The next day, Zhao Jun launched a fierce attack on Xicheng.
At the same time, Wang Ling also led the Qin army to attack Handan.
The battlefield was full of murderous intent, war drums thundered, and the soldiers pushed the chariots and carried the ladders and rushed towards Handan City as if they were dead.
The officers and soldiers of the Zhao army looked nervously at the Qin army below the city, and subconsciously grasped their weapons with both hands. Many of them were participating in the war for the first time. Even if it was not the first time, they had not gone to battle to kill the enemy for several years.
But seeing the two figures standing at the front, everyone's eyes gradually became firmer.
Even the prime minister and the princess were on the front line, so what reason did they have to retreat?
"The Qin army will arrive soon. Please come down to the city, please leave this place to the ministers." Lin Xiangru said with a wry smile.
He didn't expect that An Ning would participate in the defense of the city. Not to mention being a woman, if An Ning had a shortcoming or was injured, how would he explain it to Zhao Kuo.
"No need to say more, Prime Minister. The Qin army has already reached the city walls. How can I, the princess, huddle in the palace at this time and watch the Prime Minister and the soldiers fight." An Ning said firmly.
"You must protect the princess." Lin Xiangru also knew that An Ning could not be persuaded, so he had to warn several guards.
"No," the guard said, cupping his fists.
"Go down with the order and hold up the battle formation!" Prime Minister Lin ordered.
Yu Xin, Lu Zhonglian, Kong Bin, Kong Chuan, Zhou Zi and others used their strength at the same time, and a super formation slowly rose up, covering the entire city of Handan.
"This formation is too terrifying. If we hadn't worked together, no one would have been able to hold it up." Yu Xin said with emotion.
The morale of the Zhao army was greatly shaken. All the soldiers straightened their backs and instantly felt confident.
On the other hand, when the Qin army saw the large formation rising from the city of Handan, their morale suddenly dropped.
"Send the order for the catapults to attack, the order for the archers to suppress the rain of arrows, and the order for the troops to be sent out first." Wang Ling ordered coldly. At this time, the longer the delay, the more serious the morale dropped, so it was better to attack as soon as possible.
The soldiers who first entered the camp glanced at the Zhao army at the top of Handan City, and then at the supervising team behind them. They took a deep breath, suppressed the fear in their hearts, and rushed towards Handan as if they were dead.
They were chosen to be the first to enter the camp not because of their bravery in battle, but because they were all criminals. Only by climbing to the top of the city and killing an enemy could they atone for themselves or their families.
Of course, they had no other choice, because the supervising team was looking at them with fierce eyes from behind.
For them, the Supervisory Team is far more terrifying than Zhao Jun.
"Prepare the catapult. Let me aim the catapult at the Qin army and hit the places with the most people." Lin Xiangru's cold voice sounded on the city wall.
The Qin army had catapults, as did Zhao, and they could throw them farther from a high position. Although the hit rate was a problem, as long as one stone hit, one of the Qin army's catapults could be disabled.
Boom boom boom!
Huge boulders fell from the sky towards the Qin army, instantly smashing the Qin army into pulp and embedded in the earth. A catapult was hit by the boulder and turned into a pile of sawdust.
"Fire arrows!" After the Qin army approached, Lin Xiangru ordered again.
Puff puff!
The overwhelming rain of arrows came towards the Qin army like locusts. The Qin army fell to the ground after being struck by arrows. There were arrows everywhere on the ground, like a forest. Each Qin army had at least double digits of arrows stuck in his body. Arrows, and a few lucky ones have arrows in the triple digits.
The first person who climbed into the camp fell to the ground without even touching the moat.
However, the Qin army did not give up. The second and third troops rushed up to the camp first. Soon, there were two pools of blood on the ground.
"Is this Qin Jun?" An Ning said in surprise, not knowing how to express her inner feelings.
When she heard that the Qin army was attacking Handan, she thought that the Zhao State was at the point of life and death. She could not let Lin Xiangru, an old man in his seventies, lead the way. As a princess, she had to stand up.
Now she suddenly felt that it didn't make any difference whether she stood up or not...
At this time, the Qin army was in chaos
There was an uproar and all kinds of quarrels. No matter how hard the supervising team pressed, no one was willing to board first.
In the past, although there was a high probability of dying if one entered the camp first, there was still a small probability that one could survive and successfully atone for oneself and his family.
Although everyone has complaints, they are still willing to work hard.
Now there are more than a thousand people who have entered the camp three times in a row. They died without even touching the moat, and no one came back alive.
Who is willing to do something that requires death?
"You dare to force me to die, I will fight with you." A soldier turned around suddenly, roared and rushed towards the hundred-man general beside him, and thrust his spear into the opponent's body.
