On the west city wall, more than two hundred forbidden troops were wearing armor and standing in a row against the female wall, six or seven feet apart from each other, so they seemed very sparse.
The sergeants each maintained their fighting positions and looked nervously at the city. The knuckles holding their weapons had begun to turn white. Their foreheads were covered with cold sweat, but they remained motionless and did not dare to wipe it off.
Nearly a thousand people who had been mobilized, under the command and orders of Lu Shangming and other gentry sons, carried military materials such as arrows, rolling logs, stone bullets, poisonous smoke balls, iron water chestnuts, etc. to the city, and also set up a dozen or so The large iron pot began to heat oil and boil the golden juice.
On the four enemy platforms, Ban Zhi, who was in better condition, was instructing Minzhuang to place crossbows and trebuchets, while others were dealing with wounds and seizing the time to recover their physical strength.
In the battle just now, Ban Zhi was outnumbered. Even though he was protected by armor, he still lost three people, seven or eight were seriously injured, and others were also slightly injured. The main reason was that his physical strength was too high and he needed to catch his breath before he could fight again. , now can only act as a temporary instructor.
Zhao Mengqi stood at a crenel, expressionlessly observing the water bandits who were arraying sixty feet away.
I don't know whether it was to demonstrate their strength or for other reasons, but the water bandits raised a large number of torches, making the sky red, revealing a huge lineup, which indeed caused a great sense of oppression to the city.
Dozens of soldiers were scattered among the water bandits, running around and shouting orders. It took a lot of time to direct about two thousand people to form a somewhat crooked horizontal formation.
There should be five hundred water bandits in the front row, all holding various shields. The three rows behind them are all archers.
Not far behind this horizontal formation, there was a small formation of about 200 people, carrying many bamboo ladders and poles, and most of their hands were close-quarters weapons such as knives and axes.
After watching carefully for a while, Zhao Mengqi, who had experience in training new soldiers, had roughly seen the reality of this water bandit army, and his expression became relaxed.
"What do you think?"
Chang Geng looked disdainful, "The chickens and dogs are worse than the previous group. Give me three hundred soldiers and they can be defeated in one blow."
Xiahou Jian even said boldly, "The final general only needs two hundred, and it will take up to half a quarter of an hour!"
"Xiahou! Don't talk arrogantly." Chen Xiaokun scolded him quickly and glared at Xiahou Jian fiercely. When someone says three hundred, you say two hundred. Isn't this not giving others face?
Chang Geng wanted to argue, but Zhao Mengqi didn't give him a chance and said, "What do Marquis Chen Duyu think of the enemy army?"
Chen Xiaokun thought for a while and replied, "From the general's point of view, although the enemy has a large number of people, they don't even have decent siege equipment, and we are already prepared. They will never be able to attack. If the other party's command really It's Xuanhe, so he must know it himself." Juqu Pavilion
"Then why didn't they attack with all their strength just now, but now they are dragging their feet?" Qian Xiaopang was a little confused.
"It's not that they don't want to, it's just that they can't." Zhao Mengqi smiled, "It's estimated that many forbidden troops may not be able to do night fighting, let alone these rabble, they can take advantage of surprise, and we can hold them back. There’s no chance.”
"Then they are now posing as if they are attacking the city to scare us?" Qian Xiaopang was still puzzled.
Zhao Mengqi shook his head, "I guess the real siege troops are coming, so they will definitely attack first. The purpose is to consume and delay us."
Chang Geng said, "Yes, after all, we have a small number of people and cannot take care of the four walls. If Liu Xiuli sends people to attack from other directions, we can only focus on one and lose the other."
Qian Xiaopang asked, "Then if you put it like that, why don't they divide their forces to attack other city walls now?"
"Because they don't have the organizational skills. You see, they can't even make up the whole team. If they dare to divide their troops, they will let the sheep go."
As he said that, Zhao Mengqi raised his eyebrows and said, "Now that we know their tactics, we can't be passive. Otherwise, when Liu Xiuli arrives, we really won't be able to defend this city."
After some arrangements, everyone marveled at Zhao Mengqi's boldness, but also felt that it was feasible, so they separated and prepared to go.
In the water bandit formation, Xuanhe looked at the brightly lit city with a gloomy face.
The figures were shaking very frequently, and you knew that the city had prepared a response.
Fortunately, he didn't expect to be able to capture the city with these thousands of soldiers and generals, so he was no longer anxious now.
After it was determined that the sneak attack on the south gate had failed, Xuanhe immediately began to implement the second plan formulated by Liu Xiuli, which was responsible for attracting the attention of the defenders and launching a feint attack at the appropriate time to consume the defenders.
But what was a little strange in his heart was why there had been no active attack on the city.
It stands to reason that the range of the strong crossbows of the defenders at the city head can reach more than 300 steps, and they also have trebuchets and bed crossbows with longer ranges. The position where he arranged the water bandits to form an array was completely within the attack range.
At a distance of sixty feet, the shield has a certain resistance against arrows, but is completely ineffective against the other two.
The reason why Xuanhe chose this distance to form the formation was that he was helpless due to the quality of the water bandits, and the other reason was that he didn't care about the lives of the water bandits at all.
After waiting patiently for nearly a quarter of an hour, there was still no movement from the defenders. Seeing that the water bandits' formation could barely meet the requirements, they issued an order to attack.
