"put!"
With an order, the creaking machine sounds were heard, and more than a dozen cannons were fired at the same time. The stone bullets jumped through the air, and most of them flew smoothly to the top of the city, or disappeared behind the city wall, accompanied by a series of loud noises, causing The onlookers cheered.
The one who had just issued the order was his subordinate Zhang Chenghua, who was currently directing the soldiers to stone bombs. Guo Xin immediately looked at all this. There were two people standing beside him on horseback like him. One of them was the left wing of the Guardian Army. Bai Chongzan, the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army. The Guardian Army is the main cavalry force in the Forbidden Army, and Bai Chongzan was also the only cavalry force among the Forbidden Army that participated in the Yongxing camp in this campaign, so it was temporarily drawn by Shang Hongqian to protect the Han army's artillery positions.
The other person is Qi Tingxun, who is also the commander of the vanguard army. In recent days, the power of the vanguard army has been returned to Wang Jin. Wang Jin sent Qi Tingxun to help him guard the artillery machine as a sign of some kind.
After another volley was completed, Qi Ting said: "General Guo has contributed such a sharp weapon to the army, and his contribution is probably not small."
Bai Chongzan sneered when he heard this, "You and other infantry troops are all rewarded, but this war seems to have nothing to do with me. The horses in the camp have been eating forage all day long, but they have become lazy in the past few days." ”
Guo Xin smiled and said: "There are more than one war going on. There are still bandits in the west and north. Baidu has no place to use his skills."
Bai Chongzan raised the corners of his mouth, obviously agreeing with Guo Xin's words.
Qi Tingxun also said: "General Guo is absolutely right. I heard that Captain Guo's army in Chanzhou has also passed Tongguan and will gather with us in a few days. By then, Chang'an City will be in hand. Let's take it early." Wouldn’t it be nice to use this first meritorious service to share some of the credit by killing some thieves elsewhere?”
While he was talking, the thunderous sound of war drums suddenly came from the Chinese army not far away.
The three of them quickly looked in the direction of the Chinese army, and saw the flags flying over there, and the dust caused by the running of men and horses.
Bai Chongzan stroked his beard and said with a smile, "I'm afraid our commander-in-chief doesn't want to wait for Lieutenant Guo's reinforcements to arrive."
Guo secretly calculated that there were only three days left before Shang Hongqian's "ten-day period", and Shang Hongqian was really unwilling to give up his idea easily.
At this moment, an order came from the Chinese army and asked: "Where is Guo Xin, the commander of the former army?
Guo Xin patted his horse and stepped forward: "This is the general."
"Guo Xin obeys the order and orders you to adjust the firing range of the Tiger Shooting Cannon and use the city head as the target to suppress the army!"
"The general will get the order!"
…
"Bang!" Shang Hongqian took off his helmet, held it in his arms, and took a deep breath of air. Since this morning, he had been feeling a little heavy in his head, but compared to his head, the anxiety that could not be calmed made him unbearably painful. It was like a very hungry person with a jar in front of his eyes, containing countless delicacies of fish and sheep. But I couldn't find a pair of chopsticks to use.
Shang Hongqian shook his heavy head. The siege battle of the Han army in the distance had begun again. In a short period of time, arrows flew like rain between the city and the siege soldiers, which reminded him of the past few days. That heavy rain for days. Heavy rain came unexpectedly, the city was out of reach, and the weather and location seemed to be not in our direction. Fortunately, Zhao Siwan was trapped in the isolated city without reinforcements, so he could still fight with confidence.
Shang Hongqian's right hand had unknowingly grasped the iron whip. Within a stone's throw of the city wall, there were fallen Han soldiers everywhere. However, there were more people shouting and firing tiger cannons in the distance to suppress them. Next, rely on the carriage and ladder to advance towards the city.
After several days of strong attacks, the number of men and horses was greatly damaged. It is roughly estimated that three to four commanders lost their combat effectiveness. However, Shang Hongqian did not care too much about the casualties of the soldiers. From ancient times to the present, more than ten million people have been killed on the battlefield? What's more, the imperial court has always been generous to the imperial army. In such troubled times, one month's military salary is enough to buy several humble lives in the countryside. The only thing he cares about is whether he can capture Chang'an! Therefore, he has sent down the order, all siege equipment is unreserved, and all armies are in siege order, taking turns to go into battle, determined to achieve a result today!
I don't know how long it took, the Han army gradually began to attack the city, and the tiger-shooting cannon at the rear also stopped firing. Shang Hongqian's eyes were fixed on the battle over there, and suddenly some soldiers came waving the command flag and clapped their horses. .
"Report! The enemy's Jingfeng Gate has been penetrated by our soldiers' cave houses. The commander of all three armies, He Huizheng, is leading his troops to fight to the death!"
"Okay!" Shang Hongqian became energetic. First he yelled the word "good", then he raised his iron whip and turned around and shouted: "Break the city gate, enter the city to kill the thieves, in the near future, follow me to kill!"
