Although the battle on the tower ended quickly, the real test was about to come.
The patrolling soldiers and horses on the walls on both sides of the city tower, and the nearly 100 rebel soldiers and horses stationed at the city gate below the city tower have all been alerted. Not only that, a large number of soldiers and horses in the streets and alleys looking for each other like headless flies also have clear targets. A large number of
A long line of torches gathered from the market towards the West City.
In a very short period of time, Zhang Yanling and his party were going to be attacked from three directions on the north and south sides of the city tower and inside the city gate. Once an encirclement was formed, it would be the worst situation.
Zhang Yanling immediately ordered Chen Shiyi to take his men to the place where the machine shaft was controlled and lower the suspension bridge. As the shaft clicked and the iron chains clattered, the huge suspension bridge was slowly falling.
Zhang Yanling frowned and stood outside the tower, watching the suspension bridge slowly descending, but his mood was not at all relaxed.
There are several problems that need to be solved right now. The suspension bridge is the first one. Although the tower is now under control, the suspension bridge can be lowered. But once the tower is besieged by the enemy, can the tower be defended? If the tower cannot be defended, the suspension bridge will inevitably be raised again.
.
The second thing is, even if the city tower can be defended and the suspension bridge can be lowered, how to open the city gate below? There are a large number of enemies below. To open the city gate, you must deal with them and occupy the city gate hole before you can use manpower to open the city gate.
.Otherwise, the soldiers and horses outside the city will not be able to enter.
Third, even if the city gates and suspension bridges are all lowered, will the three thousand cavalry led by Zhang Yin be in place? Can they arrive in time, and can they coordinate perfectly to attack the city as planned? This is also a question.
Zhang Yanling looked at the wilderness outside the city. There was no movement outside the dark city. He could not see clearly the gathering of soldiers and horses, and could not hear the sound of any cavalry approaching. This made Zhang Yanling's heart sink.
The battle at the top of the city was so fierce, the roar of firearms and the explosion of pumpkins were so fierce, and the shouts of killing were so noisy. If Zhang Yin and the others had already arrived, it was impossible that there would be no movement at all. The greater possibility is that they had not arrived yet.
Indeed, we had to start early today, and it should be a little more than two hours at this moment. If Zhang Yin and others led their troops out of the valley on the east slope of Helan Mountain to attack Ningxia City after dark, they would indeed have to arrive around three o'clock. This was also the original time
The agreed time. In other words, they are probably still on the road, but here they have already started in advance.
Although everything is planned, variables will always exist. However, no matter what, the matter has come to this, and we can only adapt to changes and act accordingly.
"Master Marquis, the suspension bridge has been lowered. I will take a few brothers down to seize the city gate. How about Master Marquis staying here to guard the tower?" Chen Shiyi said loudly from behind.
Zhang Yanling waved his hand and said: "There is no need to guard the city tower. I ordered my brothers to set fire to the city tower once and for all. Let's go down and seize the city gate together."
Chen Shi nodded and said, "Master Hou, that's a good idea. This way we don't have to divide our forces to face the enemy on three sides."
Zhang Yanling really thinks so. Burning down the city tower is a last resort. This can avoid the worry of the suspension bridge being pulled up and concentrate on taking down the city gate. However, this actually also gives up an excellent defensive point. Originally, it was condescending and occupied.
If you live in a city tower, you can use the geographical location to defend effectively. At least you can hold on for a long time. Now burning down the city tower and taking the initiative to attack the city is a desperate gamble.
That is to put yourself in a position where there is no place to defend, and to expose yourself to the attack of thousands of enemy troops.
A fire started. The outer walls of the tower were made of masonry, but the interior pillars, doors, windows, and rafters were all wooden structures. After the fire started, it immediately burst into flames.
Everyone rushed out of the north side of the city tower and saw that the steps to the upper city were crowded with enemy soldiers attacking upwards. Several golden melon grenades rolled down the steep stone steps. Amidst the roar, fire and flesh splashed everywhere. More than a dozen enemies
The soldiers rolled down the stone steps in a bloody mess. The enemy soldiers who were climbing up behind them hurriedly retreated.
