The heavy boulder was like a flying monster, spinning and tumbling, constantly flying from the position of the Han army's trebuchet, drawing conspicuous arcs in the sky, smashing into the head of Wancheng with a huge whistling wind, and erupting with a dull and loud crashing sound.

The arrow buttress that was smashed disappeared directly, the female wall was shattered, the rammed earth city wall was constantly smashed out of the deep pit, the boulder that hit the edge of the city wall rolled and slid down, leaving a few feet wide gap in the rammed earth city wall, and there were deep scratches, the city wall was gradually full of holes, the inner gate city tower behind the urn city had already collapsed completely, turned into a pile of rubble and ruins, the street houses near the city wall were also scarred, the houses collapsed in many places, and the people cried and ran, and became a mess.

The most pitiful thing is the Nanyang army soldiers on duty in the city, the raw cowhide cannon screen used to resist ordinary trebuchets is more fragile than the papier-mâché windows in front of the counterweight trebuchet of the Han army, and it does not play any role at all, and the inner and outer city towers have all collapsed, and the female wall arrow stacks are also vulnerable, and the Nanyang army soldiers who have nowhere to hide can only pay careful attention to the sky, and whenever they see the boulder flying, they run wildly, and even run and dodge with rolling and climbing, but even so, the whistling boulder still smashes into the Nanyang army from time to time. smashed the poor soldiers of the Nanyang Army into a blur of flesh and blood, and the corpses were as broken as mud.

Even if they hid in the dead corner behind the city wall, the Nanyang soldiers could not guarantee their safety, and there were still boulders that rolled down on their heads after smashing the arrow buttress female wall on the inner side of the city wall, although there were not many such cases, but as long as they appeared, the boulders falling from the sky could immediately smash a wave of blood in the crowded crowd of Nanyang soldiers, so that many Nanyang soldiers died miserably suddenly.

Even Cao Shen, the general of the Nanyang Army who was in charge of the main battlefield of the North Gate, almost died tragically in this case, hiding in the shooting corner of the steps of the upper city, if it wasn't for the quick eyes of the soldiers, he pushed him in time, and the roaring boulder could have smashed him to a broken bone on the spot, but in order to save him, the loyal and brave soldiers missed the opportunity to let themselves escape, and were directly hit on the top of the head by the boulder, and the entire upper body was completely smashed into meat sauce.

Nothing can stop the boulder thrown by the Han army, and the poor Nanyang soldiers can only try to dodge while praying for God's blessing, so that the damned Han soldiers can end throwing stones as soon as possible, and rush up to fight with the self-army, and would rather die under the swords of the Han soldiers than be smashed by the boulders.

In order to alleviate the siege resistance of the self-army, and in order to reduce the casualties of the Han army during the siege, Xiang Kang held the idea of sharpening the knife and not cutting wood, and let the trebuchet start from about midnight in the morning, and have been throwing stones until the afternoon is close to Shenshi, until the north gate of Wancheng City Wall is smashed everywhere There are gaps, and the collapse has formed a number of gentle slopes that are easy to climb, Xiang Kang issued an order to let sixty trebuchets temporarily stop throwing stones.

Immediately afterwards, Cao Shen, who had just seen the first batch of Han soldiers carrying various siege weapons, immediately shouted loudly, "Beat the drum, let all the soldiers under the city come up, the Han thieves are going to officially attack the city!" ”

The war drums sounded, and the soldiers of the Nanyang Army under the city hurriedly rushed to the city wall where the arrow stacks of the female wall were already full of gaps, and entered their respective combat posts.

According to the orthodox siege tactics, the first to approach the city wall were rows of Han soldiers with long shields, protecting the crossbowmen to step forward carefully, using the long shield to set up temporary fortifications in the distance below the city, covering the crossbowmen to release arrows to suppress the defenders of the city. And because the soldiers of the Han army had a strong long shield to protect their bodies, during this period, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army were not in a hurry to release their arrows, but just patiently waited for the ant team of the Han army to enter their range.

