Chapter 196 All you need to break the city is a ladder
On the second day, the Luoyang army moved in full force again.
After Zhu Jun's army and Guan Yu's army merged, the total strength reached 60,000.
In the woods to the west, Zhao Yun, who was originally an ambush soldier, simply stopped covering up and led thousands of ambush soldiers out of the forest.
The rumbling nest cars moved forward slowly, like tanks approaching, grinding out countless ruts in the soft soil.
There are also wooden curtains and wells, ladders like rain, trenches like clouds, and countless dark shadows, as if a black cloud is about to submerge the city.
To the east, Guan Yu's army once again drove the prisoners outside the city. This time the prisoners also knew their tragic fate, but no matter what, if they ran towards the city, they at least had a glimmer of hope.
Because their hands were tied and they were only given one meal a day, even if they could escape the pursuit of the Luoyang army, they would not be able to run very far. To the north is Huan River, to the south is Hanoi, to the west is the Taihang Mountains, and to the east is the Yellow inside.
Except for the north, the other three directions were controlled by the Luoyang Army. However, it would be tantamount to suicide to let them swim across the surging Huanshui River when their hands were tied, they were not full and their physical strength was weak.
Therefore, even if they are forced to storm the city, the prisoners have nothing to do. If they don't go, they will die. If they go, there is a certain probability that they can survive, and the city will not really be so desperate.
Although Xin Ping ordered archery last time, the archers in the city also know what it means to be sad when a rabbit dies and a fox is sad. Faced with their former comrades, there are not a few who deliberately miss the target or shoot into the moat. The real number of people shot to death is only a few hundred people, at most. Just scare them.
Groups of Jizhou prisoners were pushed to the front line again, the ropes were cut, and they were forced to run towards Anyang again with swords, guns, bows and arrows. All the Luoyang troops looked at them indifferently, like a group of people waiting to be slaughtered. Lamb.
The Jizhou prisoners howled, cried, begged, and cursed angrily. But no matter what they said, all they got in exchange were swords as cold as ice and arrows pointed at them.
War is not a child's play, it is a cruel reality. In peacetime, people can be gentle and bow to each other. But in war, any gentle person will instantly become rude and barbaric.
This has nothing to do with human nature, it has to do with stance, life and death. After all, you kill me, I will kill you, and you still expect to treat you well after capturing you, that is unrealistic.
Paying attention to human rights in feudal society is a very funny thing in itself.
Chen Mu also looked indifferent.
It’s good that he didn’t follow Cao Cao’s example and kill all the prisoners, and it’s even more impossible to expect him to be gentle to these prisoners. He killed hundreds of prisoners who just didn’t want to obey the Luoyang army’s command to storm the city.
Mercy itself is not suitable for the battlefield.
"Listen clearly, if you can get into the city, you will live. If you can't get in, you can't blame anyone. You can also run north and see if the river will drown you. Of course, Anyang has more than one gate. , try another city gate, maybe it will open right away?"
Guan Hai was doing the final mobilization of the prisoners, and his tone was not very good, with a hint of teasing. Being gentle to the prisoners is not a good thing in itself, unless he wants all the prisoners to suffer from Stockholm syndrome.
The worse the attitude towards the prisoners, the more they can arouse their desire to survive and force them to continue attacking the city gate. This is the psychology mentioned by the fourth general, but Guan Hai doesn't understand it.
But Guan Hai knew that the reason why they did not capture Anyang yesterday was not because they were not capable enough, but because it was getting late. If they did not withdraw their troops, they would have to fight day and night when the sky darkened completely, and the casualties would be huge.
.
So we withdrew our troops last night and officially started using prisoners to attack the city today. No matter how hard-hearted the people in the city were, it would be useless unless they killed all the prisoners. Anyway, it was the Jizhou people who were killing the Jizhou people. What did it have to do with them?
You can also waste the city's arrow reserves, why not?
Each of the prisoners looked disheveled and looked sad. From the day before yesterday to today, they had only eaten a total of two meals. They had no strength in their bodies and couldn't run far even if they wanted to. No one wanted to die, but if this continued, it would last forever.
Not just one head, but the entire prison camp was filled with a kind of sadness.
After a while, the war finally started. Guan Yu's army began to force the prisoners to advance, using the prisoners or the old, weak, women, and children as shields. This is an extremely despicable method in itself. It has appeared more than once in ancient wars, and it has existed since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
.
Faced with this situation, many famous generals often kill them all. Because no matter what, the enemy is using your sympathy to defeat you. If your heart is as hard as stone, like Bai Qi
That way, you will naturally be invincible.
Zhang He finally agreed to Xin Ping's request to join forces. He didn't want to make a fuss, nor did he want to get involved in the struggle between aristocratic families and the high-level game in Jizhou. However, the current situation did not allow him to choose. If he didn't agree, then you would have to accept it.
People besieged.
