These Jiehu people in Xiangguo were originally herders of the Huns, and all of them were skilled in bow and horse.
Although the Han cavalry under Liu Yu had many good cavalry and archery experts from the Yanzhao area, today's Han cavalry is more of a formation and impact type of tactics.
This tactic can make up for the disadvantages in personal riding skills and horse quality, and rely on relatively superior equipment to win.
However, such tactics have no advantage in pursuit battles.
In this case, the best way to deal with these nomadic mounted archers is to use better mounted archers to restrain them.
Liu Yu originally wanted to recruit Tuoba Xianbei and Yuwen Xianbei at the same time, but after Tuoba Pugen proclaimed himself Chanyu, a rebellion broke out in the Hexi area, and Tuoba Pugen could only pray for a withdrawal.
In this way, Yuwen Xianbei's cavalry could only be recruited.
After the Han infantry captured the city wall, it was the task of these Yuwen Xianbei cavalry to pursue the fleeing Jiehu.
After several Jiehuwu forts outside Zhongqiu City were captured, only Zhongqiu City in Zhao State was left alone.
After three lines of Yuwen Xianbei cavalry arrived outside the city first, Jiehu in Zhongqiu City had lost the best opportunity to abandon the city and flee.
Obviously, these Kuntou Xianbei, who had superb riding skills, completely ravaged them in the field.
These Jiehu people can only place their hopes on relying on the defense of the city, and then wait for Jiehu reinforcements from Xiang Kingdom in the south.
When the subsequent Han army arrived, the Jiehu defenders on Zhongqiu City had made very complete defense preparations.
On the slope north of Zhongqiu City, the Han army had erected several wooden watchtowers, which allowed them to overlook the garrison situation in Zhongqiu City from a high position.
Liu Yu climbed up to the watchtower, then raised his eyes and looked into the distance.
I saw that the defenders in Zhongqiu City had demolished many houses in the city, took out the masonry and wood, and began to prepare to defend the city.
"Haha, these Jie slaves are now proficient in defending the city."
Liu Yu saw that the defenders on the field were in good order and most of the defensive preparations were complete. He couldn't help but feel a little surprised at the progress of these Jiehu people.
In just a few years, they have gone from being able to plunder, ride and shoot to mastering complex city defense. It seems that these Jie slaves can rise quickly in their original history and have their own advantages.
However, as soon as Liu Yu finished speaking, the general from Jizhou next to him said.
"Your Majesty, these arrangements for guarding the city were not made by Jie Nu, but were arranged with the help of those powerful men from Zhongqiu!"
"The powerful people in Zhongqiu? Aren't they all Han Chinese?"
The Han army on the northern route, commanded by Liu Yu personally, marched southward from Julu County in Changshan Mountain. It was unstoppable along the way. The powerful people along the way were eager to wait for the king's division.
He really didn't expect that the Jiehu people who guarded Zhongqiu City would have so many powerful Han people supporting them.
"Yes, Your Majesty, these people are all Han, but they are willing to be Jiehu's lackeys."
After returning to the army, Liu Yu learned the whole story from other Jizhou generals.
Most of these powerful men in Zhongqiu City had already colluded with Shi Le. They could be said to have been the accomplices of the Xiongnu and Han Kingdom in their invasion of Hebei a few years ago.
Nowadays, all the other powerful people in Jizhou regard them as mortal enemies. If they surrender, they might be liquidated.
And if Zhongqiu City resists stubbornly, it may be possible to wait for subsequent reinforcements from the Huns and Han.
Even if Zhongqiu City cannot be maintained in the end, they can still abandon the city and flee westward. After passing through the Taihang Mountains, they can escape to Bingzhou.
After learning that there were still many powerful Han people in Zhongqiu City who were still supporting Jie Nu, Liu Yu couldn't help but sneer.
"Sure enough, it is easy to get on Hulu's pirate ship, but it is difficult to get off."
Now these powerful Han people in Zhongqiu City had been sentenced to death by Liu Yu for taking refuge with the Huns and Jie people when the Xiongnu-Han Kingdom was rising.
It only took two days for the tens of thousands of Han troops who surrounded Zhongqiu City to build siege equipment.
Faced with this kind of defense that dare not attack, even the strongest city will be the target of the trebuchet.
More than twenty counterweight trebuchets stood outside Zhongqiu City, just waiting for the final order to attack the city.
In the hunting north wind, Liu Yu asked a general running from the front.
"Is there any response from the city? Do you want to surrender?"
