Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 355 Taking Puyang Again
Restricted by the cost and the source of raw materials, only a small part of the incendiary bombs blasted by the Han army's trebuchets actually added tung oil and sulfur to support combustion, and most of them were ordinary incendiary bombs filled with red charcoal, and the arson effect was far inferior to Incendiary bombs made of oil, not to mention the legendary Greek fire.

However, it is barely enough. A large urn full of burning red charcoal fell from the sky, and the pottery urn shattered and ignited the surrounding combustibles quickly. The Shangxi Chu army had never encountered such a weapon before, and was caught off guard by the primitive incendiary bombs of the Han army. Soon, fires broke out everywhere in Puyang City, and fires of all sizes could be seen suddenly rising everywhere. With the help, they gradually became one piece, and a skyrocketing fire broke out.

"Fire! Run! Run!"

"Fire out! Fire out!"

As a result, there was chaos in Puyang City very quickly. Soldiers in disheveled armor could be seen rushing out of houses and courtyards that suddenly caught fire, and soldiers of the Western Chu army carrying buckets were seen rushing to put out the fire everywhere. The incendiary bombs of the Han army were still It is still falling into the sky, igniting the houses and buildings in the city with mostly wooden structures in this era, and the occasional drop of the refueling bomb is even more so that the ground is full of fire, which is difficult to put out with water, which further expands the fire in the city. The streets and alleys were filled with smoke, and the flames were soaring into the sky. It was as if the soldiers of the Han army had already entered the city.

In order to extinguish the fire in the city as soon as possible, Huan Chu had no choice but to order all the soldiers of the West Chu Army who had rested to stand up and put out the fire. But how could the power of the fire be easily resisted by manpower?Only half an hour after the Han army switched to throwing incendiary bombs, several streets in Puyang City were already surrounded by raging flames. At the same time, the number of fires continued to increase and expand. .

Not to mention, seeing that the city was already in chaos, General Ding Ji of the Han Army took the opportunity to dispatch troops to attack, using the siege ladder that was hastily made during the day to attack the city wall of Puyang West Gate, the defenders on the city were forced to fight, Huan Chu and others People also had to quickly mobilize troops to reinforce the Ximen battlefield to prevent the Han army from really taking the Ximen position by taking advantage of the chaos and opening the way to enter Puyang City.

At this time, the gap made by the Han army with trebuchets on the city wall of Puyang West Gate during the day also played a huge role. The soldiers of the Han army could rush up the gap by flying ladders without too much effort, and then threatened the top of the city wall. The constant defenders, Ant Possession continued to succeed, and once occupied a fairly large area of ​​the city, forcing the Western Chu Army to rush to the city to invest in reserve troops, exhausting their strength, finally It was easy to drive the Han army from the city to the city.

Ding Ji also knew how to change machines. He saw that the top of the city wall was densely packed with torches, and many soldiers of the Western Chu Army had already boarded the city to defend. In addition to immediately withdrawing the siege army, Ding Ji ordered the Han army to use stone bombs again to bombard Puyang with all their strength. At the head of the Ximen city, the soldiers of the Western Chu army who were fighting in the upper city were smashed, crying and howling, and blood spattered.When the soldiers of the Western Chu Army were forced to withdraw from the city to avoid bombs, the Han army's catapults immediately switched to incendiary bombs, bombarded Puyang City again, set fire to the streets in Puyang City again, and let the Western Chu Army press the gourd to float , can't rest at ease at all.

Fortunately for the Western Chu army, the pottery urns brought by the Han army were limited after all. In the middle of the night, the original incendiary bombs of the Han army ran out of ammunition, and all had to be changed back to stone bombs, facing the head of Ximen city. Bombed wildly, but even so, the fire in Puyang City was not completely extinguished until nearly five o'clock. No less than a thousand houses were burned down, and many streets were turned into ruins. There is even a lack of housing, lodging and rest. At the same time, the entire Western Chu army was tossed almost all night, and the morale of the army was greatly affected. Of course, quite a few soldiers were burned to death and burned by the fire in the city, and they lost quite a lot. Military supplies.

