Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1195 Collapse
Cao Xiu pushed the warhorse under his crotch to the limit, and his men could only barely keep up. Hundreds of Tiger and Leopard Riders were like thunder, and the ground was shaking under their iron hooves.

He had escaped danger many times with the help of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry's attacks, and he was full of confidence this time. What could it matter if the other side had more people? The Jin Army's most powerful Youzhou Cavalry was not there. In the Jianghuai area, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was invincible!
At this moment, Cao Xiu saw the enemy's general drawing his bow and shooting, but he was not aiming at himself, but at the horse under his crotch. Cao Xiu reacted quickly and immediately swung his sword horizontally to block the flying arrow.

With a loud bang, the long sword shook continuously. Cao Xiu was extremely surprised. The arrow from the opposite side was so powerful!
The one who shot the arrows was Huang Zhong. He was not young anymore, so he would not engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy right away. Instead, he would use his archery skills to wear down the enemy's strength. Cao Xiu had just blocked an arrow, and before he could get ready, Huang Zhong stretched out his arms and shot three arrows, which once again covered Cao Xiu and his horse.

Seeing that he could not block all the arrows, Cao Xiu had to prioritize protecting himself from the two arrows shot at his horse. He used his chest armor to block one arrow. The force of the arrow made his blood boil, and he almost couldn't breathe.

He was furious and thought to himself, I want to see how many arrows you can shoot!
He immediately rode his horse forward and rushed straight towards Huang Zhong who was shooting arrows. Seeing this, Wen Pin also urged his horse to meet him. However, Huang Zhong turned his horse around and ran sideways in front of the formation. On the one hand, he wanted to avoid being blocked by Wen Pin, and on the other hand, he wanted to move away from the direction of the central army. Fang Cao Xiu was in a dilemma.

As expected, Cao Xiu was disgusted. If he killed Huang Zhong first, he would definitely not be able to attack the Jin army's flag. But if he ignored Huang Zhong, it would be tantamount to leaving his back to the enemy. And with Huang Zhong's archery skills, Cao Xiu thought he was not sure he could completely avoid it.

In an instant, Cao Xiu made a decision in his heart and shouted, "All troops, charge and kill them!"

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry roared loudly, and nearly a thousand of them dispersed and surrounded Wen Pin and Huang Zhong.

When Wen Pin and Huang Zhong saw this, they thought to themselves that the opponent was indeed the main general, as he did not even attempt to challenge him in a duel. Everything he did was for victory!

But at this moment, a signal sounded from the Jin army. Wen Pin and Huang Zhong heard it and hurried to the flank, leaving the center open.

Seeing this, Cao Xiu had no time to think about it. He immediately shouted and led his troops to charge towards the front of the Jin army again. As the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry approached rapidly, Lu Xun at the front of the Jin army gave an order and more than a dozen crossbow carts were pushed out.

These crossbow carts were built by craftsmen in Shouchun during this period according to Zhuge Liang's drawings, using the best craftsmanship materials in the Jianghuai region. Now is the time to test their quality.

The soldiers behind the crossbow cart had already thrown a basket of coal into the flaming iron furnace. In the blink of an eye, a blazing flame rose, driving a small steam engine wheel to slowly turn.

Unlike the steam engines used to power vehicles and ships in the past, this small steam engine is equipped with a connecting rod device that connects to the crossbow disc at the front of the crossbow cart.

The soldiers in the front aimed their crosshairs at the approaching Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and reported to Lu Xun in the rear. Lu Xun raised his command flag, waved it fiercely, and shouted, "Shoot!"

The soldiers on more than a dozen crossbow carts opened the mechanisms at the same time. The soldier operating the crossbow cart in the front stepped on the connecting rod switch, and the crossbow disc began to rotate rapidly, shooting out iron arrows like a rainstorm!
This batch of iron arrows were improved. They were only one foot long and as thick as chopsticks, but had three or four-inch armor-piercing arrowheads. Hundreds of them were loaded in the crossbow tray. With the power provided by the steam engine, they were shot out through the crossbow tray at a speed of dozens in the blink of an eye!
In an instant, everyone's ears were filled with the sound of flapping rain, like dense hail in summer, smashing down on the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry who were about to charge in from a few dozen steps away.

The next moment, in everyone's sight, dozens of Tiger and Leopard Riders in the front were bursting with blood flowers. Their bodies were pierced by crossbow arrows at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye, leaving blood holes.

Cao Chun was leading everyone to charge, but he saw the person in front of him fall down inexplicably. At the same time, a dangerous and deadly low sound rang in his ears. It was the sound of a crossbow arrow piercing a human body!

Suddenly his thigh felt numb, Cao Chun looked down, and saw an iron arrow piercing his knee, with the arrowhead coming out from the back of his knee!

He couldn't help but scream, and looked up at the strange-shaped crossbow carts in front of him. Then he understood what had happened. How could the other party have such terrible things?

He raised his long sword and shouted, "Scatter, scatter!"

But it was too late. More than a dozen crossbow carts continued to emit low chants, as if they were funeral elegy for Cao's army. In just a few dozen breaths, hundreds of Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in the front were shot into sieves along with their horses. They didn't even utter much of a wail before they fell to the ground and died.

Cao Chun endured the pain and noticed that the arrows from the opposite side became sparse. He realized that they had run out of arrows and shouted, "Charge forward. Only by charging forward can you survive. Quick!"

The remaining five or six hundred Tiger and Leopard Riders roared and immediately beat their horses hard, but what happened the next moment made them feel cold all over.

