On the afternoon of the day before Yao Pingzhong was ambushed, Liu Chengdong came to Deqing County. Just surrounded by guards, he checked around the county seat, and Liu Chengdong returned to the big tent with a headache. The camp had just been built, and many tents had not yet been erected, so the big tent was not among them.

Liu Chengdong first talked about the basic situation of Deqing County, and then asked Xiong Dachun, "Commander Xiong, how do you think Deqing County should be fought?" "It's not good to call him a brother in front of the prison army, so Liu Chengdong called Commander Xiong, and he also secretly reminded the three guys and Zhang Yongnian and others.

Xiong Dachun got up and clenched his fists, "General Qiyu." There are mountains in the west and north of Deqing County, and there are also mountains in the southeast, and only two gaps in the east and south can be attacked. The last general thought that the soldiers should be divided into two ways, three sentry guns and bed crossbows, all the way to the actual attack, all the way to the feint, constantly changing. In this way, the enemy army is sought to break through, and no matter which way, once the enemy army relaxes, it will immediately attack. ”

Liu Chengdong nodded in agreement. Although the superintendent is a civilian official, he has been in the army for many years, and he has seen a lot of battle formations, and he knows that Xiong Dachun's plan is a safe word, so he also nodded with a smile to express his appreciation. The generals above the head of the sign in the tent discussed for a while, Liu Chengdong waited for half a pillar of incense, and after the tent was quiet, he looked at Liu Yuan.

Liu Yuan got up and clenched his fists, and the nail leaves on his body rattled, "General Qiyu." Although the area around Deqing County is mountainous, there is also water, and its moat is deep and wide, and what is more tricky is that it does not stop flowing...... The city wall, the horse face and the battlements on it were intact, and the general thought that it was not possible to storm it, let alone attack it in a hurry, and it was better to slow down the attack and paralyze the enemy army. ”

When the Fangla army attacked the county seat of Deqing, the frightened county order directly abandoned the city and fled, and the township soldiers and archers also dispersed in a hurry, resulting in the county town of Deqing, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, to fall into the hands of the Fangla army intact. There are those who are indignant and those who scold, and it is noisy.

If the county seat of Deqing is not pulled out, it will be a thorn if the army continues to the south, and the rear road of the army will be seriously threatened. In the Jiangnan region, where the water network is dense, the threat of Deqing County is particularly deadly, and the thief army can scatter after a sneak attack, taking advantage of the convenience of the water network and the hills to maneuver with the officials and troops. Liu Chengdong took the examination of the three sons and the two old qualified commanders of the Nanyang Xiang military camp, and in order to boost morale, he announced that he would have a meal in the evening, and at the same time decided to launch a test early the next morning.

The sun was very good the next day, and the east sun shone so much that the Fangla defenders on the east city wall couldn't open their eyes, revealing a small flaw. Liu Chengdong sent Xiong Dachun to the south with a thousand men, and he took most of the main force to the east city gate to take the battle, and then carried out the first step of attacking the city and filling the moat.

The soldiers of the Fangla Army captured by Liu Chengdong undertook the dangerous work of filling the river, which was very inhumane from Li Xiangyuan's concept of time and space, but it was really ordinary in the Great Zhou. Liu Chengdong is very kind, and he built a lot of wooden shields for them to carry. In the eyes of the defenders of the city, the captives cooperated with each other and approached the moat with trepidation.

Fang Lajun's bow and arrow throwing is still so bad, there is no good bow, and there is a lack of good arrows, there is not enough training, and the accuracy of the head is poor. However, the suppression effect caused by the rain of arrows is good, it looks scary, and it has good lethality against unarmored and light-armored targets. The captives carrying willow baskets approached the moat under the protection of wooden shields, and several of them tried to escape on the way, but without exception they were beheaded for public display. The rest of the captives gritted their teeth and stepped forward, and the shield-bearers and the dirt-carrying personnel did not cooperate very well, and some kept screaming and falling.

