Three Kingdoms: Prosper Han from the beginning of brushing favorability

Chapter 232
Facing the rumbling war elephants ahead, although Zhang Yi's Han army began to tremble, they still insisted on not fleeing.

"Wait a minute, the range is not enough." Zhang Yi murmured in a low voice, comforting the crotch horse that had also started to become agitated.

In the previous march, Liu Chan had discussed with the generals how to deal with these war elephants.

Throwing spears and crossbows are the only two types of weapons that can cause damage to war elephants when approaching the enemy in field battles.

But the war horses are not used to the smell of the elephant herd, and they are timid and frightened before they reach the appropriate range, so that the spear-throwing tactic cannot be implemented.

Right now, the six-stone rhubarb crossbow is the only thing the Han army can rely on in the face of these giant beasts.

Zhang Yi felt that he had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, so that one blow would be effective.

The charging speed of the war elephants in front of them is not slow. If they want to shoot the arrows and fire the second round before they get close, there may not be a chance.

As the elephants charged closer and closer, the soldiers of the Han army became more and more nervous, and many of them had sweat dripping from their foreheads.

The primitive sense of oppression brought by the size is constantly impacting their defenses.

Zhang Yi also knew this well, and couldn't wait any longer.

"Let go!" With an order, more than a hundred rhubarb crossbows were fired, and the lengthened crossbows flew out immediately.

Puff puff!
"Woo-!"

Zhang Yi looked happy, the result of this round of salvo was gratifying!
The crossbow bolts fired by the rhubarb crossbow successfully penetrated the thick skin of these war elephants and penetrated into their bodies.

Some of their forelegs were hit by arrows, and some of their flapping ears were directly shot through, blood flowed out, and the war elephants screamed in pain one after another.

There was also a pair of unlucky elephant cavalrymen who were accurately hit by a crossbow bolt, and both rolled off the elephant's body...

But immediately, the smile on Zhang Yi's face froze.

Except for the big guy in the elephant armor hiding behind the other war elephants who was not injured, the other war elephants were indeed injured, and one war elephant that happened to be stuck in its nose by a crossbow arrow also looked miserable.

However, they didn't stop their charge, instead they rushed towards them even more violently at high speed...

Liu Chan, who was watching the battle from the center, couldn't help closing his eyes: "Ming Jin, withdraw troops!"

At this moment, the loss must be stopped in time, otherwise once the elephant herd rushes in, and the follow-up barbarians cover up and kill it, the consequences will be disastrous.

The army that received the retreat order began to retreat in an orderly and rapid manner.

"Withdraw, withdraw quickly!" Zhang Yi, who received the order, carried it out immediately despite his unwillingness.

The crossbowmen on the two wings, as well as the Han soldiers who were still sticking to the front line to face the pressure at this time, breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately turned around and ran back as fast as possible.

This was the first time they turned around and ran back in battle after they came to Nanzhong. In almost every soldier's heart, besides panic and fear, there was still a bitter feeling of aggrieved.

That was the sense of self-confidence and honor built up by Liu Chan and others leading them all the way to victory and invincibility. When they had to retreat and escape, this feeling was turning into a bitter sense of shame, stinging their hearts.

Eating, sleeping, and training and fighting with members of the Red Star Army, some soldiers of the Han Army were more or less affected.

Death is certainly terrifying, but this kind of taste is not pleasant for a bloody man.

Sitting on the white elephant, Pu Wang Citu laughed when he saw the Han army fleeing, shouted their native language, and kept tapping on the shield in his hand.

The excellent crossbow of the Han army caused some damage to his war elephants, but the damage was not enough to make the elephants lose their minds.

If it is a wild elephant in the wild, maybe a few will die after suffering this kind of injury.

But if it is under the care of their clansmen, this will not happen.

"Rush! Crush them! Hahaha!" In the eyes of the King of Kunming, the Han army was almost collapsed at the slightest touch, vulnerable to a single blow, and immediately danced with excitement.

After Liu Chan made arrangements for the retreat, he put his legs between the horse's belly, broke away from the central army, and ran straight towards the Hu Li cavalry team who began to flee in all directions on the flanks.

……

Hu Liyou wanted to lead the cavalry to restrain the elephant herd, buying time for his comrades to retreat, but the horse under his crotch was frightened and did not obey orders at all, and had already begun to flee spontaneously at this time.

But he saw a knight in black horse and silver armor coming retrograde. He was startled and shouted: "Prince, hurry up! War horses are afraid of elephants, and they will be frightened if they get close! Go away!"

Liu Chan rode his horse closer and walked side by side with Hu Li. Perhaps because of the sense of security brought by his peers, Hu Li got off his horse and gradually recovered from his fear.

"Throw your guns at me! You go to appease the horses, and then go straight back to the camp!"

Hu Li obeyed the order subconsciously, but after handing over the three throwing spears, he couldn't help but said: "Prince, don't be impulsive! Elephants are no match for human beings, you..."

"Let's go!" Liu Chan took the three throwing spears and clamped them to his left arm. Without talking nonsense, he immediately steered his horse and approached the elephants.

Of course he knew that that thing was not human-powered. Even with the body of an overlord, the 14-year-old Xiang Yu couldn't possibly defeat twenty elephants.

Liu Chan just wanted to try to see if he could restrain and attract one or two elephants and reduce the casualties of some Han soldiers.

Ordinary war horses will be frightened when they get close to the elephant herd. Others can't complete this task at all, so he can only pin his hopes on Wu Zai under his crotch.

