The cold wind was howling, and his cloak was fluttering in the wind. Li Xiang rode his horse to the front of Zhangye County City. The moat had frozen, and there was a thick layer of ice. You could see sharp tree stumps under the ice. If a person fell,
Will be stabbed to death by these sharp tree stumps.
The Ma family flag on the city wall was fluttering in the cold wind. The south city gate was closed and the north city gate was wide open. The army retreated with the wealthy people in the city. They wanted to retreat to the two counties behind.
The senior officials in the city had different opinions, and in the end it was Ma Teng who led an army of 30,000 to garrison Zhangye County City, while the army in the city retreated.
Those who wanted to follow the retreating army were required to leave a month's worth of food before leaving, otherwise they would all have to stay in the city.
The big families in the city were not short of food and grass. Groups of people left with the Ma family's army. There were still some people who had no choice but to watch others go away because they had no extra food at home.
They can hand over a month's worth of food, but after handing it over, where will they find food?
Two Weeks is not like the Central Plains, where you can still get some food by begging. There are basically no beggars here in Liangzhou, because you can't get much food here, especially in such an environment.
Li Xiang did not send anyone to cut off the retreating army's path. Because of the snow on the grassland, charging in the snow could only go forward. It was difficult to stop. Once fighting with the opponent, there was no way to stop.
Only when one side loses will the battle between the two sides stop.
"Lord, the reinforcements from the rear have arrived!" Cheng Jushu rode up to Prime Minister Li and whispered softly.
Li Xiang nodded: "Let them go to the arranged place, and ask someone when the Seventh Army and the Eighth Army can mobilize the army to go south!"
In a month and a half, spring will begin. By that time, the snow will melt and the grassland will turn green. The Ma family's army will make a comeback. Xiliang will have to face a lot of pressure by then.
So Li Xiang continued to arrive with soldiers from the Seventh and Eighth Legions. The Seventh Legion fought together with his own soldiers, and the soldiers of the Eighth Legion garrisoned the city.
The Eighth Army is at the bottom of the Xiliang Army and can be placed among other units in Daqian. The Eighth Army can be regarded as a front-line unit.
With the soldiers of the Eighth Legion stationed in the city, the Xiliang army can fight freely with the Ma family army.
"Yes!" Cheng Jushu rode his horse and retreated quickly, then turned to look at Zhangye County City. This city was very tall. If they wanted to take it down, they had to fight hard!
However, before the fight, Dexian asked those people and soldiers in the city who wanted to retreat to retreat. He knew that the other side would not leave too many troops. From the perspective of food and grass, Zhangye County was in a food crisis.
Especially after the Xiliang cavalry came to the grassland and the two counties behind them could no longer provide them with food, Zhangye County's food reserves were decreasing day by day.
Food is the guarantee of combat effectiveness. Without food, an army of 120,000 is like a dozen pigs. After being besieged for a period of time, they will fall into a food crisis. In the end, they will be defeated because they have no food.
Therefore, the other side will not leave too many soldiers in the city, leaving about 30,000 to 60,000 troops. This part of the soldiers must be an elite division. They must guard and defend to the death. They may be able to hold out until two months later. When the Ma family's army arrives, they also say
indefinite!
Thinking that Li Xiang would turn around and leave with his troops, the Shenji Battalion would begin to attack tomorrow. This city must control the city wall to allow the army to enter.
Otherwise, if we let the army rush to the city wall, we will let the Xiliang soldiers die.
The Ma family soldiers on the city wall breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Li Xiang retreating with his men. They recognized Li Xiang and knew the horror of the governor Li Xiang. They felt pressured by being watched by a strong man who was like a god.
The mountain is big.
However, they will only stay here for two more days. After two days, the soldiers who stayed in the city will come to pick up their squad, and they can retreat to the back with the large army.
There are not many troops in the city who are willing to fight against the Xiliang Army. Many of them are veterans who have retreated from fighting with the Xiliang Army on the front line. Those veterans are all elite troops. When they go out to fight, everyone is full of energy.
, even heavy snow cannot conceal their momentum.
After returning from the battle with the Xiliang Army, everyone kept silent about the Xiliang Army. One or two people were unwilling to recall any of the battles. There were so many people who went out, and when they came back, less than half of them were left. You know which one?
How brutal the battle was.
The sky is not afraid, the earth is not afraid. Most of the veterans do not want to encounter the Xiliang Army again, and some want to wash away their shame and want to fight with the Xiliang Army again.