The hundred generals looked at each other in disbelief. He couldn't believe why a small soldier on the other side dared to take action against him.
"Damn it, let's fight." The four soldiers in the same group rushed towards the surrounding Qin army regardless of the situation.
The Qin State's joint sitting system has long tied the five of them together. If one person commits a crime, all five of them will be punished. Rather than doing this, it is better to fight it out.
But the power of an individual is small after all. Soon, the five people were exterminated by the surrounding Qin army, and even their heads were chopped off.
But this incident once again deeply affected the morale of the Qin army, and the Qin army's fighting spirit was almost exhausted.
The Qin army and Lian Po had been fighting against each other for more than a year, and their morale was not high. Now they were sent on a death mission. Even the generals were a little dissatisfied, let alone the ordinary soldiers.
"Send the order, retreat." Wang Ling sighed deeply. From the time he launched the attack to the time he retreated, it took less than two quarters of an hour. After this battle, his reputation as Wang Ling was completely ruined.
"Alas!" Wang Ling sighed deeply, feeling as if he had aged many years in an instant.
Although he knew from the beginning that the attack on Handan would be very difficult, he did not expect it to be so difficult. In addition to the enemies, there was also dissatisfaction within the army.
All the elite soldiers of the Qin State were on the main battlefield. The army he led was originally a temporary recruitment of strong men. He had been away from home for more than a year and he wished he could go home now. He had no fighting spirit for a long time.
The only consolation they can get on the battlefield is military honors, but for more than a year, they have not received any military honors, and their family farmland has been abandoned. Now they are sent to die. Who would be willing?
"General, I don't think we have to attack Handan." Yang Duanhe said.
"What do you think?" Wang Ling looked at Yang Duanhe.
"The king ordered us to attack Handan in order to attract the main force of the Zhao army to return for reinforcements. At this time, Handan's distress letter has been sent out, and the rest is beyond our control. Instead of attacking Handan and letting the soldiers die in vain. It is better to Surround but not attack, wait for news from the front line." Yang Duanhe said.
"For today's plan, this is the only way." Wang Ling said.
"The Qin army has retreated!"
"The Qin army has retreated!"
On the city wall, the Zhao army officers and soldiers burst into violent cheers.
They thought that the Qin army was powerful and ready for a desperate fight, but they did not expect that the Qin army was just a paper tiger that looked powerful on the surface, but was actually vulnerable to a single blow.
"Prime Minister, I will ask you to leave the city to fight." A general said with clasped fists.
"The general requested to come out of the city to fight!" Another general said.
"No one is allowed to leave the city. Everyone is allowed to stay in the city." Prime Minister Lin ordered.
If Li Mu had not come back for reinforcements, he might have agreed to the soldiers' request, gone out of the city to fight, and pursued the victory. But Li Mu is already on the way. Since there is a safer way, why take the risk.
"Did the Qin army retreat?" Tian Shu came up with Tian Yi, Zhao Ji, and Wei, and said a little strangely.
Unlike An Ning, who had martial arts skills, they did not choose to go into battle to kill the enemy. Instead, they organized the women in the city to prepare hot water, medicinal materials, food, etc. for the soldiers.
As a result, before they even boiled the water, they heard the sound of ringing gold coming from outside the city, so they quickly went to the city to inquire about the situation.
"Princess, the Qin army... the Qin army has indeed retreated." Lin Xiangru didn't know what to say.
When it was learned that the Qin army had reached the city, the city
Everyone inside felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy, recruiting young men, donating money and food, and even the princess was dispatched.
As a result, the Qin army's attack on the city turned out to be so flawless. As soon as they launched the attack, they ordered gold to retreat.
Zhao Jun's various preparations were like hitting cotton wool, and it felt like making a fuss out of a molehill.
…
At this time, on the official road several miles away from Handan, a large and uneven army was quickly approaching Handan.
"Wait a minute, the Qin army seems to have retreated." Wei Liao stretched out his hand and said ( Wei should be an official position, Wei Liao doesn't have an official now, but that's how he is called).
Yesterday, after Handan College learned that Handan City was under siege, each college immediately discussed it and finally decided to form an army of 3,000 people from the college's students, teachers, and servants brought by some noble children to attack the Qin army. During Handan, the Qin army attacked from behind.
Although Handan College is just a college, its scale is no less than that of a city. There are thousands of students alone, and including servants, the number has exceeded 10,000. It is not difficult to gather an army of 3,000.
The hard part is who to lead this legion.
In the entire academy, there are more than 10,000 people. From the top to the students, to the servants, no one has ever led a soldier. The only one who has ever led a soldier, Dai Tuo, passed away last year.
In the end, everyone decided to let Wei Liao, who was only sixteen years old, serve as the commander-in-chief and Fan Zeng as the military advisor.
