When the police whistle sounded, the soldiers were in confusion for a while. Their first reaction was to gather at the north and south gates to help defend or rush to the stables to get their horses in order to assemble and attack the enemy.
Ning Zechen carefully speculated on the reaction of the captive soldiers before the war, and thus formulated targeted tactical arrangements.
The North Village Gate was closed in time, but the soldiers who had gathered at the South Village Gate were dashed to pieces by a group of armored cavalry that broke in directly from the Village Gate. A soldier with a sword in his hand was fighting with the Jiangdong Zuo Army Armor in the alleyway.
The cavalry was rushed into battle and was killed by the charge.
In addition to the captive soldiers who were dispersed into private houses and guarded the north and south gates of the village, there were three other places where the remaining soldiers deployed concentrated forces in the village.
One is the more than 60 captive soldiers guarding the stables, the other is the dozens of elite guards who stayed behind in the Sun family's mansion, and the other is the ancestral hall in the village guarding the corpses of the clansmen who were exterminated in the battle of Cangnan.
One hundred soldiers guarding the spirit.
In the battle of Cangnan, the Yan tribe was cut off by the Jiangdong left army after more than a thousand people were wiped out, but the headless corpses were abandoned in the wilderness for birds and crows to peck at them. Naturally, Nahe Xiongqi could not let the corpses of his clan members be thrown into the wilderness, so he
They could not tie the corpses of their clansmen to horses and pursue the Jiangdong Left Army south together, so they were forced to leave troops to guard Xiaobotou Village. In addition to part of the baggage, they mainly guarded the corpses; the mortuary ancestral hall also sent troops to guard the graves according to the old rules.
The people keeping watch in the ancestral hall compound were all qualified old soldiers, well-equipped with armor. When the stockade was attacked, nearly a hundred soldiers guarding the spirit were the first to react. Except for some who supported the Beizhai Gate, most of them ran along the lanes to help.
At Nanzhai Gate, they met the cavalrymen of the left army who rushed into Jiangdong at the threshing floor and fought fiercely.
Seeing that the threshing floor was inaccessible and the narrow alleys restricted cavalry activities, the captive soldiers sat on the walls and took bows and arrows to shoot. The group of Jiangdong Left Army cavalry who broke into the village were forced to quickly retreat to the Nanzhai Gate before the encirclement.
There was a group of well-organized soldiers in the village who rushed to the Nanzhai Gate to join the battle. The chaotic situation among the soldiers quickly stabilized. The leader who stayed behind then led the team to arrive, climbed to the ridge of the house to direct the battle, and saw Jiangdong left
The army has replaced the soldiers with well-equipped armor at Nanzhai Gate. They used flying chariots and high shields to rush in along the alleyway. No matter how fierce and brave their old soldiers were, they could not stand up. The commanders who stayed behind were afraid of ordering them to dismantle the heavy armor.
The gate of the mansion was used as a shield, and the old soldier who was good at archery was asked to go up to the room and look at the gaps in the Jiangdong left army's armored soldiers to shoot arrows...
The south gate was captured, the way out of the north gate was blocked, and the wall at the northwest corner was on the verge of collapsing due to the attackers from outside using wood to hit it. A new opening was about to be formed. This was a severe situation faced by the soldiers in the village.
The commander who stayed behind was not panicked. He thought to himself: Everyone had guessed. Jiangdong's left army was really hiding on the island and attacking at night. No one could stand on the wall of the village, so he ordered people to climb up to the highest ridge to observe the enemy's situation.
, sent troops to strengthen the defense of the area where the wall was hit. Looking at the open Nanzhai Gate, the key is to recapture the Nanzhai Gate to regain the initiative.
Ning Zechen sat on the horse-tethering post outside the Nanzhai gate with a knife in his hand, staring at every move inside and outside the gate; Lin Fu was two arrows away, further away, paying attention to and controlling the direction of the entire battle.
The sentry general ran over and told Ning Zechen that it was difficult to charge into the alleyway. Many soldiers fired cold arrows at the prisoners who climbed up to the house. When the conflict broke out, they could not protect themselves tightly even if they raised their shields.
