Li Chongjin and Guo Shao summoned more than 20 generals in the former military camp. Because Guo Shao is now taking over the Shouzhou recruitment envoy, he needs to work here, so he pays extra attention when introducing military generals. There were too many people and he only said it again, and most of Guo Shao couldn't remember their names and appearances, but he only paid attention to their positions in his heart, so as to understand what kind of troops were outside Shouzhou City.

Guo Shao listened silently for a while beside him, and when he heard the "self-prepared ordnance and grain", he knew that they were the township soldiers of Song, Hao, Chen, Ying, Xu, Su, Xu, Cai, and other prefectures, and some of them were tooth soldiers of local towns, including defense envoys and assassins. The township soldiers are not bad, at least they have military horns; There are also some real people, "seven households out of one soldier", and the directly recruited people are pulled to the battle formation after a little formation.

The soldiers directly under the forbidden army were not the first-line army of the Zhou Dynasty, but the "lower soldiers" of Tuntian in the area near Kaifeng Prefecture. Now they usually have no half-penny military funds for farming, and they will be summoned and sent to the front line as soon as they are in Huainan.

Guo Shao thought that although the military affairs he was arranged were a hard bone, the strength of his troops would soar, after all, there were so many soldiers and horses outside Shouzhou City...... As a result, the only elite soldiers that could be used in his hands remained completely unchanged: the first and second armies of the left wing of the Hujie Army. This is the man he himself led from Tokyo.

There is also a regular army of nearly 20,000 people outside Shouzhou: the right wing of the Hujie Army.

But the military commander who commanded this army was Li Jixun. The person Guo Shao met when Xiang Xunjia Xiao Erlang was one year old, the eldest brother of the "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society", is now the commander of the pro-army guard and the infantry military division.

Guo Shao didn't think he could command him. Li Jixun's troops did not move, and it seemed that they would not attack the city, but were just stationed here waiting for an opportunity to move, or preparing to fight reinforcements from the Southern Tang Dynasty.

The situation is very bad, and Guo Shao is worried. He didn't sleep well that night, and got up in the middle of the night to walk around and inspect the siege fortifications outside the city, but he couldn't see very clearly, so he could only inspect the various units on duty at night.

It's mid-July, and it's still a little cold at night. Every now and then there is a bonfire, and the brothers on duty gather around it to make a fire. There was a place where the soldiers did not know where to get the lotus root, sprinkled with salt and roasted it on the fire, as if they were eating barbecue. At night, the camp had stopped, but the occasional groaning of wounded soldiers in the air affected the quiet atmosphere.

……

Early the next morning, Guo Shao had just put on the ring lock armor and walked out of the house in the small village, and he saw that there were already many people outside the ditch fence in the distance, and many people around the catapult and other large equipment were repairing with clanging, and some people and horses were arraying and pushing the ladder out, as if they were going to attack the city.

Li Chuyun, Luo Yanhuan and others took the lead in coming over, and then more than 20 generals walked here, and when they saw Guo Shao looking outside the door, everyone didn't enter the hall, and gathered around him to follow him.

"Storming the walls again?" Guo Shao asked.

A military general said: "The moat has been filled in several places, and it has been arranged above, and the river will continue to be filled in this time, and the city will be attacked." General Guo, do we still have to follow the previous order? “

"Who's giving the order?" Guo Shao asked again.

The general said: "Huainan has deployed General Li. ”

Guo Shaosui stopped talking, just arrived in Shouzhou, most of these people didn't know each other, since it was Li Chongjin's previous military order, he asked the generals to follow the previous deployment. As long as it doesn't rain, it seems that the city is being sieged every day, and it has been regularized, and it is not the eve of the battle, so Guo Shao did not talk nonsense, and immediately ordered the dissolution to perform their duties.

At this moment, he suddenly saw a group of people gathered outside the fence of the village, and Guo Shao ordered Luo Mengzi to let them in. The leader was an old man with gray hair with a ravine, Guo Shao looked familiar, and quickly remembered that it was the group of "soldiers" who interceded for them yesterday, this old man had spoken, so he had an impression.

There is also a thin man next to the old pawn, both of whom have relatively narrow faces, maybe they are still relatives. They walked up to Guo Shao, and the old man knelt down and bowed: "My eldest son is the head of the capital, and our father and son have discussed, anyway, we will die, and die on the battlefield so as not to be looked down upon by other brothers in the army!" I will ask for battle today, General Guo asked us to go to the front to attack the city, and ask for a good time! ”

Guo Shao turned around and saw that the generals who had just left were watching curiously not far away, and he pondered for a moment and said, "You go to find your generals and go to the front to attack the city...... Those who survive will be spared the sin of fleeing from battle yesterday. ”

The father and son said, "We take orders!" ”

Guo Shao took the reins from his soldiers, turned over his horse, and took Yang Biao and other generals of the Hujie Army to the front. The group ran back and forth around the city twice to see the terrain, this is a big city, riding around the city twice, the sun has risen three poles from the horizon.

The catapults on all sides had already started, and the huge stones were whistling and flying towards the city wall two or three hundred steps away, and the Zhou soldiers under the city wall were surging in, throwing arrows up and down, and the ladders were pushed close to the city wall by groups of people like huge wooden "tanks". No matter how spectacular the scene in the wilderness is, and how great the apparatus is, the power is still limited. The stones of the catapult can smash the city wall to a thousand holes, but it has been beaten for more than a month, and it still can't smash the thick brick-clad wall.

