In the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era: I became Yang Guozhong's eldest son.

On the city floor.

Li Guangbi coldly stared at the enemy troops swarming below like ants, a cruel smile curving his lips.

"Finally, they couldn't hold back anymore?"

This is the moment he's been waiting for.

In his eagerness to seize credit and break the deadlock, Zhang Wu has completely lost his mind and committed a cardinal sin in military strategy—cramming all his troops into a narrow terrain and abandoning all reserves and flank cover.

The Jiannan Army is now like a blind bull charging forward, exposing its most vulnerable belly to the blades of the Yaozhou Army.

"Helan Jin, have your Zhechongfu troops withdraw and go to the flanks to guard the area."

Li Guangbi issued the order without turning his head.

He Lan Jin felt as if he had been granted a pardon. His men had suffered heavy casualties in the past few days and were on the verge of collapse. Upon hearing this order, he quickly led his remaining troops to a relatively safe corner.

"Pei Zhao." Li Guangbi's voice suddenly rose, carrying a chilling aura that seemed to soar to the heavens, "Your three hundred crossbowmen have been hiding for two whole days; it's time they saw some blood!"

Pei Zhao's eyes gleamed, and he suddenly ripped off the linen cloak draped over his body, revealing the fine armor underneath.

"Crossbowmen, advance!"

With Pei Zhao's order, three hundred elite salt-protecting soldiers, who had been waiting in ambush and were eager to fight, marched in unison and quickly filled the gaps left by the retreating soldiers of Zhechong Prefecture.

They formed groups of ten, three in a row, and instantly created a three-section firing formation at the crenellations of the city wall.

Three hundred uniquely shaped, gleaming steel crossbows emerged from the parapet in unison.

At this moment, the battering rams of the Jiannan army below the city had approached to within thirty paces of the city gate.

Watching this scene from behind, Zhang Wu's eyes even revealed a feverish sense of victory.

Once the battering ram hits the city gate, Yaozhou City is finished!

However, the next moment, a strange sound rang out from the city wall, instantly freezing the fanaticism on his face.

"Click! Click! Click!"

That was the crisp sound of three hundred repeating crossbows simultaneously pulling their levers and engaging their mechanisms.

The sounds were so synchronized, as if uttered by a single person, that amidst the chaos of the battlefield, they carried a chilling, deathly rhythm.

"put!"

Pei Zhao swung his longsword down fiercely.

"Swish, swish, swish—!!!"

Words simply cannot describe the terror of that moment.

It wasn't the sparse rain of arrows that comes out of a regular bow and arrow, but a dense barrage of arrows fired horizontally, like a torrential downpour or a raging storm!

Three thousand short crossbow bolts, crafted from fine steel, were unleashed by three hundred repeating crossbows in the blink of an eye.

With a piercing shriek that tore through the air, they crashed into the crowded Jiannan army ranks below the city like a black tidal wave woven from steel and death.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

The dull thuds of flesh being pierced created a terrifying symphony at that moment.

The Jiannan Army shield bearers at the forefront had no idea what was happening.

Their iron-clad wooden shields were as fragile as a sheet of paper in the face of close-range steel crossbow bolts.

The crossbow bolts easily pierced the shields, penetrated their leather armor, and embedded themselves deep into their flesh and bones.

The soldiers in the front ranks fell in droves, like wheat being harvested.

But this is not over yet!

The terrifying thing about the repeating crossbow is its despair-inducing rate of fire.

The first rank of soldiers had just fired all ten crossbow bolts from their magazines when they immediately stepped back, and the second rank of soldiers took their place, continuing to unleash a barrage of fire; then came the third rank…

Uninterrupted! Without any gap!

In the short span of half an incense stick's time, the narrow attack surface below the city was already covered with a dense barrage of fine steel crossbow bolts.

The Jiannan Army's offensive was abruptly halted, not just halted, but a one-sided massacre!

The dozens of strong men pushing the battering ram were riddled with arrows in the first volley, and the heavy ram lost power, standing alone in front of the city gate.

The soldiers surging from behind were tripped by the fallen corpses in front and were then harvested by a new round of arrows.

The entire Jiannan Army's formation was on the verge of chaos and collapse.

"What...what the hell is this?!"

Watching this hellish scene unfold from behind, Zhang Wu felt as if struck by lightning, his mind going completely blank.

He had spent half his life on the battlefield and had seen all kinds of elite archers and crossbowmen, but he had never seen a rapid-fire weapon with such a terrifying rate of fire and such enormous power!

This isn't a war; it's a one-sided mowing of the grass!

"Retreat! Retreat now!" Zhang Wu finally realized that he had made an irreparable and fatal mistake. He roared hoarsely, trying to rally the remaining troops.

But he realized it too late.

Just as the Jiannan Army's formation was completely scattered due to the crossbowmen's slaughter and their morale plummeted, the Jiannan Army's formation was completely disrupted.

On the west side of Yaozhou City, the gate of the Qing'ao Well side camp, which is connected to the main city wall, was suddenly opened with a loud bang, accompanied by the heavy sound of a winch.

"Boom!"

The earth began to tremble, not with the chaotic tremors of the previous infantry charge, but with a rhythmic, terrifying roar that seemed capable of crushing one's heart.

