"Shang Hu, you are such a courageous dog. Think about how much food you have eaten from my family over the years. You feed the dogs and you still know how to look after the guardian. You are such a rebellious dog that you have joined the bandit army. You are worse than a lowly animal!"
Shang Xi wore a piece of heavy armor that didn't fit very well and held a sword for killing horses. When he saw Shang Hu, who had escaped that night, leaning out half of his body from the crenel wearing heavy armor, he cursed angrily. Together with the three soldiers around him, he raised his hand
The sword and spear then slashed and stabbed Shang Hu.
It is said that Shang Hu has the power to kill people. In the past, Shang Xi only knew how to send him to do things, but he didn't feel anything. At this moment, he realized how powerful Shang Hu was as a thief. When he saw Shang Hu shrinking slightly, he forcefully
He used an iron shield to block three spears, and stabbed and slashed the horses with a straight spine. Half of his body seemed to be made of iron, motionless in front of the crenel.
Immediately afterwards, I saw Shang Hu holding the iron shield and swinging to the left. A heavy-edged spear stabbed from the right side quickly. Shang Xi couldn't avoid it and was stabbed hard in the chest.
Although the breast shield blocked the stabbing, and the half-finger-thick nail plate only made a deep mark without penetrating, Shang Xi still felt that his chest was hit hard by a heavy hammer.
Although he is also good at dancing with guns and sticks, he only keeps it as a hobby. Only in life and death fights can he realize that the gap between people who are naturally brave is still so big.
Shang Xi calmed down for a moment and wanted to stabilize his position and knock Shang Hu off the city wall first, but he didn't expect that at this moment, more than a dozen new Chishan Army soldiers would rush up at the crenels on the left and right sides, especially the one on the left wearing green and brown heavy armor.
The general, the heavy-edged spear in his hand was fast and heavy, and the power was unimaginable. The two soldiers who faced him head-on were unprepared, and a bloody hole was stabbed in the chest of one of them. The leather armor was like rags, and it did not provide any extra
Defense: One person's head was split in half, and white pulp flowed out, which made the liver and gallbladder burst.
The general jumped into the crenel, leaned against the wall with his back, held a shield in one hand, and waved with the other, driving away the four or five guards who wanted to get close. Shang Hu and three other Chishan soldiers took the opportunity to jump over the crenel and stand on the green side.
General A formed a small defensive formation against the wall, hoping to open up a larger space on top of the fort wall.
Shang Xi gritted his teeth and rushed forward. The heavy-edged spear in the green-armored general's hand was like a poisonous dragon heading towards his chest.
Shang Xi saw that he couldn't block it with his frame, so he crouched slightly, thinking of using his breast shield to block the stabbing, and then took the opportunity to raise his knife and strike back.
The backlash like the impact of a heavy hammer didn't come through. Shang Xi felt a chill in his chest. He lowered his head to look at his heart mirror, but it was directly pierced by the spear. Half of the foot-long heavy-edged spear blade had penetrated deeply.
Among the strong, there is a strong hand. Shang Xi thought that Shang Hu was already naturally brave, but he did not expect that the same heavy-edged spear in front of him was in the hands of the general in front of him. It was more powerful and directly pierced the half-finger-thick deck of the breastplate.
"Pass the spear!" Kong Xirong kicked Shang Xi away, who was still alive, and opened a small space on the fortress wall in front of him. He raised his shield to block several arrows shot from a distance, and shouted behind him.
.
The heavy-edged spear is stabbed with great speed and force. It is not difficult to break through the copper heart mirror, which is thicker than the armor scales. However, it is difficult to pull out the stuck heavy-edged spear with your backhand. It is a waste of time.
, it is better to just change weapons and fight again.
A heavy-edged spear was handed from behind. As soon as Kong Xirong took it, there was a piercing wind coming from the front left side. He raised his shield to fight, and his arms felt numb. He saw the guard who came up from the side wearing a ragged collar.
Although he was wearing leather armor, his strength was astonishing. Unfortunately, in addition to his strength, the coordination of his hands and feet was very rough. It was obvious that he had not practiced his martial arts for a long time.
This man only had the courage and courage to attack, but he didn't know how to guard his chest and abdomen first. Kong Xirong saw dozens of soldiers rushing towards him from the left and right. Wanting to save his energy to guard the entrance to the wall, Kong Xirong raised his hand.
The spear stabbed diagonally at the man's neck.
"Leopard Head, stop it! General Kong, show mercy!"
Kong Xirong heard someone behind him yelling in panic, and the heavy-edged spear deflected slightly. When he drew it back, the spear sank, and passed through the guard's right arm, pulling out a bloody gash half a finger deep, forcing him to let go and let go.
Horse sword.
"Whoosh!"
