his own limit. The high-speed spinning spear rounded the tip with sparks, but even so it could not penetrate the heavy shield of the shield guard.
The shield guard grinned with his big mouth hidden under the visor, and pushed the big shield forward heavily. At the moment when the spearman's center of gravity was unbalanced, the three-edged military bayonet in his hand was swung out fiercely, directly piercing the spearman's throat.
Then he kicked the spearman's body away and once again advanced steadily with the big shield in hand.
Simple spiral lancers are far from being their opponents. They can make countless mistakes, but if these lancers make a mistake just once, it will be their death.
"Get ready to go out, the barbarians will use heavy infantry to engage in battle!" Cao Ren sneered as he looked at the barbarians' troop movements in front of him and said to Cao Hong behind him.
"Leave it to me!" Cao Hong nodded. He was transferred from the rear and had never shown his presence on the Kushan side. This was a good opportunity for him to take advantage of the situation.
Using heavy infantry and spiral spearmen to deal with shield guards is the Kushans' main way of dealing with shield guards. Usually, they will be restrained by two to three times the number of people.
Moreover, after the two sides fought for half a day, the total casualties were estimated to be less than a hundred.
However, this time, Cao Hong's arrival is to increase the strength of Kushan.
Cao Hong's legion's talents have been fully developed, and it can directly destroy the warm and nourishing structure in the designated area by mobilizing the clouds.
As the old saying goes, destruction is always easier than construction. Equipment that may normally take half a year to maintain can be destroyed in just a moment under the effect of Cao Hong's talent.
When the barbarian heavy infantry stood in front of the shield guard, Cao Hong activated his talent effect. A Pixiu appeared above the head of the barbarian heavy infantry, took a deep breath, and then exhaled a rusty wind mixed with iron slag.
The shields and armors blown by the rusty wind rusted instantly. Even the spear tips of the spearmen who were close to them were corroded by the rusty wind and rusted directly. The original warm and nourishing structure was destroyed instantly.
"Hahahaha, brothers, follow me and kill!" Cao Ren roared, and led the way in launching the counterattack.
Without shields and weapons, even heavy infantry are just mortal bodies that will collapse under the push of the steel torrent.
This sudden change shocked Macrinus greatly. How could the army suddenly collapse before the follow-up was even possible? The strongest front line collapsed, but behind them were a group of archers and throwers.
"Retreat!" Macrinus made a prompt decision and chose to cut off his rear and survive. The ambush of the Han Dynasty today was clearly well prepared. If he fought rashly, he would most likely suffer heavy losses, so Macrinus chose to run away without hesitation.
"Want to run? No way!" Cao Ren sneered. They had been lying in ambush here for such a long time, not just for this little gain.
Now that Cao Hong's ability had been exposed, it was impossible for him to be satisfied with killing less than a thousand heavy infantrymen.
"Cao Zhen! It's up to you!" Looking at the barbarians whose formation was scattered due to retreat, Cao Ren turned over his second card without hesitation.
Cao Zhen, who had always been overshadowed by Xun You's talent, immediately rushed out with his elite soldiers.
A distance of three hundred meters is just a short distance for these warriors. Once they make a move, the vibration of the sword blade is instantly increased to the extreme.
They are the new version of the Sharp Warriors. Unlike the old version of the Sharp Warriors who pursued the ultimate killing effect, they are the Sharp Warriors who maximize the control power.
In an instant, they threw out the sword blades in their hands that were vibrating to the extreme, and then, with the blessing of Cao Zhen's talent, these sword blades fell into the barbarian army at a very magical angle.
As the shocks alternated with each other, an earthquake began and the barbarians could not stand in the turbulent environment.
The long water shots that had been prepared in the distance began to target and harvest. Compared to the barbarians who were completely unprepared, the shield guards had long been accustomed to the feeling of shock.
So when the barbarians were stumbling around, the shield guards strode forward, slaughtering the barbarians madly with the machetes on their waists.
Macrinus was almost crazy. He did not expect that his sudden thought would lead to such terrible consequences.
The Han Dynasty had calculated almost everything, and they were just waiting for him and his men to step into this carefully prepared trap.
However, Macrinus deserves to be remembered in history as a figure who was able to become the Roman emperor in historical Rome.
After realizing the problem, he immediately mobilized the cloud energy and launched a legion attack in the direction of his own people, directly destroying the sword used by the sharp warriors to activate the shock at the cost of thousands of lives.
