Each impact of the huge siege cone erupted with a shocking sound. The sound waves reverberated back and forth in the river valley, making both the attacking and defending parties on the battlefield dizzy. Even the transmission of drum and trumpet orders was greatly hindered.
.
The area near the city wall was where the fighting was most intense. Countless barbarians tried hard to place the ladders against the city wall. Every time they succeeded, there was a steady stream of barbarians climbing up the ladders, fearless and fearless.
Fight for the first place.
However, it is not easy to successfully climb to the top of the city. The defenders on the top of the city will not sit still and die. Some of them spread their wide leather shields to shield themselves and their robes from the arrows thrown from outside the city, and some drew their bows downward.
Shooting, killing the conspicuous targets among the rebels. Some used hooks and forks to destroy the ladders, or directly hang the rebels who climbed up outside the city wall.
When the rebel offensive is too fierce in some regional battlefields, and the various counterattacks by the defenders have limited effect, some extraordinary means need to be used.
Fires were burning under several large stoves on the city tower. Of course, it was not to feed the defenders who were fighting at the top of the city, but to process a steady stream of boiling water. When the juice boiled, it would be eaten by the defenders.
Use clay pots, wooden barrels and other utensils to pour water directly on the rebels climbing up the ladder. Before you turn, you will hear heart-rending screams from below the city.
The first offensive and defensive battle lasted for more than half an hour. The intensity of the rebel army's offensive outside the city gradually decreased. Various siege equipment and wounded soldiers were sent back one after another, leaving only some traces of damage and hundreds of bodies outside the city wall.
The bloody corpses failed to cause any substantial damage to the city.
As the rebels withdrew, the defenders on the city wall also began to busy cleaning the battlefield, repairing the damaged city walls, replenishing consumed supplies, and fresh troops climbed to the top of the city to replace those who had consumed a lot of energy.
This battle can only be regarded as a small test for both sides and testing each other. Although the rebel army failed to achieve any substantial breakthrough, the method and discipline displayed during the siege also made Li Mu more confident.
These enemies gain more attention.
The Lishi Hu people are not a nomadic Hu people. The terrain in the Luliang Mountains where they live is even more steep and changeable than that of the Qingshui River Valley. Every step is a ditch, and every step is a danger. They are accustomed to a life of building villages and docks.
, is no stranger to offensive and defensive operations.
In the siege battle just now, Li Mu was astonished by the number of various siege equipment used by these thieves. He soon realized that the next battle would inevitably become more and more intense and the situation would become more and more severe.
"Fortunately, fortunately, at least there are reinforcements from Li Boshan nearby to provide support."
Although his mood became a little heavy, Li Mucai secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he thought that he was not fighting alone.
Although he did not know exactly what Li Tai did to contain the rebel army after arriving, seeing that the rebel army reversed the previous confrontation and directly attacked the city was partly related to Li Tai's reinforcements.
The rebels did not leave much breathing time for the defenders, and soon launched a second round of attacks.
In addition to the previous siege methods, the bandit army also deployed elite troops to transport two tall nest cars to a location not far from the city wall and set them up in order to observe the real situation in the city and the dispatch of troops.
Condition.
With the insight and guidance of the sentries on the nest car, the bandit army's attack on the city became more fierce and targeted. It was no longer an aimless attack on the entire city wall, but a conscious attack on key points.
With the change in the fighting style of the rebels, the defenders on the city suddenly felt the pressure, especially in some loopholes in the city defense, such as the northeast corner tower of the city. Due to structural problems, cracks occurred between the corner tower and the city wall.
Therefore, there are not many men, horses and equipment deployed here for defense.
After the enemy sentries on the chariot outside the city noticed this loophole in the city's defense, they immediately used flags to pass it down below. Liu Aqi, the bandit commander in charge of commanding the battle, immediately adjusted the direction of the attack and sent more troops there.
Thousands of equipment, such as aerial ladders and rams, were also used in battles.
