Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 427 I beg you
The heavy boulders are like flying monsters, spinning and rolling, constantly flying up from the position of the Han army's catapult fleet, drawing conspicuous arcs in the sky, and hitting the head of Wancheng with a huge howling wind , a dull and loud crashing sound erupted.

The arrow butts that were hit by the smash disappeared immediately, the female wall shattered, and the city wall built of rammed earth was continuously smashed out of deep pits. There are many deep scratches, and the city wall is gradually riddled with holes. The inner gate tower behind the urn city has completely collapsed long ago, turning into a pile of rubble and ruins. The streets and houses near the city wall are also scarred and many houses collapsed , the people were crying and running, in a mess.

The most pitiful thing is the Nanyang Army soldiers on duty in the city. The rawhide cannon screens used to resist ordinary trebuchets are more fragile than paper windows in front of the counterweight trebuchets of the Han army, and they have no effect at all. The inner and outer city towers have all collapsed, and the arrow stacks of the female wall are also vulnerable. The soldiers of the Nanyang Army who have nowhere to hide can only watch the sky carefully. However, even so, the howling boulders still hit the soldiers of the Nanyang Army from time to time, smashing the poor soldiers of the Nanyang Army to bloody flesh and blood, and their corpses were smashed into pieces.

Even if they hid behind the city wall and shot at the blind spot, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army could not guarantee their safety. There were still boulders that rolled down on their heads after smashing the arrow stack female wall on the inner side of the city wall. There are many, but as soon as they appear, the boulder falling from the sky will immediately smash a wave of blood among the crowded crowd of Nanyang soldiers, causing many Nanyang soldiers to die horribly.

Even Cao Shen, the general of the Nanyang Army who was in charge of the main battlefield of the North Gate, almost died tragically. He could break his tendons and bones, but in order to save him, the loyal soldiers missed the chance to let him escape, and were directly hit on the top of the head by a boulder, and his entire upper body was completely smashed into meat sauce.

Nothing can stop the boulders thrown by the Han army. The poor Nanyang army soldiers can only dodge as much as possible, while praying for God's blessing, so that the damn Han army soldiers will stop throwing stones as soon as possible, and rush forward with real knives and real guns. The army would rather die under the sword of the soldiers of the Han army than be smashed to pieces by boulders.

It's a pity that Xiang Kang really knows how difficult it is for Liu Laosan and his friends from Pei County to deal with. With the mind of sharpening the knife and not mistakenly chopping firewood, Leng let the trebuchet start around Si o'clock in the morning, and kept throwing stones until it was close to Shen o'clock in the afternoon, until the north gate wall of Wancheng was smashed with gaps everywhere, and the collapse formed many Xiang Kangcai issued an order to temporarily stop throwing stones from sixty trebuchets.

Immediately afterwards, Cao Shen, who had just seen the first batch of Han soldiers carrying all kinds of siege weapons, immediately yelled, "Beat the drums, let all the soldiers under the city come up, Han bandits!" It's time to attack the city!"

The drums sounded, and the soldiers of the Nanyang Army under the city rushed up to the city wall where there were already gaps in the arrow stacks of the female wall, and entered their respective combat positions. They set up their arrows and prepared for battle. The swallowtail torch is going to be used to burn the large ladder vehicles of the Han army that are a huge threat to the city wall.

According to orthodox siege tactics, the first to approach the city wall are rows of Han soldiers holding long shields, protecting the crossbowmen and carefully stepping forward, using long shields to set up temporary fortifications in the distance below the city to cover the bows. The crossbowmen fired arrows to suppress the defenders on the city.And because the soldiers of the Han army had strong long shields to protect their bodies, during this period, the soldiers of the Nanyang army were not in a hurry to release arrows, but waited patiently for the ant-attached team of the Han army to enter their range.

Cao Shen secretly rejoiced, perhaps because the soldiers of the Han army were too nervous, they made mistakes when marching in line, the queue was out of joint, the heavy and slow ladder carts were still far behind, and a group of Han army infantry carrying light ladders had already taken the lead After rushing into the range of the Nanyang Army, Cao Can saw that he was overjoyed, and hurriedly shouted: "Let's shoot the arrow, and deal with this group of traitor infantry first!"

When the war drum was beating, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army, who had been preparing for a long time, immediately fired arrows at random. It was as if a pot had exploded on the city wall, and countless feather arrows were sprayed out immediately, scaring the soldiers of the Han Army to throw down the flying ladder. , holding the round shield and retreating quickly, but even so, many soldiers of the Han army were still shot by the feather arrows, and more than a dozen soldiers fell down in a blink of an eye.

