"Quick! Fast! Faster! Cao Tong roared loudly while desperately beating his horse, and on both sides of them, the party cavalry was getting closer and closer, and he was about to go around to the front of them to block the way, and then the two wings were outflanked in the middle, and his five hundred cavalry would be completely swallowed by the party people immediately.

In front of them is White Horse City, but Cao Yan's face is becoming more and more gloomy, because they have not been able to distance themselves from the party members, and White Horse City is in front of them, even if they rush to the White Horse City, the defenders in the city may not open the city gate, because the party people are likely to follow them into the city, for the safety of the city, if Cao Tong is a guard, he will definitely not open the city.

Thinking of this, Cao Yan's heart sank, and he even suspected that the party members should have intercepted them a long time ago, but the other party wanted to use them to storm the city gate, so he didn't make a move.

"General, the situation is not good, what should we do?" At this time, Cao Yan's assistant, that is, the deputy commander, also saw that the situation was wrong, and asked him anxiously.

"Try to get as close to the city gate as possible, and then walk against the wall, hoping that the bow and arrows at the head of the city will be a little more powerful and can scare the party members away!" Cao Tong said in a deep voice at this time, at present, he only thought of this way, unless the defenders in the city dared to come out to fight a decisive battle with the party members, but he knew that the defenders in the city were left with less than 3,000 people after sending their main cavalry, and most of them were foot soldiers.

Hearing Cao Tong's words, the deputy commander could only nod helplessly, and then urged his subordinates to speed up, White Horse City was already close at hand, and the defenders at the head of the city were clearly visible, but the defenders didn't expect the party to kill at this time, so they looked a little flustered, and the city gate showed no sign of opening.

Seeing this, Cao Tong also took a long breath, if they fled around the city, and the party members were still in hot pursuit, I am afraid they would not have the opportunity to enter the city, and then they might only be able to fight with the party members, anyway, he had already killed a lot of party members, even if he died here today, it would be worth it.

Thinking of this, Cao Yan's gaze became more determined, and at the same time, he held his sword tightly. It's closer, it's getting closer and closer, at this time they are less than a mile away from the gate of White Horse City, and Cao Tong also commanded his subordinates to prepare to turn their horses' heads and flee around the city, but at this time, they suddenly heard a loud "boom" above their heads, which frightened the war horses he stepped on also neighed, and almost fell directly to the ground, and many of the war horses behind were also standing up, and some of them were almost scared out of the feces and urine.

"Thunder?" This is almost everyone's first thought, but now that the weather is clear and there is not even a single cloud in the sky, how can there be thunder?

"Fire ...... Artillery! Cao Tong finally stabilized the horses, and then he reacted, and immediately looked up with excitement, only to see that behind the female wall at the head of the city, bronze pipes stretched out, one of which was emitting black smoke, and in the party cavalry on their right, it was torn out by a strong force A bloody road was torn out, and this straight road was full of severed limbs and debris.

"Boom boom boom~" As the first artillery fired, the other artillery also erupted into a huge roar, and a hot projectile sprayed out from the muzzle, smashing into the ranks of the party cavalry with the power of thunder and fire, the projectile was rolling, the party was screaming, and there was almost no corpse left in the place where it passed.

Cao Tong is Cao Mata's cousin, and Cao Yu is in charge of the musket army in the northwest, it can be said that most of the firearms used in the army must be tried in the musket army first, and then promoted to other armies, and it is from Cao Ma that Cao Tong learned that the imperial court has long been experimenting with a new firearm called artillery, which is the same principle as the musket, but it is more huge.

And some time ago, Cao Tong heard Cao Yu say that the artillery has been successfully tested, and the first batch of artillery has been sent to the northwest, and it is likely to be tried on the battlefield, but he didn't expect that he had only left White Horse City for a few days, and the city head had been equipped with artillery, and the power was even more amazing.

Even Cao Tong and others were shocked by the huge power of the artillery, not to mention those who directly fought with the muskets with their bodies, with more than a dozen artillery pieces concentrated on the party chasing soldiers on the right side of Cao Tong, this cavalry of thousands of people also quickly collapsed, although the casualties brought by the artillery were not particularly large, but the tragic scene caused by the artillery was too terrifying, it was almost impossible for anyone who was grazed by the cannonball to survive, and even the horses would be torn apart, this scene was simply beyond their imagination.

It was also under this huge blow that the remnants of the party cavalry on the right quickly fled backwards, never daring to approach the White Horse City again, and Cao Tong also seized this opportunity and immediately commanded his men to run along the city wall on the right, and finally went around the city gate on the right to enter the city.

The artillery at the head of the city was still firing at this time, and the cavalry on the left side was also hit by the artillery, which made them immediately flee backwards, and the main cavalry force in the rear saw the power of the artillery, and they did not dare to step forward at this time.

