The soldiers who were lucky enough to escape these fled to the moat, helpless as they looked at the suspension bridge in pieces before them.
In order to survive, they all jumped into the river in a hurry.
It's a pity that the banks on both sides of the moat are steep and slippery. They are half a person's height above the water. It is easy to get down, but it is difficult to get back up.
This man was unable to bear any force in the water and could not grasp the edge of the river on the other side.
He stretched out his hands and scratched desperately, even his nails were scratched and his fingers were broken, but he could not reach the nearby river bank.
Helpless, I could only gradually exhaust my strength and sink to the bottom of the river in despair.
The attack continued, and Xiang Jun, who was trapped in the city, was besieged by enemies from all directions and was gradually wiped out.
The clear moat gradually turned blood red.
Seeing an ambush, the vanguard troops outside the city formed siege formations one after another and attacked the small Linchuan County town.
The Ming army on the city was also prepared, firing rifles, crossbows, artillery and trebuchets.
Hot weapons and cold weapons were perfectly combined. Xiang Jun who was attacking the city was severely beaten by the intensive firepower and suffered heavy casualties.
At this time, Xiang Yang, under the desperate escort of his own soldiers, stepped on the corpses of his men and climbed up from the moat with difficulty.
He struggled to avoid several rounds of attacks fired at him, and hid behind a pile of corpses of his own soldiers.
I looked down and saw that the wound was bleeding, and that the old wound had not healed and a new one had appeared.
Xiang Yang looked through the gap between the corpses and looked resentfully at the Ming soldiers on the city wall who were doing target shooting and taking roll call.
One of them was particularly familiar to him, and the more he looked at him, the more he looked like his old enemy, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Nan Yanxi.
At this moment, he was wearing the clothes of an ordinary general, holding a rifle and leading the battle.
If Xiang Yang hadn't been so close, he wouldn't have been able to recognize him.
He cursed fiercely: "Nan Yanxi...you...you bastard...!"
Then he turned his head and waved vigorously towards his own camp: "tnd, are you blind? Why don't you come and save me?"
Finally, a group of shield soldiers broke through the layers of fire blockade, came to Xiang Yang with difficulty, and rescued him.
Nan Yanxi, who was fighting above the city gate, cursed secretly: "MD, this kid is really lucky, let him escape again..."
...
"My son, what's going on...?"
In the camp, Xiang Tianxing rushed over after hearing the news. Looking at his seriously injured son in front of him, he couldn't help but be shocked.
Xiang Yang was sitting on a stool, and the military doctor beside him was carefully bandaging his wounds.
The pain from the wound made him grin from time to time: "Hiss... md God damn Nan Yanxi... hiss..."
"There is an ambush of Ming troops in the city, led by Nan Yanxi himself."
"Ah? He personally led the army to fight?" Hearing this, Xiang Tianxing was a little surprised: "Yang'er, can you see clearly?"
Xiang Yang nodded affirmatively: "You can't be wrong, that guy is a very thief, he is wearing the armor of an ordinary low-level officer."
"If the child hadn't been hiding behind the pile of dead people, I really wouldn't have recognized him."
"I see..." Upon hearing this, Xiang Tianxing stroked his beard and pondered for a while, then asked worriedly: "What's the number of enemy troops?"
"It is impossible to march on both sides of Linchuan County. If you want to go to Dongzhou, this is the only way."
"If the enemy has a large number of troops and we cannot attack them for a while, it will be dangerous."
"If nothing else happens, the pursuers behind us will arrive in three days at the earliest."
"I don't know yet." Xiang Yang shook his head: "I guess we have to attack for a while before we can roughly calculate it."
"However, judging from the enemy's firepower density, it should not be a main force."
Xiang Yang said slowly: "You also know that the new muskets of the Ming army are very powerful, but not everyone has them. They are often equipped with priority for the main force."
"Although the boy suffered heavy losses in this attack, he unexpectedly discovered that the weapons of this Ming army were very messy."
"There are new muskets, old-fashioned muskets, and crossbows. The heavy weapons are not all artillery, but also trebuchets and crossbows."
As soon as he said this, Xiang Tianxing's gray eyebrows raised slightly: "Oh? This... is important information."
After thinking about it, he immediately ordered the troops: "Order the army to start attacking the city. Be sure to find out the approximate number of enemies first!"
"Yes!" the deputy general agreed, turned around and ran out.
The main force of the 200,000-strong army slowly formed an attack formation outside Linchuan City.
The main force used trebuchets, imitation old-fashioned artillery and crossbows to blast the already small Linchuan County.
Then, the first wave of 50,000 people attacked the city wall.
The Ming army defending the city was not to be outdone, and relied on its superior weapons than Xiang's army to fight hard against the enemy attacking the city.
The two sides immediately launched a fierce urban offensive and defensive battle.
The fighting lasted from noon to dusk. As the sun set, both sides stopped fighting.
Inside the city, Nan Yanxi was counting the casualties.
This battle was the most difficult one he fought after the battle to defend Qinglian Mountain.
The enemy's troops were numerous, three or four times our own, and equipped with a considerable number of firearms.
And because they were fleeing for their lives, the soldiers' attacks became more ferocious.
As for our own side, they were troops temporarily transferred from Qingzhou.
Out of the 60,000 people, only 20,000 new troops were equipped with brand-new firearms, and the rest were equipped with old-fashioned firearms.
There are still 20,000 people who are transferred from the Yuzhou garrison, equipped with cold weapons such as bows and crossbows.
Today's battle, in just one afternoon, resulted in more than 4,000 casualties.
This is because the enemy does not know his own reality and is somewhat tempted.
Although this battle ended with Xiang Jun being repulsed, Xiang Jun should have already figured out his actual strength and equipment.
Tomorrow, let go and attack fiercely, what will happen is still unknown.
This city wall is really short and not conducive to defense.
Nan Yanxi sat on the chair and reached out to take the hot tea brought by Yang Yuxuan: "Thank you for your hard work, madam...haha..."
Then he asked again: "Hey? Where are Yan'er and Shuwan?"
"Oh... they are organizing a logistics team to treat the wounded soldiers." Yang Yuxuan slowly came behind him and reached out to gently squeeze Nan Yanxi's shoulder.
"Sir... we are not optimistic about the number of casualties in this battle. Xiang Jun will definitely attack the city with all his strength tomorrow. What should we do?"
"Also, why did you deliberately put Xiang Yang back today? Did you also intend to let him see you?"
Nan Yanxi leaned back on the chair a little tired, enjoying Yang Yuxuan's gentle little hands.
He slowly said: "If you don't know I'm here, how can you attract them?"
"After today's battle, they should have figured out that our troops are only 60,000 to 70,000 people, and they are not yet the main force."
"They must be thinking at this moment...to attack with all their strength tomorrow, capture me after breaking through the city, threaten you, and reverse this unfavorable situation."