"Kill——!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"Don't let them come up!"

"Go up! Go up! ”

Under the chaotic north gate of the city, I saw the Qi soldiers erecting the siege ladders under the city wall, trying to climb the ladder and rush up the city wall.

Looking at the large area of Qi army under the black pressure under the city, Meng Zhong, who was standing on the wall with a sword in his hand, frowned.

In his opinion, as a weapon to defend the city, then it is naturally the best crossbow machine, for example, at this moment, if there are 2,000 crossbow machines in the city, it will definitely make the Qi army outside the city bear a huge price.

But unfortunately, the crossbow is a product with a certain technical force in contemporary times, if the production is not in place, then the crossbow is only in its shape, does not have a strong lethality, which leads to this kind of weapon with a certain technical force only a few countries craftsmen have the ability to build.

For example, in South Korea, the reputation of "all the best crossbows in the world come from South Korea" is not obtained casually.

As for the Song Kingdom, although the Song Kingdom can also imitate Korean crossbows, it is far inferior to South Korea in terms of production and quality.

Of course, at this point, Meng Zhong doesn't care about the quality or not, in short, as long as he is given enough crossbow machines, after all, there are so many Qi soldiers in the city that they can shoot with their eyes closed.

Fifteen thousand soldiers!

The first round of Qi general Tian Jing's offensive around the north gate of Yang City was more than the number of Qi troops under the command of Tian Da who feinted to attack the west gate and Tian Touch who feinted to attack the south gate, so that standing on the city at this moment and looking around, there were Qi soldiers everywhere in the line of sight - Meng Zhong didn't think it a moment ago, after all, when the Qi army was lined up in the distance, he looked at the Qi army from the city, and the Qi army on the opposite side was only a few pieces the size of a palm, and it was not until this moment that the Qi army approached the city that he understood what an ocean-like offensive was.

"This is what the Art of War calls 'ant possession', right?" The crown prince Dai Wu asked Meng Zhong in a low voice.

"Hmm." Meng Zhong nodded.

The so-called "ant-attached momentum", that is, a siege tactic that allows soldiers to climb the city wall like ants, is also the most common siege tactic in the world, and its advantage is reflected in the fact that when the defender lacks long-range strike means such as bows and crossbows, the siege soldiers continue to rush up the city wall with the help of long ladders, and the defenders on the city wall start a tug-of-war, to put it bluntly, they completely use human lives to pile up victory.

However, its shortcomings are also obvious, for example, at this moment, Meng Zhong can let the archers on the city wall who are fighting separately retreat from the city wall, let them re-form a formation in the city, and use the projectile to shoot at the Qi army outside the city through the city wall.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong immediately ordered: "Come on, tell Huan Fang to come over quickly." ”

Huan Fang is the Sima of the Huan clan recommended by Xiao Jia, and the specific ability Meng Zhong does not know for the time being, but considering that there is still a lack of generals in the city, Meng Zhong called him a few crossbowmen in command.

After a while, he saw a rugged man in his early thirties striding in front of Meng Zhong and the others, and after saluting the prince Dai Wu and Xiao Ji with his fists, he also hugged his fists towards Meng Zhong - after all, he also knew that although it was still claimed to the public that the crown prince Dai Wu was commanding the battle, in fact, the main general of this battle was the seventeen-year-old boy in front of him.

To be honest, although the crown prince Dai Wu swore that Meng Zhong was still blocking Tian Zhang, considering that Meng Zhong was too young, not a few years older than his own son, this made Huan Fang inevitably have some doubts about Meng Zhong's command ability.

Of course, at this time, Meng Zhong didn't have time to take care of Huan Fang's thoughts, and when he saw him coming, he said in a deep voice: "Huan Fang, immediately remove the crossbowmen in the city......

"Pull it down?" Huan Fang's face changed slightly, and he mistakenly thought that Meng Zhong was accusing him, so he hurriedly explained: "Sima, it's not just a mistake, it's really to resist the Qi army, and our foot soldiers have also climbed the city wall, resulting in no place for the crossbowmen on the city wall......"

"That's why I told you to take them to the city!"

