A myriad of arrows flew, comparable to a swarm of locusts, obscuring the sky!
The sharp arrowheads of the Great Qian Fengyu Arrows swiftly pierced the shields of the approaching heavy cavalry, even using their parabolic trajectory to bypass shields and penetrate armor.
In an instant, countless cavalry of the Tianri tribe were shot off their horses.
At closer range, the Great Qian bow's power surpassed that of longbows, inflicting mass casualties on the Tianri forces.
But the Tianri soldiers were already bloodthirsty. The death of comrades did not make them cower; instead, it further ignited their ferocity.
Furious roars of Tianri soldiers echoed from the rear, deafening.
Where the iron hooves passed, the ground rumbled and trembled.
The battlefield was filled with war cries. The Qingtian Guard and the Great Qian Zhenwei stood at the forefront, forming a connected shield wall to resist the initial charge of the Tianri heavy cavalry.
These heavy cavalry were clad in full iron armor, comparable in quality to the Tianri elite cavalry. Each was equipped with a long spear for charging and half of them carried a favored long saber for close-quarters combat.
The Great Qian soldiers could not deter the charging heavy cavalry with their spear formations alone, as the spears were likely to break under the impact.
However, after their momentum was blunted by layer upon layer of shields, the heavy cavalry only managed to leave slash marks and spear holes on some shields, unable to break through the shield wall quickly.
At this moment, countless long spears finally pierced through the gaps in the shield wall, striking at the heavy cavalry with full force.
The long spears could not easily penetrate the iron armor, but these Great Qian Zhenwei were all mighty warriors selected from across the country. Two or three spears striking and thrusting simultaneously were enough to knock down some of the heavy cavalry who had stopped outside the shield wall.
After a large number of Tianri heavy cavalry were dismounted, they were trampled by their own warhorses. Even with heavy armor, they could not escape being trampled to death.
A thunderous roar erupted from the position of the Thorny Shield.
Yue Qingtian swung his saber, descending from a gap in the shields with the force of a landslide.
Two consecutive heavy cavalry, who had charged headlong, were cut in half, man and horse, by Yue Qingtian's treasured saber, their bodies separating. This sight repelled thousands of enemy troops!
More heavy cavalry continued to arrive from the rear. Unaware of the situation, they fell victim to Yue Qingtian's treasured saber.
Facing such a terrifying blade, all the heavy cavalry instinctively avoided that Thorny Shield, leaving a rare gap on the battlefield.
However, this evasive maneuver had a detrimental effect on the rear formations.
The three-bow bed crossbows and the divine arm crossbows, utilizing their advantageous position higher than the vanguard, unleashed their first volley, filling the gaps in the shooting of the longbowmen and the Great Qian archers.
Ten thousand crossbow bolts pierced the air, penetrating hundreds and thousands of iron armors, killing over a thousand at close range.
The battlefield quickly descended into a fierce, attritional struggle.
Liang Xiao watched the enemy cavalry with cold eyes from the high ground.
These Tianri cavalry were like enraged lions, even more fearless than the ten thousand troops they had annihilated on the Luzhou battlefield.
Any other nation's army, or the Great Qian forces before the reform of their military system, would likely have collapsed at such a terrifying charge.
The force of their charge was no less than that of the vanguard of the barbaric iron cavalry, and perhaps even surpassed it!
But the enemy's courage was built upon the brutal slaughter of five thousand Great Qian citizens. Those five thousand Jiaozhou soldiers had the opportunity to undergo a transformative metamorphosis and become Great Qian soldiers!
Liang Xiao, filled with righteous anger, drew his Setting Sun Bow at a distance of three hundred paces from the battlefield and personally shot down the heavy cavalry.
At three hundred paces, it was difficult to guarantee the accuracy of the Dragon Tooth Arrows. However, the enemy was surging forward in dense waves, requiring no aiming. A casual shot could pierce the iron helmet of a Tianri cavalryman.
This was a contest of raw strength. If the enemy's heavy cavalry could not be swiftly crushed, facing wave after wave of their charges, even the shield wall would collapse inwards. At that point, the Great Qian's heavy infantry would have no choice but to withstand the enemy cavalry with their own bodies.