"withdraw!"
Macrinus activated his back-up plan. More than a thousand furious soldiers, ready to die together with their enemies, turned around and rushed towards the Han army.
These soldiers were not afraid of pain at all. Even if their hands and feet were broken or their hearts were shot, they could still fight back. When they met for the first time, the shield guards were directly blocked.
After the shield guards figured out that the head was the weak link, they killed these tireless monsters that were not afraid of death.
Macrinus had already run a long way away with his soldiers.
"Clean up the battlefield and send a signal to General Xiahou. The rest will be left to them." Cao Ren frowned and looked at the dead bodies on the ground.
Kushan's research is getting weirder and weirder. Cao Ren only needs to take a glance at this anti-human thing to understand how evil it is.
They almost completely wiped out human nature and used people as puppets. They were obviously just a group of barbarian mercenaries, so why would they devote themselves to the Kushans to such an extent?
Moreover, why do these soldiers who were forcibly experimented look more like Romans rather than Roman barbarians?
Cao Ren felt like he had discovered something, but he didn't think much about it. He wrote this kind of thing down and planned to hand it over to Xun Yu and other smart people for judgment when he got back.
Looking at the signal sounding in the sky, Macrinus felt a surge of fear in his heart. He felt like a moth, falling into an impenetrable net without any knowledge.
But now he had nowhere to escape. Although he still had nearly 20,000 soldiers under his command, he still felt that the danger was approaching him step by step. He was a little scared. This danger was definitely not groundless.
But this was the shortest distance he could retreat. What on earth was lurking in the dark?
The answer was the sound of horse hooves gradually rising. Xiahou Yuan and his Yue cavalry were chasing from a distant place.
Xiahou Yuan and his men were diagonally behind Cao Ren, but because of the cooperation between Xiahou Yuan and the Yue cavalry, they were able to pursue him at a very fast speed.
Xiahou Yuan's incredible speed greatly increased the speed of the Yue cavalry, and the Yue cavalry's ability to manipulate airflow helped them avoid wind resistance, thus greatly increasing their speed.
So even though Macrinus and his men had evacuated first, they were still caught up by Xiahou Yuan and his Yue cavalry.
"Hahahaha! Follow me and kill!"
Looking at the retreating barbarian army with low morale, Xiahou Yuan opened his mouth wide and excitedly gave the order to charge.
"Asshole, you really treat me like a soft persimmon!"
Macrinus was furious. It was bad enough that he was defeated by an army of the same number before, but now a mere 5,000 people were used to attack his army of nearly 20,000.
Do you really think that Macrinus has no headquarters?
"Tsk, still a tough guy!" Xiahou Yuan raised his eyebrows. He was not blind. The strong aura of the other party was enough to show his strength.
But in a place like this, he is a cavalryman. If you, the infantry, want to engage in a head-on battle with my cavalry , you are thinking too much.
"Shoot!" Macrinus calmly gathered the remaining long-range troops together, trying to force back the Yue cavalry through long-range attacks, or force the Yue cavalry to charge.
"Atmospheric defense!"
Xiahou Yuan happily led the Yue cavalry to circle around the barbarian army. All these long-range attacks were shaken by the airflow controlled by the Yue cavalry and could only fall to the ground.
The troops led by Xiahou Yuan were genuine Yue cavalry, who were adept at manipulating air currents. Not only could they use attacks like the vacuum gun to increase the lethality, they could also manipulate air currents to form defensive protection and disrupt long-range attacks.
As long as it is not a high-powered attack like throwing stones, some javelins and arrows have no chance of achieving any effect in the air flow network.
At the first moment of the fight, the barbarians fell into a passive position. Infantry still has considerable shortcomings when fighting against cavalry.
In addition, the terrain of the mountain pass is mountainous, and even Temujin has been transferred away, so they have no cavalry stationed here.
Cavalry like Xiahou Yuan were completely useless before, but after Macrinus took the initiative to attack and was defeated, they now showed their power.
However, Xiahou Yuan was also a little worried. He tried to attack, but was quickly blocked by Macrinus. The opponent mobilized his troops very quickly and was a good commander. His confusing tactics did not work at all.
Moreover, the opponent's headquarters was a bit strange, and he instinctively felt a threat from it, so Xiahou Yuan was unsure whether to rush forward or not.
He was not sure whether he could break through the opponent's rhythm and start the harvest in one wave, so the two sides were in a stalemate for a while.
