Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

To the west, a large flag with the word "Song" on it was fluttering. Strong-shouldered drummers were beating the war drums with all their might. Beads of sweat flew from their foreheads and dripped to the ground.

The soldiers of the Western Army in the front were wearing armor and holding swords and spears. Wang Bing, with sweat on his face, sat on horseback, looking straight ahead with his back straight, "Send a message to Wang Huan's troops to exert pressure on the north city, and order Wang Yuan to hold back and use more whirlwind cannons to bombard the city, so that the reserve forces in the city will gather to the north.

Tell the garrison troops that the tunnel must be dug before tonight. If there is any mistake, you will all go to Lingnan to feed the bugs for me!"

The messenger soldier rode out on a fast horse. The Song army lacked war horses that could charge into the battlefield, but they still had horses for sending messages and transportation.

The information was transmitted towards the front of the battlefield. The whirlwind cannon mounted on the open ground roared, and angular stones flew high into the sky and smashed towards the top of the city at an extremely fast speed.

The smell of blood spread up and down the city walls, and figures shouting and fighting were entangled in a small space. From time to time, someone fell down with blood spurting out, and his comrades behind him rushed up stepping on the blood and the fight broke out again.

When the situation became extremely tense, the local soldiers on the north wall suddenly withdrew. The second batch of Western troops followed and replaced them. The soldiers who had recuperated their strength and fought their way into gaps on the city wall. The double rabbit flag representing a request for help was erected on the city wall.

Shields and weapons kept making collision sounds as both sides swung their swords. The Western Army soldiers, who were far more experienced than the Rebels, caught the defenders on the city wall off guard. Spherical objects with sparks flew over, and pungent smoke spread on the city wall and was blown away by the wind. The sound of coughing resounded throughout the city.

Then a figure in crimson armor broke through the thick smoke and rushed onto the city wall. The gap in the city wall gradually widened, and the red figure mixed in with the yellow crowd. The sound of metal clashing of weapons, shouts of fighting, and screams of the dying boiled over in an instant.

Qian Zhenpeng had several fierce collisions with a Song general on the opposite side. The general had a solid body and fierce strength. His upper body shook slightly, and he let out a scream of "Ah--" and rushed over, slashing with his iron-like hand knife.

bang——

The shield was raised forward, and the oncoming blade left several cracks on the shield. Qian Zhenpeng involuntarily took half a step back to steady himself. While gritting his teeth and holding on, he stabbed the Song general with the long sword in his hand. Blood gushed out from the damaged shoulder armor. The Western Army general on the opposite side slightly turned sideways, endured the pain, and swung his arms.

bang——

The shield hit Qian Zhenpeng's face, and suddenly it was as if a troupe of actors had opened up in his head. All kinds of noises came one after another. The man who was over seven feet tall was suddenly thrown sideways, and his head hit the ground and bounced lightly twice. He felt dizzy and the noise on the battlefield disappeared for a moment.

Then he chopped down with the knife, and the unsharpened blade hit the side of his face where the shield hit him. There was a sound of bone fracture, and then sticky blood flowed out of Qian Zhenpeng's eyes, nose and mouth.

"Old Qian!"

Du Weizheng led his troops to rescue from the rear. Seeing this, he roared, and seeing the general raised his head, he shook his hand and threw a flying knife. The Song general barely turned sideways and dodged the flying knife. He shook the knife in his hand and said, "Cowardly bandit, General Miao Fu is here, come here and die!"

On both sides of this section of the city wall, Western Army generals in scarlet robes kept jumping onto the top of the city wall. The rebel soldiers fighting on the top of the city wall were immediately under tremendous pressure. After a moment of fighting, someone shouted loudly: "Ring the golden bell, ask for help, ask for help!!"

Then the sound of a golden gong sounded in the air, giving warning.

Correspondingly, war drums sounded outside the city.

In the army formation, Wang Huan looked at the figures that kept climbing up the city wall and tilted his head slightly: "Send a message to the commander-in-chief, the people from the north city are pressing forward, but I don't know how long they can hold out on the top of the city wall."

The messenger beside him immediately ran out.

Countless voices gathered together, surrounding the city.

Under the banner of the rebel army, Fang Qifo, dressed in silver armor, walked and roared on the top of the city wall with Fan Yangli and a big knife, his eyes fixed on every part of the battlefield he could see. Messengers kept delivering news from the four walls, and he would take a look at the news regardless of whether it was good or bad.

From the time Fang La was captured to now, the situation of the rebel army has become increasingly difficult. Many old brothers have passed away, and new people have joined. Even though he was being cut and bled by the Song army, he has never been so impatient. The offensive and defensive battle lasted for nearly two hours, and the army under the city was still attacking the city in an orderly manner. He was always thinking about how to save the city.