Those who made the West Chu army want to cry without tears were still behind. When the sky was twilight, the general of the Han army, Long Qie, not only brought [-] troops to rotate the troops of the Han army Ding Ji outside the city, but also brought six vehicles. The newly built counterweight trebuchet and more newly built siege weapons, and then bombarded the already riddled city of Puyang Ximen with all its strength with huge stone bombs, while continuing to pick up soil and stones to fill up what was left yesterday. A section of Puyang West Gate moat has been filled.

At this point in the matter, the Western Chu army also understood the Han army's plan to attack the city. They knew that the Han army planned to use the catapult to blast out the gaps in the Puyang city wall as much as possible, and at the same time completely fill the moat outside the city, completely opening up the direct barriers. Enter the road under Puyang City, and then really attack the city.But even if they know what the Han army is going to do, there is nothing they can do. The current Western Chu army can neither crack the counterweight trebuchets of the Han army, nor dare to send troops outside the city to fight the Han army. Grinding his teeth with all his strength, he tried to rely on the smaller and smaller limited space to survive until Xiang Yu led the main force to return to the army for rescue.

After repeating this, more than 20 counterweight trebuchets, which are more than 500 years ahead of this era, bombarded the west gate of Puyang for two days and two nights. On the morning of the third day, the moat outside the west gate of Puyang was completely filled. Even under the circumstances, Xiang Kang finally personally led the main force of the Han army to dispatch, carrying the siege weapons urgently built in the past two days, and launched a full-scale attack on the west gate of Puyang.Huan Chu also hurriedly organized the rest of the Western Chu Army to board the city wall of the West Gate of Puyang, which had been smashed by catapults, and greeted the Han army's attack with red eyes.

In this siege battle, the main force of the Han army chose to use the most orthodox tactics to launch the siege. It was very rare that the main force of the Han army used the most orthodox tactics to launch the siege. First, they used long shields to build temporary fortifications outside Puyang City to cover the archers and shoot arrows to suppress them. The defenders on the city, then hit the city gate of Puyang directly with the ramming cart, and hit the head of Puyang city with the flying ladder at the same time, and at the same time supplemented by two newly built ladder carts, attacked the city of Puyang in an orderly manner.

If it was changed to normal times, with this well-regulated siege tactic to attack Puyang Jiancheng, the Han army would definitely have a hard time succeeding, but the situation is completely different now, the moat has been completely filled, and the Han army does not need trenches The bridge car can rush directly to the bottom of Puyang City, and the speed of putting in troops is greatly accelerated. There are many gaps and gentle slopes on the wall of Puyang City that were smashed by huge boulders. Threatening the position on the city of the Western Chu Army, combined with the use of flying ladders to attack the city, the ant-attached battle is more than a little or two easier to fight than normal.

Of course, the Western Chu Army also resisted tenaciously. Under the command of Huan Chu, the arrows thrown by the soldiers of the Western Chu Army were as dense as locusts, rising from behind the broken city wall, and covering the heads of the charging Han soldiers along a parabola. , and at the same time, stones, gray bottles, raindrops and hail fell from the city, desperately preventing the generals and soldiers of the Han army from attacking the city. The top of the city gate that needed to be protected was even more densely populated, and heavy stones fell one after another, smashing crazily The Han army trying to get close to the city gate rammed the city cart.

That's not to mention, in order to defend the city, the Western Chu army used expensive rockets from the beginning to attack the Han army's ladder vehicles that threatened the most to the city wall with all their strength, and then put down more expensive fire curtains one after another, using fire-drenched Oil and ignite the huge curtain to burn and kill the ants attached to the Han army, preventing the Han army from attacking the city at all costs.

