Chapter 915: All-Out Attack (Part 2)

Inside the Anton Army camp, Huang Zhong looked solemnly at the movements of Ji Ling's army on the opposite side. Seeing that Ji Ling had already sent out all the heavy infantry and the imperial guards, he knew that Ji Ling was ready to fight with all his strength.

"Pass the order down, the crossbowmen continue to aim at the Ji Ling Army's vanguard and shoot, the archers take a short break, and start shooting after the opponent's heavy infantry enters 60 steps!" Huang Zhong passed the order without looking back;

Immediately, a personal guard went to the crossbowmen to pass the order.

Soon, Huang Zhong said again: "Tell the spearmen to prepare for the battle!"

Another personal guard immediately turned around to convey his order. Huangfu Chaobo stood beside him. The "battle-hardened" Anton General also saw the problem and said: "Brother, it seems that Ji Ling is going to fight to the death!"

Huang Zhong nodded, and was about to speak, but Huangfu Chaobo stretched out his hand to stop him. He had no choice but to put his energy into the battle.

After receiving Huang Zhong's order, the archers of the Anton Army stopped shooting arrows. They took a break first and waited quietly for Ji Ling's army to enter the specified range. In fact, crossbowmen can also projectile at a small angle, but the effect of projectile is worse than that of bows and arrows, so Huang Zhong made such an arrangement.

The sky was getting darker and darker, but the battle was gradually getting fiercer. Ji Ling's army had approached the last trench in front of the defense line. This was the most critical trench and the most difficult trench to pass. There were many huge fires in front of the trench and within a few dozen steps before and after the defense line. These fires were all lit, illuminating the entire battlefield.

As the heavy infantry entered the archers' attack range, with Huang Wudie's order, thousands of archers fired a round of volleys at the set target. Because the three generals of the Huang family were all archers, Huang Wudie was temporarily appointed as the general of the archers and commanded the entire archers.

At this time, the vanguard of Ji Ling's army had arrived at the trench in front of the breastwork of the Anton Army. The distance of dozens of steps caused the loss of more than 20% of the 20,000 vanguards, and more than 4,000 soldiers were injured or killed. The soldiers near the trench jumped into the trench without hesitation, and then tried to climb out of the trench with their hands and feet. Unfortunately, although the trench was not deep, the distance between the back and the baggage cart was only one step away, and only one or two people could stand on it after climbing up. The soldiers who climbed up the trench were stabbed to death by the spearmen of the Anton Army before they could react, and then their bodies lay on the spot.

Seeing that the vanguard troops had begun to engage in battle with the Anton Army, Ji Ling waved his hand again, and the sound of the war drums of the central army became more urgent. The heavy infantry and the imperial guards began to speed up their advance, and the real bloody battle was about to begin again.

Soon, countless bodies of Ji Ling's army fell in the trench in front of the breastwork. The trench, which was about four feet deep, could no longer stop the attack of Ji Ling's army. However, the number of soldiers filled in here was more than that of those who fell during the attack. If it were not for the fact that the heavy infantry and the imperial guards had more than 20,000 elite soldiers within dozens of steps behind them, it is estimated that the remaining more than 10,000 soldiers would have collapsed long ago.

Seeing this, Huang Zhong, regardless of Huangfu Chaobo's objection, ordered Huangfu Chaobo to be escorted to the back. However, due to Huangfu Chaobo's firm objection, he still did not retreat to the other side of the river.

After retreating to the river bank, Huangfu Chaobo knew that he really could not go to the front line, so as not to affect the battle of Huang Zhong and other generals. After all, it was no longer the same as the Battle of Changsha, and he needed to participate in the battle in person. The son of a rich man should not sit in the hall. In this case, Huangfu Chaobo did not force it, and had to stay behind to carefully observe the situation of the baggage convoy crossing the river.

More than 2,400 baggage carts, now only less than 1,000 vehicles are still on the west bank of the river. The rest of the vehicles have successfully crossed the river and headed for Yulou County in the southwest with torches. Huangfu Chaobo could still see a long fire dragon extending for several miles when he stood on the west bank.

Huangfu Chaobo called the general in charge of the barracks and asked, "How many baggage carts have not crossed the river?"

"Reporting to the lord, there are still 928 carts, 1,304 carts have crossed the river, and 200 carts have been pulled away by the army to block the attack of Yuan Shu's army."

"How long will it take for these vehicles to cross the river?" Huangfu Chaobo thought for a while and asked again;

"It will take at least one hour."

It will take another hour, and I don't know how many soldiers will be lost in this hour. Although Huangfu Chaobo was unwilling, he had no choice. He didn't know what the war would be like later. If he couldn't take away enough food, if the reinforcements couldn't arrive as soon as possible, then his army of more than 100,000 would really be lost in one battle.

If the army was gone, Huangfu Chaobo would not be in a hurry. The problem was that there were so many generals here, especially historical generals like Huang Zhong. If they were defeated here, it would be more difficult for Huangfu Chaobo to accept than losing hundreds of thousands of troops. But if the army is abandoned to let the generals break through, that is impossible. Ji Ling would rather be captured than escape alone, which established his unparalleled position in Yuan Shu's army.

With the status and character of Huang Zhong and Zhang He, it is impossible for them to do such a thing. This is a shame for military generals. So no matter what, Huangfu Chaobo can only collect as much food as possible to support until the arrival of reinforcements.

But on the one hand, it is not known when the reinforcements will arrive, and on the other hand, even if more than 100,000 reinforcements arrive in Huainan, it will be a problem to send who to be the main general. There are only a handful of generals under Huangfu Chaobo who can lead hundreds of thousands of troops. Now Huang Zhong is on the battlefield here, Zhao Yun is far away in Hebei, Xu Rong is even far away in Qingzhou, and even Zhang He, the next army commander designated by Huangfu Chaobo, is here.

It seems that after the army retreats to Yulou, we need to find a way to send cavalry to escort Huang Zhong back to Geyang, and let him lead the troops. It is just right to hand over the battle of Yulou to Zhang He, train him well, improve his reputation in the army, and prepare for the formation of a new army later.

After thinking through these things, Huangfu Chaobo felt relieved and his eyes were once again focused on the fierce battle on the defense line.

At this time, more than 20,000 elite troops of Ji Ling's army had attacked the front of the defense line, and the soldiers of both sides were fighting fiercely on both sides of the defense line. What reassured Huangfu Chaobo was that, for now, his own defense line was still stable. General Huang Zhong arranged all the generals in the entire battle line. With these strong generals in charge, the battle line was basically stable everywhere.

However, as time went on, the disadvantage of the army being weaker than Ji Ling's army became apparent. The second wave of troops sent by Ji Ling was the most elite army in Yuan Shu's army, with more than 20,000 soldiers. In Huangfu Chaobo's army, the only ones who could really compete with it were the thousands of elite guards. When the rest of the combat battalions really fought against them, they were still slightly inferior to them.