Unexpectedly, the first wave of arrows could shoot the Han army away. Cao Shen was overjoyed and couldn't help laughing and said, "Good! Good omen!"

The sudden rise of the Han army's catapult throwing arm made Cao Shen's smile freeze, and then, sixty huge pottery urns with billowing smoke fell from the sky, hitting the top of Wancheng city head and face, and the pottery urns exploded on the ground. It opened, and a huge flame was sprayed out, which immediately ignited the beards and hair of countless Nanyang Army soldiers who were reloading their arrows. The painful screams immediately rang out in Wancheng City.

Not to mention, the flames also ignited many wooden barrels filled with tung oil, and the precious tung oil ignited when it encountered a fire, burning blazingly, not to mention many fires rising up on the city wall, and it also made Nanyang Army officers and soldiers unable to use these expensive treasures any more. Tung oil set fire to the Han army's ladder cart.

"Shameless traitor! Too treacherous!"

Seeing this scene, Cao Can of course immediately understood the real intention of the Han army - pretending to let the light infantry come forward, luring the soldiers from the army to shoot arrows to block them, confirming that a large number of soldiers from the Nanyang Army had gone to the city to enter the combat position, and then immediately threw arrows. Incendiary bombs, burning and killing a large number of soldiers and valuable defense materials!
It's useless to understand, the throwing arms kept turning the dancing room, and the Han army's catapult team smashed [-] incendiary bombs made of pottery urns to the top of Wancheng City in one breath, and completely destroyed the wall section that the Nanyang Army was guarding. It turned into a sea of ​​flames, and then adjusted the shooting angle, and began to throw ordinary incendiary bombs without tung oil at Wancheng City, igniting the streets and houses in the city to cause chaos for the defenders.

The incendiary bombs of the Han army and the tung oil that the Nanyang army brought to the city by themselves burned blazingly, emitting hot heat and billowing smoke. Howling miserably, and from time to time, soldiers of the Nanyang army who were on fire rolled down the city wall from the gap in the female wall. It was so miserable that they were in hell.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the soldiers of the Han army under the city began to charge at full speed, and because the Han army's incendiary bombs caught the defenders on the city by surprise, the corresponding feathered arrows shot from the city wall were not only far less dense than before. Most of them are crooked and weak, posing little threat to the soldiers of the Han army.

"Hold on! Hold on! Release the arrow! Hurry up and release the arrow!"

No matter how much Cao Shen yelled, it was useless. In a hurry, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army on the city wall were still unable to quickly restore the original order, and there was no way to effectively kill the soldiers of the Han Army who were charging forward with dense arrowheads. Taking the opportunity to quickly rush to the bottom of the city, put a lightweight flying ladder on the city wall that is already full of gaps, and climb up quickly with hands and feet.At the same time, among the first three Han army ladder vehicles dispatched, the fastest one was only fifty steps away from the city wall.

It was at this time that the Nanyang Army defenders on the city wall finally launched a relatively strong counterattack. Rolling stones and wood fell like hail and raindrops on the Han Army Catapults who were stepping up the ladder, and the surviving rockets also rushed to shoot. Xiang Han's ladder car.

The effect of the sneak attack with the original incendiary bomb was better than the high-level Han army estimated in advance. After igniting a large amount of kerosene prepared by the Nanyang Army on the city wall in advance, the spare kerosene was too late to send to the city wall in a hurry, so the Nanyang Army's The fire of the rocket was turned off after the rocket was released, and the ladder trucks of the Han army had also undergone certain fire prevention treatment. The ladder truck at the front had advanced within [-] steps of the city wall with almost no fire.

Seeing this scene, Cao Shen's eyes were of course reddened. He yelled and shouted to urge the soldiers to quickly move spare tung oil. The first aerial ladder cart of the Han army was hung on the Han army's aerial ladder cart by the copper fork at the end of the torch, which ignited the first aerial ladder cart of the Han army.However, the ladder carts of the Han army were resolute. Even though they were on fire, they continued to move forward, getting closer to the city wall bit by bit.

Finally, against the torches and bundles of grass thrown wildly by the soldiers of the Nanyang Army, the first ladder car of the Han Army slammed into the wall of Wancheng with heavy fire and smoke. The ladder car rushed up quickly, and in a blink of an eye, the No.1 Han army warrior rushed to the top of Wancheng!

