Wan Xiu, who was seriously ill, suddenly came to his senses when he heard the news that the enemy was attacking in large numbers. The reason why this happened was because he had faith in his heart, and this faith was to help the Han Dynasty.
Not only Wan Xiu, but also most of the soldiers under Liu Xiu's command believed in helping the Han Dynasty. People also firmly believed that only the Han Dynasty could save the world from fire and water and end this troubled world where human lives were like grass.
Liu Xiu and Wan Xiu went to Nancheng, climbed up the wall of Nancheng, and looked out. They saw the overwhelming enemy troops outside the city, and they could not see the edge at a glance.
The size of the 30,000-strong army should not be underestimated. Just looking at it with your eyes gives people a strong sense of oppression.
The Han soldiers on the city wall had been scared to death by Deng Zhongjun outside the city. Now they suddenly saw Liu Xiu and Wan Xiu ascending to the top of the city. People couldn't believe their eyes.
Isn't Your Majesty in Luoyang? When did you come to Wancheng? Isn't General Wan already ill in bed? It is said that he even has trouble getting off the ground, so why is he suddenly so lively and energetic now?
Everyone had question marks on their heads, but the arrival of Liu Xiu and Wan Xiu greatly boosted the morale of the Han soldiers. Especially when the news that Liu Xiu was in Wancheng spread, the Han soldiers were all happy and excited.
Seeing so many enemy troops outside the city, people had no fighting spirit at all, but now the Emperor is personally marching to Wancheng, and our side will definitely win this battle!
Woohoo——
A long trumpet sound came from Deng Zhongjun's camp, followed by the roar of drums, and the first row of phalanxes began to advance forward in unison, then the second row, the third row... the phalanxes, one by one, towards Wan. Heading into the city.
As a large military formation advances, even from a long distance, you can hear the scraping of armor and the footsteps of soldiers.
Liu Xiu stood at the top of the city, holding the arrow stack in his hand, looking at the enemy troops outside the city attentively, and at the same time secretly nodded, Deng Zhong was still somewhat capable, at least in terms of arranging troops, and there was no flaw in him at all.
As Deng Zhongjun's phalanx got closer and closer, Liu Xiu turned his head and shouted: "Archers, fire positioning arrows!"
A soldier on the side responded, then bent his bow and set an arrow, pointing the sharp edge of the arrow towards the sky.
Whoosh——
An arrow flew out, drawing a long arc in the air, and nailed to the ground outside the city with a thud. This was a distance of a hundred steps, and it was also the shooting range of Wancheng's archers.
As Deng Zhongjun's formation continued to advance, the positioning arrow was getting closer and closer. Finally, Deng Zhongjun's front row soldiers stepped over the positioning arrow and officially entered Wancheng's range.
People's eyes were all looking at Liu Xiu and Wan Xiu, just waiting for them to give orders before they could shoot the arrow formation to kill the enemy troops outside the city.
Wan Xiu stared at the military formation outside the city without blinking, and said without looking back: "The crossbowman fires positioning arrows!"
The Han soldiers present were all startled. Then, a soldier picked up his crossbow and shot an arrow outside the city. The crossbow arrow did not go in an arc, but in a straight line. This crossbow arrow was nailed to the wall about fifty steps outside the city. place.
Wan Xiu stared at the distance between the enemy's formation and the positioning crossbow, and slowly raised his hand. As Wan Xiu moved, the archers all placed their arrows on the bow strings, and the crossbowmen also raised their hands. Raise the crossbow.
When the enemy formation was less than ten steps away from positioning the crossbow, Wan Xiu waved his raised hand forward and yelled: "Fire the arrow——"
Following his order, the sound of bowstrings firing from the top of the city became a continuous sound. The bows and arrows flew out of the parabola in the air and smashed into Deng Zhongjun's square formation, while the crossbow arrows went straight towards Deng Zhong. The front row of soldiers in the final army.
A round of arrows was fired, and thousands of arrows poured out, causing a commotion in the front row of Deng Zhongjun's army. From time to time, someone was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground.
