When the thunderous sound of horse hoofbeats echoed in everyone's ears for the fourth time, the officers and soldiers on the city wall were already numb.
As the saying goes, if you have too many lice, don't bite them, if you have too many debts, you don't have to worry. Whether the enemy attacks from one city gate or from four city gates together does not seem to make much difference to the officers and soldiers in the city.
It's definitely impossible to block it anyway.
Even if all 10,000 city defenders were pulled up to the city tower, it would be difficult to prevent a hundred thousand enemies from attacking the city, not to mention that there simply wouldn't be enough space for that many people to stand on the city wall.
Therefore, all the officers and soldiers felt a little desperate in their hearts, and now they have become veritable mourning soldiers.
Except for a few people who really understand the details.
"Do you really want to keep it?" Qiao Rui murmured to himself with a wry smile.
Both Qi Zhen and Zhang Xun heard this sentence, but neither of them knew what to say.
Qi Zhen originally thought that he had already discussed with Huang Yueying to launch an attack on Nanyang City from Pheasant County, so the enemy troops appearing outside Nanyang City today should only be on the east gate side.
It's just that Huang Yueying didn't believe Qi Zhen's vows, or she wanted to complete her victory in one battle, so she actually put up such a large formation and surrounded Nanyang City!
It has to be said that if Qi Zhen fails to resolve the situation in Nanyang City, then this method of siege on all sides is exactly the best choice for Huang Yueying.
But that won’t work now.
The plan could not keep up with the changes. Qi Zhen did not expect that Huang Yueying would come up with such a skill. The countermeasures that he and the two generals Zhang Qiao had thought of before would be of no use at this time.
Originally, the three people discussed setting up a formation at the top of the city with one purpose - to drag.
Regardless of calling for battle before the battle, or sending envoys to negotiate, the first thing is that the city gates cannot be opened, and the second thing is that they cannot really fight. Try to delay it for a day. The other side will inevitably set up camp when it gets dark. As long as they set up camp, Qi Zhen will have plenty of time. , at night, with his Sharingan, it must not be difficult for him to find Huang Yueying in the army.
As long as the two of them can meet each other, the next thing will be easy to handle.
The current situation is that if the city gate is opened to lure the enemy into the city, the hidden danger is still there, just like a grenade that will explode at an unknown time. Once the death of Yuan Shu and Ji Ling is made public, no one will The method anticipates the outcome.
If the city gate is not opened, Huang Yueying will mistakenly think that Qi Zhen has not taken care of the situation in Nanyang City. For such a huge army, the daily food and salary consumption is a huge sum. Huang Yueying does not come with a large army to play.
So she will inevitably choose to attack the city.
That would be bad.
Outside the city gate, the wide moat was thirty meters wide and now became the only obstacle between the two armies.
After the armies on all sides were assembled, a cavalry team was dispatched from the north, west, and south directions, galloping toward the east of the city.
Qi Zhen could see clearly from the tower. It seemed that Huang Yueying's central army was still in the east, and this should be the center of the army.
After a while, the three cavalrymen returned to the formation, and it seemed that they had received orders from the Chinese army.
As the three cavalry troops returned to the formation, the armies on all sides began to move.
The thunderous war drums began to resound throughout the countryside.
The uniform cry broke through the sky, and the entire Nanyang City could hear it clearly, whether it was in the center of the city or in any inconspicuous corner.
"Hit me!" Zhang Xun felt like his head was buzzing. Not to mention that the soldiers in the city had no fighting spirit at all. Even if they did, they were already trembling with fear from the opponent's formation. Where could they find the fighting spirit? ?
Most people don't even know where these enemy troops came from. Can this battle be fought?
Then the army outside the four city gates saw a scene that made people laugh and cry.
On the upper floors of the four city gates, signs with the words "War Free" were hung almost in no particular order.
This was also a helpless move by the three people. It was obvious that they wanted to rely on the impregnable Nanyang City to start playing rogue.
Unfortunately, in ancient times, the war-free card also depended on the strength of the enemy and ourselves. If one side was obviously confident, the other was extremely weak, so this war-free card was the same as surrender.
Sure enough, not long after the four war-free signs were hung, the war-free signs on the west, north, and south walls were accurately shot by a sharp arrow on the hoisting rope, and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Only the east side is slightly later than the other three sides.
However, this battle-free card still did not escape the fate of being shot down.
Just these four blows made the two generals Zhang Qiao feel awe-inspiring.
The four soldiers who came out of the battle were about forty meters away from the city wall. They shot from behind. With just one arrow, they were able to break the rope of the exemption card. There is no doubt that these four people are the sharpshooters in the army.
"What should we do?" Qiao Rui turned his head and looked at Qi Zhen with a miserable expression.
"Wait a moment." Qi Zhen said with narrowed eyes.
Finally, the thundering screams suddenly stopped in an instant, and it was finally over.
The main purpose of shouting kills in front of the formation is to boost one's own morale and undermine the opponent's military morale. There is no doubt that the effect this time is excellent.
