In only half a day, after more than 8,000 casualties, Li Zicheng finally filled the moat of Yanling. At this time, Zhou He also gave up the defense of the moat and let all the troops withdraw to the county seat.

Because Li Zicheng was worried that his archers would suffer too many casualties under the artillery fire of Li Yan's troops, he did not provide cover for the displaced people who filled the trenches. Because of this, Zhou He's men did not suffer any casualties. Moreover, the retreat back to the city was also carried out when Li Zicheng's siege troops were not ready, so all his subordinates were safely withdrawn to the city.

Before they could rejoice, Li Zicheng's siege troops rushed up to the city wall with shields and long ladders. After a while, the feathered arrows rained down obliquely from the sky, most of them hitting the city walls, and some of them flew into the city, and the feathered arrows that landed on the top of the city were only a small part.

At this time, the soldiers defending the city were hiding behind the battlements on the outside, and the feather arrows would not hurt them. On the top of the head of the tiger squat cannon, a wide cannon shed was erected. There were dirt bags on and around the roof, and as long as the thieves didn't have large trebuchets, they could hardly do anything about them.

"Let the tiger squat and shoot the thief's archers!" Zhou He ordered loudly: "Crossbowmen shoot freely, prepare oil and bombs." ”

His own soldiers, with their shields on their sides, ran around the walls to relay orders.

With a few "passes", "passes", the tiger squat cannon opened fire under the gun shed, and the shells flew towards the ranks of the thieves' archers. Since they were firing their cannons on the walls, the shells were in the air for a little longer than usual, so most of the shells exploded as soon as they landed on the heads of the thieves' archers.

After the explosion of "Boom", the thieves' archers fell down with a scream. Although many of them wore the armor of the captured officers, none of them wore iron helmets. They are rebels, if they are all official and military uniforms, how can they be different from official soldiers? And the difference between them is that the officers and soldiers are helmets or hats, while they wear turbans on their heads, and the difference between their internal battalions is also in the color of the turbans.

Therefore, after the flowering bomb exploded, the projectiles inside splashed everywhere and hit the heads and faces of the nearby archers, which was naturally extremely lethal. The unwounded archers did not dare to shoot any more arrows and began to retreat.

Although it is said that the thieves' archers will be deflated when they face Li Yan, they are still very useful in battles with other officers and soldiers. Therefore, the leaders were still very protective of the archers, and did not prevent the archers from retreating.

Li Guo and others were a little helpless. The archers could not suppress the city, but only the artillery. However, their men had already rushed under the city wall, and if they fired any more artillery, they would be causing trouble for their own people, so they could only let the troops attack. Fortunately, the county seat of Yanling is not big, and the circumference is only two miles, although the resistance is relatively fierce, but it should not take much to capture it.

When the county seat of Yanling was newly built, the number of horse faces was increased, and there was a prominent horse face every thirty steps. The enemy between the two horse faces was within the distance that Li Yan's crossbow arrows could shoot through the heavy armor. The distance between the moat and the city wall was only forty paces, and as long as the enemy entered the moat, they were within the range of their crossbow arrows.

At this time, the thieves who rushed under the city walls were killed and wounded by a large number of crossbow arrows. Although there were not many soldiers on the city walls, they took advantage of the horse's face and shot arrows from two sides to shoot the approaching thieves under the city.

Although it was the elite of the thieves who rushed up, wearing the armor of the captured officials and soldiers, the quality of the armor itself was not very good, and the craftsmen and craftsmen everywhere were fooling. Moreover, the bows and crossbows of Li Yan's department are strong, and the arrows are all made of stainless steel. So the thieves suffered heavy casualties, and with one or two crossbow arrows stuck in their bodies, they fell to the ground and could not move.

Li Yan's subordinates not only had crossbow arrows, but also bombs. The thieves rushed to the edge of the city wall and struggled to build the ladder up the wall, and the thieves gathered at the bottom of the ladder were taken care of by the bombs.

"Boom", "boom", bombs continued to explode among the thieves who had gathered near the long ladder. Although the bomb only had some pieces of iron on the outside, which was insufficient to kill these elite thieves wearing armor, the pound and a half of gunpowder contained inside could make the thieves around the explosion dizzy and unstable.

At this time, the crossbowmen on the horses on both sides can calmly shoot arrows at the thieves who have no shield protection. The thieves who gathered around the ladder were quickly killed by the crossbow arrows. And then the same thing continued to happen, one after another of thieves who rushed to the city.

And the thieves who had already climbed up the long ladder were waiting for the soldiers who had been prepared for a long time. As soon as the thief shows up, a crossbow arrow will shoot at him. Even if the thief has a shield to protect him, the crossbow arrow on the other side can also take out the thief who comes up. So at this time, under the city wall, there was not only the sound of explosions, but also the long screams of thieves when they fell from the sky, and the "bang" and "bang" sound of falling to the ground.

As for those long ladders that can't be taken care of due to insufficient troops, Zhou He and others also have a way. Just splash the oil and throw a torch again, leaving only two or three people to watch over it. All that remained was to listen to the terrible screams of the thieves in the city, and watch the long ladder be destroyed by the fire.

During the half-hour siege, Li Guo and Yuan Zongdi each sent two additional groups of siege troops, a total of 6,000 elite soldiers, but not even a single one climbed the city wall. And the elites under the city are less than half left, and they continue to decrease.

Li Guo and Yuan Zongdi were a little overwhelmed, these subordinates were all their elite soldiers. Among them were the old brothers who followed them out of Shanxi in Shaanxi, the border troops who surrendered, the local bandits, and the strong men in the inland defenders. It was a pity that they were consumed one by one by Li Yan's crossbow arrows, bombs, and fires, and consumed under a small county town.

Li Guo was the first to collect his troops, and then Yuan Zongdi also recalled his subordinates. Although they also suffered some losses in the retreat, after all, nearly forty percent of the troops were withdrawn, which was better than the whole army being wiped out. These men are worthy of being elite, and even if more than half of them are killed or wounded, they do not retreat without permission. However, their casualties did not seem to have had any effect, and only consumed a little of the defenders' arrows and bombs.

After the siege force of the thieves withdrew from the moat, the thieves' cannons finally began to fire, and the sound of "boom" and "boom" resounded throughout the county. Now there are quite a few artillery pieces under Li Zicheng's command, and at least 40 or so artillery pieces are firing at this moment. Iron bullets cracked the bricks and shattered the battlements, finally causing some casualties to the defenders.

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