Chapter 498

Qu Yi, who had been waiting outside the city, led the Vanguard Battalion in a charge.

By this time, the Qiang cavalry coming from inside the city to reinforce had only just arrived, late as usual.

The two leaders of the Lejie Qiang and Wuliang Qiang each led several hundred cavalry, followed by a large number of Qiang soldiers howling as they charged toward the opened western gate.

Qu Yi, completely unperturbed, glanced at Gao Shun, and the two nodded at each other in tacit understanding.

Subsequently, the blade-and-shield soldiers of the Trap-Breaking Battalion formed a massive, iron-barrel-like shield formation at the front of the inner gate tunnel.

The heavy crossbowmen of the Vanguard Battalion quickly stepped forward, forming three rows of heavy crossbow formations.

Behind the heavy crossbow formation were rows of longbowmen.

"Volley!"

Following Qu Yi's order.

The longbowmen drew their bows and aimed their arrows into the air.

The arrows ascended, then traced a semi-circular arc as they fell, instantly shooting down a swathe of the charging cavalry in front.

"Fire again!"

"Fire again!"

Qu Yi issued two consecutive orders.

When cavalry charges a formation, archers only have three chances to draw their bows within a hundred paces.

After three times, the cavalry would already be able to charge into the military formation.

With three volleys, the hundreds of Qiang cavalry charging head-on had already lost over a hundred men.

But this was not the end.

Just as the Qiang cavalry were about to break the formation, the heavy crossbowmen hidden behind the Trap-Breaking Battalion's shield formation unleashed their power.

After the first row of heavy crossbows fired, the two hundred heavy crossbowmen quickly stepped forward to complete the second round of volley fire, followed immediately by the third row of heavy crossbowmen.

By the time the third row of heavy crossbowmen completed their volley, the first row of crossbowmen who had retreated had already finished their second reload and immediately returned to their position in the first row to conduct another round of volley fire.

If the longbowmen's volley was like a fist falling from the sky.

Then the heavy crossbowmen's volley was like a sickle harvesting wheat.

When the Qiang cavalry charged to close range, it was also when the heavy crossbows were at their most powerful.

The impenetrable barrage of heavy crossbow bolts harvested the charging Qiang cavalry row after row.

The front row of charging cavalry had just fallen, and before the rear row of cavalry even understood what had happened, the powerful crossbow bolts had already pierced their unarmored chests.

The two leaders of the Lejie Qiang and Wuliang Qiang, who considered themselves fierce and brave, were wearing armor.

But their warhorses had no armor.

Under the volley of crossbow bolts, their warhorses were shot dead and collapsed to the ground, only to be trampled by the cavalry charging up from behind, never to stand again.

When hundreds of Qiang cavalry fell on the path of their charge.

The infantry behind them finally revealed themselves.

The Qiang people were human too.

Upon seeing hundreds of cavalry harvested just like wheat.

The charging Qiang infantry stopped in their tracks, turned around, and prepared to flee.

If you can't win, you run; no one would voluntarily throw their life away.

When large armies engage, a death toll exceeding thirty percent almost always leads to a rout.

However, everything that happened at this moment was too sudden.

It was just that these Qiang soldiers who wanted to escape were being too wishful.

Gao Shun gave an order, and the shield formation dispersed.

Qu Yi also had the crossbow formation composed of the Vanguard Battalion disperse to the sides.

Because by this time, the sound of hoofbeats had already rung out from behind.

"Kill!"

"Kill for me!"

Yan Liang and Wen Chou led hundreds of cavalry and charged into Jincheng from the western gate.

After entering from the western gate, the two each led a column of cavalry and charged toward the fleeing Qiang soldiers.

At this moment, Jincheng was broken!

With Yan Liang and Wen Chou leading the cavalry into Jincheng, the fall of Jincheng was already declared.

Attacking and defending cities were not things the Qiang people were good at to begin with.

Facing the Han army, which had been fighting siege and defense battles for hundreds of years, the Qiang people had already suffered a great disadvantage in this regard.

Coupled with Gao Shun's strategy of lulling the enemy, it played a key role.

In just one wave, Jincheng was taken.

When Yuan Shao led the main force into Jincheng, the city was already flowing with blood.

The Qiang soldiers were fleeing in all directions within the city.

Some of the Qiang soldiers on the eastern, southern, and northern walls opened the city gates to flee, while others who had no chance to get off the walls chose to jump directly from them.

By the time night fell, the fighting within Jincheng had basically concluded.

Those Qiang soldiers fleeing within the city had nowhere to hide.

The people of Jincheng, who had been ravaged for five days, spontaneously picked up whatever they could use as weapons in their homes and ferreted out all the Qiang soldiers hiding in the corners of the city.

Some were beaten to death with clubs.

Small groups were wiped out by the Han army sent by Yuan Shao in the city.

The corpses were thrown onto carts piled high with bodies and hauled outside the city.

The large and small alleyways in the city were all covered in traces of blood.

Only when the coming spring arrived, with the blooming of flowers, would these bloodstains be washed away.

Jincheng County Government.

Yuan Shao was so angry that his face turned pale.

Since he was a child, Yuan Shao had heard how miserable the aftermath was when foreign tribes raided Han lands, leaving the ground covered in scars.

But hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once.

When he entered Jincheng and saw the corpses filling the city.

When he saw the old people, the children, and the corpses of women who had been humiliated.

Yuan Shao felt for the first time what cruelty meant.

The Han people also fought each other and attacked cities and seized land.

But for the most part, without special reasons, they would not massacre a city.

But the foreign tribes were different.

They did not treat the Han people as human beings at all.

And they would not be soft-handed when striking.

Seeing the layers upon layers of pale corpses piled up outside the county government.

Seeing those corpses stripped of their clothes, humiliated, and discarded by the roadside.

Seeing those childish, innocent, and desperate faces.

Yuan Shao's teeth were almost ground to pieces.

And all of this stemmed from one person.

Cheng Qiu.

Cheng Qiu, the Administrator of Liangzhou.

"You dog!"

Yuan Shao kicked Cheng Qiu, shattering half his teeth.

Cheng Qiu, lying on the ground, howled like a dog.

"Cry!"

"You still have the nerve to cry!"

"You dog, look at what you have done!" Yuan Shao pointed toward the direction outside the county government and said: "Open your dog eyes and look, all these people in the city, how many have died because of your cowardice and fear of death!"

"And the people of the three counties of Poqiang, Anyi, and Linqiang!"