With Timur's order, tens of thousands more people came out of the camp and lined up in a neat queue, ready to attack the city.

Jesbou also used a small trick. He made the defenders at the head of the city not immediately recognize them by changing formations more often, and sent more soldiers to attack the city, and he was not aware until he began to charge.

For a time, more than twice as many ladders were erected at the head of the city, and all the cannons did not hesitate to fire shells and bombard them violently; The soldiers who used the ballista were even more crazy to shoot arrows with the intention of scrapping the ballista.

Seeing that more and more soldiers had ascended to the top of the city, Timur had a triumphant smile on his face, and turned his head to talk to the civil officials who had followed him about how to govern the city of Hami in the future; His generals also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alonso, it seems that Timur is about to capture the outer city of Hami, but I don't know if he can capture the inner city." Claviyo commented.

"This is whether the generals guarding the city are prepared for such a situation. Putting aside Fu An's boasting about the general named Song Sheng, I think that he has been stationed at Jiayuguan for nearly twenty years, and he is also an experienced veteran general, so he will not have noticed such an obvious problem at all. Gijano said.

"But Timur is obviously prepared," Kraviyo glanced sideways at the cannon that he was very envious of: "Through regular rotation, all the cannons are now in a usable state, and more than half of them have been transferred outside a city wall, the fire is much more fierce than when the siege was a few days ago, and the other siege equipment is similar, can the Ming army respond effectively in such a situation?" ”

Speaking of this, Claviyo glanced sideways at Fu An again. He expected Fu An to show an uneasy expression, but he didn't expect that although his face was as pale as in the morning, he was still calm and did not have an uneasy look.

"Fu An, do you think your Ming army can withstand Timur's attack this time and hold Hami City?" He asked directly.

"I don't know if I can defend the outer city of Yiwu, but Song Xiang will never be unprepared." Fu An said firmly.

As soon as he finished saying this, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said with a smile: "Look, Song Xiang's preparation is here." ”

Hearing this, Claviyo and Gihano hurriedly turned their heads to look at the city, and saw that the cannons that had almost completely stopped firing shells just now roared at this time, firing pieces of scattered bullets and hitting the soldiers of the Timurid Khanate who had ascended the city. At the same time, countless arrows were shot from crossbows or bows, and in an instant, they were also all over the city.

The soldiers of the Timurid Khanate at the head of the city did not expect this at all, and were immediately hit in pieces and fell to the top of the city screaming, and a few people died the moment they were shot, and fell silently. Many people fell to the ground, even if they were not dead.

The soldiers defending the city have been waiting for this moment for a long time! Since Song Sheng had discussed with Shang Bing and the others that night, everything that could be moved to the inner city had been moved to the inner city, and the outer city only had the soldiers who defended the city and the necessary military doctors, and the things in Song Sheng's hands were placed very close to the city and could be sent at any time.

Although the city wall has not been damaged because of the heavy bombardment of the city by Timur's cannons, since Timur has ordered a fierce attack, he can no longer hide and tuck, and everything is sent to kill and wound the soldiers of the Timurid Khanate.

The smile on Timur's face also disappeared. He turned his head and stood still, not speaking for a moment. Seeing that the situation was not good, Jesbu ran over and shouted: "Great Khan, order to stop the attack, and withdraw the soldiers who are still alive!" ”

"Can't be withdrawn! Ordered another 50,000 men to attack the city! Timur said in a firm tone.

"Great Khan, this, the loss is too great." Jesbu said.

"Now that the order is to withdraw the troops, these soldiers will be lost in vain, but they can recover their losses by continuing to storm onslaught."

Timur pointed to the city and said: "Song Sheng or Zhu Shangbing, the commander of the Ming army defending the city, probably guessed my thoughts a long time ago, so they have been slowly making signs that the materials for defending the city are getting less and less in the past few days, luring me to be fooled." ”

"I did. But even if the fortification materials are more than I estimated, they are not too much, and the Ming army must be fighting the purpose of using a large number of fortification materials to scare our army, so as to be able to safely withdraw to the inner city. ”

"So we must not withdraw our troops at this time. Only by continuing to invest soldiers, consuming all the materials for defending the city that the Ming army was willing to consume in the outer city, and seizing the head of the city, so that they could not safely withdraw to the inner city, was the right way. ”

After listening to Timur's words, Jesbu suddenly realized that what he was doing was right, and immediately transferred his troops again.

The soldiers who were drafted were very reluctant. Of course, they didn't know what Timur was thinking, and they could only see the overwhelming number of arrows and shells fired by the Ming army at this time, and they were unwilling to send them to death. Fortunately, this time it was Timur who personally led the troops, and they barely went into battle.

Timur's reaction did not escape Song Sheng's eyes, he looked at the soldiers of the Timurid Khanate who were about to come over to attack the city in a loose formation, gritted his teeth and said: "Timur is crazy. Let the soldiers brave such a dense rain of arrows to charge. ”

"Song Sheng, what should I do now?" Wu Jie became anxious. He somehow pulled up his stomach on the way to the rescue with his troops, and he couldn't stop to rest, he almost didn't die on the way, and he recuperated in Yiwu City for more than 20 days before recovering, and since yesterday he has presided over the war with Song Sheng.

