Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 121 The Fierce Battle in Pengcheng

Except that Ding Ji's troops fought a small-scale blocking battle in Xiangxian County, the remaining battles were actually the active retreat of the young commanders, and there was no real resistance with all their strength. Therefore, the battle of Pengcheng was actually a small one. This is the first time that Shuai Jun has fought against the regular army of Qin Army under the direct control of Qin Ting since his formation of the army. It is of great significance. The cities and land that Shuai Jun has worked so hard to fight in the past few months will definitely be completely wiped out.

The officers and soldiers of the Young Commander Army are also very aware of this, so the Qin Army's division led by Zhang Ping has just arrived in the outskirts of Pengcheng. The soldiers scrambled to pass on the powerful combat effectiveness of the regular army of the Qin Army in the outpost battle in Xiangxian County. The heroic performance of the Ding Ji Department of the Young Marshal's Army was still exhausted, and the generals at all levels were equally nervous. They all ran to Xiang Zhuang, who was in charge of the affairs of the camp outside the city, and asked how Xiang Kang planned to resist the Qin army this time. Their morale was obviously not as high as before.

This can't be blamed on the cowardice and incompetence of the young generals. The main reason is that the Qin army under Zhang Han fought so beautifully before. Here, Zhang Chu's army on the western front was killed to the brim, collapsed, and almost effortlessly broke through Zhang Chu's capital. In addition, the Ding Ji Department of the Xiangxian County Commander-in-Chief Army suffered another eight lifetimes of bad luck. The elite Longxi elite of the regular army of the Qin army lost more and more miserably, so the generals and soldiers of the young general army would inevitably have to fight against the enemy like a tiger.

Xiang Zhuang, who has accumulated a lot of experience in actual combat, quickly discovered this danger, and sent people into the city to report the situation to Xiang Kang that evening. The headquarters was relocated to a camp outside the city to stabilize people's hearts and boost morale. He asked Xiang Sheng, whom he trusted, to lead the army to guard Pengcheng City. He also recruited a team of one thousand people from the Chinese army directly under him to reinforce Xiang Sheng. The strength of the troops is to prevent the Qin army from bypassing the camp outside the city of the young commander's army and directly attacking Pengcheng.

In this regard, the old man Fan, who likes to be upright, raised his hands to support him. He felt that Xiang Kang had finally become a hero, but Zhou Zeng was quite worried, and reminded Xiang Kang: "Young commander, it is better to be careful. The army is powerful, and after you leave the city, some people in the city may have different ideas, especially Wang Yong, the magistrate of Pengcheng County who offered the city to us before, he is a person who sees money and goes with the wind."

"Don't worry, I will ask Xiang Sheng to be careful." Xiang Kang replied, "Wang Yong is fine. If he dares to disagree, I will naturally have a way to deal with him."

After making the necessary sufficient arrangements, Xiang Kang led his personal troops out of Pengcheng in the blizzard of the next morning, and transferred his headquarters to the main camp of the Young Marshals outside the west gate of Pengcheng. , So far, the Pengcheng garrison of the Young Marshal's Army has basically taken shape. Xiang Sheng led an army of 2 to defend the city. It broke the previous record for the highest number of troops used by the Young Marshal Army on a battlefield.

But it is a pity that the strength of the Young Marshal's Army is still far behind. Zhang Ping's army is 5 people, plus the more than [-] people of the Qin Army from Dang County who were ordered to come to reinforce, the total strength of the Qin Army has reached [-]. There are as many as [-], and even if [-] troops are left to guard the Xiangxian County and Xiaoxian County that they seized before, the frontline troops are still more than double the total strength of the Young Marshal's Army.What made Xiang Kang even more worried was that Zhang Ping's army still had an unknown number of elite troops from Longxi of the Qin Army. Given the strength of its troops, the Young Marshal's Army is doomed to have no chance of winning.

At the moment of life and death, no matter how worried Xiang Kang was, he certainly didn't dare to show it, so after moving the headquarters to the camp outside the city, at the first battle meeting held, Xiang Kang's expression was still as relaxed as usual Free, talking and laughing with the generals under his command, as if he was not nervous at all.And when the young generals asked how to fight this battle, Xiang Kang immediately said with a smile: "Of course, defense is the main thing. The Tyrant Qin army came from afar, and the stable supply of food, grass and supplies cannot be guaranteed. Such a good opportunity." , Why should we rush to launch a decisive battle? Are we still the farts under the rule of the Tyrant Qin, and we still want to help the Tyrant Qin army save food and grass?"

