It was already dark, and there was a thick layer of dark clouds in the sky. Only the Divine Gate Fortress, those burning torches, glowing faintly in this dark night, are so out of place compared to the darkness around them.

At this time, the veteran general was looking at the steel fortress in the Song army, and somehow, an ominous premonition rose in his heart, and this feeling was his many years of marching experience. He always felt that something was not right, as if he had been favored by the god of luck. Everything went so smoothly, and the more things went well, the more uneasy the feeling became. He couldn't think of the flaw for a while.

At this moment, someone from the rear came to report, "Report, report to the general, everything has been arranged, just wait for the general to give your order."

At this time, the veteran general was still a little hesitant, so he ordered: "I know, wait a little longer, when there is a fire in the city, we will act:"

Obviously, for the safety of the large army, he still chose to wait, but it was not a way to wait, and after a little thought, he issued another order: "Order 20,000 heavy cavalry to prepare in front, light cavalry in the center, infantry and siege equipment in the rear, and slowly advance forward."

There is no way for him to do this, in general siege warfare, cavalry is useless, because the fighting of cavalry is mainly reflected in the plains, fighting for speed and strength. Whoever has the greatest momentum will have the initiative, and siege warfare is the opposite. No matter how fast you rush, you won't be able to break through the walls. Therefore, siege warfare has always been the world of infantry, but now the situation is different, they are aiming at "surrender". Make your way to the Fortress of the Gods.

If the infantry and siege equipment go first, it will definitely alert the opponent. When the time comes, a good plan for internal and external cooperation will immediately turn into a tragic siege battle.

And according to the veteran general's understanding of the Shenmen Fortress, I am afraid that he will fight all the troops. may not be able to take this steel city, and if one is not careful, he may not even be able to save the life of his own grandson.

The matter had come to this, and he didn't want to make any extraneous branches, so he put on a formation that didn't look like he was going to attack the city, and slowly pushed forward, just when he was about eight hundred meters away from the Shenmen Fortress, the city suddenly burst into flames, and there was billowing smoke, which also followed. Faintly you can hear the shouts and exclamations in the city, which makes the veteran general, who has always been worried, unconsciously smile. The heart said: Great, the plan has succeeded, it seems that my worries are unnecessary. That nasty bastard wasn't as smart as he thought he would.

At this moment, something that made him even happier happened, that is, the city gate, which had been closed all along, actually opened a crack, because it was night, and when the city gate was opened, the fire inside was revealed. It was particularly dazzling, and when he saw this fire, the veteran general felt like he had seen the light of hope.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Haha... Soldiers, the city gate has been captured by our people, now speed up the charge for me, strive to rush in when the city gate is wide open, all the way to the rear of the fortress, so that the Chu army can not care about each other, if it can be opened, then whether we are attacking the city or returning to China, there will be no obstacles at all!"

The people below were also enthusiastic after hearing this, and the defeat in the war in the past few days had already made the Song army hold back the fire in his belly. Now that there was a chance, the formation of the people below changed, and the 20,000 heavy cavalry formed a long dragon formation, and their width was exactly the width of the gate of the Shenmen Fortress. And then it's about accumulating, charging, just listening to "boom, boom, boom...... The dull sound of horses' hooves was like thunder, from small to large, from far to near, rushing towards the gate of the Shenmen Fortress at an increasing speed. The sound was so great that even people from a hundred miles away could hear their charge, and the gates of the city slowly opened from the inside out.

Seeing that it was getting bigger and bigger, the soldiers of the Song army rushed faster and faster with excitement one by one. Finally, when it was still two hundred meters away from the Divine Gate Fortress, the door that was supposed to open bigger and bigger suddenly closed at a very fast speed like a naughty child.

It doesn't matter if it closes, it can make the charging Song army miserable, because they are heavy cavalry, and it is difficult to rush up, and it is even more difficult to turn, but if you want them to stop. Otherwise, their heavy equipment and the inertia of rushing up would be enough to throw them out more than a hundred meters.