Ning Zechen frowned slightly and said: "You know that the alley is too narrow and difficult to fight, so why don't you move back? Tear down the village gate. If they want to take it away, just give it to them!" He asked the soldiers at the Nanzhai Gate to move back.
Attract a large number of captive soldiers to fight in a more spacious area inside the village gate.
When the Sun family established a clan in Cangnan and built Xiaobotou Village, they seriously considered how to prevent bandits or bandits from attacking the village. The open space reserved inside the north and south gates of the village was very small, and there was a lane as wide as a carriage inside.
The largest open space in the village is the threshing floor in the center, which is also the drying floor.
In a narrow alley, even if the soldiers have no armor or shields, they can remove the door panel and move it horizontally to cover most of the alley, and then let people go to the room to shoot arrows. The Jiangdong Left Army's advantage in ordnance will be severely restricted.
; Only a few fierce generals like Zhou Pu go into battle in person to split the thick wooden house door with a single blow.
Ning Zechen saw that the enemy troops were going to recapture the Nanzhai Gate, so he moved his soldiers back to a more open area near the village gate. The soldiers used the door panels to protect themselves, but it was too clumsy and exposed a large gap. Jiangdong Left Army
Under the cover of the sword and shield men, the armor-clad Mo Daomen even dared to penetrate directly through the gaps in the door panels to kill the enemy. There was enough space for spears and spears to stab. The crossbow archers in the back row shot and killed the cavalry bowmen in the upper room
The captive soldiers also sent people with hand-held crossbows to ride up the wall of the stronghold, so that they could fully take advantage of the sharp swords, thick shields and long range shooting of the crossbows.
At this time, Zhou Pu led the third battalion to collapse the wall of the village in the northwest corner, breaching the opening and attacking inward.
The battle continued until daylight. When the remaining captives saw that the Nanzhai Gate could not be recaptured, nor could they rush out through the Nanzhai Gate or the caved-in opening, the soldiers would suffer too much in an open field and suffered too many casualties, so they retreated in.
He wanted to take advantage of the complex terrain in the village to engage in street fighting with the Jiangdong Left Army in one house and one courtyard.
The entire army retreated into the village, with the third and fifth battalions attacking from the south gate and the opening in the northwest corner. The terrain became more complicated, making the fight particularly difficult.
If you want to knock down the entire village one by one, even if you are willing to bear such a large proportion of casualties, you don't have enough time.
Even if they succeed in completely blocking the south channel, the main force of the Hexiongqi tribe will rush to Bohai County, two hundred miles away, and they will most likely find a loophole and rush back.
It only takes two days and one night for the captive cavalry to travel four hundred miles round trip. Considering that one night has passed since the departure of Nahe Xiongqi's troops, the captive soldiers in the stronghold will be completely annihilated by tomorrow at the latest.
Seeing Zhou Pu coming around on horseback from the west, he probably felt that it was too difficult to attack from the northwest corner and needed to readjust his tactics. Ning Zechen asked his deputy to keep an eye on the Nanzhai Gate battlefield for him, and they walked to Lin Fu together.
"It's too hard to break through. If you use fire, I'm afraid even the good horses in the stockade won't be able to save it!" Ning Zechen said in a low voice. He was used to living in poverty, and he didn't want to waste good things, but he didn't use fire to attack hard.
The casualties were too great and he might not be able to make it in time. He hesitated and asked Lin Fu to make a decision.
"For you frontline commanders, cherishing troops is the most important principle," Lin Fu said seriously, "Use fire."
The South Village Gate and the collapsed hole in the northwest corner have been fought between the two sides on offense and defense. Until now, Lin Fu has not suggested that they set fire. He was not afraid of damaging the horses in the stockade, but mainly because he had used fire rashly from the beginning and lacked combat experience.
General soldiers may not be able to block the captive soldiers who are cornered and rush out to kill them.
Of course, using fire before dawn would only make Na He Xiongqi discover the abnormality in Xiaobotou Village in advance.
