Chapter 200

Chapter 200: Great Victory in the River Valley

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 6: The Two Provinces Stand Strong, the Silk Road Reopens. Chapter 200: Great Victory in the River Valley.

Li Ying couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine.

If it were just a small group appearing here, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

The troops he and Fan Chou led had strictly followed the marching speed required for a large-scale expedition. Although they came through the mountain path from Chencang to Shanggui, they were not yet at the point of exhaustion.

At most, they were just mentally strained.

As long as the number of obstacles ahead wasn’t too large, breaking through the blockade wouldn’t be difficult.

On the other hand, after Li Jue seized power from Dong Zhuo, he also took control of the troops around Dong Zhuo that didn’t belong to generals like Duan Wei and Zhang Xiu.

These were the elite soldiers Dong Zhuo had selected from the preserved Liangzhou Iron Cavalry to ensure his own safety.

They were also assigned to this expedition into Liangzhou.

The charging ability of the Xiliang fierce soldiers was beyond doubt, especially since they were in an environment that felt like home to them.

But their current opponents…

Li Ying was appointed as the main general for this mission by Li Jue, not just because they were cousins.

Li Ying still had the basic judgment needed in battle.

Although there was still some distance, he could tell the level of equipment the heavy armored soldiers blocking the cavalry ahead possessed.

That was equipment built with money!

And it wasn’t just a thin line of troops!

In his anxious thoughts, the heavy armored shield soldiers led by Qiao Yan took another step forward.

To be precise, they shouldn’t be called shield soldiers, but rather sword-and-shield bearers.

In front, they held both swords and shields, while long spears and pikes extended from behind the shields.

This was the most typical formation in Liangzhou to block cavalry with front and rear cover.

This made Li Ying have no doubt that the rest of the formation was also standard.

Since archers were already spread across the mountains on both sides, the solid shields ahead were even more so.

This was truly an impregnable fortress!

Anyone in Li Ying’s position would likely feel the same breathless sensation.

The mountain path had already exhausted his patience, and instead of a chance to vent by attacking the city, he was met with a fully prepared fortress.

Hu Feng couldn’t help but whisper, “What should we do, retreat…”

Retreat?

Before he could finish the word, Li Ying shot him a glare.

Retreat? No way!

The valley formed by the Wei River between Chencang and Shanggui was narrow, and although it improved slightly near Shanggui, it was still a long dragon.

Orders from the front to the rear, turning all the soldiers around, wasn’t something that could be done with a single word, let alone an orderly retreat.

If they retreated, they might be slowly devoured by the pursuing troops.

“What are you standing around for? Form up and charge!” Fan Chou interrupted their conversation, shouting angrily.

Li Ying was so shocked by the blockade at the valley entrance that he was at a loss, and Fan Chou wasn’t much better.

But at this moment, wasting time hesitating would only lead to being wiped out by the enemy!

They weren’t at a dead end yet.

Perhaps to prevent them from charging out of the valley directly, the defense line wasn’t set up in a completely open area.

Their side couldn’t fully deploy their formation, and neither could the enemy.

They were in a near do-or-die situation, but what about the enemy?

With a retreat available, people inevitably slack off.

With the ferocious combat power of the Xiliang army, they might still have a chance!

As Fan Chou shouted this, he began to mobilize the troops.

With the deputy general leading, their charging formation quickly took shape.

Fan Chou couldn’t help but feel relieved that they still had some distance from the enemy, and their opponents seemed to want to minimize losses by not choosing to attack directly.

He was even more relieved that he hadn’t focused solely on rushing into Liangzhou but had maintained a state where the troops could defend against valley attacks.

This provided the possibility for their advance.

Didn’t he know that charging like this would result in heavy losses for the cavalry at the front?

Of course, he did!

But the difference in equipment between the two sides made it clear that he didn’t have the capital for a steady advance.

If they couldn’t fight their way out of this river valley, they would all die here!

Perhaps the soldiers recruited from Chang’an might have a chance to survive, but those who followed Dong Zhuo to Chang’an had lost the opportunity to surrender early.

The greater likelihood was still death.

This wasn’t just Fan Chou’s understanding; the soldiers under his command shared this thought as his orders were issued.

Everyone wants to live, and they were no exception.

That’s why when one of them shouted “Kill!” for the first time, the sound quickly became a unified roar from the entire army.

The soldiers at the rear had no idea what was happening at the front.

Fan Chou’s orders came just in time before panic could spread.

So these rear soldiers, already used to marching, thought they were just following the troops for the final charge to Shanggui and immediately followed.

This was exactly what he wanted to achieve.

With his quick response, Li Ying and Hu Feng quickly regained some confidence in the battle.

Yes, they didn’t need to admit defeat yet.

No matter how timely Qiao Yan’s response was, she had only brought a portion of troops from Jixian!

Since she returned to Liangzhou in July this year, most of her forces were still stationed in Jincheng and Wuwei.

The situation in Liangzhou over the years meant that even the top generals had to devote a significant portion of their energy to preventing Qiang rebellions.

