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At this time, Li Xiaogong had already learned that his arson ship had been completely destroyed, and he was immediately startled, for fear that the Zhou warship would take the opportunity to break through the barrier of the iron lock Hengjiang River, go around to his rear to land, and cut off the Tang army.

However, what made him glad was that according to the report, those Zhou warships did not continue to swim against the current after arriving at the place where the iron lock crossed the river.

It seems that the Zhou army sailors did not find a way to remove the iron chains, nor did they attack along the steep and rugged plank road from the dock, but docked on the bank of the river, and the Zhou soldiers on the deck were still busy with something.

"Strange, what can they do by leaning against the river?" Li Xiaogong hid behind a battlement of the city wall near the river, and watched the movement of the Zhou army's warships through a small hole in the stone.

"General Lee, it looks like they're hoisting the trebuchet with a rope!" Sun Fujia's sharp eyes were the first to discover Zhou Jun's movements.

"Trebuchet?" Li Xiaogong glanced at it, but a disdainful sneer appeared on his face.

"Are they trying to use trebuchets to tear down our walls? Li Jing was really crazy, and he spent so much effort trying to destroy my arson boat, just to hoist these trebuchets under the White Emperor City and throw stone bullets? ”

But as soon as he said this, he realized that something was wrong, because he saw the situation on the mountain road. It seems that there are many soldiers of the Zhou army, carrying bulging leather bags from the rear, and then piling them up next to the trebuchet that has just been hoisted up and is being assembled.

"General Li, what's in that leather bag? Looking at the shape, it looks like what kind of black liquid, could it be that they are thirsty and want to drink water? An adjutant general guessed.

His words made Li Xiaogong's mind flash, and he wondered how could it be water in that leather bag? It must be something that ignites fire like oil.

Sun Fujia also frowned at this time and said, "General, I'm afraid that something bad will happen!" Li Jing brought up the trebuchet with great fanfare, and I am afraid that the best chance is to throw these leather bags full of fire oil on our city, and then set them on fire with rockets. So that our soldiers will not dare to go up to the city wall to defend ......"

Before the deputy general could react, he asked in a daze: "General Sun, even if the head of the White Emperor City catches fire, our soldiers dare not go up to the city wall, and they dare not come up!" How can we conquer our city? ”

After Sun Fujia heard this, Fang sighed and said, "Have you forgotten that the Zhou army is equipped with siege and crashes with amazing impact?" If the city is on fire, our soldiers will not be able to defend it on the walls. They can calmly reach the bottom of the city with the siege car and then slam the gates......"

When the deputy general heard this, he immediately changed color, if this was the case, the White Emperor City would be in danger.

Li Xiaogong also reacted, and immediately decided: "General Sun, open the city gate!" Let's rush out together, while the Zhou army is busy installing trebuchets, kill them by surprise, we must destroy those trebuchets and skins filled with fire oil, otherwise the White Emperor City will be broken! ”

Sun Fujia also immediately realized the seriousness of the matter. So he gathered all the soldiers of the city at the gate of the city......

After a while, I heard the gate of the White Emperor City "creak" open, and a large number of Tang soldiers rushed out howling, waving broadswords and spears in their hands, and many people still held torches in their hands, ready to ignite the bags of fire oil piled up on both sides of the mountain road. Their momentum is still very strong.

It's just that since Li Jing is going to use these fire oils to burn the city and destroy the Tang army's defense on the city wall, how can he not guard against the enemy army rushing out of the city?

The five rows of Mo sword soldiers and spear and shield soldiers standing at the forefront had long been idle and panicked. When they saw the enemy rushing out of the city to fight him, they were all overjoyed.

However, before they could make a move, their comrades in the rear took the lead.

Standing neatly, the archers of the Zhou army, which stretched for more than 20 rows, were already ready to go.

Their commander, Wei Chi Jingde, waved his flag and shouted, "Shoot the arrows!" ”

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Thousands of sharp arrows suddenly flew like raindrops towards the rushing Tang army.

Due to the narrowness of the road, the Zhou army's archers phalanx could only stand more than one person per row, but it was more than enough for the mountain road outside the White Emperor City, which was only more than 20 zhang wide.

At this time, I saw that the swarming Tang soldiers were constantly hit by arrows and fell down amid the screams, and they were either shot in the face or in the throat, and they were shot to the ground like hedgehogs......

The sound of arrows, screams, and cries came and went. Due to the narrowness of the mountain road, the Tang soldiers were very close to each other, but the crossbows used by the Zhou archers were full of strength, and a wolf's tooth arrow could often penetrate two soldiers, from the throat of the former soldier, and then fly into the chest of the latter soldier......

Moreover, what made the Tang army feel most terrifying was that these Zhou archers used Lianzhu crossbows instead of longbows, so their bows and arrows shot fast, and the arrows in the air flew densely like raindrops, almost never stopping.

But how could a Lianzhu crossbow have such a powerful strength? Even the fine iron armor they wore could shoot through.