The general immediately shook his head and replied.
"No, hundreds of letter arrows were shot into the city, but there was no reply. It should be that the strong men in Zhongqiu are determined to work for the barbarians."
After Liu Yu heard this response, he actually didn't care too much about the outcome. The reason why he sent the surrender signal to the city at the last moment was actually more to disrupt the relationship between Jiehu and the powerful in the city.
He didn't believe that these Jiehu and the powerful were monolithic. It would be great if the powerful could kill the Jiehu in the city anyway.
"It doesn't matter, since they want to die together, then I will make it happen for them!"
"Send the order, attack the city!"
In fact, the real situation is that it is not that the powerful people in Zhongqiu City do not want to surrender, but that there are too many Jiehu gathered in the city.
These powerful tribes in Zhongqiu did not have any numerical advantage. Many people wanted to surrender after seeing the terrifying momentum of the Han army outside the city. However, Jiehu in the city knew that surrender would mean death, so he Force them to defend the city together.
The guard general of Jiehu in Zhongqiu City was Hu Yanmo, one of Shi Le's former "Eighteen Riders".
However, before the reputation of the "Eighteen Riders" in this plane could be established, nearly half of them died in several battles. When Shi Hu, Liu Shi and others retreated to Xiang Kingdom, only Hu Yanmo and others were left. There are only a few people left.
Although Huyanmo's surname was Huyan, he was not from the Huyan tribe, a noble species of the Xiongnu. He just pretended to be Huyan. Before that, he was just a Jie who worked as a herder for the Huyan tribe.
On top of Zhongqiu City, Hu Yanmo, a man with a thick beard, looked out of the city with a frown.
More than twenty strange-looking tall instruments were already standing outside the city. Although Huyanmo didn't know how powerful these instruments were, he knew at a glance that they were not easy to deal with.
"Oh, if I had known this, I shouldn't have guarded Zhongqiu City!"
Zhang Yue, another one of the 'Eighteen Riders' next to him, sighed and said.
"What's the use of talking about it now? Even if you want to escape, you may not be able to escape those Kuntou Xianbei, otherwise the Kong Dolphin's head wouldn't be hung there."
When Hu Yanmo said this, he happened to see the Han cavalry outside the city holding their lances against Kong Dou's head and demonstrating non-stop.
Zhang Yue remained silent after hearing this, just looking worriedly at the head outside the city that was being shown off as a trophy.
In fact, when they learned that the Han army in Qingzhou was attacking from Julu, they thought of abandoning the city and escaping westward into the Taihang Mountains.
However, if this is the case, all the achievements of the Jiehu people who have been entrenched in Xiangguo for several years will be abandoned.
They were very unwilling to go from being a noble person who controlled the world to becoming a bandit in the mountains and forests again.
Therefore, after a brief discussion, they decided to rely on the cities of Fangfang, Zhongqiu, and Xiangguo to hold on, and gathered all the Jiehu men and women from the two counties into these cities.
In addition to the Jie people, they also recruited a large number of powerful people to enter the city together to strengthen the defense force in the city.
Zhang Bin, the right commander who had always been loyal to these Jiehu people, advised Shi Hu, Liu Shi, Hu Yanmo and others that although the Han army in Qingzhou was coming fiercely, it was already a severe cold winter. As long as the city could help Qingzhou, After the thieves have killed enough people, the enemy will surely retreat on their own in spring.
"In less than half a month, Kong Dou's house and city have been lost. I really don't know how the Qingzhou thieves broke into the city!?"
"Is it just relying on these stone cannons outside the city?"
Zhang Yue's pair of yellow-green eyes stared closely at the 'trebuchets' outside the city.
After hearing this, Hu Yanmo felt nervous inside.
After seeing the Kong Dolphin's head, Hu Yanmo's inner shock and confusion have not dissipated to this day, and are even getting stronger.
You must know that the Zhaoguo Fangfang City where Kongdu is stationed is smaller than Zhongqiu City, but it is stronger than Zhongqiu City, and almost all of them are Jie people, so there is no possibility of a traitor.
How could it be breached within half a month?
If you subtract the time spent by the Qingzhou Han army on the march, it may have taken less than ten days, or even less, to defeat the solid house city.
As a result, the Kong Dolphins who defended the city had to abandon the city and flee south, but were eventually caught up and killed by the Qingzhou Han army.
To destroy the city so quickly is simply unbelievable.
If the experience in Kong Dou is really what I suspected, then the key may really lie in these huge stone cannons outside the city.