Every soldier's life was precious. The Great Qian nation now strived to minimize casualties as much as possible. Therefore, the key to this battle was a swift victory!
"Rumble!"
Artillery fire erupted from the rear again. The Shenwu Great Cannons, aimed at the enemy heavy cavalry, fired once more. The solid iron balls seemed to pierce through the void, instantly striking into the enemy heavy cavalry formation.
Against the impact of the solid iron balls, the heavy cavalry's iron armor instantly shattered. A single solid iron ball pierced through multiple chests and abdomens, claiming lives on the spot!
The Tianri cavalry, who had swept across various nations, had never encountered such terrifying "magic iron balls." Their fearless spirit finally showed a crack.
"The enemy's iron balls can only be fired intermittently. Continue the assault!!"
The Tianri cavalry commanders roared with heart-wrenching fury, glaring at the Great Qian shield wall in the distance, their eyes bulging.
If they could not breach the front-line defenses of the Great Qian army, their efforts would be in vain, resulting only in casualties!
They had charged this far, killing no more than a hundred Great Qian soldiers, yet they had suffered thousands of casualties and over ten thousand wounded under the concentrated fire of the Great Qian's bows and crossbows. Almost every soldier in the charging force was wounded!
Even so, they had failed to breach the defense line stretching for miles.
Upon discovering that the heavy cavalry could not quickly break through the defense line, Hannibal immediately redeployed the light cavalry from the rear, spreading out to the flanks and attempting to flank the Great Qian army formation, aiming to surprise their rear.
Xiao Che said anxiously, "Marshal Hannibal, if we let our soldiers charge like this, it will only be a futile sacrifice!"
Hannibal smiled coldly and looked to the rear.
"This group of heavy cavalry is merely a vanguard to deplete their arrows. Our true objective is not to attack the flanks, but to break through their defense line from the front!"
Xiao Che suddenly remembered something and looked back, his face showing fear.
The city gate below was wide open.
Behind the city gate, the Tianri elite cavalry had donned their armor and were advancing abreast from the rear, ready to charge out of the fortress at any moment.
This unit, whether in terms of size, imposing presence, or armor thickness, far surpassed the heavy cavalry charging at the front.
Beneath each helmet, a cold, bloodthirsty face was hidden, as if they held the cleaver and all they saw were fish to be carved.
This was a confidence in the army that Xiao Che had never felt before, an aura of invincibility!
As the two sides engaged in fierce battle, fifty miles southwest of the mountain range, an unexpected conflagration also erupted.
This was a large camp called Jiaozhou Stockade, which housed a vast quantity of military provisions, including various types of fodder for warhorses.
The defending army consisted of twenty thousand men, ten thousand of whom were Tianri heavy crossbow soldiers.
The general responsible for guarding this military camp was Dai Wus, the younger brother of Tianri Marshal Hannibal. He was currently leading his men in indulging with prostitutes brought from the Peacock Dynasty, much to their delight.
With hundreds of thousands of troops guarding various locations in the mountain range and another military camp to the north capable of providing timely support, Dai Wus was certain that he was safe.
Guarding the military provisions was an absolutely lucrative post.
This was because the military camp also stored a portion of gold and silver treasures, as well as a large number of prostitutes from the Peacock Dynasty, who were highly compliant. Those who refused were roasted and eaten after being defiled...
The Jiaozhou soldiers assisted in the defense of Jiaozhou Stockade but had also heard about the massacre of five thousand Jiaozhou soldiers by the Tianri tribe.
Now, all Jiaozhou soldiers dared not speak out in anger, proceeding with extreme caution, fearing they might offend these "white lords."
The Tianri soldiers indulged in feasting and revelry within the military camp, while the Jiaozhou soldiers received only standard rations.
Just as Dai Wus and his men were enjoying themselves, the sound of hooves suddenly echoed from afar.
The Jiangnan Iron Cavalry, having bypassed the deep mountains from the southwest, had finally arrived!