Falling to the ground with injuries in the environment of river filling basically means death, and the archers at the head of the city will not give up such a good target. The battlefield medical care of the Great Zhou is similar to that of the previous dynasties, very poor. The injuries caused by bows and arrows are mainly due to infection, which was deadly, at least under the conditions of the Great Zhou, as evidenced by the fact that many fierce generals who did not lack medicine died of tetanus. Liu Chengdongjun got a lot of medicinal materials from Mingyuezhuang, but it was still not enough for all the soldiers, let alone for these captive soldiers.

The first round of reclamation is over. More than 30 prisoners were shot dead and more than 50 were slightly wounded. The three men and Zhang Yongnian, who were muttering in private, finally kept a low profile, such a way of dying was too embarrassing, so it was better not to let others come.

The second round of river reclamation. The captives gained experience and began to cooperate somewhat, and most of the captives already understood that only effective cooperation was the best way to save their lives. The reclamation was soon over, and the captives carrying the large shields covered the prisoners with baskets on their backs and ran back quickly, and there was basically no escape in this round of reclamation, only a dozen people were shot dead and another dozen were wounded. The three men who supervised the battle secretly shouted pity, Zhang Yongnian next to him widened his eyes, and the captive soldiers who passed by the three men staggered one by one and ran away like fried rabbits......

The third round of river reclamation. Liu Chengdong and the overseers were already discussing how to attack the city after the river was filled, and found that the archers on the city wall had actually stopped shooting. Liu Chengdong was surprised, did the other party want to surrender? The prison army tidied up his clothes, and if the other party really wanted to surrender, he would use his temperament and teachings to make the other party cry and obediently accept the disposal.

Liu Chengdong quickly knew the answer, only to see many small black dots flying out of the city, some of which fell into the moat and splashed. Less than ten stones smashed into the captives who filled the river, and the bricks and stones scattered, and more than a dozen people were smashed to the point of broken bones and bleeding. Some were smashed with broken arms and legs, some were hit in the head and choked on the spot, and the most pitiful one was actually hit in the lower body, Liu Chengdong had to use a bow and arrow to free the young man. In the area where it was hit, the smell of blood was accompanied by the scene of wailing with internal organs, and there was a moment of silence between heaven and earth.

The soldiers in the city were gasping, and the few soldiers who had never seen much blood trembled in their throats and their hands and feet were weak. Before the matter was over, there was another sound of "oh~", "oh len~~", and seven or eight captive soldiers were shot, and their skin, muscles, organs, and bones could not stop the short and thick crossbow arrows. The two men who had been shot in the arms and thighs had to retreat, and the other captives who had been shot in the neck, waist, abdomen, and head began to bleed profusely and soon died down. There were only four iron arrows stuck in the ground, and one fell into the moat. The above scenes all show that the Fang La army at the head of the city not only has trebuchets, but also a crossbow, which is strong and accurate!

"They have three sentry cannons!" Liu Chengdong looked at the prison army with a shocked face.

"And the crossbow!" The overseer gasped, wryly smiling, at a loss.

Hangzhou fell too suddenly, and the arsenal in the city only had time to destroy most of it before it was occupied by the Fang La army. A large number of three-sentry cannons, stumbling crossbows, and bed crossbows were all accepted by Fang La, and even a few five-sentry cannons and a small number of divine arm bows fell into Fang La's hands. Fang La was very cunning, and he hadn't used these things much before. First, it is a precious thing, of course, let the elite troops practice well to give full play to the maximum value; second, to paralyze the officers and soldiers, and to be cold when it is critical; Third, according to the psychology of the superiors, of course, this kind of superior equipment must be placed under their noses.

Liu Chengdong couldn't be sure how many trebuchets and hard crossbows the other party had, but he knew that today's temptation had come to an end. Withdrawing directly would affect the morale of the army, so he and several battalion commanders calculated it and handed over the task to the three sons and the belligerent Zhang Yongnian to carry out.

On the city of Deqing, a general of the Fangla army took off his eye-catching armor and hid in the middle of the defenders. The junior colonel next to him gritted his teeth, "These officers and soldiers are so hateful, they captured our brothers, and they actually use them as meat shields!" ”

The commander of the Fangla army in Deqing is Ying Ming, who, like Xue Dounan, is the second highest general in the Fangla army after Fang Tianding, Shi Bao and others. Ying Ming is especially good at defending and turning, that is, running. Because Deqing is located in the north and west of Hangzhou, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it can go back to Hangzhou City through the mountains in the west, so Fang La put Ying Ming here to contain the main force of the official army.

