Han Qian climbed onto the roof, and in the faint morning light, he saw that the black pressure pressed a large group of horse infantry towards Canglang City, the number of people would only be above four hundred, not less than four hundred, a chill ran up his back, and he thought that the Liang army might attack Iron Crocodile Ridge at night, but he didn't expect Canglang City to become their first target.

Han Qian looked north.

With the Black Dragon Mountain blocking, he can't see the Iron Crocodile Ridge, but in the Danjiang River on the west side of the Black Dragon Mountain, Han Qian arranged a Wupeng Sentinel Ship there, if a war breaks out in the Iron Crocodile Mountain, the Black Canopy Sentinel Boat will use the beacon fire as a signal to remind this side.

It seems that there has been no fighting on the Iron Crocodile Ridge side.

This is even more spooky.

The top of the parapet wall of Canglang City is only three feet wide, which is not enough to build a battlement wall and a trail, so the defenders have no way to stand directly on the top of the parapet to defend against the enemy, but when building Canglang City, Han Qian thought of a compromise solution, which is to build a circle of barracks close to the parapet wall in Canglang City, and the top of the barracks is covered with fence wood, leaving a half-height distance from the top of the parapet.

In this way, the defenders can stand on the roof of the barracks in the outer ring and defend themselves against the enemy forces attacking from the wall.

At this time, the elite scouts put on their battle armor and stood on the roof with a grim expression.

It has only been a month and a half since the slave soldiers were trained, and they were basically still at the point where they could obey orders and walk in line, and they looked quite flustered, and they were scolded by Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er father and son and drove them to the roof, and they were also quite in a hurry.

Seeing that Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er were only wearing simple leather armor, Han Qian said to Tian Cheng: "Find two sets of iron armor and put them on." ”

Han Qian wanted to use Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er to rectify the Xi family's bravery, and he didn't want to see them die in this battle.

He didn't expect that the Liang army would take Canglang City as the first target to be eliminated, thinking that the Liang army must be the elite, and the next battle will be quite fierce, the iron armor seems to be much heavier, but the protection is stronger than the leather armor.

Tian Cheng divided the elite scouts into eight battle groups, each with four groups of men and horses guarding a parapet wall, four groups of men and horses acting as reserves, and two or three groups of slaves on the two flanks of the scout battle group.

Even so, the defenders were just over a hundred, and their numbers were still too small.

Liang Jun is pressing step by step.

In addition to swords, guns, shields, and armor, this group of Liang Jun also built more than a dozen ladders at night, carried them on their shoulders, and rushed to Canglang City, which was a hundred steps square. Behind some of the horses, they were also dragging the freshly cut down trees, about the thickness of one person's hug, which should have been dragged to the front of Canglang City and used as a crashing wood to break open the city gate.

Tian Cheng arranged for people to fill more than a dozen vans with earth and stones, pushed them to the two small city gates, and then ran back and said to Han Qian in a suppressed voice:

"Look at the posture, this group of Liang troops is going to storm Canglang City in one go-I don't know if the south bank will send troops to reinforce us!"

"We can't fight back the first wave of strong attacks, don't expect reinforcements from the Xiangzhou Army on the south bank,"

Han Qian frowned and looked at the Xiangzhou army fortification on the south bank, worried that the Liang army would penetrate from the gap between Tongbai Mountain, Dahong Mountain and Hanshui, and infiltrate and invade Suizhou in the east and Yingzhou in the south.

"If they really want to attack it in one go, it's okay to do, first pour twenty barrels of tung oil down."

Tung oil can be said to be the most important product in Xuzhou in addition to tea medicine, whether it is lighting and lacquer, or anti-corrosion and waterproofing, Jianghuai and other places have a large demand for tung oil.

Even if tung oil is harvested in Xuzhou, the price of each barrel ranges from three to four thousand yuan.

In the war, tung oil is a relatively high-quality ignition material, and the torches inserted in the city head lighting at this time are impregnated with tung oil.

Canglang City had 400 barrels of tung oil at this time.

When the parapet wall of Canglang City was rammed, there was a groove deliberately left at the bottom of the outer wall, which was the idea of attacking with fire due to insufficient troops.

Tian Cheng immediately arranged for manpower to stick buckets of tung oil to the parapet wall and pour it into the groove at the bottom of the outer wall, so that when the Liang army swarmed up, it could at least disrupt the first wave of the Liang army's offensive.

The three hundred cottage people were also driven to the school yard in the city in a mess at this time, they couldn't see the situation outside the city, but many of them were defeated soldiers who fled into the mountains in the previous battles in the Dengxiang area, and it is not difficult to see how urgent the situation is from the current scene.

"At this time, more than 200 Liang troops raided and wanted to capture Canglang City in one fell swoop. Those who are willing to directly join the Longhuai Army will be given another house and 50 acres of farmland! After Han Qian turned around, he looked at the stout people in the field and shouted loudly.

Listening to Han Qian's words, Xi Ying wanted to roll his eyes, the Liang army that rushed over was obviously more than four hundred, but it was only more than two hundred in Han Qian's mouth.

There will be brave men under the great reward.

The survival of the cottage is too hard, everyone is bitter haha, and they are all cheap.

And even if they don't go to the wall to defend against the enemy at this time, and when the Liang army breaks through Canglang City, their best result will be taken away by the Liang army and used as hard labor in the army.

When even fifty or sixty bold men climbed up to the roof, took the spear and wooden shield and stood behind the parapet, filling the gap between the elite scouts and the slaves.

…………

…………

Yang Xiongnai was a deputy general of the Liang army and the Xuzhou army, burly and brave, at this time, a pair of tiger eyes stared at the black lonely city under the morning light and by the Han River, he did not know why the striker insisted on Han Yuandang and ordered them to storm this lonely city in such a hurry.