The Yingchuan faction will definitely defend Xin Ping to the death, and the major families in Jizhou may not accept his support, so it is better to side with Xin Ping with a clear-cut banner, at least on Yuan Shao's side, without losing the city.
A great achievement.
Xin Ping lifted Zhang He from house arrest and asked him to deal with the attack of Zhu Jun's army at the west gate. This could be regarded as giving Zhang He a step down. The prisoners from the east rushed to the city, but it was still Xin Ping who gave the shooting order, not him.
In fact, not only the west gate, but also the south gate was besieged by Zhu Jun's army. Zhang He didn't know that Zhu Jun had returned to the rear to recuperate due to physical problems. He was very afraid of this old fox, so he deployed heavy troops at both gates.
Various defense facilities are available on the top of the city, and reserves are also arranged below the city.
Everything had been prepared long ago. What was missing was the personnel arrangements. After all the personnel were completed, the Jizhou Army on the city began to observe the Luoyang Army outside the city through the crenellations on the parapet wall. They did not come forward immediately because
There is a bed crossbow on the well fence opposite.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! They saw that outside the west gate and south gate, Zhu Jun's army had already assembled and was pushing all the necessary war equipment and began to move forward slowly. Anyang
The bed crossbow on the city was slowly pushed over, and Zhang He paid close attention to every move outside the city.
"Five hundred steps!"
"Four hundred and eighty steps!"
"Four hundred and thirty steps!"
"Three hundred and sixty steps!"
"Three hundred and twenty steps!"
"Three hundred steps!"
"shoot!"
Following the hoarse shouts, the flag issuing military orders on the city suddenly swung down.
The crossbow arrows, which were as thick as a child's arm, headed towards the Luoyang army in the distance with a howl like ghosts and wolves. On top of the city, their crossbows had a great range advantage.
"Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong!"
Because there were wooden curtains at the front, most of the crossbow arrows hit the wooden curtains, but a small number of crossbows still passed through the wooden curtains and reached the army at the rear.
The power of the bed crossbow brought up countless blood-like sprays. Zhao Yun was riding on the horse, holding the spear tightly in his hand, staring at the city gate in the distance.
He has only one goal - to break open this city gate!
"Two hundred steps!"
"One hundred steps!"
"Fifty steps!"
The bed crossbows completely lost their effectiveness after the second round of shooting.
Within a hundred steps, the world is dominated by archers.
The archers on the top of the city stretched their heads out one after another and fired continuously. The Luoyang Army archers and crossbows on the wells also began to fight back.
The performance of the Qingzhou bed crossbow improved by Taishan Institute of Physics is far superior to that of the Yuan Jun bed crossbow. At the same distance, the range and power of the Yuan Jun bed crossbow cannot be compared with that of the Qingzhou bed crossbow.
There is only a big gap in weapon performance between the two sides, but the gap is even greater in terms of fortifications.
The Yuan Army was in a city with a rammed earth and masonry structure, while the Luoyang Army was on a well with a wooden structure. The Luoyang Army's bed crossbow only splashed dust when it hit the city head, but the Yuan Army's bed crossbow might collapse.
The well lantern poses a threat to the archers on the well lantern.
certainly.
Well railings are not easily collapsed, but there is a certain risk.
Before the two sides even get close, arrows all over the sky have already blocked the sky. If you stand on the open space below both sides and look up, you will see that the dense rain of arrows seems to cover the entire sky, making the world dark.
The shield on the top of the city was opened, and the jingling arrows shot on it like pieces of nail boards. Under the cover of the wooden curtain, the death squads outside the city began to rush into the city, and one after another began to build trenches.
Immediately afterwards, the swordsmen and shieldmen rushed to the front, braved the rain of arrows, crossed the ditch, and then began to build ladders. Thousands of soldiers were shot and fell in the moat.
Like Nancheng, Guan Yu in Xicheng is also launching the most violent attack. The progress of both sides is almost the same, and they have begun to prepare to climb the city.
In Dongcheng, the fighting was also very fierce.
Xin Ping continued to order the shooting of arrows without hesitation. The prisoners fled one after another, and were forced by the Luoyang army on the periphery with swords and guns. They were caught in the middle and felt suffocating despair.
However, many prisoners still started to run north, and Chen Mu did not send anyone to stop them. These people bypassed the east gate and headed towards Huanshui.
The fierce battle lasted for more than an hour. Zhao Yun personally went into battle and almost captured the city.
In the end, the death squad led by Zhang He captured the South City Gate.
The entire tower was filled with blood and corpses. The blood flowed so much that it solidified into a thick layer of viscous red liquid on the tower. Broken limbs and fragments were everywhere. No one was cleaning the battlefield, and no one could spare time. .
Zhang He was resting under the city. He was breathing heavily. Just now, Zhao Yun attacked the city and fought with him for dozens of rounds. In the end, he relied on ambushes under the city to fight his way out, and then he was able to defeat Zhao Yun.
