Chapter 206 - The Battle of Muye (8)
Translator: Team TWO
Editor: Nora
Second day, before daybreak, the two forces stood in formation on the field of Muye.
Drops of rain started to drizzle down from the gloomy sky, as dark clouds covered the top of the battlefield.
For the Zhou armies, the trenches forced them to place the war chariots at the rear. They could only act as reserve units. There were mostly Zhou homeland soldiers in the middle. 3,000 royal guards stood at the forefront, and 45 thousand armored soldiers followed them.
The kings stationed their troops at the left wing, while the players’ troops were at the right wing.
The arrangement of the Zhou armies was a typical attack formation.
Before the battle, the Zhou armies had made an oath. King Wu stood in front of the formations and condemned King Zhou for all his crimes.
On the other hand, the 100 thousand crossbowmen were the core of Shang dynasty. Therefore, they had decided to take on a defensive strategy. 20 thousand shield-sword infantries formed defensive lines, as they raised their shields to form a wall of metal.
Behind them were naturally the 100 thousand crossbowmen, who stood in a fan-like formation. This formation could allow them to fire arrows from both sides. With such a three-dimensional defensive system, they could directly shoot or project arrows from three directions, front, left, and right, which greatly increased the lethality of the crossbows.
Every formation of a thousand crossbowmen was divided into three groups. The first group would aim and fire, the second group would aim and get ready, while the third would raise their crossbows and wait. They would take turns firing, which allowed them to continuously maintain fire.
The guards and war elephant were on the left wing, while the 10 thousand players’ calvaries were on the right wing. In order to leave enough charging space for the cavalry, they stood slightly behind.
The arrangement of the Shang armies shocked Jiang Shang. A few days before, he had a bad premonition when the spy they sent to contact Weizi did not return. Now, looking at the well-equipped and strictly disciplined soldiers in formation, rather than noisy and disordered slaves, his foreboding had come true.
But there was no turning back now, so their only option was to put in their best and win this war.
Jiang Shang walked to the war drum, and he personally played the drum beats.
As he beat the drum, the Zhou armies moved on beat. One after another, they steadily marched in formation across the trenches toward the Shang. They were like waves of torrents.
The soldiers moved across the field of Muye like sea waves flooding a beach. They trod toward Muye, slowly swallowing it.
King Wu personally led the troops. The imperial guards surrounded and protected him, as he moved in front of the formations.
The soldiers maintained the formations under King Wu’s orders, and they marched together. Above the formations, pikes and spears pointed upright, as the flags and banners of various countries fluttered.
“Raise your shields!” As the officer swung his command flag and gave this order, the imperial guards raised their shields and chanted in unison. They knocked their weapons against their shields, “wu..wu...wu...” along with this sounds, they pushed forward in unison.
When the distance between Shang and Zhou closed to 300-meters, the Shang took the initiative.
Under the lead of the experienced team, the 100 thousand crossbowmen half-kneeled down on the ground. They raised their crossbows and pulled the triggers. Words of the massacre of the 600 thousand slaves had reached them. Since Zhou showed them no mercy, what more did they need to hesitate about?
Volleys of arrows poured down onto the Zhou armies. Every volley could end the lives of more than thousands of soldier, which caused their blood to spurt into the air. The Shang army heavily suppressed the archers of Zhou. They could only passively defend themselves.
Rows and rows of brave soldiers fell; they would never stand up again. Whether it was the elite imperial guards, the soldiers of the kings, or the players’ troops, all of them mourned as the unstoppable arrows rained.
King Wu tried his best to maintain the formations so that it would not venture into chaos. Under the encouragement of King Wu, the rear army continued to fearlessly push forward. They stepped on the corpses of their comrades, eventually turning them into mashed meats.
If they retreated, the only ending for them would be death. None but the brave can live to the end, as long as they crossed the 300-meters firing area, the crossbowmen would be theirs to reap.
At least, the Zhou armies believed it would be so.
The arrows took down the soldiers, and the wounded soldiers fell and filled the trenches. Their blood overflowed and trickled out of the trenches, and the land was once again painted red. Their bodies became bloody, as they stepped on the corpses and blood. However, they bravely moved forward through the rain of arrows and continued on. They were an army of revenge without retreat.
As the fear faded away, the crossbowmen grew more confident, and their coordination improved. Their shooting rate increased, and the arrows had gotten more intensive and penetrating. The arrows passed by the soldiers’ ears and shoulders, or directly struck one of the unlucky ones.
