Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 93 The Victory of Discord
Xiang Sui's blood was not in vain. That night, the Qin Army dispatched nearly 2000 troops to attack the temporary camp of the Young Marshal Army. The corpses of the soldiers were scattered all over the place, pooling blood into puddles, but the thin line of defense of the Young Marshal's Army remained intact, and the flag of Chu State was still floating in the Young Marshal's camp. The handsome soldiers were also uncharacteristically, fought a hard and bloody battle for the first time, and miraculously achieved an unbeatable result.

In addition to Xiang Sui's efforts to win glory for the Xiang family's children, some fortifications are also an important factor for being able to fight like this. Another reason is that Qin Jun traveled a long way on a rugged path, and his physical strength was affected a lot. The situation was not obvious at the beginning, but as the high-intensity battle continued, the soldiers of the Qin Army on the front line still experienced a rapid decline in physical strength. The handsome soldiers held on firmly and had to rotate the attacking team many times.

In the middle of the night after the fierce battle, Xiang Kang, who was worried that Xiang Sui's army would not be able to survive, finally made adjustments and asked another general with a different surname, Ding Ji, who was discovered in actual combat, to lead a thousand troops northward and rush into the small road to replace Xiang Sui's army. Resting and recuperating, Gongsun Qing, the leader of the Qin Army with some military capabilities, discovered this situation through the torch of the Young Marshal's Army, and resolutely stepped up his attack on the Young Marshal's camp, trying to take advantage of the slack mentality of the Young Marshal's soldiers when they saw the arrival of reinforcements. Breaking through the camp of the Young Marshal's army with great force also allowed the Qin army to successfully break through a section of the fence defense line of the Young Marshal's army, almost driving Xiang Sui's army into a desperate situation.

At the critical moment, Xiang Sui continued to fight for the Xiang family's children. Seeing the critical situation, he immediately led a reserve team of only a hundred people to plug the gap, and took the lead in fighting bloody battles. , Finally blocked the frenzied attack of the Qin army, and persisted until the arrival of reinforcements.Ding Ji, who became the commander-in-chief of the Young Marshal Army by virtue of his meritorious service, was also very brave. In addition to letting the main force enter the camp to assist in the battle, he also personally led a death squad to bypass the camp and attack the Qin army on the front line from the flanks, sharing the burden for the friendly troops in the camp. The huge pressure also helped the friendly troops in the battalion to re-block the gap with military vehicles and survived the crisis.

Then, when Ding Ji's army took advantage of the opportunity of the Qin army's slight retreat and quickly replaced the exhausted Xiang Youjun who had suffered heavy casualties, the equally exhausted Qin army basically had no chance to break the camp. Conserving his physical strength for the next battle, Gongsun Qing had no choice but to issue an order to retreat, and led the dejected Qin soldiers back to camp for a few miles, and was forced to stop the fierce battle that lasted for more than half the night.

In the end, the blood-stained Xiang Sui was carried back to Xiang Kang on a stretcher by his own soldiers. Xiang Kang wept excitedly, took Xiang Sui's hand and choked up and said, "Brother, you fought beautifully and fought hard. Not as good as you. The eldest father Quanxia knows, and he must be very pleased to have a junior like you."

Xiang Sui just smiled, and then passed out as soon as he turned his head. Xiang Kang hurriedly asked people to carry Xiang Sui down to the medical workers for rescue. Uncle, use my reputation to write a letter to Gongsun Qingpifu, mocking him for leading an army in person, and even being unable to break through our camp of a thousand-man team, and urging him to put down his weapons and surrender, so as not to continue to embarrass himself, The tone was as mocking as possible, trying to make Gongsun Qingpifu fly into a rage."

"Young Marshal, do you want to provoke Gongsun Qingpifu on purpose, and lead him to continue this battle?" Zhou Zeng understood Xiang Kang's meaning.

"The path is narrow, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and with the advantage of the land, I certainly hope that he will continue to fight with us." Xiang Kang said with a sly smile, "Otherwise, if he just goes back with the main force of the Qin Dynasty with little loss, we will Wouldn't it take a lot of effort to attack places like Xiapi and Tancheng in the next step?"

