Meng Jie and Zhu Kang were not sure how many enemy troops there were to the north of Huaichuan at this time, but they were sure that it would not be less than 20,000 troops, including 4,000 to 5,000 of the most elite red cavalry, so that Xuanwei's army had 20,000 troops.
The large formation formed east of Jiaopi could not hold up for an hour before being completely defeated.
The main force of the Xuanwei Army was defeated so easily, and the two sides did not remain in a stalemate for too long, which meant that the casualties of the captive soldiers were very limited, allowing them to mobilize enough troops and horses to cover up the attack in Huaichuan without even needing to rest and recuperate.
Huaichuan is located on the north bank of the Huai River and controls Rukou. It is a city that must be captured by the Japanese soldiers. Meng Jie and Zhu Kang couldn't help but wonder whether Chushan could ambush just over a thousand troops outside Huaichuan City.
Can the cover-up attack of the repulsed soldiers be supported until the reinforcements from Luoshan, Huangchuan and other cities come?
Of course, Xu Huai led 3,000 men and horses to attack Taiyuan for thousands of miles. He caused great chaos in Taiyuan, Lanzhou, and Xinzhou where the enemy's army was ten times larger than his own. In the end, he succeeded in bringing 100,000 Taiyuan soldiers and civilians to Xiangyang. He was a man of miracles.
Meng Jie, Zhu Kang and others used to sneer at these rumors, believing that they must be false exaggerations. They also strictly prohibited the people below from discussing and publicizing these things at will. They were worried that the generals would suddenly become famous and become unruly and uncontrollable, which would be harmful to the general order.
However, at this time, they were particularly willing to believe that these rumors were true. They wished that all the elite men under Xu Huai's command were indeed men with bronze heads and iron arms, capable of one being worth ten, and ten being worth a hundred.
The sky has darkened, and a cold full moon has risen into the sky. The clear moonlight reflects the lead-blue sky like a deep mountain pool. A few floating clouds float under the sky, and the hazy night shrouds the earth.
Fields, streams, woods, ridges, and post roads outline a vague outline.
The city gate has been closed normally. At this time, many defeated soldiers have fled to the city, shouting and beating the city gate to enter the city. The defenders on the city wall also woke up at this time:
Oh my God, the day before yesterday the military envoy Liu Xian, who was in charge of Fu Qian, had just led the main force of the Xuanwei Army north from Huaichuan, and it had been severely defeated by the enemy!
Have all the defeated troops fled back to Huaichuan?
In the distance, small groups of captives appeared, approaching the city from time to time, shooting the defeated soldiers who fled to the heel of the city wall. This made the defenders at the top of the city increasingly panicked.
They all realized that Xuanwei's army was not only severely defeated in Jiaopi, but its main force had probably been wiped out. Otherwise, the enemy cavalry would not have been so relaxed and would have marched directly towards Huaichuan City without any scruples.
Panic spread at the top of the city. The defenders all turned pale and their hands and feet were trembling. No one dared to open the city gate at this time.
Some people couldn't help but poke their heads out from the fortressed wall and ask the defeated soldiers at the foot of the city about the battle situation at Jiao Pi. Unexpectedly, they were not prepared for the enemy cavalry to approach and fire arrows at them sharply and fiercely.
When Xu Huai and others boarded the north city gate tower, more than ten generals were killed and wounded by the small group of cavalry approaching the city. The city was even more chaotic. Some people were even panic-stricken and wanted to escape. But when they saw
Xu Huai and the others walked over and were forced to return to the top of the city.
Meng Jie, Zhu Kang and others, who had just calmed down, suddenly became panicked again. They couldn't help but ask Xu Huai, where were the reinforcements hidden as the captive cavalry had approached the city?
"These are just a small group of scouts from the Red Husband. The first wave of attacking troops didn't arrive so quickly!" Xu Huai looked at Meng Jie, Zhu Kang and others' panicked expressions, and knew what they were thinking, and said calmly.
, implying that now is not the time for the Chushan ambush troops to show up, and asking them to be calm and impatient.
Xu Huai glanced left and right again and ordered the defenders at the top of the city: "Four more bonfires should be lit in front of the city tower. I want all the generals on the north wall to be able to see clearly what is going on here!"
Xu Huai had spoken. Meng Jie, Fu Liang and other generals were all surrounding Xu Huai. A few of the generals who were alert and calm at this time followed his orders and prepared more bonfires to light.
.
Xu Huai stood directly in front of the wall, looking coldly at the dozens of captives approaching the city.
In order to facilitate the battle, Xu Huai, Chen Zixiao and others had taken off the military uniforms they had previously used to conceal their identities on the road, revealing the war armor they were wearing underneath.
Compared with ordinary scale armor and prickly armor, wart armor mainly uses cold forging technology to repeatedly hammer out impurities to further improve the toughness of fine iron. Usually, a piece of armor leaf is forged to one-third of its original size.
The thickness is considered qualified.
In order to check whether the forging of the nail blades is qualified, a small piece of each nail leaf will be deliberately left unforged, and it will protrude like a wart on the face, hence the name wart nail.
After repeated hammering, the nail plate is blue-black in color, with a smooth surface, as bright as a mirror. Under the moonlight, it looks like cast silver.