The simple and crude armor of Zhou simply could not stop the sharp arrows. The casualties were getting too heavy. In such a short distance of 300-meters, 20 to 30 thousand soldiers would sleep forever on this blood-soaked land.
When the remaining soldiers finally rushed to the front of the Shang army, Shi Wanshui led a wall of shields to welcomed them. The 1,000 heavy infantry soldiers of Shanhai City were placed in the front, equipped with the Buren Armor made of fine iron. They were indestructible, and even the Zhou spears could not even breakthrough their armor.
As an emperor-level officer, Shi Wanshui had three talents: Take the Lead: Morale of troops enhanced by 40%; Conquer to the South, Fight to the North: Speed and mobility of troops enhanced by 30%; Insightful: Attack power of troops enhanced by 20%. There was also the additional 25% defense up for everyone of the Shang dynasty.
Under these buffs, the shield-sword infantry became fierce and invincible against the poorly equipped Zhou armies.
Shi Wanshui raised his spear and shouted, “Kill!”
“Kill! Kill! Kill!” The infantries raised the shields on their left hand, fending off the spears of their enemies. With their other hand, they swung their blades and split the Zhou soldiers in half. Bits and pieces of broken limbs flew across the sky, as flowers of blood bloomed in mid-air. The proud elite Zhou soldiers were chicken and dogs in the face of the shield-sword infantries.
The wall of shields stopped the Zhou armies from moving even an inch forward. Instead, they were suppressed and forced back.
The crossbowmen were like restless killing machines. They did not stop pulling their triggers for even a second. Volley after volley of arrows relentlessly reaped the souls of the Zhou soldiers.
The arrow rain coverage was so immense that it didn’t just affect the Zhou soldiers in the middle. Even the armies at the two wings were getting hit too.
At least one-third of the 50 thousand players’ troops were eliminated. Some of the lords that had charged at the forefront lost all their soldiers, and some of the others were sent out of the battlefield as a result of their death. At this point in time, the lords were starting to slow down and were asking for a retreat.
However, a darker nightmare fell upon them.
The war elephants charged forward under the covering fire of the crossbowmen. The soldiers on the elephant's back shot arrows at the long-range; at the short-range, they used spears. At the same time, the war elephants were controlled to fight with their tusks and trunks. The 10 thousand royal guards followed the war elephants, protecting the war elephants from ambushes.
The war elephants raged a storm across the players’ troops.
The players’ troops were a pile of loose sand. A great number of the cavalries were uncoordinated, unorganized, and fighting independently. They suffered a great loss even before they reached the front of the Shang armies. And now, as the war elephants charged right into the cavalries, they were thrown into chaos. They couldn’t find their commanders; the commanders couldn’t find their lords, and no one knew whether they should continue pushing forward or retreat. They wasted their strong combat capabilities.
The royal guards of the Shang held the determination to protect their homeland. They waved their spears at the enemies and took away the lives of those who stood before them. Their bronze armor provided great protection.
The players’ troops that held a great advantage were now placed in a bad position. The Shang royal and imperial guards suppressed and held back the players’ troops.
On the right wing, Zhao Liao raised his spear and gave the order to attack, “Charge!”
The cavalries raised their weapons—both spears and lances—and charged toward the kings’ soldiers. Mounted on their warhorses, they were like fairies that rode past the trenches. They did not slow down in the slightest.
In the era of war chariots, these cavalry units were the definition of a nightmare. The arrows did minimal damage to the cavalries’ Mingguang armor. The cavalries were like a burning hot metal rod poked into a pile of butter; they easily tore the kings’ armies into half.
Not a single soldier could stand in their path. Not even a decent corpse could be found, as they were all stomped into mashed meats.
This was not a war. It was a massacre, and the battlefield had turned into a slaughterhouse. The invincible cavalries fearlessly charged back and forth through the sea of the kings’ armies, crippling and disabling them.
Even the bravest soldier would lose all their courage when faced with such a hell on earth. The cavalries’ lances, under the enhancement of their momentum, pierced their enemies into human skewers.
The soldiers that were not dead mourned in mid-air.
But the cavalries were emotionless. They swung their lances and left behind corpses, spreading the intestines and internal organs across the ground. Then, the horses stampeded it all together with the soils and grasses, making a land of human salad.
The rain of relentless arrows continued to pour down onto the Zhou soldiers.