It is a pity that the resistance of the Western Chu army is doomed to be a dying struggle, because there are too many gaps in the city wall smashed by the huge boulders of the Han army, and it is too easy for the Han army to attack the city with ants. Hundreds of Han warriors successfully charged up the city wall and captured a large area of ​​the city, allowing more Han soldiers to rush up the city wall to help in the battle. The Western Chu army was forced to send more troops to the city The strength of the troops is to carry the Han army's attack with flesh and blood.

As a result, the fierce battle became more brutal and bloody. The soldiers of the two armies competed inch by inch for the position on the city. Every step forward had to pay the price of blood and life. Paying the price of being injured or even dying, in order to win and even survive, the soldiers of the two armies could only howl like wild beasts, and desperately greeted each other with their weapons, killing until the sky was dark and the sun and the moon were dark.

One of the ladder trucks of the Han army was burned into a pile of fire by the dense rockets and swallowtail torches thrown by the soldiers of the Western Chu Army before it could touch the city wall. Under the cover of the soldiers, they were not attacked by the enemy's swallowtail torches. Even with hundreds of rockets, they still managed to lean against the city wall. Xiang Kang didn't hesitate at the speed of the troops, and immediately sent another [-] troops and two ladder vehicles to the front, striking while the iron was hot to speed up the capture of the position at the top of the wall.

Yang Ji, a veteran of the Young Marshal Army who followed Xiang Kang when he started his army, was killed on the top of the city wall and suffered more than [-] wounds. However, the soldiers under his command did not retreat timidly because of this. On the contrary, they shouted slogans to avenge him , under the leadership of his deputy, further strengthened the offensive, and became the first Han army team to rush to the upper position of the city gate.Gongwei, the general of the Western Chu Army who was ordered to guard the west gate of Puyang, led his army to fight to the death, but still failed to stop the Han army's offensive.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Han army's ramming vehicle, which had been under the care of the Western Chu Army before, finally rushed to the gate, swung a ram with a sharp iron horn on the front end, and slammed into the city gate. The soldiers of the Western Chu Army died behind the gate. Standing against the city gate, he hurriedly carried sandbags to block the passageway of the city gate.At the same time, seeing that the situation was not good, Huan Chu immediately sent more reserve troops to the front of the city, trying to regain the most important position at the top of the city gate to protect the city gate.

Without the towers, troops could be garrisoned, and the counterattack power of the Western Chu army was greatly limited. Under the tenacious resistance of the generals of the Han army, the Western Chu army launched several counterattacks, but failed to regain the position above the city gate. On the contrary, Relying on the help of flying ladders, more soldiers of the Han army rushed up the city wall to reinforce their companions. The ramming vehicles of the Han army under the city also cracked the city gate in many places, and they might be directly smashed open at any time.

"Boom!"

Finally, with a loud bang, the west gate of Puyang was finally smashed open by the Han army's ramming vehicle. The soldiers of the Han army cheered and rushed into the corridor of the city gate, desperately hacking and killing the soldiers of the Western Chu army who were still hurriedly carrying sandbags. Capture the main route of the Han army.At the same time, another Han army ladder car also successfully approached the city wall, and more Han soldiers went up to the city one after another, successfully capturing nearly half of the positions on the west gate of Puyang city wall.

Seeing that the defeat was decided, the soldiers of the Western Chu Army who had been stubbornly resisting before gradually began to panic. Under the frustration of the army, they were killed by the Han army and retreated again and again. No matter what powerful counterattack was launched, various positions were lost one after another, and most of the positions on the city were occupied by the Han army.

Before he had time to inquire about the layout of the Western Chu Army, Lu Yi, the general of Longqi, took the lead and directly led the army into the city through the opened gate. Although he was immediately blocked by the Western Chu Army's reserve team, Lu Yi himself He was shot by a crossbow arrow, but the Han army entering the city did not take half a step back, gritted their teeth and continued to advance, and fought hand-to-hand with the Western Chu army near the city gate, fighting extremely fiercely.