Another sound of piercing the sky came, and Kong Xirong raised his shield to block it, but this time it was a heavy crossbow arrow fired from the sentry tower on the left front.
Fortunately, Kong Xirong was holding a fine iron shield and a fist-sized heavy crossbow arrow cluster. He forcefully dented the fine iron shield, which was as thick as a finger, but luckily it did not penetrate. Kong Xirong was almost knocked down by the huge force.
.
It is a pity that the defenders of Shangjiabao only have five crossbows, three of which have been destroyed, and the remaining two cannot pose a fatal threat to the Chishan Army attached to the city.
Kong Xirong saw that the Shangjiabao guard who had injured his right arm and knocked off his weapon did not even retreat. He even wanted to pick up the knife and strike with it, so he drew back the ash wood pole of the heavy-edged spear and knocked the guard back.
The soldiers were beaten and took two steps back.
At this time, the new soldier named Shang Hu, who shouted to him to show mercy, rushed forward and punched the guard's face twice with his fist as big as a bowl:
"Leopard Tou, you are blind, it's me, Huzi! Where are mother and little sister?"
In the fierce fighting between the soldiers, there was no room for any mistakes. When the guard was confused, Kong Xirong used the spear pole to hit the guard's neck hard, knocking him unconscious.
More and more warriors from the rear climbed up to the top of the city with the help of the city ladder, and large iron shields weighing dozens of kilograms were also carried up. Seeing that they had initially established a position on the fort wall, the next step was to open up space on the two wings.
, Kong Xirong no longer rushed to the front line, but stayed at the entrance of the wall to supervise the battle.
He was able to take time out at this time, pointed at the new soldier at the top of the city who had been knocked unconscious by him, and asked Shang Hu who was standing by: "Is this your brother?"
"Thank you General Kong for not killing me."
"Your two brothers have good strength, but their kung fu is too rough." Kong Xirong curled his lips and said.
The heavy-edged spears used by the guard camp have blades made of quenched fine iron made by secret methods, which are extremely hard and extremely sharp. With Shang Hu's great strength, appropriate force and fast enough speed, he can break through a half-finger-thick shield.
Heart mirror.
Of course, Shang Hu was born as a slave. Unless he was raised as a domestic soldier from a young age, otherwise it would be a luxury to be rough in fists and kicks.
It had only been twenty days since he joined the army, and he was still quite thin, with only strength and courage. But if the two brothers were given a year or two to grow stronger, practice martial arts, and work hard, they would have a chance to become two brothers.
A brave general!
Kong Xirong himself is also like this.
Although he had been practicing martial arts under the strict supervision of his father Kong Zhou since he was a child, he never survived on the battlefield of life and death.
In the first few battles in Xuzhou, he was only brave, but his hands and feet were rough. He could not grasp the essence of battlefield fighting, and his body and bones were not stretched to the limit like cast iron and copper.
When he faced off against the Chenzhou Xi family brothers on the battlefield, he was even knocked to the ground. If the soldiers around him hadn't bravely protected him, he might have been killed on the battlefield.
As he is now, even if he is still not as good as the former Sheshehu, he will not be as embarrassed as before.
"Hoo!"
Soon, louder cheers came from the city, like wild waves surging, like spring tides, the castle gate was opened by the generals who rushed down the road to the city.
The terrain on which Shangjiabao was built was sixty or seventy meters higher than the surrounding plains. Naturally, the defenders could clearly see that the elite Chuzhou Army's flank offensive they had placed high hopes on was ruthlessly crushed by the Chishan Army.
This further damaged their already low morale.
The Shang family and several other descendants of the aristocratic clans who retreated to Shangjiabao, no matter how much they promised generous rewards, it was impossible to save the situation at this point.
After seeing that the fort gate on the north side was captured and opened, hundreds of Chishan Army elites rushed in. Shang Zhongjie and several other aristocratic disciples who fled into Shangjia Fort to avoid trouble were escorted by a small number of elite troops.
They couldn't wait to escape from the small gate on the south side into the forest deep in Donglu Mountain. This made the defenders who were abandoned in the fort lose their fighting spirit and abandoned their weapons and surrendered one after another.
Shang Hu was still thinking about his mother and little sister in the castle, and he was worried that his brother Bao, who had just woken up, had not yet figured out his head and would do something stupid again, so he wanted to find two familiar colleagues to help take care of Bao's head.
He wanted to go into the castle to find his mother and little sister.
"Tie a white sweat scarf around his neck!" Kong Xirong took out a white sweat scarf from his waist and threw it to Shang Hu.
The uniforms and armors of the Chishan Army and the Chuzhou Army were of the same style. Most of the new recruits did not even have military uniforms. They all wore the original shabby robes. During the melee, they mainly wore white sweat scarves around their necks to distinguish ourselves from the enemy.