Li Mu knew the hidden dangers in this section of the city wall. Seeing that the bandit army was attacking, he did not dare to directly increase his troops to resist the enemy. He could only deploy strong bows and heavy armor near the perimeter for defense.
Because they did not encounter any decent resistance, the enemy troops quickly climbed up the city wall from the turret here. The enemy soldiers who were the first to board the city let out cheerful cheers, but what greeted them was a barrage of powerful arrows and sharp blades.
.
Under the encirclement and slaughter of the soldiers who defended the city, the first group of rebels who boarded the city were quickly killed and wounded. But this did not stop the rebels from behind who swarmed up. They used the corpses of their comrades in front to
They came to cover the city and began to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the defenders on top of the city.
While the battle was going on on the top of the city, suddenly the city wall made a loud cracking sound. Immediately, the turrets that had been completely occupied and submerged by the enemy soldiers were separated from the city wall as a whole and quickly collapsed.
The sudden change occurred. Whether they were the enemy soldiers who had already climbed up the turret or those who were still trying to climb up, they were frightened and overwhelmed for a moment. In an instant, hundreds of thieves and soldiers were trapped by the collapsed sand and stone earthworks.
Hit and buried.
"Come on! Rush out and kill all the thieves nearby!"
Li Mu, who had already led his soldiers waiting here, saw the turret collapse. When he waved his sword and gave the order, he himself, wearing heavy armor, took the lead and rushed out of the city along the gap exposed in the city wall, rushing straight towards those who were panicked and confused by the collapse of the turret.
The thieves and soldiers.
Hundreds of heavily armed, elite warriors like wolves and tigers followed behind Li Mu, rushing out from the gap in the city wall, as if a sharp knife was stabbing the siege soldiers outside the city, brandishing swords and spears with long spears.
It is constantly harvesting human lives, and wherever it passes, rivers of blood flow.
The generals and soldiers in the enemy camp were originally rejoicing because of the successful attack on the city wall, but they did not expect that this would be the situation in front of them. They saw the defenders rushing out and slaughtering the soldiers under the city wall. The Hu chief generals who were supervising the battle at the rear
He was also in a hurry to mobilize elite people to come to rescue him immediately.
After Li Mu led the crowd to kill several thief troops under the city wall, he planned to continue moving forward and destroy the nest chariots and other large siege equipment on the battlefield in one fell swoop, but soon the sound of rapid horse hooves could be heard in the enemy formation.
At the same time, warning trumpets sounded on the city wall. I could only secretly say it was a pity and led my troops to retreat into the city through the gap before the elite rebels arrived.
After Li Mu and others withdrew, the city's defenders began to quickly set up a fence here, and then filled and repaired the gap here with wood, stone and other miscellaneous materials.
Because this unexpected situation caused heavy casualties to the rebels, the attack came to an end for the time being. For both warring parties, each had gains and losses.
The bandit army successfully broke through a turret, so that the city defense in front of them was no longer integrated. Next, they could either expand the damage to this gap, or they could feign an attack here and choose to break through elsewhere. There were more tactical choices, which was undoubtedly a challenge.
Great encouragement.
The defenders took advantage of the unexpected change of the turret collapse and unexpectedly went out to fight. Not only did they repulse the second round of enemy attacks, but they also caused heavy losses to the rebels. At least one or two thousand soldiers were killed.
"Wu An Gong's counterattack was also exciting, but it's a pity that he was still a little conservative. If he can cooperate with his infantry and cavalry to attack the bandits' front, even if he can't overwhelm the bandits in one fell swoop, he can still destroy most of the equipment on the field.
City defense can also be greatly alleviated."
Li Tai saw that the task was not difficult, and he stood on the top of the mountain far away from the battlefield while watching the battle and commenting on Li Mu's performance in responding to the enemy. He felt that it was a pity that Li Mu failed to make the most of the opportunity.
"Alang, it's getting late, should we continue to watch the battle, or do we have another plan?"