In order to teach the officers and soldiers a lesson, so that the officers and soldiers could not figure out the situation in Deqing, so as to delay time, Ying Ming used three sentry cannons and hard crossbows to teach the captive soldiers who filled in the river a lesson. But he found that his plan had failed, because he saw that the officers and soldiers quickly changed their tactics and ordered the prisoners to come and fill the river in groups of a dozen people.

More than a dozen captive soldiers, some carrying sandbags and dirt baskets, some holding large shields, chose a different direction each time...... Ying Ming's hand holding the handle of the knife began to sweat, "This Liu Chengdong has the ability, he commanded the captive soldiers to fill the river in turn, and also approached the moat from different directions, this is whether the old man of the school can skillfully use the three sentry cannons!" However, these three sentinels have just been started, and they are still grinded from the Holy Father, and they are barely killed, so how can they be adjusted at any time? It's not good, I'm going to show my timidity! ”

Ying Ming secretly scolded Liu Chengdong for being cunning, and after the captive soldiers stepped forward again, he ordered the crossbowmen to fire. The captives advanced rapidly, and under the cover of the large shield, only three were killed by the bullet and six were wounded. Most of the crossbow arrows were pierced into several pairs of wooden shields in vain, Ying Ming gritted his teeth and watched the captives retreat, and the large shields with arrows pierced were also inspected and discussed by the other party's generals.

Liu Chengdong divided the captives into small groups, randomly selected angles and stepped forward to fill the river, and only three people were shot dead the last time. The trebuchet in the city was never fired, and Liu Chengdong was relieved that Fang Lajun could not skillfully control the three sentry cannons.

Ying Ming concluded that the officers and soldiers would not make a big move today, and relaxed their vigilance, and of course the generals and even soldiers below also thought the same. At this moment, Zhang Yongnian and the three men rushed to the city wall wearing heavy armor, accompanied by hundreds of armor soldiers, as well as all the captive soldiers who acted as meat shields!

Zhang Yongnian held a straight bow with a hundred catties of tension in his hand, ran to the moat in one breath, and frantically threw long cone armor-piercing arrows at the head of the city, while the captive soldiers worked hard to fill the moat, or raised shields to protect the armored soldiers, and the casualties were lower and lower each time, which made these captives feel much more at ease. The captive soldiers saw that the commander of the officer and army was a kind person, and he had the intention of redeeming himself for meritorious service, so he worked extremely hard. Liu Chengdong's assembled hundreds of armor-covered soldiers shot arrows quickly, and had no intention of attacking the city, and immediately retreated under the protection of the big shield and the captive "meat shield". After withdrawing from Baizhang, the three sentry cannons, crossbows, and bows and arrows in the city were fired, and only a few broken captives were hit.

Liu Chengdong's army raised his weapons and made noise, his morale was high, and Ying Ming at the head of the city looked angry. Ying Ming saw the scene of more than 100 armored soldiers charging, and thought that the officers and soldiers should quickly take down the nail of Deqing County regardless of casualties, and hurriedly transferred the army gathered under the city wall. The armor rate of the elite of the Fang La army was less than 20%, and the young and strong people under control were even more unprotected, so the result was naturally more than 200 casualties under the rain of arrows from the official army. Casualties came second, and the point was that the morale of the defenders was severely hit. It was discouraging that the defending side suffered many more casualties than the besieging army. In all fairness, it should be clear that the loss this time is mainly the inevitable result of information asymmetry.

Ying Ming commanded the crossbowmen and the three-sentry artillery team to resist the feint attack launched by Liu Chengdong, and did not hurt a few people, but the Fang La army at the head of the city was killed more than 100 under the crazy shooting of the strong bow and hard crossbow, and the hurriedly fired three-sentry cannon only hit a few unlucky captives. Liu Chengdong took advantage of the situation to return to the camp with the noisy soldiers, waiting for news from Xiong Dachun's side.

