Fenghou

Chapter 463 Harvest
Soldiers of the Xixia Army outside the city also launched a counterattack with bows and arrows into the city. Arrows shot overwhelmingly into the city, and soldiers of the Song Army in the city were shot down one after another.

Chen Qing immediately ordered: "Move the bow and arrow array to the top of the city!"

The order was passed on, and two soldiers with bows and arrows lined up and rushed to the city. The city wall several miles long was enough to accommodate thousands of soldiers. Their position was at the end of the city. The arrows fell like raindrops, and the soldiers outside the city had nowhere to hide, and the casualties were extremely heavy.

But the most tragic was the fierce battle on the siege ladder. Xixia soldiers desperately attacked upwards, while soldiers on the top of the city stabbed them with shields and spears. Xixia soldiers screamed and fell into the city one by one.

The soldiers of the Song army also suffered constant casualties. The injured soldiers retreated and were immediately carried down to the city by the civilian husband for treatment. At the same time, another soldier went up.

Twenty Song army archers were also deployed on each horse-faced wall, together with twenty powerful assistants, who were responsible for loading and stringing the arrows. Those who are strong and strong can shoot with one arrow, with incomparable precision.

They are not many in number, but they play a huge role and can greatly reduce the enemy's offensive efficiency. Without the command of a general, the enemy will often kill indiscriminately.

An hour passed gradually, but the city hadn't been captured yet, and the Xixia soldiers suffered more and more casualties, especially after the soldiers were shot by the poisonous nails, the poison began to attack, and they became dizzy and couldn't even walk.

Cao Baozong's confidence was losing little by little, and he finally began to doubt that if there were only five or six thousand soldiers in the city, it would be impossible to have such resistance.

'Could it be that Chen Qing has already led his army into the city? '

The thought in his mind came together, and he was immediately denied by himself, it's impossible!The intelligence of the spies was unmistakable, and at this time the Weihe River had not completely thawed, and the moat was still frozen. Usually, it would be a little warmer before setting out, especially since he had no report of the scouts finding the main force of the enemy army.

Tuoba Chengqing said again in a low voice: "We have been paying attention to Chen Qing's main force, but ignored the west side. I think it should be the Song army from Lintao Prefecture and Hezhou who came."

One sentence reminded Cao Baozong, it should be, why did I forget the Song Army in Lintao Mansion and Hezhou?
But what to do now?
The city could not be captured, but there were heavy casualties, but if they retreated, Cao Baozong felt a little unwilling.

At this moment, Chen Qing also felt that the time was right to harvest the enemy army. The Xixia soldiers who attacked the city were crowded under the city wall. Most of the soldiers gathered under the city wall to avoid the arrows from the top of the city.

He immediately ordered: "Stop shooting arrows and attack with fire oil!"

At Chen Qing's order, [-] soldiers from the North City and the East City each raised fire oil barrels and threw them at the top of the city. In an instant, the Xixia soldiers within twenty feet were engulfed.

Countless Xixia soldiers became firemen, screaming and crying, struggling to escape, and finally fell headlong into the flames.

This time the Song Army spent a lot of money, took out half of the fierce oil stock, and used [-] barrels of fierce oil to harvest the enemy's vital forces.

Immediately after the second round of [-] barrels of kerosene was thrown, the spread was farther. The Song army dropped hundreds of powder barrels, which immediately exploded. With a bang, flames sprayed, and many running Xixia soldiers were instantly killed The soldiers of the Song Army at the top of the city also dodged one after another, and the haystacks at the top of the city were also set ablaze. The soldiers of the Song Army on the top of the city were in a hurry and threw all the haystacks into the city.

Cao Baozong was dumbfounded. This was a horrible scene he had never seen before. The whole city was engulfed in flames, and the screams and wailing of soldiers could still be heard from such a distance. It was a hell on earth.

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!" The bell for retreating soldiers rang.

Before Cao Baozong even gave the order, Tuoba Chengqing impatiently rang the bell to withdraw the troops.

In fact, it doesn't make sense whether to ring the bell or not. Countless soldiers are fleeing for their lives and returning, but the city where the soldiers gather most has become a purgatory on earth.

Cao Baozong returned to the barracks in a daze, hid in the big tent and refused to see anyone, but the deputy general Tuoba Chengqing walked in, "General, the count of the number has been completed."

"How much did you escape?" Cao Baozong asked in a hoarse voice.

"Seventeen thousand people, and more than three thousand of them are injured."

