Chapter 141: Try harder. Haven’t you eaten?

Flags are flying and the fighting spirit is soaring.

The Northern Army soldiers fought against a larger enemy with a smaller force, yet they remained calm and fearless, standing still like a mountain.

Wang Jing was very satisfied with the group of soldiers he had trained personally. He was even more fortunate that he not only gave them military training on weekdays, but also sent veterans to give them political lectures every night, teaching them to read and write so that they could understand the principles of the world.

The army may not have thoughts, but people must have faith!
Today's Northern Army is such an army with faith!
In particular, Wang Jing used the hundreds of sword guards brought by Xu Lan as the backbone, and recruited 3,000 Bingzhou soldiers from Jinyang, Bingzhou's hometown, and focused on screening and training them as the backbone of the Northern Army.

With these 3,000 Bingzhou soldiers leading the way, and supported by a reasonable combination of arms, although the Northern Army is small in number, their fighting will is extremely tenacious. Even when facing an enemy that is ten times their number, the Northern Army led by Wang Jing remains terrifyingly calm, like a dormant beast.

The wild beasts in nature will only remain silent, hold their breath, and wait for the opportunity to kill when they are hunting.

As they got closer, the soldiers on the coalition side began to feel afraid instinctively.

The silent enemy made them feel cold in their hearts, and fear sprouted uncontrollably deep in their minds.

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

Yuan Shao was also very scared, but he still gave the order: "Set up the Tiangan formation, and suppress the enemy archers with wind disasters first!"

"Order!"

Following the order given by the leader of the alliance, Yuan Shao, the Confucian scholars who were fighting with the army immediately chanted the holy words and shouted loudly: "Heng Feng! Heng Feng!"

As the secret art of the Holy Word was performed, the power of their thoughts suddenly shone brightly. This group of Confucian scholars were divided into groups of ten, with ten people in total, and they were numbered after the ten heavenly stems, Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren and Gui, and each stood in a position.

Ten golden light pillars shot up into the sky, forming a super formation that covered the entire battlefield. Its scale was so grand and earth-shaking.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew in front of Hulao Pass, spreading from east to west, and instantly put the Northern Army in an unfavorable situation with headwinds.

The battlefield was covered with flying sand and rocks, making the armor of the Bingzhou soldiers in the front row rustle. Many soldiers were even unable to open their eyes due to the wind and sand, making it difficult for them to see.

Wang Jing frowned, and the mysteries of "Purple Star Emperor Qi" surged into his mind. His heavenly eyes opened, and he immediately saw that the weather above the enemy was affected by the power of thought, which caused such strange changes.

Xun You also had a solemn expression on his face. "Dust covers the sky, and tiles on the roofs are flying. This is the constant wind. My lord, this is the specialty of the Chenwei School of Confucianism. It can 'say what comes out and the law follows', and temporarily achieve the effect of replacing the will of heaven with the will of human heart, thus seizing the right time. Right now our army is in a position against the wind, and our archers will be affected. The enemy's rain of arrows is coming."

Upon hearing this, Wang Jing immediately gave the order: "Raise your shields, and use the tortoise shell formation to defend."

Hexagonal shields began to stack up layer by layer, forming a shape like defensive fish scales.

At the same time, Wang Jing also consumed the evil spirit of the soldiers and launched the "hold on" tactic to strengthen the defense of the army formation. A faint red light curtain covered the sky above the entire army.

The light curtain is invisible and intangible, but it can effectively weaken the power of arrows.

As expected, just as the Northern Army had prepared for defense, a rain of arrows suddenly attacked. Just as Xun You had expected, the enemy took advantage of the wind to launch the first wave of arrow attacks.

Arrows rained down like rain, hitting the shields with clanging sounds. Fortunately, Wang Jing changed the formation in time and avoided serious damage. The Northern Army soldiers stood firm in the rain of arrows and suffered very minor injuries.

Yuan Shao originally wanted to use the secret art of the Holy Word to launch a surprise attack and tactically suppress the morale of the Northern Army, but unfortunately his plan was discovered by Xun You and his efforts were in vain.

After five rounds of arrow rain, the Northern Army's formation remained motionless.

Wang Jing even used the vocalization skills of "Phoenix Feather Fairy Sound" to vibrate the air with the power of thought energy, and laughed loudly: "Yuan Benchu, use more strength, have you not eaten?"

As soon as these words came out, Yuan Shao was so angry that his veins jumped out: "Wang Yuanxu, I will cut you into pieces!"

"Activate the Heavenly Stems Formation and use the cold disaster to severely damage the enemy!"

"Order!"