Li Yan raised his head and looked at the sun that was gradually setting in the sky, and asked Li Tai for instructions. The days are short in winter, and dark will not be far after afternoon. It will take thousands of them to advance and retreat.
Be prepared early.
"It's freezing cold, and it's hard for the soldiers to lie down in the snow and drink ice. If we deal with the bandits earlier, we can return to the army to recuperate one day earlier."
Li Tai thought for a while and then said: "The main force is waiting in the camp for the time being. We will detach a thousand light cavalry and a team of a hundred people to sneak into the valley ahead and clear the road first to ensure that the army can enter the valley at any time to attack the enemy."
He stood on the top of the plateau and blew the cold wind for a long time. Of course, it was not just to watch the excitement. Based on the troops invested in the two attacks by the rebels and the size of the opponent's formation on the battlefield, he could roughly estimate the amount of troops the rebels could invest.
The total number of troops in combat should be around 30,000, and no more than 40,000 at most.
Although the scale of such a force is several times that of our own, it is not invincible. Moreover, the advance and retreat coordination between the formations of the rebel army is obviously a bit out of touch. It is obvious that these troops belong to multiple groups, and the quality of the soldiers is uneven.
So what Li Tai needs to consider now is to use the special terrain of Qingshui River Valley, which has great limitations for marching and retreat, to leave as many rebel troops as possible, but not to let the rebel army disperse at the first touch and then spread poison in all directions.
The geographical situation in northern Shaanxi is really tricky. In the past, he was able to evade tens of thousands of Blackwater Hooligans with hundreds of moves. Like dogs, if the elite force of the thieves' army was organized into an elite force and escaped, the harm would be the same.
It can be big or small, immeasurable.
Although the bandits were attacking Guangwu City with all their strength on the battlefield, they did not relax their vigilance towards the surrounding areas.
Hu Chief Liu Aqi placed thousands of troops near the unconquered Fenglin City to provide simultaneous surveillance and frighten the defenders of Fenglin City. At the same time, he dispersed his scouts to patrol the nearby mountain pass to avoid being captured by the nearby mountain pass.
An enemy force that has not yet seen what is real is approaching.
So when Li Tai ordered the Qingqi scouts to approach the section of the river valley where Guangwu City is located, the relevant information was quickly fed back to Liu Aqi.
Liu Aqi immediately cheered up after learning about this. Luring out this erratic enemy force was part of his tactical plan. He carefully asked the scouts about the direction of the enemy's appearance, and quickly sketched it out in his mind.
, Immediately after determining the route that the enemy might be able to attack, he immediately ordered several powerful chiefs to lead their troops to the relevant locations to set up defenses.
At the same time, he also ordered to stop the direct attack on Guangwu City, and instead put many carts carrying soldiers onto the battlefield. He stopped not far from the wall of Guangwu City and opened the carts.
The curtains and shields were used to resist the enemy's arrow attacks on the top of the city, while the soldiers dug trenches under the chariots.
Moreover, the thousands of elite troops who had never participated in the battle before were also mobilized by Liu Aqi from the east side of the battlefield to the frontal battlefield. The Hu soldiers who dug trenches on the battlefield lined up on the sides to prevent the city defenders from jumping over the wall and destroying them.
Employment.
As the sound of fighting on the frontal battlefield stopped, the young man in the bandit camp with white wolf fur couldn't help but become curious and irritated. He immediately went into battle and called Liu Ah Qi back to the camp.
Before he could ask Liu Aqi any questions after seeing him, the young man had already whipped him across the head and face with his riding crop. While beating him, he cursed angrily: "Didn't I tell you that you are not allowed to return to camp before the city is broken?
"
Liu Aqi just gritted his teeth and endured the whipping, and did not explain that he was recalled. Otherwise, according to the young master's logic, he would have scolded him for not conquering the city for so long, and tired him of self-reflection. Preface. Although he is Liu Xianwang of Zuo
Tuo's confidant, but he has not changed his status as a domestic slave. The young man is actually the beloved son of King Zuo Xian, named Liu Kuzhen. Liu Aqi naturally does not dare to disobey him.