Seeing that Kong Xirong asked his younger brother to tie a white sweat scarf around his neck, which meant that he directly agreed for his younger brother to join the army directly, Shang Hu kowtowed, then dragged Leopard Head, who was still in a daze, down the road to the city, and went inside to look for his mother and child.
sister……
…………
…………
Han Qian climbed up the dilapidated north wall of Shangjia Fort and looked at the steep ravine in the north that was more than ten feet deep. There were also corpses of young generals rolling down at the bottom of the ravine. Before they had time to carry them out for burial, he did not expect that the little Shang
Jiabao was still called Chishan Army, with more than 600 casualties.
In addition to the cumulative casualties of 1,500 to 600 people on the flanks in the past few days, the Chishan Army won this battle with more than 2,000 casualties, not just injuries.
Treating so many injuries will almost exhaust the medicine brought by Xuzhou.
In the early days, Anning Palace was not strict with their blockade. After all, the first step Han Qian took to Jinling was to destroy Danyang City. Some supplies that were in short supply could still be rushed over by ship, but Anning Palace would definitely supervise them next.
The soldiers and horses in Jiangzhou and Chizhou strengthened the blockade of the Yangtze River waterway - before the Wuya Army's navy dared to go down the river to fight the decisive battle with the Lou Chuanjun, it would be extremely difficult to transport scarce supplies from Xuzhou through waterways.
difficult.
The northern section of Shangjiabao's wall is more than ten feet wide at the top. It is no different from an ordinary city wall. However, the core of the rammed earth wall is wrapped with a strip of stone. It is made of sticky rice and then mixed with lime.
The city wall is stronger.
Even if you build dozens or twenty cyclone cannons, don't expect to be able to create a big gap for more than half a month.
It's no wonder that several aristocratic families had the confidence to flee to Shangjiabao instead of Lishui City.
It's just that the danger of the city lies in the people's hearts.
This is a simple truth that most people can understand when they say it, but cannot really understand it.
Li Pu, accompanied by Yao Xishui, and Zhang Ping, who was lagging behind and unable to ride a fast horse because his left arm was disabled, rushed to Shangjiabao. The general trend here was determined.
They climbed up the fort wall and walked to Han Qian. They saw that the Chishan Army had organized the transfer of women and children from the southern foot of Maoshan Mountain to Shangjiabao. Then they heard Han Qian standing at the top of the city and ordered Wei Chang, the deputy commander of the guard battalion.
He was asked to lead four hundred crossbow cavalry southward and deep into the vicinity of Jilong Mountain in northern Xuanzhou.
This battle will greatly shock the aristocratic families in various counties. I am afraid that no aristocratic family will dare to defend their fortress alone. For them, before the Chishan army can reach them, they can take their children and a small number of people with them.
It is an inevitable choice for the elite troops to withdraw into the big cities of prefectures and counties.
Han Qian ordered Wei Chang to lead the crossbow cavalry to the northern foot of Jilong Mountain, in order to deter those noble families who wanted to flee south into Xuanzhou City from taking away too much grain, fodder and other bulk materials.
Food has always been an eternal theme in war.
Li Pu saw that half of the wooden archery towers on the left and right corners had been knocked down, but the walls of the protective shed above the north fort gate were made of stone. There was almost no damage during the war, so it seemed that they had been attacked by force.
The fighting was not as intense as expected.
Let this guy successfully capture Shangjia Fort!
There seemed to be many ants crawling and gnawing in Li Pu's heart. It didn't hurt, but it was indescribably unpleasant and uncomfortable.
In Shangjia Fort alone, tens of thousands of slaves from various families were gathered, and more than two thousand young men and women were gathered among them. In addition, the momentum of this battle was much greater than the previous small fights, forcing all the surrounding sects of the big and small families to go.
There are a large number of soldiers and horses defending the prefectures and counties to escape. Without the supervision of their masters, more slaves will go to Maoshan and Donglushan to gather together. It is unimaginable that in another month, the strength of the Chishan Army will be
How far will it continue to expand?
At that point, Han Qian will really have the strength to stick to Maoshan and compete with the Chuzhou Army and An Ning Palace, right?
"grown ups!"
At this time, a soldier wearing scale armor and stained with blood who had not had time to wash himself passed by the city and greeted happily towards the top of the castle wall.
"Have you found your mother and siblings?" Han Qian asked.
"Found it. This is my brother Baotou. General Kong allowed him to join the camp at the top of the city, and he will work directly with you from now on." Shang Hu replied at the bottom of the city. He was very happy and excited that Han Qian still remembered his family.
matter.
"Okay, you first take him to familiarize yourself with the situation. When I came here, I heard Diao Xiazi said that he wanted to pass on his ancestral Tongyang Diao family gun to you, and I also heard General Kong say that your brother is very strong, and even a knife cut his arm.