Zhou Zeng nodded and stopped talking, just took up his pen and wrote a book immediately, wrote a mocking letter with a vicious tone in the name of Xiang Kang, and handed it to Xiang Kang for signature and seal, and then Xiang Kang immediately sent someone to the front to hand it over to the general Ding Ji, let Ding Ji shoot to the Qin army's campsite with a bow and arrow at dawn.

Xiang Kang's letter received quite satisfactory results. Originally, considering that the tenacity of the Young Marshal's army far exceeded his previous imagination, Gongsun Qing was somewhat shaken, and had the idea of ​​​​retiring the army, but after seeing Xiang Kang After Kang's provocative letter, Gongsun Qing was so angry that he was so angry that he immediately strengthened his determination to continue the attack. He didn't discuss with anyone, and he just decided to fight: "Keep fighting! I don't believe it anymore. This camp of thieves is really It's hard to beat, why can't you break through it! Continue to fight, first take down this camp of the thieves!"

Because of Gongsun Qing's decision, another fierce and brutal offensive and defensive battle started again. In the cold wind of late autumn, the crossbow arrows released by the Qin army and the young generals were like dense locusts, flying back and forth in front of the two armies. Soldiers of the two armies fell to the ground or were wounded by arrows one after another, staining the battlefield with blood.Then the soldiers of the Qin army holding up their long shields were like the waves of the sea, hitting the camp of the young marshal one after another. The spears killed the enemies on the other side of the fence, the blood sprayed by the spears continued to scatter, and the howls of the wounded and dying came one after another, endlessly.

The relatively well-equipped and standardized soldiers of the Qin Army brought huge casualties to the Young Marshals in the fierce battle. However, relying on the only advantage of a relatively narrow enemy surface, the soldiers of the Young Marshals who took turns to fight bloody battles also caused the Qin Army to pay a heavy price. The price, less than three hours after the fierce battle, the two sides of the fence were already covered with corpses of soldiers from both sides. As a result, the soldiers of both armies could only continue to fight by stepping on the corpses of their companions. The swamp to the east of the camp was dyed a large area of ​​dark red, and at the same time, the supervisory teams of both sides had already hacked and killed dozens of their own soldiers who had fled the battle, and they were all desperate to complete their offensive and defensive tasks.

The days are short in late autumn, just after You Hour, and the sky is already getting dark, but the camp of the Young Marshal Army is still standing in front of it, and all the soldiers of the Qin Army who took turns to fight, even if they tried their best, still couldn't Break through the defense line of the Young Marshal Army.And after the preliminary count of today's casualties, Gongsun Qing's heart suddenly became cold. After two consecutive offensive and defensive battles, the number of Qin's casualties and serious injuries has exceeded a thousand, and there are countless minor injuries. The severity of the battle has directly surpassed a defeat suffered in the plain area.

"We can't fight any more. The rebellious thieves clearly want to use the favorable terrain to consume us. If we continue to fight like this, let alone the old man is not sure that we can kill the rebellious thieves in the battle. Maybe even the strength to retreat to Xiapi will be lost. insufficient!"

After reaching this conclusion, Gongsun Qing decisively ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops, withdrew the frontline troops, and then immediately withdrew back to the campsite last night, arranging and laying out the retreat plan.After Xiang Kang received the report, he immediately dispatched Xiang Guan to lead a thousand-man team to replace the Ding Ji army, which suffered heavy casualties. Army, prevent them from retreating overnight! If you find them retreating, immediately chase them to the end! This path is difficult to walk, but it is not suitable for setting up an ambush, so you can rest assured that you will go after them with all your strength and try to weaken them for me!"

As expected by Xiang Kang, at the third watch of the night, Gongsun Qing, who believed that he had no strength to win, retreated quietly with his army. Xuanyang drumming plan to confuse the young commander.But it is a pity that Gongsun Qing's imitation did not receive much effect. The distance is not far away. Xiang Guan, entrusted by Xiang Kang, sent scouts to venture forward and closely monitor every move of Qin Jun's campsite, so Qin Jun did not leave. No matter how far away, Xiang Guan, who received the news, decisively led his army to launch a pursuit.