The Jin army soldiers carried out iron boxes one by one, and then stuck them onto the crossbow disk. Then the crossbow disk turned and shot out a rain of arrows again. It took less than three breaths!

In such a short time, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry could only advance seven or eight more steps before being bathed in the rain of arrows again.

The cold and cruel sound lasted for half a cup of tea, or at most only half a cup of tea, and the battlefield fell silent again.

There were no more Tiger and Leopard Cavalrymen able to stand within a hundred steps in front of the crossbow cart. Most of the men and horses lying on the ground had completely lost their lives and lay there quietly. Only the faint groans of a few people drifted in the wind. These were those who were lucky enough not to die on the spot, but the pain they suffered was probably greater than those who died.

The corpses of soldiers and horses were scattered all over the ground, and iron arrows were stuck in them. The blood flowed everywhere like streams. The autumn wind blew, bringing the bloody smell into the nostrils of the Jin army soldiers.

There was total silence on the battlefield. Even the soldiers of the Jin army could not help but feel a little bit unbelievable about the scene before them. They looked at the piles of corpses and swallowed secretly, thinking, are such terrifying Tiger and Leopard Cavalry just gone like that?
Wen Pin and Huang Zhong were speechless for a moment. They had originally thought of killing the general and gaining merit as usual, but they had not expected to see such a scene.

They suddenly remembered what Yuan Xi had said to them before they set out.

The times have changed.

Wen Pin smiled bitterly and said to Huang Zhong: "Do you think we will still be needed to lead the charge in the future?" Huang Zhong thought for a moment and said: "That is a problem for future generations."

"We can at least see the end of this, right?"

The two men rode over, stepped over the corpses of Cao's soldiers, and saw Cao Xiu's body in the center of the formation.

He was at the front in the second wave of arrow rain, so he was hit by the most arrows. His body was densely covered with dozens of iron arrows. He died before he fell off his horse.

They turned their heads and looked behind the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Those were the Cao army's infantry who had rushed up with them but fell into chaos when the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were wiped out halfway.

Now they were in a panic, not knowing whether to advance or retreat. Their commander Cao Xiu had died in the battle, and the few remaining Cao generals were already beginning to consider retreating.

Following Lu Xun's order, the Jin army soldiers began to slowly retreat on the crossbow carts. Seeing this, the Cao army finally collapsed their formation and began to flee in all directions.

Upon seeing this, Lu Xun ordered his men to blow the horn for an all-out pursuit, and Huang Zhong, the military commissioner, immediately led his troops in pursuit.

The battle lasted less than half a day and ended. Although Cao's army was defeated, they had more than 10,000 soldiers after all. The crossbow carts were not mobile and it was still difficult to chase the fleeing soldiers. In the end, Huang Zhong and Wenpin led the cavalry to chase and kill most of Cao's army, killing them and taking them prisoner, while the rest fled everywhere.

Yuan Xi did not have extra time to clean up the battlefield. Instead, he ordered Lu Xun to rest for a while and then marched north quickly to Ruyang to meet Wei Yan.

On the way, Lu Xun sighed: "My lord, if the Jin army can build hundreds or even thousands of crossbow carts in the future, wouldn't the world be within easy reach?"

"It seems that everything I did before is meaningless."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi said sternly: "Bo Yan, you must remember that no matter how much weapon technology is improved, the key is still the people who invent and operate it."

"Weapons are made by humans, and military strategies are written by humans. No matter how advanced something is, it still needs humans to operate it."

"What we have may be possessed by the enemy in the future. Although I have come this far with excellent weapons and armor, I believe that the most important thing is that everyone from top to bottom, from the grassroots soldiers to the military advisors and commanders, has worked hard and come together for a common goal."

"I asked Kong Ming Boyan a question before, what is the purpose of our conquest of the world? I think that if everyone only has selfish motives and no common goal, we will not be able to get to where we are today."

"I hope Boyan can give me a good answer in the future."

After hearing this, Lu Xun responded, "Don't worry, my lord. I will think about it carefully."

Le Jin was setting up camp five miles outside Ruyang City. He now knew that Wei Yan in the city would not be able to hold out for two more days.

As soon as the 5,000 men to be mobilized arrive tomorrow, he will gather more than 20,000 of his men and launch a fierce attack on the four gates. Even if Zhang Liang were still alive, the thousands of defenders in the city would definitely not be able to withstand this saturation attack!

But at this moment, a spy rushed in and said, "General, something bad is happening!"

"The Jin army's reinforcements in the south counterattacked, General Cao Xiu was ambushed and killed, and the more than 10,000 soldiers he led were almost wiped out!"

"The remnants of the soldiers came back to report that the Jin army is heading this way!"

Le Jin was shocked. He stood up suddenly and grabbed the messenger by the collar. "What did you say? Cao Xiu died in the battle?"

The messenger stood on tiptoe and said, "News came from the south. The Jin army sacrificed a strange crossbow cart. General Cao was shot and killed while leading the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to charge. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was completely wiped out!"

Le Jin felt dizzy after hearing this. Cao Xiu's martial arts skills were among the best in Cao's camp. How could such a man die just like that?

He still didn't believe it. "Ballista?"

"What kind of ballista is so powerful?"

"To be able to kill thousands of Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, does the enemy have hundreds or thousands of crossbow carts?"

The spy said helplessly: "I don't know about this."

Le Jin let go of his hand and walked out of the tent dejectedly. He had to make a decision immediately: should he continue to attack the city or retreat?
(End of this chapter)