In response to Dong Zhuo's move of stationing troops on the south bank of the Yellow River, Yang Rui also temporarily docked his fleet at the north bank of the Yellow River. He also set up camp not far away from the shore, where he temporarily settled down the Iron Guards, water soldiers, and archers to prevent the enemy from crossing the river.
Although Dong Zhuo had sent out hundreds of thousands of soldiers to chase after Young Emperor Liu Bian, Yang Rui wasn't worried about being surrounded by the enemy since he had the Steel Guards to rely on. Now that the advantage of the fleet was obvious, Yang Rui was just trying to make use of it and earn merit points when the enemy tried to cross the river again.
Just as Yang Rui expected, after Dong Zhuo's camp rested for half a day, they tried to cross the river again after noon. However, they were intercepted by Yang Rui's Dagger-Axe Boats every time. They contributed a lot of merit points, equipment, skill books, and other items to Yang Rui, but to no avail.
During the process, Yang Rui even had time to return to Heyang City to gather Zhang Ning, Wu Anguo, and Zhang Liao. Gao Shun was the only one left to lead the troops to search for Dong Zhuo's camp while Chen Lin stayed in Heyang City to guard the city.
For Dong Zhuo's camp to be able to mobilize so many troops at once in an attempt to cross the river, they must have a general leading them. Yang Rui had brought Wu Anguo and Zhang Liao here to deal with the enemy's generals. He had also brought Zhang Ning here to prepare for any possible opportunities that might arise.
After several fruitless probing attempts, Dong Zhuo's camp had lost more than three thousand soldiers and many ships of various types. They had given Yang Rui nearly a hundred thousand Merit and Contribution Points. As for the rest of the Contribution Points, Skill Books, Equipment, and other items were not included. Dong Zhuo's camp seemed to have realized the futility of their attempts and gradually stopped their actions.
Yang Rui didn't wait for the enemy to attack. He also tried to send Dagger-Axe Boats to attack Dong Zhuo's ships and even brought Zhang Ning with him. Dong Zhuo's ships were all piled up together. Perhaps a fire could solve all of them.
However, before Yang Rui's dagger-axe ships could approach Dong Zhuo's ships, they were shot down by the enemy's archers on the shore. If they continued forward, the soldiers on the ships would suffer losses. Therefore, Yang Rui had Zhang Ning set fire to the ships and returned with all the ships.
Zhang Ning's casting range was longer than an Archer's. The ships of Dong Zhuo's camp were also very concentrated. However, the range of Zhang Ning's [Heavenly Spirit Flaming Rain] skill was a little small compared to the wide river surface. After the skill was cast, the enemy ships panicked and fled in all directions. The losses were only a small portion.
Even so, Zhang Ning's fire still earned Yang Rui 20,000 to 30,000 merit points and contribution points. Although the number of ships lost was small, it was still a significant number.
After the fire attack, Dong Zhuo's camp became even more cautious. They didn't dare to continue to gather their ships together. Instead, they spread out along the southern shore of the Yellow River in fear of being attacked again. Little did they know that Zhang Ning's [Heavenly Spirit Flaming Rain] skill had a cooldown of 6 hours. Dong Zhuo's worry was unnecessary.
It wasn't until nightfall that Dong Zhuo's camp made another move. Perhaps they were inspired by Zhang Ning's [Heavenly Spirit Flaming Rain], Dong Zhuo's men also learned their lesson. They spread out their ships in a row and started to cross the river at the same time.
As a result. Yang Rui's hundred dagger-axe ships couldn't completely stop Dong Zhuo's men from crossing the river. Even the small fast boats and transport ships other than the dagger-axe ships might be affected. Therefore, when Yang Rui discovered Dong Zhuo's men's actions, he immediately ordered the ships to follow the river downstream.
Yang Rui even evacuated all his men from the shore and ordered Zhang Ning, Zhang Liao, Wu Anguo and the others to take the soldiers and move towards Heyang City. It was a foregone conclusion that Dong Zhuo's men would be able to cross the river. At that time, when faced with dozens of times their numbers, Yang Rui's men would definitely be at a disadvantage.
If Gao Shun, Zhang Liao and the others' special soldier types were developed, they might be able to face so many enemies. But after the special soldier types of historical generals were released, Yang Rui only knew that Gao Shun's special soldier type was the [Formation Breaker]. He didn't have the time to train it. Zhang Ning's special soldier type was not activated. As for Zhang Liao and the others' special soldier types, Yang Rui didn't know anything about them.
The process of Dong Zhuo's men crossing the river was just as Yang Rui had predicted. Even though Yang Rui's dagger-axe ships had killed many of Dong Zhuo's soldiers, but because the other side's battle line was too long, the hundred dagger-axe ships could not completely block off the tens of thousands of Dong Zhuo's ships. After the first fifteen minutes, there were already soldiers arriving on the north shore of the Yellow River.