Some spare tung oil was finally delivered, and all of them were immediately used on the first ladder truck that was already close to the city wall. However, when the first ladder truck of the Han army caught fire, the other two ladder trucks had already passed. Leaning against the city wall, more soldiers of the Han army stepped up the ladder, and a large number quickly rushed to the wall of Wancheng, which was already full of gaps.Seeing that the siege was going well, Xiang Kang in the back couldn't wait to send the rear army forward, and at the same time immediately put in three ladder vehicles.

Less than an hour after the Han army began to officially attack the city, two relatively intact ladder vehicles opened up two roads for the Han army to quickly go up to the city. Relying on flesh and blood to resist and block the offensive of the Han army, they competed with the soldiers of the Han army inch by inch for the space above the city.

The situation was soon reported to Liu Laosan, who was hiding in the palace, and learned that the Han army rushed to the top of the city in the first ant attack. Xiao He, Lu Jia, and Sui He were all civil servants of the Nanyang Army. With an ashen face, how could it be possible to yell?Liu Laosan's expression was as calm as usual, and he ordered very calmly: "Tell Fan Gou'er to take the reserve team, and no matter what, we will drive the Han thieves out of the city."

It was only after the guards rushed out to deliver the order that Liu Laosan turned to Han Xin next to him and asked, "General, are you ready for what you said?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, when you're ready, you'll hide in a private house near the south gate." Han Xin replied.

"It depends on God's will." Liu Laosan smiled and said, "I hope I don't need those things."

After Fan Kui led the reserve team of the Nanyang Army to the north gate wall, he only made the battle on the city wall more brutal and bloody. However, it was still unable to block the continuous flow of soldiers from the Han army to the city. The soldiers of the Han army not only stepped on the wide and strong ladders to quickly go to the city, but also used flying ladders to climb to the city, and successfully occupied a space on the city wall. , protected the follow-up army's road to the city, and at the same time, the sufficient strength made the Han army worry-free. Even if it was a waste of life and strength, the Han army was absolutely sure to consume the Nanyang army, which was far less powerful than its own army!

The outer city gate of the Wengcheng had already been smashed open by the Han army's ramming vehicles, and the Qianjin gates that the Nanyang soldiers hurriedly lowered, although temporarily cutting off the front and rear connections of the Han troops entering the city, created a free and easy time for the Nanyang soldiers on the two sides of the Wengcheng. However, the Qianjin gate was quickly destroyed by the Han army. A large number of Han army soldiers entered the city and began to attack the inner city gate of the north gate of Wancheng, forcing the Nanyang soldiers in the city to hurry. Carrying sandbags to block the gate passages of the inner city gate.

The general of the Han army, Zhong Limei, personally led his troops to the top of the city, and once again consolidated the strength of the Han army on the city. At the same time, he also personally stepped out to temporarily block the ferocious Fan Kuai. They competed with the Nanyang Army one by one for the arrow stacks, and no matter how frantically the Nanyang Army soldiers counterattacked, they would not retreat an inch. The soldiers of the two armies suffered heavy casualties, and they all fought fiercely and fiercely.

At this time, in the Han army's flag formation, just after seeing Zhongli Mo's flag successfully rushing up to the top of Wancheng, Xiang Kang smiled and said: "The fight was good, and if there is no accident, it is only a matter of time before we win the top of the city. With Liu Jipifu's treachery, as long as the north gate's wall position is lost, he should be ready to leave the city and flee for his life."

"But Your Majesty, with the current situation, we probably won't be able to hold the top of the city before it gets dark." Chen Ping reminded from the side.

"There's no way around it." Xiang Kang spread his hands helplessly, and said, "The Nanyang bandit army's combat effectiveness and cohesion are quite good, and that traitor Liu Ji must understand that he has hope only when the sky is completely dark. Breaking out and escaping for his life will definitely make his army defend with all its strength, even if it is street fighting, he must persist until it is completely dark."

"Your Majesty, it is best to plan ahead and arrange an infantry to go south in advance to be ready to intercept the Nanyang bandit army. Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to form an effective interception only by cavalry interspersed and detoured." Chen Ping suggested: "The east of Wancheng There is Yushui River blocking the way. If the Nanyang bandits want to break through, they can only go south from the west bank of Yushui after leaving the city. We only need to arrange an infantry in the south in advance, and cooperate with our cavalry to fight. We can ensure that the Nanyang bandits are intercepted The main brigade of the army."

"Good idea." As soon as Xiang Kang heard the applause, he immediately ordered Xu Ji next to him: "Send someone to pass an order to Gongsun Tong, telling him to lead [-] infantry to go south immediately and gather at a place fifteen miles south of Wancheng. , bring more dry food torches, and be ready to intercept."

