evening.
Jizhou City was under martial law, and the city walls were covered with soldiers, all wearing Zhou-style armor.
There are two rows of large flags placed high on the tower, one row of uniform red-faced black characters with the big character "Zhou" written on it, and the other row of uniform apricot-yellow flags embroidered with a dragon with fangs and claws.
The existence of these two rows of flags both declares sovereignty. This place is the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Jianwei Zhonglang, Zhu Bangguo, was dressed in red armor and had a sword hanging on his waist. He was patrolling the city wall with a solemn expression.
Two people followed behind, one wearing a fish scale composite armor and the other dressed as a scribe.
The former is Zhu Bangguo's subordinate Han, who joined the army, and the latter is Wang Cheng's lieutenant, Liu Qingsheng.
"Master Liu, how long will it take for General Li from Pingzhou to arrive?" Zhu Bangguo turned around and asked.
Liu Qingsheng said: "Pingzhou is more than 200 miles away from here. If we set off from Chenshi, the cavalry should be able to reach our Ji County by Youshi. They should be arriving soon!"
Zhu Bangguo looked to the west with a complicated expression.
General Li in Pingzhou is called Li Yuanqing, and he is the younger brother of the current Xia King Li Yuanjie. He was a martial arts master many years ago, and now he is even more unfathomable.
He was deeply trusted by Xia King Li Yuanjie and led 30,000 troops to guard Pingzhou. However, the defenses in the northeastern part of Xia State such as Yanzhou, Luzhou, and Jizhou were all under his control.
In addition to this relationship, Li Yuanqing himself had strong military command skills and was also a fanatical militant. During the more than ten years of the truce between Xia and Zhou, he often sent troops to harass the borders of Zhou.
"Three thousand people versus thirty thousand people!"
Zhu Bangguo sighed secretly. He really couldn't figure out how to defend Jizhou City.
Although he was confident, the strength gap between the two was too big. He could not rely on this wall to block an army ten times his own.
Because the hearts of the people in Jizhou City have not completely surrendered to Zhou Dynasty, as far as he knows, the Black Eagle Army deputy lieutenant is hiding in the city, and he has a way to communicate with the outside world, so he is even less sure.
"That boy..."
He thought of Wang Cheng and turned to Liu Qingsheng and said, "Can he succeed?"
Liu Qingsheng was stunned by the question. Because he had participated in the planning of Wang Cheng's raid on Yanzhou, he knew very well that this plan contained huge dangers.
This is a strategy of "attacking the enemy and rescuing them". If successful, Jizhou City will be relieved from the siege, but Wang Cheng himself will be imprisoned and hunted down by the Xia army.
If he fails, Jizhou City will be destroyed, but Wang Cheng himself will also be cut off from all retreat options.
In short, no matter whether this plan is successful or not, Wang Cheng and the others will be in deep danger.
Just when he was hesitating whether to say anything, Han Shenjun on the side suddenly pointed to the east.
"Look!"
This shout attracted the attention of everyone in the city.
I saw a large number of people suddenly appearing in the east. As far as I could see, there were countless people.
They are like a tsunami, they don't seem to be very fast, but they suddenly appear in front of you.
All the soldiers on the city wall were holding their breath and concentrating, shocked by this powerful momentum.
Even Jianwei Zhonglang General Zhu Bangguo looked extremely solemn, staring at the group of people who were only two or three hundred meters away from the city wall.
Han Canjun took a breath and said, "There must be thirty thousand people here, right?"
Zhu Bangguo nodded and said: "They are all cavalry!"
Liu Qingsheng couldn't understand the meaning of these words for a short time, but Han Canjun knew it very well.
Thinking that in order to gather 3,000 cavalry for Wang Cheng, Zhu Bangguo really wiped out the "bottom of the pot".
Looking at the opposite side, there are more than 30,000 cavalry at the beginning, which is completely different.
"It is indeed a country founded on horseback!" Zhu Bangguo said in a complicated tone.
Liu Qingsheng suddenly said: "Since this group of people is here, what about the captain and the others?"
He didn't dare to go on. Pingzhou's 30,000 troops were here. Could it be that Wang Cheng's plan failed?
Zhu Bangguo said in a deep voice: "Get ready to fight!"
Then he quickly ordered the soldiers on the city wall to prepare all the defense equipment.
Large crossbows were carried to the top of the city, and kerosene, large rocks, and rolling logs were quickly prepared.
The Xia soldiers on the opposite side seemed to be afraid of these sharp weapons in the army, and stopped a hundred and fifty meters away from the city.
At this time, a man riding a tall red BMW walked out of the queue.
He is in his forties, wearing a piece of bright light armor and a large yellow robe with python patterns embroidered on it. He looks very noble.
Like other Xia people, he also has the traditional Xia people's hairstyle, but unlike other Xia people who are sloppy, his hair and thick eyebrows are neatly trimmed.
Under a pair of sword-shaped eyebrows, there are a pair of eyes with yellow sclera. The upper end of the bridge of the nose has a bulge, shaped like a hump, and the tip of the nose is slightly downwardly hooked. It really looks like a hawk's face.
"Li Yuanqing!"
Zhu Bangguo and Liu Qingsheng blurted out at the same time, and then looked at each other.
Both of them had met Li Yuanqing, so they recognized the man who came out on horseback at a glance.
Li Yuanqing rode a red BMW and kept walking forward. He was not alone, there was a group of people following behind him.
There are hundreds of people in this team, each wearing a fan-shaped hat woven with several feathers on his head, and his face is painted with several strokes of white wax, giving him a fierce look.
