Chapter 66 Testing
Liu Shiting gathered together 666 "magic soldiers" and led everyone to practice the "Six Ding Formation" in the open space in front of Baolun Temple - the charlatan sorcerer didn't know anything about military formations, but he just used the "magic soldiers" Divided into six teams, he went up to the altar, took a peach wood sword, burned a few streaks of yellow paper, and murmured some words and gestures, asking everyone to move forward and backward according to the direction, sometimes spreading out and sometimes gathering.
It sounds simple, but it's a mess in practice: Liu Shenren encountered the same problem as Captain Li Shaobing of Yanchang County: most of them couldn't even tell the difference between left and right! This made Liu Shenxian think a lot.
At the beginning, he knew that the burden of defending the city was almost entirely on his shoulders. Also because he was an illiterate warrior with simple ideas, Wang Jian did not resist Liu Shiting's mysteries like Pan and Jing. I approached Liu Shenxian and wanted to use the power of some "magic weapons". When I arrived at Baolun Temple, I bumped into the "divine formation" that Liu Shiting was practicing. I stopped and looked at it from a distance for a while, then turned around and walked away, cursing all the way on the street. I went back to the wall to vent my anger on the soldiers by beating and cursing them. Like crazy.
Liu Shiting is not a fool - how can a fool be a liar? The little calculation in his mind is that if the blackmail is going to be beaten to death, he can take as much as he can. If we win the battle or wait for reinforcements to break the siege, with Ma Wensheng here, the first victory will definitely be his. If we lose, the more than 600 cannon fodder collected will be enough to withstand for a while, and I can take advantage of the chaos to grease my feet and get away with money.
After Liu Shiting's "Weidou" was cast and loaded on an ox cart and dragged to the south gate, Guan Shengyun's preparations for the siege outside the city were also ready, and the war began.
At dawn, the defenders on the wall noticed a large number of people gathering in the distance, and the morning breeze also brought the noise of people shouting and horses neighing.
A loud whistle sounded. Except for the reserve team, all the defenders and militiamen went up to the wall to prepare for the battle. Because of Liu Shiting, Wang Jian had less than 200 people in the reserve team: some were taken away directly, and some were removed. Wang Jian filled the gap created by Liu Shenxian on the wall.
Guan Shengyun appeared too suddenly, and the south of the city of Shaanzhou Prefecture was full of ordinary people's residences. Therefore, there were no plum blossom stakes buried outside the city to hinder the passage of siege equipment, and no obstacle ditches were dug. The road was very smooth. These days, the auxiliary soldiers have repaired the fields on both sides of the official road, and the collision and towers can be implemented in most places.
The first thing Wang Jian noticed on the Nancheng Tower was the watchtower that had been empty for a long time. A few days ago, only a few auxiliary soldiers nailed a simple guardrail around the top platform of the observation platform. Later, a thick beam was installed directly in front, supported diagonally by a few strong wooden pillars, and a section was stretched out. I don’t know what the purpose is.
Then the thieves stopped coming.
After pondering for a long time, but still unable to guess the thieves' intentions, Wang Jian decided not to care about it - maybe the thieves' auxiliary soldiers were just doing errands. I specially assigned two blacksmiths to repair and make arrows and spears. So far, there are only about thirty in total. The observation tower is just a wooden frame. If a few thieves stand on it, they can try their luck. Otherwise, it will be difficult not to mention it. Even if you hit a few wooden posts, it's still a waste.
At this moment, a group of unkempt guys dragged a large pile of unknown objects to the front of the observation deck. Then someone climbed up with a rope on his back and threw the rope down the protruding front beam. The guys below tied the rope to the large pile of things. Another group of thieves and auxiliary soldiers came out of the ditch and worked together to pull the thick rope and hung it on the other end of one side of the ladder. The large pile of things slowly rose up. ——This time Wang Jian saw it clearly: it was a quilt, with a door panel nailed to the side facing her!
Damn, I was so careless!
"Shoot it, shoot it quickly!" Wang Jian shouted anxiously.
"咻", "咻", "咻"...
The three bed crossbows had already been aimed and fired one after another.
Three huge arrows and spears shot out of the sky with sharp whistling sounds.
One of the shots was so outrageous that it missed by a full ten feet and landed somewhere. The other shot missed and flew past the top pillar of the observation tower.
There was a muffled sound of "Duk", and finally one hit!
Wang Jian's eyes widened and he stared...
Unfortunately, although the arrow and spear hit, it had no effect.
The thieves stacked two or three quilts and sewed them together, nailed the door panel on the front, and pulled it up for protection. After the arrow and spear hit, the door panel dispersed the huge kinetic energy and spread it evenly on the quilt behind, leaving the entire shelter hanging in the air. No matter how powerful an arrow and spear is, how far can it overcome air resistance and push it forward?
The spear head, about a foot long, was inserted deeply into the door panel for more than half a foot. The hanging shield swung back, floated up two or three feet, swung back again, swung a few more times, and stopped, with the spear tail still moving. The ground buzzed and trembled.
Under the lookout, a bandit emerged from the ditch. He looked up for a while, pointed at the quilt on the door panel and said something to the bandit who was carrying a large bundle of five-color flags. The two started laughing and joking. Climb the wooden ladder.
When he saw several more thieves and auxiliary soldiers emerging from the ditch dragging another pile of rubbish and throwing it under the watchtower, Wang Jian was completely desperate: Do you still have spare replacement equipment? After a few more beams, when the wooden beam's bearing capacity has almost reached its limit, untie this one and tie that one and then pull it up again? How many fucking arrows and spears do I have that can be so messed up!
Forget it, just look at your fucking shit if you want.
Wang Jian decided not to waste precious arrows and spears on door panels and tattered quilts, and turned to look at the army of thieves that were getting closer and closer.