"Everyone, follow the order and advance thirty steps!"
Under the orders of the soldiers, the water bandits began to move slowly towards the city wall, as fast as a turtle.
The water bandits in the first row also clutched their "turtle shells" tightly and moved cautiously.
The archers in the back row also bowed their bodies and shrank their necks, trying to keep themselves covered by their shields and the bodies in the front row.
These water bandits knew in their hearts that the crossbows of the official army were stronger than their own, and they also had a high altitude advantage, so every step forward was a step closer to death.
One step is five feet, and in thirty steps you can reach the distance of forty-five feet from the city. At this time, the water bandits' archers can start shooting towards the city.
After ten steps, there was no response from the city. After twenty steps, there was still no movement. After twenty-five steps, there was still no sound.
When they were about to reach the thirtieth step, a bang sounded from the top of the city, and hundreds of black dots were shot out of the light curtain, flying into the night sky and disappearing.
All the water pirates in the horizontal formation shrank in fear, some even squatted on the ground, but they heard the whistling sound of arrows flying over their heads without falling.
Just when they were thankful that they were still alive, constant screams came from behind.
It turned out that the target of this wave of crossbows was not these archers, but the city-climbing troops following them.
Xuanhe, who was walking at the back, swung his sword to knock off a stray arrow, his brows furrowed tightly.
Shouldn't the defenders give priority to attacking the archers who threaten them? ?
At this time, he heard a heart-wrenching creaking sound coming from the top of the city. In an instant, four stone bullets smashed into the shield array, and at the same time, eight short spear-like crossbow arrows also penetrated the shield array.
Not only did the shields in the hands of the water bandits have no protective effect, but after they shattered, sawdust scattered everywhere, turning them into deadly accomplices.
Dozens of people were killed and injured in one moment, screams broke out one after another, and the water bandits began to become confused.
"Run around and die! Calm down! Calm down!... Stay where you are, or you will be killed without mercy!..."
Nearly a hundred soldiers shouted orders frantically, and slashed at those who disobeyed orders without mercy with long swords in their hands.
Afraid of the soldiers' brutal attacks and strict law enforcement, most of the water pirates did not dare to run around anymore, and the lineup was barely maintained.
But at this time, the sound of bangs sounded again, and more than a hundred water bandits were killed or injured, followed by giant crossbows, and the trebuchets threw fireballs with thick smoke.
The actual casualties from the two rounds of attacks were less than one-tenth of the total. It seems that the number of casualties killed by the soldiers may have been one or two hundred.
This was within Xuanhe's expectation, so he didn't have much trouble in his heart. He ordered with a cold face and asked the guards around him to blow the horn.
"Stand up your shield, stand up your shield! You mother-in-law, hurry up and set up your shield!"
"Archers counterattack! Shoot arrows at the top of the city immediately!"
"Come on, carry the ladder and rush for me!"
"If you don't want to die, run forward! If you dare to retreat, you will die; if you don't shrink back, you will die!"
"Bah, you are slandering me... You have told me hundreds of times and you still dare to run away!"
"Charge forward! You can survive by rushing to the base of the city wall!"
The soldiers shouted orders at the top of their lungs, but the water pirates were not regular troops after all, and they became even more chaotic because of this.
Most of the shields were standing, but they were uneven and had many gaps.
Some of the archers squatted on the ground motionless, while others just shot an arrow at random in the direction of the city wall.
Many people in the city-climbing troops behind were running blindly with their eyes closed. Only some of them remembered to run through the passage reserved by the horizontal formation, and many others collided with the archers in the horizontal formation.
During this period, the crossbows at the top of the city kept firing, and more and more poisonous smoke balls fell. Many water pirates were caught in the poisonous smoke, choked, dizzy, and coughing. They basically lost their ability to move, and their bodies became increasingly weak. weak.
Xuanhe stopped in the darkness of fifty feet and watched all this with cold eyes. The only thing he wanted to do now was to let these water bandits stay in front of the city wall longer.
Fang Tang, who was beside him, couldn't stand it anymore, "Commander Xuan, you are letting my people die!"
Xuanhe didn't even look at him and said coldly, "Either they die, or you and your family die!"
Fang Tang was speechless due to this blockage.
Xuan He said coldly, "Don't worry, there are at most two hundred people in the city. Even if they kill four thousand pigs, it will take them half a day to kill them all."
At this time, many water bandits had actually reached the base of the city wall. Someone had even set up bamboo ladders on the city wall, and a few fierce people were climbing up the ladders.
As a result, a large pot of boiling oil and golden juice was poured on his head, and a sudden scream was accompanied by a sizzling sound. At the same time, a strange smell of meat and stench wafted out.
Whether they were burned by boiling oil or doused with golden juice, even if they survived the battlefield, they were basically hopeless and would only die more miserably after a long period of pain.
Then, more than a dozen rolling logs fell from the top of the city, crushing countless pieces of flesh and debris wherever they went, causing waves of blood.
That's not all. Then countless bricks and stones were thrown down, causing a large number of casualties. In just half a stick of incense, at least three to five hundred people were killed, and the number of injuries was doubled.
A head-on siege is like a giant meat grinder that can swallow countless lives in a moment!
