Chapter 200 Sacrifice
There were more than a dozen destroyed towers lying crookedly in the fields outside Chengdu. Some had their tops ripped off, some were mostly destroyed and only their frames were left, and some even fell to the ground. Many of them were facing the people. Thick smoke billowed out from the sky, and tongues of fire licked wildly.
More than a dozen towers were leaning against the wall. There was already a melee on the wall, with fighting groups shouting and fighting everywhere. The iron spears of the bed crossbows have been fired long ago. In order not to hinder the attack under the wall, four of them have been dragged away. Only two of them are still surrounded by soldiers and civilians - they are swarming towards the Miao soldiers outside the wall. They fired Douzi arrows wildly to relieve some pressure on the brothers on the wall. There were not many soldiers around to provide protection, and most of them had been deployed by their superiors to support nearby battles. However, everyone was extremely excited to the point of madness, repeating their actions mechanically, and turning a deaf ear to the tragic battle situation close at hand. The other bed crossbowmen who had no arrows to shoot picked up any weapons around them and joined the battle under the leadership of their commanders.
The soldiers of the Changjie Battalion had long abandoned their infantry bows. Now they were the backbone of this hand-to-hand battle. The task of long-range strikes fell entirely on the shoulders of the more than 200 crossbowmen of the Chengdu Central Guard. Although each crossbowman will be surrounded by one or two spearmen or sword and shield soldiers to provide protection, Sun Jie took a cursory look and found that the battle was getting more and more intense, and there were still many casualties. Now only the ones who could maintain normal shooting were There are one hundred thirty or forty people. Fortunately, those bed crossbows that had fired all their arrows each released sixty or seventy civilians. Under the orders of Changjie Camp Chief Guo and General Commander, they either joined the stone-throwing team beside the outer wall, or shuttled continuously from Get cupping cans and explosive cans from the back wall, run to the outer wall and throw them down...
The two squatting tiger cannons directly above the city gate were still roaring one after another - the huge role of the gate barrier was fully demonstrated at this time: although the defensive front was not large, as long as there were defenders, the enemy in this area could not get close! If you can't get close, you can't climb the city. The long-range firepower at the top of the city can pour firepower on the enemy's rear without any interference, providing timely and effective tactical support to the brothers guarding the fortifications below! Sun Jie had not used the Crouching Tiger Cannon much before, but in this actual battle to defend the city, he discovered an effective three-dimensional strike mode, which would play a huge role in the future.
In many people's minds, the defending side in a siege often blocks several city gates with large stones, and then relies solely on the city wall to resist. It seems that the effect is not bad, such as Yuan Chonghuan guarding Ningyuan a few years later. But Sun Jie knew that this was a very stupid way: not to mention that he had completely given up the opportunity to counterattack. Even if reinforcements approached, the city could not make any response and could only watch from the wall. The enemy can change his formation to block friendly forces without any worries right under his nose. To put it bluntly, it means that you are first in an "invincible" position like a tortoise - the city wall is the tortoise shell. You can gnaw it as you like. The initiative on the battlefield is completely given to the opponent. If you can gnaw the city wall open, I will accept my fate. If you can't gnaw it open, I will leave. After sleeping, it was impossible to carry out any pursuit. He was in a state of being beaten blindly, and all he had to do was to withstand the beating.
Of course, blocking the door also has the advantage of blocking the door - in any era, combining inside and outside is a very effective way to attack a city. That is to say, before the war, a large number of internal officers were sent to mix with the refugees and swarm into the city. When the war broke out, one or two hundred people took advantage of the chaos to grab the gate. Once the city gate was opened, a large number of attackers filed in, and the city was broken. In this era, there is no ID card, and 99% of the villagers who have deserted the army in the suburbs are illiterate. Moreover, the range of activities from birth to death in this life is likely to be within a radius of more than ten miles, and people in neighboring villages may not be able to read. You can know a few of them, so it is often very effective.
Blocking the door can completely eliminate this hidden danger.
