Nine hundred and ninetieth chapters surprise attack on Xiangyang
Under the cover of night, Pei Xin led 30,000 cavalry to arrive more than ten miles west of Xiangyang City. Pei Xin stared at the dark city wall in the distance. He had gone through hundreds of battles and was very experienced. Taking Xiangyang City was the easiest way.
The only way is to use giant iron-shaped iron fire mines to blow down the city wall, but then Zhu Si's army of 50,000 people will be killed, and blowing down the city wall will eventually make him passive.
Pei Xixin is very clear that Xiangyang currently only has 5,000 people defending the city, which is very weak. At most, only 2,000 people can be deployed to defend the city at night. For a large city with a circumference of 40 miles, this is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket. Generally, only 2,000 people can be deployed to defend the city.
It defends the four city gates in the east, west, north and south. As for the city wall, at most, only patrol teams patrol back and forth.
As long as it was at night and without iron fire thunder, he could easily capture this big city.
At this time, several scouts rushed over, and the leading scout clasped his fists and reported: "General Qi, no enemy sentries were found outside the city, but the moat is very wide, more than twenty feet long, and ordinary wooden planks cannot pass it.
"
The moat of Xiangyang City is very wide. They had learned about it in advance and were prepared. Pei Xin turned around and looked at Zhou Fei behind him, "Is General Zhou ready?"
After the Battle of Bashu, Zhou Fei was promoted to the rank of Zhonglang General and an earl. He was also rewarded with a thousand pieces of silk. Although he distributed all the silk to the hundreds of subordinates who were trapped in Yazhou City with him,
He himself still got a hundred bolts of silk, which really made his wife extremely happy. His Highness Jin Wang's clear rewards and punishments and the importance he placed on himself made him repay his kindness and be loyal.
This time he participated in the battle to capture Xiangyang because Pei Xin asked him to participate. Zhou Fei's surprise attack and breakthrough ability made every general praise him.
Zhou Fei specially brought a thousand elite men with him just to seize Xiangyang City. He nodded slowly, "Are you leaving now?"
"Yes! Let's go now."
Zhou Fei turned around and waved, and led a thousand cavalrymen to rush out from the team and rush towards Xiangyang City. Their horses were wrapped in thick cloth, and the sound of horse hooves was very quiet. In addition, they were running on the grass, so they would hardly be caught.
The soldiers at the top of the city discovered it.
There were still three miles away from the city. The soldiers dismounted and switched to running. The horses were handed over to the care of dozens of horsemen accompanying the team. They also carried rafts.
Zhou Fei rushed to the front. He deliberately chose to pass through private houses. Dong Zhu implemented the tactic of strengthening the walls and clearing the wilds, and moved all the people outside the city into the city. There was not a tree or a grain of food within ten miles outside the city, and the private houses had no time to demolish.
But all the houses were empty, and the soldiers were running in the alleys of houses, so that the patrolling soldiers in the city could not see them.
The moat is also the source of living water for the people outside the city, so houses are built close to the moat. In a moment, thousands of soldiers came out of several alleys.
They quickly filled the rafts, tied them into a long string, and quietly put them into the water. A soldier swam across the moat and tied the other end to a willow tree. The soldiers quickly laid planks on it, and the laying was completed in a short time.
, a simple pontoon bridge was built. It was not enough for cavalry, but it was completely enough for scout soldiers with high martial arts skills.
Not long after, the first group of 300 soldiers had crossed the moat and stayed close to the bottom of the city wall. At this time, a patrol happened to pass by. The soldiers stopped moving forward. When the training team left, the second group
Three hundred soldiers rushed across the pontoon bridge again, and soon, the last four hundred soldiers also ran across the pontoon bridge, and a dozen soldiers began to put away the planks and pontoon bridge.
The entire West City is ten miles long, and the West City Gate is right in the middle. Zhou Fei looked at the West City Gate. They were still about two miles away from the West City Gate. That was where the enemy soldiers gathered. From the brightly lit lights on the top of the city, it looked like it was big.
Some soldiers had not fallen asleep and were still strictly on duty at night. As long as they entered the city, a bloody battle would be inevitable.
"Monkey, it's up to you!"
The monkey Zhou Fei is talking about is the scout captain Shen Yaozu. It was he who climbed over the city wall from Yazhou City to report the news. Shen Yaozu was born in a martial arts family. He was extremely skilled in qinggong and could climb the city wall with his bare hands. Generally, the surface of a city wall will be somewhat broken after decades of wind and rain erosion.
, which gave Shen Yaozu room to climb.
Shen Yaozu nodded. He tied a thin rope around his waist. He climbed up five or six steps using the concave and convex spots of the wall bricks. He took out a bamboo stick from his waist bag and inserted it into the gap.
, giving him a place to step on, which is similar to the way King Guo Song of Jin used iron chisels to climb the city. However, the iron chisels were too heavy for Shen Yaozu, so it was easier to use bamboo pieces.
Shen Yaozu lived up to his nickname of monkey. It only took him a cup of tea to climb to the top of the city. However, he did not go up. Instead, he pulled the string and quickly pulled up a rope ladder. The front end of the rope ladder was very wide, which was just right.
Enclose a piece of battlement.
Shen Yaozu looked over and saw that the patrol was still two miles away in the west, and it would take at least half a quarter of an hour to get back.
He waved down, and the soldiers below began to climb up the rope ladder. The first one to come up was Zhou Fei. He also carried two pairs of rope ladders on his shoulders. Zhou Fei jumped up to the top of the city, hung up the rope ladder and threw it down.
There are three rope ladders.