And they are in a long dragon formation, even if the people in front want to stop, but the people behind may not be able to stop. In this case, a vicious rear-end collision has occurred, and it is 20,000 people chasing each other together. Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the Song Army who rushed to the front were already frightened. At this point, he could only shout "Ah!" in despair, and then desperately pull the reins back, but his approach did not have the slightest effect. Because in just a few moments, they have come to the city gate, and this little distance is driven by inertia, and it only takes a few breaths to arrive. And then there was the terrible impact of death. "Knock, Ka Cha..." were the same series of sounds as the soldiers just hit the city gate. Flying out from the horse, and crashing into the city gates, the corpses of the soldiers were emitted. There was also the sound of the bones of the war horse shattering after the collision. He was not the only one with such a voice, and all the people walking side by side with him were the same, these poor children, who had just been seriously injured by the horses, were given a bloody and cruel mending knife by their comrades who could not stop their horses behind.

"Ah...... "The people in front were trampled to death by the people behind, and the people in the back tripped over the people in front, so a new round of tragedy was staged. It seems that there are many more tragedies like this. For there were three or four thousand men, and they had already hastened their charge, and there were about a thousand of them who were about to reach the gates.

The veteran general, who was watching from a distance, saw this scene, and his originally triumphant face suddenly turned hideous, and he couldn't help but scold: "Bastards, a bunch of waste, can't our people even hold on for such a little time? ”

Then he paced a few steps in place, and after thinking twice, he ordered: "Order, all cavalry detour from both sides to the rear of the infantry, give way to the infantry and siege equipment, and prepare for the siege." ”

Coincidentally, they originally planned to attack the Chu army camp this time, so they focused their equipment on the cavalry, because the cavalry, whether it was pursuing or intercepting, was not comparable to the infantry in terms of speed, but out of consideration, the other party might be trapped. So they still divided 300,000 of their total of 800,000 troops to serve as infantry, but the result was a failure. There was no one in the camp of the Chu army, but a pile of heavy and huge siege vehicles and siege ladders and other equipment were left in place, although they did not understand why this happened? But the old general had no intention of giving up these near-sightly wealth, after all, the reasonable price of these things was really expensive, and this was the first windfall.

At that time, the veteran general was quite happy, and ordered people to protect some things, and in order to prevent the Chu army from blocking them on their way back, intending to recapture these things, he even asked all the light cavalry to patrol around these equipment, and did not allow the slightest sloppiness and carelessness.

Now that I think about it, I can't help but regret for a while, if it weren't for these things slowing down the speed of the march, maybe they would have been able to rush back in time to relieve the crisis of the Shenmen Fortress. But the good thing is that all of these things are good, and now they come in handy.

His order was finished, but the battlefield was still in chaos. The cavalry was still struggling to control the war horses under the crotch, the whole battlefield was the neighing of the war horses and the shouting and scolding of the soldiers, and finally they were busy for about half an hour, and after all the soldiers controlled their war horses, they began to quickly separate to the sides, although it was at night, but their actions were not affected too much, and they were like flowing water, quickly dividing. The veteran general in the distance showed a hint of a smile, and praised in his heart: "In the end, it is a trained regular army, that is, it has quality", but before he finished thinking about his words, the change arose again.

The mountains and forests on both sides, which were originally quiet and abnormal, suddenly lit up with countless little fires, it seemed that many troops were hidden, and when they appeared, it was when the cavalry withdrew to the rear but not to the rear, but in the middle. At this time, all the cavalry happened to surround the infantry in the middle. Then there was the sound of countless arrows and feathers shooting in the mountains and forests, and then the cavalry fell in pieces like wheat in the autumn harvest. Since the ambush soldiers were all hidden in the mountains and forests, the cavalry could not walk through the woods on horseback, and even if they rushed in, they could only become a living target for the ambushes, and there was nothing else to achieve except to send them to death.

