The defenders had already been prepared for the Mang army's arrow formation. Many wooden planks were prepared on the top of the city. The Han soldiers either hid behind the arrow stacks or put up wooden planks to resist the Mang army's arrow formation.
The Mang army's arrow array was not only aimed at the Han army on top of the city. More than half of the arrows were shot into the city. Especially the crossbow arrows fired from the large crossbow bed could be shot from outside the city all the way into the center of the city.
In recent days, when people in Kunyang City want to go out of their homes, they have to remove the door panels of their homes and hold the door panels on their heads before they dare to walk on the street.
Although daily life was greatly restricted, the people in the city did not cause chaos. On the contrary, more people took the initiative to help the Han army defend the city.
Dingling.
The Battle of Kunyang has been going on for nearly ten days. More than 400,000 reckless troops have gathered outside Kunyang City. Their company camps have spread for more than a hundred miles, surrounding Kunyang City three levels inside and three levels outside.
The water is blocked.
When Liu Xiu came, Kunyang City would definitely not be able to be defended. But what Liu Xiudu never expected was that Wang Feng in the city, who only led a Han army of 10,000 people, unexpectedly managed to capture more than 400,000 Han troops.
The Mang army's attack was withstood.
The small city of Kunyang was unable to be attacked by more than 400,000 reckless troops for a long time, and it was helpless. It was simply unbelievable and beyond people's imagination. At this time, Liu Xiu once again saw the hope of turning around and winning.
In the past few days, newly recruited troops from Yancheng have been arriving at Dingling in a steady stream. Together with the local recruitment from Dingling, Liu Xiu recruited more than 2,000 people, plus the original more than 1,000 people, forming an army.
An army of three thousand men.
This is already the limit of the troops recruited by Yancheng and Dingling. These three thousand soldiers are also Liu Xiu's last capital. Wang Feng, who is greedy for life and afraid of death, withstood the offensive of the reckless army in Kunyang, and Liu Xiu will not be timid.
war.
He led three thousand soldiers to leave Dingling and advance toward Kunyang. This time, Liu Xiu's troops did not advance very fast. The closer they got to Kunyang, the slower they moved.
It was not that he deliberately delayed, but the Mang army had many patrolling troops around Kunyang. After hearing the news that Liu Xiu's troops were heading straight to Kunyang, these Mang troops responsible for patrols gathered over one after another.
Liu Xiu's troops were still forty miles away from Kunyang when they encountered the first patrolling Mang army. The leader of this Mang army was named Bian Xuan, and he had more than a thousand soldiers under his command. The two sides met on a narrow road and immediately fought together.
.
Bian Xuan's military force is not weak, but it is a pity that he encountered Liu Xiu's first group, Liu Xiu's subordinates, not many others, but many fierce generals with superior force.
In the melee, Bianxuan's head was chopped off by Gai Yan. When Bianxuan died, the reckless troops under his command were in chaos.
How could Liu Xiu miss such a good opportunity? He commanded the entire army and attacked the reckless army with all his strength. Most of the Han troops under Liu Xiu were fresh recruits with no experience and no systematic training.
If it were a bad battle against a headwind, these recruits would naturally be vulnerable, but a winning battle against the wind would be a rare training opportunity for the recruits.
On the battlefield, the new recruits of the Han army were all furious, and they fought and killed the chaotic army. The army was unable to support them. After more than half of the casualties, they collapsed backwards like a piece of loose sand.
The Han army pursued them for two or three miles at a stretch. In the end, only about a hundred of the more than a thousand soldiers escaped. Winning the first battle was of great significance. At least it greatly eliminated the fear of the recruits and greatly increased their ability to fight.
experience.
The battle had just ended when two more Mang armies came from the north and south to attack the Han army. Liu Xiu divided his troops into two groups, one with Ma Wu to attack the Mang army from the north, and the other with Jia Fu to attack the Mang army from the south.
military.
The next two battles were just like a replica of the first battle. Both Ma Wu and Jia Fu took the lead and rushed into the enemy camp. With lightning speed, they directly killed the enemy troops in the chaos.
