Chapter 426 A fierce battle at the city gate, Jiang Wei's surprise attack
Chapter 426 Fierce battle at the city gate, Jiang Wei’s surprise attack
Author: Playing with Basilisk
Chapter 426 Fierce battle at the city gate, Jiang Wei’s surprise attack
At the beginning of the day, outside the Pingcheng Gate and Ancheng Gate of the southern city of Chang'an, Cao's army and the Han army were fighting fiercely.
Under the long-range bombardment relying on catapults, the Han army was able to build a trench bridge on the moat, and then approached the city edge through the cloud tower. The crossbowmen on the cloud tower would shoot arrows to cover the infantry below as they climbed the city wall.
But in that case, in order to prevent the catapults from accidentally injuring their teammates and knocking down their own siege troops, they would choose to cease fire and let the infantry use ladders to sprint up.
So while the catapults ceased firing, the Wei army would immediately organize a defense. This four-kilometer-long section of the city wall was densely covered with thousands of ladders. The crossbowmen on the cloud tower behind shot arrows into the city.
The crossbowmen fired back.
Then the infantry on the city wall would use rolling stones, wood, lime and even hot oil to throw them down. The Han soldiers who were hit fell down from a height of seven or eight meters. There was even a four-meter-high moat below, such as
The tree covered with snow was kicked, and a large number of Han troops fell down, causing extremely heavy casualties.
The Han troops behind were still flowing in a steady stream, like ants carrying the enemy's crossbows, rolling stones, wood, lime and other defensive equipment, across the moat, and then bravely climbed up, hoping to kill the city wall and kill them.
Capture the city.
It is a pity that the Wei army was tightly defended and occupied the convenience of defending the city. What was even more uncomfortable was that the eight-meter-high city wall of Chang'an City made the soldiers climb the city miserable, resulting in serious casualties.
Shen Chen in the distance looked at all this with a serious face.
This method of siege caused very heavy casualties to the soldiers, but he had no choice. His troops were not much different from the number of people in the city. Even if Chang'an City was leaking from all sides, it would be difficult for him to attack with superior force.
Chang'an can only choose to attack by force to create opportunities for the troops to sneak attack.
So sometimes casualties are inevitable.
However, the storming of the city soon had an effect. As the Wei army raised the black flag in the distance, Cao's army in the area of Nan'an City Gate in the southeast was immediately transferred to the east city. As a result, there were some flaws in the defense there, and the Han army was almost attacked.
city wall.
Now that the main force of the Wei army was completely entangled by the Han army, they could not gather too many manpower to defend other places. They could only rely on cavalry or nearby infantry to put out the fire on the spot.
Ma Dai and the others launched a surprise attack in Dongcheng, which would cause the Wei army close to Dongcheng to be mobilized and create a defensive gap, which naturally helped create opportunities for the Han army in front.
However, the Wei army on the city wall also responded quickly and quickly transferred men from the west to fill the gap and drive the Han army off the city wall.
Seeing time passing by, if it continues like this, today will be another useless effort, and they will go back with heavy casualties. But at this time, horses galloped from a distance and reported to Shen Chen: "Report
, General Wu, General Shan and others have entered the city, please ask the Governor to send people to rush to the rescue from Zhangcheng Gate."
Shen Chen cheered up and immediately ordered: "Quick, the cavalry will come over immediately!"
"only!"
The messenger hurriedly went to convey the military order.
At the same time, above the city in the distance, Zhong Yao's position was on Taichang Street behind Ancheng Gate.
Because the city wall in front was the main target of the catapult, it was almost impossible for him to defend on the city wall, so he built a high platform of nearly 20 meters in the city, about 30 steps away from the city wall, and stood on the platform to watch.
This height and distance are absolutely safe and can overlook every corner of the city wall. The only problem is that Zhong Yao is old. He is seventy-six years old and his eyesight is no longer good.
Therefore, he needed a few generals Fei Yao, Yang Ke and others to help keep an eye on what was happening in the city to avoid any mistakes.
It coincided with Shen Chen's fierce attack on the city, and the Wei army's main attention was on the south of the city. Then Ma Dai launched an attack on the east of the city. They were quickly attracted by the movements on the east side of the city, and some ignored the situation in the east of the city.
By the time Zhangcheng Gate discovered Wu Tao and the others, they were already climbing the city, and then passed the news to Zhong Yao. Wu Tao and the others had already captured the city gate, opened it, and were now waiting for the troops sent by Shen Chen. The cavalry quickly came to the rescue and cooperated with the inside and outside. They raided the south city from inside the city and won in one fell swoop.
At this time, Yang Ke noticed that there were cavalry flying towards the northeast with red flags, and he immediately said in horror: "Lieutenant, the east city has also been raided."
Zhong Yao said with a calm face: "You can personally lead the team."
"yes."
Yang Ke hurriedly climbed down from the high platform and hurried towards the east of the city with his rear supervision team.
The supervising team is Zhong Yao's last remaining manpower.
Although he is the one who defends the city, the catapults outside the city bombard him every day, and the casualties are also high.
So when the enemy attacks, he has to go all out every time.
