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Chapter 166 Under the Reward

Han Qian climbed up to the roof. In the dim morning light, he saw a large black group of horse and infantry advancing towards Canglang City. The number of people would only be more than 400, not less than 400. A chill ran down his spine.

I thought Liang Jun might attack Tieguling at night, but unexpectedly Canglang City became their first target.

Han Qian looked north.

Blocked by Black Dragon Mountain, he could not see Tie Crocodile Ridge, but in the Danjiang River to the west of Black Dragon Mountain, Han Qian arranged a black-peng sentry ship there. If a war broke out in Tie Crocodile Ridge, the black-peng sentry ship would use beacon fire as a signal.

No., remind this side.

Judging from the situation, there hasn't been any fighting at Tieguling.

This seems even more weird.

The top of the protective wall of Canglang City is only three feet wide, which is not enough to build a wall or a walking path. Therefore, the defenders cannot directly stand on the top of the protective wall to defend against the enemy. However, when building Canglang City, Han Qian thought of a compromise.

The best way is to build a circle of barracks in Canglang City close to the protective wall. The top of the barracks is covered with fence wood, leaving a half-height distance from the top of the protective wall.

In this way, the defenders could stand on the roofs of the outer barracks to defend against the enemy troops attacking from the wall.

At this time, the elite scouts put on their battle armors and stood on the roof with stern expressions.

The slave soldiers had only been trained for a month and a half, and they were basically still able to obey orders and walk in the queue. They looked quite panicked. They were chased to the roof by Xi Chang, Xi Fa'er and his son, and they were also in a hurry.

Looking at Xi Chang, Xi Fa'er was only wearing simple leather armor. Han Qian said to Tian Cheng: "Get two sets of iron armor and put them on."

Han Qian wanted to use Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er to train the Xi family to be strong and brave, and did not want to see them die in this war.

He did not expect that Liang Jun would take Canglang City as the first target to be evacuated. He thought that the troops Liang Jun sent must be elites, and the battle that followed would be quite fierce. Iron armor seemed much bulkier, but its protection was much stronger than leather armor.

Tian Cheng divided the elite scouts into eight combat groups, with four groups of men and horses each guarding a protective wall, four groups of men and horses serving as reserve teams, and two or three groups of slave soldiers on both wings of the scout combat group.

Even so, the defenders were only just over a hundred, and the number was still too small.

Liang Jun was advancing step by step.

In addition to swords, guns and shields, this group of Liang Jun also built dozens of ladders at night, carried them on their shoulders and carried them on their hands, and rushed to Canglang City, which was a hundred paces square. Some of the horses were dragging freshly cut trees behind them.

It's about the thickness of a person's arms. It was probably intended to be dragged to the front of Canglang City and used as a knocking bar to open the city gate.

Tian Cheng arranged for people to fill a dozen carriages with earth and rocks, push them to two small city gates, hold them tightly, and then ran back and said to Han Qian in a low voice:

"Looking at the posture, this group of Liang Jun is going to attack Canglang City in one go - I wonder if the south bank will send troops to reinforce us!"

"We can't beat back the first wave of strong attacks. Don't expect reinforcements from the Xiangzhou Army on the south bank."

Han Qian frowned and looked at the Xiangzhou Army defense base on the south bank. He was worried that Liang Jun would pass through the space between Tongbai Mountain, Dahong Mountain and Hanshui River and penetrate into Suizhou to the east and Yingzhou to the south. Du Chongtao would also attack.

Many elite soldiers and horses were deployed on the eastern front. There were originally 3,000 troops stationed on the south bank of the fort, but at this time, there were only 1,000 troops left. He said,

"If they really want to attack in one go, it would be easy to do so. They should pour twenty barrels of tung oil on them first."

Tung oil can be said to be the most important product in Xuzhou besides tea and medicine. Whether it is for lighting lamps and making paint, or for anti-corrosion and waterproofing, Jianghuai and other places have a huge demand for tung oil.

Even if tung oil is harvested in Xuzhou, the price per barrel ranges from three to four thousand yuan.

