Chapter 70 Train
Guan Shengyun and others were staring at the battlefield intently. Gao Tengdou's facial muscles twitched a few times unconsciously, and he looked at Luo Yonghao. Seeing the latter slightly nodding, he issued a new order to the messenger.
A long horn sounded, and the auxiliary officers commanding the attack below the city looked back at the general platform. Established simple orders can be preset through whistles, clappers, golden drums, etc.; complex orders issued temporarily by the general based on changes in battlefield conditions must be conveyed through flags (if they are too complex to be expressed by flags, the soldiers must be ordered to rush into the battlefield) issued). The bugle is a signal to inform frontline officers to turn back and watch the flag order.
First, a yellow flag was raised high on the observation platform, and a horn sounded from the front of the formation, indicating that the commander's order had been received. Then, a red flag on the observation deck waved, and a moment later, there was another trumpet sound in front of the formation...
The first to receive the order was the auxiliary squad who was hiding behind a large shield near the city gate and on standby. Yellow belongs to earth and represents the center among the five directions. In a siege, it naturally refers to the city gate located in the center of the battlefield; while red belongs to fire, and the meaning cannot be clearer: fire attacks the city gate!
Under the command of the officer, the auxiliary soldiers rushed out in twos and threes with shields, dragged the casualties and car wreckage aside, and re-cleared a road in front of the city gate. Although everyone knows in their hearts that the millstone hanging above their heads will only wait for the next crash car to come down again, and they are disdainful of talents like themselves. However, with such a big and deadly thing hanging above their heads, everyone was on tenterhooks with the impact of every brick and large shield being smashed down by the defenders.
The deceased is already dead, so just drag the body away from the road and bury it after the war. The auxiliary soldiers half-crouched along the base of the wall, using large shields to cover the wounded with severed arms and legs. Their crying, howling, and the broken bones bursting out of their bodies made everyone tremble with fear. Everyone secretly asked each other. The gods, Buddhas and ghosts on the road prayed: If you can't escape this disaster, just have a good time. Don't let this kind of bad luck happen to you.
There were about ten wounded people alive, two of whom died on sight.
One person had a car crash stick as thick as a cup stuck in his chest. The wooden post blocked the wound and blocked the blood vessels. The man was still awake, looking at the wooden pole that was as long as a foot through his chest. The shock made him feel no pain for a moment, and he kept muttering: "Help me, I don't want to die." The other Even worse, there was a big hole in his stomach, and a long pile of broken intestines hung outside his body, stained with feces, blood, soil and mucus, and was dragged on the dirty ground. The person was sobbing softly, one arm was missing, and the intact hand was pulling in vain and feebly, trying to push the intestines back into the abdominal cavity...
A hellish scene.
Many of the auxiliary soldiers were civilians captured from Yanchang and other places. It was their first time facing such a slaughterhouse of flesh and blood, and some of them began to vomit.
Snapped!
ah!
A large green brick weighing about twenty kilograms fell straight down and hit the edge of the shield. The shield holder was hunched over and retching. The shield he was holding was hit so hard that its tail jumped upwards and flipped over, causing the guy to almost do a somersault in the air. Immediately, his right arm was torn out of its socket and his teeth were bared. Grinning and howling. The bricks and excrement on the city head fell one after another following the screams. There were several muffled sounds and a series of miserable screams. The few people who had been hiding under the shields and lost their protection were all scared, and two more lives disappeared under the city.
The leader of the auxiliary soldiers of this group huddled under a large shield and stared blankly for a while. Then he looked at the wounded soldiers and then at the pale-faced subordinates around him. He gritted his teeth, stood up suddenly and rushed to the belly-breaker. He stretched out his left hand to cover his eyes and said harshly: "Brother, don't suffer any more. I'll send you on your way." Then, the dagger in his right hand swiped across the carotid artery... Then, he turned around and looked at the chest piercer, signaling The companion holding the shield beside him protected himself and moved forward together. With the same words, the cold light of the dagger flashed again... The soft moans that kept piercing the eardrums like needles and piercing into the heart disappeared. The auxiliary soldiers looked at each other, and the helplessness of accepting their fate replaced the fear.
After the road was cleared, another crash car got the order and began to push slowly but firmly towards the city gate. The squeaking sound was particularly harsh.
Wang Jian in the city couldn't help but feel a little strange: the tragedy of the car in front was right in front of him, let alone the thieves, even among the officers and soldiers, no commander could train such good soldiers who were willing to die! Besides, with such good soldiers, who would be willing to send them out to die in vain? Hum, so the best! When all these thieves who dare to fight are all killed, let's see what you can do!
Confused by doubts, Wang Jian raised his arm, waiting for the first impact and then swung it down. The grinding stone would be put down again, and he would continue to harvest another piece of life...
However, it seemed that after a long time, there was no impact sound.
Wang Jian quickly looked down the city and saw the backs of several guys running away from the collision and towards the shield walls on both sides...
It's a scam!
As soon as this thought came to mind, several rockets flew straight towards the crash car from under the shield wall, and the latter quickly burned.
The thieves actually wanted to attack with fire and burn down the city gate!
In ancient siege battles, seizing the city gate was always the top priority. In order to boost morale, most armies have express regulations: the first to climb the city will be the first to do so, which is called "first to climb" in military terms.
