The sound of killing in the valley below Duanliang City was loud. Under the leadership of Guo Yan, the Wei army officers and soldiers formed a circular formation with their backs to the Piyuan. What was protected inside the circular formation was the water tanker. To the east of this formation was
In front of them, Qi troops were constantly charging towards them. Almost every attack took away several lives in the formation.
The terrain of Duanliang City was too steep, which indeed caused great trouble to the attacking party. It also made it more difficult to deliver reinforcements and supplies. Guo Yan led his troops several times before to try to approach Duanliang City from the front, but they were all defeated by the enemy.
They were repelled and several waterwheels were damaged.
After some trial and error, Guo Yan chose to lead his troops to avoid the earthen beams on the hillside in front of Duanliang City. He chose to form a formation in the valley below the back of the city, and asked the city defenders to use long ropes and wooden barrels to draw water into the city.
On the east side of the main offensive position of the Qi army, hundreds of Wei soldiers who died in the battle were lying on the ground. Guo Yan still commanded the soldiers with a stern expression to move forward to block the gap that had been rushed out by the enemy troops, thereby giving the enemy
The defenders in Duanliang City on the plateau drew water to buy time.
Qi general Xue Guyan knew the importance of the water supply to the Wei army in the city, so in addition to cutting into the enemy lines, he also ordered the destruction of the water tankers and barrels carrying water.
The remaining rockets from the previous siege were all thrown over without reservation. Some of the outer walls of the buckets were punctured or set on fire. Some Wei soldiers jumped forward with their bodies to block the gap and put out the flames. And the bodies of some soldiers who died in the battle were also
Guo Yan ordered him to be dragged back and covered in a water tanker to form a layer of protection so that blood would inevitably flow into the water.
When the city defenders carried the precious water into the city with tools, they saw that the water was red with blood. Tears welled up in their dry eyes. They couldn't help but leaned down and shouted: "General Guo, please retreat for now.
We have enough water, but the thieves are too fierce, don’t let Pao Ze suffer any more trouble here! Someone and others will definitely swear to defend this city until the army arrives!"
Guo Yan, who was under the city, saw that under the harassment of the enemy troops, more than half of the water in the water tanker had not been pumped into the city, so he glared and roared: "I led my brigade here, don't you know the danger? The most important thing is to defend the city.
Don’t pity the rest! Hurry up to collect water and store it for use, don’t show any signs of tears! Now that the master is here, there is no water and blood, and the country will always die. Where else to choose? Kill the thieves!”
Under Guo Yan's roar, the city defenders wiped away their tears again and accelerated the speed of collecting water. Although many thieves tried to destroy the buckets and long ropes with arrows, there were always three or five buckets of water out of ten buckets.
Take it to the city and store it.
Xue Guyan originally thought of letting the thieves come in and annihilate them all, but he didn't expect that the enemy's morale was so tenacious that they actually tried their best to deliver water to the defenders in the city.
He was furious in his heart, waving the horse spear in his hand and attacking the enemy formation again and again. His armor was splashed with blood and blood. Seeing that the enemy formation was still tenaciously maintaining its retreat, he even pointed at the people in the formation who were struggling to resist.
Guo Yan roared angrily: "You thief, what kind of reward can Li Boshan give you, and make you fight to the death to serve him!"
When Guo Yan heard this, he laughed loudly and said, "What do you think of a thief! My lord governs the world with benevolence and righteousness, which can revive the Han family and recreate the hot summer! When I am prosperous, everyone will use their lives, why should they be afraid of death! Kill the thief,
Kill the thief!"
"Kill the thief, kill the thief!"
Along with Guo Yan's roar, other sergeants also roared loudly. For a time, the loud roar overwhelmed the Qi army's shouts of killing, which was several times their number.
After the battle continued for a while, the sergeant in the rear finally shouted loudly: "General Guo, all the water has been sent to the city!"
After Guo Yan heard this, his face was also happy. He did not retreat but advanced. When he reached the front line of the battle, he shouted loudly: "I will block the enemy's rear from here, and you will evacuate to the west as soon as possible!"
As he spoke, he rushed to the front line, and while blocking and killing the enemy with the soldiers around him, he slowly retreated the general formation. At this time, after the defenders on the city had obtained water, they also condescendingly joined the attack on the enemy below.
The army is attacking.
"Don't get away from that thief general, kill all these Qiang thieves!"
Xue Guyan was also capable of killing at this time. Naturally, he was not willing to let the enemy deliver water to the city under his nose and then evacuate safely. He even led his own elite soldiers to charge towards the retreating enemy formation.
Come.
The passage at the bottom of the valley was narrow, and when the Wei army's battle formation stood firm, it was still difficult for the Qi army to easily penetrate the battle formation. However, as the battle formation began to shift backwards, it was no longer as strong as before. Although Guo Yan still led his troops
They fought hard, but it was still difficult to stop more and more enemy soldiers from invading the front line, making the entire formation about to collapse.
"The troops on the east side are seizing their chariots to fight, while the troops on the west side must evacuate quickly! The word is spreading to the people who are leaving, Duanliang City has been replenished with supplies, and can still hold on for many more days. Don't worry about this, quickly clear out the remaining thieves who have crossed the border!
"
Seeing that the enemy's formation had been penetrated and scattered, and it was difficult to evacuate them all, Guo Yan immediately led the more than 300 soldiers who were engaged by the enemy to stay behind, thus giving the nearly 1,000 soldiers in the rear a chance to escape from the battle.