During the war, tung oil was a relatively high-quality fire starter. At this time, the torches inserted at the top of the city for lighting were all impregnated with tung oil.

At this time, there were four hundred barrels of tung oil in Canglang City.

When the protective wall of Canglang City was being rammed, a groove was deliberately left at the bottom of the outer wall. The idea was to use fire attacks to make up for the lack of troops.

Tian Cheng immediately arranged for manpower to place buckets of tung oil against the parapet and pour it into the groove at the bottom of the outer wall. When Liang Jun swarmed up, he could at least disrupt Liang Jun's first wave of offensive.

Three hundred villagers from the village were also rushed to the school grounds in the city in a chaotic manner. They could not see the situation outside the city, but many of them were soldiers who fled into the mountains during previous battles in the Dengxiang area. It is not difficult to judge from the current situation.

The scene shows how urgent the situation is.

"At this time, more than two hundred Liang troops came over in a surprise attack. They wanted to capture Canglang City in one fell swoop. Those who were willing to go up the wall to defend themselves against the enemy would be rewarded with tens of thousands of coins, and casualties would be subsidized. Those who were willing to directly join the Longhuai Army would be given a house.

One building, and fifty acres of farmland!" Han Qian turned around, looked at the stout peasants in the field, and shouted loudly.

After listening to Han Qian's words, Xi Rong wanted to roll her eyes. The Liang Jun who rushed over clearly had more than four hundred, but Han Qian said he only had more than two hundred.

There must be a brave man under a heavy reward.

Life in the cottage is too difficult, everyone is miserable and has a low life.

And even if they don't go up the wall to defend against the enemy at this time, when Liang Jun breaks through Canglang City, the best result is that they will be kidnapped by Liang Jun and forced to do hard labor in the army. There is no better way to work for Zuo Si. In addition to being able to eat well, they will also be paid monthly

There is an additional wage of four liters of salt.

When even fifty or sixty brave bachelors climbed up to the roof, took their spears and wooden shields and stood behind the protective wall, filling the gap between the elite scouts and slave soldiers.

…………

…………

Yang Xiongnai was a deputy general of the Xuzhou Army of the Liang Army. He was tall and brave. At this moment, a pair of tiger eyes stared at the black lonely city by the Han River in the morning light. He didn't know why the forward Han Yuan thought he was insisting on ordering them in such a hasty situation.

Capture this isolated city by force.

However, they have already investigated the earthen city in front of them, which is only a hundred steps away.

It is less than one foot high, and the ditch at the base of the city is only used to drain sewage. It is only two feet deep. The defenders can only be called elites, with only more than forty people. The rest are slaves, but Yang Xiong does not feel that he can attack this city by force.

How difficult is it to build an earthen city, but the problem is how to deal with it after it is conquered.

There is a fortress of the Xiangzhou Army on the south bank of the Han River, with more than a thousand garrison troops. At this time, there are also more than ten ships of the Chu Army heading up the Han River and will arrive here at noon.

If Tiecrocodile Ridge cannot be captured in time, fewer troops and horses will be sent to the old city of Junxian County, and it is likely that they will not be able to hold it; and the connection with Neixiang will be blocked by Tiecrocodile Ridge, and the troops and horses sent here will not be able to hold it.

If there are too many, the main force of the Chu army will be attracted to gather here. When the time comes, they will be at an absolute disadvantage in any aspect when they fight the main force of the Chu army in this corner.

According to Yang Xiong's thinking, it would be better to follow the order and capture Tieguling first, and then advance from Tieguling along the residual road on the east bank of the Danjiang River. The troops will be more dignified and the advance and retreat will be more comfortable.

However, Han Yuan insisted on ordering him to lead his troops to attack here, and Yang Xiong could not refuse. He could only think of taking down this ruined city first. When the situation really did not allow them to hold on, they had three to four hundred cavalry and they could find any opening to withdraw.

It's easy to go.

