On December 20, near the end of the year, the main force of the Huns' cavalry officially launched an attack on Suiye City.
The Huns gathered almost all their strength this time, and they wanted to annex the entire Western Region in one fell swoop.
The headquarters personnel mobilized exceed 60,000!
There are more than 50,000 serfs in the Western Regions!
In addition, there are some small tribes that threaten 60,000 people!
The total strength was 170,000!
Of course, these 170,000 people were scattered, and those small tribes that were coerced were sent by the Xiongnu to attack Gongyue City and Shule Town.
This kind of attack is more of a deterrent, preventing the local governments of Gongyue City and Shule Town from sending troops to assist Suiye City.
The nine fortresses in Suiye City are now under siege.
The Huns launched a general attack, and rounds of arrows rained down on the city.
Fifty thousand slaves were forced to attack the city wall crazily. The Huns tried to use a powerful offensive to take down the Suiye defense line in one go.
The Broken Leaf Defense Line was originally created for military purposes. Even the smallest fortress has extremely strong defensive capabilities.
The fort was built around giant trees, and cowhide was used to cover the giant trees. Although the rain of arrows thrown was violent, it actually did little harm to the soldiers inside the fort.
If fire is used to attack, the soldiers in the fort will immediately replace the burning cowhide.
There were enough reserves in the city. Even if the Huns ran out of arrows, they would not be able to destroy the fortress defenders with arrows alone.
"General, the Huns have launched a general attack!"
At the top of Broken Leaf City, Song Hui, the general who conquered the west, stood in full military uniform.
Several rounds of arrow rain from the Huns had little impact on the fortified Suiye City.
Although the boulders thrown by subsequent trebuchets caused some casualties to the defenders on the city, they were almost not accurate.
There are also many trebuchets in the city, which can directly throw stone bullets out of the city wall to attack the enemy.
After fighting for more than an hour at a distance, the Huns lost their patience and began to launch a siege.
The first wave of charge is always the slaves, this is the consistent practice of the Huns.
If the slaves can climb the city wall and fight to the end, they can be relieved of their status and become official civilians of the Huns. This can be regarded as a method to drive the slaves.
Seeing the enemies coming in like a tide, Song Hui didn't panic.
He stared into the distance, and over there was the Huns' central tent.
"Just defend how you want to defend, hum. I would like to see how many people the Huns plan to die!" Song Hui smiled coldly.
He is a general, and he is not responsible for the specific matters of defending the city. He is only responsible for the battle strategy, and the specific matters are of course the responsibility of the generals in charge.
The general who defended the city, Wang Xiao, was a close confidant of Song Hui. During the Taizong period, he followed Song Hui in his campaigns from east to west.
Various tactics are easy to master.
Looking at the incoming enemies, Wang Xiao's lips showed disdain.
"Spear Throw!"
The defenders on the city began to throw javelins down.
The effective killing range of the javelin is not as far as that of the bow and arrow, but it is extremely powerful within the effective range.
"Puff puff!"
Just talking about the javelin can kill hundreds of enemies.
When the enemy arrived at the city, they began to pour gold juice on top of the city. This stuff was very powerful, and it didn't taste very good.
A wave of gold juice went down, basically clearing out all the enemies trying to climb the city wall.
The slaves encountered a strong resistance and began to dare not move forward. Some even turned around and ran away.
The Huns cavalry began to suppress the slaves.
It took a while before the next wave of offensive was organized.
However, this kind of offensive cannot reach Broken Leaf City at all.
After several months of preparations, the city was filled to the brim with combat supplies. If the battle continued like this, the strategic supplies would not be used up for several months.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
Behind the Huns, a cavalry group appeared. It was an ambush arranged by Song Hui, consisting of five thousand cavalry.
They were responsible for disrupting the Huns' rear.
However, the Huns did not panic. They also knew that the cavalry in Broken Leaf City would ambush, so they had already made preparations. They separated their teams to deal with the Broken Leaf Cavalry and resisted the Broken Leaf Cavalry.
At the same time, the Xiongnu horn sounded, and the slaves began another wave of attacks.
The battle situation in Suiye City was at a stalemate. Song Hui turned his head and looked south.
He was not worried about Suiye City. The Huns' siege level could not compare with that of the Chinese army.
They don't even have a cloud cart, so they can't defeat Suiye City by climbing only with ropes.
But the eight forts in the south of the city are incomparable to Suiye City.
That is the weak point of Broken Leaf City's defense system.
If in the past, the forces of both sides were equal, and the Xixi Army was even stronger, these eight forts, plus the reinforcements from Suiye City, would have been a powerful force for each other, and the Huns would not have dared to attack the city in such a large scale.
But it was different now. The Huns had an absolute advantage in military strength.
The attack on Suiye City was almost entirely made up of slaves, and the main force of the Xiongnu infantry did not appear.
They must have gone to the fort.
…
Indeed, the eight fortresses in the south of the city were under heavy attack from the Huns.
The Huns are not fools. Of course they know that Broken Leaf City is difficult to capture.
Therefore, the first stage of the attack was placed in eight forts outside the city.
As long as these eight forts are captured, Broken Leaf City will become an isolated fort.
It was only a matter of time before Suiye City was besieged and captured.
"puff!"
Zhang Kai stabbed an enemy who climbed up the fort to death with one shot. His body was already covered in blood.
There are enemies and there are your own.
The battle to defend the fortress lasted from morning to noon.
The main force of the Huns' infantry had already attacked the fort twice, but was beaten out by the defenders both times.
Dapu Fort is the largest of the eight forts, located between Suiye River and Zhenzhu River.
The terrain is higher, making it easier to defend and harder to attack.
But the fortress is not a city, it is very small, with only 500 defenders.
