Mythical Three Kingdoms-Chapter 1583 - 1525: After the Second Effort, Defeat Follows the Third Attempt
The Vice King of the Northern Huns was shot through the back by an arrow from a distance at the moment he charged out.
Seeing the opposing leader was killed by his arrow, Wen Pin coldly pulled another arrow from himself. Pierced by several arrows, he relied on his Inner Qi Manifestation physique to remain lively.
"All troops, switch to bows and arrows, annihilate the Northern Huns!" Wen Pin shouted. The soldiers, who were close to collapsing earlier, regained some morale after the Northern Huns were driven back. They switched to the bows and arrows hanging on their chests and shot towards the Northern Huns following Wen Pin's command.
The seven thousand soldiers were originally archers, now reverting to their previous equipment. As previously mentioned, in Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou, all men could ride horses, varying in skill levels. In Eastern Wu, all living beings could shoot arrows...
After the Vice King of the Northern Huns was killed by Wen Pin, a leader of a thousand among the Northern Huns immediately took over the position, surprising both Zhou Yu and Wen Pin. Wen Pin was puzzled about why the Northern Huns didn't collapse after their leader was killed, while Zhou Yu appeared thoughtful.
[The Northern Huns are truly intriguing. There are at least three aspects in this battle worth my learning and deep contemplation. It seems staying permanently in the south is not conducive to my development. The battles in the north require more caution.]
Zhou Yu once again handed over command to Cheng Pu. Despite the Northern Huns' ferocity, they failed to achieve their goal in the initial confrontation, and Zhou Yu foresaw the demise of this Northern Huns force.
After the new leader of the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry took over, he immediately led the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry around the perimeter, avoiding the arrow range of Zhou Yu's main formation. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
At this time, surprisingly, the mere one thousand Northern Huns Elite Cavalry managed to steadily suppress the Wuhuan Cavalry facing them on the front battlefield. This was unexpected to Zhou Yu, but recalling the previous performance of the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry, Zhou Yu had an estimate in mind.
The Wuhuan Cavalry, having decided to attack the Northern Huns decisively, took advantage of the situation to swiftly eliminate nearly a hundred Northern Huns Elite Cavalry, diverting a third of the Northern Huns' forces. The Wuhuan people originally thought the Han Army, with its numerical superiority, could easily defeat the Northern Huns.
However, the Northern Huns quickly shattered the Han Army's vanguard and smashed into the Han Army's central army, an ice-cold shock to the Wuhuan Chief, as if doused with a bucket of icy water.
This was also an important reason why the five thousand Wuhuan Cavalry, led by the Wuhuan Chief, were quickly suppressed by only a fifth of the Northern Huns Cavalry. In the Wuhuan people's impression, the Han Army should be swift and electrifying like the White Horse Soldiers, but instead appeared so weak.
Fortunately, the valorous fighting of the central army dispelled the Wuhuan people's fear, but those Wuhuan who failed to show their full strength due to terror were already firmly suppressed by the Northern Huns, unable to demonstrate better performance.
The new leader of the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry circled around a large radius on Zhou Yu's army's flank, continuously turning to avoid most of the incoming arrows, finally finding a flaw in Cheng Pu's direction where sword and shield were still used, and immediately charged fiercely.
When the Northern Huns charged close to fifty paces from Zhou Yu's main unit, Cheng Pu immediately led the sword and shield infantry to retreat. Archers from the sides closed in and wildly fired arrows, with some arrows shot three at a time. At such a close distance, with the opponent moving so fast, a collision surely meant a shot through!
During the hail of arrows, the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry instinctively began to dodge, preventing an immediate retreat. Zhou Yu's army instantly extended two wings, with nearly a thousand archers entering range, intensifying the arrow barrage.
When the new leader of the Northern Huns finally turned back, several Northern Huns had already fallen from their horses and died. Zhou Yu coldly watched the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry turn around, knowing he couldn't pursue them yet, but his main army would soon come.
[It seems that in cavalry charges, the first assault poses the true threat, aligning with the logic of building momentum before fatigue sets in. Hence, the strategy now is not to give them any chance, but to wait for encirclement.]
While Zhou Yu pondered, the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry suddenly turned and began encircling Zhou Yu, accelerating steadily until reaching their peak speed, then suddenly charging towards Zhou Yu's main formation. Archers in Zhou Yu's formation reflexively prepared their bows to shoot as soon as the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry came within range.
Before the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry entered the shooting range of Zhou Yu's archers, they swiftly drew bows and fired their arrows, then smoothly made a left turn, creating a large loop to the right.
"Bang bang bang~" A series of arrows pierced the leather armor, and many soldiers on the periphery of Zhou Yu's main formation were shot dead by the arrows fired by the Northern Huns. The only arrows from Zhou Yu's formation that hit the Northern Huns were those exceeding shooting range; most arrows fell into empty ground.
Zhou Yu was shocked, completely unprepared for the Northern Huns' mounted archery range, which exceeded the range of their infantry's Great Yellow Bow, a truly astonishing feat.
In reality, Zhou Yu was inexperienced; the White Horse Soldiers also relied on mounted archery against infantry, with innate talents in speed and agility. This all-encompassing speed talent even included the initial speed of the arrows fired.
Thus, the arrow attack power of the White Horse Soldiers was at most only slightly lower than regular arrows. But since their opponents were often monster-level or military spirit rank, against such defense levels, the White Horse's attack was often quite limited...
Regrettably, the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry also possessed elite talent. Although their main talent wasn't in speed, the added speed made their mounted archery range slightly longer than the infantry's longbow range.
As for the White Horse, its arrows could shoot two times the range with light arrows, yet at two times the range, the power was insufficient to penetrate infantry leather armor and probably only pierced cloth armor.
However, using normal arrows, shooting 1.2 times the range ensured about 90% of a regular archer's power. Within regular range, the power was slightly greater than regular archer arrows. The problem was, up to now, which army opposed to the White Horse was a normal army...
As arrows steadily fell into Zhou Yu's formation, the Northern Huns Elite Cavalry leader prepared to repeat the previous move. Zhou Yu coldly commanded the archers on both flanks to extend outward, confronting the Northern Huns' arrows head-on and engaging in a shooting duel.
If necessary, endure the casualties, bite them down until the ambush arrives, solve them then. Zhou Yu was not someone to be trifled with.