At this time, Chushan had mastered the cold forging technology of Xiaozijia, but there was no way to mass-produce it.
And when placed in any army, Hao Zijia is the best armor chosen from thousands of miles away.
Xu Huai stood in front of the wall with armor in his arms. Of course, dozens of captives regarded them as big fish. Others approached the city, holding their bows and shooting arrows at the broken soldiers under the city. One of them suddenly raised his long bow and shot an arrow at Xu.
Shooting from the front door.
The icy arrow clusters shot out like a bit of cold light under the moon. At a distance of more than fifty steps, the arrows arrived in front of Xu Huai almost instantly. Xu Ling, Fu Liang and others stood by and saw the scene, and their hearts suddenly tightened.
, almost dizzy.
Xu Huai let go of his hand and threw a flat-headed arrow onto the brick paved ground of the city wall.
As military officials, Xu Ling, Fu Liang, and Chen Su were somewhat capable, but they could only barely see clearly the process of Xu Huai grabbing the arrow.
At that moment, just looking at Xu Huai's right hand was like an eagle's beak pecking, as if he caught the sharp arrow in front of him with a flash of inspiration, but Xu Huai's momentum at that moment was so fierce that it felt like a poisonous python suddenly baring its fangs in anger.
, all the energy and spirit are locked in that one peck.
The armor Xu Huai wore rippled like water waves, showing that all the muscles in his body were working together at that moment.
What a powerful martial arts cultivation, what a powerful self-confidence!
The defenders on the city, as well as Meng Jie, Zhu Kang and others did not see clearly how Xu Huai caught the arrow, but they all understood that catching the arrow with bare hands was not something ordinary generals could do.
Dozens of captives also suddenly woke up. Knowing that there was a real martial arts expert at the top of the city, they immediately grabbed the reins and drove their horses to the outside to distance themselves.
Seeing dozens of captives stopped at an arrow's distance, Xu Huai took his time and took his time.
He looked to the left and right and sneered:
"It is said that all the Chi Hu men are good at riding and shooting, and their archery skills are unparalleled in the world. I think this is nothing more than this! Zixiao, Shi Hu, Xu Zang, you guys can show these barbarians the superb archery skills of Da Yue!"
Xu Pang is the son of Xu Wuqi. During the bandit rebellion in Tongbai Mountain, he, Su Laochang's son, and Su Di's younger brother Su Mi were only twelve or thirteen years old, but over the years, they have become rising stars in Tongbai Mountain.
Xu Huai moved back to make way for the space in front of the crenellations. Chen Zixiao, Shi Hu, and Xu Teng took off their strong bows and took their places in the crenels.
The enemy cavalry is already a hundred steps away, and it is difficult for ordinary walking bows to effectively shoot and damage them.
The strong bows held by Chen Zixiao, Shi Hu, and Xu Tan require three hundred kilograms of force just to fully draw the bowstring. However, the requirements of Dai Viet Juelunko are not only to pull such a strong bow, but also to keep the limbs and body relative to each other.
Only in a relaxed state can you ensure sufficient accuracy in shooting.
The Tianxiong Army has the sons of the Xu and Wang clans as its foundation. After years of recruiting heroes, there are only a dozen people with such archery skills.
However, even so, it is not easy to kill the elite warriors of the Red Husband with just one arrow.
Chen Zixiao, Shi Hu, and Xu Zang didn't care. Each of them held three feather arrows in their hands. In one breath, the nine feather arrows rushed towards the leader and shot at them.
The Chihu scouts are all carefully selected elite men in the army. Even if there are only a dozen scouts in this team, the leader is also a general at the level of a hundred households. His reaction is definitely fast enough. He holds a bow in his left hand and an arrow in his right hand.
, knocked down six sharp arrows one after another, but still hit three arrows in a row. One of the sharp arrows shot by Chen Zixiao hit his neck accurately and hard, and he heard a scream and fell to the horse.
The other captives snatched away the man who had no idea whether he was alive or dead after landing. They did not dare to stay nearby anymore and galloped further away.
"I am Xu Huai, Marquis of Jingsheng. I believe that many of the generals present have heard of my name."
At this time, Xu Huai slowly looked towards the defenders near the city tower and said,
"Many people must know that Liu Shijun and General Fu suffered a defeat in Jiaopi. I won't talk nonsense to you. The situation is very critical now. The enemy will attack at any time. We need all the generals and I to cooperate with you.
Let's work together to defend Huaichuan until reinforcements arrive. I don't know how many people will die tonight. I can't guarantee that all the generals present will survive, but I can guarantee that as long as I have a breath, I will fight with Meng during this period.
Jie, Zhu Kang, and Cheng Xiao will never leave this place, and any generals who dare to escape or disturb the morale of our army will be killed without mercy!"
Meng Jie, Zhu Kang, and Cheng Xiao did not expect that they would still need to guard the tower, and their faces suddenly fell. However, no matter how unwilling they were, they still knew how to keep silent.
At this time, Xu Huai said to the two team leaders in front of the city tower: "Okay, now you go find some ropes and let the people down to the city. But every time you let down one person, you must tell the truth of what I said."
Tell them to rest behind the tower and not leave..."
At this time, the defenders in the city had summoned almost all the generals above. Xu Huai and everyone went directly to the city tower to discuss matters...