Now that it was daylight, the Nahe Xiongqi tribe had also run far enough. Both sides repeatedly attacked and defended the Nanzhai Gate and the breach in the northwest corner for most of the day. On the one hand, they weakened the confidence of the soldiers to fight and encircle the two openings. On the other hand, they
The soldiers of the third and fifth battalions stabilized their positions through repeated attacks, recycling and attacks, and became as solid as a rock.
The northwest wind was strong, so it was appropriate to set fire to the collapsed opening in the northwest corner.
Now that they had made the decision to set fire to the stronghold, Zhou Pu and Ning Zechen returned to adjust their deployment. Zhou Pu personally led the armored soldiers to rush in from the collapsed opening in the northwest corner, compressing the captive soldiers inward so that they could set fire to more soldiers.
The large number of buildings made the fire go deeper from the beginning, making it impossible for the soldiers to extinguish the fire.
Most of the houses in the north still have earthen walls and thatched roofs. Only a few well-off families and rich gentry families use bricks and tiles, but the beams and columns are also made of wood. In addition, ordinary villagers rarely use charcoal (coal) for making fires and cooking, and almost every household uses
There are haystacks in the yard. It has been cold and sunny for the past few days, and although there is some snow that is difficult to melt, it is still dry snow that has been blown dry by the cold wind.
These are extremely favorable conditions for setting fire to a stronghold.
Wherever the captives passed, almost no vegetation grew in the three prefectures of Yannan. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and wounded, and hundreds of thousands of young men were taken away. Nearly two million people were displaced and became refugees fleeing south. They endured hardships in central and southern Shandong.
Cold and hungry.
Of course, there is nothing humane to say to the inhumane soldiers. Setting fire to the stronghold was nothing intolerable to the generals of the Jiangdong Left Army who had developed a hard-hearted heart during the war. Lin Mengde just felt sad for those who were originally
He heard that Lin Fu had decided to use fire, so he came over to ask if he could use other methods to capture the stronghold.
The soldiers in the stronghold were determined to resist. They also knew that they had committed such evil in Yannan and would not be forgiven for surrendering. Moreover, their arrogant mentality made them unable to bear the surrender of themselves or their tribesmen to the weak Southern Dynasty soldiers.
After having an effective penetration point, there is no more labor-saving and more effective way to attack the stronghold than using fire. Lin Fu didn't care about Lin Mengde's heartache. He made Ao Canghai ready to attack. The third battalion and the fifth battalion
If the opening cannot be blocked, the first battalion generals will be required to surround and kill the escaped soldiers in the field.
Zhou Pu was wearing scale armor, and was guarded by armored soldiers on the left and right. He looked sternly at the soldiers guarding the inside of the lane. In front, he used flying carts, door panels, high shields, and iron nail boards to build a barrier in the narrow lane.
obstacle.
The soldiers on the inside were confused for a moment why the Jiangdong left army had been fighting for a long time and then suddenly gave up and rushed in. Until the clay pot filled with lamp oil was handed over from behind and was thrown by the soldiers with strong arms, causing it to splash.
Covered in lamp oil and smelling the smell of lamp oil in the cold air, I suddenly realized that the Jiangdong left army in front of me was despicable enough to set fire to him.
Before the enemy soldiers broke through the barrier and rushed in, Zhou Pu ordered his soldiers to set fire to the enemy formation and threw torches into the enemy formation. He first burned those soldiers who had lamp oil splashed on their bodies. Zhou Pu then led his troops to slowly withdraw from the alleyway and cleared the alleyway.
The thatched houses on both sides were all set on fire. By the time Zhou Pu and his soldiers completely withdrew from the breached hole in the village wall, the fire in the northwest corner had burned to pieces and was blown to the southeast by the whistling northwest wind.
There are only three wells in the village, and there are so many flammable things that can cause fire. No matter how hard you try, you can't save them.
Zhou Pu looked at the gap in the wall in the northwest corner that had been completely covered by flames. He thought that the Donglu were really bad at defending the city. Only one army of armored soldiers was left to stand firm. He led two armies of armored soldiers to rush to the north village gate.
, other capital troops spread out along the wall of the village, preparing to surround and kill the soldiers who escaped over the wall.
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