In desperation, in order to cover the retreat of the main force of the army, the Qin army's rear team was forced to engage in several battles with the pursuers of the young marshal's army. Morale was depressed, and most of the troops in the rear were thinking of fleeing for their lives as soon as possible, for fear of being left behind by the main force as scapegoats. Every time they fought, they retreated in a hurry when the battle was not long.The young generals chased after them with all their strength, and they caught up with the main force of the Qin army just after dawn. Gongsun Qing had no choice but to let the soldiers abandon the army's horses and luggage to block the road, so he barely escaped from the pursuit of the young generals and fled far away. However, even so, the Qin army was still left behind and lost countless weapons and armor during the hasty escape. In the end, only more than 2000 people escaped from the Yishui path in embarrassment, and ended the Southern Expedition at a cost of nearly half. trip.

…………

When Gongsun Qing fled back to Xiapi City in embarrassment, the side division of the young commander led by Xiang Zhuang also defeated in the field battle the side division of the Qin army who hurried back to aid Ling County. Chased by the Shuai Jun, he fled into the city of Ling County, and the side division of the Young Marshal Army, who was completely at ease, immediately turned around, and after having made sufficient preparations, he formally surrendered to the city of Ling County, which was only guarded by more than a thousand soldiers. Launch an all-out attack.

The city walls of Ling County are not short, and it is very difficult to break through the city by flying ladders alone. Fortunately, Ling County is only a small county town, and there is no urn city to provide double protection. In addition, the Young Marshal Army has already filled up a section of Ling County's moat before. The road leading directly to the bottom of the city was opened, so Xiang Zhuang adopted the tactic of attacking the city together with the city-crashing car and the cloud-ladder car, and let the city-crashing car be responsible for attacking the north gate of Ling County, and the cloud-ladder car directly attacked Ling County from the position where the road was opened. city ​​walls.

The Qin army is not stupid, and quickly came up with countermeasures. As soon as they saw the young commanders dispatching the crash vehicles and ladders, they immediately prepared a large number of torches, rockets, and firewood to fight each other, and prepared them above the city gate. A large number of stones cracked the young commander's army's crash vehicle, and the young commander's army's ladder vehicle had just advanced within the range of the city wall, and was immediately covered by Qin's dense rockets.But fortunately, the old Xiang family, which has been a general for generations, still has some heritage. Xiang Zhuang, a descendant of the Xiang family, had already asked his soldiers to smear the ladder car with thick plaster to prevent fire. The results received were not satisfactory. Even though a few flames rose from the ladder car of the Young Marshal Army, they were still marching towards the city wall of Ling County with difficulty.

The biggest danger of the ladder car is that it is within the range of the enemy's torches. After finally getting close to the city wall, facing the torches and grass bundles thrown one after another by the defenders on the city, the young generals really have nothing to do. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and move on, pushing the heavy ladder truck that was gradually on fire towards the city wall.During the period, although the crossbowmen of the Young Marshal Army hiding behind the long shield under the city also tried their best to shoot arrows to cover them, but the effect was not great, and there was still no way to prevent the enemy from setting fire to the ladder car crazily.

The situation on the battlefield of the city gate is the same. Before the ramming car of the young general commanded by the foreign general Zheng Bu hit the city gate, it was immediately attacked by boulders like hail and raindrops on the city wall. It will soon be smashed to pieces.Fortunately, Zheng Bu was not discouraged, and immediately sent a second city crash vehicle to attack the city gate again.

The thunderous shouts of killing echoed on the battlefield. After paying a considerable price, the ladder truck that was already on fire still leaned against the city wall of Ling County with difficulty, opening the way for the young generals to reach the city. Seeing Daxi, he hurriedly ordered drums to cheer and commanded the troops to attack the city. More than [-] young commanders and soldiers outside the range of the city wall also rushed towards the city wall of Ling County like a tide, and some of them rushed directly to the steps of the ladder cart City, while the other part carried the ladders to attack the two wings, sharing the pressure with the main attacking team.

