Early autumn.
South Zhili, Luzhou Prefecture.
It has been besieged for more than ten days, and the siege is becoming increasingly fierce. The morale of the people in the city has gradually turned from the initial fear to calmness, as if the loud war drums, the shouts of the soldiers, the screams of the dead and wounded... are all part of the difficult life, as inborn, and they are used to it.
But at this time, on the top of the city, Commander Sun Jie's face was full of anxiety - he knew that it was finally time to make a decision.
Sun Jie was not worried about the small group of enemy soldiers who had already boarded the city: they were compressed into a section of about two to three feet, and were tightly surrounded by his own side. The walls on both sides were still in his hands, so they would not be in any danger. Judging from yesterday's battle situation, the bandits' attack on the city will definitely happen today, and will continue in the next few days. In this era, it was rare for the city to be breached by climbing the wall. The attackers would use continuous wall-mounting attacks for many days to destroy the wall stacks, kill the effective forces, and more importantly, spread fear to undermine the morale of the defenders and residents. In fact, Sun Jie also hopes that the enemy will continue to climb up - because he knows his own strength and is confident to kill as many of the enemy's elites as possible after they climb the wall...
His uneasiness came from outside the city.
After temporarily handing over the flag and command to the deputy general Shen Chenggang, Sun Jie led several guards down the city wall with a sullen expression.
Dozens of men squatted at the base of the inner wall. Most of them were hanging their heads in silence, with no expression on their dull faces - when these guys were summoned a few days ago, some knelt down and begged, some cried loudly, and some even peed their pants. However, after waiting for a few days, they realized that they were powerless to change their fate. Their despair reached the end, and everyone silently accepted the death that was bound to come. They were all guys who had violated military laws in the camp. In normal times, they might have suffered. A beating, or the crime of wandering through the arrow camp, but in extraordinary circumstances, the price needs to be paid with life. There were also a few people talking loudly and excitedly, telling vulgar jokes, and they were using this method to hide their fear - these were volunteers who had made a deal with Sun Jie for various reasons: The price is also his own life.
Sun Jie looked at it silently for a moment, then waved his hand and picked up several sets of burdens that had been prepared.
Seeing the burden, the men squatting and leaning against the wall stopped talking and laughing, stood up one after another, and lined up silently.
The first load was two jars of wine, followed by stacks of stoneware bowls and large chunks of fat.
Sun Jie wants to toast them.
Strong wine.
Lieutenant General Shen nodded to the messenger, who raised a small triangular flag and waved it. Upon seeing this, the officers responsible for defending the surrounding sections of the city walls called out their names and dispatched their most elite archers to rush to the section of the city gate.
The archers lined up in a dense column behind the crenels. Everyone's arrows were placed on the arrow rests, and those in front started to half-open their bows. On the outside of the archer column is a team of dozens of crossbowmen, and the crossbow machines have all been stretched.
Lieutenant General Shen on the city tower glanced at the team of crossbowmen out of the corner of his eye, looked towards the city at Sun Jie, and slashed down with his raised hand.
Following a rapid bang, bang, bang, and several muffled sounds, several iron spears shot out from the crossbow on the bed. A shield car was hit head-on, and instantly fell into pieces. The huge inertia caused the spearhead to penetrate the human body behind the car, insert it diagonally into the soil, and nail the person to the ground - he was lucky: through the chest And it was a painless death on the spot. Another iron spear hit slightly, and the shield cart with a corner torn off jumped up, and screams suddenly sounded - the screams of those who were hit by the fragments that were thrown away by the collapse. Rusty nails, dirty clothes, and blood-soaked soil were deeply embedded in the human body. In the days before antibiotics, many of them would slowly die over the next few days due to infection.
Immediately afterwards, a torrential rain of arrows came from every crenel above the city gate. After each archer finished firing, he immediately stepped back and lined up at the end of the team. The archer behind him who had already fully drawn his bow took up his position, shot, and then stepped back. The third person stepped forward and fired... The crossbow was fired a little slower. But the hit rate and killing effect are obviously better.