The generals laughed, and Xiang Kang said with a smile: "By the way, I would like to tell you some good news. Our Marshal Xiang Zhuguo has sent a letter, saying that he will soon lead our Jiangdong elite from the east of Chu to cross the Yangtze River to the north. Pengcheng reinforces us. General Feng Zhong is about to lead our southern army from Jiujiang to the north and come to reinforce us. In addition, Liu Ji and Liu Peigong in the north, in order to thank us for helping him keep Fengyi last time , but also personally lead the army to the south to reinforce us. If all goes well, our total strength will soon overtake the Tyrant Qin army."

One advantage of not liking big things and lies is that it is easy for others to believe a sudden lie, so after hearing Xiang Kang's casually fabricated good news, the young generals immediately felt a lot more relaxed, and their mood was no longer so tense.Xiang Kang said again: "Okay, everyone knows the situation, don't worry, there is no need to rush to a decisive battle with the Tyrant Qin army, first hang up the exemption card, and concentrate on closing the camp and sticking to it. If the Tyrant Qin army likes to attack the camp, they can Let them come, we will only defend but not fight, and see how they break through the strong camp we have worked so hard to build."

The generals sang promises, and then of course someone asked curiously what the free battle card was, Xiang Kang also remembered that the free battle card seemed to be something in the Romance storytelling, but the words had already been spoken, Xiang Kang still asked someone to fetch a big wooden sign, and let Zhou He once drew a pen and wrote the words "Warning Free" on the wooden sign, and asked someone to hang it on the barracks gate of his own army, and told the Qin army by means of the Romance storytelling that his army had no interest in fighting them in the field. . ——To be precise, he didn't have the guts to fight the Qin army in a field battle.

Of course, the props in the romance novels can’t play any role. It’s noon, Zhang Ping still sent envoys to the battalion, and asked Xiang Kang to send troops to fight the next day. Xiang Kang refused, saying that he was not interested in a decisive battle with the Qin army for the time being. He also told Qin Jun not to have to run back and forth so much trouble in the future, and if he didn't take off the exemption card hanging in front of the gate of the camp, he would not accept Qin Jun's challenge for a day.The envoys of the Qin army reported the news to Zhang Ping and Zhang Ping, and Zhang Ping was also furious immediately, and shouted: "Xiang Kang will not fight the rebels! Let's fight! Tomorrow, troops will be sent outside the camp of Chu rebels to insult and provoke Xiang Kang." The traitor sends troops! If he still doesn't send troops, he will attack the camp for me!"

According to Zhang Ping's order, in the early morning of the next day, the Qin army dispatched [-] troops to the east in one breath, and set up a huge battle formation outside the gate of the young commander's barracks, and sent many Qin soldiers with loud voices to insult them. He rudely greeted Xiang Kang's parents and ancestors, but the thick-skinned Xiang Kang was unmoved in the slightest. He even sent some loud soldiers to the camp gate to scold them back. born grandson.Zhang Ping, who was not thick-skinned enough, was furious, and immediately ordered his troops to attack the camp regardless of the dissuasion of several subordinates.

Zhang Ping's impulsiveness also hit Xiang Kang's arms. In order to stick to Pengcheng for a long time before, the young marshal built his main camp extremely solidly. In addition to building a ten-meter-high earth wall to defend the camp, he also built a female wall for standing and fighting , A sheep and horse wall was built outside the earth wall, and two trenches were protected outside the sheep and horse wall. The trench was half a foot deep and one foot wide, and countless pickets were buried in the trench to kill the enemy.If the Qin army wanted to break through the camp of the Young Marshal Army, in addition to attacking the camp gates guarded by the Young Marshal Army, they could only go forward with trench bridge vehicles and build a road across the trench, and then they could touch the camp gate of the Young Marshal Army. camp wall.

However, the Qin army was also prepared to a certain extent. In addition to rushing to build some trench bridge vehicles, it also rushed to build a large number of portable ladders to deal with the camp wall of the young commander's army. Therefore, even if they rushed to attack the camp, the Qin army still fought in an orderly manner. , First use a long shield to go forward, set up a large number of temporary fortifications outside the Marshal's camp, arrange crossbowmen to suppress the defenders of the Marshal's Army, and then push the trench bridge vehicle to attack, preparing to open a certain number of trenches. Then launch a general attack.

Amid the sound of war drums, the long shields of the Qin Army strode forward in a neat horizontal line. Although the young commander tried his best to block them with arrows, it was a pity that the wide long shield blocked most of the arrows of the young commander, so the bow of the young commander The crossbow blocking has always had little effect. Even if some of the Qin Army's long shield soldiers were shot and killed by luck, they still couldn't stop the progress of the Qin Army's long shield troops. , Formed rows of temporary fortifications, and then the Qin Army's crossbowmen hiding behind the long shield immediately fired back with arrows, and they had a great time shooting at the young commanders and soldiers hiding behind the sheep and horse walls and the camp wall.