Soon at the end of the day and the beginning of the afternoon, Zhong Yao gave an order, and two thousand supervising troops who were supervising the battle behind Ancheng Gate immediately got ready and set off to reinforce Zhangcheng Gate.
The two city gates were three or four kilometers apart. Yang Ke roared, and the Wei army officers lined up and ran at full speed from Taichang Street to the northwest direction of Baihu Street. After two quarters of an hour, they arrived. Late.
At this time, Wu Tao had completely seized the Zhangcheng Gate. It was much better to enter the city. Although there were many gates in the inner city, the difficulty was far less than that of the outer city.
More importantly, the White Tiger Gate leading to the palace in the inner city was also occupied by Wu Tao. He sent people to arrange five hundred people in formation on the left and right sides of the city wall to prevent the enemy from raiding their rear from the city wall, and then on Baihu Street and Baihu Gate. Personnel were placed at every position to take care of the enemies behind them.
In this way, the entire city wall above Zhangcheng Gate, to Baihu Street at the back, and then to Baihu Gate leading to the inner city, are now firmly controlled by the Han army. Once Shen Chen's cavalry arrives, they can directly pass through the two palaces. Gate and fight to the enemy's base camp, Weiyang Palace.
It's just that although Shen Chen sent a large group of cavalry to help, they still had to cross the river and the moat, so their speed was not as fast as the supervising team in the city who was waiting seriously. At this moment, the supervising team had already rushed to the street in front of Baihumen.
"Crossbowmen prepare!"
Wu Tao shouted.
All the soldiers took out their serial crossbows.
At this time, Yang Ke saw that even the White Tiger Gate had been robbed. He was shocked and immediately ordered an attack.
In the afternoon, the sun hangs in the sky near the west, and the scorching sunlight shines on the earth, giving people an uneasy feeling of heat and dullness.
White Tiger Gate is not an easy-to-defend position but difficult to attack, but Wu Tao and the others must seize the White Tiger Gate before reinforcements arrive from the rear. Otherwise, if the White Tiger Gate is closed, they will have to go north and make a large circle around Zhicheng Gate.
The first to launch the attack was the central army of the Wei army. They formed a neat team, holding shields in front and sharp spears from behind, and then rushed directly towards the Han army's formation.
"Projection!"
Wu Tao shouted without hesitation.
The soldiers in the front row immediately raised their crossbows and pulled the trigger. Countless crossbow arrows immediately arced through the air and then shot toward the Wei army below.
Immediately afterwards, Wu Tao hardly needed to give an order. The soldiers all put their crossbows away from their waists and took out their ring-headed knives.
The Han army and the Wei army were more than fifty or sixty meters apart, which was the ultimate attack distance of hand crossbows. Most of the hand crossbows hit the shields with a clanging sound, but some unlucky ones were still killed by the thrown crossbow arrows.
Under normal circumstances, if they wait for the enemy to be within 50 meters, they will definitely kill more people. Except for the soldiers in the front row who have shields, most of the Wei army only have leather armor at most. It is impossible to defend against powerful crossbows at close range.
Very possible.
However, the enemy is already running wildly. If we let the opponent get closer and then attack, our formation will be unstable, and the gain will not be worth the loss.
"kill!"
Following the roar of spring thunder, the Wei army soon collided with the Han army like a tidal wave.
Wu Tao and Shan Yi rushed to the front, and Wei Jun heard a series of intensive trembling sounds of bow strings and crossbow arms from far and near, and dozens of arrows and crossbows were thrown at them. As soon as they met, they suffered a wave of blows.
loss.
Yang Ke raised his head and took a look, and found that the Han army had actually built a row of ladders on the palace wall to the left and right of Baihu Gate, and dozens of crossbowmen were shooting arrows upwind.
At the entrance of Baihu Gate below, the Han army set up a circular defensive formation and firmly occupied the city gate, preventing the Wei army from attacking at all.
Immediately after the two sides met, they came over with shouts and shouts, shooting arrows, slashing and stabbing with spears. In the blink of an eye, both the enemy and us fell to the ground, but the Wei army was obviously more likely to fall to the ground, because not only did they have to fight head-on, but the back row also fell to the ground.
There is a risk of being shot by an arrow.
Seeing this scene, Yang Ke knew that if he wanted to capture the White Tiger Gate, he had to get rid of the crossbowmen on the palace wall. He immediately shouted, and the Wei troops on the left and right wings immediately circled towards the palace wall.
The outer city wall is eight meters high, but the palace wall inside the city is much shorter, only about three meters high. The soldiers, who are about 1.7 meters tall, hold spears or halberds over 1.8 meters tall, which is enough to lift the bows on them.
The crossbowman was shot down.
At this time, the layout of Baihu Gate and Zhangcheng Gate was not very favorable for the Han army, because the wall above Zhangcheng Gate had to be guarded, and the Wei army had already organized hundreds of people to come over and try to take back the city gate.
The lower Zhangcheng Gate and the palace roads on the left and right sides of Baihu Gate must also be guarded. Less than two kilometers to the south is Taichang Street, which is where the Wei army is currently resisting the main force of the Han army outside the city. A steady stream of Wei army infantry is heading towards this place.