There were 40,000 people on Zhu Jun's side and more than 20,000 people on Guan Yu's side. In addition, in order to deal with the prisoners rushing into battle, Xin Ping transferred most of the archers to the east city, making the south city and west city extremely difficult to defend. Each gate could only Relying on four to five thousand people to resist ten thousand to twenty thousand people, the several times difference in numbers puts them in danger.
"General, many of our brothers ran from the edge of Huan River to the north gate and shouted for us to open the gate and let them in."
A soldier stationed at the north city gate came quickly to report the news.
There are about 20,000 defenders in Anyang City, most of whom are in Nancheng and Xicheng. On the east side of the city, Xin Ping only has 4,000 to 5,000 men resisting Chen Mu's 20,000 troops. On Zhang He's side, there are more than 10,000 people, except for a few. In addition to thousands of reserves, there were less than 500 defenders at the North City Gate.
The reason why there are so few defenders at the North City Gate is because less than a hundred feet outside the North City Gate is the Huan River. The terrain here is narrow and large-scale troops cannot disperse. It is impossible to attack the city wall from here. With all the siege equipment, It's hard to push it.
When Anyang was flooded last time, Chen Mu only sent three tower ships to seal the North City Gate. Yan Liang built some catapults to sink the tower ships, but they were burned up by Molotov cocktails and blocked the North City Gate directly. .
Therefore, there are almost no troops guarding the north gate. Even if the Luoyang army launches a large-scale attack, it will be very difficult to attack the city from here.
Zhang He gasped and said, "How many people are there?"
"About one or two thousand people."
"Where are those Luoyang troops? Are you following them?"
The soldier said: "No."
"Are you sure you are one of ours? Are you pretending to be Luoyang Army?"
"I'm sure they all have Jizhou accents. Several of them are descendants of big families. We've already confirmed it."
"I see."
Zhang He waved his hand: "Don't let them in yet, but don't attack them either."
"only!"
The soldiers leave.
Zhang He's eyes kept flickering.
He wasn't sure if this was another plan of Chen Mu's.
Because if it were him, he would definitely not miss this opportunity and would definitely find a way to sneak into the prisoners and attack the city.
Although he didn't know if this was a trap, Zhang He didn't dare to imitate Xin Ping's deadly attack.
In other words, Zhang He did not want to offend anyone until the outcome was decided.
It is now his duty to resist the Luoyang army's attack at the top of the city. If the Luoyang army enters the city, he will surrender without hesitation.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Whoever wins, he will help!
Therefore, even though he knew clearly that there were party members in his army, and the party members had already defected to the imperial court, Zhang He did not go to report and expose, but at the same time he won over Tian Yong and agreed to defect to the imperial court.
This is the escape route he left for himself.
When the imperial court won, he immediately opened the door to welcome the king. When Yuan Shao won, he persisted in fighting hard without any dereliction of duty and defended the city.
The behavior of a wallflower is not advisable, but in such a troubled world, it is the only way to survive.
But here, Chen Mu was still secretly releasing the prisoners and heading to the North City Gate.
It is true that the first group of prisoners released did not mix into the Luoyang army, but the same cannot be said for the prisoners released later. There will be more or less water in them. At the same time, on the front battlefield, Guan Yu's army also officially began to attack.
The reason why they did not attack earlier was because Guan Yu's army did not have many siege equipment. At most, they only had some trench bridges and ladders, which were transported from Zhu Jun's camp.
After Guan Yu's army officially started taking action, it quickly triggered a backlash from Xin Ping. He focused all his energy on the east city gate and began to defend it desperately.
Just when the city gates on three sides were attacked by the Luoyang army, more and more escaped prisoners began to gather in the direction of the north gate.
There were so many of them that they were constantly crowding and almost occupied the entire open space outside the city.
There are all kinds of people, there are already seven or eight thousand people.
The 500 defenders on the city tower could no longer control the situation. People outside the city were clamoring to open the city gate, but the people inside the city were frightened and refused to open it. The two sides fell into a stalemate.
The crowds continued to surge, and as some mid-level officers and children of aristocratic families were picked up by hanging baskets on the city, the Jizhou prisoners outside the city began to become irritable.
The cause of the incident was that a gatekeeper general on the city tower discovered that there was an acquaintance among the prisoners below the city. Later, he thought of sending the mid-level officers into the city first, and then they began to select the prisoners to prevent the enemy's traitors from sneaking into the city.
So the general ordered the suspension bridge to be lowered and let the officers come over first.
However, this order soon aroused the dissatisfaction of a large number of Jizhou prisoners outside the city. They began to be frightened and prayed to their colleagues to open the city gate and let them in. However, at this point, only officials like them survived.
Disillusioned hope turned into despair. As the Luoyang army lurking in the crowd continued to incite, the Jizhou prisoners instantly began to rush toward the suspension bridge. Soon a large number of people poured in, filling the city walls.
The general on the city's face was ashen and it was too late to stop him. He did not have the guts to order shooting. He could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything.