Mythical Three Kingdoms-Chapter 1575 - 1517: Turning Their Tactics Against Them

Li Yan, Wen Pin, and Cheng Pu are all quite autonomous and capable generals, but once Zhou Yu makes up his mind to do something, only Sun Ce can stop him; the others are ineffective, and Sun Ce isn’t here now.

So, at Zhou Yu’s command, all the ships quickly got busy, and the news of landing tomorrow spread swiftly among the soldiers. Zhou Yu’s execution was as frightening as ever, and although Li Yan and the others wanted to ask questions, seeing Zhou Yu silent, they had no choice but to hold back.

During Zhou Yu’s bustling activities, the Miscellaneous Hun guarding the Liaodong Peninsula also received the news. Although it differed somewhat from their expectations, it matched the outcome anticipated by the Northern Huns Sage; the Han Army chose this path.

The Wuhuan chief immediately sent someone with a swift horse to notify the Northern Huns, while, according to the prior instructions of the Northern Huns, he prepared an ambush at the landing site, waiting to push the Han army into the water in a battle.

Zhou Yu’s actions weren’t fast, almost as if deliberately giving the shore’s Miscellaneous Hun time to prepare, but his slow yet firm actions were greatly beneficial to them.

One could say that having fought all his life, he’d never seen an enemy so cooperative, as if intentionally sending themselves to death.

"Gongjin, isn’t this too dangerous?" Cheng Pu hesitated at Zhou Yu’s plan, not fearing death but feeling Zhou Yu’s method was too reckless. Since Cheng Pu had reached the Inner Qi Manifestation stage, he could escape if not surrounded.

"Don’t worry, the Miscellaneous Hun are only capable to this extent. I don’t believe the Northern Huns would send their own clan warriors as the vanguard. After all, regardless of the shared goal, the Miscellaneous Hun and Northern Huns cannot be of one mind." Zhou Yu casually replied.

Zhou Yu indeed didn’t know the Northern Huns’ combat power, but Sheni Pei and Zhang He’s encounters reminded Zhou Yu that the Eastern Wu infantry under his leadership, if in close combat, would definitely not be a match for the Northern Huns.

Zhou Yu had no good solution to this; the weakness of his Eastern Wu infantry was unbearable to watch. The positioning was for the Northern Huns to hit five Eastern Wu troopers against one of theirs.

Whatever the outcome, for Zhou Yu, infantry inefficiencies could be accepted. As long as the Northern Huns didn’t face our short against their long, they were nothing to fear.

As for the Miscellaneous Hun, they were unimpressive; even if the Eastern Wu infantry were rubbish, they could never achieve a one-to-one combat record. Moreover, the Eastern Wu infantry couldn’t all be inept; Danyang was in Eastern Wu’s territory, and Zhou Yu recruited 3,000 troops of Danyang’s traditional soldiers.

Although not well-trained, unlike the elite Danyang troops left by Xuzhou who don’t need command, their innate heightened cooperation under a commanding officer was remarkable, making them quite formidable.

Seeing Zhou Yu adamant, Cheng Pu couldn’t persuade him, so he followed Zhou Yu’s orders to deploy the navy units.

"Zheng Fang, take charge of the Danyang troops. Engage if you can defeat them, hold them if you can’t, and if unable to hold, let them pass, and we’ll take them down." Zhou Yu handed the general’s order to Li Yan, truthfully, apart from his power hunger, Li Yan’s skills were reassuring to Zhou Yu.

"Rest assured, General Zhou," Li Yan said solemnly, then took the command back to his ship and sailed northwards.

"Zhongye, your task is the same as before, accompany me." Zhou Yu turned to Wen Pin and said, Wen Pin nodded without speaking further.

A string of fast boats was dropped into the sea and linked together by towing chains, Zhou Yu equipped the navy with all available bows and arrows.

In Eastern Wu, similar to Bingzhou or Liangzhou where anyone could ride a horse, nearly everyone was adept with a bow and arrow, their skill level being the only difference.

With the idea that Liu Bei provided military supplies and any shortcomings could be written off later, Zhou Yu equipped 7,000 troops with bows and arrows. Since landing required sword and shield infantry to form formations, large-scale archers seemed preferable.

Anyway, archery was possible even on fast boats, formations weren’t necessary, and dense arrow rain suited this not-so-open battlefield making Zhou Yu confident the Miscellaneous Hun couldn’t breach through.

As for formations, Zhou Yu truly hadn’t considered them; since the opponents weren’t like Duke Xiang of Song who’d give time for forming formations, in such matters, encountering cavalry from an established formation at rest, Zhou Yu imagined only slaughter.

Thus, landing sword and shield infantry was too dangerous, archers landing seemed safer.

Hundreds of small boats were tied together by Zhou Yu with ropes, forming thousands of archers arrayed on the fast boats. A massive flotilla crept toward the shore at a maddeningly slow pace.

This move was learned from Guo Jia, initially Guo Jia used a massive linked fleet to block the river, while Zhou Yu used a linked fleet to form a formation allowing soldiers to steadily advance to the shore.

The Miscellaneous Hun ambushed on the shore were bewildered at first upon witnessing this, but soon realized even if the fleet had reached the shore, the Han Army still had to run ashore, where chaos would ensue, allowing them to crush the Han Army amid the disorder.

Having done this before, the pressure wasn’t as intense this time, and while startled by Zhou Yu’s maneuver, the Miscellaneous Hun weren’t deterred.

As the front row soldiers landed, Zhou Yu leisurely commanded the troops to disembark. Undoubtedly, the Hu people’s choice of ambush spot was astute, a flared muzzle formation.

The cavalry hidden in the flared muzzle charged when the Han Army in normal conditions hadn’t formed formations; they would be squeezed back into the sea. Alas, Zhou Yu didn’t follow conventional paths.

As Zhou Yu’s army half-landed, the coastline turned chaotic, the formation was disorganized, providing the best opportunity for the Miscellaneous Hun.

Indeed, observing Zhou Yu’s army increasingly numerous and chaotic upon landing, the Miscellaneous Hun chief was ready. With a roar, and swarms of cavalry charged from the flared muzzle, indistinct black Cloud Qi and blood mingled as they raced forth.

Zhou Yu smirked coldly, knowing Hu people’s limits; with a zither sound resonating, Zhou Yu’s talent enveloped all soldiers in a calm demeanor, reassuring them naturally to draw and shoot.

Over 7,000 men drew and shot, three volleys of arrow rain covered more than half of the Miscellaneous Hun!