Cao Baozong almost spit out a mouthful of blood, and [-] people were killed in the first battle. It was simply too terrifying. How could this be?
Cao Baozong was so painful that he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

"General, there is another message!"

"what?"

Tuoba Chengqing hesitated for a moment and said: "A soldier who fled back said that Chen Qing might be commanding the battle at the top of the city."

"Ah!" Cao Baozong was completely stunned.

After capturing Tongxi City, the Song Army transferred all grain and grass materials to Tongxi Fort.

Soon, Yang Zaixing stared at Xinxia City again.

Xinxia City is not so much a castle as it is a slab-walled barracks. The city wall is rammed with mud and wood. In just two months, it is impossible to build a masonry city wall.

In fact, many cities in the Western Regions and grasslands were made of mud. Xinxia City was so thick that it could barely be regarded as a military city, but this kind of city wall would collapse in a few years.

Xinxia City is relatively small, with a circumference of only eight miles, and there are [-] garrisons inside, mainly storing grain. Before, there were [-] shi of grain stored, and now there are only half of them left.

In the afternoon, in the woods more than a dozen miles north of Xinxia City, nine thousand cavalry were resting, and Yang Zaixing was discussing with Liu Qiong how to attack Xinxia City.

The walls of Xinxia City are as thick as ten feet. It is impossible to use rams to break open like in Tongxi County. The gate is also made of thick wooden doors, but it is much thinner than the city wall, so ramming the gate is one way.

However, Liu Qiong discovered another shortcoming of Xinxia City, that is, the city wall is not high, estimated to be less than two feet, it is made of rammed earth, it cannot be raised high, and it is easy to collapse.

Isn't it easy to go to the city if it is less than two feet?

"The siege gate is inappropriate!"

Liu Qiong pondered for a while and said: "The other party is a mud wall. How to fix the city gate is a big problem. It seems easy to break open, but maybe it's the opposite."

Yang Zaixing smiled and said: "It's not difficult to fix the city gate, as long as two thick logs are buried deep in the ground, the city gate can be fixed on these two logs, but the problem is not here, the problem is that the enemy defenders Basically, they are concentrated on both sides of the city gate, and our attack on the city gate will cause some unnecessary casualties."

Speaking of this, Yang Zaixing added: "I'm not saying that there can be no casualties in wars, that's impossible, but unnecessary casualties are best avoided as much as possible."

Liu Qiong nodded, "General Yang is right, but if I were the general of the enemy army, I would build a second defensive wall with thick mud bags behind the city gate, so that even if the Song army broke through the city gate It doesn't make sense either, I think it's easier to attack the top of the city, or attack the city at night, so that the Xixia army can't defend against it."

Yang Zaixing and Liu Qiong have reached a consensus to give up attacking the city gate and attack the enemy's city wall.

Yang Zaixing said excitedly: "The enemy army has only [-] troops, and at most [-] patrol at night, and the main force is concentrated at the city gate, so there are only a hundred or so patrolling in the east city at most. Let's go up to [-] people first, and occupy a city. , the army from behind can continue to kill them.”

Speaking of this, Yang Zaixing said with a smile: "Let me lead three hundred elites to the city!"

"It should be my turn this time!"

Liu Qiong's eyes widened. Although he was only a lieutenant general, he refused to give in this time. Every time Yang Zaixing got the chance to attack, he seemed to never have such a chance.

The two argued for a while, but both refused to give in, so Yang Zaixing could only resentfully said: "Then use the old method, draw lots to decide, two wooden branches, one long and the other short, and the long one will be drawn to the city."

Yang Zaixing got up and went to a small tree not far away to break two branches. When he came back, he spread his palms to show Liu Qiong, "That's right! One is long and the other is short."

Yang Zaixing immediately turned his back, pinched the lower part of the branch, held it up to Liu Qiong and said with a smile, "You smoke it! The one that grows is yours."

Liu Qiong looked at it for a while, and pulled out the left one. He was suddenly surprised that it was a short branch. He was so annoyed that he threw the wooden branch on the ground bitterly, trampling on it and breaking it.

Yang Zaixing laughed loudly, "You smoked it yourself, you can't blame me, it's in my hands, I didn't cheat."

Yang Zaixing showed Liu Qiong the long branch, but quickly stuffed a short branch into his sleeve with his left hand.

"Okay! You go to the city, and I'll cover you." Liu Qiong had no choice but to say.

(End of this chapter)