Cao Tong finally entered the city at this time to take a breath, and then was called to the head of the city to meet the generals who defended the city, the guard of White Horse City was none other than Zhou Mei, the vanguard officer who attacked the party before, he was steady, and good at using soldiers, and he made great contributions when he attacked the party before, so this time such an important task of garrisoning White Horse City was handed over to him.

"The last general will see General Zhou!" Cao Tong also saluted immediately when he saw Zhou Mei.

"No need to be polite, where did you meet the party members?" Zhou Mei held the city wall and looked at the party members outside the city at this time, and asked without looking back.

"General Qiqi, when the last general was resting in the camp of three hundred miles, he heard the cavalry of the party in the early hours of the morning, so he hurried to the White Horse City, but he didn't expect the party to be fast, and he was still chasing after the city, if it wasn't for the artillery, the last general would probably only be able to fight to the death with the party people!" Cao Tong reported again.

"Six thousand cavalry, and they are not carrying baggage, there must be a large army in the rear, so it seems that Li Yuanhao is doing his best to defeat our White Horse City!" At this time, Zhou Mei finally turned around and stroked her beard.

"Our defenders in White Horse City are still a little thin, do you want to ask for help from the rear?" Cao Tong also immediately asked when he heard this, there are only more than 3,000 defenders in White Horse City, but Li Yuanhao has more than 20,000 people, if they all come to attack White Horse City, even if the Song army is good at defending the city, it is very dangerous.

"Hehe, asking for help is for sure, but it's also a good thing!" Zhou Mei smiled again at the moment.

"A good thing?" Cao Yan was also stunned when he heard this, and he couldn't understand how the party had turned a good thing to attack White Horse City with all its army?

"Young man, take a long-term view, now is the time when the livestock are fat, but Li Yuanhao left the livestock alone, but he did his best to kill the soldiers, what does this mean?" I saw Zhou Mei patting Cao Yan's shoulder at this time and smiled.

He knew Cao Tong's family background, but compared to his family background, what he valued most was Cao Tong's status as a martial arts graduate, because during this time he came into contact with many young generals who had come out of martial arts, and most of them performed well except for a few people, which made him extremely curious about martial arts.

Cao Tong is also extremely smart, otherwise he would not have been able to hide at a young age, so at this time, he also reacted immediately, and immediately said with a happy face: "This shows that our previous attack plan was successful, and it has already beaten Li Yuanhao very painfully, if he doesn't fight back, maybe the hearts of his subordinates will be scattered, or their livestock will be greatly reduced, so that even the food for the winter is insufficient this year, so I want to take the risk of sneaking up on White Horse City, so as to win the food in the city for the winter!" ”

"Teachable! All of you martial arts are really talents, and when this battle is over, I must also stuff all those boys in my family into martial arts! Zhou Mei heard Cao Tong's judgment and immediately laughed, if they hadn't beaten Li Yuanhao, I'm afraid the other party would not have given up this golden season for cattle and sheep to sneak attack White Horse City.

Cao Yan also smiled modestly at Zhou Mei's praise, but although Li Yuanhao's sneak attack on White Horse City was a good thing from a strategic point of view, it was a huge test for them White Horse City, after all, there were few soldiers in the city, and most of the cities in the rear were far away, and it would probably take time to rescue.

However, Zhou Mei is still very confident in defending the city, especially before the artillery has knocked out the spirit of the party members, and the army that is obviously a sneak attack now does not dare to come forward, which makes the Song army at the head of the city also greatly boosted their morale, and at this time they also stood at the head of the city and scolded the party members.

In fact, there are only a dozen artillery pieces in total, even if the party members stand there and let the artillery bombard for a long time, I am afraid that not many people will die, but the damage caused by the artillery is too tragic, even the party members who are known for their ferocity are still frightened, after all, people are always full of awe of the unknown.

In addition, although the defenders in White Horse City are thin, these 3,000 people are all elite soldiers under Zhou Mei, plus the materials in the city are sufficient, if the party people really dare to attack the city, he is confident that he will drag until the reinforcements arrive.

However, what Zhou Mei is most worried about now is the cavalry battalion sent out before, after all, in addition to Cao Tong, the other cavalry battalions are still in the northern grassland, and they may encounter the party's army at any time, these cavalry battalions are the elite of the Great Song Dynasty that they have cultivated with great difficulty, if they are all lost on the battlefield, it will also be a very heavy blow to the Great Song cavalry.

At the same time, the party members outside the city also immediately sent people to report to the rear, and hundreds of miles north of White Horse City, a huge party army was slowly moving forward, and in the middle of this army was a tall carriage, in which sat Li Yuanhao, who was disabled and had been remembered by Li Zhang.