Tiger Guards

Chapter 506 Zhang Liao Arrives
The bright moon hangs in the sky, west of Fushi City.

Several groups of Qiang tribes attacked Zhao Yun's camp from the north and west. First, a group of more than a thousand Qiang cavalrymen who had taken a detour arrived near the Sheyan River north of the camp, turned south, and launched the first attack.

The outer perimeter of Zhao Yun's camp consisted of three or four discontinuous, irregular low ice walls, the lowest of which was less than two feet high.

This Qiang cavalry force trudged through the snow and ice, their riders howling in strange cries to bolster their courage or in an attempt to frighten the Han army.

When they approached within fifty paces of the camp, they would turn east, or to the left, so that the Qiang cavalry in the rushing torrent could use their powerful right arms to throw armor-piercing short spears.

Once the tactical maneuver of turning left is completed, it can advance another twenty or thirty steps, and will be within a dozen steps of Zhao Yun's camp. At such a close distance, it can charge with the help of horsepower, and the short spears it throws will be exceptionally powerful.

However, outside Zhao Yun's camp, water was poured and froze to form low, irregular ice walls. As a result, when the vanguard of more than a thousand Qiang cavalry on the flanks, who were about to throw their short spears, their mounts were either tripped by the ice walls or the men and horses collided and piled up together.

The shouts of the Qiang cavalry, filled with shock and anger, mingled with the neighing of their horses. What awaited them was a volley of arrows fired by about five hundred men.

After a volley of crossbow bolts, even more powerful bows and heavy arrows were launched rapidly.

In just four or five breaths, this self-destructive Qiang cavalry had not yet achieved its intended tactical effect before being struck and severely damaged by a dense rain of arrows, and quickly collapsed and retreated northward.

Just as they were about to rout this unfortunate Qiang cavalry at close range, two thousand-strong Qiang troop formations on the east side advanced with shields, slowly passing through the low ice wall that blocked their path.

More Qiang people formed battle groups of varying sizes, following closely behind, some as sparse slingshot formations, others as replacement battle groups of a thousand men, and still others as a considerable number of archers.

Zhao Yun remained on high ground, observing the changing battle situation. The advancing Qiang warriors were staggered, maintaining a distance between each other, and the gaps between their left and right formations were more than ten paces wide, enough for the knights to quickly maneuver and weave through.

His frontline commander held his sword high, pointing to an open space to the side. He stood crouched and head bowed behind a heavily armored infantryman with a shield, observing the slowly advancing Qiang vanguard infantry with only one eye showing.

Judging the distance, when it was less than fifteen paces, he brandished his sword and shouted, "Go!"

The other commanders of a hundred men also gave orders one after another, and more than a thousand crossbows and heavy crossbows were fired in two batches. The Qiang soldiers in the front row who were holding shields immediately broke their shields and their formation was in chaos.

The crossbowmen immediately picked up their spare crossbows and fired another volley, exacerbating the chaos among the Qiang infantry in the front ranks.

Soon, the slingers and archers behind the Qiang began to fire, and the crossbowmen abandoned their crossbows and stood behind the low wall at shoulder height, holding spears, halberds, axes, and even long spears and hooks, waiting for the Qiang to approach.

Some professional crossbowmen also began collecting fired crossbows and transporting them to arrow-blocking walls spaced a dozen steps apart to cock them.

Ordinary crossbows are cocked by foot or waist, while heavy crossbows are fixed to a vehicle, and several people work together to push the vehicle and quickly cock it using the cocking mechanism connected to the wheel hub.

Each team of fifty men had one such shield wall and a wheel-lifting device.

Although the arrows and stones thrown by the Qiang people fell in a flurry, they were unlikely to harm the melee soldiers leaning against the wall, and the work team behind the arrow-blocking wall was even safer.

As Zhao Yun observed, the two sides quickly began to fight each other across the shoulder-high ice wall. Every now and then, the front-line Qiang people were pushed up the ice wall and immediately sniped by the waiting crossbowmen.

As a result, both sides' front lines were randomly poking at each other through the ice wall, and the battle quickly entered a stalemate.

To the east of Zhao Yun was Xu Huang's central army camp.

With Zhao Yun in the northwest and Zhang Liao in the southeast sharing the pressure, Xu Huang's central army camp repelled the Qiang coalition with its well-stocked powerful bows and crossbows when the battle began.

The heavy armored soldiers continued to serve as archers, engaging in continuous firefights with the Qiang allied forces outside the camp.

The garrison inside the camp relied on fortifications to avoid arrows, while the Qiang archers and slingers outside the camp who participated in the attack and exchange of fire either relied on sparse formations or on their own tribe's shield-bearing slaves to provide battlefield cover.

From the central observation post, Pei Xiu, wearing a cold-looking face shield, observed the situation, worried that the arrow reserves would be quickly depleted.

Before he could react, Xu Huang's messenger appeared at the front line, and the frequency of crossbow fire in the camp decreased, and they began to use powerful crossbows to retaliate.

In such icy and snowy conditions, once the crossbow bolts are fired, it is very difficult for the enemy to collect most of the bolts that fall on the snow, except for those that can be obtained from the person or shield.