When Tong Guan was around, Wang Bing was still tied by a rein. Now that the eunuch is gone, he is no longer tied by a rein. Who knows what kind of trouble he will get into.

"Damn it, what on earth does this bastard want to do..."

He said this while scratching his hair fiercely.

……

The sound of horse hooves rang out monotonously.

A Song army scout drew his bow and shot an arrow. The moment he turned around on his horse, an arrow suddenly shot out from behind. The arrowhead pierced his neck and brought out a spray of hot blood. The whole person flew three feet from the horse and fell heavily to the ground.

In the lifeless pupils, a figure in tight clothes came running on horseback holding a hard bow, grabbed the warhorse, turned around and looked at the five figures following him: "Is this the last one?"

"General Pang is a great archer." A soldier praised him, then swallowed his saliva and looked towards the military camp that had already taken shape not far away: "Should we go back? It's so close here..."

"We've been watched for a long time." Pang Wanchun snorted, and the smile on his face looked a little ferocious because of the two arrow wounds: "It's time to go. The Song thieves inside are gathering troops to come out."

As he spoke, he held the reins with one hand, turned the horse around, and took the spoils with him: "Let's go and inform the left prime minister of the situation here."

The rest of the soldiers all had horses under their crotches, and the extra reins in their hands belonged to the Song army scouts that Pang Wanchun had just shot and killed. When their horses turned around, the sound of horse hooves was heard from behind.

Horse hooves flew, and a trail of yellow soil floated up into the sky with the wind. Pang Wanchun turned his head to take a peek. He had good eyesight and could see farther than most people. Looking at the scale of the smoke and dust, he estimated that there were about a hundred people. He then focused his attention to see the two figures riding horses in front of him. His pupils shrank immediately, and the scars on his face ached slightly. He gritted his teeth and cursed, "These two bastards are actually here."

Among the figures running out of the defense area at the back, there was a pair of people with similar figures and faces. They were the brothers Wu Jie and Wu Lin who left the scar on his face.

"Who are you talking about, General?" Several soldiers didn't hear clearly, and when they saw him turn around, they looked back, only to see countless black figures riding horses in the dust.

"Nothing." Pang Wanchun turned his head expressionlessly and whipped his horse with a whip: "Go, go, go, this is already a place of trouble, go back quickly."

The soldiers following him were eager to run faster when they saw that there were many people behind them. They said nothing and just urged their horses to go faster.

He and his men were already some distance away from the Song army. They were only wearing cloth clothes and carrying only a bow and arrow and a long sword for self-defense. With such light equipment, they were much faster than the Song cavalry behind them, and they immediately rushed ahead and ran into Tiantai City.

"Stop chasing."

The young figure in front raised his arm, pulled the reins and gave orders. The rapid horse hooves slowed down and stopped as the reins were tightened.

"Damn it, these thieves run so fast." The young Wu Lin looked unhappy and slapped his thigh unwillingly: "Next time I see them, I will shoot a hole in each of them."

"Don't be so ruthless." Wu Jie found his brother's words funny, turned his horse's head, and patted him on the shoulder: "Running fast is the specialty of these thieves, how can we catch up with them?"

The surrounding cavalry burst into laughter. "The scout died in vain, alas..." The young brother sighed, feeling sorry for his comrade who had lost his life.

"They died for their loyalty to the country, which is a worthy death." Wu Jie sighed, looked back at the city, and snorted: "If we didn't have our men on both the north and south sides, I believe General Zhe would have attacked immediately even if the forces were equal. What a pity..."

He shook the reins and said, "Take the dead brothers back and bury them properly. Let's go—"

More than a hundred war horses galloped up.

The flags were fluttering above the city, and the figures galloping into the city dismounted their horses. Pang Wanchun hurriedly ran into the yamen, looked at a few scouts who had returned and were walking out, then walked in, picked up the kettle from the table and drank a gulp of water.

"Huh..." Wiping the water stains from his mouth, the man nicknamed Xiao Yang Youji said, "The Song army is setting up camp and arranging defenses. It seems that they want to block us."

In the room, Lou Minzhong, Shi Bao, and Li Tianrun all looked a little heavy-hearted. After hearing him speak, the thin figure thought for a moment and said, "The scout who just came back said the same thing..."

After a pause, Lou Minzhong stroked his beard and said, "You investigated the west. They went to several other directions. Only the south and east sides have seen the Song bandits. There is no one in the north city."

Pang Wanchun frowned: "Encircle three and leave one?"

"Not likely." Li Tianrun shook his head and continued, "The scouts said that there are only one or two thousand people in the east, which is obviously less than the west and south. I don't know why. I think it's a trap, but..."

He tilted his head: "I can't figure it out."

The cicadas outside the door suddenly became louder in the sunlight. Shi Bao stood up anxiously: "This is easy. We will know everything after we fight a battle!"

He slammed the table and stood up: "I will be the vanguard. Give me two thousand men and I will attack the Song army in the east."