Although Liu Chan has seldom practiced this kind of combat method, he has observed it many times. In addition, he has excellent memory and eyesight, and he is not ignorant of the grasp of distance.

It's just that as the distance gradually approached, Wu Xiao, who had been fighting in many places with him on his crotch, obviously began to get irritable, and his speed tended to decrease.

Liu Chan quickly patted the horse's neck to comfort his comrades.

What made him quite gratified was that his black-tailed horse was not extraordinary after all, and after being appeased, he started to accelerate forward again!
And Liu Chan, who broke away from the legion and triggered the characteristics of [Single Horse] and [Fen Xun], his physique has once again risen to the overlord's body.

"Hey!"

A throwing gun was thrown by him vigorously, the speed of the gun was faster than that of Ma Chao, who is now overwhelmed this year!

But aim... Liu Chan, who threw his spear for the first time, was much stronger than Hu Li and the others, and the spear flew about a foot above the elephant cavalryman's head.

It was the sound of howling through the air that shocked the cavalrymen who were driving the elephants to charge.

Turning the horse's head and sprinting for the second time, Liu Chan readjusted the distance and angle. In addition, the war elephant is huge in size and has the bonus of "excellent talent".

The javelin hit the war elephant with precision.

puff!
Throwing the spear vigorously pierced the elephant's skin and penetrated deeply into the flesh, but it was a pity that the position was on the elephant's buttocks, which was not a fatal injury to the object.

It's just that the pain caused by this blow was far worse than before. The war elephant immediately let out a scream and slowed down its momentum, trying to use its nimble nose to pull out the javelin on its butt... Unfortunately, it couldn't reach it.

The elephant cavalry was startled, and immediately patted the back of the elephant to comfort him, while the two accompanying barbarians also beat the ground with long sticks, shouting endlessly.

However, just when they were about to succeed, another javelin flew in, pierced an elephant soldier's thigh, and then pierced the elephant's back...

"Woo-!"

The war elephant, which had suffered two consecutive blows, fell into a complete rage. With a kick of its front hoof, it overturned the barbarians on its body.

Then he waved his trunk and tusks and violently pushed the two barbarians who were still trying to control them to the ground, breaking their bones and tendons.

Then the enraged war elephant finally rushed to the culprit Liu Chan, but even though it charged very fast, it couldn't outrun the war horse, let alone Wu Zou.

Liu Chan led the elephant out of the pursuit team. The high-intensity running was not the strength of the elephant. Coupled with the constant blood loss, he gave up the pursuit soon after.

Liu Chan, who went around in circles, returned to the formation safely.

However, with his own strength, it is already the limit to do so.

Zhang Yi's former army, whose sprint speed was not as fast as that of the war elephants, was finally overtaken by the war elephants, knowing that they could not escape. Under the orders of several spear phalanx commanders, many Han soldiers turned back and formed a spear formation again. Flesh and blood against the onslaught of war elephants...

"kill--!"

In the end, there were some timid fugitives, but there were also some bloody soldiers who held spears and stabbed the war elephants with roars.

It's just... the result is self-evident.

The war elephants crashed into the battle formation one after another, and the spears pierced on their bodies were broken in response. Soldiers were constantly lifted into the air by their tusks, and even rolled up by their trunks and fell to the ground... More people were trampled and injured.

The battle was brutal. Compared with it, the casualties caused by the barbarians around the elephants and the cavalry on the elephants were almost negligible.

Seeing this situation, the young Zhang Yi gritted his teeth, clenched the weapon in his hand, and wanted to turn back and fight.

But after all, he was born in a big family, and reason finally prevailed. He used the precious time gained by the sacrificed Han army to command the brigade to finally get rid of the pursuit.

The war elephant lacked stamina. After the previous sprint, they fought for a while, so they could only trot at a low speed, and finally let the Han army escape.

The Han soldiers staying in the camp couldn't help being shocked when they saw the army returning in embarrassment, and hurriedly opened the gate of the camp to welcome the army into the camp.

Then Liu Chan didn't dare to be careless, and quickly arranged manpower to defend the camp.

Sure enough, Meng Huo and others, who had won a small victory for a while, were not satisfied, and soon drove the war elephants to Liu Chan's camp.

However, the trenches dug deep before finally came in handy at this time. Although the clever war elephants ignored the antlers and easily dragged them away with their trunks, they could not cross the trenches full of sharp thorns.

In addition, the bows, arrows and crossbows of the Han army in the camp were all fired, and the barbarian army that could not successfully cross over finally retreated helplessly...

The soldiers of the Han army breathed a sigh of relief, but Yu Nanzhong's first defeat also cast a haze over everyone's hearts.

Liu Chan's face was sinking like water, and in this tentative battle alone, more than a thousand people were killed or injured by the Han army.

And the ones who died were those Hao Erlang of the Han family who dared to turn around and fight to the death in the face of ferocious war elephants to buy time for their comrades. How could he not make his heart ache?
The trenches are not difficult to deal with. If you don't find a way to deal with these beasts, when the enemy is fully prepared to attack again, it will not be as simple as killing and injuring thousands of people.

At this time, without the knowledge of both sides, two more armies entered the territory of Yizhou County.

One is Zhuge Liang's army coming from the northwest, and the other... seems to be a barbarian army, coming from the southwest Yongchang County, which has never been heard from.

But the leading general is a white-faced scholar-like Han Chinese. Most of the soldiers in the army are dressed in tree and vine armor, and it is not known whether they are enemies or friends...

(End of this chapter)