All kinds of bad news were constantly reported to Huan Chu, the temporary chief general of the Western Chu Army. The positions on the city were basically lost, and the city gate corridors were already difficult to block. The reserve team sent was also killed by the Han army. Huan Chu was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, but he had no choice but to consider whether it was street fighting to resist in the end?Or take advantage of the opportunity now, abandon the city and break through, and try to preserve the army as much as possible?

Huge noise and cheers suddenly came from the direction of the west gate. When Huan Chu quickly looked at it, he saw that the self-armed troops on the west gate were in chaos, and many soldiers fled into the city. When the banner of the Han army under the banner of Kang entered the city, it was obvious that a Han army general who was absolutely worthy led the army into Puyang City in person. Huan Chu was even more panicked, and hurriedly asked Kuai Che next to him: "Mr. In your opinion, do we still need to fight?"

Kuai Che's expression was obviously hesitant, he hesitated for a while, and then said: "General Huan, forgive me for saying that there are too many recruits in our army, if we continue to fight, even if we can still bring some casualties to the Han bandits , and it is absolutely impossible to continue to defend Puyang City, after the army has suffered too many casualties in street fighting, we will not even have a chance to retreat and break through."

"Fortunately." Kuai Che added, and said: "It is Da Sima who was ordered to guard Puyang. Even if he is killed now and cannot defend Puyang, he should still bear the main responsibility. It would not be too much for the king to think about it." I blame you."

After all, people have selfishness, even when Xiang Yu was surrounded by enemies in Gaixia, he left the infantry and ran for his life with the cavalry, let alone Huan Chu, who was far inferior to Xiang Yu in force and courage?So after hesitating for a while, Huan Chu still gritted his teeth and said: "Order all the troops to open the other three gates of Puyang with the signal of the fire in the county guard's mansion, and go out to the east of the city together, and let Xiao Gongjiao lead the army to the rear!"

Not to mention, even though the morale of the army was extremely flustered, Huan Chu's orders were resolutely carried out by the generals of the Western Chu Army. After the remaining main forces of the Western Chu Army were ready to retreat, Huan Chu's personal soldiers set fire to the fire. After the county guard's mansion, the various departments of the Western Chu Army opened the three gates of Puyang, the north, the south, and the east, which were not attacked, and escaped from the city to the east.By the way, in order to facilitate his escape, Huan Chu changed into the clothes of ordinary soldiers early on, so as not to become the key target of the Han army.

Xiang Kang was very generous in only attacking one battlefield at the west gate of Puyang, and he had not sent troops to the other three gates of Puyang to prevent the Western Chu army from fleeing the city. Apart from wanting to break down the fighting spirit of the defenders, there was another more important reason, of course because At present, the Han army has a large number of cavalry, which has reached more than [-], and all of them can fight on horseback. Their mobility is far stronger than that of the infantry of the Western Chu army.Therefore, Xiang Kang was not in a hurry when he saw that the Western Chu army suddenly opened the door and went east. He just ordered Ding Ji and Zhongli Meier to immediately lead the army to launch a pursuit. The front intercepted the defeated Western Chu army.The Han Army Longqie, who led the army into the city before, did not participate in the pursuit. It just searched and killed the remnants of the enemy with all its strength, and soon took the second time for Xiang Kang to win the very important Puyang Jiancheng.

The cavalry of the Han army led by Guan Ying accomplished the tasks assigned to them by Xiang Kang very well. Wielding their sabers, they forcibly fought a bloody path among the defeated crowd of the Western Chu army. The array blocked the way for the defeated Western Chu army to flee eastward.Huan Chu urged the army to fight to the death, trying to break through the interception position of the Han cavalry and maintain their formation to break through and escape. However, they were hit head-on by the Han cavalry who dismounted and fought on foot.

After a while, seeing that there was still no way to kill the scattered Han army cavalry, on the contrary, Xiao Gongjiao, who was behind the palace, couldn't withstand the Han army's pursuit, and had already fled eastward to his vicinity. Huan Chu had no choice but to give up his illusions with a long sigh, and ordered his own soldiers Put down the flag, give up the command of the defeated troops of the Western Chu Army, and lead the soldiers to bypass the interception position of the Han cavalry and flee eastward. All over the mountains and plains.