Seeing this scene, the veteran general's face became ugly again. Because he knew that he had fallen into the scheme again, he originally thought that there were his own people fighting bravely at the city gate, and if he could support outside, then maybe he would succeed. But who would have thought that there would be so many people in ambush in the mountains and forests, and now he was so angry that he was about to vomit blood, so he issued another order: "Order, all cavalry, all dismount to defend, cover the advance of infantry and siege equipment, and must not let the ambush soldiers in the mountains and forests have a chance to rush out!"

As the herald gave the order, all the cavalrymen, heavy and light horses, dismounted, and took off their shields and their armor and draped themselves on the horses, while they hid behind the tall bodies of the horses, guarding against the soldiers who might rush out of the mountains and forests. But the people in the mountains and forests didn't seem to have the intention of rushing out, but just firing arrows frantically, so that the Song army couldn't show their heads. This situation lasted for a while, and the Song army moved very slowly because of the harassment of the rain of arrows, but in the end it was still firmly advancing.

Seeing this veteran general's mood at this time, it was heavy and gratifying, heavy is that every minute and every second, there will be soldiers of the Song army dying in the mountains and forests with bows and arrows, and the gratification is that the hard work pays off, and they have another seven or eight hundred meters. You can push the siege cart under the city gate.

But just as he had breathed a sigh of relief, an even greater trouble arose, and the source of this trouble was their own rear, the most important part of the march." Grain and grass"

I saw that behind my army, suddenly there was a fire in the sky, and thick smoke billowed into the sky.

The veteran general was taken aback by this sudden fire, and said angrily: "Come on, go and see what's going on?"

"Yes," replied one of the heralds, and flew off his horse.

It didn't take long for the herald to run back in a panic and shouted, "Report!"

When the veteran general heard this, he angrily rushed to the herald, lifted his collar and asked angrily, "What happened?"

The herald did not dare to wait, and said urgently: "A group of cavalry suddenly appeared in the rear of our army, and they attacked the convoy of our army responsible for transporting grain and grass, and also set fire to it. At present, 30% of our army's grain and grass have been burned, and the rest is being destroyed.

"How is this possible?" the veteran general couldn't believe his ears, so Hu Muyuan glared angrily at the generals below. He asked aloud: "Damn, who is in charge of escorting and protecting the grain and grass? How can there be such a big mistake?"

As a result, after waiting for a long time, no one admitted it, which made the old general, who was already angry, completely stormed, and asked unwillingly, "Who is it?" Don't think that if you don't speak, you can hide, and now stand up immediately!"

But no one admitted it, and finally the old general was driven crazy by them, and he casually dragged a general from below, and asked angrily: "You say, who is responsible?"

The man was taken aback by the old general's actions, so he replied tremblingly: "It was General Zheng Chu who was originally in charge of grain and grass, but he was sent to negotiate peace. ”

The veteran general asked again: "Then who is in charge now?"

"Now?, oh yes, it's Lord Zhang Yi who is in charge now, but he was beaten by you, and he can only lie down and can't move," the man replied honestly

"Ah, how can it be him?" said the veteran general, who couldn't help but be surprised. At the same time, a feeling of remorse filled his mind, he never expected that because he wanted to punish Zhang Yi for a while, it would cause such serious consequences.

But there is no regret medicine in this world, and the current predicament has to be solved, so he ordered: "Pass my order, the light cavalry will mount the horse, and the speed will slow down to the rear, and the grain and grass will definitely be saved for me!"

His order was given, but it was not well carried out because of all the cavalry. Now they have been forced to change to meat shields to protect the advance of the infantry. In order to reduce casualties, they even took off their armor to protect their horses and themselves behind them.

The rain of arrows on both sides has never stopped, attacking them all the time, and now they are protected by war horses, and the casualty rate is high. But as soon as they got on their horses, they were certain to die, and some of the cavalrymen who tried to carry out the order were immediately shot into a hornet's nest by the rain of arrows as soon as they got on their horses, and finally after paying the lives of a thousand soldiers. All of them are honest.

