The sound of cannons at Guangcheng Pass lasted for three days.
Not to mention the commander of the city defense, even someone as careless as Huo Zhi could not understand why the other party was so brave and unafraid of death.
Outside the city gate, controlled within a range of 100 to 600 meters, it has already become a purgatory.
Soldiers who died on the first day were often bombarded by intensive artillery shells the next day. There were stumps of limbs and broken arms and body tissues and organs burned like black coal. Not only did they look extremely terrifying, but they also smelled full of... The smell of sulfur mixed with the smell of burnt and internal organs was disgusting.
Under Lin Biao's strict order, the bombardment range of the artillery still did not exceed the limit of 600 meters.
This seemed to give Cai Hao a very good reference. Starting from the second day, Cai Hao's Chinese army camp slowly moved forward. By the third day, the vanguard line had stopped at about 700 meters. No more movement.
Most of the enemies, including Cai Mao's Chinese army camp, still stayed a thousand meters away.
Those local soldiers who relied on luck to come to the city wall obviously couldn't camp down there all the time. Except for some who were killed by rifles and bows and arrows on the city wall belatedly, others took advantage of the cannon after observing it again. Shooting at the blind spot, he ran back towards his own Chinese army camp.
Without siege equipment, it would be fanciful to rely on manpower to conquer Guangcheng Pass.
Of course, there were occasional siege ladders transported to Guangcheng Pass in the past three days, but they were quickly dealt with by Huo Zhi's soldiers, so there was no need to worry at all.
It seems that the lives of 100,000 soldiers were sacrificed in front of Guangcheng Pass, and the purpose was just to consume the artillery shells at Guangcheng Pass.
That's right, during the three-day siege, after Huo Zhi's rough calculation, he firmly believed that more than 100,000 soldiers died under the shells.
This has exceeded one-third of the total number of soldiers under Cai Mao's command.
"Lord, we are almost out of ammunition."
After the enemy withdrew on the third day, Huo Zhi said pitifully to Lin Biao.
Lin Biao nodded and said, "Yes, I understand. Tomorrow and the next two days will be the time for the final battle."
"I observed carefully and it seems that the enemy has found the blind spot of our cannon. If the enemy goes back to the city wall from both sides, the cannon in my hand may not be of use." Huo Zhi spoke and moved forward. refer to.
Under the setting sun, a fan-shaped area composed of corpses clearly appeared in front of everyone.
The gun carriage does not move its head and is extremely heavy. Affected by the gap in the city wall, adjusting the firing angle of about 30 degrees from left to right is already the limit.
This leads to the fact that there are always some places at the edge that cannot be bombarded by artillery.
Although those positions are not obvious at first glance, if you take a closer look, you will find that the corpses at the edges are obviously more than a little less than the central position.
If the enemy carries siege equipment from these two narrow passages to attack Guangcheng Pass, it will obviously be easier to reach under the city wall.
If coupled with the imminent problem of insufficient artillery shells on the tower...
"Why, you don't know how to defend this city without artillery?" Lin Biao said.
Huo Zhi scratched his head and said, "Not really."
"Then it's over. Even in a city defense battle with 100,000 vs. 300,000, regardless of the factors of cannons, we can still defend Guangcheng Pass with the help of bows, arrows, rocks and kerosene. Why is it gone now? Cannon, are you Huo Zhi panicking?" Lin Biao continued.
"After all, it can save the lives and injuries of our subordinates." Huo Zhi muttered in a low voice.
"Don't worry, Huo Zhi won't suffer any loss after all." Lin Biao patted him on the shoulder to reassure him.
Before noon on the second day, the cannon fire stopped.
As the sound of artillery suddenly stopped, the soldiers at Guangcheng Pass were stunned for a moment.
Immediately, the shouts of killing, which had been covered up by the sound of artillery for several days, finally took over the mainstream of the battlefield again.
In half a day's work, the siege army rushed under the city wall with red eyes like wild wolves that had been hungry for several days.
They seemed to see the hope of victory.
Several siege ladders were erected from the bottom of the city wall one after another, and then pushed down by the defenders on the wall. This repeated process seemed like two urchins playing, but the process was extremely dangerous.
The sound of the artillery disappeared and was replaced by the sound of gunfire.
Rifles and bows are now the best weapons for defenders to block attacks.
However, compared to the cannon, it is still far behind.
In the end, relying on rifles, bows and arrows, and the power of falling rocks, the enemy was not allowed to scale the city wall. With the sound of gold ringing, the enemy finally retreated reluctantly.
"It looks like we'll have to use all our strength tomorrow." Lin Biao murmured as he looked at the enemies receding like a tide.
"Feng Xian." Lin Biao called softly.
"The general is here." Lu Bu replied with his fists behind him.
"I have a task for you."
Lin Biao whispered a few words into Lu Bu's ear, and Lu Bu's eyes gradually lit up.