After the Tang army rushed out of the city, in less than half an hour, they suffered more than 6,000 casualties in the dense rain of arrows of the Zhou army, while the enemy army was unscathed, a result that made Li Xiaogong and Sun Fujia almost crazy.

Li Jing was standing on a slope in the mountain road at this time, but a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth. Now you can see the difference in weapons between the two sides. Even if the soldiers of the Tang Army were stronger in combat and morale than the Zhou Army, and Li Xiaogong's command ability was even more powerful than his own, it would be impossible to reverse the general trend of the war.

As an apprentice, he was willing to spend a lot of money on the development of weapons and equipment, which made many people complain at first, but now it reflects Yuming's forward-looking vision. Now that the Zhou army is well-equipped, it can be said unceremoniously that it is the strongest in the face of any army in the world. Li Xiaogong doesn't go out of the city, once he goes out of the city, he must let him know that it is the most undesirable strategy to confront the Zhou army head-on.

In the dense rain of arrows, the Tang army fell one by one, and they suffered huge casualties.

However, after all, the Tang Army is a brave and tenacious army, otherwise it would not have been able to occupy such a large territory. At the height of Li Tang's heyday, half of the world could be said to be under the control of the Tang Army.

Although the enemy's arrows are very fierce now, after all, the number is limited, not to mention that the archers have been shooting arrows for a long time, it is inevitable that some hands are sore, and the density of the arrows will inevitably be greatly affected.

Now, Li Xiaogong also told them that as long as they can rush into the enemy's camp, the enemy's archers will no longer dare to shoot arrows indiscriminately.

Therefore, the soldiers of the Tang Army still rushed forward bravely without fear of death, their eyes were red, their spears and broadswords were clenched in their hands, and they only wanted to kill the hateful enemy in front of them.

……

Song Jingang saw the mountains of Tang Jun corpses piled up in front of him, and a trace of excitement flashed in his eyes, and the depression of the previous days was swept away today. I can finally raise my eyebrows and breathe.

And Li Jing looked at the Tang Army soldiers who went forward one after another, and he was slightly surprised in his heart. secretly thought that this Li Xiaogong was really good at governing the army, if it was someone else's army, it was estimated that under such intensive bow and arrow shooting, I am afraid it would have collapsed long ago. But the Tang army did not collapse at all, and was still rushing forward bravely.

He didn't know that Li Xiaogong was actually very anxious in his heart, his palms were sweating, and when he looked down from the city tower, his soldiers had already dropped more than 15,000 corpses, but they had not yet rushed in front of the enemy. However, under the leadership of the capable general Sun Fujia, he finally got closer and closer to the enemy.

At this time, the distance between the two armies was only ten zhang! The two armies were about to collide.

"Stand back as soon as the archers have finished shooting! Spear and shield soldiers! Song Jingang ordered. He had already seen by this time that the enemy army was only seven or eight feet away from his side.

The last wave of archers, after shooting the arrows in their hands, hurriedly retreated, allowing the spear and shield men to come up, and they were ready with shields in one hand and guns in the other.

The steel shield held by the spear and shield soldiers of the Zhou army was about a zhang high, a foot wide, and an inch thick, and there was a recessed round hole on the right side of the shield, which was convenient for the spear to pierce out.

This kind of shield stands on the ground like an iron wall, and can easily block the enemy's bows and arrows, swords and spears, and is very useful. It's just that because it's not lightweight, it's a high demand for the shielder's arm strength.

The soldiers who can serve as spear and shield soldiers in the Zhou army are all five thick strongmen with big shoulders and round waists.

At this time, the spear and shield soldiers erected their shields and placed their spears on the round holes on the edge of the shields, forming a tight shield array, which was ready for battle.

"Canopy!" With a loud bang, the two armies of Tang and Zhou finally collided firmly together and went head-to-head.

"Kill!" Finally engaged the other party, the Tang soldiers who had been holding their breath finally had a chance to vent, they roared loudly, brandished knives and guns, trying to avenge their dead comrades and kill all the enemies in front of them.

"Poof!" Zhou's spear and shield soldier stabbed a shot from the small round hole on the edge of the shield, and a Tang soldier wielding a large knife was immediately shot in the lower abdomen, screamed and fell down, becoming a corpse on the ground.

The comrades-in-arms beside him looked at this airtight shield array, but they had a feeling that rats were dragging turtles and had nowhere to put their mouths. The shield was tall and large, and the broadsword slashed at it for no purpose other than to splash a few sparks. And the round hole on the edge is small, not to mention that the big knife can't cut into it at all, even the spear has to be pointed at it with great difficulty.

Moreover, the enemy often pierced their guns out of that round hole, and how could the soldiers of the Tang Army use this hole to pierce them so easily.

Li Xiaogong looked at the iron shield array of the Zhou army from the city tower, and he was also a little at a loss, and he didn't know how to break the formation.

...