It is a pity that the siege of the young commander's army failed this time, because the siege troops moved a little slower, and the ladder truck that caught fire quickly collapsed under the trampling of the young commander's soldiers and the enemy's attack It turned into a pile of raging fire, and burned and engulfed many soldiers of the Young Marshal Army. At the same time, the ladder of the Young Marshal Army was hit head-on by the enemy, and they were unable to rush up the city wall.Seeing this scene, Xiang Zhuang, who was once full of hope, was of course furious. He rode his horse to Xiang You's formation, scolded Xiang You who was in charge of commanding the ladder car, and asked Xiang You why he didn't lead the army to charge and encourage him. morale?

Of course, Xiang You didn't dare to admit that he was afraid that he would be attacked by the enemy if he rushed to the front line in person, so he could only explain aggrievedly: "I thought it could be done, and I didn't need to go to battle in person, so I didn't do that. Brother, don't worry, next time I will do it myself."

"Tell your people to hurry up, don't climb like a turtle like just now!" Xiang Zhuang roared, "The next ladder car will approach the city wall, and you will lead my troops up immediately! Our brothers of the Xiang family will not take risks in such a big battle Come forward, who dares to sacrifice his life for us?!"

Xiang You obediently agreed, and Xiang Zhuang also returned to the flag formation angrily to command the overall situation, but he ran into the liaison messenger sent by Zheng Bu head-on, and said to Xiang Zhuang, "General Xiang, the enemy's troops above the city gate are too dense. , It is very difficult for our crashing cars to get close to the city gate, Zheng Qianren (another name for Erwubaichang) asks you to agree to let him also send out a ladder to attack the city, so as to share the pressure for the crashing cars."

He was very satisfied with Zheng Bu's positive attitude, but for the sake of caution, Xiang Zhuang still ordered: "Don't worry, wait for our next ladder car to get on, and act according to my banner."

Zheng Bu's messenger led away, and at the same time, the second ladder cart commanded by Xiang You was also pushed forward by the soldiers, and headed towards the city wall of Ling County again, but to Xiang Zhuang's dissatisfaction, the ladder cart still pushed forward Not fast enough, it took a lot of time to barely approach the previously filled moat, and at the same time, the city-crashing convoy led by Zheng Bu had already launched an attack on the gate of Ling County for the fifth time.

He stared at the movement of the ladder car in fear, and just when he saw the ladder car crossing the moat, Xiang Zhuang couldn't wait to ask the soldiers to raise the flag and command Zheng Bu and Xiang You to launch an ant attack at the same time. Bu and Xiang You also immediately handed over the army to the command of their subordinates temporarily, and each led a team of 500 people to attack the city wall with flying ladders.Seeing the captain of the Young Marshal Army and the two or five hundred long flags rushing directly, the defenders on the city shouted loudly, and all kinds of crossbows and arrows frantically shot at the flags of Xiang You and Zheng Bu .

To Xiang Zhuang's surprise, Zheng Bu's echelon team advanced much faster than Xiang Youjun's. With only six pontoon bridges that could cross the moat, Zheng Bu's army was even faster than Xiang Youjun's. Under the county seat, Zheng Bu, who was wearing armor, took the lead, and was the first to hit the top of the city wall by stepping on the ladder.When Xiang Zhuang saw Da Zan, he also cursed, "Xiang You, why don't you even have a foreign surname?"

Xiang Zhuang was worried again. Halfway through the rush, Zheng Bu was suddenly hit by a sheep's head stone falling from the sky, and he stumbled and fell off the ladder.However, when Xiang Zhuang was worried about Zheng Bu, a surprise happened again. Zheng Bu unexpectedly appeared from the crowd below the city again, and once again stepped on the ladder to hit the top of the city wall. Encouraged by Zheng Bu's courage, his soldiers were also human. People were brave, all of them scrambling to be the first, biting their weapons and just climbing up desperately, and miraculously, someone rushed to the top of the city wall.

