The Khitan people did not make any feints, but launched a decisive and overwhelming offensive from the very beginning. Li Yao Nayan's morale-boosting words were very simple, just one sentence: Capture Zhaozhou, seize Hanwang Liu Ling, and immediately return home.
Although the Khitans are warlike, wild, and like to plunder, there are times when they get tired of war. Especially after three years of war with the party members, the soldiers are already very tired. This has continued for several years.
war, but they did not get corresponding benefits. This feeling is undoubtedly very disappointing. Therefore, although the Khitan soldiers did not object to this southward attack on the Central Plains and seemed happy at first, they were dragged by the Han people to Zhaozhou.
More than a month later, the excitement of going south to grab money, food, land, and women has long since worn off.
Seeing that winter has arrived, if this war cannot end as soon as possible, they may face the situation of sleeping in the wild without food and clothing. Even if people can survive, the war horses cannot survive the winter without enough food and grass. And the war is now,
They have not received any of the money and beauties promised by the generals, and their enthusiasm has long since turned cold. Now they want the warm felt tent at home and the roasted, golden and crispy lamb leg.
So when Liyao Nayan announced the order to go home as soon as Zhaozhou was captured and the Han King Liu Ling was captured alive, the Khitan soldiers became crazy. Because they saw the hope of the end of the war. As long as they were willing to fight hard, maybe tomorrow
You can kill all the men in Zhaozhou City, take away their money and women, and take them back to the grassland. This is like a person who has reached the point of exhaustion when walking, and suddenly realizes that he has reached the end after walking a few meters further, and he is already exhausted.
It's like people can still squeeze out their body's potential and run. Today's Khitan soldiers have this mentality. They see their destination, which is very close. As long as they are willing to go all out, they may be able to end this damn war soon.
.
No one wants to die, especially not a cowardly death.
General Liyao Nayan said that as long as they enter the city, no matter who they are, whether they are generals or soldiers, what they grab is their dead person's property. There is no need to hand it over to the public, and there is no need to worry about superior commanders depriving them of their battle results.
Li Yao, General Yan said, no matter what they grab, it belongs to them.
In the eyes of the Khitan people, those Han people are very wealthy. Even in the poorest families, there will be things like iron pots and porcelain. And these things are the most lacking on the grassland. On the grassland, a mouthful is intact.
A fine iron pot can be regarded as a very expensive betrothal gift. Compared with these ironware and pots and jars of porcelain that can hold things, those precious and priceless jades, gold and silver jewelry are secondary.
Some. Every Khitan warrior knows that if you go home after the war and hand your wife a string of jewelry, your wife will show a gentle smile. And if you give her an intact iron pot, she will
You kiss her hard on the face and dance with joy.
Although this phenomenon has been greatly improved after the Khitans occupied the Youzhou area, the people still living on the grasslands have not changed much. In the beginning, the grassland people used leather for their iron tools and good horses.
Such goods were exchanged with the Han people. Iron is not produced on the grassland, and there is no iron-making process, so the grassland people have a very urgent need for iron tools. There is no doubt that the meteorite iron picked up on the grassland is the best for making weapons.
thing. There is also no doubt that meteorites are not everywhere.
Prompted and tempted by the two conditions of going home and grabbing things, the Khitan soldiers went crazy.
Like ants who had found a piece of cheese, they rushed forward without hesitation. In order to go home, they ignored the dense arrows shot down by the Han defenders on the city wall. They ignored the terrifying wolf fangs smashed down from the city wall.
Ignoring the stinky excrement pouring down from pot after pot, and even ignoring one's companions, they died so easily. When a person falls, he soon becomes a stepping stone for his companions.
In the first attack at night, the Khitans invested no less than 30,000 soldiers. When two hours passed, the bodies of the Khitans under the city wall had been piled up several meters high. And in these short two hours
Within hours, the losses of the Han army defending the city were also huge. The first batch of 10,000 defenders who came to the city had suffered losses of more than 60% after holding on for two hours. Launching an offensive at night would have certain advantages for the Khitans.
, because the archers on the city wall simply cannot aim accurately. Moreover, it is not possible to find all the ladders leaning against the city wall. Fortunately, the inventory of weapons and equipment is still sufficient. Liu Mao almost came to Zhaozhou this time.
The armory of the Chengde Army in Jizhou was completely moved, and the number of feather arrows alone exceeded 500,000.
By midnight, the soldiers guarding the city had become extremely tired. Many Khitan soldiers took the opportunity to board the city and occupy a small area, but they were soon rushed over by the Han army's reserve force and beheaded them.
Then their corpses turned into rolling wood and thunder stones for the defenders, which were pushed down from the city wall and hit their companions. The attack entered a fever pitch from the beginning. When the first batch of defenders lost more than 7,000 people, the Khitan people
The first batch of attacking troops also moved on, and the second batch of new troops quickly took over, exerting greater pressure on the Han troops defending the city.