Everything in sight is full of thieves...wait a minute, it's the common people! That’s right, the people can’t be wrong! Not only can it be judged from their clothes, but also from their running posture, cowering expression, and the swords and guns pressing behind them... Everything in front of them shows that most of these people are common people, people who were locked up outside the city by Ma Wensheng! Wang Jian was so furious that he scolded Ma Wensheng's eighteen generations of ancestors in his heart.
The people, numbering in the thousands, surged towards the city wall. Naturally, there were some real thieves mixed in the crowd - they had shields on their arms, armor on their bodies, and knives in their hands, so it was not difficult to tell them apart. Most of the people without any protection were ordinary people or thieves and auxiliary soldiers, just running over with hoes and pickaxes. A stone's throw away was a phalanx of thieves' soldiers. In order to avoid being killed by crossbows, they left a large gap between them. They were surrounding them from a distance to supervise the battle, and were also waiting for opportunities. Wang Jian knew that once an opportunity was discovered, the enemy generals would just give an order and they would move closer to each other and form a dense battle formation to rush over. In the gaps between the soldiers' lines were thieves and horsemen. Obviously, their mission was to break into the ranks of the common people charging into the city and kill those who cowered and retreated, as a warning to others.
The people are the people, and they have never experienced such a battle. At first, many people thought they had run out of the threat range of the thieves behind them and stopped. Wang Jian watched with his own eyes as a dozen thieves charged into the crowd with sabers waving, chopped down the stagnant ones, then turned their horses back without stopping, and then charged in again... They came and went like the wind, and the archers at the top of the city were helpless against them.
The people were the people. After a while, they finally understood that they no longer needed the threat of sabers. They all rushed under the wall with all their strength. For the archers at the top of the city, it was much easier to shoot fixed targets than moving targets. ! Seeing the guys standing around who dared not move one after another, howling and rolling in the dust after being hit by arrows, they finally realized that the blind spot for bows and arrows was under the wall, so they ran over with all their strength.
There are already many real thieves under the city wall, each holding a large or small shield at an angle to cover themselves and their companions. There was no need for them to coerce here. The people and auxiliaries who rushed over tried their best to dig at the root of the wall with their hands - digging out a small hole that could accommodate them so that they could avoid the hot water, boiling oil and water poured down on them. Bricks and stones falling like rain from the sky.
There were fifty or sixty ladders, each of which was carried by a dozen or twenty thieves - well, or rather, civilians. Next to the ladder were bandit soldiers, mostly auxiliary soldiers. Each of them held a large wooden shield about half the height of a man diagonally to protect himself and the people carrying the ladder, and trotted quickly with his waist bent. On the one hand, they may have little combat experience, and on the other hand, they may not care much about the safety of the people around them. They mainly focus on their own protection. The wooden shield is obviously tilted to the outside, exposing many gaps. The archers on the wall formed a column of 3-4 people and took turns shooting behind the crenels according to the instructions of the chiefs. The archers in the front row would move to the back of the column after shooting, and the one behind them would step forward to take up the position... Generally speaking, , the physical limit of the archers is about twenty rounds of shooting. If it is rapid shooting, this number will be halved. Round shooting can balance saving energy and maintaining shooting density.
The people carrying the ladder were hit by arrows on the wall from time to time and fell to the ground screaming. Those who were not hit in vital parts struggled to crawl back towards the bandits' line, while others continued to move forward under the threat of the bandits nearby.
After glancing around to get an overview of the battlefield situation, Wang Jian fixed his sights further away.
Dozens of shield cars and four crash cars were only fifty or sixty steps away from him. A hundred steps away, there are five siege towers that are slowly but surely advancing - these are the biggest threats to the Shaanxi Prefecture.
Although there were many thieves outside the city under the wall, there were officers at the top of the city commanding the defenders and young men to deal with them, and the towering city wall was enough to withstand them for a long time. Wang Jian walked to the back and gave a few instructions to the officer leading the reserve team: If the ladder was not blocked and a thief climbed onto the city, a timely and powerful counterattack should be able to stop the thief's momentum for a while. He focused on commanding the bed crossbow and must defeat the biggest threat of the thieves.
Takato Dou on the observation deck looked at the battle at his feet with satisfaction. There were not many wounded, and even fewer died - well, the vast majority of those who participated in this exploratory attack were civilians, so what does it have to do with you even if most of them died?
So he turned his attention to the city.
Separated by the city wall, the area near the root of the south wall cannot be seen, but most of Shaanzhou Prefecture can be seen at a glance. There were no people on the street, and every house was closed, except for some government officials who hurried by from time to time. There were not many soldiers in the city, let alone camping tents. The regular defenders should be all on the wall, and at most there were several hundred reserve troops under the wall. The south wall has the largest number of defenders, with several hundred soldiers and thousands of soldiers. The west wall has three to four hundred soldiers. The east wall has the smallest number, certainly less than 200.
So far, the progress of the battle has been similar to the pre-war predictions. Gao Tengzu has not issued new orders, but has allowed the battle to continue to develop on its own. He is considering whether to smuggle some attacking tools to You Futian at night: continue to storm the south wall tomorrow. If you can After attracting most of the Western Wall defenders, I asked Lao You to launch a flanking attack... Just as I was thinking to myself, I suddenly noticed that six or seven hundred people came out from in front of a temple and headed straight for the South Wall. I felt a little nervous. It’s important to note that in a siege battle, the number of attackers should be at least three times that of the defenders before this battle can be fought. In this wave, more than 3,000 civilians and a similar number of auxiliary troops can maintain a good balance of forces. However, if these 600 to 700 guys join the battle group, the strength of their own siege troops will appear a little thin.
