By the time General Liang Jun realized the serious problems in the front formation and finally ordered the withdrawal of troops, the corpses of Liang Jun were already covered in the pocket formation with a radius of 200 steps inside the gap in the north city wall.
It is easy for Liang Jun to rush in through the gap, but it is difficult to turn around and escape from the pocket formation. Especially when the golden gong sounds to withdraw troops, the last bit of morale of the more than a thousand Liang Jun who was still trapped in the pocket formation collapsed.
.
Li Zhigao and Guo Liang each led an elite force. Not only did they kill Liang Jun who was defeated in the city, they also took the opportunity to chase them out of the city. They followed the routed troops and rushed into Liang Jun's north position 400 steps away, burning more than thirty of them.
Only then did they calmly retreat with more than a hundred trebuchets and other weapons of war.
Today's battle left Liang Jun with corpses everywhere, but the truly bloody and cruel battlefield was the battlefield inside the gap in the northern city wall.
There were stumps of limbs and broken arms everywhere, like a Shura hell, which made even the most heroic soldiers of the Chu army feel extremely uncomfortable when they saw it.
Zhou Pang re-deployed the defense of the northern city wall. Thousands of civilians once again rushed to the gap that had been destroyed by Liang Jun. They found that the sand, stone and wood that had been piled up to fill the gap had long been stained with blood.
Seeing the stumps and broken arms lying on the ground, many civilians almost vomited out their gall.
No matter how bloody and cruel the battlefield is, they still have to fill the gaps with blood-stained sand, gravel and wood overnight, seal the gaps overnight, and then throw the carcasses of corpses out of the city to welcome the possibility of more tomorrow.
Brutal bloody battle.
Han Qian stood in front of a pile of flesh and blood corpses for a long time. The third prince sent people to invite him twice. He saw that Liang Jun had regrouped outside the North City and was frightened by the fact that they should be killed in a short time, so he invited Zhou Pan to go with him to guard the general.
Mansion.
Tian Cheng, Gao Shao and others were all wounded, and Xi Chang was seriously injured and fell into a coma. In order to suppress the crazy Liang Jun in Beicheng, Xuzhou Camp, which had had no casualties before, lost two hundred soldiers this time.
, most of the other generals were also injured.
If it weren't for such a great and exciting victory, the Xuzhou camp would have been almost completely destroyed in this battle.
It was already dark at this time, and the oil-soaked torches illuminated the general's mansion as brightly as day.
Today's battle was extremely thrilling, and Xichuan City was almost lost, but after the battle, people's hearts were trembling.
The young generals in the guard camp also suffered heavy casualties. At this time, less than half of them were still able to stand up and guard the general's mansion. When they saw Han Qian walking into the general's mansion, the young generals' hearts were beating wildly with excitement.
Han Qian was still nominally the deputy commander of the guard battalion, so many people couldn't help but want to be transferred to Han Qian's side to fight.
Watching the trembling moods of the generals along the way, Han Qian felt inexplicably depressed. He secretly felt that he was greedy for life and afraid of death after all. When he walked into the hall, he saw everyone there, bowing to the third prince.
Seeing Han Qian's clothes stained with blood, Yang Yuanpu asked with concern: "Is Master Han injured somewhere?"
"This is the blood of Xuzhou camp generals. Our casualties today are also very heavy!" Han Qian bowed to the third prince.
"Zuo Si can make such a sharp weapon. If it had been used earlier, where would there be today's casualties?" After Li Chong escorted the third prince Yang Yuanpu back to the general's mansion today, he did not return to the battlefield. Although no one pointed out this afterwards, but
At this moment, seeing Han Qian not even looking at him, he felt jealous and couldn't help but pour cold water on him.
Today's battle almost wiped out more than 6,000 of Liang's most elite troops. However, Zhou Pan's troops suffered 800 casualties, and Li Zhigao's troops also suffered more than 400 casualties. In addition, the Xuzhou camp and Guo Liang, who blocked Liang's troops from the west, suffered
The headquarters and defenders also suffered 1,500 casualties.
Not to mention the fierce battle that lasted for half a month, the defenders' cumulative casualties were less than 2,000.
In fact, there were only 5,000 generals and less than 3,000 civilians left in Xichuan City who were still barely able to fight at this time.
In Li Chong's view, Zuo Si could build a trebuchet with a range of 600 steps. If it was put into use immediately, Liang Jun would have no way to place seventy or eighty trebuchets 400 steps away from the Xichuan city wall and continuously attack them. After bombarding the fragile city walls of Xichuan, Liang Jun did not dare to attack the city so frequently and fiercely in the past half month.
"Yes, Mr. Han had already taken out such sharp weapons, so our army's casualties would not have been so tragic!" Shen He also said with regret, not understanding why Han Qian would make such a fuss and increase the number of soldiers so much. of casualties.
Han Qian originally didn't want to pay attention to Li Chong and Shen He's questions, but looking at Yang En, Shen Yang frowned slightly, sat behind the long desk, and said slowly:
"No one wants to bear such heavy casualties, but we need to delay more!"
Han Qian's eyes were not very sharp, but when he looked over calmly, Li Chong lowered his head with guilt.
Han Qian did not wait for others to question him further and continued:
"No sharp weapon is omnipotent. The scorpion crossbow made by Zuo Si is actually not as good as the current three-bow bed crossbow. Everyone can see that, and although the whirlwind cannon he made can kill at 600 paces The enemy is far away, but when we use it as soon as possible, Liang Jun can adjust his deployment and immediately build a larger trebuchet to fight us. They control the outside of the city and can find better and tougher wood, as well as more The strong civilians can drive us, and when the two sides attack, what chance do we have of winning, and how long can we sustain Xichuan City without being breached by Liang Jun?"