Song Sheng didn't speak for a while, just looked at the soldiers who were fighting in front of him. After a long while, he said: "Immediately order, after leaving 3,000 soldiers and horses in each city, the rest of the soldiers will withdraw to the inner city!" ”

"Immediately sprinkle oil in the city, prepare hay, and light it when the soldiers of Samarkand enter the city!"

"But it's just past noon, and it's still early. If you ask the soldiers to insist, they may not be able to hold out until the evening. And there are some things that are useless. Wu Jie said. Their original plan was to delay until the evening, and retreat when the army of Samarkand could not attack the city on a large scale, so that a few sentries could be left behind, and second, artillery and other sharp weapons could be moved to the inner city. Now retreating, not only will the soldiers after the break almost certainly die, but the artillery can only support the enemy, so he is a little hesitant.

"Now is not the time to remember this." Song Sheng said: "Since Timur has sent troops to attack the city, he must have seen through my strategy, even if our army holds out until the night, Timur will most likely order to light torches and fight at night, and it will be more difficult to retreat at that time." ”

"And not all that defends the city is consumed in the outer city. If it's all gone, what will you do to defend the inner city? The flesh and blood of the soldiers? Horse upload my command. Song Sheng finally said. At the same time, he glanced sideways at Wu Jie: "Although he is a family scholar after the Duke of Qianguo, and he also has the ability to use soldiers, after all, he has never fought this kind of battle with fewer enemies, and there are too many things to consider when fighting. ’

Wu Jie actually has an opinion, but Song Sheng is the commander-in-chief, he started to join the army when his father was still alive, and he has been in the army for more than ten years.

Song Hu, who was guarding the northern city, heard the words from the soldiers, but did not give an order immediately. Of course, he knew that his father's order was right, but which team to choose at this time? This is a mortal mission.

Seeing that Song Hu didn't move for a while, the herald said anxiously: "Commander Song, Song Xiang's order will be executed immediately after hearing his order without delay, and the violator will be punished for neglecting the military aircraft." ”

"I see!" Song Hu agreed angrily, so frightened that the person didn't dare to speak again, then glanced at the section of the city wall he was defending, and said to a guard after a while: "You go and call Zhang Zizhong." ”

"You called me? What's the matter? Zhang Zizhong quickly walked over and said in an impatient tone. Song Hu is very easy-going with the soldiers on weekdays and doesn't have much of a fight, so they call him very casually.

"Self-respect, you will transfer the only son in your family among the soldiers in your department, and draw one of the brothers and fathers and sons, and lead the rest of the soldiers to cover the retreat of the army." Song Hu said with a pained expression on his face.

Zhang Zizhong was stunned for a moment before he reacted, paused and said, "This is to let me lead the troops to break off." ”

"Self-respect, Timur continues to storm on, the things defending the city are about to be consumed, the outer city is unable to hold, in order to be able to hold the inner city, most of them can only be withdrawn, leaving people behind."

"At present, the other people's departments have suffered heavy losses, and they can't afford this heavy responsibility, only your department did not participate in the defense of the city this morning, the number is still large, and the establishment is still complete. So only you are the one who is handsome. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Zizhong was silent for a moment and shouted, "That's it! For the sake of the family, for the sake of the villagers, for the sake of the court and His Royal Highness, I will come to the commander of the army! ”

"Song Hu, let's play together, my wife and children, I'll leave it to you to take care of."

Song Hu's eyes were red, nodded and said: "Don't worry, I, Song Hu, swear to the sky, your parents will be my own parents in the future, I will be filial piety, your children will be raised as my own children, and my sister-in-law will be treated as my own sister-in-law. ”

He and Zhang Zizhong have a very affectionate relationship. They have been generals in the same army for more than five years, although they have different backgrounds, but they have a deep affection for the robes, if it weren't for the fact that there were no other troops to replace him, he would definitely not let Zhang Zizhong break off.

"Do you have any wine here?" Hearing Song Hu's words, Zhang Zizhong breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to go back when he suddenly asked again.

"Yes." Song Hu wiped the corners of his eyes, asked a guard to take out a small kettle, and forced a smile: "This is what I finally escaped my father's inspection and left without permission, if my father knows that I have such a pot of wine, I must be stripped naked and beaten." ”

"Haha." Zhang Zizhong laughed a few times, took the wine jug, and said: "Your family is good, I usually eat and use a lot of your things, and now I don't have time to pay it back, the so-called lice don't bite the debt, don't worry, I'll take you another pot of wine, and wait for the next life, and then pay you back together!" ”

After saying this, Zhang Zizhong pulled out the stopper and poured a small half pot into his mouth, and then walked towards his troops without heading.

Song Hu couldn't hold back anymore and cried. Tears flowed down to the chin and dripped to the ground, merging with the blood that had not yet dried up.

"Timur, after defeating you, I will definitely settle so many accounts with you!" Song Hu whispered.

"Organize the rest of the soldiers to retreat! Stuff the remaining gunpowder into the muzzle of a cannon that cannot be taken away, and blow it all up. ”