Chapter 144

Rumble--the leading knight of the heavy armored cavalry hit the shield first, and the direct collision of steel and steel made a deafening loud noise. Hundreds of people in the Feng Army were holding their shields but still could not withstand such a strong impact. They fell backwards with a crash, but they also successfully stopped the advance of the heavy armored cavalry.

Immediately afterwards, more wind troops sprang out from behind the shields, rushed into the heavily armored cavalry camp, and slashed the legs of the opponent's horses with their ground hobs. Without their horses, the heavy armored cavalry also lost their combat effectiveness. Not long after the battle between the two sides, hundreds of heavy armored cavalry fell off their horses and fell to the ground anxious and angry, roaring continuously.

The Feng army was not without casualties. Many soldiers were pierced by the spears of the knights while cutting off the legs of the horses, and screams were heard from the battlefield from time to time.

Zhang Zhou's troops effectively stopped the cavalry. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Bai Yong led his troops to break through the barbarians at the camp gate and charge out.

The barbarian soldiers refused to give up, and then pursued and killed them, but soon both sides came within the shooting range of Hengcheng. They first let their own soldiers pass, and then the wind soldiers on the city wall began to draw their bows and fire arrows, shooting straight at the chasing barbarians. The soldiers were flying around, and seeing that it was difficult to get any advantage, the barbarian soldiers had no choice but to withdraw their troops and retreat to their own camp.

Bai Yong successfully broke through, but Zhang Zhou and others could not get out. When he fought with the opponent's heavy armored cavalry, the surrounding barbarians had gathered in a sea of ​​people, surrounding him three levels inside and three levels outside, and there was no way to escape. .

Seeing that the cavalry had no effect on it, the heavy armored cavalry retreated, and then the surrounding infantry stepped forward and pressed forward.

Someone in the barbarian camp shouted loudly in a harsh voice: "The commander-in-chief of our army has mercy. As long as you surrender and surrender, I will spare your life!"

When Zhang Zhou heard the shout, without saying a word, he picked up a spear abandoned by the heavy armored cavalry from the ground and threw it in the direction of the shout.

In his ears, he heard only a scream coming from the barbarian camp, and then the voice of persuasion to surrender suddenly disappeared. His move showed his determination to be a benevolent person rather than surrender, and also kicked off the barbarian army's siege.

The barbarian soldiers roared and charged forward, standing with Feng Jun.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the Feng army is not as good as the barbarian soldiers. In terms of numbers, the difference between the two sides is even greater. The battle lasted not long, and the five thousand Feng army suffered more than half of its casualties. Although the barbarian soldiers also suffered a lot of casualties, they had more people. With such a large number of people, if one group falls, another group will be replaced immediately, and the killing will be endless and the fight will be endless.

After fighting for another long time, there were fewer and fewer soldiers around Zhang Zhou, but on the other hand, there were more and more enemies. Looking up, there was a surging crowd with no end in sight. After Zhang Zhou looked at it, he sighed in his heart. He had been fighting for many years. I didn't expect to die outside Hengcheng! He summoned his scattered soldiers, gathered them together, and formed a group in a desperate fight.

At this time, the barbarian infantry withdrew and the heavy armored cavalry returned to battle. Now the Feng army could no longer withstand the collision of the heavy armored cavalry. As soon as the barbarian cavalry passed by, they broke up the gathered Feng army into pieces, and the barbarian infantry who followed them separated them. , defeated each one.

The battle has been going on so far. Not to mention the ordinary Feng soldiers who are desperate, even Zhang Zhou can't hold on anymore. The spiritual armor on his body is broken and riddled with holes, blood is flowing all over his body, and he is so tired that he can hardly lift his gun. Can't get up. But the barbarian soldiers didn't give them a chance to breathe at all, and attacked one wave after another, continuously.

Zhang Zhou lost count of how many barbarians he had killed and how many rounds of enemy attacks he had repelled. In the end, he could not find a single Fengjun around him, and there were only huge crowds of barbarian soldiers around him, like wolves and tigers.

Seeing that Zhang Zhou was at the end of his crossbow, the barbarians did not want to incur any more casualties. The infantry siege came to an end again and they withdrew one after another. The heavy armored cavalry reappeared in a neat square formation and ran towards Zhang Zhou.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhou laughed crazily and raised his head to the sky. With the strength he didn't know where he came from, he picked up his spear and ran towards the phalanx of heavy armored cavalry.

As soon as the two sides came into contact, Zhang Zhou was drowned in the forest of cavalry. At first, there were shouting and fighting sounds from the cavalry camp, but soon the sounds disappeared. After the cavalry phalanx passed, Not even Zhang Zhou's body could be found on the ground. There were only blood clots, broken armor, and a silver gun that was twisted out of shape.

It is difficult to say whether the sneak attack planned by Xiao Muqing was a success or a failure. Although it successfully burned most of the barbarian army's food and grass, Zhang Zhou and his five thousand soldiers were also lost in the barbarian camp. More importantly, the food and grass were burned. Being burned made the barbarian army anxious. They could no longer delay the Hengcheng defenders and had to choose a decisive battle.

In addition, Zhang Zhou was an old man in the Pingyuan Army and was quite prestigious. His death not only had a great impact on the morale of the soldiers, but also greatly affected the people in the city. The entire Hengcheng fell into grief.

Xiao Muqing was mentally prepared for such a result. A sneak attack on the enemy camp was extremely dangerous, and life or death was unpredictable. It was precisely because of this that he chose to let Zhang Zhou and Bai Yong go.

