My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 486 Meat grinder?
In fact, among the more than 4 million Han households and nearly 30 million people, not even one person had ever seen or knew the internal structure of Gaoque.

Even the only grassland expert in the Han Dynasty, Han Tuidang, Marquis of Gonggao, had only seen Gaoque from the outside on the south and north sides.

Before the war, the Han Dynasty had no idea what Gaoque looked like inside, what its structure was like, what terrain was available, or what areas were suitable for building a defense line.

At this moment, the Battle of Gaoque began with the Han vanguard's sudden attack to capture the outer wall. The general structure of Gaoque's interior was finally known to the Han army soldiers.

Like most of the passes constructed by Chinese civilization with the help of natural barriers: Gaoque, there is a pass on the south and north sides respectively.

In fact, the defense of the pass on the north side of Gaoque, facing the Munan area, is even stronger than the pass on the south side facing the Hetao area that the Han army has broken through at this moment.

As for the reason, it is not difficult to understand: Gaoque was built by the Qin court. Its purpose was to provide a bridgehead on the other side of the river for the Qin army to march north from the Hetao River.

As for the real enemy to guard against, it was the Donghu royal court, which nominally notified the Mu'nan area at the time but actually did not dare to carry out large-scale activities in the Mu'nan area.

With this background in mind, it will be easier to understand the overall structure of Gaoque.

——At this moment, the Han vanguard army standing on the southern gate wall of Gaoque was actually standing at the "rear" involved when the Qin court built Gaoque.

The Nanguan Gate under the Nanguan Wall was not built in an absolute defensive sense, but was built to facilitate the import of supplies and personnel from the Hetao on the opposite bank.

In a sense, the South Gate is the real gate for transporting materials and personnel of Gaoque, and the gate on the north side facing the Mu'nan area is the real gate to keep out foreign enemies.

So, Nanguanmen is very wide.

Although it was also suspended by ropes, it was 15 meters wide, enough for eight horse-drawn carriages fully loaded with logistics to drive into Gaoque side by side.

However, since the Han army soldiers did not understand the internal structure of Gaoque, they took it for granted that as long as they took down the South Gate Wall, they could open the South Gate.

Once the gate is opened, a steady stream of Han soldiers will be able to quickly pour into Gaoque, and it will only be a matter of time before Gaoque is completely under control.

But when the elite scouts of the central army under Cheng Buzhi were ordered to climb up the wall of the south gate of Gaoque and wanted to open the south gate according to Cheng Buzhi's instructions, they finally discovered something.

Normally, the city's hanging gate is controlled by a winch that winds up the rope and rotates the winch in both directions to raise or lower the gate.

Therefore, at the winch that controls the suspension door, there are always dozens of tall, burly and strong men who are responsible for the rotation of the winch.

But the South Gate of Gaoque is a little different.

——Although it is also a suspended door, the winch that controls the suspended door is not on the wall directly above the door, but is extended to a position closer to the inside of the wall.

Now, of the entire Gaoque, from South Gate to North Gate and from South Gate Wall to North Gate Wall, an area nearly four miles long and at least one mile wide, only the South Gate Wall on the south side is under the control of the Han army.

As long as you get out of the wall - as long as you move a little bit north from the wall, or even just walk to the stairs leading from the bottom of the wall to the inside of Gaoque, you will be at the front line where a fierce hand-to-hand combat is taking place.

The Huns, from their initial shock to the panic that followed, had now fallen into an unprecedented frenzy.

Gaoque cannot be lost!
It’s not because of any lofty reasons like Gaoque is so important to the Xiongnu Chanyu’s court or to the great Xiongnu Empire.

But once Gao Que throws it, every one of these people present will die!
If you are lucky, perhaps only your family will be implicated. If you are unlucky, the entire tribe may be affected!

On the grassland, anything related to war, such as merits or faults, is not analyzed based on specific circumstances.

If you win, you can do whatever you want!

Everything you snatch back is yours!

If you lose, you deserve it!

No matter why you lose, you are guilty if you lose!

In wars involving nomadic peoples, military orders that are overly absolute and leave no room for maneuver are often seen.

For example, a certain tribe angered the Chanyu Court, and the Chanyu Court planned to send one of the three major tribes: the Zhelan tribe, to attack them, but failed.

There is a high probability that Shanyu Ting would directly say: Go and destroy this tribe.

The Chanyu court did not care how, when and where the destruction was carried out.

After the tribe was destroyed, the Chanyu court did not care whether the Zhelan tribe burned, killed, looted, massacred all the people in the tribe, or reduced all their members to slavery.

The Chanyu court did not inquire about the tribe's cattle, sheep, and horses, or the gold and silver treasures collected by its nobles.