The disciples and former officials of the Runan Yuan family were spread all over the country, so they trained a large number of Confucian scholars who studied prophecies and classics to serve them, thus forming a unique "Heavenly Scholar Army". Each Heavenly Scholar was a master of spiritual cultivation in the Confucian school. They could do whatever they said and after forming a formation, they could even move the celestial phenomena.

After the wind disaster, under the command of Yuan Shao, the Tianshi Army launched a cold disaster attack on the Northern Army.

"Eternal cold! Eternal cold!"

The celestial being shouted loudly, and the celestial phenomena changed dramatically. There was howling of the wind, thunder and lightning. All things trembled with fear at the mighty power of heaven.

The temperature dropped suddenly on the Northern Army's position. The soldiers who were originally wearing thick clothes and armor were still sweating all over, but now their breath turned to frost, and many of them were shivering with cold.

Then it started to snow and even fist-sized hail began to fall, clanging against the shields.

Xun You once again saw through his opponent's plan and said to Wang Jing, "My lord, heavy snow, heavy rain and hail, and frost that kills beans and grass are all signs of constant cold. This is the cold disaster among the six disasters of rain, sun, heat, cold, wind, and shade."

When marching and fighting, what matters is the right time, right place, and right people.

Now that the enemy has seized the weather, they are essentially holding meteorological weapons. This is a huge disadvantage for the Northern Army in terms of weather.

Wang Jing immediately asked Xun You, the chief strategist, for advice: "Gongda, do you have any solution?"

"Have!"

Xun You pointed to the ten pillars of light that towered above the earth and reached the sky behind the enemy army and said, "The method of heaven and man's resonance requires the use of heavenly pillars to connect the human heart and the heavenly heart. The Heavenly Stems Formation is named after the Heavenly Stems. There are ten Heavenly Pillars. My lord, you only need to destroy half of them, and the formation will collapse on its own."

"Hahaha, this is easy!"

Wang Jing immediately ordered his men to fetch the Overlord Bow, and he leaped into the air, stepping on the Flowing Cloud Flying Boots. Like a rising sun, he slowly rose into the sky, majestic and dominating the world.

"Gentlemen, listen to the dragon's roar!"

The bowstring hummed like a dragon's roar, and the fiery feather arrow reappeared in the world, showing the power of the former overlord.

The arrow shot out like a flaming meteor, and the burning flames transformed into gorgeous wings in the air. Then, a divine bird, the Phoenix, bathed in blazing flames, appeared out of nowhere.

This is a move developed by Wang Jing himself based on the "Divine Feather Arrow Sutra" and "Nine Refinings of True Yang", combining the two killer moves of Divine Feather Liekong and Phoenix Feather Tianxiang. The former concentrates the mind, and the latter gathers energy. After adding them together, it is surprisingly similar to the magical powers of Taoist Yuanling.

The phoenix spreads its wings and covers the world!
Boom~
The divine bird Phoenix transformed from the Fierce Feather Arrow slammed heavily into the Jiamu Sky Pillar, breaking it with just one strike. The Sky Pillar transformed from the power of thought also fell apart in an instant.

The ten Confucian scholars who were maintaining the operation of the Heavenly Pillar also vomited blood on the spot, their breath was weak, and it was obvious that they had suffered serious injuries.

The pillar of heaven was broken, and the power of the Heavenly Stems Array was instantly weakened.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were equally shocked by Wang Jing's amazing shooting: "Five Qis transform into spirits, and there is a primordial spirit in the law?"

"With such archery skills, what formation in the world can't be broken? Could it be that he has inherited Hou Yi's legacy?"

Cao Cao hurriedly sent a telepathic message to Yuan Shao: "Benchu, while the Heavenly Stems Formation is still there, quickly launch an attack."

"hateful!"

Yuan Shao had originally wanted to use the Heavenly Stems Formation to wear down the morale and stamina of the Northern Army, and to use all the six disasters on Wang Jing to beat him half-crippled first.

However, Wang Jing's control over the Overlord Bow and the Fiery Feather Arrow has reached a superb level. He can even perfectly combine the Qi Refining and Mystic Refining techniques. His strength far exceeds previous estimates.

At this point, Yuan Shao had no choice but to order the front army to launch an attack: "Go ahead, kill a soldier and you'll be rewarded ten strings of cash! Kill a team leader and you'll be promoted three ranks!"

There will always be brave men when there is a big reward. When the Bohai soldiers under Yuan Shao heard such a generous reward, they immediately started charging forward with roars.

"Kill!"

On the vast plain east of Sishui, the two armies fought and blood was shed on the battlefield.

Weapons, armor, and human flesh and blood collided and entangled fiercely.

"Hold your ground!"

"Don't panic!" "Do as you were trained!"