Qiao Yan was likely the same.

But they had no idea that before intercepting them here, she had specifically carried out a bloody suppression of the four Han families.

And it was their negligence towards the Sanguan direction that allowed her to calmly mobilize all her generals here after receiving Xu Shu’s message.

She looked at the opponents who still had a fierce posture in their advance, with some appreciation for their quick adjustment but no fear of them.

Relying solely on this bit of courage to break through her defense line was nothing but a pipe dream!

And it would be unworthy of her determination to win this battle.

Under her first command, the heavy armored soldiers at the front took another step forward and then planted their shields on the ground.

To anyone, this wasn’t a conventional move.

Such a defensive formation usually involved long spears extending from behind the shields to guard against approaching cavalry.

But when the two sides hadn’t yet reached the range for archers to engage, planting the shields on the ground instead gave the enemy archers a chance to shine.

However, the Xiliang cavalry charging with bows didn’t even have time to rejoice, as their eager expressions froze on their faces.

Behind the lowered shields, it wasn’t archers that appeared, but rows of heavy crossbows.

Heavy crossbows aimed directly at the chest height of the cavalry!

In the short time Fan Chou gave the signal to attack, the cavalry had closed the distance to five or six hundred paces.

At this moment, dozens of heavy crossbows that had just revealed themselves fired simultaneously!

The crossbow bolts tore through the air, emitting a series of teeth-grating whistles and screams.

Before the sound of the bolts cutting through the air ceased, the sound of bolts piercing flesh and horses falling had already interrupted the previously fierce charge.

Among the volley of long arrows, at least twenty or thirty hit their targets, while the other half fell to the ground, startling the nearest horses into stopping.

Whether they hit or not, the effectiveness of the shots didn’t seem to affect Qiao Yan’s side.

In the scene Li Ying could see from afar, the second round of crossbow bolts was already being loaded into the heavy crossbows in an orderly manner, and within moments, they fired again.

His expression changed.

Heavy crossbows with a range of five hundred paces!

He never expected to see such things here.

To be fair, these weren’t the longest-range crossbows.

But even these were prohibitively expensive for border soldiers, usually only used in city defense.








When they followed Dong Zhuo to battle in Liangzhou, they had never seen anyone use it in the clashes between the two sides.

Of course, with the mountainous terrain of Liangzhou and its production conditions, such things were not suitable.

So they naturally wouldn’t have thought that Qiao Yan would start by giving them such a greeting!

Of course, if Qiao Yan were to speak, she couldn’t invest such costs to make every heavy crossbow as deadly as the one that shot Pang De that day.

What she could do was rely on the increasingly mature border defense equipment production in Bingzhou to create a batch of small heavy crossbows with a range of five hundred steps at a relatively low cost.

The most suitable installation location for such crossbows was still the city walls, originally prepared as protection for the cities in Liangzhou, and they were not equipped with scopes to assist in shooting.

But this did not prevent them from delivering a heavy blow to Li Ying and Fan Chou’s troops.

In the second round of shooting, more than half of the shots hit, causing another twenty or thirty cavalrymen who intended to charge to fall.

When they stepped within three hundred steps, the archers stationed high on both sides of the mountains received the order and launched their attack.

It was a rain of arrows far more ferocious than the crossbows.

Only then did they realize that behind the archers was a group of foot-drawn crossbows.

The retreat of the archers allowed these crossbowmen, who fired their bolts by stepping on the ground, to unleash a round of shooting.

Even if this round of attack was not launched in the formation of foot-drawn crossbows, the high ground still created a dense barrage of arrows like a swarm of locusts.

Compared to the long-range intimidation of the heavy crossbows, this round of foot-drawn crossbow attacks was truly a firepower coverage!

Under the rain of arrows—

The hit mounts threw their riders off.

The hit cavalrymen themselves were struck down by the penetrating force.

Some even fell to the ground and were accidentally trampled by their companions.

Not to mention, these two rounds of volleys were a great blow to the morale of these cavalrymen who had thought they could close the distance to engage in bow and arrow combat.

If it were just this, there would still be room for recovery.

But the soldiers at the rear of Li Ying’s side, who had not known what they were facing, now had the message delivered to them by the crossbow bolts falling from above.

In an instant, their battle cries were abruptly cut off as if someone had choked their throats, making the sounds of men and horses falling ahead even more distinct in their ears.

The wails caused by the arrows were also clearly audible in the valley’s echoes.

This was clearly not an advantageous attack, but being intercepted by the enemy at the valley entrance!

They could not be considered well-trained soldiers, so one could not expect them all to have the heart to die for their commander.

Li Ying also did not have such commanding ability.

In the face of such heavy firepower suppression, any talk of “only charging forward can lead to survival” was useless.

They could hardly avoid thinking.

After all, there were so many of them…

So, if they ran faster than those behind, would they have a chance to escape?

At worst, they could try to hide in the mountains.

When Fan Chou looked back, he saw that this sense of retreat had quickly become the root of unrest in the rear army.

He felt extremely uneasy.

