Chapter 474: Fight to the Death (Part 1)

The water source of the moat of Jishi City was blocked, and the people in the city could only watch helplessly as the dark river bed was exposed overnight, except for a small amount of water accumulated in some lower puddles, all of them were exposed. In the mud at the bottom of the river, a large number of fish and shrimp are struggling desperately in the mud, trying to bury themselves in the muddy water.

Amidst the sound of the drums, Mengchong chariots and siege chariots were pushed up covered with thick cowhide, followed by Liaoxi County soldiers and Tianhe County soldiers who rushed up like ants carrying sandbags.

"Bed crossbow, aim at those chariot battles, and shoot them down for me. Catapult, make extended shots." Tang Ming, the general of the Zhengdong Army in the direction the attackers attacked, was as cold as a stone at this moment. .

The chassis of the bed crossbow rotated slowly, and the huge crossbow arrows aimed at the huge Mengchong vehicles and siege vehicles. Several bed crossbows were more or less attached to the approaching large attack vehicle. The huge destructive power of the bed crossbow was clearly revealed at this moment. The sound of the heavy load, the huge body began to shake, the soldiers who pushed these siege vehicles fled in all directions screaming, amidst the rumbling sound, the giant vehicles fell in all directions, and pillars more than a foot thick fell from midair , hit the ground fiercely, or fell on some unlucky soldiers who couldn't avoid it. The first batch of dozens of siege vehicles and hundreds of Mengchong vehicles suddenly fell apart and became A pile of ruins.

"Arms stretched, cover and shoot!" Tang Ming's cold and hard voice sounded again.

The buzzing sound was endless, like a dark cloud floating down from the city, those attacking soldiers who lost their Mengchong chariots and siege chariots fell down in groups.

At the same time, stone bullets fired by countless trebuchets in the city. After crossing the city wall, it landed far behind the Yan army. When it fell for the first time, it did not cause much damage. But the next secondary damage. But it is even more frightening, after these ball-like stone bombs hit the ground. The bullets will rise up, scatter in all directions irregularly, and when they fall from the air, the trajectory can be distinguished. But after landing, it is no longer possible to judge where these stone bullets will fly. Perhaps, a small stone on the ground can change his original direction.

These stone bullets fell among the crowd, knocking down soldiers one after another, and some stone bullets shattered after falling to the ground. The shrill whistling and whirling flakes of stone are even more unpredictable.

The casualties were not small, but the attackers were not intimidated by it, and there were no destroyed Mengchong vehicles. The siege engine rushed up at a faster speed, and countless feathered arrows shot upwards, suppressing the city. Meng Chong, the siege engine did not stop, and was directly pushed into the moat, and the soldiers behind quickly moved The sandbag was thrown down, then turned and ran.

With just one attack, nearly 100 meters of the moat was filled. In the Yan army lineup, the second batch of attackers had already set off amidst the sound of drums.

Ye Zhen, the commander-in-chief of Jishi City's city defense, walked to Tang Ming's side,

Looking at the approaching Yan army, he murmured, "Why are the soldiers from Liaoxi County and Tianhe County?"

Tang Ming looked back at Ye Zhen, "It's nothing surprising. Filling up the moat is a deadly job. The counterattack is limited, and you are passively beaten. Naturally, let these fish belly come up. When the moat is filled up, you can directly attack the city wall." , it is time for the standing army to act."

"It should be like this!" Ye Zhen nodded, "I'm just a little surprised, Tianhe County soldiers are soldiers of the Ji family, not bad. Tang Ming, can you stand it?"

Tang Ming grinned, "To tell you the truth, General Ye, I'm quite nervous. This is the first time I've seen such a big battle, and it's the first time I've experienced it. Compared with these guys, they are much worse."

"That's natural!" Ye Zhen said with a smile: "But everyone has a first time, just like when you fought the first battle with General Gao, you must be very nervous, right? Have you vomited?"

Tang Ming laughed loudly, "I didn't vomit, but after I got off the battlefield, I lay on the bed for a whole day. In the end, my old boss, General Sun, beat me up violently, so I was relieved." He said Shaking his head, "I've killed pigs and sheep before, but it's really different to kill people!"

"No one wants to kill people, and we are not beasts!" The smile on Ye Zhen's face slowly faded, "But now, we can only treat them as beasts, as cattle and sheep."

Tang Ming nodded, "Don't worry, General Ye. The city is densely populated with long-range weapons. For every five new recruits, there is one veteran with them. There are not enough field battles, but there are more than enough to defend the city. There are only enough crossbow arrows and stone bullets. The enemy will never get close to the city wall." .”

"Okay, then I'll go to another place to have a look. You should be more careful. Hu Yanchao is an expert in attacking cities, so don't underestimate him."

"clear!"

In the middle army of the Yan Army, Zhang Junbao looked at batch after batch of soldiers from Liaoxi County who fell down, and his heart twitched. Hate even more.