Wang Jing was calm and composed in his command. Most of the soldiers under his command came from Luoyang and Hedong County. They ate and lived together and worked in perfect harmony with each other.

Basically, they fought in teams of ten, with three sword and shield soldiers in the front row, four halberd soldiers in the middle, and three crossbowmen in the back row, forming a simple three-four-three formation. All the soldiers were commanded by a squad leader.

Each of these soldiers is a full-time professional soldier. They are strong-willed, well-trained, capable of combining long-range and short-range operations, and have very methodical combat skills.

In comparison, although the Bohai soldiers under Yuan Shao also participated in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and were considered elite, their combat effectiveness was several levels lower.

These Bohai soldiers had no coordination and seemed to be in formation, but once they started fighting, it was equivalent to fighting alone.

The melee soldiers in the front row, armed with swords or spears, charged forward desperately under the heavy reward, but they were still unable to break through the enemy's defense. Instead, they suffered powerful long-range firepower attacks, suffered heavy casualties, and their morale plummeted.

Yuan Shao was commanding from behind. He saw the Northern Army's small team tactics from afar and was so shocked that his eyes widened: "What kind of tactics is this? How can they hold off our army for so long with only one tenth of their strength?"

Wang Jing's Northern Army is somewhat similar to the invincible Qi Family Army of the Ming Dynasty. It also relies on the coordination of multiple arms and emphasizes strict military discipline and professional training, so its combat effectiveness is very strong.

On the other hand, what kind of people are the soldiers of the various warlords within the coalition?
A group of farmers, militiamen, and local men who had just put down their hoes after working the land all day were forced onto the battlefield without any rigorous combat training. Their morale was basically maintained by food, wages, and rewards.

Not to mention professional soldiers, they are probably not even close to semi-professional level.

Before Wang Jing killed Dong Zhuo, hundreds of thousands of rabble under Yuan Shao were beaten to the ground by tens of thousands of Xiliang troops. In Wang Jing's opinion, if Sun Jian had not fought to the death, Dong Zhuo would not even have to move the capital.

Unfortunately, Sun Jian has now died in battle, and only the east and west routes are left of the three routes of the coalition forces.

Among them, Ma Teng, Han Sui and others in the west would be dealt with by Huangfu Song, so Wang Jing only needed to deal with the coalition forces of the eastern princes led by Yuan Shao.

However, Wang Jing did not take this group of chickens and dogs seriously at all, so he took the initiative to attack, determined to defeat the coalition forces head-on and shatter all the fantasies of the aristocratic families.

"kill!"

Three thousand armored soldiers fought bravely, and Yuan Shao's ten thousand Bohai soldiers were no match at all. They were soon killed and blood flowed like a river, with corpses everywhere.

Despite having a troop advantage of more than three times, the Bohai soldiers were defeated and fled in disarray in less than half an hour of fighting.

Yuan Shao was so angry that he quickly deployed more troops to fight, and even did not hesitate to consume his soldiers to launch military tactics, commanding the soldiers of other princes to advance together to surround and kill, in an attempt to break through the Northern Army's formation head-on and collapse the Northern Army's morale.

But the more impatient he was, the weaker the coalition's attack became.

The combat effectiveness of the non-professional soldiers was really worrying and they were no match for the Northern Army at all.

Yuan Shao couldn't even defeat Jiang Qin, who was in charge of defending the left wing. Although the 1,500 Danyang soldiers had only surrendered to Wang Jing not long ago, they had triple the food and wages, a generous meal with fish and meat every day, and most importantly, Wang Jing's fair rewards and punishments, regardless of family background or origin, gave them unlimited hope for the future!
Therefore, these Danyang soldiers fought bravely and were not afraid of death, just to fight for a good future, to have titles for their wives and children, and to bring honor to their family!

"kill!"

"There is no one in Danyang who is afraid of death!"

The Danyang soldiers were the world's top elite infantry. They were born in a land with many mountains and little land. Therefore, in order to survive, they had to mine, forge armor, and be brave and fierce.

Therefore, most of the Danyang soldiers were accustomed to wars and killings. Now they were fighting for their own destiny. These poor people burst out their potential several times and beat the minnows of the coalition forces until they screamed in pain.

On the battlefield, the Danyang soldiers were holding swords and shields, fighting bravely and soon became a dazzling bloody landscape on the battlefield.

No matter how the coalition soldiers attacked, it was difficult to shake their iron-like defense line.

On the left wing of the coalition forces, Cao Cao led 8,000 soldiers and looked at the battle situation in the center from afar.

Seeing Wang Jing's Bingzhou soldiers and Danyang elite soldiers killing people everywhere, he could not help but change color in shock: "The gap between the two armies is so obvious? Qi Hou is only a young man, and the army has been in existence for less than two years. Why are the soldiers so fearless and brave?"