"Boom, boom, boom!" Three more golden melons exploded below the city. Smoke, dust and flames rose up, and the crowd below turned on their backs.
"Run down now!" Zhang Yanling shouted loudly.
Chen Shiyi and others roared loudly, and used the cover of smoke and dust to rush down the steep stone steps to the city square. Zhang Yanling's fire blunderbuss continued to bombard the crowd, and the bird blunderbuss of the surrounding guards also continued to roar, and everyone
While shooting, sprint along the wall and rush to the inside of the city gate.
Juma and sandbags formed a barrier here. Many city gate defenders hid behind the sandbags and juma and fired cold arrows. I don’t know how many people were guarding the city gate cave.
There was no need to be stingy with the pumpkin grenades at this time. Zhang Yanling gave an order and more than a dozen pumpkin grenades were thrown into the city gate opening. After the roar and fire, everything became quiet. A dozen pumpkin mines were suddenly thrown into the small area of the city gate opening.
Not to mention the damage caused by the explosion, even the earthquake stunned the people inside.
Zhang Yanling and others jumped over the fortifications like tigers and rushed into the smoke and dust in the city gate. The smoke was so thick inside that the choking people couldn't breathe.
"Two brothers went to open the city gate, and the rest built sandbags to resist the enemy." Zhang Yanling shouted loudly.
Everyone acted quickly, and Chen Shiyi took a personal guard to open the city gate. Zhang Yanling and the remaining people quickly built up the collapsed sandbags to form a simple fortification. At this point, the gunners were finally free to shoot.
Already.
As Chen Shiyi and another soldier worked together to open the city gate, the night wind passed through the city gate hole and swept away the smoke and dust.
At this point, in less than a meal, Zhang Yanling and others used strong firearm suppression and mobility to seize the west gate of Ningxia Town. The suspension bridge outside the open city gate was unobstructed, waiting for the arrival of cavalry reinforcements.
However, there was no movement outside the city. The dark mountains were silent.
The fire on the city tower was burning brightly, and the firelight shone all around. Hot smoke flew in all directions, and collapsed walls and burning wood continued to fall. Up and down the city gate, the temperature rose sharply.
The people in the city gate felt tremendous pressure. If the cavalry could not arrive, even if the enemy did not attack, the fire on the city tower would force everyone to evacuate. Once they evacuated, it would be a huge failure.
However, how could the enemy not attack? Within the meal time, a large number of soldiers and horses in the city quickly rushed to the square in the city.
The Xicheng defenders who had previously been firing continuously with their cannons and did not dare to approach also came out one after another and gathered into a large number of more than 2,000 soldiers and horses.
After simple organization, they quickly launched an attack.
Under the cover of shields, hundreds of archers began to approach. The cannons began to roar. The iron bullets of the cannons were powerful enough that even if there were shields, they could penetrate the shields and hit the enemies behind them. The enemies advanced to within range.
Dozens of people fell inside, but only a few were shot.
After all, the opponent's vital points were protected, and the iron bullets that penetrated the shield were not lethal enough and could only injure them. But they could not stop the opponent's progress.
Within a hundred paces' range, the opponent's archers stopped and bent their bows to unload their arrows.
"Buzz buzz!" The sound of the bow string vibrating was low and heart-stirring. The black arrows came with a sharp whistling sound.
The fortification area within a radius of two to three feet at the exit of the city gate was instantly hit by hundreds of powerful arrows. The situation can be imagined. Every inch of the ground and every bag of sandbags was filled with arrows. The ground was full of arrows.
Dust puffed on the ground, and arrows bounced on the ground. Dust puffed on the fortification sandbags, and the arrows penetrated the sandbags fiercely, turning them into porcupines.
Fortunately, when the opponent stopped, Chen Shiyi had already ordered everyone to hide under the sandbags. Although this round of arrow rain was fierce, it did not hurt anyone. However, in this kind of blocking battle, once you lower your head to avoid, then you will be hit again.