However, Zhu Xieyuan was much more capable than Yuan Chonghuan. He had made proper arrangements when a large number of refugees fled in: he concentrated them in several places, first pulled out those who looked like Miao people, and then The person then starts to screen one by one according to the bottom files of the household registration registers of surrounding states and counties in Chengdu Prefecture. The suspects who passed through the sieve twice and were picked out were finally circled in one place and asked to identify them according to their respective territories. Those who took the initiative to confess and identify others would be spared death! In one breath, they found out more than 200 internal agents sent by She Chongming, killed them all, and hung their heads on the wall for She Chongming to see! Of course, some of them died in vain, and it was difficult to guarantee that some of them slipped through the net, but... there was no way, in war, human life was worthless.
With no internal worries, Sun Jie set up a barricade outside the door with peace of mind. This kind of city defense method was not used too much in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The reason is that the Ming Dynasty relied on civil servants to control the military. The civil servants had the final say on the city defenders. Usually, when these guys were embezzling and expropriating, they would recite poems and compose poems. They were so arrogant. Don't bother to deal with the vulgar warrior if you don't want it. When the war came, I took it for granted that there must be enough defenders for the fortress. However, I felt that the number of soldiers in hand was too few, so I sent them all to the wall to poke my heart. In fact, they don't know that the number of troops deployed in front of the gate can be more or less, which is better than blocking the gate anyway - if there are more defenders, such as a thousand people, the defensive circle will be wider and deeper, and several more fortifications can be set up. Fighting steadily, inflicting maximum damage on the enemy. If the number of people is small, such as one or two hundred, the front for defense will be smaller. The defense range of each person will still be the same, and there will be no difference in the intensity of the battle. Moreover, there is a city to support you, friendly troops above to cover and shoot, you can take turns to rest in the doorway, and the wounded can retreat at any time... Having support in your heart will not only improve your fighting will! For the attacking enemy generals, if the defending general dares to make such an arrangement, it not only shows his confidence in his own combat power, but also must always be on guard against counterattacks by the defending army, and never dare to send all his troops out to attack unscrupulously!
Behind the last line of defense three feet away from the door, Shi Meng could hardly lift his arm. The thieves temporarily retreated again, but they did not run far. Some hid behind the overturned tower, and some covered their heads with shields and huddled beside the wreckage of the carriage. They were also resting and waiting for reinforcements from behind to come up. Lao Shi made a rough estimate and found that more than 200 Miao Yi had fallen in the first two fortifications, maybe almost 300. Lao Shi secretly thought that there were more injured. Turning his head and looking behind him, he saw that more than a dozen of his men were dead, about thirty or forty injured, and the rest were exhausted. As a last resort, the frequency of defense changes in battle became faster and faster. The nearly two hundred friendly troops sent to Lao Shi's Chengdu Central Guard had a higher casualty rate - at first, these people were obviously timid, and the spears they fired were weak. However, after fighting with the Changjie Battalion for more than an hour, most of them gained confidence. , fought hard, could barely understand the orders, and could be used as half a subordinate. However, after all, there was a lack of training and battlefield experience, so the price paid was much higher.
Bloody and sweaty, it became more and more uncomfortable for the iron helmet to be buckled on his head. The padding had already become soaked. Shi Meng took off the iron helmet during the lull in the battle. The wind blows over, passing through the wet and stuck-together hair, and a coolness comes to the scalp. It feels so comfortable to the heart! Not on the wall, without a perspective overlooking the battlefield, Lao Shi didn't know how many Miao thieves were left to fight, but he knew that this battle would be very, very, very difficult: there were too many Miao thieves, and in the huge city of Chengdu, seven Eighty percent of the resistance is carried by a Changjie battalion of several hundred people, which must be difficult. Lao Shi didn't know whether he would be able to survive after the battle was over - his brothers had all lost their strength and were only holding on with their breath. There were so many towers on the left and right sides of the walls, and countless Miao thieves were spitting out from their stomachs like monsters. The commander-in-chief could not send reinforcements to himself. But there is one thing that Lao Shi is sure of: the final victory must belong to the commander-in-chief!