Interrupting Huan Fang, Meng Zhong explained: "You withdraw the archers on the city wall to the city, regroup the formation, and shoot at the Qi army outside the city through the city wall!" In short, the open space on the city wall will be given to our soldiers, and only if this line of defense is not lost, can the crossbowmen under your command make a difference. ”

Huan Fang was stunned, and then he realized that Meng Zhong didn't mean to blame him, thought about it and said hesitantly: "That being said...... But if we are in the city, we can't see the Qi army, how can we shoot? ”

"Does this still need to be aimed?"

Meng Zhong pointed to the Qi army under the city, frowned and said, "Like now, even if you shoot with your eyes closed, it's no problem, right?" ”

"That's right."

Huan Fang glanced at the city, nodded suddenly, and immediately hugged his fists and responded: "Go down here!" ”

After a while, Huan Fang withdrew all the crossbowmen in the city to the city, gave all the space on the city wall to the foot soldiers of the Song army, and immediately called the crossbowmen to form a formation in the city, and launched round after round of salvo fire against the Qi army outside the city through the city wall.

It is undeniable that this is indeed the greatest optimization of the configuration on the city wall, so that more foot soldiers can climb the city wall to participate in the defense of the city.

Seeing that the Qi army outside the city continued to be injured or killed by the crossbow salvo launched by the Song army's crossbowmen inside the city, Prince Dai Wu's eyes lit up, and he secretly admired Meng Zhong's command ability in battle.

In all fairness, it seems that this tactic of using the archer's projectile advantage to shoot the enemy army has long been out in modern times, but it has not yet been popularized, after all, there are only a few contemporary military books in total, how can it be comprehensive?

As for this tactic itself, in fact, it is not very profound, and it can even be said to be very simple, but people are like this sometimes, and the simpler things are, the more difficult it is to break the convention - for example, in this case, the crown prince Dai Wu is also familiar with the art of war, but in his cognition, the soldiers can only defend the enemy attack by standing on the city wall, so it is difficult for him to think of letting the crossbowmen in the city withdraw to the city and shoot the enemy troops outside the city by projectile.

Simple, right?

But Prince Dai Wu just couldn't imagine that this was the restriction of conventional thinking on people.

And the famous generals since ancient times are often people who can break the conventional thinking, such as the example of "besieging Wei to save Zhao" led by Tian Ji and Sun Bin - when Zhao was about to be broken by Wei, but the Qi army did not directly rescue Zhao, but attacked the capital of Wei, Daliang, which is a strategy that breaks through people's conventional ideas, which is the so-called conspiracy.

Of course, it is natural that a command like Meng Zhong is not a miracle, but it is undeniable that he has strengthened the foot guards on the city wall in disguise, but has not weakened the role of the crossbowmen in the slightest, which is just right.

In addition to dispatching the crossbowmen, Meng Zhong also rotated the foot soldiers on the city wall.

Of course, he knew that people would exacerbate their physical strength in extremely stressful situations, which led to the fact that it had not been a quarter of an hour since the start of this battle, but the Song soldiers and soldiers who participated in the defense in the city were exhausted and panting one by one, and they consumed far more physical strength and energy than the training on weekdays.

If left unchecked, these soldiers will inevitably be killed by the next enemy soldier on the wall.

And as the main general, if he fails to pay attention to the state of his subordinates at all times, is always on the defensive, and only knows that when the number of defenders on the city wall decreases, then this main general is a complete mediocrity!

A qualified commander must always pay attention to the energy and physical strength of his soldiers, withdraw the soldiers with poor energy and physical strength, and let the relatively sufficient soldiers make up for the defensive line.

Therefore, when he noticed that his own soldiers on the city wall were getting tired, Meng Zhong decisively ordered a rotation, let the soldiers on the city withdraw to the city in batches to rest, let the soldiers with better energy and physical strength be responsible for defending the city, and distribute the pressure of defending the city to as many soldiers as possible, so that they would not be crushed by the pressure.

Moreover, since it is a defense of the city, it is inevitable that there will be casualties, and people are creatures, many people can often raise their courage in the face of a crisis, but when they get rid of the crisis, they will inevitably be crushed by the pressure, such as those soldiers who have just withdrawn from the city to the city, when they really realize how many Tongze have died in battle so far, they will inevitably feel panic and uneasiness.

As the commander-in-chief, if these soldiers are allowed to continue in this state, then it will naturally affect the morale of the entire army.

Considering that he was flawless at the moment, and considering that his identity was not enough to motivate those soldiers, Meng Zhong said to the crown prince Dai Wu: "Prince, the first batch of soldiers defending the city have just withdrawn to the city, and I am worried that their morale will be affected by the number of casualties. ”

"Please leave it to me!"