Once the confidence in charging was shaken, it was difficult to quickly regroup.

Their opponents also gave them no chance to catch their breath!

Seeing the chaos in the opposing ranks, Qiao Yan decisively issued the order to advance.

Before the surviving cavalry of the enemy could close the distance to the standard range of bows, her shield soldiers had already raised their shields and moved forward.

These selected shield soldiers, clad in heavy armor, did not appear sluggish but rather like a solid wall laid flat in the river valley, heading straight for the enemy.

Qu Yi, who had finally gotten this chance to fight after the Battle of Kuiyuan Gorge, would not miss the opportunity to achieve merit here!

Not just him.

At the moment the iron wall of shield soldiers, along with the spearmen, engaged the enemy, the cavalry from the rear also attacked from both sides.

Guo Jia said that half of the heroes were on our side, and this was indeed true.

And when the other side did not have the other half of the heroes, what could they use to stop the four armies led by Lü Bu, Zhao Yun, Xu Rong, and Ma Chao!

Even though, to prevent chaotic pursuit, Qiao Yan only sent Lü Bu and Zhao Yun to pursue along both banks of the Wei River, it did not hinder the overwhelming momentum that came with the thunderous cavalry.

If the heavy crossbows and foot-drawn crossbows only caused a threat in terms of weapons, then in this proper confrontation, Li Ying and Fan Chou faced the real blow from Qiao Yan’s army.

The difference in the clash of cold weapons could be distinguished in the instant of blade and spear crossing.

Not to mention, this was when one side’s momentum had reached its peak, and the other side was already on the verge of collapse.

Li Ying had never hated himself more for not choosing to retreat a bit and not being so eager to attack the city.

But it was too late for him to realize this now.

When Lü Bu led his troops to pounce on Fan Chou, Zhao Yun’s spear was already pointed at his face.

The experience of assisting Qiao Yan in farming and governing Wuwei had not dulled his skills but, with the increase of generals under Qiao Yan, made him more determined to hone his commanding and martial skills.

So Li Ying could not stop the force of the dragon-like spear thrust, nor could he stop the pursuit and attack during his side’s collapse.

When he breathed his last, what he heard was the sound of his subordinates shouting to flee.

But where could they flee to?

Into the mountains?

There was another force accompanying the army.

Yao Chang’s Qiang troops were already waiting there.

For the soldiers recruited from Chang’an, competing with the Qiang in mountain combat was another deadly challenge.

So besides the cavalry pursuit and slaughter, the sound of blade clashes, there was also another rising and falling sound from the river valley and mountains—

“Surrender!”

“We surrender!”

Since they couldn’t escape, they could only surrender, with no other choice!

In August, the heat of Wuwei was still at its peak.

Duan Kui had someone fan him, blowing the cool air from the ice in front of him, but he still couldn’t calm his mind.

This was not really due to the weather.

It was because Qiao Yan had surrounded Guzang City, held the Yan family accountable, and made him pay a sum of money afterward to cover part of the Yan family’s deficit.

If it were just that, it would be fine, but a few days ago, news came again.

She had sent troops from Yuzhong, joined forces with the defenders in Wuwei at Dingxi, and marched south.

Although the Bingzhou army stationed at the Wuwei military farm had withdrawn, taking away some of the enlisted Lushui Qiang, the pressure on the Duan family had lessened.

As the head of the Wuwei Duan family, Duan Kui prided himself on having some insight.

Qiao Yan’s attitude showed that she was wary of these Liangzhou noble families, but it did not mean she would let go of what she rightfully owned.

The military farms along the Lushui River were about to harvest in autumn, and she could not possibly let the harvest fall into others’ hands.

Leaving only these defenders was somewhat strange.

Unless… sending troops was something even more urgent for her.

Seeing his subordinate return with news, Duan Kui quickly sat up and asked, “Did you find out why she suddenly mobilized troops?”

The subordinate gasped for breath, still looking panicked, and under Duan Kui’s sharp gaze urging him to answer, replied, “She… she took Jixian County, killing off more than seventy to eighty percent of the four great families of Hanyang.”

Duan Kui almost thought he was hallucinating.

What did he mean by killing off more than seventy to eighty percent of the four great families of Hanyang?

He couldn’t help but utter a question almost identical to Jiang Huai’s when he suddenly heard Qiao Yan was attacking the city: “Is she crazy?”

The noble families of Liangzhou were all interconnected.

Did she really think that after successfully robbing the Yan family of Wuwei and gaining a batch of rare horses due to the horse robbery in the Western Regions, she could form a formidable cavalry and consider herself invincible?

The breeding period for those horses hadn’t even arrived yet, and now she dared to move against the four great families of Hanyang!

But what shocked him even more was yet to come.

The scout reported, “The other families of Hanyang had no objections, no… not just that.”

He looked as if he was about to cry, “She fought against Dong Zhuo’s twenty thousand troops attacking Liangzhou in the Wei River Valley, killed four thousand, captured over ten thousand, and is now preparing for battle to secure Chang’an.”