A visible black torrent gushed out from the side gate.

Pei Zhao had somehow mounted a magnificent warhorse, clad in black iron armor, and holding a long, fine steel broadsword over ten feet long in both hands.

Behind him were eighty heavily armed cavalrymen.

Both men and horses were clad in heavy armor, which shone with a chilling metallic sheen as the sunlight shone on it.

This is Yao Zhoujun's deepest and most deadly trump card!

"Kill the salt protection troops of Yaozhou!"

Pei Zhao let out a furious roar, spurred his horse's flanks with his legs, and the warhorse let out a long neigh, crashing into the chaotic Jiannan army's flank like a black lightning bolt.

If a volley of crossbow bolts is a torrential downpour, then a charge by heavily armored cavalry is a devastating mudslide.

The soldiers of the Jiannan Army turned around in terror, looking at the cavalry charging towards them like steel monsters, their eyes filled with despair.

Their formation was already scattered, and they were exhausted. Faced with the charge of such heavy cavalry, they were simply unable to organize any effective defense.

"Stop them! Spearmen, form ranks!" Lieutenant Wang Han brandished his sword, attempting to organize a resistance.

But his faint voice was instantly drowned out by the roar of the galloping warhorses.

Pei Zhao took the lead and charged into the enemy ranks.

In the past, if he had used such a heavy longsword on horseback, he would definitely have been thrown off balance by the reaction force.

But now, his feet were firmly planted in the seemingly inconspicuous double stirrups, and his lower body was firmly fixed to the horse's back by the Takahashi saddle.

He became one with his warhorse, and the horse's thousands of pounds of violent kinetic energy was transferred without reservation from his waist and abdomen to the longsword in his hand.

"die!"

Taking advantage of the horse's momentum, Pei Zhao gripped the longsword with both hands, swung it in a wide arc, and swept it forward.

"Pfft!"

"Snap!"

The blade cuts through the flesh as easily as slicing melons or chopping vegetables.

The five or six Jiannan soldiers blocking the way were cut in half at the waist by this one slash, along with their shields!

Limbs and severed arms, along with internal organs and blood, flew through the air.

The terrifying destructive power instantly cleared a large area in front of Pei Zhao.

The eighty heavy cavalrymen following behind were like a red-hot blade cutting into butter, tearing apart the Jiannan Army's defenses without any resistance.

Heavy hooves trampled the enemy's bodies, while spears and swords ruthlessly reaped lives.

This was no longer a battle, but a crushing defeat with no suspense whatsoever!

Amidst the chaos of battle, Pei Zhao immediately spotted Wang Han, who was commanding the remaining troops.

Enemies meeting are bound to be filled with hatred.

Wang Han was once a general in the Hexi army. It was he who plotted to frame Pei Zhao in order to seize military merits. He not only stripped Pei Zhao of his military status but also publicly whipped him, turning him into a despised and useless soldier.

"Wang Han! Prepare to die!"

Pei Zhao's eyes were bloodshot. He suddenly turned his horse around and rode straight towards Wang Han.

Wang Han was terrified when he saw Pei Zhao charging towards him like a god of death.

He never imagined that the down-on-his-luck veteran he once trampled underfoot would now be the commander of a terrifying heavy cavalry force.

He frantically raised his spear in an attempt to parry.

But all is in vain.

Using the stirrups for leverage, Pei Zhao leaned half his body out of the horse's back, and his longsword, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, slashed down like Mount Tai crashing down.

"clang!"

The spear in Wang Han's hand was cleaved in two with a single stroke.

The blade continued its momentum, cleaving open his helmet and embedding itself deeply into his skull.

Before Wang Han could even scream, he was cleaved in two by the immense force, his body crashing heavily into a pool of blood.

With the deputy general killed in action, the last psychological defense of the Jiannan Army completely collapsed.

The soldiers abandoned their armor and weapons, crying and fleeing in all directions. They even began trampling each other in order to fight for escape routes.

On the watchtower in the distance.

Old Huang, the chief craftsman of the Ordnance Bureau, was leaning on the railing, his hands trembling as he quickly wrote something on a wooden board with a charcoal pencil.

"The crossbow fired ten shots simultaneously, with a loss rate of less than 50%. The mechanism engaged perfectly, and the armor-piercing effect met expectations..."

"The combat data on the Takahashi saddle and double stirrups... is terrifying! The rider's power generation efficiency has increased by at least three times, and the horse's impact force has been completely converted into lethality! No infantry formation can stop this kind of charge..."

As Old Huang took notes, he was so moved that tears streamed down his face.

He knew that the weapons he had personally crafted would completely change the Tang Dynasty, and even the entire world's war landscape.

In the center of the battlefield.

Zhang Wu sat blankly on his horse, watching his men scatter and flee around him, watching the heavy cavalry move as if they were in an empty field. He felt as if all his strength had been drained away.

lost.

They were utterly defeated, with no chance of fighting back.

Three thousand five hundred elite Jiannan soldiers were actually defeated head-on by a private army from a lower county with less than a thousand men.

If this got out, the entire military of the Tang Dynasty would treat him as a huge joke.