More and more defenders came out of the south gate of Jiangcheng. General Sun Pin, who had been in command of the Chinese army camp, finally realized that something was wrong.
Sun Pin heard that the defenders of the Northern Tang Dynasty had begun to form a formation outside the city, with a strength of six soldiers. However, several attacks by the front army of the Southern Tang Dynasty were repulsed, and there were even many deserters.
Sun Pin asked the others in shock: "Are there really only 10,000 defenders in Jiangcheng?"
All the generals in the Southern Tang Dynasty looked at each other, but no one answered.
Sun Pin lowered his head, with an anxious look on his face.
Suddenly, a scout came outside the tent. He was covered in mud and water. He ran in and ignored the etiquette. He shouted directly: "General, there are enemy ambush on the east and west sides of the camp."
When Sun Pin heard this, he was so shocked that he could hardly stand and asked hurriedly: "How many people are there in the ambush?"
Scout: "There are too many enemy troops. They are everywhere. It's hard to count their numbers."
Sun Pin's face turned pale and he finally realized: "This is a trap."
The generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty were in chaos. Some people said that they should immediately give up the attack on Jiangcheng and retreat as soon as possible; others said that there were tens of thousands of friendly troops fighting with the enemy in front, so how could they just leave? At this time, they should fight to the death.
When Sun Pin was hesitating, Li Mi came out from behind and said to everyone: "Guo Ziyi used Jiangcheng as a bait to attract the attention of our army, and also set up ambushes on the east and west sides. If we retreat at this time, we can escape back."
There will definitely be an ambush along the way, just waiting for us to fall into a trap."
Sun Pin turned his attention to Li Mi at this time: "Does the Taoist priest have any good strategies to defeat the enemy?"
Li Mi: "The enemy's ambush has arrived. The east, west and south are all dead ends. There is only one direction where there is still a chance of victory."
Sun Pin: "The Taoist priest was talking about the north of the battlefield? But that is Jiangcheng, and the enemy is heavily guarded. How can we win?"
Li Mi: "The gates of Jiangcheng are now wide open, and the enemy's camp is located in the city. If we can set up a cavalry army to raid the city gates and then rush into the Jiangcheng camp, we may have a chance to win this battle."
"
Hearing this, Sun Pin was furious: "Isn't the Taoist deceiving this general? The gate of Jiangcheng is full of enemy troops. Not to mention the cavalry, even a fly can hardly fly in. How can we surprise the enemy army?"
camp?"
Li Mi: "The mountain people have their own clever plan. What General Sun has to do is to have the Chinese army resist the offensive from the east and west sides at the beginning of the raid, so as to buy some time for this strange force."
Sun Pin stared at Li Mi and asked, "How long will it take?"
Li Mi: "One moment is enough."
Sun Pin thought for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "Okay, just follow what the Taoist Master said."
At this time, in the Jiangcheng camp, Guo Ziyi was sitting in the tent, listening to the messenger read the military report.
After listening to the military report, Guo Ziyi smiled at Kong You beside him and said: "Han Xuji and Bai Yijun's ambush troops have arrived on the battlefield and formed an encirclement of the puppet Tang army. The next thing to do is to wait for further attacks.
The victory was achieved.”
Kong You nodded and was about to say something when suddenly there was a faint sound of cannons from the direction of the city gate.
When Guo Ziyi heard the sound of the artillery, he frowned and said to others: "I did not order the artillery to go into battle. Who made the decision on his own and fired the artillery without permission?"
Not long after, soldiers came to report that it was not the Northern Tang army that fired the artillery, but the Southern Tang army.
When Guo Ziyi and Kong You heard this, they looked at each other and hurriedly walked out of the tent and came to the courtyard of the Chinese army camp.
Looking towards the city gate, I saw thick khaki smoke everywhere, mixed with the sounds of soldiers coughing and vomiting.
A school captain came to report: "The Puppet Tang Army suddenly rolled out dozens of small long cannons in front of the formation. The shells fired were not the usual solid iron bullets, but a kind of shell that exploded when it hit the ground.
Hollow cannonballs. Moreover, these hollow cannonballs are filled with some strange fillers. After they hit the ground, they will burn violently and emit pungent smoke, making the mouth and nose runny and unable to stand."
Guo Ziyi was stunned: "The Pseudo-Tang Dynasty actually had such firearms?"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was another burst of gunfire from the battlefield, and more poisonous smoke shells fell at the city gate, making the smoke in front of the camp even thicker.
Guo Ziyi looked at the smoke at the city gate and frowned.
Kong You asked: "The enemy blocked our army's sight with smoke. Is he planning to take the opportunity to escape?"
