Zhurou

If there were still people who were lucky until just now, thinking that only part of the army might be attacking the capital this time, and the main force had already gone to Caizhou. Although the current offensive is strong, if there is still a chance of survival as long as it survives this moment, seeing Di The military commander's flag was being guarded by thieves all over the ground, and was illuminated by blazing torches. Especially when compared to the imperial statue that had just been burned down, everyone felt disheartened and couldn't muster any energy.

There were not a few soldiers who recognized Di Bingshuai's flag. In an instant, front and back, left and right, far and near, someone screamed out and spread the news, so the gloomy atmosphere spread along with the sound, no matter how many drums were beaten. , whistles, and urgings are all hard to encourage people.

"The thief marshals are here, and they are launching such an offensive. What's the point of using our flesh to block the weapons of the divine weapons? It's better to..."

Vaguely, Zhao Mingzhi heard someone whispering not far away.

Although the man didn't finish his words, his intention to give up was clear.

Around him, no one spoke or refuted, only silence, and everyone silently looked in the direction of the gap.

The commander-in-chief flag with the word "begging" continued to move forward, baring his teeth and claws in mid-air. At this time, by the light of the fire, Zhao Mingzhi was looking down and could finally vaguely see a tall horse in the center guarding countless flags.

There was a man sitting on the horse. The man was quiet at first, but when Di Bing's shouts gradually stopped, he let out a cry of unknown meaning.

The shout was suppressed by the wind, so it was difficult to carry it, but as soon as this person started, all the Di soldiers roared together, and the sound gradually rose up, spreading outward like waves, almost shaking the sky.

Zhao Mingzhi's feet were already numb, and now she felt that the wall under her feet was shaking like it was being destroyed by the sound waves, which made her feel nervous.

She could not be said to be proficient in the Di language, and could only understand a very rudimentary one. The scattered shouts of countless people made the pronunciation even more confusing, making it impossible for her to identify what the thieves below the city were saying.

But even so, the ferocious aura within it was about to devour everyone and everything in the entire city, whether dead or alive, as if overnight.

The defenders had already lost all morale. When they saw the thieves attacking the city and threatening to destroy it, not only were they not inspired to resist vigorously, but they even shrank and looked like they were about to retreat.

She could even see a few yellow doors on the side standing unsteadily and falling to the ground. There was also a smell that came out of nowhere, the smell of blood and urine.

Di Bing was already at the gate and was about to ascend the city. Looking at the current morale and condition, Zhao Mingzhi knew the crux of the problem and knew that it was difficult to solve at the moment and could not deal with it, so he stopped doing any encouraging actions or saying any words of encouragement.

Looking at the huge general's flag and the soldiers outside the city, she made up her mind without much thought.

Since this is the case, life is also like this, so it is better to take a gamble.

Calculating the time of the Di people's advance, it seems that they will start to climb the city soon, and the catapults must be used as cover. Even if they are not suspended, the frequency of attacks and throws will be reduced a lot.

When the side wall collapsed, Zhao Mingzhi, who had been leaning against the side and was being pushed towards the inner wall, stood still. Taking this opportunity, he simply followed his previous memory, blocked the crowd, and walked to the right.

Her movements were so fast, and she had her own identity, so that others did not dare to stop her, so they had to follow her forward, asking each other for help along the way.

Zhao Mingzhi just shook his head and groped for a short distance in the half-darkness before getting the torch from the side wall. Without anyone's help, he lifted himself forward, stepping over countless injured people, corpses, large and small rocks, and various weapons on the ground. After climbing over various broken walls and ruins, we finally came to an eight-oxen crossbow.

After a half-day attack, the Eight Oxen Crossbow had been hidden by half of the collapsed city wall and some rubble. There were only three or four people on the left and right, all looking for a place to hide. Although their expressions could not be seen clearly, their faces were all facing the city below. Where the general's flag is.

Zhao Mingzhi walked to the Baniu Crossbow, chose a place to put down the torch, and only borrowed a little light. He first took the handkerchief from his sleeve and wrapped it around his left hand. Because there was insufficient cloth, he used the sharp edge of the crossbow arrow to cut the hem of his clothes a few times and tear it. With a sound, he tore off half of the cloth and wrapped the cloth around his right hand.

With one hand inconvenient, she tried to bite the strip of cloth to tie a knot, but she simply gave up. She took a few steps forward and randomly picked up something from the ground. The thing couldn't even be called a tool, it was just some long flat stones that she could clean up. When the crossbow bed comes, all it does is sweep away the sand, gravel, bricks, and ashes on it to the ground.

