At dawn the next day, a gust of wind blew through the cold air. Liu Mo finally saw clearly how many Zhou Dynasty troops were outside the city.
Outside Lirong City, a fortification lined with sharpened wooden stakes was erected, defended by spearmen and archers. Behind the defensive line, the camp stretched into the distance, its smoke like slender fingers.
Rising from hundreds of campfires, heavily armed men sat under the trees sharpening their weapons, and some pointed their spears. The three-chen sun-moon flag of the Zhou Dynasty fluttered in the wind, and the flagpole was deeply embedded in the muddy ground.
A rough calculation shows that the Zhou Dynasty army within sight was at least 10,000 people.
But Liu Mo knew that this was not all of the enemy's troops.
This is just the vanguard force, and the only siege weapons are siege ladders and grappling hooks.
Large siege weapons such as catapults, rams, nest carts, and ladders have not yet appeared. The real test is yet to come!
At about midnight, the enemy sent out a force with a white flag high.
Liu Mo knew that this was not a surrender, but a temporary truce so that both sides could clean up the bodies of their respective soldiers.
The leading Zhou Dynasty soldier brought a word to Liu Mo, and Yang Yizhi brought praise: "Brother Liu Xian, I underestimated you!"
He did not embarrass the other party, but asked the visitor to bring back a sentence: "Brother Yang, each other, each other!"
The soldiers of the Zhou Dynasty who carried the corpse were wrapped tightly, with only their eyes exposed on their faces. Both sides had people who dealt with the funeral affairs of the deceased, and the Zhou Dynasty considered it unlucky to see the face of death.
After personally seeing the other party carry away the bodies of the last carload of soldiers, Liu Mo turned around. He wanted to attend the funeral of his own soldiers who died in battle.
The grave has been dug, and Huo Cheng has counted the casualties and made a list to hand to Liu Mo.
When I opened it, I saw a familiar name written on the first line.
Dong Xusheng had three stab wounds on his body and was shot in the right eye by a stray arrow. He was still alive!
Li Guangrun died in battle!
Qian Rang, die in battle!
Hu Yongchen was seriously injured and lost his left arm and an ear!
Zhou Zhushan, died in battle/whereabouts unknown!
"What does missing someone mean?" Liu Mo asked immediately after seeing Zhou Zhushan's name.
"Sir, this man's 'corpse' is bloody and bloody, and his face can no longer be recognized." Huo Cheng replied, "But the height and clothes are very similar. The younger one can't be sure if it is him."
"This idiot is not that capable of finding someone to take advantage of me right under my nose!" Liu Mo thought to himself, "Let's just consider him dead!"
The other two idiots sacrificed their lives for the country. Let's just wipe out all the grudges between you and me.
And Dong Xusheng, Hu Yongchen... Liu Mo grinned.
"Sir, would you like..." Huo Cheng made a gesture of wiping his neck.
Replenished? And then he said he was seriously injured and died? How cruel!
These two guys are a bit hateful, but there seems to be no need to punish them to death.
Although I don’t know how the two of them survived, but since their fate is so great, forget it, forget it!
"Treat her as best you can!" Liu Mo ordered softly.
Maybe it will be useful in the next battle, hahaha!
Looking at others, fifty-seven Daxia soldiers were lost in one night's battle.
Eleven of them were light cavalry brought by Zhu Min, and the other 46 were temporarily recruited soldiers and officials from Rongcheng.
"Each of the fallen soldiers will be given thirty taels of pension, and I will pay for the money." Liu Mo announced, "If the family members are in Rongcheng, they must go to their homes to comfort them."
Huo Cheng was ordered to retreat.
Then, Liu Mo asked Gong Xiaorou to go back first.
Afterwards, he said a eulogy to Zhu Min, buried the fallen Daxia soldiers, and returned to his temporary residence to rest.
Once he got home and relaxed his body, he was exhausted from a night of fierce fighting, but even so, he couldn't fall asleep.
As long as you close your eyes, the terrifying faces of the Zhou Dynasty soldiers will appear before your eyes, and you won't be able to get rid of them!
After finally falling asleep, a burst of killing shouts woke him up.
"Yeah, didn't we raise the white flag and call it a truce? Why did it start again?"
Scolding is just scolding, and war is war. There is no reason to argue.
Yang Yizhi's tactics go beyond placing spies, cooperating inside and outside, and creating chaos.
Endless "suicide" attacks are another of his vicious tactics.
Grabbing the steel sword "Oath", he went straight up the city wall and joined the battle...
~~~~
The fighting continued day and night after that.
Liu Mo couldn't remember the last time he fell asleep. When you close your eyes, you dream of fighting; when you open your eyes, you dream of fighting.
Even when he was resting far away from the city wall, he could still hear the endless "dong-dong" sound, which was the sound of iron axes chopping wood. And if he was resting in the greenhouse on top of the city wall, the sound would be even noisier.
Yang Yizhi also asked the sledgehammer and the long saw to join the work. Once, he was exhausted and was about to fall asleep. Suddenly there was a loud noise in the forest, and a big tree fell down, kicking up dust and leaves all over the sky.
He knew that this was another one of Yang Yizhi's strategies. Making loud noises would not only disturb the sleep of Daxia's defenders. At the same time, you can also obtain wood to burn, make siege equipment, fortifications, etc.
When Zhao Da came to find him, Liu Mo had already woken up and was lying on the floor under the city wall upset, covered with a blanket sent by Lin Shiqi. "Uncle," Zhao Da said, shaking his shoulders, "it's dawn." He pulled Liu Mo and helped him up.
Other Daxia defenders also woke up one after another, pushing each other in the narrow space, putting on armor and taking weapons. No one spoke. They were both too tired to talk.
These days, few people even leave the city walls. Climbing up and down takes too much time.
"I dreamed that the Sixth Prince was coming," Zhao Da said happily. "The Great Xia Dynasty received an urgent request from my uncle for eight hundred miles, so the Sixth Prince came with an army. I dreamed that the Great Xia Dynasty's nine-clawed golden dragon battle flag .”
Liu Mo forced himself to smile, "That must be very pleasant, Zhao Da." He deliberately ignored the injury on the tiger's mouth, which was caused by holding the sword for a long time.
Walk to the city wall, face the sun, and welcome a new day.
After a closer look, not far away, the Zhou Dynasty's archers were already pushing the bunker forward quietly.
"The bastards of the Zhou Dynasty are here to die again!" Zhao Da would happily announce this morning these days.
It's a good thing he can say that, Liu Mo thought, someone has to make a joke.
Just yesterday, a "breakfast arrow" hit a Daxia flag official in the thigh. To this day, if anyone is willing to venture out of the city, his body can still be seen lying at the foot of the city wall.
Yes, let the corpses pile up outside the city walls.
You are a bitch and you can't blame me for not practicing martial ethics. If you agree to raise the white flag and call a truce, if you have to go back on your word midway, then you won't be able to collect the corpses in the future.
The Daxia defenders on and within the city walls would be buried, and Zhou Dynasty soldiers, Liu Mo, would cut off their heads and hang them on the city walls as a warning to others. The corpses were pushed directly down the city wall, no matter how high they were piled!
"It seems to be a new trick!" Zhao Da spoke again.
Liu Mo carefully looked through the gaps in the city wall. The bunker was a tilted wooden board equipped with wheels, wide enough to cover five Zhou Dynasty soldiers. The enemy archers pushed it closer, then knelt behind and fired arrows through the gap.
"This tactic is interesting!" Liu Mo couldn't help but grin, "You soldiers of the Zhou Dynasty are all gourd boys. Aren't you afraid of fire?"