After the first volley, the Han army's second volley came again.
The advancing Deng Zhongjun raised their wooden shields one after another. As the arrow array poured down, people could hear the crackling sound above their heads. The surface of the wooden shield was soon covered with arrows.
Under such a dense arrow array, even soldiers holding shields were hit by arrows from time to time. Those soldiers without shields were even worse. Some were hit by arrows in their heads, some in their necks, and some in their chests. Soldiers who were advancing forward were often hit by arrows.
While walking, he suddenly fell to the ground and never stood up again.
As Deng Zhong's army advanced, corpses of soldiers were left on the ground.
This kind of advancement on land is not the most dangerous thing. The real danger is crossing the moat. The reason why Wancheng is easy to defend and difficult to attack is because Wancheng's city defense facilities are too complete.
The outermost edge of Wancheng is a moat five or six meters wide. After passing the moat, there is an upward slope. After passing this slope, you can reach the city wall. This section of the road has become Deng Zhongjun’s nightmare.
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Deng Zhong's military formation advanced to the moat and used the ladder as a single-plank bridge. The soldiers placed the ladder across the moat, then stepped on the ladder and ran to the other side.
But under the arrows of the Han army at the top of the city, it was not easy to run across the moat, which was only five or six meters wide?!
The soldiers stepped on the ladder and ran forward a few steps when arrows from the top of the city were fired at them.
People used shields to block arrows, but the shields could block the upper body, but not the lower body. The soldiers' legs were hit by arrows from time to time, and they screamed and fell off the ladder and fell into the moat.
Some soldiers with good water skills could still swim in the river and swim ashore, while some soldiers with poor water skills fell into the river and plunged into the river, never to come up again.
The soldiers with good luck managed to cross the moat despite the rain of arrows on the city wall and arrived at the slope on the other side. As they were running up, another rolling log fell from the city wall.
The rolling log fell under the city wall and rolled down the slope. The soldiers had no way to retreat. They were hit by the rolling log and fell into the moat screaming.
At that time, Cen Peng was guarding Wancheng with only a small number of troops. Liu Yan led tens of thousands of Han troops and could not attack from the left or the right. Until Wancheng ran out of ammunition and food, the people were so hungry that they were about to eat people. Cen Peng
In desperation, the whole city surrendered, and Liu Yan finally captured Wancheng.
It can be seen how difficult Wancheng is to fight. Now Deng Zhongjun is just like the Han army back then. He is suffering a lot in front of Wancheng. The whole army is advancing to death, especially in the moat, where there are floating corpses.
One layer up.
However, Deng Zhong did have a good way of running the army. None of the soldiers under his command flinched. They all stared, roared loudly, and kept pushing forward.
After all, the number of defenders on the city wall was limited. As more and more enemy troops advanced to the moat and set up floating ladders on the river, the Han army on the city wall began to be overwhelmed.
As time went by, more and more Deng Zhongjun crossed the moat and advanced to the bottom of the city wall. People began to set up ladders and climb to the top of the city.
At this time, the Han troops on the top of the city had nothing to keep. Those who had arrows fired arrows at the bottom of the city. When all the arrows were shot, they found heavy objects nearby, such as rolling logs and rocks. Whatever they touched, they threw them at the bottom of the city.
Some of Deng Zhongjun who climbed the ladder were shot down by arrows, and some were hit by rolling logs and stones. The slopes under the city wall were covered with a layer of Deng Zhongjun's corpse, and the surface of the moat was stained with blood. It turned dark red.
After paying such huge casualties, Deng Zhong's army showed no sign of retreat. As long as there was no sound of gold ringing from the rear and as long as the sound of one's own drums did not stop, there was only one thought in people's minds, which was to push forward and attack the city.
Facing Deng Zhongjun's almost crazy attack regardless of casualties, the Han army on the city gradually couldn't support it. Seeing this, Wan Xiu turned his head and shouted: "Pour the kerosene——"
Kerosene is a powerful weapon in city defense. As pots of scalding kerosene tilted down, screams and wailings could be heard from under the city wall.