When the marshal led the troops, Lao Shi was one of his personal guards, so the marriage was decided by the marshal. Later, he always followed the old commander to watch others kill thieves, but he had no chance. The young man couldn't bear his temper and told the old commander that there happened to be a lot of casualties among the grassroots officers after a hard battle, so the old commander called Shi Meng to the camp. He became the general manager - but soon the old commander was shot by a thief! Lao Shi has been blaming himself for this, but fortunately his son Er Lei is already a tall man even though he is only a teenager, so Lao Shi found his friend Sheng Degong and asked Er Lei to become the commander's personal soldier, and He told his son in a stern voice that he could not leave the commander under any circumstances and must not repeat his own mistakes. The marshal accepted Er Lei and promoted himself to the rank of Qian Zongzong - we are warriors, and this kindness must be repaid with blood! The most important thing is that in the past ten years or so, he has followed the general in conquering the south and the north, and has never been defeated. Therefore, like others under Sun Jie, Shi Meng is full of confidence in victory.
The battle on the wall intensified. Seeing fierce fighting groups everywhere along the long line, She Chongming asked the messengers to blow the horns again: six to seven thousand fresh troops were sent to the battlefield.
Hearing the sound of the horn, Sun Jie's heart trembled: No, the extravagant thieves still have seven or eight towers only a hundred feet away from the city wall! Although they advance very slowly in order to avoid the corpses everywhere and the wreckage of the carriage towers, the reserve team has already moved forward. If they cannot quickly deal with the walls that have been built in front of them, Chengdu Prefecture will be doomed when those towers come closer. ! Sun Jie slowly drew out his sword, and behind him there was the sound of the sword being drawn out of its sheath - all thirty guards knew that the battle had reached the most critical moment.
Sun Jie told Sheng Degong: "Protect your lord!" He nodded to Zhu Xieyuan, turned around and rushed into the nearest battle group without saying another word. The Changjie Battalion was capable of fighting, and the commander's personal guards were far more powerful than ordinary soldiers. These dozens of people were divided into five or six groups. In less than a cup of tea, the battle situation on the wall changed! Starting from below the city gate tower, the battlefield advantage quickly reversed. The Yi soldiers who ascended the city fell one after another. Each stalemate battle group quickly dispersed with the addition of these personal guards. The soldiers rushed into the tower on pedals. , followed closely by the auxiliary soldiers holding oil tanks, one tower after another began to emit thick smoke and fire...
Sun Jie, whose face was covered with blood, had just knocked over the Yi soldiers in front of him when he suddenly saw a great cannon group about ten feet away. The only few guards there were struggling to support, and there were a dozen people with hair and tattoos around them. Guys, enemy reinforcements are still jumping out of a tower not far away! Sun Jie let out a low roar, and took the lead in swiping his sword to rush there... However, it was still a moment late.
The igniter of the artillery team raised the torch and was about to press the fire door when a long spear broke through the guard's cover and pierced towards the center! Sun Jie watched in horror as the lost torch drew an arc in the air and landed on the pile of gunpowder packets nearby... This moment seemed so long...
There was a loud bang, and the entire city wall was covered by a huge cloud of smoke. The flesh and blood of both the attacking and defending sides flew everywhere. The huge shock wave overturned the tower outside the wall. Sun Jie and the guards behind him were also killed. He was so shocked that he flew up, and then his eyes went dark, and he didn't know anything anymore...
Shi Meng, who was standing in front of the gate, was startled by the explosion. Just as he raised his eyes to look up the city, he heard the brothers beside him shouting that the thieves are coming again. So he buckled his iron helmet on his head and prepared to continue fighting. . Just when the helmet was less than half a foot away from the top of his head, a Miao arrow shot from the top of Lao Shi's right ear and penetrated almost half a foot deep into his skull!