It was only when the Qin Army's trench bridge vehicles charged that the level of bloodshed on the battlefield suddenly rose to a level. In order to push the trench bridge vehicles to the side of the trench as soon as possible to build a bridge, the Qin Army convoy had just entered the crossbow range of the Young Marshal Army Inside, the beating rhythm of the Qin Army's war drums suddenly accelerated, and the Qin Army's infantry, who only had round shields to protect their bodies, also charged at full speed like crazy, while the young generals and soldiers hiding behind the sheep and horse walls and the camp wall fired arrows at random. , hit the Qin Army trench bridge convoy head-on, and the soldiers of the Qin Army who were not protected by long shields were constantly shot and injured by arrows, and the screams continued, but within a short time, dozens of Qin Army soldiers lay down on the battlefield forever.

The Qin Army's trench bridge convoy was also close to the trench, and the arrows of the Young Commander's Army became more intense and dense. The officers and men of the Young Commander's Army hiding behind the sheep and horse wall took turns to shoot arrows, striking the Qin Army's infantry powerfully at close range.At the same time, dozens of boulders suddenly flew up behind the camp wall of the Young Commander's Army, and smashed directly on Qin Jun's head. Qin Jun was caught off guard and was thrown into chaos. Come over and shout angrily: "Shameless traitor! He even prepared a trebuchet in the camp!"

The matter is not over yet. After helping the crossbowmen smash the Qin army's trench bridge convoy, the young commander's trebuchet hiding behind the camp wall leaned on the lookout finger on the top of the camp wall and smashed the stone into the Qin army's trench bridge. With the long shield in hand, Qin Jun's long shield could not protect the sky above his head, and was quickly smashed by stones falling from the sky. The young generals behind the sheep and horse wall took the opportunity to shoot arrows one after another, shooting to death many people who lost the protection of the long shield. The soldiers of the Qin Army and the long shield team of the Qin Army became more chaotic, and the efforts to restrain the shooters of the Young Commander's Army were also greatly reduced.

The failure to attack the camp made Zhang Ping even more annoyed. He roared and immediately invested another thousand troops to strengthen the attack, and at the same time directly sent troops to attack the camp gate of the young commander's army.Xiang Kang in the battalion calmly commanded the troops to fight, and a thousand crossbowmen quickly left the camp from the north and south gates. With the protection of the sheep and horse walls, the cat waist ran to the west to join the battle, helping the weakened west gate defenders to resist. When the enemy attacked, the camp gate even adopted a burst of shooting tactics, using a dense rain of arrows to shoot the soldiers of the Qin army who were rushing straight forward, turning their backs and leaving dead bodies all over the ground.

It really couldn't resist the fierce arrow rain from the young marshal's army. The Qin army was forced to retreat for the first time since it dispatched troops from Guanzhong. If you use too much force when you are not prepared enough, you will defeat yourself.Zhang Ping had no choice but to have someone ring the golden bell, and withdrew the front-line troops, leaving corpses all over the ground and dilapidated bridge vehicles scattered all over the place.As a result, as soon as the Qin army retreated, thunderous cheers broke out among the young generals who had been extremely nervous before, their morale was greatly improved, and the morale of the army was also encouraged.

Before the matter was over, the Qin army had just retreated, and Xiang Kang immediately let the young commander who had scolded him out of the camp, and continued to insult Zhang Ping loudly outside the camp gate. The Qin army even threw away the trench bridge vehicles, making it clear that they are no longer planning to attack, so why do you still ask people to go out and scold them?"

"The enemy is strong and we are weak, and the enemy is outnumbered. If the enemy's general keeps calm, our battle is likely to be a disaster." Xiang Kang replied: "So there is no way but to irritate Zhang Ping desperately and make him lose his calm. Always in an irrational state, we have the hope of winning this battle."

Zhou Zeng came to his senses, and quickly nodded in agreement, but the old man Fan who was beside him snorted heavily, and said disdainfully, "I want to play tricks again!"

The means are a little despicable, but sometimes despicable means are more effective than being upright. After the young commander scolded his hands and went outside the camp to insult Zhang Ping in public, Zhang Ping really fell for it. In his rage, he almost wanted to urge the army to attack the camp. Yao Ang and the others stopped him desperately, but Zhang Ping kicked the table in front of him away in anger, and roared: "Take back the troops and return to the camp, and go all out to build trench bridge vehicles, trebuchets and flying ladders, and come to find Xiang Kangni again another day." The thief settles the score!"