Because the enemy troops were entangled too fiercely and there were swarms of successor troops coming from behind, it was difficult for Guo Yan and others to escape from the battle. The soldiers in the west knew that the situation was urgent and did not dare to stay here and waste this precious force.
Time and opportunity are enough to pull away and evacuate backwards.
The fighting Qi army was blocked by Guo Yan and other soldiers and the carriages, and could not continue to advance. Even if dozens of people rushed over, they did not dare to continue to pursue. They could only turn back and kill Guo.
Yan and his party were firmly trapped in place.
As those messy carriages were gradually destroyed, Guo Yan and others were gradually exposed directly to the enemy's front. There was no longer any barrier between them. Every collision would result in a red blade.
"General, farewell!"
A sergeant's ribs were pierced by an enemy's spear. He lowered his head to look at the barrel of the gun that had passed through his abdomen. Then he retreated instead of advancing. With a roar, he swung his sword straight into the face of the enemy soldier on the opposite side.
Guo Yan had fewer guards around him now. Even his arm armor had been smashed by the enemy's spear. One arm hung down by his side and he was killing the enemy with only one hand. When he saw his soldiers dying tragically in front of him, there was no compassion on his face.
He just laughed in his mouth and said: "The boy actually went first, and Huang Quan came in behind..."
Xue Guyan roared loudly, and swung his spear in his hand, picking and killing the two pawns beside Guo Yan. Immediately, the spear pressed down and hit Guo Yan on the shoulder, forcing him to kneel on the ground, and then shouted:
"Will the thief surrender?"
Guo Yan glanced sideways at the protruding clavicle on his shoulder, which was covered in blood, and immediately stood upright with his teeth clenched, glaring at the enemy general with wide-open bloody eyes, and roared again: "Kill the thief..."
Soldiers from the left and right rushed forward and slashed at Guo Yan's chest with their swords. The brave general, whose body was covered with scars, fell straight on the battlefield.
"The thief is doing great harm to me!"
Seeing Guo Yan die in battle, Xue Guyan was still furious. He drew his sword and beheaded Guo Yan. Immediately, he ordered his soldiers to behead all the Wei soldiers who died in the battle, and built a Jingguan outside Duanliang City.
Intimidate the defenders in the city.
The news that Guo Yan died in the battle at Duanliang City soon spread to the rear. When the soldiers who retreated from Duanliang City recounted the incident, Li Tai couldn't help but recall the time when Zhou Changming introduced this high-spirited general to his sect.
The scene at that time made me feel quite sad for a while.
"Although it is a farewell, this is just for this life. The deceased is gone, but the living still have courage. They should endure the tears of sorrow, bravely kill the enemy, avenge General Guo and others, and comfort the heroes who died on the battlefield!"
Casualties are unavoidable in war, and there are too many emotions. It is useless to wallow in grief. Li Tai quickly calmed down and looked at Guo Yan's robes who were still full of sorrow and said.
He had no time to be disturbed by such sad and happy emotions, because there were still many military matters waiting for him to handle and make decisions, especially the Northern Qi army active in the mountains north of Wusu City that needed to be searched, encircled, and suppressed. As for what Guo Yan had said before
The task of defending Jia's Ridge Mountain Road was assigned to Li Yantou.
The battlefield situation around Wusu City is too complex, and it is not suitable for large groups of infantry battles. However, both sides of the war have chosen this place as the battlefield for the battle. Naturally, they must work hard to control the surrounding places.
, so that the army can advance and retreat to gather and disperse, and avoid being surrounded and intercepted by the enemy.
Before completing this task, the large group of troops naturally did not dare to enter the battlefield easily.
Because once you are in a weak position in controlling the terrain, no matter how many people and horses you have, it will be difficult to take advantage of it. A dangerous stronghold such as Duanliang City only needs a few hundred people to garrison it to contain thousands of troops. Once it is surrounded by enemy troops,
If it is blocked, you are already at an absolute disadvantage.
From the perspective of the Western Wei Dynasty, Li Tai needed to firmly control the passage from Qinyuan to Wusu City, as well as the mountainous area north of Wusu City, to avoid being attacked by enemy troops from these directions, so as to consolidate Wusu.
This advanced base camp in the city allowed the main army of the Western Wei Dynasty to attack the Shangdang area from north to south from a commanding height.
Guo Yan and others fought hard and provided important supplies to the defenders of Duanliang City. Since the Jiashi Ridge Passage had not been opened by the Qi army, it was difficult for the troops from behind to follow this route, and those who had crossed the border before
The strongholds built by the Qi soldiers who came to search for water and explore the road were unable to receive support and were unable to function. Instead, they were encircled and eradicated one by one by the Wei army.
At the same time, the areas where the Qi army's troops appeared and where they stayed further pointed out the geographical key points in the area to the Wei army, thereby strengthening the prevention and control of the area and further making up for the disadvantage of away operations.
In the next few days, the Wei army attacked separately and carried out a meticulous clearing of the small Qi army in this area, ensuring the safety of the north of Wusu City.
At the same time, the grain and grass material reserves transferred to Wusu City also reached a certain scale. After all the conditions were met, Li Tai finally led the main division and brigade to Wusu City, preparing to start a battle with the Northern Qi army here.