They all held a hard bow several sizes larger in their hands, and carried quivers on their backs filled with arrows.
Zhu Bangguo looked at the dozen or so people and muttered to himself: "Sound Shooter!"
This is the most powerful archer in the Xia Kingdom. He can hear the sound and shoot in the dark with perfect accuracy.
"General, it's almost less than a hundred steps!" Han Shenjun reminded from the side.
Zhu Bangguo was startled. This distance was enough for the archer to find an opportunity to shoot him. He immediately ordered: "Fire the arrow!"
"call out!!"
The next moment, the crossbow loosened its string, and hundreds of crossbow arrows with a diameter of more than one centimeter were shot out.
Li Yuanqing, who was still walking forward, narrowed his eyes, shouted "dodge" in a low voice, and disappeared on the horse in an instant.
The sound shooter No. 100 immediately disappeared from his horse after hearing the order.
"Dudududu!"
Hundreds of crossbow arrows were fired, and the hundreds of war horses mounted by the archers did not even have a chance to scream and were shot dead on the spot.
Many sound archers who were hiding under the horses' bellies were nailed to the ground by crossbow arrows along with their horses, and they also had no time to scream.
After this wave of attacks, no one among the hundreds of men and horses could stand. The sound archer who was lucky enough to survive hiding under the horse's belly quickly retreated into the formation.
"good!!"
Zhu Bangguo, Han Canjun, and Liu Qingsheng in the city couldn't help but applaud, and they shot and killed dozens of sound shooters at once. Such an opportunity was very rare.
Li Yuanqing appeared in mid-air, more than ten meters above the ground. The martial arts master's cultivation was clearly revealed at this moment.
He looked at the corpses on the ground and the fast spear-like crossbow arrows, and said with an ugly expression: "Iron Arm God Crossbow!"
In the army of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in addition to the iron-armed copper crossbow, there was also an important military weapon - the iron-armed divine crossbow, which was an enlarged version of the iron-armed copper crossbow. It was more than ten times more powerful than the iron-armed copper crossbow.
Li Yuanqing looked at the figures standing on the tower. Since the iron-armed crossbow appeared here, the people guarding the tower at this moment were not just a few kittens or puppies. There must be a general guarding them personally.
The information is wrong!
Li Yuanqing said loudly: "Is it General Zhu Jianwei Zhonglang who is on the city?"
"Exactly a certain family!"
Zhu Bangguo raised his hands in the air and said loudly: "I was glad to hear that General Xiaoqi was here. Zhu came here all night. He specially prepared a small amount of wine for this Ji County town and forgot to show General Xiaoqi's favor."
Li Yuanqing didn't believe this nonsense. If he dared to approach Jizhou City, he would definitely be shot.
The iron-armed crossbow is so powerful that it can kill even the strong King Wu. He could still hide a hundred meters away, but within a hundred meters, he might be shot.
attack?
Or not to attack?
If he attacks, he will definitely lose his troops. Looking at the situation on the city, there are at least thousands of guards and hundreds of iron-armed crossbows. Even if the city is conquered, it will definitely be a heavy loss.
But if they don't attack, the group of Zhou soldiers on the opposite side will think that they are afraid of them. If this spreads out, what will the world think of him, Li Yuanqing?
At this moment, an urgent message came to his ears: "General! Urgent military situation!"
He quickly flew down from mid-air, and as soon as he entered the formation, a knight immediately whispered in his ear.
After hearing this, he looked up at the figure on the tower and said, "Zhu Bangguo, I look down on you! But don't be complacent, this battle has just begun!"
"let's go!"
He no longer lingered, and retreated in a mighty manner with his 30,000 men.
It really comes and goes quickly!
When a group of Zhou soldiers in the city saw the enemy retreating, they immediately let out deafening cheers.
However, they did not know that in a hidden courtyard somewhere in the city, there was a figure silently retracting its head from the wall.
His whole body seemed to have been drained of energy, and he fell off the stool.
"ah!!"
He roared at the top of his lungs, but he quickly closed his mouth for fear of being heard.
Then, he dragged one leg and limped into the room, swearing intermittently, and the curses turned into cries.
On the city.
Zhu Bangguo, Han Canjun, and Liu Qingsheng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as they watched Xia Jun retreat like a tide.
Their palms were sweating. Just now Li Yuanqing really wanted to lead his troops to attack the city at all costs, and they all had to be prepared to die.
If they were just ordinary soldiers, they could still block the 30,000 men. After all, this city wall was enough for them to climb.
But among these 30,000 people, there are warriors and martial arts masters, and Li Yuanqing is a martial arts master. This city wall cannot stop them. What they are really afraid of is the iron-armed divine crossbow.
"Congratulations, general! Once Li Yuanqing leaves, this city has truly returned to our great Zhou Dynasty!" Han Canjun congratulated him.
The three thousand troops who came this time were just the advance troops, and there would be a large number of troops behind them. By then, the city would really be back in their hands, and it would be difficult to take it away again.
With Li Yuanqing's retreat, Zhou's subsequent troops would have plenty of time.
As Han Canjun said, once Li Yuanqing left, Ji County truly returned to the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Zhu Bangguo was also overjoyed. Suddenly, he thought of something and said, "It seems that kid's plan was successful!"
He looked at Liu Qingsheng, who nodded.
There is only one possibility for Li Yuanqing's sudden retreat. It must be a military emergency.
At this time, only Wang Cheng can allow Li Yuanqing to lead his troops to withdraw, and only Wang Cheng!
Zhu Bangguo looked east and murmured to himself: "Next, all the pressure will be on that kid!"
…