I can't even raise my head.
Round after round of arrows rained down, and everyone who was suppressed could not raise their heads. At the same time, under the suppression of the archers, thousands of rebel soldiers rushed up from both sides.
This is a standard suppression and charge tactic. Facing the opponent with only a dozen people, the rebels did not rely on their strength. They actually used such powerful suppression and charge tactics.
You can't blame them, because they saw the opponent's powerful firepower and understood that the West City Gate must be taken back. No matter how stupid you are, you can understand why these people captured the West City Gate and lowered the drawbridge to open the city gate.
The enemy troops approached quickly. Thousands of enemy troops rushed dozens of steps away, and the bows and arrows stopped shooting. Zhang Yanling and others could finally raise their heads. But this was not a good thing, because it meant that a large number of the opponent's troops were about to approach. It meant that in the future
A hand-to-hand combat with one against a hundred is about to begin.
At this moment, Zhang Yanling had two choices. One was to immediately order an evacuation from the city. With the city gate open, he could turn around and escape from the city to ensure safety. But that also meant that all the arrangements were in vain. The other option was to
Be brave, fight hard, and defend the city gate.
Everyone was waiting for Zhang Yanling to make a decision. Facing the enemies rushing up, they didn't know what choice to make.
"Throw all the pumpkins out! Blow them up." Zhang Yanling shouted in a deep voice.
Chen Shiyi breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that the Marquis would not give up and he would make a last ditch effort.
More than a dozen pumpkin grenades were thrown out and exploded in the dense rebel formation. As blood and flesh flew everywhere, a large number of enemies fell to the ground injured. Some enemy soldiers who were frightened by the power of the explosion began to turn back.
Escape. But the rear supervision team immediately stopped this trend.
Zhang Yanling's fire gun roared, and the bird gun beside him also roared. With every roar, more than ten people fell. However, the opponent's charge could not be stopped. There were too many of them.
King Anhua in the rear gave a death order, and the palace guards had mercilessly killed dozens of soldiers trying to escape. They had no choice but to rush forward.
"Master Marquis, let's retreat into the doorway to reduce the number of enemy contacts." Chen Shi shouted.
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "Exactly."
Everyone quickly retreated into the city gate cave. The city gate cave was about ten feet wide and could only accommodate seven or eight people standing side by side. This was an advantageous terrain where a small number of people could resist a large number of people.
Soon, this strategy was effective. Although there were many enemy troops, the city gate was narrow. A large number of enemy troops were crowded outside the gate, and only a small number could attack it. The enemy troops outside were densely packed like ants blocking the door, but there were only a few inside.
Seven or eight people can engage the enemy.
What is even more frightening is that behind a row of guards armed with bird blunderbuss and spears, there is a fire blunderbuss that fires frequently and powerfully, constantly roaring.
The continuous fire advantage of the fire gun in Zhang Yanling's hand can be greatly exerted at this moment. Chen Shiyi and others in front are facing the enemy. He only needs to mechanically load the bullet and bombard the densely packed enemy standing there. Every shot
Three or four enemies fell to the ground in a bloody state after being bombarded at close range.
Zhang Yanling even felt a little numb, as if those were no longer people, but pieces of wood, lifeless dummies.
The seven to eight-foot-long city gate opening was very short, and it was indeed difficult for the enemy to rush in and resist the torrent. However, more and more people were shot and killed, and some were stabbed to death by the guards with blunderbuss and spears.
More and more.
A large number of corpses and injured people were piled up in a small space, making their advance extremely slow.
It was extremely hot inside the city gate cave. The fire above was burning. There were wailing wounded soldiers with bloody flesh beside them, and corpses lay scattered at their feet. The smoke was fumigating, and the blue bricks of Bishan were boiling hot. The small city gate cave was like
It's like hell on earth.
There was a roar, and a ball of fire fell from the inside of the city gate. A huge flaming pillar fell down and landed among the crowded crowd outside. Suddenly, the rebels shouted and dodged as if a pot was exploding.