At this time, Shen Bing's reputation was not only in the Qin army.
If the Chu army was more traditional or had poor information in ancient times, and the story of Shen Bing's attack on Zhao and Yan's attack could not be spread to the Chu state, then Shen Bing's several successive floods, especially the first time when the Chu army was flooded and defeated Xiang Yan. It will spread throughout Chu country.
Coupled with the several achievements of the Black Armored Army, at this time the lone army penetrated deeply and occupied Ruyin like an army from heaven descending from the sky, making Shen Bing like a thunder in the Chu Kingdom.
Since Shen Bing's reputation is so great and smoke is emitting from the top of Ruyin City at this time, the soldiers of the Chu army can't help but think to themselves:
"How could this Shen soldier be so helpless that he could only defend in Ruyin and be annihilated by our army?"
"Does he still have something behind him?"
"If the Black Armored Army can break through Xiang Yan's defense and penetrate deep into Ruyin, why can't other armies do the same?"
"It is said that Shen Bing also trained another army, called the 'Daliang Army'. There are tens of thousands of 'Daliang Army'..."
So for a while, rumors spread and people were panicked.
This does not seem surprising. If even Xiang Bo is worried about Qin's reinforcements, who can not be worried?
If there is anyone who is not worried, it is Zhang Qi who is burning with anger... The burn on Zhang Qi's face still covers half of his face, and he is afraid that it will leave scars in the future, which makes him hate Shen Bing. It was so intense that he attacked the city like crazy.
It's just that no one knows that Zhang Qi's intuitive idea is actually correct, and others think too much.
Xiang Bo didn't say much after he came back from Zhang Qi. He only did three things:
One is to send someone to Xiang Yanna to inquire about the situation.
The second is to send spies in all directions.
The third is to set up additional outposts and ask them to be more vigilant.
What Xiang Bo did was right, but what he did seemed to confirm what the soldiers were thinking: Qin had reinforcements.
After the Chu army had dinner and rested for a while, the sky gradually became dark.
But this still could not stop the Chu army's offensive... Night is actually not suitable for siege.
It would be nice if this was modern, we could fire flares in the direction of the enemy, and neither would suffer.
However, during the Warring States Period, which was thousands of years ago, night battles and siege battles often required lighting torches. Otherwise, you might not even be able to see where the siege ladder is, and you would not know where to set it up.
But a little torch means illuminating oneself to facilitate others...
Just like now, the Chu army lit the torch and immediately became the target of the black armored army at the head of Ruyin City.
Without saying a word, the Black Armored Army fired stone bullets into the Chu army's camp one after another.
There are also crossbows...At this time, the black armored army generally switched to crossbows.
After pulling the bow for several days in a row, even the bowman couldn't stand it. Some soldiers' fingers were so worn by the bowstring that even their phalanges could be seen.
In comparison, it is more convenient to open a crossbow, because it uses both hands to hold the string and feet to step on the crossbow body, and uses waist strength to open the crossbow.
More importantly, there are all kinds of crossbows in the warehouse, so each person in the Black Armored Army can prepare a dozen of them beside the city wall. When they have time, they will string them up and lay them in a pile neatly, waiting for the Chu army to attack. You only need to load the crossbow arrows and shoot at the enemies one after another.
The benefits of this are obvious. It can greatly reduce the time to fire the crossbow and the physical consumption during war, making up for the disadvantage of the Black Armored Army's insufficient strength.
There are also disadvantages, that is, it requires a large amount of crossbows.
For example, if there are more than 1,100 black-armored soldiers equipped with an average of ten crossbows, they will have to have 11,000 crossbows.
On the other hand, just keeping the crossbow open and ready for use will cause a lot of damage to the crossbow itself, which is never allowed in normal times.
However, extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.
The crossbows in the warehouse all belong to the Chu army anyway. If they are not used, they will be wasted. It is better than returning them to the Chu army or burning them if they cannot defend Ruyin.
Therefore, these shortcomings are not considered shortcomings at all for the Black Armored Army.
This also meant that although the number of the Black Armored Army had been reduced sharply, their combat effectiveness had not declined. As soon as the battle started, the crossbow arrows flew in the direction of the Chu Army.
Especially at night, the Chu troops attacking upwards with torches would become targets. The Chu troops were often shot down batch by batch before they even reached the city.
But the Chu army had to attack again.
As mentioned before, the Chu army used the fatigue tactic of wheel warfare.
The advantages of this tactic are obvious. It can prevent the enemy from resting, reduce its combat effectiveness, and eventually collapse.
But the disadvantage is that the attack cannot be interrupted at any time, even at night when it is inconvenient to attack.
Otherwise, the Black Armored Army would only need to sleep for a few hours and be full of energy the next morning, making it even harder to attack.
Therefore, although the corpses of the Chu army were piled up like a mountain under the city wall, they still attacked in groups like ants.
The offensive was like a tide, one wave after another without stopping.
When one group gets tired, another group comes up and attacks again.
Everyone in the black armored army seemed to be numb, mechanically firing crossbows and shooting arrows, and striking with poles. Occasionally, a few Chu soldiers attacked and cut them down with swords and shields.
Don't look at the black-armored troops who were as wilted as dried cabbage when they were resting. As soon as the Chu army launched their attack, they were as brave as clockwork.
This may be human potential, or it can be said that it is forced out by the enemy.
If there is no danger or life-threatening situation, who can stay awake for days and nights and still have such fighting power?
I'm afraid they themselves don't believe it.
As time passed by, the Black Armored Army repelled several waves of attacks by the Chu Army.
A few days ago, the soldiers would hang the enemy heads on their waists, but by now they had all been thrown away.
This is not because the heads stink, of course that is one of the reasons.
What's more important is that the black-armored army killed too many people and obtained countless heads. If they were all hung around their waists, they would not be able to walk.
I don't know what time it was... the people in the city were emptied by Shen Bing, and there was no one to even watch the clock. The black armored army didn't measure the time, so they forgot the time.
Shen Bing only knew that it was raining lightly in the sky. Dark clouds obscured the moonlight, and the rain made it difficult to light the torch.
At this time, the Chu army's offensive slowed down a bit, because the second siege ladder was slippery, which increased the risk of siege exponentially.
As for the black-armored army, they only need to use their spears or halberds to poke at the black figures coming up the ladder. Occasionally, they can also throw down a few torches to use the firelight to help fight.
However, the Chu army still did not stop and continued to attack casually.
At this moment, the Chu army's camp suddenly became chaotic, and several fires even broke out. It seemed that the granaries were set alight.
Then I saw the soldiers of the Chu army slashing and killing each other indiscriminately, shouting while they were slashing:
"Don't do anything to your own people!"
"A spy sneaked in!"
"Oh, they are the Qin army..."
"We are from Chu, and you are the spies!"
"It's obvious that you were the first to make the move... ah..."