As a result, the pursuit of the Han army turned into a hunting battle. The Han cavalry mounted their horses again and charged in groups. When they saw the largest number of enemies there, they rushed there to kill them. The soldiers of the Western Chu Army who were left alone were captured alive, and they desperately expanded the results of the battle. The Western Chu Army completely collapsed.

During the pursuit, the infantry of the Han army led by Ding Ji and Zhong Limei caught a big fish. In addition to capturing Gongwei's son Gongwei alive, they also surrounded two middle-aged men who were dressed completely differently from the Western Chu army. When the soldiers ordered them to put down their weapons and surrender, a strong middle-aged man was forced to throw down his sword and raised his hand and said, "Don't kill me, I can make you rich and honored. I am Sima Ang, the king of Henan."

"Then what about this?" The Han army guard who was defending them pointed to another middle-aged man in surprise and asked.

"Li Zuoche." The middle-aged man dressed as a scribe replied helplessly.

After Sima Ang and Li Zuoche were escorted in front of Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang only let Li Zuoche loose, and couldn't wait to express his respect to Li Zuoche, Sima Ang refused. Convinced, he asked directly: "King of Han, I am the king of Henan, why don't you untie me?"

"Untie you?" Xiang Kang laughed outright, and said, "Untie you, how can I explain to the fathers and elders of the three counties of Juan County, Yangwu and Xingyang who have surrendered to the king? The king led the army to attack Xingyang. As the king of Henan, you refused to protect the people of Henan under your rule. On the contrary, you helped the Western Chu bandits to poison Juan County, Yangwu and Xingyang, burn, kill and loot, and did all kinds of evil. Xingyang was slaughtered. Most of the Li Shus in Juan County and Yangwu were murdered, and they are still insane, using their corpses to fill up the trenches of our guard camp, helping the emperor to abuse you to such an extent, if this king spares you, even the heavens will not agree!"

After saying that, Xiang Kang shouted loudly: "Put Sima Yang into the prison cart, take him back to Xingyang, summon the fathers and elders of Xingyang, Yangwu and Juan County, and make him the leader of the crowd!"

Sima Ang begged for mercy loudly, but it was a pity that Xiang Kang firstly wanted to buy people's hearts, and secondly, he didn't want to leave the princes and kings with a political foundation.Li Zuoche, who received Xiang Kang's courtesy, felt uneasy, and hurriedly pleaded guilty, admitting that he had given Xiang Yu a lot of bad ideas, and also helped Xiang Yu kill many Han soldiers, and offered to plead guilty.

"That is the master of each." Xiang Kang waved his hand generously and said: "At that time, Mr. Guangwu, you were a guest minister of the King of Western Chu, and it was your job to advise him. How could this king do it for you? You, Lord Guangwu, have been held accountable for offering advice to the King of Western Chu? If, Lord Guangwu, you feel really sorry, then you can stay with me to help me wipe out the Western Chu bandits as soon as possible, and just make meritorious deeds and atone for your sins."

Seeing that Xiang Kang was so magnanimous, and he even opened his mouth to solicit, Li Zuoche hurriedly thanked him and vowed to be loyal to the Han army forever. When Xiang Kang was about to lift him up with his own hands, Xu Ji suddenly took a chicken feather sticker When the military emergency report came before him, his expression was still quite nervous. Xiang Kang was shocked when he saw it, and hurriedly asked: "Then the military emergency report? Did it come from the Nanyang battlefield?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, it's not an urgent report from Nanyang, but General Uncle Zhou just sent someone from the northern line. I want you to send him reinforcements as soon as possible, Your Majesty."

Xiang Kang was taken aback by Xu Ji's answer, and in surprise, Xiang Kang blurted out, "It's strange, Uncle Zhou will ask the king for help one day?"

(End of this chapter)