After the defeat in Xingyang, Cao Cao now has all his men under his command newly recruited from Chenliu. Although their combat effectiveness is not to be said to be zero, they are much weaker than Yuan Shao's Bohai soldiers. They are completely inferior in terms of weapons and equipment, as well as daily food supplies.

If they couldn't even defeat Yuan Shao's Bohai soldiers, there was no way they could compare with Wang Jing's Northern Army.

The more he watched the battlefield situation change, the more shocked Cao Cao was. At the same time, he also had a deep understanding: "It seems that if we want to conquer the world, we must form an elite group of troops that can fight and dare to fight. Otherwise, no matter how many people we have, it will be of little use."

Cao Cao kept sighing in his heart and held the sword in his hand even tighter.

Cao Mengde, who was once young and frivolous, has suffered a series of setbacks in the past year. First, he fled from Luoyang in a panic, and then he almost died at the hands of Xu Rong in the Battle of Xingyang. For him, every incident was a huge blow.

Today's Cao Cao has long abandoned his unrealistic pride and complacency and has begun to understand the true meaning of war.

He saw that Yuan Shao was unable to break through the central defense line guarded by Wang Jing himself, and the Tiangan formation was quickly broken by Wang Jing. The subsequent crossbow attacks caused huge casualties to his own back-row archers.

In order to prevent morale collapse, Cao Cao, who had originally planned to monitor the battle situation as a surprise force to prevent any accidents, had to join the battle at this moment.

Cao Cao commanded his soldiers to attack Wang Jing's left wing, and immediately ran into Zhou Tai.

"Yuan Rang, Miao Cai, you two, each lead a thousand troops and attack from both sides. You must break the enemy's formation and create opportunities for our army to break in later."

Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan clasped their fists and accepted the order: "Yes, sir!"

At this time, they served as Sima and Sima of the Separate Department respectively under Cao Cao, commanding two elite cavalry units of several hundred people. They were first-class generals in the future Cao Wei camp. Not only were they superb in martial arts, but they were also very good at commanding troops. They were rare brave and good fighters.

"set off!"

Xiahou Dun, who was not yet blind, went into battle with his cousin Xiahou Yuan. Both of them were wearing armor, with sword-like brows and angry eyes, and they exuded a brave and fierce aura.

Both of them are descendants of Xiahou Ying, the Grand Coachman of the Western Han Dynasty. They can be said to be born into a family of generals. Generation after generation in the family have been practicing martial arts and learning military tactics. Since Cao Cao started his army, they have followed him, fought extremely bravely, and made many military achievements.

At Cao Cao's command, the two men immediately mounted their horses and began to lead their soldiers to attack Zhou Tai's troops.

"Go ahead and kill the enemy!"

Xiahou Dun swung the ring-handled sword in his hand forward with all his might, and immediately the entire army headed west and began to charge bravely.

Xiahou Dun himself was also very brave. He led a dozen of his own soldiers and galloped on horseback. The horses under his crotch galloped like flying horses. He and his horse joined forces and charged to the front of the team: "Follow me, you are invincible!"

The coalition soldiers were inspired by this and their morale was boosted: "With us, we are invincible!"

Xiahou Yuan took the opportunity to command the troops of other princes and assembled an archer force of about 5,000 people, preparing to launch a long-range attack from the left side, intending to annihilate the army commanded by Zhou Tai in one fell swoop.

"Ready, shoot!"

Xiahou Yuan was well versed in archery and horse riding, especially in shooting. He was more proficient in archery tactics than his cousin Xiahou Dun, and his choice of attack angles was also extremely tricky.

Five thousand archers fired a volley of arrows, which suddenly became as dense as rain, as if the sky was pouring down and falling suddenly.

Zhou Tai quickly ordered: "Raise your shields and hold on!"

However, the Danyang soldiers under his command all held their shields in their left hands, and the rain of arrows came from the right side. They were unable to respond in a hurry and were bound to make mistakes.

Puff~Puff~
Suddenly, many soldiers in the team were hit by arrows. The flying arrows broke through the air and not only pierced their armor, but also penetrated into their flesh, leaving pieces of sad and beautiful red blood.

However, Wang Jing had anticipated this. Before the war, he equipped the Danyang soldiers who were responsible for fighting in the front row with two sets of lamellar armor, giving them double armor each.

The thick armor dissipated most of the arrow's kinetic energy. Even if it pierced the flesh, the wound was shallow and only injured but not killed.

The shallow wound and slight pain actually aroused the soldiers' ferocity even more.

The Danyang soldiers became even more brave, staring ahead with red eyes, just like in nature, injured predators tend to become more ferocious.

(End of this chapter)