"General Hu, with this way of fighting, I'm afraid that the soldiers of Tianhe County and Liaoxi County will lose their combat effectiveness until dark." Tan Feng shook his head slowly. "The bows and arrows in the city are too dense."

Hu Yanchao sighed: "It is not easy to train a qualified archer, but the Zhengdong Army uses their own arm-stretching crossbow, which exceeds the range of ordinary crossbows by several times, and this kind of intensive shooting, There is no need to aim at all, it seems that there is no shortage of crossbow arrows in Jishi City. There are tens of thousands of arrows shot out of the city in this attack alone."

"After taking Jishi City, the craftsman who made this kind of crossbow must be in his hands. In the future, the standing army will be equipped with this kind of crossbow, and its combat power will be doubled." Tan Feng said.

"Let them persist until the afternoon, and go to the standing army. The combat experience and physical protection of the standing army are stronger than them."

"Then when will the war on the other side start?"

"Let's fight for two days first!" Hu Yanchao raised his eyebrows, "It's not easy to deceive Ye Zhen!"

Two days means more casualties. Tan Feng frowned deeply. For him, the last thing he wants now is too many casualties. Yan Kingdom now needs a lot of troops. Yuyang direction, The alarm of the war has sounded, and the small-scale conflict between Jiang Xinliang's subordinates and the Zhao army is increasing day by day, and the war is imminent. Tan Feng originally planned to invest in Yuyang to defend against the tens of thousands of standing troops who managed to break out of the encirclement. If there are too many casualties here, it is inevitable that Yuyang will be stretched.

But Hu Yanchao's judgment was justified. A veteran like him would not casually take the lives of soldiers as jokes. Since he said it was necessary, it must be so.

With this in mind, Tan Feng's last bit of guilt towards Gao Yuan disappeared without a trace, replaced by deep resentment. This man quietly built such a majestic and steep city in the depths of the grassland, and his disobedience is obvious. Jie, if it wasn't for this city, Gaoyuan's lair would have already been in his hands, and he should already be on his way to Yuyang by now.

The corruption of the country is all caused by these selfish people. If everyone is the country, how can there be the tragedy of Yan State.

"Let's fight, for the future strength of Yan Kingdom, it is worth making some sacrifices now."

"What about Yuyang?" Hu Yanchao sighed: "General Tan, I guess if we really want to take Jishi City, the casualties may be close to 10,000. At that time, a remnant army going to Yuyang will not be of much use. !"

"Chunyuyan is already on his way to Yuyang after returning from Donghu." Tan Feng said, "Let's negotiate with Zhao Guo. It's great, just return those four cities to him in exchange for the time we need. Ten In five years, no, it only takes five years for us to rise again. Five years is enough time for us to build a strong standing army. With the support of the whole country, we will be able to handle Zhao Guo's battle again now. Don't forget, there is a powerful Qin army behind Zhao Guo. We only need to show our strength, and Zhao Mu will retreat in spite of difficulties, and even unite us to deal with Qin army. When the time comes, we will We can march into Donghu again, and even take down Qi and Wei."

Tan Feng's eyes sparkled. "So General Hu, do your best."

After noon, Tang Ming suddenly felt great pressure, because the attackers were replaced by Yan State's standing army. The moat had been filled in the morning, and hundreds of siege engines were pushed to the front of the city. As high as the city wall, the bed crossbows and archers arranged on it, shot at the city, greatly restraining the defenders.

The tactical level of the standing army is far higher than that of the county soldiers. The accuracy of the bed crossbow shooting alone is far superior to that of the East Conquering Army in the city. The city can only rely on intensive coverage shooting, but the Yan army on these siege vehicles can Destroy the bed crossbows in the city one by one accurately.

As the siege vehicles collapsed one by one, alarming casualties began to appear on the city. Behind the Yan army's siege vehicles, more trebuchets stood up.

The Yan army crossed the moat, a long ladder was erected, the anchor hook on the top of the ladder hooked the battlements, and the Yan army began to attack the city.

Tang Ming handed over the command of the long-range strike to the lieutenant general, and began to direct the soldiers to deal with the Yan army attacking the city with ants.

A series of ladders were cut off their anchor hooks and overturned to the ground. The soldiers on the ladders screamed and fell down, but more ladders were erected.

Ye Zhen appeared on this side of the city wall when the Yan army started to ascend the city. Behind him, there were five hundred reserve soldiers ready for battle.

The first Yan Jun finally appeared on the top of the city, Tang Ming roared and rushed forward, the sword flashed, this Yan Jun was not on his feet, Dou Da's head flew into the air, and the headless body sprayed Drenched in blood, he fell down.

Tang Ming jumped in front of the ladder, and before he could overturn the ladder, he stood there, performing mechanical movements with one knife at a time, only when the soldiers behind him rushed up, cut off the anchor hook, and the push rod held the ladder with a sound. Shouting, he pushed the ladder far away.