Bows, arrows, crossbows, arrows, stones, and fireballs are just preludes, and in the end, they return to the siege method that Guo Shao often sees: climbing walls without brains. Of course, there is a more figurative term called "ant attachment".

I saw a ladder being pushed to the wall, below which were carriages and two rows of wooden wheels, and the ladder folded above was immediately unfolded and then put down at the head of the city.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a wooden barrel at the head of the city suddenly poured a piece of black oil down, and then threw out a few torches, and the black oil touched the fire with a "boom", and a raging fire ignited up and down the ladder. The screams of the soldiers of Zhou could not be heard, people fell down from the ladder, some did not die on the ground and rolled in pain, and some people splashed with water, but it was not easy to splash out. Quite a few people couldn't stand it and jumped directly into the moat.

Black smoke billowed from the air, and the smell of burnt asphalt was mixed with the smell of burnt mush.

Guo Shaoguang stood a few hundred steps away and watched, and his scalp was numb for a while, what is the difference between this and sending him to death? ! Where did the oil dig up in the Southern Tang Kingdom, this thing can actually be used like this.

This situation filled Guo Shao's heart with shadows, he felt that it was not terrifying to fight in battle, and the siege was a nightmare.

There are also catapults in the city, which seem to be behind the city wall, Guo Shao can't see it, but he can see some people standing on the head of the city and looking back and shouting, as if they are observing the direction. After a while, a burning clay pot flew out of the city, and the clay pot fell into a crowd like a fireball, and shattered with a "clang", and the oil and fire flew in all directions, and the crowd dispersed in a hurry, and the people on fire rolled on the ground.

A ladder in front of him has been burning more and more fiercely, the fire can not be extinguished at all, the people in the carriage and around have turned around and ran, but as soon as they ran across the moat, they saw a military general on horseback with a team of cavalry rushing forward, cutting head-on, shouting and scolding. Then the rebels converged into the crowd behind a ladder.

Thick smoke billowed up and down the city wall, and the four sides of Shouzhou Castle were soon shrouded in black smoke and firelight.

The Zhou army followed one after another, shooting with bows and crossbows, and the cloud ladders were set up on the city wall again, and some more humble ladders were erected from all sides, and people climbed up desperately like ants. A military general shouted from behind: "The first one to climb the city wall will be rewarded!" Glory and wealth enjoy a lifetime! ”

I didn't see the shadow of glory and wealth, and I saw a barrel of oil poured down first! Several people fell directly down from the fire all over their bodies, and a fire instantly ignited on the wooden ladder...... This oil is really useful to Nan**, and it can be ignited at once, otherwise it is not easy to burn the ladder.

But this wave of Zhou soldiers was extremely brave, and some people actually rushed up from the burning ladder regardless of death! It's completely a dry method that doesn't want to die together. Guo Shao could see clearly that the hands and feet of the first soldier who rushed up were burning, and the screams could be heard outside the defeat, so he hugged a Tang soldier and jumped straight from the city...... The first person to rush up, what's the use, anyway, death.

There were also some who paid a great deal of casualties, and a few climbed the city wall from rudimentary ladders, but they were afraid that they would be chopped into pulp when they saw knives and spears flying wildly.

Such a brave soldier who did not care about death died so meaninglessly? Guo Shao finally couldn't hold it anymore, and didn't care about Li Chongjin's order, and shouted: "Send someone to order all the departments in front to stop the siege immediately!" ”

After a while, a group of generals rushed to Guo Shao one after another to confirm the order to retreat. Then, amid the shouts of the people, the countless crowds under the city wall slowly retreated like a tide, and from a distance, it seemed as if the sea was receding.

"Let's not attack Shouzhou? A few days ago, General Li ordered us to attack at any cost...... "A military general looked at Guo Shao with a little disbelief.

Guo Shao ignored it, he paid attention to the most courageous group of people just now, pointed to the place with a horsewhip, and sent his own soldiers to call them over to meet. After a while, a group of people came carrying some half-dead people.

The one who walked in front was the old soldier who asked for battle in the morning, Guo Shao suddenly realized that it was those people! These deserters who wanted to escape from Shouzhou yesterday have become fierce and fearless of death today, and it is really difficult to determine the ability of human beings.

I saw that the wounded soldiers who were brought back could not bear to look directly, their skin was burned extensively, their whole body was pitch black, and the red flesh without skin was exposed on the black body, and they screamed in pain on the shelf. It's like someone who has been blown up by **, not the scars of a cold weapon war.

The old soldier who had spoken to Guo Shao was wiping his tears and talking vigorously to the injured man lying next to him, who was covered in black and his clothes were torn and no longer human. Maybe it's the son of an old pawn?

Guo Shao asked, "What's your name?" ”

The old pawn choked up and said, "Qin Shi." ”

Guo Shao said: "Those who survived are all innocent. You are now changing the number, attached to the left compartment of the Hujie Army, the number is the lower camp, Qin Dashi, you do the head. ”

Guo Shao felt uncomfortable, and looked back at the generals and said: "They were all raised by my mother and father, and the battle was fought like this, and when I returned to Tokyo, the villagers asked me for a husband and a son, what did I say?" ”