Correspondingly, in the process of conquering this tribe, the Chanyu court did not care about the logistical supplies invested and consumed by the Zhelan tribe, as well as the casualties and losses suffered.

Shan Yuting doesn't care about any details in the process, as long as there is a satisfactory result.

——I asked you to destroy this tribe from the Zhelan tribe. Did you do it?
Destroy it. Okay, your mission is accomplished.

You can do whatever you want next, I don’t care.

Not destroyed?
Okay, okay, I see you are itching for trouble.

I don't care about tribal alliances or ambushes.

I'll give you one more chance to destroy this tribe.

Don't make me do it myself.

If I really do it myself, I'm afraid your Zhelan tribe will be taken care of by me.

——This is roughly the style of painting.

In the cruel grassland, there has never been such sayings as "no guilt caused by war" or "disparity in military strength".

If you win, you win; if you lose, you lose.

If a hundred thousand people beat up an ant, they win; if a person is beaten by a sky full of aliens, he loses.

The winner should take it all, and should have everything that the loser has, including but not limited to wealth, wife and children, and even body and soul.

The same principle applies in the opposite direction: if you lose, you should accept the miserable fate that a loser deserves, becoming a slave, or even becoming a sacrifice for the enemy to celebrate victory.

Don't make excuses, don't make reasons.

Nomadic people do not believe in tears, and the gods of the plow do not protect the "scum".

What is the scum of the grassland?

Failure is your original sin...

So at this moment, the Xiongnu defenders who still remained in Gaoque did not dare to lose.

No nomadic people can accept the tragic fate of becoming a "loser" on the grassland.

Therefore, they were fearless and rushed forward, using all means possible, to the various stairs on the upper and lower walls of the South Gate where the Han soldiers were desperately guarding.

Then, it crashed into the line of Han infantrymen waiting in battle array, dyeing the bone-chilling cold bricks red and adding a fishy warmth to the high tower standing in the cold winter...

"General, the capstan is not on the wall!"

Soon, the South Gate Wall, which was originally guarded by the vanguard soldiers, was replaced by the main force of Cheng Buzhi's central army.

Compared to the vanguard army that had been sneaking around for several days and enduring the cold winter, the central army under Cheng Buzhi had just walked out of Bowang City the day before yesterday in the name of "winter training".

Moreover, after leaving Bowang City, Cheng Buzhi's troops did not overly sacrifice the physical condition of their soldiers for the sake of smoke.

Cheng Buzhi had seen it clearly long before the battle. The only goal of the vanguard army led by Zhidu was to seize the Gaoque Pass wall and turn the beginning of this war from a battle for the attack and defense of the city into a battle for positions.

The two sides were in a confrontation, with the Han army soldiers charging upwards outside the Gaoque Gate and the Xiongnu defenders shooting downwards on the wall, but now the Han army soldiers were guarding the south wall and the Xiongnu defenders were controlling the north wall!
The two sides used the entire Gaoque as their battlefield, and the gates and walls on the north and south sides as the boundaries of the battlefield, and engaged in a head-on confrontation with no room for retreat or avoidance.

Therefore, in order to ensure the suddenness of the raid, Zhidu's vanguard must ensure that their whereabouts are not exposed.

In order to keep their whereabouts secret, Zhidu's troops could only sacrifice the physical condition of the vanguard soldiers to a certain extent, and even endure a certain number of non-combat casualties before the war.

But the main force of the central army led by Cheng Buzhi was of a completely different nature.

Just like now: after Zhidu's vanguard has accomplished their mission and captured the southern gate wall of Gaoque by surprise, the main force of Cheng Buzhi's central army needs to catch up quickly and take over the defensive position in the most full state possible to consolidate the southern gate wall position that has been obtained.

Therefore, in the past two days, Cheng Buzhi did not give his soldiers the so-called "winter training" of high intensity. He just wandered around outside Bowang City, looked around, stationed troops to rest and even cooked meals.

After two days of this, although the soldiers in the central army were a little tired, they were more than three or five levels higher than the vanguard army under Zhidu in terms of mental outlook, physical condition, combat status and fighting will.

Therefore, after the central army under Cheng Buzhi rushed to support Gaoque and took over the defensive position, the Nanguan wall position, which was originally somewhat shaky and dangerous, suddenly stabilized as if it was suppressed by a meteorite falling from the sky.

——Cheng Buzhi is the only master of defensive warfare in the Han Dynasty!

All the troops that Cheng Buzhi had been in charge of would be able to fight city defense battles and position defense battles.

As a result, the two old friends, Zhidu and Cheng Buzhi, got the chance to meet on the wall when the battle was fierce at the front line.

"Marquis Bowang!"