Let Cao Shen secretly rejoice in his heart, the soldiers of the Han army may have been too nervous, there was a mistake in the queue when marching, the queue was disjointed, the heavy and slow ladder car was still in the distance behind, a team of Han infantry carrying a light flying ladder had already rushed into the range of the Nanyang Army, Cao Shen was overjoyed, and hurriedly shouted: "Release the arrows, first clean up this team of Han thief infantry!" ”

When the war drums were beating, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army who had been gathering momentum for a long time immediately fired arrows in unison, and the city wall seemed to explode as if a pot had exploded, and immediately sprayed out countless feather arrows, which frightened the Han soldiers to quickly throw down the flying ladder and retreat sharply with a round shield, but even so, there were still many Han soldiers who were shot by the feather arrows, and more than a dozen soldiers fell in a blink of an eye.

never expected that the first wave of arrow rain would shoot the Han army away, Cao Shen was overjoyed, and couldn't help laughing and said: "Okay! Good sign! ”

Suddenly, the Han army's trebuchet arm that rose together made Cao Shen's smile solidify, and then then, sixty huge pottery urns with billowing smoke fell from the sky, smashing their heads and covering their faces to the head of Wancheng City, and the pottery urns exploded on the ground, spraying huge flames, and immediately ignited the clothes of countless Nanyang Army soldiers who were reloading their arrows, and the screams of pain immediately resounded in Wancheng City.

That's not all, the flames also ignited a lot of wooden barrels filled with tung oil, the precious tung oil ignited when it caught fire, blazing, and suddenly a number of fires rose on the city wall, not to mention, but also made the Nanyang army soldiers can no longer use these expensive tung oil to set fire to the Han army's ladder car.

"Shameless thief! It's so treacherous! ”

Seeing this scene, Cao Shen of course immediately understood the true intention of the Han army - pretending to let the light infantry come forward, luring the soldiers to release arrows to block, confirming that a large number of the soldiers of the Nanyang Army had entered the city and entered the combat posts, and then immediately threw incendiary bombs to burn a large number of soldiers of the army and valuable materials for defending the city!

It's useless to understand, the throwing arm keeps dancing, and the Han army's trebuchet team threw out three hundred incendiary bombs made of pottery urns at the head of Wancheng City in one breath, and completely turned the wall section guarded by the Nanyang Army into a sea of fire, and then adjusted the angle of fire and began to throw ordinary incendiary bombs without tung oil into Wancheng City, igniting the streets and houses in the city to create chaos for the defenders.

The incendiary bombs of the Han army and the tung oil that the Nanyang army brought to the head of the city burned together, emitting a blazing high temperature and billowing smoke, the Nanyang sergeant ran and shouted in the smoke of the fire, the Nanyang sergeant who was on fire rolled and howled miserably on the ground, and from time to time there was a situation where the Nanyang sergeant who was on fire rolled down the city wall from the gap in the female wall, it was as miserable as if he was in hell, the end of the world was coming, the army was panicked, and the morale was inevitably seriously reduced.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the soldiers of the Han army under the city of course began to charge fully, and because the Han army's incendiary bombs caught the defenders of the city by surprise, the corresponding feather arrows on the city wall were not only far less dense than before, but also most of them were crooked and weak, and the threat to the Han soldiers was pitifully small.

"Steady! Steady! Hurry up and release the arrows! Hurry up and unleash your arrows! ”

No matter how angry and shouting Cao Shen was, it was useless, in a hurry, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army on the city wall were still unable to quickly restore the original order, and there was no way to effectively kill and injure the soldiers of the Han army who were charging forward with dense arrows. At the same time, among the first three Han army ladder trucks, the fastest one was only about fifty steps away from the city wall.

It was only at this time that the defenders of the Nanyang Army on the city wall finally launched a relatively strong counterattack, and the rolling stones and trees smashed into the Han army trebuchet that was stepping on the ladder like hail raindrops, and the surviving rockets also hurriedly shot intensively at the ladder car of the Han army.

The effect of the sneak attack with primitive incendiary bombs was better than the Han army's high-level estimate in advance, and a large number of ignited the fire oil that the Nanyang army had prepared on the city wall in advance, and the spare fire oil was too late to be sent to the city wall in a hurry, so the Nanyang army's rockets were extinguished without much, and the ladder car of the Han army also underwent a certain amount of fire prevention treatment, and the ladder car at the front had already advanced within thirty steps of the city wall in the case of almost no fire.

Seeing this scene, Cao Shen of course was red-eyed, yelling just to urge the soldiers to hurry up and move the spare tung oil, and the Nanyang soldiers had no choice but to throw the only swallowtail torch dipped in fire oil to the first ladder car of the Han army as much as possible, and only then did the copper fork at the end of the torch hang on the ladder car of the Han army, igniting the first ladder car of the Han army. However, the ladder cart of the Han army was resolute, and even if it was already on fire, it continued to advance, approaching the city wall little by little.

Finally, under the torches and straw bundles thrown by the Nanyang army soldiers frantically, the first ladder car of the Han army with the smoke of the fire hit the wall of Wancheng heavily, and the Han soldiers under the city were like thunder, and immediately stepped on the ladder car to rush up, and just in the blink of an eye, the first Han warrior rushed to the head of Wancheng!

