The advantage of a wooden walled city is that it is simple and easy to build, but the disadvantage is that it is difficult to defend against trebuchet bombing.
The Qin army took into account the entire defense line of the Chu army and focused on bombing the banks of the Shahe River.
However, this was also the focus of the Chu army's defense. The walled city was supported by several rows of wooden fences, and many archery towers were set up along the river.
This archery tower is so high up that it can provide cover for land troops and block rivers.
However, the Qin army deployed hundreds of trebuchets here. After giving the order, the stone bullets flew towards the wooden village one after another. In an instant, sawdust was flying everywhere and screaming, and even the arrow tower was blown up.
It staggered around, and the archers standing on it fell off one by one.
After doing this for half an hour, the Qin army came forward in a neat formation.
Only then did Xiang Yan realize that the Qin army was not just destroying the walled city and obstructing the construction of fortifications, but was actually counterattacking.
However, Xiang Yan is still a little confused:
Could it be that Daliang has shipped a new batch of grain and grass to Chencheng?
Or shipped from Handan?
Otherwise, how would the Qin army get the food and fodder to counterattack?
But the news that Xiang Yan found had not changed at all.
If the Qin army had the ability to counterattack, why did it wait until now?
Xiang Yan vaguely felt that he had fallen into the Qin army's trap.
But he wasn't sure.
Because there is another possibility, that is, the Qin army is bluffing in the hope of forcing the Chu army to retreat.
When Xiang Yan was hesitating, he saw two armies fighting at the walled city.
The Qin army poured in along the gap created by the trebuchet, while the Chu army swarmed up to block it. The Chu army's crossbowmen in the rear fired arrows in the direction of the Qin army in rows.
Stone bullets fell from the sky fiercely and smashed into the dense crowd of Chu troops. Occasionally, a few flint bullets flew over to illuminate the night sky.
On the general platform, Xiang Yan could vaguely see by the light of the fire that the Qin army was using horses to pull down the remaining wooden fence.
This is not surprising, because only by opening a wider gap can more soldiers enter the Chu army's camp.
However, Xiang Yan still felt that something was wrong.
If the Qin army wanted to break the city, why didn't they continue to bombard the city with stone bombs or burn it with fire bombs?
After all, the Qin army's trebuchets have a longer range than the Chu army. If they bombard the city for a few days, the city will be in ruins. Wouldn't it be much easier to attack then than it is now?
Why did the Qin army give up what was easy and take what was difficult?
The series of questions caused Xiang Yan to not focus on the battle itself at all, but to think about the Qin army's intentions, and even turned a blind eye to the fighting and screams on the defense line.
This is what Xiang Bo came to report in a hurry:
"General, our army will not be able to defend it."
"The Qin army seems to be counterattacking with all its strength..."
Xiang Yan hesitated for a moment and then ordered:
"Withdraw troops."
Xiang Bo agreed and went to deliver the order.
Xiang Yan's approach was wise. They should not fight the Qin army head-on in this city wall. This was also the strategy he formulated at the beginning. Otherwise, after the 300,000 people fought in Bucheng, who would be able to defend Rushui's defense line?
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So the Chu army retreated towards the second line of defense.
Because Xiang Yan had been prepared and even practiced retreating several times before, the Chu army retreated in an orderly manner.
However, the Qin army was not in a hurry to pursue them and stopped after capturing the city wall.
What the Qin army needed was to capture the walled city. In fact, all they needed was the river sealing fortification across the port city.
As soon as the Chu army retreated, the Qin army took out the wheeled warships one after another from the camp, crossed the river sealing chains and barrage wooden stakes, and lowered them into the river.
There are also many soldiers carrying long processed wooden boards on their backs.
After bringing them here, you only need to nail these long wooden boards to the middle of the two warships, and finally nail a few simple fences along the sides of the ships to join together a boat.
Needless to say what this boat was used for, it was used to house war horses.
If it were just a wheeled warship, each one could barely hold three horses, and two ships could only hold six.
But as long as it is slightly modified, that is, connecting the two ships with wooden planks, the space can be doubled and it is very flat. One ship can hold ten horses and ten soldiers at the same time.
Eight of the ten soldiers were responsible for steering the boat, and two were responsible for guarding the horses.
Since there are fences along the boat, there is no need to worry about the war horses falling into the river. The two people taking care of the horses only need to be responsible for calming the horses so that they will not be frightened.
Three thousand war horses and three thousand black armored troops were loaded on three hundred such boats.
Then at the command, three hundred boats sailed down the sandy water.
On the way, we even passed by the retreating Chu army led by Xiang Yan. How could the black-armored army be polite to them? On the boat, they opened their bows and arrows and fired at the Chu army indiscriminately.
The Chu army was stunned and quickly raised their shields to defend themselves and shouted:
"The Qin army is in the river. They are chasing us from the river!"
Xiang Yan was still commanding the troops to retreat. Hearing the panicked shouts, he quickly pulled his horse's head and rode up a small hill, but could not see anything in the pitch black.
"Rocket!" Xiang Yan ordered.
Xiang Bo immediately passed on the order, and soon someone on the bank lit a rocket and shot it into the river.
Xiang Yan was shocked by the scene he saw. The Shahe River under the firelight was already full of boats and boats of the Qin army. It was dark everywhere. The people standing on the boats were the Black Armored Army, and there were many war horses in the boats.
, you can still faintly hear the snorting of the war horses.
Xiang Yan secretly said that the Chu army had to transport food and grass for 300,000 people during this period, so they did not seal the river all the way down. The Qin army went down the river...
Just thinking about it made me break into a cold sweat.
But Xiang Bo shouted from the side:
"General, the Qin army wants to cut off our retreat."
"Allow me to lead the troops to fight..."
Before Xiang Bo could finish speaking, Xiang Yan cursed loudly:
"The Qin army is trying to steal my retreat. They are clearly going to take Ru River!"
"I've fallen into the Qin army's plan to lure the snake out of its cave!"
Xiang Bo still doesn’t understand:
"Rushui? But..."
Xiang Yan didn't care whether Xiang Bo understood it or not, and immediately ordered:
"Quick, prepare a few fast horses and fly down the river to report to the lower reaches to stop the Qin army."
"At the same time, order the fast horse to report to Ruyin and Chengfu. We must not let the Qin army take the lead!"
Although Xiang Bo was puzzled, he still obeyed the order and made arrangements.
Xiang Yan is indeed a famous general who has been on the battlefield for a long time. One look at this posture and he knows that the Qin army's target is Rushui.
This is actually not difficult to guess. The advantages of the Black Armored Army's mounted archery can only be exerted in open terrain and during the day.
It was night at this time, and there were Chu troops and fortifications everywhere from Bucheng to the south.
If the Black Armored Army just outflanks the Chu Army's rear and lands in this area, as Xiang Bo said, it would be tantamount to seeking death.
Therefore, there is only one possibility, and that is to attack a more important and further place: the Rushui defense line.
However, Xiang Yan only thought of this now and was afraid it was too late.
Because it was dark at this time, no matter how fast the horse was, it could not outpace the Qin army flowing down the river.
So Xiang Yan could only hope that the Taocheng defense line along the way could hold off the Qin army for a while.