However, they had already reconnoitred the earthen city in front of them, which was only a hundred paces away.

The height is less than one zhang, and the ditch at the root of the city is only used for sewage discharge, only two feet deep, and the defenders can only call the elite more than 40 people, and the others are miscellaneous slaves, but Yang Xiong does not think it is difficult to capture this earth city, but the problem is how to deal with it after it is captured.

There is a fortress of the Xiangzhou army on the south bank of the Han River, there are more than 1,000 guards, and there are more than a dozen boats of the Chu army along the Han River at this time, and they will also arrive here at noon.

If the Iron Crocodile Ridge cannot be captured in time, there are fewer soldiers and horses sent to the ancient city of Junxian, and it is likely that it will not be able to hold here; And the connection with the inner countryside was blocked by the Iron Crocodile Ridge, and the more soldiers and horses sent to this side will also attract the main force of the Chu army to gather over, and when the time comes, they will be at an absolute disadvantage in any aspect of the battle with the main force of the Chu army.

According to Yang Xiong's thoughts, it is better to attack the Iron Crocodile Ridge first according to the order, but from the Iron Crocodile Ridge along the remnant road on the east bank of the Danjiang River, the use of troops is more dignified, and the advance and retreat are more free.

However, Han Yuandang insisted on ordering him to lead his troops to attack this place, and Yang Xiong could not refuse, so he could only think about taking down this ruined city first, and then the situation really did not allow them to hold on, and it was easy for them to find a gap and withdraw with three or four hundred cavalry.

When Yang Xiong really led his troops to raise the big shield, against the sparse rain of arrows, and arrived at the foot of Canglang City, more than a dozen simple cloud ladders were set up on the wall, and more than 100 elites gathered at the base of the wall to prepare for ants to attach themselves, only to find that this small earth city like ants was not so easy to gnaw.

The torches were thrown down, first the pomelo hole in the trench at the root of the wall was ignited in a circle, and then a bucket of tung oil was poured down according to the generals gathered under the ladder, and bundles of firewood were thrown out of the city, most of the people were burned and screamed, and were forced to retreat, more than a dozen generals who had bravely rushed up to the parapet wall, but fell into the predicament of being alone, killing three or five people on the other side, and the whole body was stabbed out of blood holes by the spears and iron spears that were stabbed over in a mess.

In the end, more than a dozen corpses, their clothes and armor were stripped of their armor, and after the left ear of the merit was cut off, they were thrown out of the city.

Yang Xiong also felt troubled at this time, he didn't rush into the head of the earthen city wall, plus he was burned by pouring oil, he had already lost nearly thirty elite combat power, which was obviously far more than he expected.

In this case, it has already made him a pain in the flesh.

Han Qian stood in the parapet with a cold face, staring at the Liang army gathered on the bank of the river in the southeast corner, without saying a word.

They also had 12 casualties just now, mainly slave soldiers and people who went to the house to help the war, and when they besieged the elite of the Liang army who rushed to the wall, they were in a hurry, and they were hacked to death and wounded.

The dead and wounded will be given compensation, plus to resist the first wave of the Liang army's attack, fifty barrels of tung oil will be burned, which makes Han Qian's heart ache - these tung oil materials are transported from Xuzhou, which is counted in the name of Zuo Si, I don't know if Shen Yang, who is strict in handling affairs, will agree to him deduct from the war expenses afterwards.

Otherwise, if there are a few more battles, Zuo Si's hole will be broken.

Han Qian abandoned these cranky thoughts and arranged for the corpses of the four people who died in the battle to be sent to an empty room for placement, so as not to stimulate the eyes of others and hit morale.

The eight injured were not in serious condition and were sent to the site below for debridement.

Tian Cheng was walking back and forth on the roof at this time, and he saw the situation of the hasty battle just now, and at this time he shouted loudly to remind the slave soldiers to pay attention to stabilizing the formation, clenched the spear in his hand, and stabbed at the incoming enemy, and waved his scabbard to beat the three slave soldiers and people who would turn around in fear when receiving the enemy, and scolded them for standing against the wall, ready to face the Liang army that rushed to the wall in the next wave.

Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er are in the Xi clan and have a close relationship with Xi Ying, so they were selected by Han Qian to lead the slave soldiers, but after the Xi clan soldiers were defeated and surrendered by Feng Changyu, Xi Chang escaped only as a small leader, and he only knew the surface of the battle with the leading troops.

However, Xi Chang and his son Xi Fa'er fought very bravely, which was enough in Han Qian's opinion, and even sent a few extra elite scouts to follow behind them, just in case they lost.

Han Qian still did not forget to encourage more people to go to the roof to help in the battle, and the four people who unfortunately died in the battle immediately found their fellow villagers, and directly gritted their teeth and took out forty cakes of gold as a bereavement pension.

Although the defenders looked very flustered at the first time, the imposing Liang army was easily defeated like this, which also made many people feel excited.

Many of the cottage folk are not old farmers who are ignorant and closed in the mountains, they are either defeated soldiers who fled into the mountains in the previous Deng Xiang wars, or they are the children of the defeated soldiers, most of them are rough in fists and feet, and in terms of personal quality, even the vast majority of slave soldiers are stronger.

After all, the people of the Xi clan have been ransomed and sold all over the country over the years, and they have really been brutally enslaved, and a month and a half of training is not enough to raise their bodies to be strong.

The number of spears and wooden shields in Canglang City was sufficient, and more than 100 people stood up at the moment.

At this time, some of the leading people in the cottage also stood up, with the manpower of their respective cottages, which seemed much more orderly; Between advance and retreat, even the slave soldiers led by Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er's father and son are more well-trained.