The soldiers quickly climbed up the city and climbed to the top of the city one by one. They all crouched under the battlements to avoid attracting the attention of the enemy. In a short time, all 1,000 soldiers were on top of the city.
At this time, the agreed time had arrived. Zhou Fei stared outside the city. After a moment, three rockets soared into the sky in the distance. The main force of the army was already two miles away.
Zhou Fei immediately waved his hand and said, "Follow me!"
He led a thousand soldiers and rushed towards the west tower...
There were only 2,000 soldiers on duty in Xiangyang City at night, 400 were deployed on each city wall, and 400 were patrolling the city.
The head of the West City was no exception. Four hundred garrison troops were deployed, led by a captain. Among them, three hundred men were deployed at the city gate, and another hundred were responsible for patrolling.
At this time, the captain of Xicheng also discovered the rocket outside the city. He suddenly became nervous and immediately ordered his men to wake up all the sleeping soldiers, and sent one person to report the news to the young master Dong Zhu.
At this moment, there was a sudden chaos to the west, followed by a series of screams.
The captain was taken aback and rushed over with his sword drawn. After running for more than ten steps, he saw a tall man rushing towards him like a cheetah. A cold light flashed in front of his eyes. Before the captain could raise his sword to block, he felt a sharp pain on his neck.
The pain was so severe that I didn't know anything anymore.
Zhou Fei chopped off the head of the leading captain with a knife, kicked the body away, and with a slash of his sword, he rushed toward the crowd.
Zhou Fei's martial arts were simple and sharp, and he almost always killed with one strike. His body was as fast as lightning, and many soldiers were killed by him without even reacting.
A thousand scout soldiers were like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. In just a moment, they killed all the 400 soldiers in Xicheng. The battle was over before even the alarm bell could be sounded.
The drawbridge began to be lowered, the city gate creaked open, and the soldiers lit three torches and waved them left and right.
"Attack!" Pei Xin gave the order to attack.
Thirty thousand cavalry came like a tide towards the west gate...
At this time, Dong Zhu had received a report that three suspicious rockets appeared outside the city.
He was really suspicious in his heart, where is the enemy army? Could it be that Zhu Si's army was divided into two groups, fighting his father all the way, and coming to attack Xiangyang all the way?
The more he thought about it, the more likely it was. He couldn't sleep, so he immediately sent someone to notify the military camp. As soon as he left the house, he heard the thunderous sound of horse hooves in the direction of the west city gate, and the loud shouting of killing.
Dong Zhu was so shocked that his hands and feet were cold. He saw a dozen soldiers running towards him in panic, shouting: "Young Master, it's the Jin army. The Jin army's cavalry has entered the city."
Hearing that it was the Jin army, Dong Zhu felt relieved. He was actually afraid that it was Li Hongxin's army. He knew the deep hatred between his father and Li Hongxin. If Li Hongxin's army entered the city, their whole family would not survive.
But the Jin army is different. As long as they surrender in time, Guo Song may not necessarily kill them.
"How many troops did they come?"
"They are all cavalry, there are estimated to be three to forty thousand people!"
There were tens of thousands of cavalry. Dong Zhu was desperate. He immediately ordered: "Go and inform the other side's general that we are willing to surrender!"
.........
When Pei Xin heard that the opponent's general was willing to surrender, he immediately agreed. On the one hand, it would save them from attacking the military camp, and on the other hand, it would also help gather Dong Xizhi's defeated troops.
Under Dong Zhu's order, the three thousand soldiers in the military camp laid down their weapons and lined up out of the gate of the military camp to surrender to the Jin army.
For the other three city gates, except for the soldiers at the east city gate who opened the gate and fled, the soldiers from the other north and south cities also laid down their weapons and surrendered. Without any effort, Xiangyang City was captured by the Tang army who came from Chang'an.
........
At the same moment when Xiangyang City fell, Dong Xizhi, who was sneaking a surprise attack on the enemy camp, was surrounded and annihilated by 50,000 enemy troops. His army had completely collapsed. Some abandoned their helmets and armor and fled in all directions. Some dropped their weapons and knelt down to surrender.
Begging the other party to spare his life.
Li Hongxin hated Dong Xizhi so much that he extended his hatred to the Xiangyang army. He ordered not to accept surrender and to kill all the Xiangyang army without leaving any future troubles.
Tens of thousands of soldiers started a massacre. Tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers were led to the river by the enemy and massacred. The blood dyed the leaves red, and the river was filled with headless corpses of soldiers.
Dong Xizhi led hundreds of people to escape from the enemy encirclement and ran all the way to the gate of Fangcheng County. Dong Xizhi raised his head and shouted: "I am Dong Xizhi, open the city gate quickly!"
On the top of the city, Xiang Zuo Hui said coldly: "Dong, the emperor treats you well, but you openly betray the emperor. Do you think I will be a ruthless villain like you? It's a wishful thinking!"
Dong Xizhi was shaking with anger. It was Xiang Zuo Hui who encouraged him to sneak attack on the enemy camp. It turned out that he had colluded with Li Hongxin long ago. No wonder he was ambushed by the enemy.
Dong Xizhi's eyes were filled with anger, he pointed at Xiang Zuo Hui and cursed: "Thief, if I catch you, I will cut you into pieces!"
Xiang Zuo Hui chuckled, "I'm afraid it's you who will be cut into pieces! Li Hongxin has prepared a big oil pan to fry your whole family!"
He waved his hand and said, "Fire the arrow!"
Arrows rained down from the top of the city. Dong Xizhi retreated continuously, and the shouts of killing came from behind. He was helpless and had to lead hundreds of soldiers to flee towards Xiangyang City.
But Dong Xizhi didn't know that Deng Weigong had led three thousand cavalry to the front and cut off his retreat.