Chapter 70: Field Battle 3

  Ye Xuan always felt that in battle, the use of crossbowmen and long spearman separately in each team was very inconvenient. Later, after the Jin army retreated, he wanted to form a pure crossbow team and a long spear team, with two teams for each watch, making it more convenient and handy to use in combat.

  The current Divine Machine Camp is too inconvenient to disperse every time they go into battle!

  Ye Xuan narrowed his eyes to gaze at the sun in the sky. At this time, the sunlight was still intense, and the sun shone on its thick iron leaves, making it feel an inexplicable dry heat all over its body. It estimated that it was around three o'clock in the afternoon.

  Estimated that this afternoon, a bloody and violent battle will take place, Ye Xuan calmed his mind. He ordered the waving of the large flag, and immediately the surrounding sentry posts responded with the same flag-waving, and the army was filled with fluttering flags. Ye Xuan's heart surged with heroic emotions, both sides had finished their deployment. It all depends on who will die in whose hands now.

  Jin Bing was still far away, he loudly said: "Array and sit together."

  There was a sudden clanging sound. The collision of the armor leaves, within the circular formation, except for Ye Xuan and the various military officers flag bearers standing, all others were sitting or lying on the ground, which could elevate the view of the military officers. Moreover, the heavy armor worn by the soldiers on their bodies could also allow them to conserve some physical strength, accumulating power for the impending battle.

  The sun shone on the dry land, and time passed minute by minute. Slowly, the golden armor in the dust got closer and closer, until they entered within a hundred or more steps of the circular formation.

  Ye Xuan saw very clearly that the first wave of approaching Golden Soldiers was approximately over two hundred people, positioned at the tip of the spear. They were led by dozens of heavily armored dead soldiers wearing double-layered heavy armor, holding heavy shields, and were commanded by several junior officers and special envoys.

  Behind or beside them, dozens of lightly armored archers followed at a distance. Led by some infantry officers. Further back was a group of soldiers with swords in hand, some with armor and some without. In the crowd, some had high red tassels on their helmets and flame-patterned flags on their backs, looking like Golden Army soldiers who stood out particularly. Ye Xuan also saw that among this wave of Golden Army soldiers, there appeared a lieutenant general's command flag.

  Ye Xuan could already tell that the main target of this wave of Golden Guards was the front center position of his circular formation. Apart from that, there were two waves of dust rolling in, one consisting of infantry and the other of cavalry, but it was unclear which direction they would attack the circular formation from.

  Ye Xuan's gaze was fixed intently on the Jin army in front of him. He estimated the distance, and when the Jin army entered within a hundred steps, he ordered the circular formation of crossbowmen to stand up.

  The flag bearer beside him raised the command flag, and Su Zhong, the officer of the right sentinel of the banner number, shouted immediately: "Crossbowmen stand up."

  A loud rustling sound, the three rows of forty-five crossbowmen at the front of the circular formation, as well as the thirty crossbowmen on both sides of the corners, all stood up, no one dusting off their buttocks, each holding a crossbow in hand.

  "Get ready."

  The golden soldiers ahead had quickened their pace, and their voices could be heard more clearly. Su Zhong estimated the distance and shouted: "Prepare to fire."

  Suddenly, a burst of rattling sounds moved in unison. The front and rear rows of crossbowmen all raised their bows to aim at the Jin soldiers rushing forward. They relied on the sights on the crossbows to find their own targets. The scorching sun beat down, and each crossbowman's face was flushed red. However, they were all tightly pursed, focusing solely on aiming.

  Jin Bing quickly entered eighty steps, a loud shout, they began to add, madly shouting and rushing up.

  Look at them rushing over in a black swarm, Su Zhong's palms were full of sweat, his right hand kept pressing down. A voice shouted: "Steady, steady!"

  Apart from Jin Bing's roar and Su Zhong's voice, the entire circular formation on this side of Shunxiang Army was still quiet. Except for the standing crossbowmen, the rest of the soldiers were still sitting quietly in the sunlight. However, many people's heads involuntarily looked towards the direction where Jin Bing rushed over.

  From Jin Bing's side, the Ye family army formed a circular formation with some crossbowmen in front. However, their side was eerily quiet. When they entered within seventy paces, their fire mirrors did not shoot. At sixty paces, there was still no shooting.

  Looking over there, a dense and dark mass of arrows, many of the Jin soldiers who were charging forward were shocked and became uncertain.

  In the eyes of those golden soldiers, they originally looked down on the long-range weapons used by the Xining army. Because when operating these weapons, the Xining army made many mistakes and had many accidents, with many arrows not being shot out during battles. Moreover, many Xining soldiers couldn't calm down and would recklessly shoot arrows before entering range. Before they even entered range, a round of arrows would be wasted, what's the use of that?

  Dispersed power is no power at all. What use are long-range weapons in guerrilla warfare?

  This is also the reason why Jin Binglie won in the battle of Ye.

  However, the long-range weapons of the Xining army in this place are extremely sharp and can penetrate their double-layered heavy armor and handheld shields dozens of steps away, with astonishing power.

  At the same time, their weapons can also fire continuously, and the Xining army in this place has high morale and outstanding combat skills, which was demonstrated in yesterday's defense of the city.

  It's just that yesterday's defense battle was still okay, these Ming troops should have long heard of the Zhongjin army's reputation for field battles. They should be flustered in the face of war, so why can they remain so calm?

  Many of the Golden Troops who were charging forward felt a sense of foreboding, having already experienced the power of the Falling Cloud Fortress's crossbows in yesterday and today's battles. Seeing that Xi Ning's army had not made a move for a long time, they grew anxious and dispersed their troops to reduce the range of Xi Ning's crossbow fire.

  Blinking golden soldiers rushed past sixty steps, Ye Xuan still did not give the order to shoot arrows. He had already tested it before, the continuous crossbow of Luoyun Fortress was very lethal at sixty steps, but could not break through heavy armor and shields, only at fifty steps. Can penetrate the iron armor or iron-plated armor worn by the Jin army. At forty and thirty steps, can break through the double-layered heavy armor and shields held in their hands.

  To maintain maximum lethality, the points must be placed close to each other for a strike, which is an extreme test of psychological endurance for soldiers. This is also why the Ye family army can do this.

  Similarly, the Jin army's bow and arrow range was between sixty to seventy paces, with a strength of no more than seven dou. Only when they entered within fifty paces did they have killing power against the enemy, piercing through their cotton armor and iron armor, and only then would they get closer to twenty or thirty paces. Therefore, the Jin army's way of fighting was the same as that of the Xiongnu in the Southern Song Dynasty in Ye Yuan's previous time and space - they did not shoot until they entered within fifty paces, in fact, they ran even closer before shooting arrows.

  However, their bows and arrows have arrowheads that are six or seven inches long, shaped like a chisel, and penetrate extremely deeply, making it difficult to pull them out. If you're hit by one of their arrows, your life is over.

  From this point, it can be seen that in terms of power alone, the bows and arrows of Zhongjin Kingdom are actually similar to those of Ye Family Army's repeating crossbows.