"Take orders!"
"Let's see who is the final winner." Lin Biao squinted, looked in the direction of Cai Hao's Central Army Camp, and said softly.
At this time, in Cai Mao's tent, he was looking at the map in front of him and thinking deeply.
But there was no solemn look on his face. It seemed that the loss of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses did not leave any burden on the general's heart. He seemed quite calm and confident.
On the map in front of him, Guangcheng Pass only occupies a small part of it, and most of the remaining map shows a large area of land in the southwest, which is Yizhou.
And Cai Mao looked over there most of the time.
The army pressed down on the border and forced Luoyang to move in full force, but he was not in a hurry to attack the city. This was Cai Mao's plan.
The purpose is to involve all Luoyang's energy here.
He had found the transportation route for that powerful weapon a few days ago.
Therefore, the 200,000 troops outside Guangcheng Pass were not in a hurry to enter the pass. It was precisely because these 200,000 troops were originally a feint attack to hide his true purpose.
Now he naturally knows that the thing is called an artillery, not a thunder, and he also knows that artillery needs shells, otherwise it is just a pile of scrap metal.
The route for transporting artillery shells from the arsenal in Yizhou to Luoyang has been completely cut off by him.
Two hundred thousand soldiers were not unimportant to him, but compared to those weapons that were beyond this era, they were still worth it.
Even if all these 200,000 people are wiped out, as long as the place where weapons are made is firmly in his hands, wouldn't the world be at his fingertips?
This time we attacked Guangcheng Pass, and we were overjoyed when we got in. If we couldn't get in, we would have to turn south and head directly to Yizhou.
You must know that although Chen Wen was vague, he did reveal to himself how empty Yizhou is now. Chen Wen is also a smart man who cannot offend both sides, so he must seize this hard-won good thing. Chance.
The main purpose of attacking Guangcheng Pass was to prevent Luoyang from distracting others. Now that I think about it, it has indeed achieved its original purpose. Judging from the attack this afternoon, the enemy has gathered about 100,000 troops at Guangcheng Pass.
Bingzhou, Yuzhou, and Yanzhou are blooming everywhere. How can there be so many soldiers fighting everywhere in Luoyang City? Liu Xie's appetite must be too big!
Cai Mao was sure that the last troops in Luoyang had been attracted by his 200,000 troops outside the Guangcheng Pass, so the 100,000 troops that had been drawn from the bottom of the cauldron would become the winner of his control of the world!
"Instructions, the army should not be too hasty tomorrow, attack Guangcheng Pass slowly, control the progress, and don't send everyone up to die." Cai Hao said slowly.
"Here!" A soldier went down to spread the word to all parts of the camp.
So many people have died. It is expected that both the original defenders and the reinforcements from Luoyang will believe from the bottom of their hearts that they will unswervingly attack Guangcheng Pass.
That's good.
Cai Hao thought carefully for a while, and after making sure that there were no mistakes, he rested peacefully.
At dawn the next day, Cai Mao personally stood on the front line to supervise the battle.
You know, Cai Mao's prestige in the Jingzhou army is like the emperor's prestige in Luoyang City. It has already reached a state of blind worship.
Suddenly seeing a monarch approaching the battle, all the soldiers were impassioned and desperately wanted to show their military appearance in front of him.
Cai Hao rode his horse at the front and shouted towards Guangcheng Pass: "Kill!"
The loud shouting of killing sounded again.
The leading troops quickly passed the location of the shelling and continued to rush towards the city.
Arrows were constantly shot down and gunshots were fired, and people often fell down in response.
However, the situation was much better than the previous two days.
The ladder was set up, and the engineering soldiers climbed up.
Then he was hit by a falling rock.
So back and forth.
boom!
Suddenly, the sound of cannons that had not been heard on the city wall for half a day once again rang in everyone's ears.
However, the expression on Cai Mao's face did not change after hearing this. He had already guessed that the general had reservations, so he was not surprised.
The shells probably only fired three rounds before they misfired. After causing thousands of casualties, I think these shells were finally completely consumed.
The siege continued, but there was still a long way to go before they could climb the city wall or even stand at the city wall.
Immediately afterwards, the cannon rang again!
After three more rounds of shelling, Cai Hao frowned inadvertently.
"Go from both sides." Cai Mao ordered calmly.
Next, the siege soldiers rushed towards Guangcheng Pass along the corridor on both sides that could not be bombarded by cannons.
Now even if the cannon still has shells, it is of little use.
Sure enough, although the efficiency of the troops transported in this way will become lower, it can effectively allow these soldiers to reach the city wall safely.
Cai Hao tilted his head slightly and raised a smile, knowing that the opponent's cannon was now completely useless.
However, the sound of artillery suddenly exploded in his ears, on the front line of the pioneer garrison of Cai Mao's camp!