Some spare tung oil was finally delivered, and it was immediately used on the first ladder car that had been close to the city wall, but when the first ladder car of the Han army caught fire, the other two ladder cars had also leaned on the city wall, and more Han soldiers stepped on the ladder and quickly rushed up the Wancheng city wall that was already full of gaps. Xiang Kang, who was behind, saw that the siege was going well, and he couldn't wait to send the rear army forward, and at the same time immediately put in three ladder trucks.

The Han army began to formally attack the city in less than an hour, two relatively intact ladder cars opened up two roads for the Han army to quickly go to the city, the Han warriors continued to charge up, the Nanyang army soldiers can only rely on flesh and blood to resist the offensive of the Han army, and the Han army soldiers are fighting for the space on the city inch by inch, the two soldiers are intertwined on the city wall, and the fierce battle is inextricable.

The situation was quickly reported to Liu Laosan, who hid back in the palace, and learned that the first attack of the Han army rushed to the city in a group, Xiao He, Lu Jia and Sui He and other civil officials of the Nanyang Army were not as pale as the earth, how could it be possible? Liu Laosan looked calm as usual, and ordered very calmly: "Tell Fan Gou'er to take the reserve team up, and no matter what, drive the Han thieves down the city." ”

It was only after the guards rushed out to give the order that Liu Laosan turned to Han Xin next to him and asked, "General, are the things you said ready?" ”

"The king is relieved, when he is ready, he will hide in a private house near the south gate." Han Xin replied.

"It's up to God." Liu Laosan smiled and said, "I hope I don't need those things." ”

After Fan Xu rushed to the north gate city wall with the Nanyang Army reserves, it just made the battle on the city wall more cruel and bloody, no matter how the number one fierce general of the Nanyang Army, Fan Xu, carried the dog slaughter knife on the city wall, such as entering no one's land, it still could not stop the Han army soldiers from going up to the city endlessly, the Han soldiers not only stepped on the wide and strong ladder to quickly go to the city, but also continued to climb the city with flying ladders, and successfully occupied a position space on the city wall, protecting the road of the follow-up army to the city, At the same time, the sufficient troops also let the Han army worry about the future, even if it costs lives and troops, the Han army has absolute certainty that the Nanyang army, which is far inferior to its own army, will be consumed to death!

The outer gate of the urn city has long been hit open by the Han army's crash car, the Nanyang soldiers hurriedly put down the jack gate, although temporarily cut off the front and back contact of the Han army into the city, for the Nanyang soldiers on both sides of the urn city to create the opportunity to shoot arrows to kill the enemy, but the jack gate was quickly destroyed by the Han army, the Han army soldiers killed a large number of people into the city, began to attack the inner gate of the north gate of Wancheng, forcing the Nanyang soldiers in the city to quickly carry sandbags, blocking the inner gate of the city gate.

The Han army general Zhong Liwu personally led the army to rush to the city, and once again consolidated the strength of the Han army in the city, but also personally went out to temporarily block the fierce Fan Xu, the Han army soldiers also took the opportunity to continuously expand the position space on the other side, and the Nanyang army fought for the arrow stacks one by one, and no matter how crazy the Nanyang army soldiers counterattacked, they did not retreat an inch, and the two soldiers were killed and wounded, and they all fought tenaciously and fiercely.

At this time, in the Han army's flag array, as soon as he saw Zhong Liwu's banner successfully rushing to the head of Wancheng, Xiang Kang smiled and said: "You fought well, if nothing else, it is only a matter of time before you take the position at the head of the city." With Liu Jipifu's treachery, as long as the city wall position of the north gate is lost, he should also be ready to flee out of the city for his life. ”

"But my lord, as it stands, I'm afraid we won't be able to take the city's position until it gets dark." Chen Ping reminded beside him.

"There's no way around it." Xiang Kang spread his hands very helplessly and said: "The combat effectiveness and cohesion of the Nanyang thief army are quite good, and Liu Ji, the traitor, must understand that only by staying up until it is completely dark can he hope to break through and escape, and he will definitely let his army defend with all his might, even if it is a street battle, he must persist until it is dark." ”

"King, it's best to take precautions, arrange an infantry to go south in advance, and prepare to intercept the Nanyang thief army, otherwise, it will be difficult for us to form an effective interception just by relying on cavalry interspersed with detours." Chen Ping suggested: "There is a big river blocking road in Yushui to the east of Wancheng, if the Nanyang thief army wants to break through, it can only go south from the west bank of Yushui after leaving the city, we only need to arrange an infantry in the south in advance, and then cooperate with our cavalry to fight, we can ensure that the main force of the Nanyang thief army can be intercepted." ”