How big will the reward for "first come" be? Although the standards of different dynasties and ministries are different, they are generally higher than those of beheading generals and capturing flags in the field. They may even rise from cannon fodder to a single-handed general because of their extraordinary bravery! For example, Zhou Bo, a famous general in the early Han Dynasty, was called "Zhongjuan" when he participated in the war, that is, he was a cleaner responsible for sweeping. In the battle to attack Xiayi, "Bo was the first to attack the city" and was named "Five Doctors" by Liu Bang on the spot!
Therefore, faced with this opportunity that could change their destiny in one fell swoop, the soldiers attacking the city were willing to risk their lives.
However, whether through towers or ladders, the soldiers who narrowly escaped death and climbed onto the city wall knew that soon a large number of enemy troops would swarm from both sides! If you want to survive and receive the reward, you and your companions must rush down the city along the horse road as soon as possible, kill the city gate guards, and open the city gate - the large troops file in! Then you will be safe: sit comfortably against the doorway and wait for the glory and wealth that will fall from the sky after the war!
The city gate is almost the only channel that can realize the rapid delivery of large forces.
Another method is to remove wall tiles.
If the city wall is not too high and the defensive force near the city gate tower is too strong (the garrison's personal troops often gather here), the horse path leading to the city gate cannot be broken through for a while, and the soldiers who climb the city will be near the breakthrough. Form a defensive formation and protect the auxiliary soldiers wielding sledgehammers and iron drills to smash down the wall stacks - after the wall bricks peel off to expose the rammed earth wall, it is easy to demolish it. Finally, a ramp gap was created in the city wall, and large troops could barely pass through. Compared with fighting all the way to the city to open the door, this method is easier, but of course, the efficiency is much lower.
What's more interesting is that Li Zicheng's first victory in the siege was not awarded to the first person to climb the city, but to the first person to demolish the city bricks. Li Chuang is a large-scale mobile operation without a base area, demolishing wherever he goes. In an era of war and chaos and a declining population, a large gap in the wall often cannot be repaired in a year or a half. It will be much easier to attack next time! Every time they went to a city, Li Chuang and Zhang Xianzhong would force the people to tear down the city walls before leaving. This was their only way to travel back and forth to Huguang, Henan, Shanxi and other places as if they were in uninhabited territory.
Most of the generals such as Guan Shengyun were from the frontier army, so their style of play was naturally to grab the goal. Therefore, although the appearance is similar, Takato Dou arranged several destruction plans for the city gate - although this crash car also has a large ram from the front and top, it is just a display, with only the front exposed. , and the car body is filled with flammable materials: this is a "train"!
The millstone is powerless against this kind of "train": when it is hit, hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of flammable materials will be splashed and scattered. The fire will intensify in an instant, and the rope will burn. When the burn is almost done, you only need to drag the millstone aside. , another train can still come over and continue burning...
Wang Jian carefully looked at the other crash cars waiting nearby, trying to determine which one was a train from the details. However, it was really difficult to tell from this angle. It is not possible to ignite it through a rocket: due to the angle of depression, the arrow can only be shot to the top protected by wet mud. Unless it is shot parallel from below, it will be in vain.
Bed crossbow definitely works!
However, look at the several towers that are watching eagerly close at hand. Although the oil tanks thrown by the defenders ignited small flames in several places, it was just the grease burning outside the protective layer of wet mud. After a while, it would Extinguished - Wang Jian knew that these giant beasts were waiting for an opportunity. As long as the bed crossbow was launched, the few that were not caught in the fire would rush up. Before the winch could be wound up again, the baffle directly in front of them would fall down. , each giant beast will suddenly spit out dozens of elite armored soldiers from its mouth, shouting and jumping to the top of the city...
The bed crossbow should be kept to maintain deterrence, but it is better to think of other ways to deal with the immediate priority.
Shaanzhou Prefecture is an important place for military strategists, and the city gate is the core of all city offensive and defensive battles. Therefore, there are plans for a fire attack on the wooden city gate.
Seven Star Pond.
The pool directly above the top of the city gate is a reservoir. There are several holes in the bottom, which are blocked by wooden plugs. If the wooden plugs are removed, the water will gush down!
boom!
As the water poured down, the fire suddenly surged!
Wang Jian, who had just put his head out to check, did not expect a sudden burst of flames. He closed his eyes subconsciously, pushed the wall with both hands and jumped back, falling heavily on his back to the ground. Although he was observing it from the side, Wang Jian still felt that half of his face was burning. When he reached out and touched it, his beard was scorched quite a bit.
There is a record in "Wu Jing Zong Yao": "The train has two wheels, with a furnace in the car, a wok (pronounced 'or', a large pot) on top, filled with oil, and a blazing charcoal fire (pronounced 'Chan'), which makes a fire. Meaning) Order it to boil, but still order four areas of firewood to be pushed to the bottom of the city gate, and set on fire. The enemy will fertilize it with water, and the oil will get the water, and the flame will become higher, and the building will be burnt (pronounced 'fan', meaning burnt). .”
Of course Gao Tengdou, who is illiterate, has never read "Martial Classics General Essentials".
but……
Luo Yonghao read it when Shenmu was extremely bored.
