As the Right Wise King gave the order, archers and siege crossbowmen stood ready, waiting to shoot as soon as the warhorses approached.
All the warhorses, in pain and limited by the tight formations, could only charge forward, leaving a long trail of white powder on the plain.
The sacks on the backs of the last row of warhorses had been pierced on both sides!
Dense lines of white powder extended in a straight line towards the barbarian camp.
Just then, the armored warhorses at the forefront stumbled, falling into a pit trap and coming to a halt!
The warhorses behind continued to charge, and more and more stumbled into the traps, causing the white lines to break.
However, as these warhorses fell into the pits and filled them, those behind were able to cross these earth pits and continue forward, only to fall into more pits ahead...
In a short time, two to three thousand white lines covered the ground. Every place where a white line was broken and a warhorse had fallen represented a trap, indicating the path of advance for the Great Qian soldiers.
"The Marshal and Deputy Marshal are truly brilliant strategists!!"
The soldiers were overjoyed, their morale greatly boosted!
Although the sacrifice of these warhorses was regrettable, human lives were paramount, and greatly reducing the casualties of the front ranks was the urgent priority.
Lu Yi also saw the situation clearly from his war chariot, feeling smug.
This was a countermeasure he, Liang Xiao, Lu Changhe, and Zhuo Ying had devised overnight. Even the flour was carefully selected, lest it dry out and fail to leave a trail, and yet not be easily blown away by the wind!
Four thousand warhorses used to reduce front-line losses and indirectly boost morale was a worthwhile sacrifice!
When the warhorses in the rear had charged for a mile, Lu Yi immediately gave the order: "Attack!"
The neighing of warhorses grew closer. The barbarian archers and siege crossbowmen, enraged, unleashed their volleys.
Tens of thousands of crossbow bolts tore through the air, striking the warhorses, but most were blocked by their armor!
"Damn it! They're using our horse armor to block arrows for their warhorses!"
The barbarian soldiers cried out in anger, but were helpless, only able to shoot arrows desperately.
The siege crossbows had the greatest power, killing over a hundred warhorses. But against the surging tide of the remaining two to three thousand warhorses, it was like a drop in the ocean. More and more warhorses charged towards the stronghold.
The spearmen dared not thrust their spears at these warhorses. Their experience told them that stabbing these frantically charging warhorses might not only fail to penetrate their armor but also cause their hands and wrists to be injured by the recoil transmitted through the spears!
"Bang!"
The warhorses, in pain and fear, slammed heavily against the fortifications in front of the camp. The spearmen on the walls finally felt at ease and thrust their spears, killing these warhorses one by one.
"Quick, clear away these dead horses!!" the Left Wise King urged anxiously.
The Right Wise King also snapped back to attention and immediately ordered the cleanup.
If these warhorses were not removed in time, their corpses beneath the ramparts would become stepping stones for the Great Qian soldiers to scale the city!
"The Great Qian soldiers are attacking!!"
Before the barbarian soldiers on the front line could clear the dead horses, the longbows, divine arm crossbows, and triple-bow siege crossbows had adjusted their angles, and countless arrows rained down!
The sky-covering volleys suppressed the front-line formation. The divine arm crossbows, with a range exceeding three hundred paces, still posed a significant threat to these front-line slave soldiers.
The slave soldiers were suppressed. Even without significant casualties, they dared not risk clearing the dead warhorses any further.
"These are the Great Qian country's crossbows..."
The barbarian soldiers were shocked and pale.
The enemy could shoot from three hundred paces away, and those strange siege crossbows could even pierce iron armor, delivering a fatal blow!
Meanwhile, their own archers and crossbowmen were still waiting for the enemy to come within a hundred paces.
Just then, a strong wind swept from the distance, the east wind blowing against their faces. The Great Qian army banners fluttered, followed by the thunderous sound of horns!
"Wind rises! Break the army!!"
As the Great Qian soldiers shouted, the Great Qian archers and crossbowmen, protected by heavy shield soldiers, continued to fire.
