The next morning, Sun Ce transferred 50 archers including Xie Kuan and Deng Xin from the personal guard camp, carrying six stone crossbows and sufficient arrows, boarded the stairs and provided long-range cover for Gan Ning's subordinates. These people were carefully selected archers, with good foundations, but later they were trained by King Chen, and their archery skills were superb. They practiced shooting as a compulsory subject every day, and other trainings revolved around archery. There were no archers who could hit every single shot, but the overall level could definitely be called elites. It was difficult to find fifty people of the same level in the world.

Gan Ning arranged them on the building boat. With these archers, these two building boats became movable shooting buildings.

Gan Ning asked someone to prepare a hundred iron oars overnight, selected ninety-nine strong subordinates, and added himself to a hundred people. He handed over the other troops to deputy general Yang Hong, and took these warriors in heavy armor to board the five fighting ships, and sailed towards Niuzhu under the cover of two building ships.

Yang Hong commanded five hundred soldiers to take more than ten fighting ships, followed closely behind.

Sun Ce also boarded a tower boat and watched the battle from afar. Guo Ting stayed at the camp on the shore and waited for the attack. Xu Chu and Dian Wei took Yi from the camp to protect him. Ma Chao, Yan Xing and others did not get on the boat. They took a boat to reconnaissance yesterday, and they were all very faint. Ma Chao vomited a lot after returning to the camp. Taking a boat was not suitable for them, so it would be safer to wait in the land camp.

Yang Xiu followed Sun Ce and saw Gan Ning and others in such a situation, he was surprised. Only then did he believe that what Yuan Yao said was true. Sun Ce did not drink and brag with Gan Ning last night, but discussed the war.

Seeing warships approaching on the river, the Danyang soldiers on Niuzhuji issued the alarm first, and the sound of war drums sounded in the camp. Zhou Xin hurried out of the tent, rushed to the riverside position, and looked up from afar. He did not take Gan Ning and others seriously, but turned his eyes to the flagship in the distance. When he thought of Sun Ce being on the ship, he gritted his teeth with hatred, and wanted to have wings on his ribs and flew over to take Sun Ce's life.

"Boundist, prepare to shoot. Spearman, sword and shield hands are in front of the line!"

One by one, the flags were flying, the war drums were thundering, and one after another, countless soldiers rushed out of the camp, rushed towards the position, and set up several lines of defense on the riverside. The crossbowmen untied bundles of arrows and inserted them into the arrow bags. The sword and shield hands were arranged in small formations, interlaced and crossed. The spearmen stood behind them, and the nearest one was only ten steps away from the river bank, and they refused to give Sun Ce a chance to land. There were dozens of personal guards standing behind the formation. If anyone was afraid to fight in the battle, these personal guards would kill them without hesitation, and use the military method.

Zhou Xin was paced back and forth on the stage, standing on the stage in a row with long swords unsheathed, and murderous intent.

The two tower ships first sailed to the shore and stopped about thirty steps away from the shore. The tower ship was heavier than ordinary ships and had a deeper draft and could not directly sail to the shore. With the efforts of the oars and Zhuomen, the tower ship turned around and was almost parallel to the river bank. The two tower ships were only twenty steps wide, and only one fighting ship could pass through. Some soldiers shouted and threw down the stone slugs and fixed the tower ship. Ordinary ships used one stone slug, and the tower ship was huge. At least two were used, and sometimes four were used to protect the tower ship from being deviated by the water flow.

Arrowmen are all in their place and look for the opponent's powerful crossbowmen. Most of these archers can do bows and crossbows. Today's mission is to snipe the opponent's powerful crossbowmen, so they all use six stone crossbows, with a range of about two hundred steps, etc. The most commonly used crossbow on the battlefield is the four stone crossbow, with a range of 160 steps. For many shooters, this is already the limit. No matter how long the range is, it is not accurate. You can only estimate the shooting. Even if Xie Kuan and others use the six stone crossbows, the hit rate of less than 40%, and whether they can hit the key points depends on luck.

But above the battlefield, deterrence is more important.

The archers were well-trained and knew what tactics to use under what circumstances. They teamed up with five people and fired at the same time to improve the hit rate. When the battle was about to happen, the sergeant put his fingers into his mouth and wet them, lifted them in the air, skillfully measured the wind speed, and visually measured the distance and angle, reminded to adjust the deviation, and prepared for shooting.

"Are you ready?" Xie Kuan walked over and shouted loudly: "Get up on your spirits, don't embarrass General Sun, don't embarrass King Chen, remember who you are, stare at your target until you shoot him."

"Here!" the archers answered loudly.

Xie Kuan raised his head and looked at the big star blown by the wind. The star was heavy and swinging a little, but the decorative streamer on it was blown up by the wind. Xie Kuan looked for a while, pulled out a whistle arrow, put it on the string, aimed a little, and pulled the crossbow machine.

"Bang!" The bow string vibrated.

"Swoosh!" Mingdi made a sharp roar, flew into the sky, drew a gentle arc, and then dived down, flying over 150 steps, hitting the chest of a crossbowman. The crossbowman heard the roar, but did not take it seriously. He always felt that the tower ship was too far away, and it was already the limit of the range of the four-stone crossbow. In order to boost morale, the first arrow usually chose a closer target to ensure the hit rate. When he heard the roar becoming more and more sharp, it was too late to hide.

The arrow passed through his chest and came out from his back, and the arrow feathers buzzed. The crossbowman was led to take three steps back and fell on his back.

The soldiers nearby were shocked. The other party not only shot far, but also shot accurately. If you dare to choose a target that is so far away, your shooting skills will definitely be outstanding. They subconsciously squatted down to find a hidden place.

But they were obviously still a step slower. Before the sound of the whistle fell, dozens of arrows flew out of the tower ship and flew into the crowd. Almost at the same time, four or five crossbowmen were shot in arrows, some of which were more than one arrow, some were killed on the spot, some were seriously injured, and they could not scream.

The Danyang soldiers' crossbow positions were in chaos and screams were everywhere. The guards who supervised the battle immediately rushed over and killed the most loud wounded. Although the chaos was suppressed in time, their morale was severely hit. The crossbow players who originally thought they were safe asked for shield players to protect them.

At this moment, a fighting ship rushed past two tower ships and rushed towards the shore. Gan Ning was wearing heavy armor and holding an iron oar in his hand, and rushed to the front. The iron oar, which was more than one person tall, stood up, and the three-foot wide body was like a large shield, protecting the face and chest and abdomen. Twenty soldiers were behind him, and the two ran forward side by side, splashing water.

Zhou Xin was condescending, seeing clearly, and was surprised and disdainful. Do you think this would break the formation? The crossbows could not threaten you. I still have two thousand elite boys waiting for you. Even if you can take one as ten, today you will be able to come and go.

"Beat the drum, fight--" Zhou Xin shouted loudly.

The messenger waved the battle flag and issued an order. The drummer beat the cowhide drum. The drumming sounded. The crossbowman, who was shot in a sudden burst, remembered his mission and started shooting. At the moment, more than a thousand feather arrows jumped into the air and flew towards Gan Ning and others.

"Raising the shield--" Gan Ning roared wildly, holding the iron oar tightly, and preparing to welcome the rain of arrows.
Chapter completed!