When Yang Xiong actually led his troops to raise their big shields and braved the sparse rain of arrows, they arrived at the foot of Canglang City. A dozen crude ladders were set up on the top of the wall, and more than a hundred elites gathered at the base of the wall to prepare for the ants to attack. Only then did they discover this

An earth city as small as an ant is not that easy to chew.

The torch was thrown down, and first the pomelo hole in the groove at the base of the wall was ignited. Then barrels of tung oil were poured down on the heads of the generals gathered under the ladder. Bundles of burned firewood were thrown out from the city.

, most of the people were burned to the point of screaming and were forced to retreat. A dozen generals who had bravely rushed to the protective wall were trapped in the dilemma of being alone and outnumbered. They killed three or five of the opponent's people and were stabbed all over their bodies.

The spears and iron spears that were pierced made bloody holes.

In the end, the dozens of corpses had their clothes and armor stripped off, their left ears were cut off, and they were thrown out of the city.

Yang Xiong suddenly felt troubled at this time. He didn't rush into the wall of the earthen city. In addition, he had lost nearly thirty elite combatants due to the burns caused by the oil pouring on them. This was obviously far more than he expected.

This would already cause his body to ache.

Han Qian stood inside the protective wall with a stern expression, staring at Liang Jun gathered on the river bank in the southeast corner without saying a word.

They had also suffered twelve casualties just now, mainly slave soldiers and civilians who went up to help in the battle. When they besieged the elite Liang army who rushed up the wall, they were in a hurry and without any plan, and they were hacked to death and wounded.

Compensation will be provided for casualties and casualties. In addition, fifty barrels of tung oil were burned to resist the first wave of Liang Jun's attack. This made Han Qian heartbroken. These tung oil were supplies shipped from Xuzhou and were charged to Zuo Si.

In his name, I wonder if Shen Yang, who is strict in his work, will agree to him deducting it from the war expenses afterwards.

Otherwise, if we fight a few more battles, Zuo Si's hole will be broken.

Han Qian abandoned these random thoughts and arranged for the corpses of the four civilians who died in the battle to be placed in an empty room to prevent the corpses from irritating other people's eyes and damaging morale.

The eight injured were not in serious condition and were sent to the field below for debridement and treatment.

Tian Cheng was walking back and forth on the roof at this time. He had seen the hasty battle just now. At this time, he yelled loudly to remind the slave soldiers to pay attention to the stable formation, hold the spear in his hand, and stab the incoming enemy.

Just stab him, then he waved the scabbard and severely beat the three slave soldiers and civilians who turned around in fear when facing the enemy. He scolded them and stood against the wall, preparing to face Liang Jun who was charging up the wall in the next wave.

Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er were relatively close to Xi Rong among the Xi clan, so they were selected by Han Qian to lead the slave soldiers. However, after the Xi clan soldiers were defeated and surrendered by Feng Changyu, Xi Chang was only a small leader and escaped.

He only knows the basics of leading troops in battle.

However, Xi Chang and his son Xi Fa'er fought bravely, which was enough in Han Qian's opinion, and he even sent a few extra elite scouts to follow them to prevent any mistakes.

Han Qian still did not forget to encourage more civilians to go to the roof to help in the battle. The four civilians who unfortunately died in the battle immediately found their fellow villagers and gritted their teeth and took out forty loaves of gold as compensation.

Although the defenders seemed panicked at first, the menacing Liang Jun was easily defeated in this way, which made many people excited.

Many villagers in the village are not old farmers with no knowledge and isolated in the mountains. They are either defeated soldiers who fled into the mountains after being defeated in the Deng-Xiang war, or they are children of defeated soldiers.

The vast majority of slave soldiers must be strong.

After all, the people of the Xi clan were redeemed and sold to various places over the years and were truly brutally enslaved. One and a half months of training was not enough to make their bodies strong.

The number of spears and wooden shields stored in Canglang City was sufficient, and more than a hundred people immediately stepped forward.

At this time, some of the leading civilians in the village also stepped forward and brought the manpower of their respective villages in a much more orderly manner. When advancing and retreating, they were even better trained than the slave soldiers led by Xi Chang, Xi Fa'er and his son.


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