A fierce general will emerge from the Dongmen Army, carrying a long spear, and a strong aura comes from within, showing his domineering attitude.
"People in the city, listen, quickly lower the drawbridge and open the city gate. I can guarantee that your lives will be spared. If you don't know the current situation, we will attack the city by force and give you a quarter of an hour to think!" The general said! The momentum was extremely strong, and the sound resounded above the city tower, full of energy.
"Liu Xun!" Qiao Rui sighed.
This general, Zhang Qiao, was familiar to both of them. He was another fierce general under Yuan Shu. He was as famous as Zhang Xunqiao, but he did not serve in Nanyang City.
After Liu Xun finished speaking, without waiting for a reply from the tower, he turned around on his horse and returned to the formation, making a clean mess.
For a quarter of an hour, the sun moved a finger's distance in the sky and arrived in the blink of an eye.
Qi Zhen smiled bitterly. It seemed that she couldn't drag it out any longer. It was the lesser of two evils. There really was no better way to do it now.
Gala, galala, gala...
The heavy suspension bridge was lowered, and the east gate of Nanyang City was opened.
However, there is only the east gate.
The city gates in the other three directions are still closed, with no intention of opening them.
A horse appeared again in the formation of the three armies, running towards the central army.
It looked like he was here to inquire about the situation.
The army from the east did not enter the city directly, and seemed to be waiting for returns from the other three areas.
"What are we doing now?" Qiao Rui asked.
"Those who have no official duties will return to the government, those who have official duties will return to the Yamen, and the soldiers who have nothing to do will return to the camp to repair. That's it." Qi Zhen said.
"Ah?" Qiao Rui looked blank.
Zhang Xun on the side also frowned and remained silent.
Yes, this is the last solution Qi Zhen came up with.
You can neither hit nor drag, so what should you do?
I will open a city gate for you. If you want to enter, please enter through here.
First of all, a city gate is wide open, and the soldiers on the tower are doing whatever they are supposed to do. This in itself is an act of spreading suspicion.
Seeing that the city gate was opened, there were fewer soldiers on the city tower. Are these people preparing to ambush in the city and kill them all?
The city gate hole is so big and the suspension bridge is so wide. After all, only a few soldiers can get in at once. If there is an ambush in the city, it is obvious that entering like this is just to fuel the tactics, and the army outside the city will not hesitate.
Furthermore, even if the city truly surrenders, how long will it take for ten thousand people to enter if this large army enters through one gate?
It is destined to be impossible for all the soldiers outside the city to go in, not to mention that Nanyang City can't accommodate so many people. Just talking about the placement issue, it will be dark if they all go in?
Qi Zhen understood clearly that as long as she got through tonight, she would have time to convey the news to Huang Yueying. As for how to deal with it then, it was Huang Yueying and Liu Bei who had to worry about it, and it had nothing to do with her.
This is why he can still remain calm.
Qi Zhen is calm, and the two generals Zhang Qiao must remain calm even if they have many doubts in their hearts.
This is called getting on a thief's ship, but getting off a thief's ship is difficult.
The messenger cavalry from the other three parties returned to their formations, and the military formations of the three parties quickly settled down, but they did not retreat and remained in place.
The army outside the East City Gate started to move after being quiet for a quarter of an hour.
General Liu Xun took the lead and began to enter the city.
It seemed that Huang Yueying did not know much about the situation in the city, so these soldiers had solemn expressions on their faces and did not dare to relax at all.
The front reported to the Chinese army that the vanguard did not encounter any enemy ambush or resistance.
However, perhaps out of caution, the speed into the city did not speed up.
The civilians in the city had already hid when the army pressed on, so the streets seemed extremely quiet, but it was okay, mainly because there was no fierce fighting and there was no mess.
So the only sounds left on the street were the clanging of armor and the clatter of horses' hooves.
"Report! The enemy troops have surrounded the governor's mansion."
"Report! The enemy has opened three other city gates from the inside."
"Report! The enemy troops are coming this way."
Generals Qi Zhen and Zhang Qiao are playing chess and drinking tea in Zhang's mansion.
Mainly, the two generals Zhang Qiao are below and Qi Zhen is watching.
As one of the oldest games, Qi Zhen naturally knows a bit about Go, but is not proficient in it.
So he just watched quietly.
Zhang Qiao and Zhang Qiao were not interested in playing chess at this time. As a result, there were frequent blind moves on the chessboard. Qi Zhen was pointing at them, saying, "You made a wrong move this time, and you played a bad move that way."
It’s a bit fun to watch an old man playing chess on the roadside.
Every time the soldiers outside responded, the two of them had to test on the chessboard for a long time, and then they made a move that was enough to make Qi Zhen, an amateur player, hold her forehead and smile bitterly.
When Qiao Rui heard that the other party was rushing here, she completely lost her mind and threw the white pieces in her hand on the chessboard: "I'm not going to play anymore. People are knocking on my door and I'm still having fun!"
"General Qiao, don't be anxious. They just want to occupy the key positions in Nanyang City as soon as possible. It's not that simple if all the army wants to enter the city." Qi Zhen said with a smile.