When Xu Ji sang Nuo and hurriedly arranged for messengers, Xiang Kang suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "By the way, tell Gongsun Tong that there is a thief general named Ji Xin under Mrs. Liu Jipifu's tent." He looks very similar to him, and it is very likely that he will wear Liu Jipifu's clothes and pretend to be him, so even if Liu Jipifu is killed, he must not be negligent, and he must kill the Nanyang bandits as much as possible, especially pay attention to those The bandits and generals of Nanyang riding horses and chariots."

Xu Jichang Nuo, hurriedly sent someone to deliver the order to Gongsun Tong who stayed in the camp according to Xiang Kang's request, but Zhang Liang and Chen Ping next to him were all surprised, and said, "My lord, how do you know that a Nanyang bandit army named Ji Xin The thief general looks a lot like Liu Ji, remember, my servants, we have never heard of this matter?"

Xiang Kang smiled and didn't answer, he just said in his heart: "It's you two swindlers who told me, my poor brother was so miserably swindled by your trick!"

As Xiang Kang expected, even though they knew that it was absolutely impossible to consume and win the powerful Han army, they failed to prevent the ladder car from approaching the city wall, and it was only a matter of time before the Han army took the top position of the city, but Fan Kui and Cao Shen still took Seeing that the soldiers of the Nanyang Army would not retreat, they would rather pay countless casualties and sacrifices. No matter how frantically the Han army attacked and increased the number of troops on the top of the city, they would never give up the position on the top of the city. Finally, when it was getting dark, Nanyang Juncai was basically driven down the city by the Han army, but the Nanyang army still refused to give up, still guarding the steps of the upper city, and assumed the posture of street fighting to the end.

The so-called street fighting was of course just a cover. With Liu Laosan's treachery, how could he stay in the city until the Han army exhausted his strength and rushed into the so-called Nanyang Palace to eat him alive?It was not long before the sky was completely dark, but the west gate of Wancheng, which was attacked by the Han army, suddenly opened. Countless soldiers of the Nanyang Army surrounded Liu Laosan's commander-in-chief and shouted out. The Han army general Ding Ji who was in charge of the west gate battlefield Although he immediately led the army to stop him, but the Nanyang army rushed too hard, and everyone was fighting for their lives, so no matter how Ding Ji intercepted it, and no matter how many soldiers of the Han army killed the Nanyang army, they would still Unable to stop the Nanyang Army from charging out of the city, they fled to the south surrounded by Liu Laosan's handsome flag.

After the situation was reported to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang, of course, immediately ordered the cavalry of the Han army to attack to help Ding Ji's troops block the front and chase after him. He got up and said, "It's no problem to take Wancheng. Let’s just go with Zhongli Mo and them. Zeng Ji, you take an army to stay outside the city to protect our catapults, and never allow any outsiders to come close to observe our catapults. The other troops will follow the king south to hunt down Nanyang Bandits, try to kill Liu Ji and Han Xin tonight!"

Xiang Kang obviously lacked confidence when he said this, because Xiang Kang really knew how much Uncle Liu's ancestor Liu Laosan was able to run away, and the battlefield was chaotic in the dark night. Get rid of Liu Laosan—even if you keep an eye on Liu Laosan's handsome flag, any of Liu Laosan's friends in Pei County will be picked out, and they are willing to wear Liu Laosan's clothes and fly Liu Laosan's banner As a dead ghost, Xiang Kang can also be said to be fighting for it, but he dare not use an affirmative tone.

This is also the case. In fact, as early as when Liu Laosan's commander-in-chief left the city from the west gate of Wancheng, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Han army's partial division to intercept the Nanyang army brigade with all its strength, the south gate of Wancheng facing the Yushui Wharf was quietly opened. First, hundreds of soldiers rushed out of the city and stopped the patrol sentry of the Han army who was watching nearby. Then a group of Nanyang army guards rushed out of the city with a few light boats and sampans in a cart, and quickly put the light boats and sampans into the city. In the river, Liu Laosan, Han Xin, Xiao He and others disguised as ordinary fishermen boarded the small boat in a grand manner, and went down the Yushui light boat, taking the unobstructed Yushui channel to flee to Jiyang.

That's not to mention, when parting, Liu Laosan also bowed his hands to his guards very coolly and said: "Soldiers, see you in Jiyang, I beg you, you must live to join me in Jiyang! "

(End of this chapter)