Chapter 218 Spear and Shield After commanding the halberd soldiers to stop Le Jin, Chunyu Qiong was not satisfied with this, but counterattacked. At the same time, Shen Pei also waved his command flag, and Cao Hong's army and Cao Ren's army launched a counterattack at the same time, and the two armies were soon in a stalemate. In Le Jin's army, Qu Yi had already taken the lead and mixed in with the death squad, shooting arrows continuously to clear out those who blocked his way. Seeing the halberd warriors continuously advancing in his direction, Qu Yi smiled. A thousand vanguard soldiers quickly cleared out the surrounding enemies, and then reorganized their formation under the protection of Le Jinjun and lined up in three rows. Looking at the halberd warriors charging towards him, Qu Yi instantly activated the vanguard soldiers' legion talent "Armor Breaking". Qu Yi's own talent had already covered it, and Tian Ze's talent had just been added to it. With the same three talents as the Halberd Warrior, the penetration of the crossbow arrows, the accuracy of shooting and the coordination of the soldiers are suddenly improved, and a wave of crossbow arrows shoots out directly. The distance between them was almost close, and the halberd warriors in front of them were knocked down in an instant.
The heavy armor and defense that they were so proud of were as fragile as a piece of thin paper in front of the vanguard of death soldiers. "Damn it!" Realizing the terrifying power of the first-line death squad, the halberd soldiers immediately launched a charge, ready to deal with the crossbowmen in close combat. However, due to the terrifying power of the Xiandeng crossbow and the close distance between the two sides, the three rounds of arrows were almost completely absorbed by the halberd soldiers, and more than a thousand people fell. Chunyu Qiong, who was commanding the rear, saw this scene with a look of disbelief on his face. Half of the halberd warriors he was so proud of fell down in just one encounter! When Guo Jia saw this scene, he nodded slightly. Although the Halberd Soldiers were among the top three heavy armored infantry in the world, and were almost comparable to the Tiger Guards led by Dian Wei, they were still no match for the world's most elite vanguard soldiers, and were almost completely defeated. The halberd soldiers, half of whom had fallen, did not retreat but continued to move forward at the risk of their lives, their eyes filled with madness to die together with the vanguard soldiers. They were all elite soldiers selected from thousands of miles away, and they were naturally proud. They thought they could show off their skills on the battlefield, but they never expected that they would be beaten to death by others just after they achieved some results. Such humiliation must be repaid with the blood of the enemy! They knew very well what the crossbowmen's weaknesses were. As long as they got close to them, it would be difficult for them to fire, and they could easily defeat them with their strong offensive and defensive skills. However, they think too simply. After seeing the halberd warriors rushing up, Qu Yi's eyes showed a hint of appreciation, but that was all. If the vanguard soldiers under his command had such a big flaw, how could they be called the most powerful in the world? The crossbow arrows continued to be fired, and even when the enemy was only a few steps away, he never stopped. Until the enemy was right in front of them, the first row of warriors put the crossbow on their backs without hesitation, picked up the shield on the ground, and drew the ring-handled sword from their waist. Use shield to block halberd and chop enemy's head with sword! The vanguard soldiers who engaged in close combat relied on their bloodiness of fighting to the death and their tacit cooperation to withstand the attack of the halberd soldiers. The two rows of first-line soldiers directly placed the crossbows almost on the heads of the halberd soldiers and fired. Even in such a dangerous situation, they remained calm and composed, their eyes full of the coldness of indifference to life and death and the madness of challenging the limits. Countless arrows flew around, and the halberd soldiers in front of him were shot to death one after another, and soon nearly half of them were killed. Chunyu Qiong was completely frightened by such horrific killing efficiency. "Crazy! They are a group of crazy people!" Chunyu Qiong murmured.
