There was wind in the air, and the smoke from the bombing area dissipated quickly, and it wasn't long before only a thin layer of smoke and dust shrouded that side. Guo Shao immediately took a look at the rear hundreds of steps away, and there were constantly soldiers running back to report the military situation. He still didn't say much, just nodded in response to the people who came to pay his respects.

Wang Pu next to him said: "The war must be a stalemate." ”

Guo Shao took a deep breath and looked back at the chaotic scene in the camp. He paid extra attention to the artillery array, and could not detect the panicked atmosphere. Now most of the remaining artillery has been concentrated in two siege points...... Because most of the losses have been lost in the early stage.

The dragon howling cannon is still a bit of a problem, a problem that can't be tried in the experimental stage. At that time, because of the large caliber and the thickness of the pipe wall, an iron ring was added to the test, which would not blow up the chamber, so the gun body was lengthened in order to increase the firing range; The direct problems caused by this were poor heat dissipation, severe life attenuation, and the poor strength of the cast iron material at this time...... Before and after the siege of the city, the Zhou army successively mobilized a total of more than 300 whistling cannons, and after more than ten days, there are now less than 100 left.

Most of the damaged guns were broken and deflated, and very few were directly blown up. There have been many problems before, such as some stone bullets that are not strong enough and explode in the barrel.

There were still dozens of artillery pieces that were concentrated at the offensive point; The main purpose of the continuous shelling before the attack was to re-test the range and find the data to hit the walls...... Elevation angle and charge weight.

…… The gap in the collapse of the city wall, the front is densely packed with people, and the crowd on both sides is in opposite directions, and the blockage in the middle is getting tighter and tighter; The place is very narrow, not to mention that both sides are rushing forward to kill at this time, even if you really want to dredge it, it is difficult.

There were fierce shouts of killing, intimidation, shouting, begging for mercy and crying, but all to no avail. People huddled there and couldn't move forward or backward, and it was difficult to even turn around, let alone make any fancy moves.

A Northern Han sergeant did not have any weapons in his hand, and was squeezed in front of Zhou Jun empty-handed, his eyes were round and he was shouting "Ahhhh The sergeant of the Zhou army held a sword and shield, and the shield smashed on his head, and the knife stabbed desperately in his armor, and the screams of despair and fear made people's ears hurt.

The Northern Han army died a terrible death, they could not run, and the front was almost impossible to survive. The generals of the Northern Han army who arranged the spearmen in the front obviously made a mistake, at this time the two sides were dense and close, almost holding each other, and the spear could not be used, which was equivalent to being unarmed in the face of the Zhou army's melee single knife and hook hammer; Moreover, the front of the Zhou army was heavy infantry wearing plate chain mail, which had better armor protection and was obviously more resistant than the enemy...... At this time, it is useless to use any martial arts, you can stab and chop the weapon, you can attack people, and at the same time, you can only use your torso to withstand the enemy's attack!

The Zhou army on the ramp also gradually restored order, and some generals shouted: "Vote!" ”

The soldiers in the vicinity threw their javelins upwards with their javelins, and the air seemed to be flying like a dry reed.

Below the ruins, the marksmen of the Zhou army also barely formed a queue. One of the generals shouted: "Prepare to ......"

A group of marksmen (archers) drew their bows and arrows, and each one with a nervous and solemn face, pulled the bow diagonally upward, and then heard: "Let go...... Syllable! The gong slammed, and everyone fired their arrows. At this point, people don't need to aim, as long as the direction and angle are roughly right.

A large field of blackened arrows flew densely into the air.

The archers didn't care about anything, and some people had already found the memories of the countless salvo training they usually had, and they were gradually adjusting the rhythm of their breathing. This is indeed fighting on the front line in front of the battle, but people are not fighting with a fierce force, they are like doing a repetitive manual labor, only need to follow the command of the generals who are usually skilled in releasing arrows; Maintaining the endurance of physical strength is the most important, because it takes a lot of strength to draw the bow, and every time you release an arrow, you have to consume a lot of physical strength.

There were also enemy bows and arrows flying over their heads, but the iron helmets of the Zhou soldiers had a brim, leather armor and ear guards, and their shoulders and chests were plate armor, and their defense against the throwing bows and arrows that fell mainly by weight was extremely high, and it was difficult to be shot, and at most they were injured. There is no way to put pressure on them without much of a threat!

The most worrying thing was the ballista flying diagonally from the city wall, the arrow as thick as an arm! The weight is large and strong, and the force that can shoot 200 steps is not something that armor can resist at all, no matter whether you wear armor or not, you can kill people if you hit it at such a close distance; As long as they are hit, they are either killed or injured.

Although the ballista was as large as a bed and required a lot of people to fire, the bolts were sparse and slow, and one shot could kill and injure one person...... But once there is a threat, it can cause great psychological pressure. It's like standing under a building where stones occasionally fall from it, making the crowd feel dangerous, and panic and confusion can occur, even if the proportion of casualties in the crowd is small. Fortunately, the Tiger Ben Army is an elite, and in this kind of thing, it shows the organizational power that only the army has, and people are nervously pulling their bows and firing arrows under the screams and death threats.