The crown prince Dai Wushen nodded approvingly, and immediately hurried down the city wall with a group of guards, so that only Xiao Ji, the patriarch of the Xiao clan who was over fifty years old, was left on the city wall.

As the saying goes, it is better to be famous than to meet, although Xiao Ji had already learned from the mouth of the crown prince Dai Wu that it was Meng Zhong who blocked Tian Zhang, but he was more or less suspicious in his heart, so when the Qi army attacked the city today, this old man always paid attention to Meng Zhong's command.

However, to his surprise, although Meng Zhong was young, his ability to command the battle was indeed unparalleled, so that although the Qi army under the city had a full 15,000 men, it was never able to really threaten the city wall.

Thinking of this, he asked Meng Zhongdao curiously: "According to what the old man has seen, Meng Sima is by no means only familiar with the art of war, where did he command the army?" Could it be that a few years ago, when my Song Kingdom attacked Teng Kingdom? ”

It may be that seeing that his defense is not in danger for the time being, Meng Zhong relaxed a little, and said to Xiao Ji with a little smile: "At that time, the kid was only fourteen years old, how could it be possible to command the army?" ”

"How so? The old man watched Meng Sima use soldiers, and he was clearly quite old-fashioned. Xiao Jian said suspiciously.

Meng Zhong smiled faintly and did not explain.

He did not mention that he had commanded the army in Zhao State, after all, in his opinion, his experience in Zhao State was extremely unsuccessful - in that civil strife, Zhao Master's father, Fei Yi, Gongzi Zhang, Tian Buyu and others, who had a close friendship with him, all died one after another; The "Zhao Song Alliance", which was trying its best to protect, did not defend it in the end.

Although the reason for the defeat was not him, but the conceit of Zhao's master father and Niu Qian's defection, in any case, Zhao's experience was not a good thing for him.

Especially the death of Lord Zhao's father, he still can't let go.

Seeing that Meng Zhong didn't mean to explain, Xiao Jian was not good at asking, but he could see that the seventeen-year-old boy in front of him was by no means the first time he was in charge of thousands or even tens of thousands of troops, which made him secretly surprised.

After all, in this world, how many seventeen-year-old and a half-grown children can have the honor of commanding thousands or even tens of thousands?

Definitely a rarity!

Of course, this was a good thing, at least it gave Xiao Jian more confidence in Meng Zhong, so that he would no longer worry that this young man would lead them to their death.

Xiao Jian was a little relieved here, and Tian Jingke, the general of Qi on the other side, was not in such a mood.

To be honest, in today's first battle, in fact, Tian Jing didn't need to send 15,000 troops in one go, after all, even if it was a city that exceeded the scale of ordinary cities, in fact, the northern city wall could only allow 3,000 Qi soldiers to directly participate in the siege of the city at best, what does this mean? It meant that the remaining 12,000 Qi soldiers could only stand under the city and stare dryly.

But in that case, why did Tian Jing send 15,000 people in one go?

In fact, he showed the defenders of the city that he was determined to capture the city, and at the same time, in order to exert pressure on the city and disrupt the morale of the defenders in the city.

However, for now, it seems that this kind of heart-attacking technique has not had much effect.

Even, the tenacious defense of the Song army surprised Tian Jing.

Although Qiyang was a strong city, and Tian Jing also understood that he could not break through this city in one day, the strength of the Song army's defense still made him feel a little different from before.

For example, the crossbowmen of the Song army hid in the city and threw at the soldiers of his Qi army under the city through the city wall, and this way of using crossbowmen opened Tian Jing's eyes.

In addition, the rotation of the Song soldiers and soldiers in Yang City also made Tian Jing smell a trace of danger.

These unusualness made Tian Jing gradually realize that there must be an excellent general in command in Qiyang City, just as Tian Zhang said in his letter to him.

The question is, who exactly?

You must know that there are only a few well-known generals in the Song State who led the troops to fight, and after eliminating these Song generals one by one, Tian Jing really couldn't imagine who was commanding the Song army in the opposite city.

He just smelled a hint of danger: the other party was by no means ordinary!

"Zosima, there are too many soldiers sent forward by our army, and most of the soldiers in front can't get close to the city wall, why don't you ask some people to retreat a little?"