Although Zhang and Bai are only in their early thirties, they are both old men of the Pingyuan Army with high moral standards. Every time they discuss important military affairs, they have to look at the faces of these old men, which is troublesome and awkward. Moreover, Xiao Muqing is an ordinary soldier, so he is Zhang Zhou, Bai Yong, and Juno were subordinates to the three corps commanders, and Tang Yin intended to promote him to take charge of the Pingyuan Army. Can these former superiors willingly obey his orders? Xiao Muqing was naturally unsure.

This time Xiao Muqing sent Zhang Zhou and Bai Yong to sneak attack the enemy camp. It is hard to say whether he deliberately wanted to kill these two people to save future trouble.

In short, the Pingyuan army burned the barbarian army's food and grass, but Zhang Zhou would rather die than surrender during the action and sacrificed himself for his country.

As soon as the sky got light, the barbarian army's siege began again, but this time the siege was more fierce than before. Without food and grass, the barbarian army was cornered and could not break the city. They had to retreat or have to Starved to death outside Hengcheng.

The number of the First Corps was reduced by 5,000, and Zhang Zhou was killed in battle. His position was replaced by the original deputy commander. His ability was insufficient, and his command and deployment were far less reliable than Zhang Zhou. This directly led to the pressure on the main gate of Hengcheng to double, and almost all relied on Bai Yong's Second Corps is supporting.

Against barbarian soldiers, there cannot be any omissions. Once a flaw appears, it will be difficult to make up for it. When it was noon, the main gate of Hengcheng could no longer withstand the attack of the barbarians. A large number of barbarians broke through the defenders' defense line and swarmed to the top of the city.

Xiao Muqing, Qiu Zhen and others were also at the main entrance. Seeing the barbarian soldiers coming, everyone was shocked. Even Xiao Muqing couldn't stay on the tower and came down to meet the enemy in person.

He is not a pure civil servant, nor is he a military general. He has no spiritual and martial arts skills, but he has been on the battlefield for many years and has actual combat experience. If he encounters a joint attack by several barbarian soldiers, he will not be able to defeat him.

On the battlefield, the order that soldiers hate to hear the most is "charge me", and the order they like to hear the most is "charge with me". There are two completely different things between commanding your soldiers to charge into the battle and taking the lead and leading your soldiers to charge into the battle. the concept of.

As the general, Xiao Muqing was able to go into battle in person without fear of life and death, which greatly boosted the morale of the Feng Army.

Led by Xiao Muqing, the Feng army launched a counterattack against the barbarians who rushed up the city wall.

I saw countless soldiers from both sides crowded on the city wall, pushing each other, because the city wall was too narrow, and there were so many people from both sides crowded together that they couldn't even wield their weapons. They could only compare who was stronger, or they could do it themselves. The opponent pushes down the city wall, or you are squeezed off the city wall by the opponent.

The barbarian army had just climbed to the top of the city, but they were at a disadvantage because their footing was not stable. Some of them could not withstand the collision of the wind army, which had boosted their morale. They were forced to retreat continuously. From time to time, some people behind them screamed and fell off the city wall.

Seeing that the barbarian soldiers were gradually unable to resist, Xiao Muqing also regained his energy, used up all his strength, and pushed himself to the front of his own camp. While stabbing the enemies in front with his sword, he shouted loudly: "Brothers, please work harder." , follow me to kill the enemy soldiers and avenge General Zhang!"

Zhang Zhou, who died indirectly because of him, now became his slogan to mobilize the emotions of his soldiers.

Hearing Xiao Muqing's words, the soldiers of the Feng Army were filled with grief and anger, and they shouted loudly. The 100% of their strength that they could have used became 120%, and they worked together to resist the barbarian soldiers.

At this time, the barbarian soldiers could no longer resist.

After finally charging through the thousands of barbarians on the city wall, they were forced down by nearly 20,000 plain troops. The barbarians fell from the city wall like snowflakes, and the corpses under the city were piled up.

Many barbarian soldiers were not dead after landing, but they were immediately smashed to death by their comrades who fell down later. There were too many dead and wounded to count, and the continuous screams and wailings were heard in the hearts of those who heard them. Hairy.

The siege party suffered heavy losses, but the siege had no intention of stopping. A large number of barbarian soldiers were still climbing up the ladder from time to time with steel knives in their mouths. They roared and rushed towards the defenders. While cutting down the enemies, they themselves He was also stabbed with holes all over his body and was no longer human.

The two sides are constantly attrition. At this time, the competition is no longer fighting power, but willpower. Whoever can grit his teeth and survive may be the final winner.

By about A time in the afternoon, the Pingyuan Army could no longer hold on.

The attack density of the Besa Army was too high, and its soldiers were too fierce. They were like crazy beasts, with no regard for life and death. It seemed that they only had one thought left in their minds, and that was to kill people. Under such a strong attack, the Pingyuan Army All the defense equipment on the city wall was used up, and what followed was a bloody hand-to-hand battle.

Once the close combat started, the Pingyuan Army had no advantage at all and was forced back by the barbarians.

Now it's not the main entrance that's in danger, but the four walls.

Xiao Muqing was decisive and immediately ordered the entire army to retreat, abandon the outer city wall and defend the inner city wall.

At this time, the inner city wall that the soldiers and civilians of Hengcheng had worked so hard to build came into action.

The outer city wall of Hengcheng is three feet three, about ten meters high. The inner city wall is five meters away from the outer city wall, and the height is more than two feet, a little more than six meters. When retreating to the inner city wall, the height advantage is taken by the barbarians. This is also It's really a helpless move.

Since the distance between the two walls is too far, it is impossible to jump directly from the outer city wall to the inner city wall. However, it is possible to build a ladder. The ladder is set up from the outer city wall and can be set up directly to the inner city wall. Then the barbarians can follow the ladder to the inner city wall. Charge the inner city wall. It's just that it's easier said than done.