Bows and arrows, on the other hand, have fletching and often stick into the ground after landing, making them very conspicuous.

Moreover, crossbow bolts fly horizontally, killing in a line until they hit the target; while arrows are launched and can only kill fixed points, making them significantly less efficient.

Thus, after the battle began, Xu Huang's central army suppressed the Qiang people with high-frequency crossbow attacks, and then began to retaliate in a relatively leisurely manner, waiting for the situation to change.

Once Pei Xiu saw that his own camp had stabilized, he went to observe Zhang Liao's camp, which was two or three miles away.

As everyone expected, the Xianbei, who had come from afar, were unlikely to take the initiative and shed blood for the Qiang. The Xianbei, who were in a strategic position, were more like observers. Although they did not supervise the battle, they stood behind the Qiang ranks and watched, which stabilized the Qiang's rear. Even if the frontal offensive was not going well, they would not suffer an uncontrollable rout during the retreat.

Pei Xiu still had the mind to analyze the role the Xianbei were playing at this moment, while Zhang Liao in the southeast camp had no time to think about such things.

Before the war began, Zhang Liao recruited brave men from various camps, selecting eight hundred men with high standards.

At this moment, the eight hundred men remained in the camp, while the cavalry, relying on the fortifications to the south, exchanged fire with the harassing Qiang cavalry.

On the main battlefield, the two battalions of infantry were stretched thin defending the already wide front line and were unable to repel the Qiang people as quickly as Xu Huang in the central army.

As if sensing an opportunity to defeat the enemy, Zhang Liao launched a fierce offensive against the Qiang people in front of him.

Every now and then, small groups of Qiang people would attempt to break through or scale the walls, but these attempts were either repelled by spears and halberds or quickly extinguished by emergency response teams.

The drumbeats were deep and resonant, and Zhang Liao was still waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The intervention of the Xianbei people in this battle put the Qiang people in a state of being supervised and overseen.

Regardless, Zhang Liao must launch a strong counterattack.

Seeing a group of Qiang heavy infantry break through the wall, Zhang Liao turned to his personal guards and said, "Prepare for battle."

"Prepare for war!"

The guards turned and shouted to the other seven assault captains. At that moment, Zhang Liao also took off his cloak to keep warm. His personal guards stepped forward and fixed two bright red feathers, along with the wooden box, to Zhang Liao's back.

The wooden box was about a foot square, tied tightly to the back of the armor with ropes, and two five-foot-long bright red feathers pointed straight up to the sky.

The other assault team leaders also set up wooden boxes, carried feathers, and wore iron masks.

Zhang Liao tightened his deerskin gloves, took the iron halberd, weighed it in his hand, and strode towards the breach without saying a word.

Eight commando officers quickly followed, while the assault soldiers abandoned their cloaks and capes, painted their faces with red and white paint, and carried spears, halberds, axes, maces, and flails.

"Zhang Liao from Yanmen is here!"

When they were about twenty paces away, Zhang Liao shouted loudly, charging forward with his halberd while repeatedly shouting.

A Qiang warrior wielding a shield and hammer forced back a shield-bearer, hung the hammer at his waist, took a fighting spear from his companion, and strode towards Zhang Liao, shouting, "He's mine!"

Before the sound faded, the two drew close. Zhang Liao used both hands to hold his halberd, deflecting the opponent's spear. With a backhand swipe, he parried the leather shield the opponent tried to protect his chest with. The iron halberd pierced through the armor and sank into the opponent's left chest: "This is Zhang Liao!"

Zhang Liao shouted and immediately pounced on another heavily armored Qiang warrior, who was wielding a blood-stained long axe and brought it down.

However, they underestimated Zhang Liao's courage and explosive power. Zhang Liao did not dodge or block, and his equally blood-stained iron halberd continued to thrust forward.

Before the axe fell, Zhang Liao killed his opponent again with his halberd, which pierced the man's throat and went deep into his throat. He pushed the man backward and crashed into the crowd, still shouting, "Zhang Liao!"

As the Qiang people who had broken through the wall stopped in surprise, other assault soldiers rushed forward and quickly cut down a large number of them.

Zhang Liao's drummers beat the drums even faster. Encouraged by the drumbeats, not only the assault troops but also the infantry defending the entire front began to pursue the retreating Qiang people, whose morale was wavering.

Everywhere on the battlefield, there were assault soldiers imitating Zhang Liao, shouting their own names. This frenzied shouting suppressed the Qiang people, and one Qiang tribal battle group after another retreated uncontrollably.

Upon seeing this, Xu Huang immediately mobilized over a thousand elite cavalry to leave the camp and participate in the pursuit, covering Zhang Liao's retreat.

As Xu Huang mobilized his cavalry, the Xianbei people who were watching from the periphery also rode south, but they clashed and became entangled with the retreating Qiang soldiers, making it difficult for them to quickly break away and move forward.

The Xianbei vanguard general, Uyghur Dou, was furious, yet felt it was only right: "Sound the horn, retreat!"

Tonight, he only wanted to see the morale of the Han army and whether the various Qiang tribes would obey.

Now that we've tested the waters, there's no need to fight anymore.

(End of this chapter)