Xiong Dachun encountered a similar problem, and the trebuchet and the hard crossbow blinded him at first. After reacting, Xiong Dachun clearly realized that today's war should be over, but he would not directly withdraw his troops for the purpose of preserving morale. The method he adopted was also to charge suddenly, and suddenly return in the middle of the journey, with three sentry cannons and bed crossbows, he brought dozens of casualties to the Fang La army at the head of the city. Xiong Dachun led the troops to retreat amid the cheers of his subordinates, and said: "The temptation is over."

Liu Chengdong and Xiong Dachun converged and withdrew to Huangjiadun, southeast of Deqing and north of Hangzhou, not far from Han Shizhong's main force further south. After the camp was completed in the evening, in the big tent of the Chinese army, the sound of quarrels and insults between the heads and commanders spread in all directions, and the village soldiers and archers who cooperated with the battle were laughing in the corner, and they did not dare to come out.

"Damn, the guards in Hangzhou are all rubbish? If you lose Hangzhou, you will lose so many ordnance to the thief army, now it's okay, how many brothers do we have to die before we can capture the intact Deqing County?! A commander of the veteran qualification battalion of the Nanyang Xiang Army waved his arms, and he couldn't wait to tear up the gang that lost Hangzhou. The civil officials such as the prison army and Fa Cao knew the details of the ordnance in the hands of the thief army, and stayed in the house and did not come out, so that these warriors could vent their anger.

"Old Shangguan, you can't say that. At that time, Fang La recruited young men from the Huainan refugees, and then defeated the defenders of Hangzhou through an ambush. The defenders of Hangzhou lost more than 100 generals and few surrendered, which was not easy. What's more, the prefect of Hangzhou, the search envoy, the salt and iron envoy, and the regimental training envoy will not surrender until death, and the style is outstanding...... "Another commander with the old qualifications of the Nanyang Xiang Army euphemistically advised the old officials not to be too angry, and there were many civil officials who died in Hangzhou, so they had some mercy. The old man realized this, muttered a few steps back, and stopped talking.

"The secret agent of the Imperial City Division only said that what kind of general Fang La's subordinates were in Deqing City, and what Yingming was named to call the shots, as for how many three sentry cannons and hard crossbows, and how many bed crossbows there were, there was no detailed information. Now, we don't know how many materials and ordnance are hidden in Deqing City, but the Fang La army defending the city can retreat at any time from the mountains to the west......"

Liu Chengdong tapped his fingers on the armrest of the seat, closed his eyes and listened to the generals under his command discussing the battle situation. often let his subordinates express their opinions and even quarrel, which Liu Chengdong learned from his son-in-law Li Xiang, and Liu Chengdong found it very easy to use. Especially the generals at the top level, these guys have benefited a lot from the controversy in the tent, and their command ability has been significantly improved, saving Liu Chengdong a lot of energy.

Xiong Dachun and Liu Yuan did not spit on each other with the commanders of the Dutou battalion, and they did not regard the Fangla defenders of Deqing as a great enemy of life and death, after all, they were not qualified. The two Mingyuezhuang bigwigs were chatting about how much money their workshop on the edge of the Han River had earned, how many people had been employed, and who had stolen men from the village. Three young people from Mingyuezhuang such as San Yanzi and Zhang Yongnian were playing on the side, and from time to time they wrote down some information from Xiong Dachun and Liu Yuan, so that the family members in the village could be one step ahead of others. The atmosphere is hot, and the urgent news is coming!

The three servants quickly took down the urgent letter from the herald who was panting outside the door, handed it to Liu Chengdong, and the overseer quickly came to the big tent in his robe. Liu Chengdong only glanced at it a few times, then handed the letter to the prison guard, and sat down with anger. After reading it, the prison army handed it over to Fa Cao, who handed it over to Xiong Dachun...... Regardless of their status, those who have seen it are either blind, beat their chests, sigh, or panic.

Dozens of commanders and several battalion commanders craned their necks and waited, and some of them began to squeeze forward in a hurry, wondering what kind of news could make the usually steady general angry.

Liu Chengdong motioned for everyone to sit down, and then said word by word: "Yao Pingzhong was ambushed, almost, the whole army was annihilated!" ”