Fortunately, the young man Liu Kuzhen was drunk and did not have the physical strength to punish Liu Ah Qi for a long time. After venting his anger, he asked angrily: "Why did you stop attacking the city?"
Liu Aqi then told the story of how the enemy's reinforcements were approaching with a grimace, and said that fighting on two fronts was a bad idea. Only by encircling the point to gather reinforcements and killing the enemy's reinforcements could they continue to attack the city with all their strength.
After Liu Kuzhen heard these words, he did not comment on whether Liu Aqi's decision was right. He just said in a trembling voice with a hurried expression: "The situation here is so dangerous. The evil slave did not report it, but welcomed me in."
Camp! If I suffer persecution here, how many lives of yours can I use as compensation? Please arrange for someone to escort me back to the king’s tent..."
"Young Master, please rest assured that our army of tens of thousands is far beyond what the enemy troops can match. The number of enemy troops hiding in the dark along the way must not be large. Once their whereabouts are revealed, I can dispatch troops to surround and kill them."
.The young master only needs to stay in the camp. If you abandon the army at this moment, the danger will be increased!"
When Liu Aqi heard that the young master had just heard the news, his face changed with fright, and he even wanted to leave immediately. He hurriedly comforted him and said that he did not want to cause any further trouble on the eve of the war.
"Then hurry up and kill all the enemies! As long as you can keep me safe, I will reward you heavily when I return! As long as you can return safely, I, I will accept the daughter of your family and let you be my confidant!"
After hearing this, Liu Kuzhen said again and again that he valued his own safety extremely and could not allow any mistakes, and made a promise that he felt was sincere.
Although the young master's reaction was a little unbearable, Liu Aqi knew that he was deeply loved by his master, King Zuoxian, and some fortune-tellers had said that this son could strengthen King Zuoxian's tribe, so Liu Kuzhen was very talented.
Regardless, he enjoys a very transcendent status and treatment in the tribe.
Therefore, after hearing Liu Ku's true promise, Liu Ah Qi nodded repeatedly, patted her chest and promised: "Young Master, please rest assured, even if I give up my life..."
"You can't die. Who will protect me if you die? Come on, please put my golden armor on General Liu!"
After knowing that his own safety was in the hands of the general who commanded the army, Liu Kuzhen turned away from his previous arrogance and domineering attitude, and instead showed great concern for Liu Aqi, even putting his own armor on his body for him. He was also a living treasure.
Liu Aqi raised his hand and rubbed the gorgeous armor on his body. For a moment, he was moved by the great scholar who died for his confidant. He repeatedly stated that he would do his best to protect the safety of the young master. Only then did Liu Kuzhen urge him again and again.
Return to the battlefield to supervise the battle.
After Liu Aqi returned to the battlefield, he was even more energetic and carefully inspected all parties on the battlefield to ensure that his plans and orders were fully implemented.
In particular, he carefully arranged several locations where enemy reinforcements might launch an offensive. In addition to giving detailed instructions to the soldiers stationed there, he also left enough maneuvering power to coordinate with all parties to ensure that no matter where,
Whenever there is an enemy sighting, superior troops can be deployed immediately to give the opponent a head-on attack!
Just when Liu Aqi thought that he had made perfect arrangements and was waiting for the enemy to attack, the expected enemy army was nowhere to be seen. Not to mention a large-scale attack, there were even a few places where the previous scouts had friction.
There were no traces of the enemy troops in the area, as if they had only briefly tested them and then retreated.
It's really not a good feeling to have someone's appetite. Liu Ah Qi also knows that the pressure he put on the opponent is not enough, and he still hasn't grasped the enemy's lifeline, so he still has the initiative whether to fight or not.
It's in the hands of the other party.
The first day when the army left the camp to besiege Guangwu City ended in this atmosphere of anxious waiting. Although the rebel army was the one who took the initiative to launch the attack, as the second day came, the spirit of the rebel army officers and soldiers was even worse than before.