’s commander-in-chief.
When the general died, the soldiers of the Mang army were in chaos. At this time, the soldiers of the Han army swooped up again and beat the drowned dogs with clubs, killing the two Mang soldiers and defeating them.
The Mang troops patrolling outside the Mang camp were not able to effectively organize themselves together and assemble superior forces to fight a tough battle with the Han army. Instead, one and two groups came over one after another, and were defeated one by one by the Han army.
.
After defeating three Mang armies in a row, the Mang army began to gather forces from various departments to fight a decisive battle with the Han army.
However, at this time Liu Xiu no longer faced head-on confrontation with the Mang army, and led his men to move south from the east of the Mang camp to avoid the superior strength of the Mang army.
When the Mang army moved to the south of the camp, Liu Xiu's troops moved to the west of the camp. One chased and the other ran. Liu Xiu's troops were completely circling outside the camp with the Mang troops.
In fact, when Liu Xiu led his troops to circle around the Mang camp, he was also looking for the weaknesses of the Mang camp.
They only have 3,000 men, so it is impossible for them to defeat a company of more than 400,000 Mang troops. The only way to win is to cooperate internally and externally, and have the Kunyang defenders cooperate with them in fighting, and attack from both inside and outside. Only then can they have a chance to defeat the Mang troops in one fell swoop.
But how to contact Kunyang has become Liu Xiu's biggest problem. Liu Xiu circled around the Mang camp and failed to find any gaps in the Mang army camp.
In other words, it was no longer possible for them to take advantage of the loopholes to break through the Mang Army's company camp and get in touch with Kunyang. The only way was to forcefully break through the Mang Army's encirclement and penetrate the Mang Army's camp.
However, the Mang Army's company camp is not only long, but also thick. It is undoubtedly difficult to break through such a large Mang Army camp.
Liu Xiu's troops ran a large circle around the perimeter of the Mang camp, and finally ran back to the east of the Mang camp. The Mang troops who were chasing after the Han army also caught up with them sparsely.
The Mang army thought that as soon as they caught up, the Han army would run away again, but this time they guessed wrong. Liu Xiu led his troops, turned around, and took the initiative to attack the Mang army.
In fact, the strength of the Mang army was tens of thousands. However, after being eluded by the Han army for so long, the Mang army also became tired. The number of Mang soldiers who first caught up with the Han army was only more than a thousand.
These more than a thousand unlucky and reckless soldiers were hit by the sudden return of the Han army's carbine, and were completely defeated and fled.
The Mang army at the back was not very motivated to fight. Seeing that all the soldiers in front were defeated and they did not even see the shadow of the Han army, they followed the defeated soldiers and ran back to the camp of the Mang army.
After beating away the big tail following his side, Liu Xiu's troops set up camp about ten miles away from Mang Camp to rest temporarily.
The Chinese military tent was temporarily arranged without a roof. It was just a ten-square-meter area surrounded by cloth strips more than one meter wide.
Liu Xiuhe's generals knelt on the ground one after another. He picked up a branch, sketched it on the ground, and said: "After several days of inspection, the Mang army camp has surrounded Kunyang airtight, but relatively speaking
, the Mang army has relatively few troops in the north camp, and the largest number in the east camp.”
Feng Yi explained: "Wang Yi and Wang Xun are both in the east camp, where the Chinese army is located. It is understandable that the Mang army has the largest number of troops in the east camp."
Ma Wu rolled his eyes and said: "If our army wants to attack Mang Camp, the first choice is to attack Bei Camp?"
Feng Yi frowned and was silent in thought. Although the North Camp had relatively few troops, the East Camp and the West Camp on both sides of the North Camp had a lot of troops. They could reinforce the North Camp immediately, so the seemingly weak North Camp,
It's actually not easy to fight.
Liu Xiu shook his head and said seriously: "If our army wants to defeat the Mang army, of course we cannot attack the Beiying camp, but we must attack the Dongying camp with the largest number of troops!"