It was the first time he saw a crossbowman shooting at someone’s face. The talents of Cheng Yu, Yu Jin and Zhang Niu, coupled with the ideological education in the army, the generous treatment and the peace under his rule, made it almost normal for the soldiers under Tian Ze to have a talent for strengthened will. Even Zhao Yun's originally very strong talent, which focused on strengthening his will, had its effect greatly reduced. In this fierce fight, the horror was immediately apparent. Chunyu Qiong hurriedly ordered the halberd soldiers to retreat. If they were killed any more, they would probably all be lost. This kind of military soul corps is not so easy to rebuild. Once the losses are too great, it will be almost impossible to rebuild it. Upon seeing this, Le Jin immediately led his soldiers to charge forward, holding on tightly to the halberd soldiers and protecting the first soldiers to climb the ladder. You killed so many of my elite soldiers, and you want to leave? I will make sure you are injured. Under the attack of Le Jinjun, the halberd soldiers lost more than 300 soldiers again and finally escaped from the attack range of the vanguard soldiers. Le Jinjun's army, in cooperation with the vanguard death squad, had already reached the third line of defense where Chunyu Qiong was. However, Chunyu Qiong's troops were mostly shield soldiers holding large shields, and only the first-line soldiers could cause extremely effective damage, which inevitably slowed down their attack speed. What made Le Jin even more frustrated was that as they rushed forward, they discovered that there were a large number of chariots connected by iron chains in front of them. Shen Pei looked at the vanguard army led by Le Jin charging into the chariot formation he had set up, his eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and he waved his command flag. Han Meng's army, which had been ready on the flank, immediately rushed out and charged towards the position between the vanguard army led by Le Jin and the central army led by Zhang Liao, as if to completely cut off Le Jin's retreat and trap and kill the vanguard army. Seeing this, Guo Jia frowned slightly: "What is the enemy's goal?" Shen Pei's defensive stance had already made him suspicious, and now he was preparing to surround the front army led by Le Jin. Could it be that their goal in this battle was not to defeat their lord, but to win? Looking at the enemy's formation, Le Jin's army had already killed the enemy in the middle. It seemed that if they could advance one step further, they would be able to kill Yuan Shao. Now was the best time to send out Ma Teng's cavalry to make the final decision. When it breaks, it breaks! Although he was vaguely aware of Shen Pei's thoughts, he could not give up on Le Jin. With command flags waving and war drums beating, Ma Teng led 20,000 cavalry and decisively charged out from both sides, heading straight for Han Meng's troops. Ten thousand horses were galloping, and for a moment the heaven and earth seemed to tremble. The cavalry at the forefront were fully armed, and both the men and horses were covered in iron armor. They easily killed Han Meng's troops with overwhelming momentum. In this large-scale battle, the dominance of Ma Teng's armored cavalry was unparalleled and almost unstoppable. Although Han Meng's army also had some cavalry and even chariots, the difference in flexibility, coupled with Ma Teng's command and dispatch, made Han Meng's army almost unable to fight back. The cavalry led by Ma Teng easily cut through Han Meng's army like a hot knife cutting through butter, and continued to kill in the direction of Yuan Shao. "It's now!" Seeing that Ma Teng's cavalry was finally mobilized, a gleam of light flashed in Shen Pei's eyes. Yan Liang and Wen Chou each led 10,000 elite cavalry, and Cao Chun led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to break out of the fish scale formation, bypassing the tense central battlefield and heading straight for the central army where Tian Ze was. The fish scale formation can not only maintain stability and solidity to a great extent, thus avoiding the impact of soldiers' rout, but also has a flexible structure, can embed formations and change formations at any time. However, it lacks in mobility and requires a high level of command difficulty. But in Shen Pei's hands, these are not problems. Shen Pei's attainments in formations and ability to command troops can be easily manipulated, and his main defensive tactics of evenly distributed and layered defense can solve the defect of insufficient mobility to the greatest extent.
Of course, on the other hand, it will also have defects such as lack of offensive capability and diluted defensive force, but it is the most suitable choice to give full play to the advantages of Shenpei's military strength. Because Shen Pei's goal from beginning to end was not to win the battle, but to kill Tian Ze. The 20,000 cavalry led by Yan Liang and Wen Chou and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry led by Cao Chun were Shen Pei's final killing moves. (End of this chapter)