It was another uneventful morning, and the soldiers on night watch on the city yawned and rubbed their sleepy eyes, secretly rejoicing in their hearts.
As the guards guarding the border town in the East, their tasks are not easy, especially since Hou Jing's rebellion. While guarding against sneak attacks from the west, they also have to be vigilant about the way back, and they all bear the burden in their hearts.
Extreme pressure.
Some of the guards here are elite Jinyang soldiers stationed by Jinyang, and some are local people in Heluo. But regardless of their origins, in order to prevent them from escaping and joining the enemy, military orders were issued many days ago to move their wives, children, and family members to the rear to close the city.
The transfer also allows them to concentrate on defending the city.
It was not until the sky became brighter for a while, and the smoke rising from the city had cleared, that the armored soldiers who had changed their defenses belatedly arrived on the top of the city. Only then were the soldiers who were already hungry on the top of the city disarmed.
They disarmed and walked down the city wall to go home for dinner.
However, this calmness was soon broken. Accompanied by the urgent and noisy warning sound of drums and horns at the sentry outside the city, a group of armored soldiers was running along the river valley from the east. As they ran, they kept shouting violently to kill.
Voice.
Some soldiers at sentries along the river valley were chopped down to the ground by these sudden enemy soldiers before they had time to retreat into the city. The bloody scene immediately made people's hearts beat faster and their spirits tense.
"What's going on? How come these enemy soldiers are coming from the east? Could it be that Guancheng has..."
The guards who had just climbed to the top of the city were also shocked. Although they saw only a few hundred enemy soldiers, the enemy attack happened too suddenly and the enemy traces appeared in an unexpected direction.
I couldn't help but feel a little panicked.
At this time, a city guard general quickly climbed up to the top of the city, looked down for a while, and then shouted loudly: "Quick, make a smoke warning!"
There are many peaks and ridges in the Weishan Mountains, and the effect of smoke warning is not very good, but it is one of the few ways to quickly convey urgent military information to friendly forces in the distance.
While the enemy troops continued to charge towards the city, many of the city's defenders quickly climbed to the top of the city under the guidance and urging of their commanders. However, it would still take some time to establish an effective defensive counterattack front.
Because in the past period, their main defense was against enemies coming from the upper reaches of the valley to the west, so most of the equipment and materials such as bows, swords, arrows, earthworks, etc. were stored in the west of the city to prepare for the enemy to attack directly, but they did not expect the enemy to come from the east.
Although there are not many in number, the poorly decorated east gate seems to be exposed in front of the enemy.
"We must be on guard against the enemy's suspicions. Just take enough equipment and supplies and don't transport them indiscriminately!"
A short and stocky general with a sword in his hand quickly came outside the warehouse in the west of the city and shouted loudly to the captains who led the armored soldiers here to get their weapons. This person is the governor of the city here. His name is
His name was Xu Wei, an experienced veteran of Beizhen. He did not lose his position because of this sudden enemy attack. He still kept his plan in mind and quickly thought of a possibility.
Before the man finished speaking, as if in response to him, a warning sound suddenly sounded outside the west city. Xu Wei's expression also changed after hearing the sound. While he ordered the headquarters to supervise the deployment of ordnance, he ordered people to continue to patrol the city.
The soldiers gathered together to stand by, and he quickly climbed to the top of the West City.
The west side was originally the location where the defenders focused their defenses. A garrison was even set up at the mouth of the long valley, with 300 soldiers stationed there to resist the enemy.
Therefore, even though the warning sound had been issued for some time, there was still no trace of the enemy in sight. However, from the increasingly rapid and dense sound of the warning drum, Xu Wei could tell that there were many enemies.
While the invading enemy was still blocked at the West Valley garrison, Xu Wei quickly ordered a group of soldiers to go out and repair the trenches, fences and other defensive fortifications in front of the city gate.
As a slightly sharp cracking sound sounded, the sound of police drums stopped abruptly. Zhencheng Xu Wei, who was still busy directing the soldiers to defend internally and externally, suddenly looked shocked: "So fast..."
Although the sound of police drums disappeared, the valley here did not quiet down. Instead, there were shouts of killing that echoed in the valley. The soldiers in the west of the city looked to the west with wide eyes. The first thing that caught their eyes was hundreds of soldiers.
Bow and Qingqi.
This cavalry formation was limited by the terrain of the river valley and was not dense and vast, but its momentum was very fast, and it only took a few tens of breaths to cover a distance of several miles.
When they rushed to the city, there were still some guards who had not had time to retreat into the city. Although the fences and trenches intercepted their momentum, the arrows they fired instantly penetrated this space, causing several panicked soldiers to retreat.
The guards shot and killed him under the city wall.
The front soldiers formed a formation outside the city, and the rear army led by Li Tai also moved towards it quickly. When he saw the trenches and fences outside the city gate, Li Tai frowned immediately.