The Zhou army, which was fighting in close quarters on the front line, gained an advantage and kept moving forward, but very slowly! There were corpses in every inch of the ground, and the blood soaked the dirt, and people stepped on the dirt hill and the feet were muddy, as if they were trekking through the mud on a rainy day!

At this moment, someone suddenly felt a chill on his body, and when he looked up, he saw that on the edge of the broken ring that was nearly four zhang high, some Northern Han soldiers were holding wooden barrels and dumping them down, throwing wooden barrels filled with fierce fire oil! The Northern Han army was estimated to be in a hurry at this time, whether it was fierce fire oil, tung oil, or even the smell of sesame oil in the air, desperately throwing it into the gap.

The soldiers of the Zhou army suddenly realized something, the crowd began to panic, people forgot to fight, and they couldn't squeeze out for a while, the voices were boiling, and the shouts suddenly became louder! Even the soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty panicked, and both sides stopped fighting, panicking and turbulence there, and many people were squeezed to the ground and trampled like corpses.

A young soldier of Zhou opened his eyes wide, looking at the broken city wall with a somewhat hollow look, and tears rolled down, dappling the blood on his rough and uneven face, as if blood and tears were flowing together.

At this time, there was no blood at all, only fear and despair. Someone is shouting: "Mother, mother, mother......"

Suddenly, a fire tumbled up and down from above, and everyone watched the black smoke of the fire, drawing a black smoke tail in the air, and for a moment, it seemed to be a lifetime, and time seemed to have traveled through countless years.

"Boom!" All kinds of oil ignite when it catches fire!

The ruins of the gap were on fire, black smoke was billowing out, and the Northern Han army poured too much oil. The soldiers on both sides screamed and struggled loudly in the blood and fire, and the fiery figures tumbled down from above, and the flames were splashed around by the burning fire men like magma. The ghosts on it were crying and howling, and it was terrible to see.

…… Guo Shao and the others looked at the fire and black smoke in the distance, his hand clenched the hilt of the sword tightly, and his finger bones turned white.

A subordinate general hurriedly said: "The last general thinks that the Chinese army must quickly order the front army to retreat. ”

"The Sixth Army is under the command of Wang Zhang on the front line!" Guo Shao gritted his teeth and said, he remembered this general, who had overcome the fatigue of the soldiers since the battle of Qin Feng and successfully marched and set up an ambush overnight. He was a military general who had experienced a hundred battles, had firm perseverance, and could make decisive decisions in any military situation, and Guo Shao trusted him. "The responsibilities of each army have been deployed, so let Wang Zhang in front give the order, so that it can be timely."

Sure enough, the troops in front immediately retreated, and the banners were raised, and the heralds galloped back on horseback.

Wang Zhang sat on the horse, looked at the situation in front of him, and said coldly: "The first commander immediately withdrew from the battlefield and withdrew to repair." The second commander advanced to the fifty-step flag. ”

The military capital Yu Hou immediately said: "According to the arrangement of the Chinese army, as soon as our troops retreat, they will fire artillery, and the second command will be as close as 50 paces......

"Hmph." Wang Zhang glanced at him angrily and said nothing.

The men and horses in front of them retreated scattered as if they had been defeated, in fact, most of them did not directly engage the enemy, but after a hard battle, it was difficult to avoid chaos. People were carrying wounded soldiers on their backs and were busy running around like refugees.

Wang Zhang personally rode his horse to within fifty paces of the city wall, and despite the arrows and cannons that flew from time to time, he rode his horse and ran for a while in front of a new group of neat people, and commanded the envoy to come forward. Wang Zhang said: "As soon as the cannon stops, arrange a capital with short weapons, and ride a horse in front; The rest advanced with infantry formations subsequently. ”

The commander clenched his fists and said: "The last general will be ordered!" ”

Wang Zhang looked back left and right: "Serving the army and serving the country is our destination!" If you are afraid of death, you will join the army. ”

The soldiers widened their eyes, looking at the firelight in front of them and the piles of corpses on the dirt mountain, waiting nervously one by one.

Wang Zhang said again: "We have died a lot of brothers tragically, and we will be men in vain if we don't take revenge!" Kill into Jinyang and let those thieves fight with their lives! ”

Everyone immediately shouted with hatred: "Revenge! Revenge ......"

After a while, a whimpering horn sounded from behind. It seems to be a prelude to some kind of rapid rhythm.

In a few moments, a loud "boom" tore open the sky! The first row of red flags more than 400 paces away from the city fell forward, and a moment later, the thunderous sound of "boom, boom, boom and ......" shook the earth, and a row of dazzling flames shot out into the sky, raging into the air, and white smoke rose one after another. Round stones flew out of the sky at a rapid pace.

The cannon lunged backwards so violently that if it had not been tamped by the earth bags and fixed by the piles, the iron cannon would have almost jumped to its feet.

Just after a burst of cannons, the flags in the second row also fell, and a military general shouted in a hoarse voice: "Second capital, release!" ”

The gong sounded "bang", "Boom! Boom ......" a row of artillery rang out again in a cohesive manner.

Up and down the city wall in the distance, earth and rocks were splashed, dust rose, and they were subjected to intensive artillery bombardment by the Zhou army in batches.