Now is wartime, if everyone disobeys the military order together, in line with the idea that the law does not blame the public, they may just die, but if they carry out the military order now, they will definitely die, no one is stupid, and they have not lived enough, and they can't find death, so the old general can only jump straight to the spot in a hurry, but there is no way.

After a while, the situation became more and more sluggish, and most of the grain and grass in the rear had been destroyed, and the cavalry was concentrated in the front of the battlefield, and the infantry in the rear faced the cavalry that was moving like the wind. There is no way to fight back, and in the face of one bad news after another, the old general is already desperate, he has never met an opponent with such a calm mind. Every step was calculated just right, and I listened to the painful wails of the soldiers under him, one by one, when they were on the verge of death. , the veteran general finally couldn't help it. A mouthful of bright red blood spurted out, and the whole person withered from the continuous blows.

Seeing this, everyone hurriedly stepped forward to help, and said with concern: "General, general, cheer up a little, we can't live without you now."

"Yes, General, if you have any strengths and weaknesses, then we're all done," said the other

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault! I am guilty of killing so many innocent soldiers by my willful actions!" said the veteran general with tears in his eyes.

After hearing this, the generals below also fell silent and listened quietly to his "repentance".

"If it weren't for the rotten trick I had to use to surrender, then we wouldn't have ended up like this, if it weren't for my greed for money, I had to push these heavy siege equipment, then the Shenmen Fortress would probably not be lost, wait, the siege equipment ......" The old general couldn't help but shudder when he said this.

Could it be that the other party has been calculating himself from the beginning, and he is actually not reluctant, step by step into his serial scheme, if this is really the case, then the other party's scheming is too terrifying, so he desperately climbed up and looked at those siege vehicles.

Sure enough, these things are some heavy, the hardest to transport, and none of them are light. Could it be that he had planned this war since he invaded the Song Kingdom, and that's why he had prepared so many heavy equipment to slow down his march?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sit on the ground in a cold sweat, muttering to himself: "This can't be, this can't be..."

The people below were taken aback by his actions, and they didn't know what was wrong with him, and couldn't help asking, "What's wrong with you, General?

When the veteran general heard the question of the people below, he also sobered up a little, so he shook his head and said: "It's nothing, now we are finished, there is no way to go to the sky, there is no door to go down, surrounded on all sides. ”

"No, the general can't help it!" said one of the soldiers

"Yes, general, we haven't lost yet, we are willing to sacrifice our lives for the Song Kingdom.!" another general said

"That's right, general, we can't surrender, as soon as we surrender, the Chu army will add another 800,000 troops, then they will be like a tiger with wings, and on the other hand, my Song State is like a fish on the top, and there is no power to fight back!" said another general

Thinking of this extremely serious consequence, that is, with the heart of a veteran general, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, thinking: "Yes, you can be forgiven for losing the battle, but if you destroy the country because of yourself, then you and your family will become sinners for the ages." ”

So he said helplessly: "I'm in a state of confusion now, and I can't do anything, what can you do?" ”

The people below thought for a moment and said: "There is no better idea at the moment, we can only fight against the water, and try to break through the city gate, their number is not large, and they divide their troops to surround us, I think the guards in the city must be very weak, as long as we can capture the city gate, then the situation can be reversed,"

This method was greatly appreciated, and a new round of orders was issued, first of all, the cavalry on both sides continued to maintain a defensive formation and cover the advance of the infantry.

First of all, the infantry in the rear should take up a defensive formation and stand still, stop the harassment of the enemy cavalry at all costs, and never allow the cavalry to disrupt the formation of their own side.

All the actions were to protect the rapid advance of the infantry and siege equipment in front, although he knew that many people would die on his side in this way, but in order for the Song State to have a chance to turn the tables, they had already let it go.