In this battle, the loss of the Qin army was actually not that great. Only about [-] people died in total, and only a few dozen people were seriously injured. Not hurt.But there is no way, if you lose, you lose. Qin Jun, who has not fought a single defeat since he left Hangu Pass, has been affected to a certain extent in terms of morale, and Zhang Ping is very annoyed by this. It was useless, and after returning to the camp, they just blindly urged the soldiers to rush to make equipment, only wishing to launch an attack on the camp again tomorrow, capture Xiang Kang, dismember him, and blow his bones to ashes.

Xiang Kang was also very good at adding fuel to the flames. Not long after the Qin army returned to the camp, Xiang Kang sent someone to send a letter, claiming that since Zhang Ping refused to agree to negotiate with him face to face, he sent troops to attack his camp unjustly. Forced to have no choice but to sign an alliance with the Wei State, to help the Wei State hold back the Qin army, to win the opportunity for Wei Jiu and Zhou Fu's army to take the opportunity to enter Guanzhong, and to persuade Zhang Ping to quickly retreat and go back to rescue Guanzhong, and stop wasting in Pengcheng. time.The tone of the letter was arrogant, showing the face of a confident villain to the fullest, and even mocking Zhang Ping a few words.

Of course Xiang Kang's arrogance made Zhang Ping furious, but Yao Ang, who was standing next to him, saw something was wrong, and hurriedly remonstrated with Zhang Ping, "Don't be angry, the general. The strong camp allows him to consume our army with the fortifications. Once our army is unable to attack for a long time, the old man will be exhausted and will be in trouble. I hope the general will not fall into the trap and act calmly. Don't just blindly attack directly, but find another way Break the enemy."

"It doesn't need to be so troublesome. A group of mobs, no matter how strong the camp is, they will never be able to stop our Daqin army!" Zhang Ping said angrily: "Today's battle, we just lost because of lack of preparation. Enough equipment to attack the camp can definitely take down the camp of the thieves!"

Zhang Ping couldn't be persuaded, so Yao Ang had to sigh and let go. Zhang Ping went to the rear camp to supervise the soldiers of the Qin Army to rush to build the attacking equipment. Catapults, and 120 portable ladders, Zhang Ping immediately urged the army to fight, and on the third morning after the failed attack on the camp, he once again launched a frontal attack on the camp of the Young Marshal Army.

Of course, the Qin army's dispatch this time was no small matter. In addition to preparing to attack from the southwest at the same time, Zhang Ping also decided to use the elite from Longxi, which Zhang Han regarded as a treasure, to participate in the attack on the camp.After the news of the Qin army's dispatch was reported to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang also immediately summoned the young generals to mobilize before the battle, and gritted his teeth and said to the young generals: "Whether Pengcheng can be defended depends on today." This battle is over! The Tyrant Qin army came to attack our camp this time. They must have used their main force and will never leave any behind. What we are facing today must be a bitter battle! A fierce battle! A bloody battle! I hope everyone will lead the army Fight the enemy bravely and resolutely hold our camp! Hold our Pengcheng!"

"Tell my words to every soldier. In today's battle, we are only allowed to win, not to lose! If we win, we will be able to hold on until the reinforcements arrive and turn the tide of the battle! If we lose, none of us will survive. ! Baoqin has already released a message, as long as our camp is breached, no matter whether our soldiers surrender or not! They will all be killed! No one will be spared!"

It was also a coincidence that the young generals sang promises in unison, and after taking the order to leave, the soldiers hurriedly brought a messenger from Liu Laosan, saying that the reinforcements led by Liu Laosan himself had arrived at the distance yesterday evening. Pengcheng is only forty miles away, and he can reach the Pengcheng battlefield to reinforce Xiang Kang today.Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately ordered: "Hurry up, send a fast horse to the north to contact Pei Gong, tell him our current situation, and ask him to speed up and go south to help me share the pressure."

"Young commander, there should be no need to tell Liu Ji about our current situation, right?" Zhou Zeng reminded in a low voice: "Otherwise, if he thinks our situation is critical, he may choose to wait on the fire from the other side and deliberately slow down the speed of advancing troops to listen. The wind and color, so that he can withdraw and leave at any time."

Xiang Kang hesitated for a moment, then said: "The matter has come to this point, we can no longer hide anything from our allies. Don't worry, that person Liu Ji can distinguish the serious from the serious. He knows that once we are defeated, Zhang Ping's next target will definitely be him. Himself, he will not be confused in this matter."

Not to mention, Xiang Kang's words were really not used to comfort Zhou Zeng and himself, because Xiang Kang clearly remembered that although Liu Laosan in history was not very good in terms of faith, he was never ambiguous when it came to anti-Qin events , I have never done anything to be sorry for the anti-Qin Youjun, and there is no bad reputation.

(End of this chapter)