Under the influence of the wind, the power and range of the arrows increased further. Some front-line slave soldiers were caught off guard and died on the spot, while many more had arrows piercing their iron armor, wounding flesh and bone!
"Where are the shields!!"
The Right Wise King was furious, looking around.
However, the barbarians were accustomed to attacking, and they only had over a thousand shields. They relied solely on the camp walls and the soldiers' armor to block the arrows.
The whistling of arrows was incessant. The Great Qian's crossbow bolts, like a swarm of locusts, filled the sky and rained down!
The barbarians had to deploy all their heavily armored soldiers to the front, while the archers and crossbowmen retreated, waiting for the enemy to approach.
The divine arm crossbows were direct-fire weapons, but the longbowmen could fire volleys from a distance. Even from lower ground, they could still create a parabolic trajectory, shooting into the barbarian camp!
Facing the Great Qian's crossbow volleys, the barbarian formation fell into disarray, everyone fearing for their lives. Even the heavily armored soldiers were desperately dodging arrows in panic.
"Hold the line! They absolutely cannot get in!!"
"Is this the offensive power of the Great Qian country??" Hallmuqi, the Kushan envoy observing from the distant high mountains, trembled and shook his head incessantly.
It was terrifying!
Soon, Hallmuqi noticed the longbowmen and divine arm crossbow units.
"Why do such simple giant bows possess such power? Can our country replicate them..." Hallmuqi's face, filled with fear, turned to confusion.
At this time, the Great Qian army continued its march, advancing along the white lines on the ground, observed through the gaps in the heavy shields.
Even if the strong wind blew away some of the flour, the lines still had traces, and the breaks in the cracks were very obvious.
Furthermore, with the warhorses filling the traps, and soldiers behind them ready with iron-plated wooden boards to fill the pits and pave the way, the Great Qian soldiers were able to advance steadily without falling into the pits.
The barbarian archers and crossbowmen had insufficient range, but their siege crossbows could shoot for a mile with great power.
"Boom!"
The siege crossbow bolts struck fiercely, penetrating the heavy shields by an inch!
Fortunately, these heavy shields were reinforced with fine iron plating.
The heavy shield soldiers at the front dared not let go, continuing to advance under the relentless barrage of the siege crossbows.
Even so, due to the higher elevation of the barbarians, several soldiers in the rear were occasionally shot, their bodies mangled, and were carried away by their comrades.
"Hold on!!"
The heavy shield soldiers roared, enduring wave after wave of siege crossbow fire.
The triple-bow siege crossbows retaliated, adjusting their angles to prioritize the shooting of the enemy's exposed siege crossbowmen.
The barbarian siege crossbowmen, fearing the triple-bow siege crossbows and the relentlessly advancing divine arm crossbows and longbows, had to retreat.
However, as they retreated, these siege crossbowmen moved out of the line of sight. They could only attempt to lob projectiles, firing wildly with little effect.
Liang Xiao and Lu Yi, respectively in the eastern-north and eastern-south central armies, sat on their war chariots, with their steeds by their side, ready to depart at any moment.
Gazing at the barbarian's simple city wall, over ten feet high, and the numerous caltrops and chevaux de frise in front of it, Liang Xiao and Lu Yi simultaneously issued an order.
"Catapults, fire volleys!!"
As the order spread, fifty catapults in each of the two locations, protected by a large number of heavily armored shield soldiers, were pushed to the front.
Lu Yi's personal guards, along with some of Liang's guards, pushed sealed wooden barrels to the front of the catapults.
These barrels were only half the size of the gunpowder barrels used in the defense of Luzhou, but this increased the range of the catapults.
Nearly three hundred paces!
This was the black powder made from sulfur scrounged from various places, with covert support from the Shadow Guard, finally put to use today!
"Whoosh—"
Taking advantage of the enemy's retreating siege crossbows, dozens of ignited gunpowder barrels were launched by the catapults towards the distant barbarian city...