January 184 A.D.
Wang Fang reached Yizhou Region with ease from his cruel reputation. He took it without a hassle and went down to Yongchang Region.
The counties east of it surrendered. Only the barbarian chiefs in the west gathered an army of 100,000 n to fight Wang Fang.
The enemy had no discipline and with a bit of coordination from Wang Fang's side, it collapsed, chased for miles and miles. Thus the Yongchang Region was pacified.
anwhile, Li Zhen took his army to Xinggu Region, taking the southern Yi State. Afte Zhao Ping took Yinping Region, he moved to Hanzhong Region overseeing Yi State's northern five regions.
Zhong Yu led his n to face the army from Yi State's eastern five regions at Jiangzhou City.
The city had 20 ter tall walls, housing armies from Fuling Region, Baxi Region and Ba Region; 20,000 n.
While they had numbers as well, the sheer sea of green and red below the walls for miles on end had them faltering.
Well, the soldiers had no fear since they were clueless, but their leaders had more experience and knew the walls wouldn't keep such an army at bay.
The three magistrates' hearts shook with dread, with many officials wishing to flee on the spot. Alas, with their kin under the court's control, such actions would be a death sentence.
All they could do was push through this war, hold out until the imperial army arrived.
Roar~
The enemy ca with loud trumpets and filled with ttle, only working to cower the defenders.
Bang~
The drums echoed and the squads advanced on the walls. The soldiers marched with discipline, their boots thumping on the solid ground.
The blades and shields knocked from ti to ti, with soldiers shouting in between, to stem their own fear of war.
They stopped 300 off the wall, readied their gear and listened to Zhong Yu's orders.
The creaking announced the coming of a hundred siege weapons. They were ten ter tall and had iron reinforced joints that could hit from 300 ters away. Siege weapons were strong instrunts of war, only trumped by artillery.
While the army itself had tens of thousands of archers, split in two groups, inspecting their bows before launching arrows at the unsuspecting prey on the walls.
Zhong Yu sat on a makeshift podium, overlooking the battlefield, with people anywhere he looked for miles.
Zhong Yu waved at the man next to him:
"Archers, ten volleys!"
"Archers, ten volleys!" The herald shouted.
He then waved the flag in his hand and the archery divisions stepped up.
"Raise bows! Aim!"
A thousand bows were raised, with the defenders on the walls dead in their sites.
"Fire!"
Thousands of arrows pelted the sky.
After a three second gap ca the second volley.
With thousands of archers, each shooting ten tis, the next thirty seconds would be hell on eearth for the defenders, hamred in waves and scrambling for any kind of cover they could find, and shivering alone.
The attacks continued for five minutes as different archery divisions fired. But in these short minutes, the defenders were hanging by a thread.
With arrows after arrows coming to bear on these recruits' heads, they felt fear and horror like no other.
To a point anything sharp would trigger this trauma, replacing them with the image of bow and arrow aid at their heads.
Trauma aside, the casualties were nurous, no longer the tight ranks on the walls and gaps among the defenders.
10,000 n lost their lives in that brutal attack, with many more having a ntal breakdown.
With the city surrounded by Zhong Yu's armies, they would've long since abandoned their posts.
Zhong Yu ordered for the archers to withdraw in the rear. Overusing the bows would lead to a shorter service life.
Next up were the cannon fodder, to fill moats, climb walls and take the brunt of the war.
But even before them it was best to have the siege machines careen stone at the enemy.
The first record of a stone thrower ever being used was by Qin general Li Xin with his 200,000 n attacking Chu. The Chu general XIan Yan ca with a thousand catapults instead, crushing the Qin army. Ever since, the Qin King banished him to the borders to defend the Longxi Region for all his life.
They were rarely used afterward. Now the Han ruled China, fighting only against uncouth savages and no cities to need the use of stone thrower.
So Liu Ye from Cao Cao improved upon the design and resulted in the catapult. It caused mass panic among Yuan Shao's armies in the Battle of Guandu, giving Cao Cao the edge he needed to win the battle. WHile the barbarians here, he reckoned never even knew the concept of throwing stones like this.
As the city had no ranged forces, nor cavalry to launch a swift attack on the catapults, they were dood.
The catapults were 100 ters off the walls and still quite safe when they began firing.
The supervisors of the catapults were going to make those savages wish they were never born when faced with a hail of boulders.
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