Mythical Three Kingdoms-Chapter 1584 - 1526: Li Yan’s Elite Troops

After Zhou Yu made up his mind, he hesitated no more. When the Northern Huns' archers charged forward, Eastern Wu's archers advanced; when the Northern Huns retreated, Eastern Wu followed. Eastern Wu's archers were not any worse in shooting arrows. If they couldn't dodge, they would engage directly in casualties. Zhou Yu just didn't believe the Northern Huns could withstand casualties.

Sure enough, after Zhou Yu endured the volleys from the Northern Huns' arrows several times, the Northern Huns became extremely wary of Zhou Yu's army from the front. Although it seemed like the Northern Huns had the advantage with double casualties for their opponents, in reality, the strategic winner was clear.

After several assaults were repelled by the volleys from Zhou Yu's soldiers, the Northern Huns' elite cavalry became somewhat frenzied due to repeated failures.

But for Zhou Yu, this wasn't a bad thing. With several counter-attacks, Zhou Yu was already grasping the rhythm of cavalry combat. Similarly, his soldiers were gradually adapting to the Northern Huns elite cavalry's tactics.

The infantry from Eastern Wu were indeed quite ordinary, but to say they were so weak wasn't normal. Initially, a significant reason was the lack of experience in cavalry combat.

With Zhou Yu's strong counter-attacks, although the archers suffered significant casualties, they were visibly less fearful of cavalry than at the start. After all, enemies they could kill weren't invincible.

With this awareness, under Zhou Yu's command, the archers of the main formation gradually performed at their proper level, making it increasingly difficult for the Northern Huns' elite cavalry to gain the upper hand.

After repeated probing found it hard to deal with Zhou Yu's hedgehog-like formation, the new leader of the Northern Huns elite cavalry immediately turned heads towards Wuhuan, planning first to unite previously separated forces to defeat Wuhuan, then drive Wuhuan to attack Zhou Yu's main formation.

At the moment the Northern Huns elite cavalry turned heads, Zhou Yu had already guessed their intention. However, facing such a slippery opponent, Zhou Yu, leading short-legged infantry, didn't have many good methods, especially since he couldn't freely disperse his formation.

"Advance the whole army," Zhou Yu ordered with a solemn expression, watching the Northern Huns elite cavalry already cutting into Wuhuan's charge formation from the inner side.

[While both sides are cavalry, a huge gap in combat power remains difficult to erase, as the Northern Huns' strength is at least several times that of Wuhuan!] Zhou Yu watched as the Northern Huns elite cavalry breached Wuhuan's formation from the inner side almost in an instant.

[Fast speed, strong attack and defense, balanced power, capable of mounted archery, and even shooting more powerful arrows during thrusts. The Northern Huns' cavalry is truly formidable. It seems I must study cavalry.]

Zhou Yu steadily charged forward while pondering the future direction of development as he watched the direction of the Hun cavalry.

Meanwhile, Wuhuan faced the Northern Huns' vice army from the front and was nearly cut off at the waist by the Northern Huns' elite cavalry striking from the inner side, as the Northern Huns from the front suddenly intensified their efforts. Both cavalry quickly joined forces to prepare to crush Wuhuan. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

If it weren't for Li Yan leading elite Danyang troops to rush over just as the Northern Huns were about to penetrate Wuhuan's military formation, using heavy crossbows to shoot the Northern Huns back, Wuhuan would have succeeded in their assault.

After forcing the Northern Huns back, Li Yan immediately led the already disorderly elite swords and shields of Danyang troops to charge over. If someone were watching from the sky at this moment, they'd notice that Danyang soldiers under Li Yan's command naturally moved to the advantageous positions with every step.

After charging only about twenty steps, under Li Yan's leadership, Danyang soldiers had already formed an attack formation in groups of five to six, and clouds in the sky changed sparsely to densely to enhance different effects in groups of five to six.

Just like every type of elite troop has its own attribute of talent, the renowned elite troop of Danyang from the Great Han Dynasty, known for hundreds of years, also possesses their unique elite talent.

The elite talent of Danyang troops consists of only one aspect: strengthening organizational power, or in other words, Danyang soldiers are naturally suited for leadership, or rather they can fight without a leader.

Li Yan's Legion Talent allows soldiers to understand commands more clearly and strengthens troop coordination.

As previously mentioned, this Legion Talent varies depending on who uses it. When used by someone like Zhang Fei or Hua Xiong, it's almost the same as having none. But when used by Li Yan, it's a rather strong Legion Talent, though far from invincible. If used by Zhuge, Li Youu, or Jia Xu, it would practically be linked to invincibility.

Of course, this is what Li Yan used to think. After leading elite Danyang troops and especially activating the Legion Talent, he suddenly discovered that the already fortified commanding power and organizational efficiency of elite Danyang troops fit perfectly with his Legion Talent.

This was why Li Yan dared to pursue after shooting the Northern Huns as they were breaking through, and as the Northern Huns were forced to turn heads, seeing Li Yan audaciously leading infantry in a charge, they immediately broke through Wuhuan and, without slowing down, turned towards Li Yan in attack, and at the same moment, bent their bows to shoot towards Li Yan's infantry.

In the next instant, the Danyang soldiers without shields collectively retreated, while those with shields naturally stepped to the forefront, tilting and raising their shields to block the incoming arrows during the retreat.

Simultaneously, archers within the Danyang soldiers naturally advanced for shooting, while other soldiers moved aside as if they had eyes on the back of their heads, creating a path for archers to shoot. Both sides didn't shoot many arrows, but in terms of results, Danyang soldiers' arrows concentrated remarkably on one spot.

The Northern Huns elite cavalry came charging like thunder, and the sword and shield infantry naturally took their position. But in the next moment, the same situation as previously seen at Zhou Yu's main formation appeared, with the fierce charge once again tearing a gap in Li Yan's military formation.

Li Yan's expression tightened, losing the former arrogance of discovering synergy between himself and elite Danyang troops, naturally forming a spear formation of several hundred troops at the Northern Huns' charge front.

Unfortunately, despite the spear formation's ferocity, it was forcibly breached by the Northern Huns after causing nearly a hundred casualties, at which point Li Yan saw the situation wasn't favorable and quickly dispersed the spear formation. Fortunately, Wuhuan's rear army seized the opportunity to bite the Northern Huns' tail once again, forcing the Northern Huns to divide their attention.

Li Yan immediately seized the moment, using scattered soldiers on either side of the Northern Huns' charge to naturally form two attack groups with spear formations outside and archers inside, sacrificing casualties to forcibly curb the Northern Huns' charge speed. In the channel naturally cleared by Li Yan, the Northern Huns' offensive finally encountered resistance.

Li Yan's rear army of Danyang soldiers lacked any other troops and were all sword and shield infantry, but unlike those in the front, these shield-bearers had large shields and were very robust, hand-picked by Li Yan to serve as steel plates against the Northern Huns.