A qualified archer's physical limit is about 20 rounds of full-bow shooting, during which he must also pay attention to controlling the rhythm. This kind of rapid shooting that does not spare any physical strength is extremely rare: within ten rounds at most, your arms will be too sore to draw the bow - this is a desperate style of play.
In an instant, the enemy's follow-up troops were suddenly exposed to the sudden and intensive firepower! The panic-stricken armored soldiers used round shields to protect their vital points while looking for cover. The offensive momentum came to an abrupt halt...
Sun Jie raised his head, poured the low-quality water and wine from the pottery bowl down his throat, and compared the empty bowl in his hand to his brothers. The suicide squad members also drank the whole drink in one gulp, and then threw the empty bowls in their hands on the ground. The sound of smashing was mixed with noisy shouts:
Commander, let us kill the thieves!
Commander, see you in the next life!
Marshal, see you in twenty years!
Sun Jie nodded with a livid face, then looked up at the tower.
A soldier covered his helmet with one hand and quickly glanced around the outside of the city. He turned around and waved desperately. The flag bearer waiting inside waved the triangular military flag and waved it vigorously, as if he had exhausted all his strength. Sun Jie nodded to the defenders at the city gate, turned around, bowed and clasped his fists: "Every year on this day, Mr. Sun will offer a bunch of cigarettes to all the brothers. As long as Mr. Sun is here, he will never stop drinking and eating for the brothers. Brothers, let's See you in the next life!"
The heavy door latch was removed, the city gate slowly opened a gap, and the death squads rushed out with shouts!
The few people behind were unarmed and holding large oil cans.
All shirtless.
They know that until they die, the city gate behind them will never be opened for them again - that bowl of hot bad wine and a cube of fat meat boiled in salt water are the price of a life.
They don't need protection.
They just need to kill enemies and destroy enemy crashes.
Then, die.
…
The shouts of death and screams outside the city gate gradually fell silent.
With the sound of burning, the air was filled with the smell of burning.
I looked up at the few plumes of smoke in the sky, and there was no need to wait for the flag at the top of the city to convey the message. Sun Jie knew that the enemy's ramming vehicles, shield vehicles, and soldiers were no longer a threat.
The city gate was saved.
At least the next few days will be safe: it will take a long time for the enemy to build another batch of siege equipment.
The price is dozens of lives.
Sun Jie handed a few pages of paper tightly held in his hand to the guard captain Shi Erlei. The paper was densely packed with names. This was the last trace left in this world by those who protected the city gate with their lives.
Some of the suicide squad members had a blood feud with the attacking thieves, some wanted to repay a favor, and some wanted to let their relatives receive the kindness of Marshal Sun. The court was too far away and too vague. They only knew that Marshal Sun would not harm them, and that was enough. More, or more under coercion.
Sun Jie didn't know much about literacy, so the master wrote down everyone's names.
Shi Erlei solemnly took the list, wrapped it in oil paper, held it solemnly in his arms, and followed the officer to the corridor of the city gate tower again.
After the war, if he is still alive, he will find a craftsman to carve each name into a god tablet and put it in the camp, together with the tablets of other brothers who took the first step. Well, they are all bleeding together, and they will take care of each other over there. From now on, Master will remind Sun Jie every year on this day and lead them to light three sticks of incense and burn some paper money.
This is the life of a warrior.
On the earthen ramparts outside the city gate, the attacking commander Guan Shengyun silently looked at the burning car wreckage in the distance.
The rhythm today was not well controlled: the feint attack at the south gate was launched too early. After the defenders withstood the attack, they still had enough power to support the west gate. However, Guan Shengyun also knew in his heart that even if the timing was perfectly grasped, the result would be similar: the defender had the advantage of the view from the city gate tower, and whether they had brought siege engines or trebuchets, it was not difficult to judge whether the main attack would be a feint attack, but there was no other way .
The city wall is another major advantage for the defenders. Auxiliary soldiers who have not been spattered with blood in close combat are of little use in field battles, but when defending the city, whether they are shooting arrows, cannons, or throwing stones, with the protection of the battlements and long-distance battles, they can almost be used as soldiers.