The outer fortifications of this city are very well built, and the criss-crossing trenches make it almost impossible to reach the city wall with a complete road. This shows that the generals who defend the city have made up their minds to focus on defending the city, and do not consider leaving the city to attack the enemy.
It is both offensive and defensive and leaves a passage for advancement and retreat.
Moreover, on the side of the city facing the Gushui River, there are two solid wooden barriers extending from under the city wall to the raging Gushui River, isolating the east and west to avoid being surrounded by people.
Although the previous plan was to make a quick decision, in the face of such precautions, we can only move forward step by step.
Li Tai ordered the back roads to be cleared of empty vehicles and asked the soldiers to load earth and rocks with sacks, and used these earth and rock vehicles as weirs to block the flow of valley water into the trenches. At the same time, Li Tai ordered a group of armored soldiers to advance along the river, trying to
Cut and pull out the wooden piles to block the horses, and open the east-west road.
But most of these resisting horses were within the shooting range of the arrow tower. As soon as the infantry approached, a shower of arrows rained down from the horse-faced tower protruding from the city wall. Even if there were strong soldiers with shields to block them, they were shot back again and again, unable to do anything.
Seeing that he could not make an urgent attack, Li Tai ordered his troops to camp here first, while flattening the ditches and fences one by one, while building ladders, rams and other siege equipment. Fortunately, the mountains and forests here are dense, and tall timber is everywhere.
, it is difficult to cut them all down, and it is convenient to use local materials.
Defender Xu Wei felt a little heavy when he saw that although the enemy's offensive was blocked, they were still advancing steadily in an orderly manner.
Seeing that the beacon smoke rising from the top of the city was blown away by the surging mountain wind above the city, it was obvious that the message could not be conveyed far away, so Xu Wei planned to concentrate the superior forces in the city to deal with the noisy people in the east of the city.
A group of enemy troops.
He summoned more than 300 of the best soldiers in the city to mount their armor and mount their horses and assemble inside the city gate. First, he ordered the soldiers on the top of the city to shoot back a few of the enemy soldiers who were wandering under the city wall looking for loopholes with a round of strong bow shots.
, immediately ordered the city gate to be opened, and more than 300 elite cavalry rushed out of the city, charging towards the enemy soldiers.
Although He Ruodun spoke harshly, he was not a foolhardy man. After joining forces with Han Xiong to sneak into this place, he had already observed the nearby terrain before officially appearing. Han Xiong formed a formation in the valley on the north slope.
Then he led his people around the city to cause trouble. When he saw the guards firing with strong bows, he already knew the alarm and ordered his subordinates to run directly to the north. He led a few elite soldiers to the rear.
Two legs can never outrun four legs. Although He Ruoden saw the opportunity early, the enemy's light cavalry rushed out very quickly and quickly closed the distance between them.
He Ruodun, who was at the rear of the team, was not in a hurry. He pulled out an arrow from Hu Lu's waist, drew his bow and fired. The powerful arrow shot out in an instant. When the arrow feathers stopped again, the forward arrow had already stably inserted into an enemy rider at the front.
On the chest, the enemy horse still followed the inertia and rushed out more than ten feet, and then rolled down from the horse's buttocks.
Ho Ruodun was not capable of killing a soldier with one arrow. Before the first arrow hit the target, the second arrow flew out again. The two arrows were not far apart and hit the target almost at the same time. The two enemy soldiers were killed directly.
"What a shot!"
Even though Han Xiong, who was leading his soldiers in formation to the north, was a little dissatisfied with He Ruoden's overly arrogant tone, he couldn't help but give him high-fives after seeing this.
He Ruoden had no time to respond at this moment. As soon as he entered the battle formation with a powerful bow in his hand, he seemed to be a different person than usual. He fired two arrows in a row before reaching the limit of his skills. Then he fired three arrows in a row, and his body was as good as before.
The bow string was tightened, and after the last arrow was released, he didn't care about the result and jumped up directly.
He grabbed the saddle of a galloping horse that had rushed in front of him, pushed the knight who was about to fall off the horse, drew out his saber and directly slashed at another knight nearby, pulled the horse's head by force, and used the power he had shot several people before.
The vacated body was used to push the galloping horse out of its inherent momentum, killing people and seizing the horse in one go. With his own strength, the momentum of the entire cavalry team was deflected by more than ten feet, and he was unable to charge directly.
Han Xiong waited for the formation to come face to face.
By the time the rear cavalrymen realized something was wrong, the flanks were already exposed in front of the infantry formation. Han Xiong and others had watched He Ruodun's performance before, and now their blood was also surging. They each stabbed forward with their spears, accumulating full strength.
With one blow and the inertia of the galloping horses, dozens of cavalrymen were either pierced through or swept down from the side in an instant.
Han Xiong was already the leading general in western Henan. He took advantage of the gap between the enemy's cavalry and roared. He stabbed diagonally with the long spear in his hand. He penetrated three cavalrymen with one blow, causing the enemy's cavalry formation to be cut off at the waist, and the retreat was blocked.