"General Shi, please be patient." Lou Minzhong took a breath to comfort him: "The situation is not right. If we attack rashly, we may fall into the trap of the Song army on the other side."

Li Tianrun also hurriedly advised: "That's right, haven't you suffered enough losses before?"

"Hmm...Alas!"

Shi Bao opened his mouth, sighed suddenly, sat down, and patted the table: "I'm just depressed. We have 8,000 troops here, and the Song army outside is only more than 10,000, and many of them are useless. This... Alas!"

He hadn't finished his sentence, and knowing that he was talking nonsense, he slammed the table again and remained silent angrily.

Lou Minzhong frowned and thought, but he was not good at military strategy. He could not come up with a solution after thinking about it for a long time, so he could only speak: "In the current situation, in my humble opinion, we should be more cautious. Let's guard this city and send scouts to Yuezhou and the south to check on the situation of General Fang and General Lu. The Song army is attacking in large numbers, and they will definitely face the main force of the enemy."

The other three generals, Pang Wanchun, were nearly shot to death by the Wu brothers. He was somewhat troubled by the two brothers. The other two had been at a disadvantage in dealing with Zhe Kecun for the past year and were also weak. After hearing this, the three of them looked at each other and had no idea what to do. After hesitating for a long time, they sighed and said, "Let's do as the Left Prime Minister said."

……

The vision was intermittent in the black smoke, the pungent smell made people cry, and the fierce fighting was still going on in Xianju City ahead.

The Song army that was killing casualties in the city kept attacking the rebel formation defending the city wall. Blades and spears fell on people, and blood spread. Chen Koutong held a crossbow, covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth, and shot at the Song army in the distance from time to time.

Arrows and stones kept flying above them. Everyone was fighting hysterically and didn't care about the falling objects. Blood was always blooming in the teams of both sides.

"Youduan, Si, go and reinforce." Chen Kutong knocked a Song soldier to the ground with a crossbow. He turned around and roared loudly, and then was drowned in the huge wave of fighting. There were only one or two hundred archers behind him who responded. "Kill!" He roared and shot an arrow with all his might. Then he changed to swords and guns and killed them with all his might.

The chaos on the city wall reached its peak at this moment.

The Song army that broke through used their shields to block their bodies and charged forward. At the moment Liu Guangshi, who was holding a long sword, showed his head from behind, he jumped up. His young body jumped onto the city wall. Relying on his strong armor, he chopped down three people in succession and immediately cleared a gap. He looked at the thin forest of guns in front of him and shouted, "Opportunity! Hurry up--"

The Song army soldiers who came up one after another deflected their spears and stared fiercely at the rebel soldiers in front of them. The archers who came over from a distance roared "Ahhh——" and waved their weapons to kill them.

Liu Guangshi was protected by a shield and his personal soldiers followed him. He swung his knife with his backhand, and the blade swept across the side of the opponent's neck. Blood spurted out like a fountain. The head with the Liao army leather helmet turned to one side, with the skin and flesh hanging on the body.

"Tsk - a bunch of people with no tomorrow dare to resist!"

The young man, who was always cautious in front of his father, said sarcastic words and twisted his neck arrogantly, but suddenly stopped halfway through the movement.

In the distance, smoke and dust were rising in the air.

"Commander, don't be stunned!"

Someone shouted beside him, which made Liu Guangshi, who was staring into the distance just now, suddenly come back to his senses. He saw someone raising his hand in the distance with his peripheral vision, and then squatted down without thinking. In less than two breaths, a black shadow flew over his head, and he was immediately scared and broke into a cold sweat.

"pity……"

Chen Kutong patted his thigh, then licked his cracked lips, looked at the place where the smoke and dust were rising, and finally his expression was a little relieved: "It's finally here."

At the foot of the city, the general under the Xin-shaped flag looked at the scout running over, bent down on his horse and lifted him into the air: "What did you say? Bandit reinforcements? Whose flag is this?"

"Lu...Lu Shinang's flag." The scout kicked his feet in the air. "There are about 10,000 people. The vanguard is the two villains Tan Gao and Wei Zhong."

"This bunch of birds..."

Xin Xingzong loosened his grip, and the scout fell from mid-air with a cry of "Ah!", and staggered to his feet.

"Pass the order..." The general on horseback squeezed out two words from his mouth, paused and growled viciously: "The troops on the top of the city wall withdraw, the rear troops become the front troops, and rush forward to meet me and defeat the enemy army!"

The command flag was waving in the air, and the sound of retreating troops rang out below the city. The morale of the rebels on the top of the city was immediately boosted, and they rushed forward shouting.

The Western Army general, who had the advantage, let out an unwilling roar and shouted, "Retreat!", and turned over and retreated down the ladder.

The sky and the earth changed color, and the front line shifted. (End of this chapter)