The two sides moved closer, resulting in Baihu Gate being defended by only about 500 people.
Jiang Wei and Deng Ai were responsible for the palace passages on the left and right sides. In order to take care of their junior brothers, Wu Tao and Shan Yi were guarding the most difficult White Tiger Gate, while Wu Dang and Deng Ai were guarding the wall above Zhangcheng Gate. Huo Yang was in charge of
In the south direction of Taichang Street, Jiang Wei is in charge of North Street.
North Street is now empty, and you can see the head at a glance. There is probably no enemy coming to attack. Jiang Wei used a ladder to climb up the palace wall to observe the situation in the direction of Baihu Gate. He saw that 500 Han troops were defending against 2,000 Wei troops.
difficult.
At first, the Wei army ran into them and were shot by crossbows, causing their formation to scatter. Then Wu Tao and Shan Yi seized the opportunity, and Duotou led the soldiers to charge, cutting down dozens of them. The Wei army suffered many casualties.
But then Yang Ke let the Wei troops on the left and right wings attack the palace wall and drive back the crossbowmen above. Without the suppression of the crossbows, the Han army's numerical disadvantage quickly became apparent.
The two sides were locked in a bitter fight.
In the chaos, there were shouts of killing from behind and behind, and there were swords and spears on the left and right. The Wei army rushed towards the Han army's formation like a tide, causing the circular formation's defense line to shrink backwards.
Although the casualties of the Wei army were greater, this is the territory of the Wei army after all. Hundreds and nearly a thousand Wei troops came to the southern city wall and palace road for reinforcements. Reinforcements from the rear are still flowing in. Once they suppress the Han army from Baihumen,
, or even force them out of Zhangcheng Gate, the situation will be very bad.
Jiang Wei's position was a little further away, but he was quickly discovered by several Wei soldiers, who rushed towards him with shouts, and several halberds and spears were stabbed at him, unless Jiang Wei had eight hands.
, otherwise it would be impossible to resist it.
He had to jump off the ladder like the crossbowmen. Then several captains nearby came over and said, "Marquis, what should we do now?"
"Bring the ladder and follow me!"
Jiang Wei pointed to the road ahead without hesitation and said: "This road is straight for several miles. The enemy cannot go around that long to attack from here. It is useless for us to stay here. We might as well crawl over and go around to their rear."
Sneak attack."
A captain said: "But the general ordered us to stay here. If the enemy really makes a surprise attack from our defense line and causes the flank to be defeated, then"
"Well"
Jiang Wei hesitated for a moment.
This is a problem that battlefield generals often face.
He had an area that needed to be defended and could not leave easily, but among the chaos, a fighter plane was suddenly discovered.
This fighter may turn the entire situation around. If we choose to turn a blind eye, the battle situation will fall into a stalemate, and even gradually become unfavorable to our side, eventually causing the entire situation to fail.
But if you choose to seize this fighter opportunity, it means giving up your defense zone and violating military orders. Once the enemy passes by your defense zone, what was originally a possible failure will become a inevitable defeat.
So this is a dilemma.
Most generals tend to choose to turn a blind eye. Even if they know that this fighter opportunity is likely to lead to a direct victory for their side, they still adhere to the concept that if they don't do it, they will not make mistakes, and stick to their own jobs.
Only a handful of people would choose to take a chance, just as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty originally planned to have Huo Qubing send troops from Dingxiang to pursue the Xiongnu Chanyu. As a result, Huo Qubing captured the Xiongnu prisoners and learned that the Chanyu had fled eastward.
He immediately changed direction and pursued Shan Yuyi.
Sometimes on the battlefield, it is more necessary to adapt to changes rather than stick to the rules.
After a brief hesitation, Jiang Wei made up his mind and turned to look at the city head on the left, only to see Deng Ai standing on the city head looking at him.
The two people seemed to have a tacit understanding, and looked at each other and smiled. Deng Ai then gestured to him, telling him to go ahead with peace of mind. He would look in the direction of the city gate for him, so don't worry.
Jiang Wei then bowed to Deng Ai and said without hesitation: "Follow your orders and if there is any situation, I will take full responsibility for it."
"only!"
The captains no longer hesitated and agreed immediately.
Soon the approximately three hundred soldiers he belonged to gathered together and hurried north carrying ladders.
By this time the war had reached fever pitch.
More and more Wei troops came from the rear, and the defensive pressure of their three thousand men was already great.
Especially in the direction of Baihu Gate, Yang Ke kept scolding the soldiers and attacked fiercely. Wu Tao and Shan Yi's defense line was shrinking back and was already approaching the city gate.
In this chaos, no one noticed that Jiang Wei had already led his soldiers to the north palace wall.
I must have been yang in the past two days. I feel sleepy from time to time. I sleep one day during the day and one night at night. The sleep time is more than 12 hours. But today is much better. It is said that May is the peak period of the second yang. Please pay attention to safety.
Be careful of catching a cold. There will be a second chapter today. After you feel better, continue to work hard to maintain the level of writing two chapters and more than 8,000 words a day. Come on!