"Good idea." As soon as Xiang Kang heard the applause, he immediately instructed Xu Ji next to him: "Send someone to Gongsun Tong to give an order, telling him to immediately lead 8,000 infantry to the south, and assemble Hou Ming fifteen miles south of Wancheng, bring more dry food and torches, and prepare for interception." ”

When Xu Ji sang the promise and hurriedly arranged the heralds, Xiang Kang suddenly remembered one thing again, and hurriedly said: "By the way, tell Gongsun Tong, just say that under Liu Jipifu's account, there is a thief named Ji Xin who looks very similar to him, and it is very likely that he will wear Liu Jipifu's clothes and pretend to be him, so even if you kill Liu Jipifu, you must not be negligent, and try to kill the Nanyang thief army as much as possible, especially pay attention to those Nanyang thief soldiers and thieves who ride horses and cars." ”

Xu Ji sang a promise, and hurriedly sent someone to send an order to Gongsun Tong who stayed in the camp according to Xiang Kang's request, but Zhang Liang and Chen Ping next to him were full of surprise, and they both said: "King, how do you know that a thief general named Ji Xin of the Nanyang Thief Army looks very similar to Liu Ji, remember that our subordinates have never heard of this matter?" ”

Xiang Kang smiled and didn't answer, but said in his heart: "It was you two cheats who told me, my poor brother, who was so miserable by your trick!" ”

As Xiang Kang expected, although he knew that it was absolutely impossible to win the powerful Han army, he failed to stop the ladder car from leaning on the city wall, and it was only a matter of time before the Han army took the city's head position, but Fan Hao and Cao Shen still led the Nanyang army soldiers to fight to the death, and would rather pay countless more casualties and sacrifices, no matter how the Han army frantically attacked and increased the city's head, they also said that they would not take the initiative to give up the city's head position, and finally when it was slightly dark, the Nanyang army was basically expelled from the city by the Han army, but the Nanyang army still refused to give up, still stubbornly guarding the steps of the city, putting on a posture of street fighting to the end.

The so-called street fighting is of course just a pretense, with Liu Laosan's treachery, how could he stay in the city and wait for the Han army to exhaust his troops, rush into the so-called Nanyang palace and eat him alive? It didn't take long for the sky to get dark, but the west gate of Wancheng, which was attacked by the Han army, suddenly opened, and countless Nanyang army soldiers surrounded Liu Laosan's handsome banner and shouted to kill, although Ding Ji, the general of the Han army in charge of the Ximen battlefield, also immediately led the army to stop it, but the Nanyang army rushed too fiercely, and all of them were fighting for their lives, so no matter how Ding Ji intercepted, and no matter how many Nanyang soldiers and soldiers of the Han army slashed and killed, they still could not stop the Nanyang army from charging out of the city, and fled to the south with Liu Laosan's handsome banner.

After the situation was reported to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang, of course, immediately ordered the Han cavalry to attack to help Ding Ji's troops block and chase, and got up again and said: "It's no problem to take Wancheng, just leave it to Long and Zhong Liyu." Zeng Ji, you lead an army to stay outside the city to protect our trebuchets, and never allow any outsiders to come close to observe our trebuchets. The other armies all went south with this king, to hunt down and kill the Nanyang thief army, and strive to kill Liu Ji and Han Xin tonight! ”

Xiang Kang obviously lacked confidence when he said this, because Xiang Kang really knew too well how capable Liu Laosan, the ancestor of Uncle Liu Huang, could run, and the battlefield was chaotic in the dark night, even if the Han army pursued with all its might, it may not be guaranteed to kill Liu Laosan - even if he stared at Liu Laosan's handsome banner, Liu Laosan's Peixian friends pulled out one at random, and they were all willing to put on Liu Laosan's clothes and play Liu Laosan's banner as a substitute for the dead ghost, so Xiang Kang could also say that he was fighting, and he didn't dare to use a positive tone.

In fact, as early as when Liu Laosan's handsome flag went out of the city from the west gate of Wancheng, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Han army's partial division to intercept the Nanyang Army Brigade, the south gate of Wancheng facing the Yushui Wharf had been quietly opened, first hundreds of soldiers rushed out of the city, blocking the Han army patrol sentry team that was monitoring nearby, and then a team of Nanyang Army guards rushed out of the city with a car pushing a few light boat sampans, quickly put the light boat sampan into the river, and disguised as Liu Laosan, Han Xin and Xiao He and others boarded the boat in a big way. Descend the Yushui boat and escape to Jianyang by taking the Yushui channel without any obstruction.

That's not all, when parting, Liu Laosan also bowed his hand to his guards very chic and said: "Soldiers, see you in Thorn Yang, this king begs you, you must live to meet this king in Thorn Yang!" ”