Although Wei Liao was only sixteen years old and one of the youngest among this group of people, he had excellent grades and was familiar with all kinds of military arts. He had never lost in martial arts, and he was no match for him even when he was offering wine.
Although I have not experienced actual combat, my theoretical knowledge is already very solid.
Fan Zeng was even more famous in the academy. If he had not refused the government recruitment, he would have left the academy to become an official.
"It seems that they have really retreated." Fan Zeng looked at the Qin army in confusion, puzzled, "How could the Qin army retreat at this time? According to time, they should have just started to attack the city!"
"What should we do now?" People around looked at the two of them, waiting for them to make up their minds.
"Go back to the academy and send someone to contact Handan City." Wei Liao finally decided.
About half of the army are students, and they are also the hope of Zhao State in the future. It is by no means a matter of killing more Qin troops. If you can lose less, you will lose less.
As a result, the attacks prepared by both sides ended in an anticlimactic manner.
In the next two days, the Qin army did not launch a real attack. They just used catapults to continuously throw stones at Handan. Zhao Guo also withdrew his army into the city, leaving only a small number of soldiers to guard and control the catapults to fight against the Qin army.
The morale of the Qin army was so low that they could not even lift the royal tomb.
On the evening of the third day, Li Mu led the Great Wall Army non-stop all the way, and finally arrived ten miles north of Handan City.
"General, Handan is ahead, and no Qin army scouts were found. Our scouts came to report that the Qin army did not directly attack the city except for sending a small number of catapults." Sima Shang said.
"Send the order, all soldiers will dismount immediately and rest for half an hour." Li Mu ordered.
Although the Great Wall Army is extremely physically strong, after all, they have been on the road for three days in a row. Neither the soldiers nor the horses are in the best condition. If they are directly thrown into the battlefield, even if they win in the end, they will lose many more soldiers and increase unnecessary casualties.
After hearing the order, the Great Wall Army dismounted one after another, took out water from their horse bags, took a few sips and put the water bottle back.
It's not that they don't want to drink more, but drinking a lot of water or eating when the body is tired will make people more tired and unable to lift their spirits, which is not conducive to the subsequent battle.
No one whispered to each other, everyone did their own thing silently. After finishing, they stood aside or sat on the ground to rest.
When the rest time was over, Li Mu gave an order, and all the soldiers got on their horses at the same time and headed towards Handan.
After crossing Handan City, Li Mu saw at a glance the catapults lined up outside the city and the Qin army next to them. Three of the catapults had been destroyed by the Zhao army, and there were still blood stains on the ground.
"Kill!" Li Mu shouted loudly, wiping his whole body
All the inner energy was poured into the spear, mobilizing the power of the legion to swipe at the Qin army.
The terrifying spear light dozens of feet long seemed to split the world into two, and the entire sky became dark.
The Qin army never thought that the Zhao army would come out at this time. By the time they reacted, it was already too late. They didn't even have time to hold up the battle formation, and Li Mu's attack had already fallen.
A terrifying crack hundreds of meters long appeared in the Qin army. All Qin soldiers who were directly hit disappeared instantly, and countless Qin soldiers flew backwards, not knowing whether they were alive or dead.
"Kill!" The Great Wall Army followed Li Mu closely and charged towards the Qin Army.
puff!
As the Great Wall Army's spear swept away, a series of blood flowers burst out, and the Qin army fell to the ground like mowing grass.
"Stop fighting, we surrender!" I don't know who was the first to kneel on the ground and shout. Then, other Qin soldiers knelt on the ground and surrendered, as if they were infected.
Zhao Jun suddenly stopped and looked at Li Mu at the front. This was the first time they had encountered the Qin Jun who was so unable to fight. They surrendered before the charge was over.
"Kneel down here and wait." Li Mu said to the Qin army, and then led the Great Wall Army towards the Qin army's camp.
"General, the general is in trouble, Zhao Jun is coming!" The guards rushed into the camp in a panic and reported to Wang Ling.
"The Zhao army really dares to leave the city? Beat the drum and order the whole army to follow me to fight." Wang Ling said coldly. He admitted that he could not conquer Handan, but if Zhao thought that he could do it with a group of strong men he had just recruited, Defeating him would be looking down on him too much.
"Zhao Jun is... a cavalryman." The guard said quickly.
"There is still a cavalry hidden in the Zhao Kingdom? What's the flag?" Wang Ling's expression changed instantly.
"Wu Anjun. Li." The guard said.
Ps: Li Mu and Lian Po are about to go south. In the final battle between King Qin Zhaoxiang and Bai Qi, they must be given a card, and no famous general can be missing.
(Remember to bookmark it for next time reading!)