Yang Rui ordered the hundred dagger-axe ships to freely attack and kill Dong Zhuo's ships. He himself rode the wind and left the main battlefield to observe the situation on the river surface. At the same time, he was also thinking about how to deal with the next situation.
With so many Dong Zhuo's men crossing the river, Yang Rui could only rely on the city to defend. Therefore, it was inevitable that the city would be surrounded by a large number of soldiers in a short period of time. Thinking of this, Yang Rui ordered the hundred small transport ships and the hundred small fast ships that had just returned to move along the river. He was prepared to continue transporting soldiers.
Currently, Yang Rui had more than 29000 men in Henei County. It should not be a big problem for them to defend the city. However, it was not realistic to want to wipe out the enemy quickly. After a day of observation, Yang Rui realized that his estimation might be too low. Dong Zhuo's men should be no less than 400,000. The ratio of attacking and defending sides should be more than 10: 1!
Furthermore, defending the city also involved the problem of food. According to Yang Rui's rough estimation, the food that Yang Rui had transported to the west of Hulao Pass and the food that he had obtained from conquering territories was only enough to last the soldiers for half a month to twenty days. It would be better for Yang Rui to not be in a stalemate with the enemy for longer than this time.
Therefore, Yang Rui continued to order the ships to move more soldiers downstream. When the new soldiers arrived, they could be used as the outskirts of the city. They could work together with the guards in the city to attack from both sides. This way, the efficiency of earning merit points and points would be higher.
It took Dong Zhuo's troops about an hour to travel from the south bank of the Yellow River to the north bank. This time, the enemy's general must have given a death order. No matter how Yang Rui's dagger-axe boats attacked, the surrounding ferries showed no signs of running away. Even the ferries that were attacked did not run away and did not cause any chaos for the other ferries.
As a result, Dong Zhuo's losses were greatly reduced. In less than an hour, 100 ships attacked, and they only lost a few thousand soldiers and a few thousand ships. This could be seen from the contribution points and points that Yang Rui earned. In total, Yang Rui earned less than 250,000 points.
After Dong Zhuo's men had completely crossed the Yellow River, the soldiers on the ships gathered on the shore for a while before they all headed towards the direction of Heyang City. All the ships were no longer protected by archers like they were at the south bank of the Yellow River. The people who were driving the ships naturally understood this. Therefore, as soon as the soldiers on the shore left, the ships scattered in all directions like a swarm of bees.
Although these ferries were also in a mess, they had learned their lesson from the first attack. At this moment, most of the ferries chose to flee in the upstream or downstream direction. Because of this, there were fewer ferries colliding with each other like the first time.
In fact, Yang Rui's arrangement of the dagger-axe boats was another thing. Almost at the same time when Dong Zhuo's warriors were heading towards Heyang City, Yang Rui had also gathered the dagger-axe boats, which basically separated the dagger-axe boats from the other ferries, which gave the enemies a chance to escape.
The reason why Yang Rui had gathered the dagger-axe boats was, of course, to chase after and escort the small transport ships and small fast boats that had left first. The dagger-axe boats were faster than the small transport ships and small fast boats. Along the way, they would be able to kill many of Dong Zhuo's ferries. Most of the enemy's ferries were fleeing downstream.
After arranging the ships, Yang Rui rode the flying carpet towards Heyang City. Along the way, he didn't manage to catch up with Zhang Ning, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo's men. It turned out that they had already arrived at Heyang City before Yang Rui and had started to set up defenses on the city walls.
After Yang Rui returned, he assigned Zhang Ning, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo to guard one side of the city walls. Zhang Ning was in charge of the south gate, Gao Shun was in charge of the west gate, Zhang Liao was in charge of the east gate, and Wu Anguo was in charge of the north gate. All kinds of Iron Guards, Vanguard Warriors, and Archers were evenly distributed on the city wall by Yang Rui.
The reason why Zhang Ning was assigned to the south gate closest to the Yellow River was because Dong Zhuo's men came from the south. Their main camp would most likely be on the south side. Therefore, there would be more troops attacking the city from the south gate. Yang Rui wanted to use the power of Zhang Ning's [Divine Fire Rain] to kill the enemy in a large area.
At the same time, Yang Rui assigned Chen Lin to be in charge of providing support. He only gave him 1000 men to relay messages to the various sections of the city walls. At the same time, he tried to mobilize some of the NPC civilians to collect and move some rocks and logs. Yang Rui had limited archers and soldiers, so he needed other methods to help defend the city.
"… Dong Zhuo is ruthless and ruthless. He took advantage of the time when Governor Wang Kuang was away and seized the land of the six counties west of Hanoi. Today, Dong Zhuo has raised his army and is trying to overthrow us. My fellow citizens, please lend us a hand …"
Yang Rui didn't have high hopes of mobilizing the NPC civilians. Who knew that after Chen Lin's speech, the civilians within a kilometer radius would respond to Yang Rui's call. This was far beyond his expectations.
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