Ma Wu blinked and looked at Liu Xiu in confusion. Ji Zun said: "Dongying is where the central force of the Mang Army is. The difference in strength between our troops and the Mang Army is too great. If we fight in the North Camp, even if our army can win,
It is of little significance. Only by winning in Dongying and marching straight to Huanglong can the entire Mang army be defeated!"
Liu Xiu nodded repeatedly, indicating that Ji Zun was right.
He squinted his eyes and said faintly: "With only our three thousand soldiers, it is too difficult to defeat the central army of the Mang Army. Therefore, our army must get the cooperation of Kunyang in this battle. The two armies will work together to attack the Mang Army from a flank."
Chinese army!"
Ji Zun frowned and said, "But my lord, the problem is that we can't contact Kunyang at all now, and the information from us cannot be passed to Kunyang."
Liu Xiu said solemnly: "So, we need someone who can break through the Mang Army camp, break through to the foot of Kunyang City, meet Duke Cheng, and deliver the news about our army!"
When everyone heard this, they all looked at each other and took a breath. If you want to break through the company of more than 400,000 reckless soldiers by yourself, who can do it? Unless it is a god descending to earth!
Seeing that everyone around him was silent, Ma Wu glared, cupped his hands and said, "My lord, I am willing to go!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Ba followed closely and said: "My lord, I am willing to go!"
Hearing this, Ma Wu was so angry that his teeth were itching. This little bastard was determined to go against him. He snorted coldly and sneered: "You dare to compete with me based on your martial arts skills? You don't know how high the sky is!"
Wang Ba said tit for tat: "Anything you, Ma Wu, can do, I, Wang Ba, can do the same! If you don't agree, let's compete to see whether you can break through the Mang camp or I can break through the Mang camp.
!”
Ma Wu stared at Wang Ba coldly with his big eyes, almost bulging out of his sockets. Seeing the two lively couples quarreling again, Liu Xiu couldn't help but stroked his forehead.
Jia Fu coughed slightly, stood up and said, "Lord, let me go down!"
Liu Xiu raised his head, looked at Jia Fu, and said, "Jun Wen..."
Jia Fu said: "Don't worry, my lord, my subordinates will definitely be able to break through the Mang camp, see Duke Cheng, and convey my lord's wishes to Kunyang!"
In fact, among the generals under his command, Liu Xiu really felt that only Jia Fu had some hope of completing this mission.
Let's put it this way, whether Ma Wu or Wang Ba go there, they will not survive nine deaths, but ten deaths. Only Jia Fu, with his force, may have a 10% or 20% chance of breaking through the Mang camp.
But, in order to complete this mission, is it really worth risking one's most heroic and skilled subordinates?
Seeing Jia Fu's invitation, Liu Xiu felt mixed. He was both relieved and reluctant to leave. He looked at Jia Fu for a moment, lowered his head and remained silent.
Seeing this, Jia Fu said anxiously: "My lord, if you ask the other brothers to break out of the Mang camp, you will be asking your brothers to die. I hope my lord will think twice!"
There are many strong generals under Liu Xiu, such as Ma Wu, Yao Qi, Gai Yan, Fu Jun, Wang Ba, Zhu You, etc., all of them are brave and good at fighting. If others say this, they will definitely not be convinced and have to stand. Get up and retort a few words.
But these words came from Jia Fu's mouth, and no one disagreed. Even Ma Wu, who was grumpy and arrogant, had to admit that Jia Fu's military force was not inferior to his own.
Seeing that Liu Xiu still didn't speak, Jia Fu became anxious and said again: "My lord——"
Compared with Zhu You, Gai Yan, Feng Yi, Fu Jun, Ma Wu, Yao Qi and others, Jia Fu took refuge with Liu Xiu relatively late. Even though he had superior military strength, he inevitably lacked reputation and prestige.
In Jia Fu's view, this mission to break through the Mang camp not only solved his own immediate needs, but also was a good opportunity to establish his own prestige.