It can be seen that they are even more depressed than the defenders of Guangwu City.
After all, the bandits left their fixed camps and slept in the wild. The resting environment itself was already very bad. They also had to be on guard all night long for enemy reinforcements that were lurking somewhere or when they would come out. The mental and physical stress was on them.
The consumption is doubled, and the natural state is not good.
The thief army chiefs who were stationed in various places were on guard for a night, but nothing happened. They couldn't help but question Liu Aqi's decisions and arrangements. The chieftains couldn't help but send people to complain to Liu Aqi.
If the enemy troops no longer appear in the field, they will be led back to the camp to rest, and no longer stay here to be blown by the cold wind that passes through the valley.
Fortunately, because the young master Liu Kuzhen was worried about his own safety, he no longer exerted any pressure on Liu Ah Qi. Instead, he supported him and reprimanded and suppressed those Hu chiefs who questioned Liu Ah Qi.
But Liu Aqi also knew that such a state would be difficult to maintain for a long time. The troops he commanded were not elite troops with firm beliefs and full of loyalty. The only factor that could unify and motivate them was to attack Guangwu City after conquering it.
A large number of plunders were carried out in the city to collect supplies.
Now he has brought the army out of the camp and put on a fierce attitude to conquer Guangwu City in one fell swoop. However, if he stops the fire halfway and leads the troops without attacking for a long time, leaving the division hanging outside without knowing where to go, morale will definitely drop.
, exhausted and falling apart may only happen in an instant.
So after weighing it for a moment, and seeing the sun gradually climbing into the sky, he ordered another fierce attack on Guangwu City.
This time, without any further encouragement and supervision from him, the soldiers performed even more bravely than yesterday, because after experiencing the suffering of sleeping in the open all night, they understood more and more that to end this pain, they could only conquer the Guangwu City in front of them.
Let the situation change for the better.
As a result, the pressure on the soldiers who defended the city increased sharply. The gap in the turret that yesterday could be used to secretly recruit surprise troops to counterattack the rebels has become a huge hole in the city defense today, and has been the focus of the enemy's attack.
Thousands of troops from both sides fought repeatedly in the narrow area in the northeast corner of the city. The fighting was fierce. When the situation was at its worst, Li Mu even had to lead his troops to fight in battle, trying hard to repel the thieves who were not afraid of death.
In addition to the gap in the turret, other parts of the city were also attacked by the enemy to varying degrees. The soldiers who defended the city were busy running on the city top like firefighters. Even the reserve troops and some of the strong men in the city were sent to the city.
Although they have always been able to defend the city wall, the frequency of enemy troops entering the city is getting higher and higher.
"Li Boshan, why don't you send troops?"
On the city wall, Li Mu slashed with his sword to kill the thief soldiers who had crossed the wall. Immediately, he leaned on the blade of the sword and gasped, turning his head to look at the river valley and mountains to the west, muttering to himself.
Outside the city wall, seeing the rapid progress of the siege, the soldiers of the Hu tribe were also greatly encouraged. And on the periphery of the frontal battlefield, suddenly an idea flashed in the mind of a Hu chieftain, and he said to himself in shock: "Liu Duhou set
Is my position here to guard against enemy reinforcements, or is it to distract our troops so that their headquarters can enter the city and raid the city?"
Not only one person had this question, but also some soldiers of the Hu army who were defending the entrance of the valley abandoned the defense at the entrance of the valley without waiting for military orders, and came to the battlefield to join the attack on the city.
"Send orders to all parties to march at full speed. After entering, rush straight into the bandit formation. Only kill but not capture. We must defeat the bandit army in the shortest possible time and do not allow them to gather together!"
At this time, Li Tai also walked down to the top of the plateau, and first ordered the attack to the troops who had already separated from each other. With the help of his own soldiers, he quickly put on his armor, got on his horse, and then led the army towards the front with a spear in hand.
Two chapters in one, I've been waiting for a long time... will continue tomorrow...