The palace servants and guards who followed arrived one after another. Some of them had already asked questions, but since there was no reply, no one dared to say anything. However, they could not stand still, so they had to come closer and copy Zhao Mingzhi's actions.

Everyone came together and followed the movements with their hands, but they had different thoughts. Everyone still used their peripheral vision to find the notch to glance at the general's flag in the distance. They saw that the general's flag was getting closer and closer, and there were shouts of killing again. It was bigger and even more grand. I couldn't take a bite, so I had no choice but to look at Zhao Mingzhi again.

After all, there were so many people, and no matter how distracted they were, they could still quickly clear away the piles of eight oxen and crossbows.

Zhao Mingzhi didn't look at their movements, and didn't care what everyone was thinking. He saw that they were almost inseparable. He immediately looked up at the few soldiers standing aside and asked, "Are there any crossbowmen here?" ?”

As soon as these words came out, the soldiers all looked at each other, but no one answered immediately.

After a while, someone stepped forward and replied: "Your Highness, I am a pawn in the 13th Crossbow Armor Team. These eight oxen crossbows cannot be used casually. They should be dispatched by dedicated personnel, regardless of their placement." , the tightness of the strings, the angles, etc., all should be paid attention to..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Mingzhi asked again: "Can you be the dispatcher?"

The man was stunned and shook his head quickly.

Seeing that he was opening his mouth to explain, Zhao Mingzhi had no time to listen. He turned to look at the other people and asked again: "Who among you can make arrangements?"

Everyone shook their heads hurriedly, and were about to explain, but the person at the beginning hurriedly said: "Your Highness, the Eight Ox Crossbow requires many people to be able to do it. It can be used by more than one dispatcher. We will practice every day that day..."

While Zhao Mingzhi listened, he turned around and faced the Eight Bull Crossbow. He tried to move the crossbow first, and it turned out to be extremely heavy. Then he turned to look at the person and asked, "Where should I turn if I want to shoot that flag?" Where exactly?"

The man looked dumbfounded and said: "Your Highness! I would like to teach Your Highness that if you want to shoot the general's flag here, it will be like using an arrow to shoot mosquitoes and flies in the air a thousand steps away. Besides, it is dark everywhere now, and it is difficult to even look at it. If you can't see clearly, how do you find it? How do you aim it? How do you shoot a crossbow?"

He said and searched around for a long time, then rummaged around in the corner for a long time. He originally made a hug and dragging gesture, but because he didn't have enough manpower to drag it, he simply borrowed a torch and held it up to look at the size of the crossbow arrow. Zhao Mingzhi said bitterly: "Even if you can see clearly, the bed crossbow is only powerful. The crossbow arrows are so big, how can it be accurate?" This person spoke, and several others also joined in, and some even more He said miserably: "It's hard to find people from the crossbow team to come here at this time. Our team originally had thirty people, and there were countless casualties. Some of them were transferred away. Now these few people are left to guard the crossbows - they have no other use." , once the Di thieves climb the wall, they will probably burn the eight-oxen crossbow with a fire - if your highness has any plans, you might as well ask a general to tell him..."

Zhao Mingzhi did not bother with them here, but said again: "If I want to shoot that general's flag, where should I turn and where should I aim?"

Those people were stunned.

Zhao Mingzhi ignored him again, turned around and looked at the palace people and Huangmen who were chasing after him. Then he looked at some guards, guards, and even the soldiers sent by the general from before, and asked, "Who wants to come?"

Although she was asking questions, she was already lifting the crossbow arrows from the ground without stopping.

The first person to respond was a palace man nearby.

Her eyes were still swollen, her face was criss-crossed with traces of tears, and her face was gray. She even stumbled a little when she came over, but she didn't hesitate at all, just like when she received the order this time, she served tea and water like before. Sweeping, sweeping and tidying up are so natural.

Not only this one, there were more Huangmen and guards surrounding the Eight Bull Crossbow. Although they didn't know how to move, some held the torch high, some pushed the crossbow bed, and some had served in the military. I knew something about the situation and took the initiative to adjust the angle.

When Zhao Mingzhi and two others came over carrying the crossbow arrows, placed them among the three crossbow beds, and started to coordinate them with the others.

Seeing everyone acting like this, the soldiers from before finally reacted and no longer said anything about whether the shot was accurate or not, but they all went forward together.

There were still shouts of killing under the city wall, and in the distance there were Di Army flags flying forward in mid-air. There were also drums, whistles, and noises on the city wall, which originally made people panic, but in this corner, everyone was busy with their hands. Having something to do, even though it may not be of much use, inexplicably calms the minds of all participants.