Facing the fierce offensive of the Young Marshal's Army, the enemy defenders on the city wall finally appeared in some confusion, and the fifth city crash vehicle of the Young Marshal's Army finally leaned against the city wall, and desperately swung the sharp-edged ram at the front end to hit it. city ​​gate.At the same time, hard work paid off, and the second ladder car of the Young Marshal Army finally leaned against the city wall. The soldiers of the Young Marshal Army rushed up on the burning ladder car, and some soldiers also rushed up the city wall.

Dawn appeared, but Xiang Zhuang was still furious, because Xiang Zhuang clearly saw that Xiang You's captain's flag was still under Ling County City, which meant that Xiang You still hadn't taken the lead and took the lead in attacking the top of the city wall.

This anger was quickly replaced by joy. On Zheng Bu's side, because the chief general personally participated in the ant attachment, the young generals with high morale rushed to the city wall one after another, causing more chaos to the enemy.As for Xiang You, even though Xiang You still hid under the city and did not participate in the ant attachment, the opponents were only county soldiers of the Qin Army after all, and most of them had never really slashed people with knives on the battlefield, and their actual combat experience was far less than that of Xiang You. The soldiers of the young marshal who have already experienced many battles, so the young marshal rushed up a lot on the ladder car that was about to collapse, and covered the flying ladder ant team also made breakthroughs, and some people began to rush up the city wall on the flying ladder .

The banner of Guan Hu appeared on the wall of the north gate, but the Qin army's reserve team was obviously a bit slower. The young commander's army had already made breakthroughs on both wings of the city gate, and the fifth car that crashed into the city gate also smashed into the city gate. On the verge of collapse, Guan Hu and the reserve team ran back and forth, but they couldn't care less about the east than the west. The young generals and soldiers were as imposing as a rainbow, successfully ascending the city continuously, and the defenders gradually fled after suffering a stroke.

In the end, it was Xiang You's troops who decided the outcome. Taking advantage of the chance that the Qin Army's reserve team was held back by Zheng Bu's troops, the most fierce young commander, Xiang You rushed up more than 200 soldiers in one breath and held on firmly. A large area of ​​the city wall was formed.It turned out that it was at this time that Zheng Bu's ramming cart finally smashed through the city gate. Xiang Zhuang ordered ecstatically, and Zheng Bu's rear army immediately swarmed into the city. Unknowingly disappeared on the city wall.

Of course, the ensuing battle was not as fierce as before. The soldiers of the Young Marshal who charged straight into the city were like sharp knives, piercing directly into the Ling County Official Temple. Ling County officials fled or surrendered one after another, and the Ling County Magistrate obediently He had only 200 guards in his hands and was powerless, so he quickly took the remnants to open the south gate of Lingxian County and fled to Huaiyin. The key point, and easily won the control of the four gates of Ling County, ending this long-prepared siege battle.

After breaking the city in one fell swoop, the young marshals cheered like a wave, and everyone was beaming with joy. However, there was a discordant voice in the cheers. When Xiang You and Zheng Bu both returned to Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Zhuang arrived. The first sentence is, "The first contribution to this siege is Zheng Bu and Zheng Qianren! After I go back, I will report the truth to the young commander and ask him to promote you to captain!"

"Thank you, General!"

Zheng Bu, who had one arm hanging on his chest, thanked happily, but Xiang You was a little dissatisfied, and said, "Brother, it was my people who first took down the upper city and opened our way to the upper city. Zheng Qianren He's slower than me."

"Do you want me to tell brother all about your performance this time?" Xiang Zhuang stared at Xiang You with sharp eyes and said, "You think our brother is the kind of person who doesn't know rewards and punishments, and will only treat us like Xiang You." family son?"

Xiang You closed his mouth, but felt resentful in his heart, and said to himself, "What's the air? The rewards and punishments are fair? If you didn't have a good relationship with him, would he have made you a general first? Who fought in the battle of Fu Li?" The first victory in breaking the city? If he didn't remember what happened to me in the past, he should have skipped the captaincy and made me a general!"

After whispering to vent his dissatisfaction with Xiang Zhuang, he remembered the past when he was forced to kneel in front of someone and begged for mercy, and the possible reason why the little girl Yu Concubine insisted on refusing to marry her. Xiang You quickly blamed someone On him, resentment towards him resurfaced.

(End of this chapter)