Guan Shengyun looked at the flames and black smoke in the distance, his heart bleeding.
This group of people who rushed forward were all elites who dared to fight.
There are more than one Qian and three General Managers, and he can even call out the names or nicknames of twenty or thirty veterans among them! When setting off, he heard with his own ears a few guys behind the shield car saying that after entering the city, they must grab some good cloth for the mother-in-law at home to make clothes. It would be great if they could get some jewelry. That Silly Shuanzi, who didn't have a family yet, kept vowing to steal a wife. He even laughed and cursed a few times at that time...
In the blink of an eye, it was all gone.
He looked up at the sun in the west and said, "Retract your troops."
Fight again tomorrow.
The attacking troops successively received flag orders from the messengers - in fact, even if there was no order, everyone knew that it was almost time to withdraw. Of course, people in this era did not understand that lack of animal protein intake and insufficient A vitamins in the human body would lead to night blindness, but generals knew that most soldiers could not see anything at night. Night battles are a fight to the death: almost all of them are half-blind, and in a melee, the chance of you being hacked by your comrades is even greater than the chance of being hacked by the enemy.
The officers on the front line heard the crisp sound of gold and began to organize an orderly retreat.
The catapult adjusted its direction and angle and began to throw at the city walls on both sides. The stone projectiles were wrapped in thick straw and the straw was soaked in grease. The accuracy is still very different, but some will hit the wall or fall on the trail by chance, and the splashing flames will delay the reinforcements of the enemy for a while.
The shield soldiers held their large shields diagonally close to the base of the city wall to provide protection for the crossbowmen. There is no horse face in Luzhou City, and the base of the city wall is relatively safe: unless you lean forward and throw, there will not be much danger. After the infantry archers nocked their arrows, they would jump out in twos and threes at any time, shoot quickly at the top of the city, and then jump back under the shield shed. The crossbowmen were much calmer. They scattered and hid in places they thought were safe. They held their crossbows high and patrolled. They would only fire when they saw the target accurately. Then they hid in the shield shed, sat down on the ground, kicked with their feet, and fired. The crossbow is cocked. The speed-of-fire crossbow machine is no match for the infantry bow: the time it takes for a skilled crossbowman to prepare for shooting is enough for a new archer to complete three firings - but the effect is not the same. Ordinary infantry bow feather arrows are difficult to penetrate armor, and even cotton armor is not easy to penetrate. A soldier wearing heavy armor has seven or eight arrows stuck in his body, which is not a big deal except getting in the way. The mountain armor he wears is vulnerable to crossbows!
The soldiers who had already attacked the city quickly gathered into a semicircle formation, taking turns to cover, and first hung the injured comrades from the city wall. There were several short ladders on both sides of each ladder. The spearmen put their two-foot-long Juma spears on the battlements to use them, and dug around to try to create as much space as possible for the brothers at the top of the city. The exhausted defenders did not press too hard: after all, no one wanted to die when the outcome was already decided.
The soldier behind the break is called Liang Laosi, and he is a tiger general under Guan Shengyun's tent. Liang Laosi first hit a nearby man's leg with his round shield, then swung the steel knife in a large semicircle, slightly forcing the enemy soldiers back, shouted "hit", threw it towards the enemy directly in front, and turned around Jump across the battlements and jump onto the ladder.
The shield soldiers quickly divided into several teams: some stacked their shields to form a turtle formation, protecting the wounded and unarmored archers in the middle. Several crossbowmen who had already stretched their strings were close to the shield soldiers, and fired from the gaps between the shields. The enemies on the city wall fired interference shots, and other groups of large shields formed a shield wall to cover the soldiers who carried ladders and trotted away.
For the bed crossbow, the shield array is also an easier target to hit. But the retreating soldiers will not worry about this - they know that the primary target of the precious iron spears is the shield cart - those wooden frames covered with cowhide and wet quilts are far more valuable than their own lives.
Guan Shengyun's catapult adjusted its direction again and threw it at the city wall directly in front, providing the final cover for the retreating brothers.