Guo Ziyi clenched his fists and said in a deep voice: "No, I'm afraid the enemy is not trying to escape, but to make a surprise attack..."
After saying that, Guo Ziyi shouted behind him: "Duan Xiushi! Order the left and right battalions in the city to move closer to the central army! Then send all the guards and rear guards to the front of the camp!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of horse hooves and weapons suddenly came from the smoke.
Immediately afterwards, the screams of the soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty continued to be heard.
Xue Nanyang, a military general of the Southern Tang Dynasty, led 800 cavalry troops. Taking advantage of the diffuse smoke, he fought his way through the chaotic defenders at the city gate, rushed into the city, and approached the main camp.
Xue Nanyang, whose mouth and nose were wrapped in wet cloth, waved his horse with both hands, rushed through the fog, and galloped straight towards the Jiangcheng camp.
Seeing the Southern Tang cavalry rushing into the city, Guo Ziyi slowly pulled out his sword and said to his bodyguard: "Escort Kong Zhongcheng to the rear camp."
Xue Nanyang had already rushed across the long street and saw the courtyard of the Northern Tang Dynasty's military camp.
On the high platform in the courtyard, there was a tall, calm, and powerful general with white hair and beard. He was wearing a bright armor and was surrounded by other generals. This man was Guo Ziyi.
Xue Nanyang was overjoyed and galloped towards the Chinese army camp.
The soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty were suddenly attacked by cavalry on the road. They were caught off guard and had no time to form a formation. They could only rush forward in separate groups and use their flesh and blood to block the progress of the cavalry.
Xue Nanyang and a group of cavalrymen brandished weapons and continued to slaughter the soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty on the road, getting closer and closer to the Chinese army camp.
Seeing that he was about to rush to the camp gate, Xue Nanyang suddenly saw hundreds of Northern Tang Guards out of the corner of his eye, forming up from behind the camp and standing in the courtyard, divided into three rows, front and back.
The war horse under Xue Nanyang's crotch rushed forward like a shooting star. He raised the horse's pole high and shouted to the front: "Anyone who blocks me will die!"
The guards of the Northern Tang Dynasty took out their pitch-black muskets from behind and pointed them in the direction of the camp gate.
The general commanding this group of guards was none other than Duan Xiushi.
Seeing that Xue Nanyang and his cavalry had rushed to a place less than 20 meters away from the camp gate, Duan Xiushi shouted loudly: "Shoot!"
The first row of muskets fired one after another, and the Southern Tang soldiers who were charging at the front fell to the ground with a whimper as if their mounts had been hit by a sledgehammer.
Immediately afterwards, the second and third rows took turns firing. More and more Nantang cavalry were killed, their mounts were injured, and they all fell off their horses.
The gate of the Chinese army camp in Jiangcheng was not wide to begin with. After the Southern Tang cavalry's mounts fell to the ground, it hindered the subsequent cavalry's impact and also created valuable reloading time for the Northern Tang musketeers.
However, even so, a few Southern Tang cavalry saw the right opportunity, jumped over the horse corpses on the ground, and rushed into the Chinese army camp.
Xue Nanyang is one of them.
Seeing the gap between the musketeers' reloading, Xue Nanyang urged his horse, first knocking away a Northern Tang soldier, and then he raised his horse's pole and smashed the Tianling Cap of another man into pieces.
However, the surrounding soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty were not afraid of death at all. Some used their muskets as long sticks to fight with the cavalry at close range, while others walked up to the cavalry with loaded muskets and fired at close range.
Realizing that he and his subordinates were all caught in a fight, Xue Nanyang shouted anxiously: "Ignore these people, rush to the high platform! Kill the enemy general!"
At this stall, the left and right camps of the Northern Tang Dynasty in the city rushed to support from both sides of the camp, completely surrounding the Southern Tang cavalry.
When Xue Nanyang saw this, despair arose in his heart.
Ignoring the swords and firearms beside him, he rushed out of the encirclement single-handedly and launched the final charge towards Guo Ziyi on the high platform.
Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters... Xue Nanyang is getting closer and closer to the target, and he can even see Guo Ziyi's face clearly.
At this moment, a group of soldiers suddenly appeared on the high platform, including shield soldiers and artillerymen holding tiger crouching cannons.
When Xue Nanyang, who was riding a horse, saw the squatting tiger cannons heading towards him one after another and the fuses being ignited, he closed his eyes, smiled bitterly and shouted: "The general is incompetent, and he has a heavy responsibility, so he has to take the first step today!"
The sound of cannon sounded, and the loyal soldiers came to an end.