Damn it - you have to take your brother with you to see Blind Diao and learn the Diao gun passed down from his family to see if he is bragging." Han Qian said.
Li Pu looked enviously at the two brave generals Miaozi under the fort wall, especially the armored soldier who greeted them. He was jumping alive and covered in blood, which showed that he had outstanding achievements in this battle.
Regardless of the original Wuling Army or the current Xuzhou Prefecture Camp or Chishan Army, there are very few people who can truly be called brave generals.
After all, the children of the family soldiers and the children of Zuo Si were all born among hungry people and had poor health, so the probability of becoming a brave general was naturally low. Zhao Wuji, Lin Haizheng, Lin Zongjing, and Wei Chang were all extremely rare brave generals, while the others were more familiar with military affairs.
In the military formation, it is impossible that there are more than fifty soldiers of the Han family and more than five hundred of Zuosi's children. All of them are brave generals who can fight one against ten and pick one out of a hundred.
Tian Cheng, Gao Shao and others had previous foundations. Including Zhou Chu, their health began to decline when they were in their forties. They took up the post of Du Yuhou with their rich and experienced military experience.
Feng Xuan and Yang Qin were brave, but they only roamed the countryside.
Kong Xirong was said to be the most brave general of the Chishan Army, but he was not noticed by cousins Li Xiu and Li Qi.
However, among the slaves who come to Toumao Mountain these days, especially those who dared to become fugitives in the early days, there are several brave generals who can lift three or four kilograms of stone load.
Of course, what is more embarrassing to Li Pu than this is that Han Qian insists on capturing Shangjia Fort. His reputation will become more and more prosperous, and he will even recruit slaves to join the army. The shortcomings of being an enemy of the family will be covered up for a while. What is even more embarrassing is that
They have done nothing on the west flank - the defenders of Lishui City have no courage to go out to fight.
"At this time, there may be a good opportunity to seize Lishui City. Can we give Li Xiu and the others a chance to show off?" Li Pu hesitated for a long time and finally asked with determination.
Yao Xishui also stared at Han Qian closely.
The world is full of unfairness, but sometimes it is fair.
Li Xiu and Li Qi came from a wealthy general family, and they could usually ignore generals with mud-legged backgrounds, but without military exploits, their words were not strong enough after all.
The Shenlingsi lineage behind Xinchang Marquis Lipu and others should be considered to have a deep enough foundation in Yueyang, but in this era of turmoil and rampant military generals, if they cannot make great achievements on the battlefield, the foundation cannot be considered stable.
If Li Pu wants to compete with him for the right to speak in Yueyang, it is impossible not to fight a tough battle.
In this era of turmoil and rampant military generals, people always bully the weak and fear the strong, and the right to speak also belongs to the stronger party.
Han Qian glanced at Li Pu, pondered for a while and then nodded casually and said, "Okay!"
"Wanhonglou has some arrangements in Lishui City, but we still need to borrow some soldiers and horses from you to attract the attention of the defenders." Li Pu said with a shy face.
In addition to a battalion of Nanya Imperial Guards in Lishui City, there were also county soldiers and clan soldiers gathered from local aristocratic families, totaling two thousand soldiers.
Normally, in addition to preparing troops and horses, the four city gates in the east, west, south and north are usually guarded by about 300 soldiers and horses.
Even if Li Pu and others pass through Wanhonglou and have sent more than a hundred elites to infiltrate Lishui City, and they can suddenly attack from the inside while the defenders are not prepared, the battle to seize the gate will be extremely fierce and they may not be able to successfully seize the gate.
.
In order to ensure nothing went wrong, Li Pu also asked Han Qian to lend him some troops and horses, and deploy them to one side of Lishui City to feign an attack to attract the attention of the defenders.
"Then please ask Mr. Zhang and General Gao to lead two battalions of troops and wait for Li Houye's control." Han Qian said. The Chuzhou Army has not yet reacted. There is no pressure on their east wing to attack Lishui City.
Sooner rather than later, he did not bargain with Li Pu, and his intuition ordered Gao Shao to lead two battalions of soldiers and horses to cooperate with them.
Although he guessed that Han Qian would like to see them capture Lishui City and then hold on to it, so as to share the pressure on the right wing for the Chishan Army to gain a foothold in Maoshan, Han Qian was so cooperative without making any difficulties. Xinchang Hou Li Pu and Yao Xishui were still quite surprised and were stunned for a while.
, then he cupped his hands towards Gao Shao and said, "Thank you for your service, Gao will be your general."
"It's easy to say..." Gao Shao said with a smile. He was going to fight for soy sauce anyway. If the elites of the county palace can force the rebels out of the city, the new recruits can still get the opportunity to fight in the wild, but there is nothing to refuse.