Both of these weapons were newly made by Zuo Si, and were only used by the Xuzhou camp after they were made. Even though Yang En and others had seen the true appearance of the new trebuchet two days ago, they only knew about Han Qian at this time. This new type of trebuchet is called the cyclone cannon, and another simple crossbow is called the scorpion crossbow. I really don’t know where Master Han Qian came from to master the making methods of these two new types of war weapons.
"Yes, what Mr. Han said is true. It is just to show the enemy's weakness. Not only did it delay for half a month, but it also gave us the opportunity to severely damage the elite of Liang Jun today." Zhou Pan's troops were hit the hardest today. , but he saw the battle situation reverse in an instant, and he was the most shocked. At this time, he couldn't help but stand up and defend Han Qian, "We have severely damaged Liang Jun this time, and its leader Han Yuanqi is creating more." Before the large trebuchet, I probably didn’t have the courage to attack the city by force..."
Everything was done to buy more time, severely damage Liang Jun's most elite combat force, and dampen its morale.
Yang En and Shen Yang looked at each other, and their brows widened. This severely damaged Liang Jun's offensive will and morale, which is especially important sometimes. It also means that the defender's will and morale will become stronger.
They had just visited Beicheng with the third prince. Although the casualties of the copycat recruiters today were extremely heavy, their morale was still good.
Especially since Zhou Tan could stand up and speak for Han Qian at this time, I believe this battle also strengthened his confidence in defending Xichuan City.
For many people, like Zhou Pan, they are not actually afraid of sacrifice, but they are afraid that the sacrifice will be meaningless and worthless.
This is very critical.
Zhou Pang and other copycat generals were confident in defending Xichuan City at this time, and believed that after guarding Xichuan, the copycat children would be able to obtain sufficient benefits from all levels, and they would then be able to further tap into the potential of the copycat forces.
Prior to this, Zhou Pan and other copycat generals led their troops to participate in the defense of Xichuan City, which felt somewhat like being on a pirate ship.
After all, when they abandoned Canglang City and transferred the soldiers recruited from the cottage to Xichuan, Zhou Zan and the others did not know how cruel the situation was, and after arriving in Xichuan, it was impossible to withdraw.
There are only 1,500 to 1,500 soldiers in Zhou Pang's army. Li Zhigao, Zheng Hui, Guo Hui and the Xuzhou camp under the direct control of Han Qian, plus the guard camp around the third prince, have more than 7,000 soldiers. How can Zhou Pang withdraw? ?
During this period, Shen Yang and Yang En also had a better understanding of the potential of the Shanzhai forces. They thought that as long as they had the confidence to defend Xichuan City and convinced them that defending Xichuan City would bring huge benefits, they could raise three more people from the Shanzhai. Five thousand elite combat power is no problem.
Yang En and Shen Yang looked at Han Qian. I believe Han Qian had already thought of this step, right?
"The most urgent task is to ask His Highness and all of you to jointly sign the victory report and deliver it to His Majesty as soon as possible!" Han Qian said, "The survival of Xichuan City depends on whether Your Majesty dares to move the building as quickly as possible. The elite naval forces directly went into battle on the Han River!"
The potential of the copycat forces naturally needs to be further explored, and people will even be sent into the mountains tonight to mobilize. However, in Han Qian's view, this is not the most important thing for them to do at the moment.
After all, the Shanzhai soldiers and horses have to be assembled, and since the Xichuan River is blocked, they need to go north along the west bank of the Xichuan River to the depths of Funiu Mountain to make a detour, and then break through Liang Jun's blockade at the southern foot of Funiu Mountain, so that reinforcements can reach Xichuan City. It may be a little too late in time, and it may not pose much of a threat to Liang Jun.
What Han Qian was more concerned about at this time was the reinforcements from Jinling, especially the advancing speed of the Louchuan Navy, which was the key to deciding whether they would live or die.
Emperor Tianyou rose from the Jianghuai River and became adept at naval warfare. After laying the foundation stone tomb, he even established a naval navy affiliated with the Beiya bodyguard and pro-army system. It is currently the only naval force that can quickly pass through the Han River and send reinforcements to Xiangzhou City and Xichuan. Elite reinforcements.
As long as the navy of the Louchuan Army dares to enter the Han River and tear open the blockade of Liang Jun along the Han River, it will not only reinforce Xiangzhou City and Xichuan City, but also separate the Liang Jun on both sides of the Han River!
Of course, it would not be easy for Emperor Tianyou to make up his mind to send the elite navy of the naval fleet to go first.
First of all, Emperor Tianyou needed to believe that the Louchuan Navy could gain a foothold in Xichuan by advancing all the way north.
Otherwise, the Lou Chuanjun marched northward from Hanshuikou alone and had to overcome numerous blockades along the way. The losses would be considerable, and the upper reaches of the Danjiang River would not be able to gain a foothold. In the narrow river, large warships are easily attacked by fire. destroy.
If the Lou Chuan Army's lone division moves northward, it actually risks the entire division being destroyed.
Da Chu was based on the Jianghuai River and relied heavily on the elite navy.
Even if the victory is passed to Emperor Tianyou, Han Qian is not sure whether Emperor Tianyou will send the navy to march north alone. Maybe it depends on whether Yang Yuanpu, his son, has enough in Emperor Tianyou's heart. Hey, let the naval forces of the building navy take this risk!