The students swarmed out and pushed Lao Li outside. The little girl happened to pass in front of him. She was so close and her appearance could be seen clearly. Even a small mole on her ear fell into Lao Li's eyes.
His heart was shocked. At this time, he was sure that this was his daughter, but how did his daughter end up in Shibali Fort? If she was taken as a hostage, why was she so free and happy?
Seeing his daughter walking past him without even looking at him, Lao Li opened his mouth to say something, but in the end nothing came out. This was by no means the moment when father and daughter recognized each other.
, the daughter had already run away happily, and someone suddenly pulled Lao Li and said: "What are you doing standing there, hurry up and get on the wall."
At this time, Lao Li discovered that the streets were full of men from the town, some with empty hands and some with weapons. Everyone hurriedly walked to the fort wall. Lao Li also followed the flow of people and came to the foot of the wall.
He was given a shield and an ax and instructed to go up to the fort wall to guard it. Lao Li did not dare to neglect, and hurried up the fort wall, holding a weapon and imitating others and squatting behind the crenellations.
It was evening at this time, the sky was filled with sunset, the clouds were as red as fire, there was smoke and dust in the distance, dozens of cavalry appeared indistinctly on the horizon, smoke was billowing on the wall of Shibali Fort, and war drums were beating slowly.
Passwords were heard under the fort wall. Old Li looked back and saw more than thirty spearmen forming a team behind the fort gate. What was strange was that he did not see the cavalry from Shibali Fort.
Just when I was wondering, a group of cavalry came out from the birch forest to the west of the fort. There were more than 300 people. They were also flying the banner of Luyang regiment training, but their momentum was far from the legendary elite cavalry of Shibali Fort.
They were procrastinated, and their weapons and uniforms were not neat and tidy. It would be a shame if the swordsmen in the Dingfang were defeated by these people.
The cavalry in the distance has arrived two miles away and is facing off with the Shibali Fort cavalry a hundred steps apart. Although this group is small in number, it is full of murderous aura. The knights are all wearing expensive Western Region chainmail and weapons.
They mainly use the Central Plains standard long sword. Although there is no banner, it can be known from everyone's whispers that these enemies are from the Yuchi family in Chang'an.
When Zhao Ding'an saw the cavalry confronting the enemy, he said impatiently: "Why don't these horse thieves disobey orders and go out to fight without authorization? Please pay them to withdraw quickly."
It was already too late. Liu Hailong and Luo Xiaohu were eager to make a contribution. When they saw that the opponent only had fifty or sixty people, they began to underestimate the enemy. They threw Zhao Ding'an's instructions behind them and led their men to swarm forward in an attempt to seize the victory.
But this time, those who came are not those sparse swordsmen, but the Tiger Guards who have been carefully trained by the Yuchi family for many years. They are skilled with swords and horses and have sharp weapons. The people of this dynasty are strictly prohibited from owning iron armor. However, the Tiger Guards are not only equipped with iron armor, but they are also expensive.
The chain armor imported from the Western Regions is light in weight and fully protected without affecting movement. The sword is also made of hundreds of refined steel, the war horses are all Ili horses, and the people are elite soldiers who have been trained since childhood, whether it is martial arts.
Still, his will is far stronger than that of the horse thieves.
This was a one-sided battle. Three hundred horse thieves faced off against a sixty-man Tiger Guard. Six of them combined to beat one, but they could not gain the upper hand at all. Those at the front were all older and experienced horse thieves.
Even these old horse thieves were defeated at the first touch. They were hacked to death as soon as they crossed the horse. Some people lost their heads and still sat on the horse and continued to rush forward. Some people had their heads and arms cut off, and their bodies were dragged underneath, with their feet still hanging on.
On the stirrups, there was blood everywhere, and screams continued.
After a confrontation, Luo Xiaohu and Liu Hailong's family assets were all wiped out. They looked at each other in shock, looking at each other without any injuries. They felt that the world was spinning and their throats were dry. This time it was over, they were kicked onto the iron plate. So
A tough opponent might not be able to hold on even the Eighteen Mile Fort, so instead of dying in vain, it would be better to take the Thirty-six Strategies.
The remaining dozens of horse thieves didn't even stop, and just ran away. The battle ended in an instant, leaving corpses and injured people on the ground. The tiger guards slowly cleaned up the scene and killed the injured people.
, cut off the head and hung it on the horse's neck. They did this work very patiently and meticulously, as if they didn't take the Shibalibao people seriously at all.
There was silence on the wall of Shibali Fort. Everyone was shocked by this cruel killing scene. This was a bloody battle. For the first time, they felt powerless and fearful, the same feeling they felt a year ago when the only sword was still there.
The feeling came to mind again, it turns out there are more powerful people in this world.
There was silence, and everyone silently watched the Tiger Guards cutting off ranks. Suddenly someone couldn't help shouting: "Ding'an, how can you let the thieves run so rampant? Where are our cavalry and our Thirteen Taibo!"
Zhao Ding'an said anxiously: "I went out for training yesterday and haven't come back yet. I've sent someone to look for him."