There were more than five thousand Huns soldiers outside the city.
After fighting continuously all morning, the defenders inside the fortress were gradually exhausted.
"General! What should we do? Do we want to break out?" The deputy general killed a Hun soldier and came to Zhang Kai's side dressed in rough clothes.
Zhang Kai looked at the sky and saw that it was just after noon.
"We can't retreat! We must persist until after dusk! We must persist until after dusk!" Zhang Kai's mouth was a little chapped, and he pulled the deputy general's shoulder to emphasize.
"General, our brothers have been fighting continuously all morning, and the Huns have not stopped attacking for a moment. If they continue to fight like this, they may not last until dusk!" The deputy general's voice was a little torn, and he felt like fire was coming out of his mouth.
"No! We must persist no matter what! Xu Wei's cavalry will arrive at dusk to support us!"
Saying this, Zhang Kai waved his spear and drove down another Huns.
"Remember! Don't talk nonsense. Even if you die, you must keep the Huns here!"
Zhang Kai's eyes were red and he shouted loudly.
"Yes! General, take your orders! Hold on! Keep the Huns here!"
Zhang Kai left the city with an order. To defeat the Huns, he must defeat the enemy in the fortress outside the city.
The Huns will not focus their attack on Suiye City. The Huns know this, and so do the Western Expeditionary Army.
So they wanted to defeat the Huns at the fortress outside Suiye City.
When the soldiers are at a disadvantage, some strategies must be used.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
The horn sounded again, but the melody changed slightly.
The Huns' attack was temporarily suspended.
They began to rain arrows and throw stones again.
"Bang bang bang!"
The stone bullets hit the fortress, and the defenders could only find obstacles to avoid them.
There is no trebuchet in the fort, so you can only passively avoid it.
During this time, the soldiers could hide behind obstacles to eat dry food and drink water.
This is the only break in the attack.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the arrows and trebuchets stopped.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Go to the city!" Zhang Kai shouted frantically.
The rain of arrows and trebuchets stopped, which meant that the next wave of attacks began.
Sure enough, just as the defenders climbed up to the defense tower, the Huns soldiers arrived.
"kill!"
Zhang Kai waved his spear to block the Hun soldiers who were swarming to climb the fortress.
But there are so many enemies that it feels like they are endless to kill.
"Pfft!" One shot killed a Hun soldier. Blood spattered and he narrowed his eyes.
Zhang Kai could only swing his spear with his eyes closed, and the enemy soldiers attacked intensively and could not even spare the time to wipe his face.
"clang!"
"puff!"
Zhang Kaige deflected a scimitar and a blurry figure flashed before his eyes.
Before I could see clearly, I felt a pain in my chest.
He was stabbed.
"General!"
The deputy general rushed over and killed the Hun soldier.
But his scimitar was inserted into Zhang Kai's chest.
"General! How are you!" The deputy general helped Zhang Kai off the defense tower of the fortress. Blood foam was already flowing from the corner of Zhang Kai's mouth.
The machete pierced his lungs and he was dying.
"Qiu Jin! From now on, you are... the general of Dapu Castle! No matter what, you must persist until after dusk!"
"General, don't..."
"Listen to me! Hold on... hold on! No... no retreat!"
"Ahem!"
After Zhang Kai finished speaking, he lost all his strength. He wanted to gasp for air, but his lungs were punctured and it became increasingly difficult to breathe.
"General! General!" Lieutenant General Qiu Jin shook the piece of Kai, hoping that he would wake up.
But things went against his wishes, and Zhang Kai did not persist for long.
Qiu Jin stood up, his face becoming more resolute.
"General Zhang is gone! Brothers, kill me! Guard Dapu Fort!"
Qiu Jin succeeded Zhang Kai and became the garrison of Dapu Fort.
When he was still a deputy general, he would advise Zhang Kai to retreat.
But when he became the commander-in-chief, his responsibility became to defend Oura.
Zhang Kai's death did not dampen the morale of the Dapu Fort defenders.
When the border troops fight, life and death are indifferent.
Zhang Kai's death even inspired the defenders' desire to surrender.
It is the desire for revenge, but also the desire to persevere.
They were not afraid of death and repelled the Huns again and again.
Time gradually passed amidst the shouts of death.
Until the sun gradually sets in the west, Dapu Fort is still in the hands of the Western Army.
"Boom boom boom~"
The ground shook, and a large number of cavalry appeared on the horizon in the distance.
"Reinforcements! Reinforcements are coming!"
The Huns were startled by the sudden appearance of reinforcements, and they began to lose their position.
Oura's offensive is getting weaker and weaker.
This extraordinary force was led by Xu Wei, a young general from the Anxi Army.
These five thousand cavalrymen had already been deployed at the Black Mountain Pass outside the Pearl Castle at the southernmost point.
Zhenzhu Castle was also attacked by the Huns today, but it was not the main force of the Huns, so it has not been lost until now.
Xu Wei's five thousand cavalry wanted to reinforce not Zhenzhu Fort, but Dapu Fort.
It actually only takes half a day from Zhenzhu Castle to Dapu Castle.
But Xu Wei spent the whole day.
It wasn't that he was procrastinating in his march, but that the five thousand cavalrymen made a large circle and bypassed Pearl Castle directly.
Zhenzhu Fort is a peripheral fortress. The Huns soldiers here did not notice the cavalry of the Xixi Army. The Huns soldiers in Dapu did not think that the Anxi Army cavalry would suddenly appear, and they would relax their vigilance.
The Huns soldiers attacked Zhenzhu Fort in order to prevent cavalry from coming from this direction.
In the end, Xu Wei did it and made a big circle from Zhenzhu Castle to Dapu!
"Kill! The victory or defeat depends on this battle!"