Chapter 855: Annihilate the Reinforcements

When the battle began at the naval camp on Hexin Island, huge killing cries also alerted the camp two miles away on the south bank. Then, several piles of fire were ignited on the north bank. The soldiers on duty quickly reported these unusual movements to Camp leader.

The person in charge of defending the pontoon was a lieutenant under Lejiu, who was also a veteran of many battles. The strangeness between Hexin Island and Jiangbei immediately aroused his vigilance. As the killing cries on Hexin Island grew louder and louder. , he immediately ordered the army to gather, but the Anton army had not been able to break through the Huai River for several months, so the soldiers were a little lax.

This was the time when people were most sleepy, so even though he ordered the army to assemble, it still took him nearly half an hour to gather a thousand soldiers. Originally, he wanted to gather all the soldiers before setting off, but the killing force of Hexin Island The shouts were slowly getting smaller, so he didn't care about the soldiers who had not gathered. After handing them over to the deputy general, he led the 1,000-strong army that had gathered and rushed towards the pontoon. Of course, before setting off, he People have been sent to Tuoguo County to warn Xiang Le.

At this time, another two thousand Andong soldiers had landed on the river island. By the time the third batch of soldiers arrived at the navy camp, all the Yuan Shujun sailors in the camp had been killed by their own soldiers. Seeing this, the leading captain of the army left the navy soldiers among his soldiers in the camp to help control the navy warships. He immediately led the remaining more than a thousand infantrymen and ran towards the pontoon bridge.

As the third group of soldiers landed on the island in the middle of the river, Huang Zhong arranged for the soldiers to continue crossing the river, and at the same time ordered the craftsmen and navy soldiers to start building the pontoon bridge. Soon, a large number of rafts that had been prepared were pushed into the river by craftsmen and soldiers, and then quickly connected with iron chains. A small boat was put on the connected rafts at intervals to support the connected rafts. The raft will not sink into the river when the soldiers cross the river.

As time went by, the pontoon bridge extended towards the island in the middle of the river at a speed visible to the naked eye. At this time, the navy soldiers of the Anton Army who were attacking the water village drove the warships one by one to the river bank to the north. Seeing this situation, Huang Zhong finally let go of most of his worries. It seems that the water village on Hexin Island has been controlled. Next, it depends on whether Zhou Tai can save the pontoon bridge.

However, in Huang Zhong's view, even if Zhou Tai failed to defend the pontoon, it would not have a great impact on the battle situation. He had already defeated Yuan Shu's navy. After capturing these warships, the waters around Xinxi would be controlled by his own army.

But if the pontoon bridge can be saved, the army can successfully cross the river today and attack the Tuoguo county closest to the south bank.

Just as Huang Zhong continued to command his soldiers to cross the river, Zhou Tai's bridgehead was already engaged. Although Yuan Shujun's defender had expected that the bridgehead might have been lost, he never expected that the Anton Army would have so many crossbowmen to defend it. At the bridgehead, one thousand soldiers were caught off guard and nearly 200 soldiers were lost by several volleys of crossbowmen.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough and quickly led his soldiers out of the attack range of the crossbow. Then he mobilized two hundred well-armored soldiers from the remaining soldiers, handed over the shields of the entire army to them, and then promised them a heavy profit to form an army. The commando team attacked Zhou Tai's troops at the bridgehead regardless of casualties.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Tai ordered the crossbowmen to continue shooting, while also preparing his soldiers for close combat. Not long after, Yuan Shujun finally reached Zhou Tai's troops at the cost of nearly 20% casualties.

Following Zhou Tai's loud shout, under his leadership, two hundred Anton soldiers attacked the armored soldiers of Yuan Shu's army on the opposite side, while the crossbowmen began to shoot upward at the soldiers behind the armored soldiers of Yuan Shu's army. To delay the speed of the soldiers behind.

The two sides quickly fought together. Yuan Shu's army had high defense but was inflexible in movement, while Zhou Tai's soldiers basically did not wear armor. Although they were flexible, their defense was too low. Once they were targeted by Yuan Shu's soldiers, they would basically be killed or injured.

Because Zhou Tai personally led the troops, although he suffered a defensive disadvantage, he was able to withstand Yuan Shu's army's attack well, and Yuan Shu's soldiers who followed behind,

However, due to the covering attack of the crossbow arrows, they could not effectively support the soldiers in front, and the two sides were in a stalemate here.

Seeing this situation, the generals of both sides were anxious. General Yuan Shujun was anxious to recapture the pontoon bridge before the reinforcements of the Anton Army arrived. Otherwise, once the reinforcements of the Anton Army arrived, his mission of defending the pontoon bridge would fail.

Zhou Tai, on the other hand, was heartbroken about the loss of his soldiers. You must know that these soldiers were the most elite soldiers of the Anton Army. They were supposed to be dragons in the water, but now they were trapped in the shallows and were killed one by one in this defensive battle. . Although he had already prepared that he would lose many soldiers, when he saw an old brother fall, Zhou Tai's heart twitched violently.

Fortunately, Zhou Tai's heartache did not last long. After killing and injuring thirty or forty old brothers, Zhou Tai finally heard the sound of neat running behind him. When he was about to turn around, he heard someone behind him shouting: "General Zhou." Where is General Zhou? Qin An, the commander of the Imperial Guards, was ordered to come to support. "

When the captain of the Yuan Rong crossbowmen who stayed behind saw this, he quickly stepped forward and said: "Qin Xiaowei, General Zhou has led his troops to fight fiercely with Yuan Shu's army."

The captain surnamed Qin also saw that the soldiers on both sides had formed a melee, so he loudly ordered: "The Iron Eagle warriors form an array!"

"drink!"

Following his order, a thousand Iron Eagle warriors quickly formed an attack formation and attacked the two sides in the melee. After receiving the reminder, Zhou Tai immediately issued an order: "Brothers, the wind is tight and the wind is blowing."

Most of the navy soldiers who followed him were pirates who were active in the Yangtze River in the past, so they were very clear about these jargons, but Yuan Shu's army did not understand. When they heard Zhou Tai's shouting, they thought that the An Dong army was going to make another move, so they all paused. Taking advantage of the gap, Zhou Tai's soldiers quickly broke away from the fight with Yuan Shu's army and ran behind the Iron Eagle Warriors.

When the Yuan Shu soldiers reacted, they were facing the Iron Eagle Warriors who were ready for battle. Although the Iron Eagle Warriors were only wearing light armor, they were far from being comparable to the navy soldiers who were not wearing armor or leather armor. In addition, they were originally infantrymen who charged into battle and broke the enemy's sharp edge, so they quickly defeated the two hundred Yuan Shu soldiers.

Afterwards, the Iron Eagle Warriors drove the defeated soldiers to annihilate all of Yuan Shu's 1,000 troops at the bridgehead. Seeing that the overall situation was settled, Zhou Tai also breathed a sigh of relief, and at this time, the sky had begun to show white.