Hu Yanmo looked at the stone cannons outside the city and said to Zhang Yue beside him.
"These stone cannons are about a hundred steps away from the city wall. It is impossible to use them at such a long distance. They will definitely move forward before attacking."
"If they want to use stone cannons to smash down the city wall, it will be useless if they don't get closer than thirty to fifty steps."
"Let's prepare more people who are good at shooting strong bows. Once these stone cannons from the Qingzhou thieves get close, we will immediately fire them with rockets dipped in turpentine. It won't take long to burn them down."
Zhang Yue also nodded after hearing this.
Although these Jie people are not good at attacking and defending cities, they still know these basic common sense very well.
"By the way, I remember that there are a lot of powerful crossbows in the warehouse in the city. I heard that the arrows fired can pierce two people. Why don't we go get them from the top of the city and use them."
"As long as the arrow of the strong crossbow hits, it will be difficult for the Qingzhou thieves to pull it out of the stone cannon!"
Zhang Yue's words immediately inspired Hu Yanmo.
"Okay, let's do it."
After that, the two of them prepared to descend the city wall and then call on the powerful crossbows in the city.
It is very troublesome to string these strong crossbows. The Jie soldiers are all accustomed to using bows and arrows, and no one wants to use these strong crossbows.
Hu Yanmo and Zhang Yue had just turned around when they suddenly heard a low exclamation from the surrounding Jiehu soldiers.
The two men quickly looked outside, only to see a large group of Han soldiers carrying huge spherical stones a hundred paces outside the city. They seemed to be preparing to launch them.
"What are they going to do? This is nearly a hundred steps away. Can they beat them?"
When Zhang Yue saw this situation, he immediately showed an expression of disbelief.
"Looking at the weight of those stone bullets, I'm afraid they must weigh a hundred kilograms. How could they possibly hit them?"
Hu Yanmo frowned and didn't say a word.
Although he also felt that the stone cannons of the Han army in Qingzhou outside the city were weird, he did not believe that these stone cannons could throw heavy stones a hundred steps away.
If that were the case, ordinary crossbows would not be able to damage these stone cannons at all. If there was a battle in the future, both sides would throw stone cannons at each other.
However, when Hu Yanmo saw the posture of the Qingzhou Han troops outside the city, it seemed that he was not trying to scare him.
The Jiehu defenders on Zhongqiu City just stared blankly at the Han army outside the city manipulating the stone cannons.
They were worried and curious at the same time. They were naturally curious about whether these stone cannons could be thrown over.
Hu Yanmo suddenly felt a strong uneasiness in his heart, and he turned his head and gave instructions to the general behind him.
"Quickly blow the horn and ask all those who are not on duty in the city to come to the city and obey orders!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of bronze whistles suddenly came to mind in the Qingzhou Han army formation outside the city.
Hu Yanmo immediately turned his head and looked around, and saw amidst the squeaking sounds of wood and iron, the front ends of those huge stone cannons suddenly began to fall, causing the long arms at the other end to rise high.
The rope bag connected to one end of the long arm threw the huge stone bullet high on the ground. When it reached a certain height, one end of the rope bag suddenly loosened, and the heavy stone bullet was immediately freed from the restraints of the rope bag. Flying into the air.
"ah!"
The Jiehu defenders on the top of the city erupted into bursts of panic.
Hu Yanmo was also surprised by this scene and opened his mouth wide. Those stone bullets weighing a hundred kilograms were actually thrown to such a height.
These stone bullets carried huge power and hit the Zhongqiu city wall.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
There were three loud noises in succession, and three stone bullets hit the rammed earth wall of Zhongqiu.
The Zhongqiu city wall, which was originally relatively strong, actually fell into pieces under such a heavy blow.
One of the stone bullets even hit the city wall directly. After smashing a crenel, it directly broke half of the body of a Jiehu soldier hiding behind the crenel.
"What kind of monster is this!"
Zhang Yue immediately shouted in shock and anger.
"Quickly go, gather the soldiers and prepare to seal the gap!"
Hu Yanmo immediately came to his senses and ran towards the city with a shout.
As he ran, he was thinking.
"More than twenty stone bullets hit three in the first time. If they hit ten or eight times, they can destroy a city wall."
"We must not allow the Qingzhou thieves outside the city to seize the gap safely!"
"Even if the city wall is broken open, as long as the gap is blocked, the Qingzhou thieves will not be able to get in."
Not long after Hu Yanmo ran under the city wall, there were waves of more panicked shouts behind him.