The generals on the left and right suggested to Tian Jing, but Tian Jing did not respond.

How could he not know that the number of soldiers he sent this time far exceeded the normal number of siege personnel, so that most of the Qi soldiers could only stand and watch from a distance, but they could not squeeze under the city wall.

But in the final analysis, he was just exerting pressure on the Yang in this way, how could he ask the ordinary people to retreat halfway and boost the morale of the Song army in the city?

If you want to withdraw, you must withdraw all and end today's siege battle, otherwise, no matter what, you must let those soldiers stand under the city, in order to show his determination to "not break the city and swear not to return"!

Thinking of this, Tian Jing ordered in a deep voice: "Pass my order, increase the siege of the city, and the first 100 soldiers who take the lead in attacking the city wall will be rewarded with 20 catties of copper each!" ”

Twenty pounds of copper, this is not a big reward, for ordinary soldiers, it is very likely that they will not earn money in their lifetime - after all, how many soldiers can survive in one war after another for twenty years?

Nowadays, a battle can earn a lifetime of money, so how can those Qi soldiers not go crazy about it?

A moment later, after Tian Jing's order reached the city, the morale of those Qi soldiers suddenly rose, and almost all of them climbed the long ladder desperately, pouring up the city wall one by one, and ignoring their own soldiers who were pushed down from the city wall.

"Attack, attack!"

"The Qi army is attacking!"

The huge reward made the Qi army overwhelm the Song soldiers on the city wall in terms of morale, so that although the Song soldiers still resisted bravely, they still couldn't stop the Qi troops under the city from gradually pressing on the city wall like ants.

"Block! Stop them for me! ”

The defender of this section of the city wall was shocked to see this.

I have to say that among those people recommended by Xiao Ji, Xiang Kai can be called brave, I saw him holding a sharp sword, taking the lead, swinging a sword in his hand to cut down one, and then raised his foot to kick a Qi soldier who tried to force himself up to the city wall down the city wall, and he alone was enough to hold the gap of two zhang distance.

"Pawn, be careful!"

With a few shouts from the nearby Song soldiers, Xiang Kai looked up and was shocked to see a wave of Qi arrows flying in front of him, and he was shocked to immediately grab the body of a Qi soldier on the ground and block the front.

With a few pops, those arrows immediately hit the corpse, but a few arrows also hit Xiang Kai's shoulders and thighs, making him frown and grit his teeth.

"The Qi army is attacking again!"

At this time, the nearby Qi soldiers shouted again.

"Damn!"

Throwing aside the corpse of the Qi soldier who was used as a shield in his hand, Xiang Kai still fought hard to kill the enemy despite the injuries on his body.

However, there were too many Qi soldiers who rushed forward, so that the Song soldiers on the city wall were gradually suppressed by them and kept retreating.

Seeing this, Xiang Kai urgently shouted: "Ask for help from the city tower, we need reinforcements!" Hurry up ......"

Before the words fell, a cheer was heard not far away, and immediately a Song army fought on the city wall from east to west, assisting the defenders in defending and killing the Qi army that attacked the city wall, while continuing to push forward, trying to reinforce more places.

"All the wounded are withdrawn!"

"Get down! Are you still not going to withdraw from this injury, waiting to die? ”

The prince gave the order, and the wounded soldiers immediately withdrew from the city wall. …… If you don't have any injuries, hold out for a few more moments, and you'll immediately have a rotating number of soldiers to take over the line of defense you're waiting for. ”

"Let the one in front give way."

The Song soldiers shouted at Tong Ze on the city wall as they stepped over the corpses and advanced.

"Good time......

Xiang Kai blinked and muttered to himself in his heart.

Of course, he knew that the one who was currently in command of the overall situation was a half-grown son named Meng Zhong, who was just pretending to be the order of the crown prince Dai Wu.

Although the crown prince Dai Wu trusted this Meng Zhong for some reason, he Xiang Kai was still more or less skeptical before: could a kid about the same age as his nephew have the experience of commanding thousands or even nearly 10,000 troops?

But it turned out that Meng Zhong had done quite well in commanding the overall situation so far, and when the Qi army was on the offensive, he reinforced it in time; When the offensive of the Qi army slowed down a little, he seized the opportunity to immediately rotate, allowing the exhausted soldiers to take the opportunity to withdraw to the city, so that those soldiers with sufficient physical strength could take over the city defense.