The other party seemed to know that there were no more cavalry in Shibali Fort. He finished his work slowly and actually sat down on the ground, took out the wine bag and dried meat and started eating and drinking. The person in Shibali Fort was very angry with the way he looked like there was no one around. However, the tragic situation just now did not affect everyone.
Seeing it, if you go out rashly, you will die. Now the defense force in the fort is only eighty Baoding, and they are all non-professionals with semi-full-time training. They can barely hold a spear. Although there are bows and arrows in their hands, they have no arrows at all.
You're right. Fortunately, the opponent didn't have ladders or other siege equipment, otherwise the Shibali Fort would have been really in trouble this time.
"The smoke has been burning for a long time, why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet?" Everyone whispered, and only Zhao Ding'an understood that the reinforcements from the four villages and eight towns might not be able to come. Since the Yuchi family has delayed the attack for so long, they must have done enough.
The preparation, whether it was coercion or inducement, must have made the neighboring villages and towns give up the idea of supporting the Shibali Fort. Now the only thing he hopes in his heart is when his cavalry will come back. Only this cavalry can confront the Yuchi family.
Log in to 6.com and support the genuine version of "Martial Arts Empire". Welcome to try out the online game of the same name.
It was getting dark, and every household in the fort had prepared meals. The women and children carried burdens to bring the meals up. Because there was a war, what was brought up were real meals such as sorghum rice, beef and mutton, etc.
The joyful women and children only felt the tense atmosphere and the smell of blood in the distance when they came under the fort wall. Looking at their men, they were so nervous that they held out the water from the spear shaft. The women and children did not dare to make any noise anymore.
Quietly delivering the meals to the men, two boys came over carrying a basket of steamed buns, and a girl dropped the steamed buns one by one. She happened to walk up to Lao Li. Lao Li took the steamed buns without saying a word. He looked at the girl's eyes.
I felt a kind of deep worry and uneasiness. I wouldn't be able to pretend to have such an expression unless I had a deep relationship with Shibalibao.
Suddenly the crowd burst into cheers. It turned out that everyone saw a large group of people approaching in the distance, and the torches were like fire dragons. Reinforcements must have arrived from all sides. However, after a while, the cheers gradually died down, because everyone saw that what was coming was not
The reinforcements were the enemy's infantry, about seven to eight hundred people in variegated clothing, trudging in with camels pulling ladders, catapults and crossbows. It seemed that the Yuchi family had really made money this time and used nearly all their troops.
Thousands of men and horses, a large number of technical weapons, and a posture of never retreating until the Shibali Fort is slaughtered.
At this time, people on the fort wall were already panicking. Some people suggested that they negotiate peace with Yuchi's family. Isn't it just a business dispute? At worst, both parties can just take a step back. Pay what should be compensated and what should be apologized. Why hurt both sides? But Zhao
Ding'an was unwilling to raise a white flag even if he was ready to die. He said that Yuan Feng had told him to hold on to the city until he came. The enemy hadn't officially attacked the city yet, and he had only lost some supernumerary horse thieves and cavalry. Why should he admit defeat and accept it like this?
If you are a coward, how can you meet people in the future?
Suddenly a cavalry galloped to the foot of the fort, and the visitor shouted: "People in the city, listen, the cavalry you sent out has been made into dumplings. They will be sent to you after a while. Each household will recognize them later."
Recognize your son’s head.”
As soon as these words came out, there was a cry of mourning on the city wall. Those young people were the whole generation of Shibali Fort. After the children died, there was no meaning for the parents to live. The enemy originally wanted to use this to lower the morale of Shibali Fort.
Unexpectedly, it aroused their determination to fight to the death. The enemy was determined to slaughter the fort anyway, and they would die anyway. It was better to fight to the death and gain some support.
Zhao Ding'an was even more heartbroken. The brothers he had been with day and night were massacred, but he could do nothing. This pain and frustration made him want to rush out and kill them all, but his duty told him that he must hold on until Yuan Feng arrived.
.
The enemy's infantry began to approach slowly. They raised their long shields on their heads and pushed forward. The catapults behind them also began to shoot rocks as big as bowls. The armaments of Shibali Fort were okay against horse thieves, but they could not deal with this kind of paramilitary force.
It was very difficult. In the past, the arrows could only hit the shield in vain, without hurting anyone at all.
The stones shot by the catapults fell like raindrops, and the fortress wall made of rammed loess was smashed with holes everywhere. The soil fell down loudly, and arrows also came over, and the arrows shot at a high angle brought a scream.
The arrow was stuck on the wall and fell behind the wall. The tail of the arrow was still trembling. The people of Shibali Fort always used bows and arrows to win. This time they finally tasted the pain of bows and arrows. Seven or eight people were injured by arrows and were carried down. The wall of the fort was in a mess.
At this time, another wave of feather arrows came over. Just as Lao Li was crouching to hide with everyone, he saw the girl running in panic in front of him. Running on the fortress wall without any obstruction was like a living target.
, he quickly reached out and pulled the girl over.
The girl screamed in surprise, and Lao Li whispered: "Jia'er, it's daddy."