But soon, all the sounds disappeared. Only torches were dropped from the top of the city, and the torches fell on the kerosene. The slope outside Wancheng instantly turned into a sea of fire.
People struggled and rolled in the sea of fire. Many people rolled directly into the moat, but kerosene also flowed on the surface of the moat and was burning. Jumping into the river was like jumping into a sea of fire.
Even the defenders on the city couldn't bear to look directly at this scene.
Under the attack of kerosene, Deng Zhongjun was finally repelled.
However, they did not retreat too far. Instead, they set up a shield formation on the other side of the moat to resist the arrow formation at the top of the city. At the same time, the soldiers behind pushed up the trebuchets one after another.
Deng Zhongjun fixed the trebuchet on the other side of the moat and began to launch a long-range attack on the Han army on the top of the city.
Stones were catapulted into the air, hitting the city wall and the top of the city. There were loud rumbling sounds that could not be heard without interruption.
Some Han soldiers who were unable to dodge were smashed to pieces with broken bones and tendons. Even the rolling logs and rocks piled up on the city wall were not spared. Some of them were smashed everywhere. The scene on the city wall was chaotic.
When the fire oil outside the city died out, Deng Zhongjun began the second round of strong attack.
This time, the Han army faced greater pressure. Not only did they have to deal with the enemy soldiers who charged more fiercely, but they also had to be wary of falling rocks that fell from the sky from time to time.
The battle between the two sides lasted from morning to afternoon. Although Deng Zhong's army attacking the city suffered heavy casualties, the Han army on top of the city also suffered many casualties.
When it was getting close to dusk, Deng Zhong's army's offensive not only did not weaken, but became more fierce. The entire army almost came out in full force. Judging from the posture, they were going to capture Wancheng in one go.
At this time, the Han army on the top of the city began to be unable to resist. Soon, an enemy soldier climbed up the city along the ladder, but what followed was that he was picked down with a spear by the nearby Han army.
This was just the beginning. As more and more Deng Zhongjun climbed to the top of the city, soldiers from both sides started fighting hand-to-hand on the city wall.
Faced with such a war situation, even Liu Xiu personally participated in the war.
Holding the Red Sky Sword, he rushed towards the group of enemy troops closest to him. This group of enemy troops were somewhat similar to Jia Fu's Ben Ming Lang. They were all shirtless, holding sharp blades, and were extremely good at fighting. The surrounding Han troops were killed by them. To row after row.
Just as he was killing the Han army and doing his best to disrupt the Han army's city defense, Liu Xiu came to the opponent's crowd with his sword. The Red Sky Sword drew a long cold light in the air and swept it horizontally towards the crowd.
An enemy soldier hurriedly raised his sword to block Liu Xiu's killing move. Hearing a crisp click, the opponent's sword broke. The Chixiao Sword continued unabated, directly cutting off the opponent's neck, and the decapitated head flew away. into the air.
Deng Zhongjun who was present was also shocked. People roared angrily and attacked Liu Xiu.
Before Liu Xiu could resist, he heard a roar from behind. Liu Xiu swayed and moved out. The moment he moved away, Wan Xiu passed by him, and the spear in his hand stabbed him. The chest of an enemy soldier.
Poof! The enemy soldier screamed, and Wan Xiu used his spear to lift him off the city wall.
Wan Xiu swung his spear and swept it sideways. The tip of the spear instantly tore open the breastplates of the three soldiers, and blood spurted out. The three soldiers staggered back and fell into a pool of blood.
"Everywhere the sun and moon shine, and wherever rivers reach, are all Han lands! How can we allow your bandit army to run rampant above the Han lands!"
Wan Xiu came up with a gun and killed several enemies in a row. Not to mention that all the Han soldiers present were deeply inspired, and even Liu Xiu was excited.
The soldiers of the Han army launched a counterattack against the enemy troops who had stormed the city. At the same time, they shouted in unison: "How can we allow your thieves to run rampant on Han soil! Kill——"