Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 281 275. Failure
"Squeaky..."

As the winch at the city gate made a series of harsh friction sounds, the high-hanging suspension bridge fell to the ground with a loud bang, and then the west gate of Jianye City slowly opened. Countless Jiangdong warriors rode out on their war horses of varying quality, and like handsome eagles out hunting, they pounced on the Han army outside the city who were still operating catapults to fill the moat without knowing the consequences.

"Very good. As long as we can destroy those Thunderbolt Chariots, the cost of the Han army's siege will inevitably increase. Our chances of defending Jianye will also increase."

Zhuge Jin watched the cavalry below charging towards the Han army, and he couldn't help but feel excited. The Wu army needed some good news to restore morale, even if it was just a small victory like this.

However, the Han army seemed to have anticipated the actions of the Wu army. These thousands of Han soldiers actually took out various bows and crossbows from behind, and under the cover of some sword and shield soldiers, they stopped operating the catapults and instead formed a standard three-stage shooting formation.

And the story didn't end there. Many of the Eastern Wu cavalrymen had only charged a few steps when their horses suddenly stumbled and the riders were thrown flying, then trampled into meat paste by the unstoppable cavalry.

"What happened? Why are you losing your composure?!"

Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin, who were watching the battle on the city wall, were at a loss as to what to do with the cavalry's sudden pause. Naturally, no one could answer them. Knights kept falling off their horses. Those who were lucky could still survive, while those who were unlucky were trampled to death on the spot.

"Whoosh!"

The Han army had no intention of surrendering. The Han army that took over the battle line immediately launched a three-stage shooting. Moreover, many of the Han soldiers did not use the Shenbi crossbow, but a strange crossbow with a small box on it. To use it, one only had to push and pull a handle on it, and the crossbow arrows would shoot out one after another. The speed was even faster than the Shenbi crossbow.

The Wu cavalry, which was originally small in number, suffered even more now. Only a thousand of them were able to survive this wave of arrow rain, and many of them and their horses were even injured.

"Throw!"

Some soldiers holding spears behind the front row of sword and shield soldiers took a few bottles from their waists. Soldiers holding fire wicks beside them lit the bottles for them. They threw them with all their strength at the Wu cavalry without much pause.

Of course, so many cavalry charging would not care about these small bottles, but these small bottles exploded when they fell to the ground, making a loud noise and flames.

The war horses of the Eastern Wu were not much nobler than those of the Wei army. They were frightened by fire and explosions. The Wu knights who had managed to escape the siege could only sit and wait for death.

No matter how they tried to calm the horses, these damn beasts were still in panic, leaving the knights with nothing but to watch as the Han army quickly loaded a wave of crossbows, and then a dark curtain like a swarm of locusts flew towards the less than a thousand people.

"Hush..."

After an incense stick of time, only Han soldiers were left cleaning up the battlefield. The Han army was not unscathed, as there were still a few hundred lucky ones who rushed over and caused some casualties to the Han army. But how could a few hundred people cause any waves in the Han army, which had now upgraded its weapons to artillery? They were quickly strangled to death.

All that was left on the battlefield were the fallen horses and the unconscious howling of dying men.

"..." Zhuge Jin and Bu Zhi were silent. They bet on the last cavalry attack of the Eastern Wu, but in the end, they only killed and injured hundreds of Han soldiers under the city. As for destroying the catapults, those cavalrymen who survived by chance would not have the heart to do so? All they thought about was charging into the Han army to take revenge.

The final result was that the Eastern Wu lost 3,000 cavalrymen and the Han army suffered hundreds of casualties. It was clearly a disastrous defeat for the Eastern Wu.

"Grand Commander, you have also seen the various miraculous methods used by the Han army just now. It is not uncommon for our Wu cavalry to suddenly fall off their horses, use palm thunder, and start fires on the ground. If we continue to wait like this, I am afraid that the Han army will attack us tomorrow."

Bu Zhi looked at Zhuge Jin with a bitter face. In name, Zhuge Jin was the Grand Commander, and now he had also seen the strange tactics of the Han army. If he spoke a few more words for him in the court, it was estimated that the civil and military officials in the court would pay attention to him.

"Hey, Zishan, how can we break through this? We don't even know the principle of ground fire and palm thunder, so how can we defend against it?"

Zhuge Jin shook his head. He was not some genius who could see what the Han army had done at a glance, and he was shocked and frightened by these unheard-of methods.

However, he quite agreed with what Bu Zhi said. From Sun Quan onwards, the Eastern Wu seemed unwilling to believe that the Han army had any magical powers, and they simply attributed the previous defeats to the poor management of the generals.

Now, how to prevent it? How to avoid it?
"Don't panic, Grand Commander. In my opinion, the recent rainy weather is quite beneficial to us. Heavy rain can still curb these magic arts. But it happened that it didn't rain today, so my Dongwu men suffered a great loss."

Bu Zhi hurriedly told Zhuge Jin about his previous discovery. Although heavy rain could not completely seal the Han army's magic, it could definitely reduce some of its power.

Zhuge Jin thought about it and decided that what Bu Zhi said was better than nothing. After all, it was impossible for it to rain heavily every day. There would always be a few days when it didn't rain. Even if the Han army wanted to, they could wait with him and others until the plum rain was over and then make a final push.

Although Zhuge Jin did not have as complete theoretical knowledge as modern people, he also knew that the initiative on the battlefield was now in the hands of the Han army, and whether to attack the city was decided by the Han army.

Although many Wu civil and military officials believed that the Han army could not fight for a long time, as long as the war lasted for a long time, Cao Wei would definitely intervene and the Han army would have no choice but to retreat. However, Zhuge Jin was never willing to pin all the possibilities on Cao Wei. He would rather defeat the Han army himself than wait for the illusory Wei army to launch an attack.

"General, as you expected, the Wu army could not hold back and came out of the city to attack. Our army wiped out all their cavalry, and our army also suffered losses..."

Feng Xi's right-hand man Bao Feng reported to Feng Xi the result of the battle just now, but Feng Xi was not very happy.

He arranged caltrops and used the latest crossbows, but still caused hundreds of casualties. Although other generals thought this was enough, Feng Xi was still not satisfied.

"If I had known earlier, I would have set up some barricades or traps in advance, otherwise the losses would have been much lower."

Feng Xi reviewed the battle in his mind. He had expected that the Wu army would not allow the Han army to fill up the moat in front of them, so he was prepared.

(End of this chapter)