"Kill! Kill..." the soldiers and generals around him shouted.
…
"Is the Jingfeng Gate broken?"
The news came from the front. Guo Xin and others all looked in the direction of Jingfeng Gate. As expected, they heard loud killing sounds in that direction. There were also many Han army flags gathering there, but they were too far away. It's not clear what the situation is.
At this moment, Guo Xin suddenly discovered that the coach, Zhongjun Dazhen, was also moving! And the route points to Jingfengmen in the distance!
Bai Chongzan's expression was filled with joy: "The commander-in-chief is going to go into battle in person. I am afraid that this city will be captured today!" After saying that, Bai Chongzan blew a long whistle, and the cavalry of the Holy Guardian Army who were scattered around gathered together.
"The reward and property are in the city. The Saint Guard Army will charge with me!" Bai Chong shouted in praise of the sword. He immediately ignored Guo Xin and others and directly led his troops to ride Juechen away and went to Jingfengmen to join the battle.
Qi Tingxun hesitated and said: "How about we go too..."
Guo Xin raised his hand to stop him: "It's just a city gate. It can't open too many people. If our people go, they will just sit aside and shout. Why bother to go?"
Qi Tingxun nodded in agreement, and the two of them were immediately speechless, nervously waiting for the news ahead along with the noisy soldiers around them.
After a long time, there was sudden chaos in the place where the sound of killings had been in the distance. Many flags were moving to the rear. First, the cavalry army, and then many infantry troops broke away from the vicinity of Jingfeng Gate and ran back in all directions.
Qi Tingxun said: "No, I'm afraid the situation has changed."
Guo Xin also frowned deeply. If the city was successfully captured, there would be no reason for everyone to run back. The only explanation was that the Han army failed to capture Jingfeng Gate and was killed by the defenders.
He couldn't understand why the situation suddenly changed, but at this time he could no longer speculate. He immediately called Zhang Chenghua and Wang Yuanmao to come, and ordered: "Wang Yuanmao will lead a commander to guard the artillery machine here, and Zhang Chenghua will lead the rest of the people to follow me." Go forward to cover the retreat of the army, there must be no mistakes!"
The two men immediately took the order to order all the soldiers. Qi Tingxun also immediately ordered his men to gather. After a while, the two men went to support with their men. There were rebels everywhere on the road, and there were endless shouts and screams. Guo Xin asked Wang Shiliang to lead his own troops to gather the defeated troops, while arresting people to ask about the situation ahead.
Even after asking several defeated soldiers, they didn't know what was going on with Jingfeng's men. They only knew that everyone was attacking the front and some people started to retreat and escape, so they followed them back in confusion.
Guo Xin and Qi Tingxun led their troops to a stone's throw away from the city. At this time, Guo Xin finally saw the situation clearly. He saw corpses everywhere outside Jingfeng Gate. A large number of Han soldiers and horses were retreating, and a group of about hundreds of people in clothing A group of troops who were completely different from the Forbidden Army were pouring out from Jingfengmen, chasing the fleeing Han army in all directions. At the same time, they did not forget to set fire to the ladders, carriages and other objects parked under the city, while another group of troops was attacking Bai Chongzan's Holy Guard Army. The flag was locked in a fight with the chasing enemy troops.
Now is not the time to rush into battle. The important thing is to stabilize our position to avoid a greater impact. Guo Xin immediately ordered his subordinates to quickly form a formation, and many rebels gathered after seeing it.
At this time, a general came over with several soldiers: "General Guo!"
Guo Xin didn't know the name of the general, but he had seen it in the Chinese army. He asked loudly: "Since Jingfeng Gate was broken, how could the army be defeated? Where is Marquis Shang Yu?"
The general's face was covered with dust, and he didn't know where he had thrown his helmet. He took a breath and replied: "Our infantry attacked the city, but we didn't know that there was a city inside. The city head was shorter than the outer city, so we didn't find it outside. When we were about to retreat, the commander-in-chief arrived with reinforcements and insisted on attacking. He took the lead with his horse and whip, but arrows and stones were falling from the top of the city. All our people huddled below and were beaten. Unfortunately, the commander-in-chief... was hit by a stone bullet. The horse fell, our army lost ground, and there was a moment of chaos. In addition, Baidu sent his horse army to protect the Marquis of Yu and wanted to retreat, so it led to the collapse of the army."
Guo Xin tightened his grip on the reins and took a quick look. The enemy troops near Jingfeng Gate seemed to have been driven back by the Guardian Saint Army. When he turned around to look, many Forbidden Army generals were also reorganizing their troops and forming formations. He couldn't help but feel relieved. Regardless of How the situation has stabilized now.
However, as a result, the morale of the Han army was greatly reduced, and the siege equipment was destroyed. The goal of conquering Chang'an suddenly seemed to be out of reach.
He looked at the Jingfeng Gate with sadness. Next to the gate tower that was destroyed by the tiger cannon on the first day, there was a blood-red flag fluttering in the wind.