All in all, each increase and rotation of troops was quite timely and just right, as if it had completely grasped the offensive momentum of the Qi army.

As soon as he lost his mind, the sword in his hand was slashed shallowly, so that he was stabilized by the Qi sergeant on the opposite side, and raised his weapon and stabbed at him with a hideous face.

"Not good!"

Xiang Kai secretly snorted, and in the face of the strong crisis, he only felt his scalp explode.

And at this moment, a sword stretched out next to him, and blocked it for him with a bang, and immediately, several Song soldiers rushed up, knocked the Qi soldier to the ground, and immediately stabbed him to death.

"What a fluke......

Xiang Kai, who had escaped death, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then turned to the life-saving benefactor and said, "Thank you, if it weren't for ......"

Halfway through speaking, his face suddenly froze, and his eyes widened in astonishment, because he found that the one who had just saved him was clearly Meng Zhong, whom the crown prince Dai Wu had tried his best to admire, that is, their seventeen-year-old general.

"Meng, Mengsima, you...... How did you end up here? ”

When he stammered and asked, Xiang Kai secretly looked at the armor on the main general in front of him, and saw that the armor on his body was covered with blood, and the blood was quite fresh, obviously stained not long ago.

Looking down, the sword in Meng Zhong's hand was still dripping blood, and when he looked up again, the white face of the master general in front of him was also stained with a little blood, so that when he smiled, Xiang Kai felt a strong sense of disobedience.

"The Qi army suddenly swelled in momentum, I think the Qi army may be able to attack the city wall with this momentum, so I immediately sent reinforcements......" Shaking off the blood on the blade, Meng Zhong glanced at the battle situation on the surrounding city walls, and saw that the enemy troops attacking the city wall were successively killed by the Song soldiers he brought reinforcements in time, he relaxed a little in his heart, and after glancing at the arrows on Xiang Kai's shoulders and thighs, he smiled and said: "I didn't know when Dr. Xiao recommended it to me, but at this time, I saw that Xiang Sima was really brave...... Does the injury matter? ”

"It's just a little skin injury, it's not worth mentioning......" Xiang Kai's expression was a little strange.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong smiled slightly and said: "Although it is a skin injury, it still has to be dealt with in time, it is better to temporarily withdraw to the city to deal with the injury to Sima Xian, and I will temporarily guard this place for the rotation of the generals." ”

"No need to ......" Xiang Kai shook his head and said, "You...... You are the main general, and you should be in charge of the whole situation in the castle tower, not here...... As for the injuries on my body, they are only minor, and I don't need to go to the city to bandage them, I can ...... them in the city."

"That's fine......"

Meng Zhong was talking, and suddenly a Song sergeant not far away shouted again: "Qi army...... The Qi army is attacking again! ”

Seeing this, Xiang Kai immediately wanted to step forward, but Meng Zhong stretched out his hand and pushed him, and said irrefutably: "Go and bandage the injury, I will guard here for you for the time being!" Hurry up! ”

With that, he took his sword in his hand and led a few soldiers to kill the soldiers who poured up the walls.

Looking at the young general who was struggling to kill the enemy in the distance, Xiang Kai opened his mouth, and immediately smiled self-deprecatingly.

He said to one of his clansmen, "Xiang Li, help me dig out the arrow." ”

"Good!"

While dealing with his injuries, Xiang Kai turned his head to look at Meng Zhong, and saw that the young chief general was holding a sharp sword, sometimes fighting to kill the enemy, and sometimes commanding the surrounding Song soldiers to block the gaps in the defense, so that he gradually suppressed the Qi army under the city.

"Looks like age, it's really not ......," he muttered to himself.

"Huh?" The clansman named Xiang Li asked puzzledly, "What did you say?" ”

"Nothing."

Seeing that the injury was dealt with, Xiang Kai put on his armor again, and said with a chuckle: "I just suddenly gained a little more confidence in holding the Yang Dynasty......

As he spoke, he couldn't help but glance at Meng Zhong in the distance.

『…… After all, we have a very good commander.'

He said secretly in his heart.

"Xiang Li, can you fight again?"

"Of course!"

"Good!"

The siege battle of that day lasted until near dusk, and although the Qi general Tian Jing boosted the morale of the soldiers several times, he still could not shake the city in the distance.

In desperation, he could only announce a temporary retreat, and wait until dawn to recapture the city.

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