And in places not far away from here, as if infected by the atmosphere here, more people slowly listened to the orders again and started doing things according to the flags together with the people around them.

Operating the Eight Ox Crossbow requires many people to work together. Time is urgent at this time, and everyone does not need anyone to urge them. They are already eager on their own, even if they move faster and faster, they are afraid of being held back.

There was no dispatcher here, and there was no experienced person to do the aiming. Zhao Mingzhi simply selected someone who had used the divine arm bow on the spot, and someone who had seen someone use a bed crossbow to come and adjust the angle and direction of the crossbow.

The two of them were so nervous that they could only aim for half a day based on their imagination. They were not sure and still did not dare to fire the crossbow.

Zhao Mingzhi didn't wait any longer. After confirming that there were still eight crossbow arrows waiting for use nearby, he stepped forward and pulled the hair string hard. He stared at the two people and said "shoot the crossbow" before firing.

Once the crossbow arrow is fired, the sound is very heavy and muffled, and in the dark night, it is impossible to know where it will be shot.

On the city wall, no one could see the crossbow arrow, but no one did not look in the direction of the sound. Even if they were absolutely sure that they would never hit those people, they could not help but feel hopeful. Following the sound, they finally looked towards the enemy general. Where the flag is.

After a while, there was no movement at all in the direction in which the crossbow arrow was shot. The huge arrow was like a mud cow entering the sea. It was not even possible to tell whether it had hit Di Bing, nor did it cause any waves among the enemy.

Disappointed, the others looked back at Zhao Mingzhi, only to see that she was no longer where she was, and was carrying another crossbow from the corner. She didn't even waver in her steps, and she didn't seem to be moved by any disadvantage at all.

Her behavior and attitude are displayed here, and it depends on others to see.

With Zhao Mingzhi as an example, due to inertia, others also followed the previous method and divided their work. This time it still took a long time to position the crossbow arrows and make arrangements.

When the second crossbow arrow was fired, although there was still no result, everyone's mentality had calmed down a lot.

As the third and fourth crossbow arrows were fired, as far as the eye could see, the rest of the city wall began to light up with sparks. I don’t know how many torches were relit. Although I couldn’t see the specific situation, I could hear other arrows starting to fire on the city wall. There was the sound of arrows being fired, the sound of pushing crossbows, and unknown liquid pouring down from the city wall. It seemed that someone had collected the few remaining oils and planned to use them to deal with the soldiers who were climbing the city.

It's just such a simple response, but it's actually just about masturbating.

Zhao Mingzhi was anxious. While counting the remaining crossbow arrows, he also looked at the distance between the commander's flag under the city and here. He actually knew that the commander's flag was not too close, but he could not delay any longer. He saw that those people were still pulling hard on the towing hook and winching. Axis, moved around for a while, but still didn't dare to fire the crossbow, so he approached again, used his hands to move half of his body weight, and finally said: "Let go."

As soon as she gave the order, she let go of her hands first, and the others also released their hands one after another, and then the crossbow arrows shot out of the air, as if breaking through the air, and they shot to nowhere.

Everyone unconsciously craned their necks to look. After waiting for a long time, there was no movement under the city. Before they could swallow the despondent and discouraged thought of "it's really useless" in their hearts, they saw the crowd shouting in the distance and suddenly stopped.

That meal came inexplicably. First, there was a silence in a small area where the flames were. Then the emptiness gradually spread. When I noticed it on the city wall, I couldn't help but take a closer look, and saw the light of the fire mixed with black smoke. Among them, several groups of cavalry arranged vertically and horizontally suddenly became chaotic, and they seemed to be stampede.

In the chaos, the handsome flag, which was surrounded at the end and was still fluttering in the wind, fell to the side without any warning. The flag surface was wrapped around the flagpole and fell down, and it disappeared in an instant.

As soon as the handsome flag fell, everyone at the city gate was at a loss. Everyone thought it was just an accident at first, but this accident was really strange, and the handsome flag was so important. So everyone waited for a few more seconds, but no one among the Di army erected the flag again. .

Under the light, the chaos became more obvious. The sound of hooves, screams, and whistles rang for a long time. Different from the previous fierce momentum, the sound now was urgent and chaotic, just like a headless fly. It was Di who was preparing to board the city under the city wall. Bing also noticed something was wrong and his movements became sluggish.

Inside and outside the city, both the enemy and ourselves were at a loss for an instant, and everyone looked behind them to where the fire was burning.

The fire was raging, and in the chaos, several fast horses galloped out from among the soldiers beside the flames and circled to the rear. Other than that, there was nothing else out of the ordinary.