Zhu Sanqi slashed down the Khitan soldier who had just emerged from the city wall, and then he used his shoulders to lift the ladder and pushed it out. Because his arms were not long enough, the ladder was pushed out but
He did not fall down. After pausing in slow motion in mid-air, the ladder leaned heavily against the city wall again. However, due to the vibration, several Khitan soldiers on the ladder were shaken down. Zhu Sanqi gasped for air.
He had been fighting continuously for nearly a day, and his physical strength had almost reached its limit. From nightfall to early morning, countless Khitans had died under his sword. Zhu Sanqi had at least six wounds on his body, including one on
The knife on his thigh was the heaviest. Fortunately, it did not cut into the artery, otherwise Zhu Sanqi would have bled to death long ago.
The wound that had only been briefly bandaged was still oozing blood, and there was no part of his body that was not in pain. But Zhu Sanqi now had no time to feel the pain, and he did not dare to feel the pain. He was afraid that he would lose his life because of the pain.
Strength, what he lacks most now is strength.
Struggling to lean on the crenel and gasping for air, Zhu Sanqi frowned as he looked at the densely packed Khitan people under the city. Although he was well prepared to deal with the enemy's strong attack, the enemy's risk-taking offensive still made him suffer.
He was shocked. He couldn't imagine how these grassland people could be so fierce. Didn't they fear death at all?
Zhu Sanqi, who had a rare moment to breathe, did not notice that not far away from him, there was once again a ladder set up on the city wall. A Khitan warrior with a scimitar in his mouth jumped up to the city wall.
Turning his head, he happened to see Zhu Sanqi resting against the crenel. The first Khitan warrior who rushed up took the scimitar from his mouth, and then slashed Zhu Sanqi's back without saying a word.
Perhaps it was Zhu Sanqi's good luck. Just when the knife was about to hit him on the back of the neck, an arrow hit the Khitan warrior's throat with a pop. The Khitan warrior was dying.
The snort aroused Zhu Sanqi's alert. When he looked up, he found a Han archer smiling at him. Zhu Sanqi looked back at the Khitan body that fell at his feet, and then looked at it gratefully.
To the Han archer.
"careful!"
Zhu Sanqi's smile suddenly disappeared, and he shouted loudly at the Han army archer. Unfortunately, although his shouts reminded the Han army archer, the archer still had no time to draw out his short sword and was killed by a
The Khitan warrior who climbed up the city wall chopped off his head. The scimitar slashed through his neck, and his head flew off the city wall. Amidst the blood flowing like a fountain, the Khitan warrior screamed and rushed towards Zhu Sanqi.
Zhu Sanqi let out a tiger's roar and stepped forward with his injured leg. His sword came first, and when the Khitan warrior's scimitar was still raised in the air, he used his full strength to draw the horizontal sword.
It struck the Khitan man's neck. Such a powerful and accurate blow did not cut off the Khitan man's head. Zhu Sanqi's scimitar actually got stuck in the Khitan warrior's neck. That Khitan warrior
His head was tilted to one side, and he looked at Zhu Sanqi in horror with blood dripping from his mouth. He opened his mouth to say something, but when he opened his mouth, blood came out in spurts.
Zhu Sanqi struggled to withdraw his horizontal knife from the Khitan man's neck. The sound of the steel knife rubbing against the bones was so clearly audible. The feeling of the knife rubbing against the bones was also transmitted to Zhu along the blade.
In Sanqi's palm, Zhu Sanqi took out the knife and looked at it, only to find that his horizontal knife had turned into a saw. There were countless gaps on the blade.
Discarding the horizontal knife, Zhu Sanqi leaned over and picked up the Khitan's scimitar that had fallen to the ground and still had warm blood on it.
After wiping a handful of blood that had blocked his sight, Zhu Sanqi suddenly discovered that the whole world had turned red. Red was everywhere, people were red, city walls were red, and weapons were also red.
At this time, the Khitans who had climbed up the city wall formed a team of five people and charged towards Zhu Sanqi. The scimitars in their hands looked so cold under the moonlight that Zhu could hardly lift the sword.
Sanqi smiled bitterly, thinking that she finally became a hero.
Although he has realized that death is coming, he is the kind of person who does not accept death easily.
So he gritted his teeth and raised the scimitar. At this time, Zhu Sanqi's idea was very simple, that is, before he died, kill the Khitan who was rushing in front of him, or die together.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Five arrows in a row were shot past Zhu Sanqi's body. The five armor-piercing cones with astonishing precision shot the Khitan warriors who were rushing toward Zhu Sanqi to death almost simultaneously. Zhu Sanqi suddenly
Looking back, I wanted to see who saved me, but I was afraid of seeing the same scene as before.
Liu Ling was sitting on a makeshift wheelchair, holding a stiff bow in his hand, and beside him were a dozen filled arrow pots.
Liu Ling smiled at Zhu Sanqi and said, "You can come to me. If someone climbs the city wall, I will shoot him to death. If someone comes close to me, you will chop him to death. How about that?" (Unfinished)