The moment he saw Cheng Buzhi, even though he was mocked by people as having an "expressionless face", Zhidu still showed his excitement uncontrollably.

However, Cheng Buzhi raised his hands with a slightly gloomy expression, greeted Zhidu briefly, and then looked inside the wall.

The wall of Gaoque South Gate is one mile long from east to west, thirty zhang high and less than thirty zhang wide at the top.

The wall, which is one mile long and less than three feet wide, cannot accommodate many people.

Moreover, the Huns have now realized that it is not difficult for the Han army to guard the wall for the time being, but it will be very difficult to walk down the stone steps from the wall and continue to go deeper into Gaoque.

Only by opening the pass and quickly sending a group of elite soldiers into the pass could the Han army gain a firm foothold under the pass, rely on the pass, and gradually force the Xiongnu defenders back towards the northern pass.

Unfortunately, the winch that controls the hanging door is located inside the wall and is not under the control of the Han army at the moment...

"burn!"

"Burning the ropes will also burn the hanging door!"

Cheng Bushi gave the order in a deep voice, and Zhidu came back to his senses from his previous joy.

——Before, Zhidu just wanted to take the wall and wait for Cheng Buzhi’s central army to catch up, and then the vanguard army would have successfully completed its mission.

It was not until this moment, when Zhidu finally calmed down a little after hearing Cheng Bushi mention the hanging door.

The vanguard army has certainly completed its mission successfully. Even if it withdraws from the battle sequence, it will at least be a "joint first merit" result after the war.

But the premise for this "joint first merit" is that Gaoque was really captured.

Only after taking Gaoque, the vanguard army sneaked for hundreds of miles and bravely captured the South Gate Wall, which was meaningful and worthy of the title of "first merit".

If they failed and failed to capture Gaoque, then the vanguard of Zhidu's troops would have no credit but only hard work.

So right now is not the time to be happy.

The war has not yet been accepted.

The strategic goal is still far from being achieved.

Then, at Cheng Buzhi's command, hundreds of soldiers on and outside the wall immediately found long poles, wrapped the pole heads with cloth and set them on fire, and began to burn the ropes on the suspension bridge.

It was just that the weather was too cold, and the hemp rope, as thick as a wrist, burned for more than half an incense stick before it finally showed some signs of breaking.

Inside the walls, the battle continued; the Huns became more and more frantic and their attacks became more and more fierce.

With every breath, countless Han soldiers fell in a pool of blood.

In desperation, dozens of people immediately climbed down from the wall and hung on the ropes like macaques.

Then, they came to the part that was softened or about to be burned off, drew daggers and swords from their waists, and slashed back and forth at the fragile part of the rope.

It was not the sound of the rope breaking completely, but the sound of one of the dozen or so thick hemp ropes that made up the rope being cut.

Boom!
Boom!
The sound of hemp ropes breaking continued to be heard, and the huge hanging door began to creak.

Outside the wall, the soldiers of the central army also drew their swords and were ready for battle.

Boom! !

Boom! !

!!!
Finally, with the joint efforts of more than a dozen people, the rope was forcibly cut, and the hanging door slammed to the ground!

At the same time, the Huns inside the wall were furious and were about to rush towards the wall, but they were stopped by the Han soldiers on the wall who were holding spears and throwing them into the wall.

In just a short moment, hundreds of brave men rushed into the gate and stepped into the high palace.

"kill!!!"

With a deafening roar of killing, the Han army soldiers, who had been relatively calm, became as crazy as the Huns.

The reason for the madness of the Han army was slightly different from that of the Huns: the madness of the Han army soldiers was mostly due to excitement.

Perhaps they do not have such a grand sense of patriotism, nor do they have the lofty belief of sacrificing their own lives for the country.

They fought bravely just to achieve success and win more wealth and higher social status for their families.

But at this moment, they are heroes.

Every Han soldier who set foot on Gaoque and charged forward to confront the frenzied Huns head-on was undoubtedly a hero.

Outside the wall, the soldiers of the central army and the vanguard soldiers who had not yet had time to climb onto the top of the wall continued to pour in through the gate.

After repelling wave after wave of attacks from the Huns, the defending soldiers on the wall were finally able to walk down the wall and join the charge towards Gaoque.

Standing on the top of the wall, looking down at the Han soldiers inside the wall who were gradually pushing back the Huns, Zhidu's face was filled with uncontrollable joy.

Only Cheng Buzhi still maintained the absolute calmness that a battlefield controller and front-line commander should possess.

"The wall must not be missing!"

"Quickly reorganize the wall defense!"

"Form a battle array first, then advance!"

"Kill those who disrupt the formation!!!"

(End of this chapter)