These people were among the 30,000 people who stayed behind, and the food and grass in the city were reserved for the soldiers, who were provided with good food and drink every day. During the days when she and the others were retreating, those people were recharging their energy and resting every day.
This was probably the last day of rest for those soldiers. After their large forces retreated, a dark battle awaited those people.
the next day!
Xiliang Shenji Yingsheng began to arrange their positions. They came to the first half mile of the city wall, assembled the catapults, and moved their crossbows closer. The soldiers were calculating the distance and choosing a place to attack.
This city is very high. If Xiliang soldiers want to kill, they need to go to a ladder. It is difficult to carry a tool like a ladder. They can only cut down trees around Heishui County and send them to the front line tent for craftsmen to build with the army.
These days, Prime Minister Li has been observing Zhangye County City everywhere, but he has not left the soldiers idle, carrying stones, wood, and building various siege weapons.
War weapons such as trebuchets cannot be made in the wild and require the use of some technology in the castle. Building a castle in the wild is too luxurious.
There are no wood producing areas very close around, so the wood used to build the ladders was cut down and sent by Xiliang soldiers from hundreds of miles away.
Building a castle also consumes a lot of wood.
Xiliang launched an attack, and the defenders in the city hid behind them. It would be difficult for the opponent to break the city wall with a trebuchet. Zhangye County City is not the capital of Liangzhou. It would be impossible for it to be attacked so easily.
They just listened to the voices coming from above and didn't panic at all. They couldn't be hit anyway, and it would take another day for them to retreat. Then whatever the Xiliang army would do!
When the civilians in the city heard the sound of the trebuchet stones hitting the city wall, they knew that the war had begun. They had already prepared themselves and moved to safe places.
Once the war starts, even if you hide at home, it is not very safe. You can only hide in the cellar. The cellar is the same in every household, but it is a good place for Liangzhou people to avoid enemies, foreigners, and war.
In the City Lord's Mansion, Ma Teng drank the last glass of wine with the senior executives. This time was likely to be the last time they drank together.
"Goodbye!" The third elder was the last to leave. He looked back at the patriarch who was still very high-spirited half a year ago. Since Ma Jin's death, the patriarch has begun to age, and his formerly black hair has turned gray.
He is more than just Ma Jin's child, but he spends the most time with Ma Jin. Ma Jin is also very successful, but it is a pity that he met the pervert Li Xiang.
The past is irreversible, and now they can only reduce the family's losses.
The clan leader will lead an army of 30,000 to defend Zhangye County. It only needs to be held for a month and a half, and then they will mobilize a large army to kill.
Even if Heishui County and other places cannot be captured, it is not a difficult problem to defeat the Xiliang Army.
Wheel, wheel!
The carriage was on the stone road, and the people who followed the Ma family's army out of Zhangye County looked back at this tall city. If possible, they would not retreat to Zhangye County City.
The prefect and others said that it would only take one and a half months for the army to come back. Many people did not believe this. Once the Zhangye County City was lost, it would be difficult to get it back, especially since the troops defending the city were still the Xiliang Army.
After Ma Teng sent everyone away, he walked to the city gate and saw the Xiliang Army soldiers being mobilized. They had blocked the west gate, east gate and south gate, leaving only the north gate.
The Xiliang Iron Cavalry did not go after the retreating troops. The Great Elder and others were well aware of the combat effectiveness of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry. They were well prepared. The Ma family cavalry patrolled on both sides of the army. If anything went wrong, the army would immediately move.
Xiliang's scouts are stronger than their Ma's scouts. Even if one of their Ma's scouts disappears, they will immediately mobilize their troops.
"Xiliang Iron Cavalry!" Ma Teng chanted word for word. His son died in a battle with Xiliang Iron Cavalry. If Li Xiang couldn't kill him, then he could definitely kill a few of Xiliang Iron Cavalry!
It happened that Li Xiang also came to the city gate. Li Xiang, who had good eyesight, saw the gray-haired Ma Teng on the city wall and said: "Is there Ma Teng in the city?"
Ma Teng is the prefect of Zhangye.
Ma Teng looked towards the bottom of the city, where Prime Minister Li was holding a strange weapon on his horse: "Prime Minister Li, Governor Li?"
"Hahaha!" Li Xiang laughed and rode his horse to the Xuan Bridge at the city gate: "Prefect Ma and General Ma Jin are indeed father and son, they look very similar!
Speaking of which, I feel really sorry. At that time, General Ma Jin came on horseback, and I tried my best, but I didn’t expect that General Ma Jin was so weak, and I accidentally killed General Ma Jin!”
When facing the enemy, Li Xiang has never had much grace. What can he do if he wants to be graceful? The two of them are already mortal enemies. Since they are mortal enemies, they just want to slap people in the face.
Ma Jin is the first person of the younger generation of the Ma family and the first heir of the next generation of the family. If such a person is killed by Chen Huai with a negative blow, of course he will be ridiculed to death.
Li Xiang's words were like a knife inserted into Ma Teng's body, then pulled out and then inserted again, repeated several times.
"Shoot him to death!" Ma Teng said loudly to the archers on both sides without saying anything back.
Whoosh whoosh!
Countless long arrows fell from the city wall, but Li Xiang didn't even move his body. When those long arrows came close to the edge, they were blocked by the strong energy around him.
"Prefect Ma, have these soldiers under your command not eaten?" He grabbed a long arrow and said, "This force is not even as strong as the weakest cook in Xiliang. If I were you, I would let them go back to the countryside to farm. They have no food."
The talent of being a soldier, no, farming also requires strength, they should learn from women to embroider something, female celebrities don’t need much strength!"
"Hahahaha!" The guards following Prime Minister Li laughed loudly. The archers on the city wall were blushing, feeling ashamed, embarrassed, and angry... The arrows in their hands were more powerful than the others.
But facing the Xiliang guards, even if these long swords break through their aura, they will be blocked by the thick armor of the soldiers. The guards' armor is not for viewing.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Ma Teng was furious, but he quickly suppressed his anger and said: "Li Shi, if you have the ability, you can kill on the city wall, how can you speak so fast under the city!"
"I am not quick to speak!" Li Xiang raised the square halberd and pointed it at Ma Teng: "Master Ma, if you want to avenge your son, I will let you fight the horse!"
Ma Teng glanced at Li Xiang, was he stupid before going down to duel with Li Xiang?
He glanced at the soldiers behind him, and long spears appeared on the city wall. War weapons such as bed crossbows were not only possessed by Xiliang, but also in Zhangye County.
Li Xiang saw those spears and said to Ma Teng: "Master Ma, you must eat well and drink well, and wash your neck clean so that you don't dirty my Square Heavenly Halberd!"
"drive!"
The Xiliang guards and Li Xiang retreated quickly. The crossbows on the city wall were aimed at Li Xiang and his party, and the long spears shot through the air. Unfortunately, the speed of the spears was still a bit slow, and only a few long arrows hit the Xiliang guards.
, was blocked by the Xiliang guards, and most of the long arrows fell on the ground.
Why did the Xiliang side watch their lord being attacked without reacting? The trebuchet immediately launched an attack.
Bang bang bang!
When the stone fell over the city wall, it was blocked by an invisible shield. No matter how they attacked, they could not break the shield.
"City-protecting formation?" Li Xiang turned around and saw the formation. To break the spiritual formation, he had to consume all the Yuanshi in the city, or the power of a single blow would make the shield unable to block it, so that it could be broken.
shield.
"It seems that long-range attacks are useless in this city!" Li Xiang was not in a hurry, but looked forward to it: "I wonder how long it will take to reach the city wall if we fall into the camp."
The soldiers who were trapped in the camp after he used the battle merit points obtained from the dark world to exchange them are already on their way. It will take three days. After three days, there will be 135 ladders in the camp.
Just in time to attack the city.
Li Xiang already has a plan in mind. The siege depends on the strength of the guarding army. Just like this city, the south gate of the city has the strongest defense at this time and the north gate is the weakest. However, I think that after tonight, the opponent will strengthen the north gate.
Door defense.
Heishui County
Total, total, total...
The sound of neat and heavy steps made the civilians on both sides of the streets in Heishui County quiet down, and they looked at which army was in the middle of the street.
The whole body is covered in black armor, only a pair of cold eyes are exposed, a horizontal sword on the left, a hammer on the right, a shield on the back, several iron rods and long sticks with spear points, crossbows, bows... These soldiers are covered in armor from head to toe.
weapon.
Except for the sound of footsteps and the clash of weapons, this unit made no unnecessary noise. It was so silent that the civilians on both sides did not dare to make a sound.
After the soldiers left, the civilians on both sides recovered, but the person chatting with was which army just now...
