Chapter 40: The Siege of the Huns (I)
With a bang, the sack was cut with a big hole.
There was no yellow millet flowing out, and through the large cut hole, everyone could clearly see that there was dry straw inside.
Herenwanza's face changed dramatically.
Everything was arranged by Liu Fan, only the hundred carts outside the city gate were real food, and the other carts were loaded with straw and combustibles.
Thick smoke rose from the front, and a fire ignited hundreds of meters in front of the Hun cavalry, and the east wind blew up, which added to the fire.
If you divide the city into four parts. The fire was going to burn a quarter of what was near the west gate. In order to prevent the fire from burning to the other three-quarters, Liu Fanren planned a 100-meter-long open space as a separation zone. He is so small and big that even if the west wind blows, he can't burn other houses.
The fire blocked any advance of the Hun cavalry, and even some small alleys could not be passed through due to the arson of dozens of men in front.
The wind fueled the fire, and after a while, dozens of fires were connected together, and the flames soared into the sky.
"The rear army becomes the front army, and quickly withdraw from the city." Helenwanza yelled anxiously.
There was a sea of fire ahead, and these cars were loaded with combustibles, and if they didn't leave the city, they would be burned alive.
Dozens of archers descended from the tower, one by one, bowed and guarded the city gates.
There was another sound of horses' hooves, Liu Fan led three hundred cavalry to rush over first, and when they arrived at the gate of the West City, the knights dismounted and joined the original dozens of archers.
There are more than 300 bows and arrows, and the distance from the gate is only ten zhang, and even a novice who has never touched a bow and arrow can shoot arrows into the gate.
As long as the Huns showed their heads, even men and horses would be filled with feathered arrows.
"Today happens to be the east wind, God really helps me. Wait a minute, they will definitely rush out with men and horses, the city gate is narrow, at most three horsemen rush out at a time, as long as the enemy appears within range, they will shoot the arrows in their hands. Liu Fan instructed everyone.
There were 30,000 arrows in the barracks, and even if 30,000 arrows could not destroy all the Hun cavalry, the rest would not be to be feared.
Now the fire is not yet burning the eyebrows of the Huns, and the Huns are not yet desperate. When they were desperate, Liu Fan was not afraid, and when the time came, more than 600 crossbowmen and thousands of infantry would come over from his side.
"No!" The people answered.
"Take out the rockets and set fire to the firewood and straw on the walls first." Liu Fan had already thought of a foolproof strategy.
The Hun cavalry all carried bows and arrows, and in order to prevent the Huns from going up to the city wall to shoot at them, Liu Fan had a large amount of dry firewood and straw piled up on the city wall in advance.
After Liu Fan gave the order, hundreds of archers each took out a rocket, and a dozen or so soldiers put down their bows and arrows, lit torches, and helped the hundred soldiers light the rockets.
There were no rockets in this era, and these 100 rockets were made by Liu Fan temporarily. Liu Fan has never done this thing, and he is not professional in doing it, the arrow is wrapped around a ball of waste cloth, and the cloth is soaked in the oil of the ever-bright lamp.
After all the rockets were completely burned, Liu Fan said to everyone: "This place is only a dozen zhang away from the city wall, and when you draw the bow, you only need to pull the bowstring half and throw it up to the sky."
Liu Fan experimented with this kind of rocket yesterday, and if it is shot too fast, the flame on the rocket will be immediately stripped from the fuel, so it can only be used in this method of gently sending it upward, and the current rocket cannot be used on the battlefield.
According to the method Liu Fan said, everyone sent hundreds of rockets to the city wall in an instant. But in an instant, a raging fire also burned on the city wall.
Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves came from inside the door.
All the archers clenched their bows, drew their arrows and put them on the strings, and for the first time they fought, the crowd was a little nervous, and some of them had cold sweat on their foreheads.
People who went to the battlefield for the first time were like this, and Liu Fan didn't have time to motivate them.
Only by seeing blood can their bloodiness be completely stimulated, and the burning bloodiness makes people fearless!
Seeing a dense crowd of archers standing at the door, and the longbow pointed straight at the doorway, the Hun cavalry hurriedly tightened the reins and let the horses stay in place.
At this time, although the Hun cavalry did not go out of the city gate, they were only fifty steps away from the archers, and Liu Fan certainly would not let go of this opportunity.
"Shoot the arrows!"
The fifty soldiers at the front shot arrows into the city gate.
Liu Fan divided the archers into seven teams, each with fifty people. The first, second and third teams are the first round, and the three teams shoot arrows alternately to ensure that the arrows are impermeable. The fourth, fifth and sixth teams were in the second round, still alternating archery, and the first round was replaced after half a quarter of an hour. The seventh team is a surprise soldier.
Archery is a physical job, and ordinary soldiers will have sore arms after less than a quarter of an hour of continuous archery, and they must rest for a while, otherwise it is no different from self-harm.
There was a burst of screams and neighings, and the horses and soldiers at the front fell to the ground.
After the first team shoots the arrows, the second team of fifty people fills in, and then the third team, and when the third team shoots the arrows in their hands, the first team has already pulled the bowstring and stepped forward alternately.
After the soldiers in the first round shot an average of five sharp arrows each, Liu Fan ordered them to stop firing arrows, because the Hun cavalry had already left the range of bows and arrows, and it would only be a waste to release more arrows.
After hundreds of arrows, dozens of Hun cavalry fell to the ground. Almost everyone had several arrows stuck in their bodies, and the other Hun cavalry looked even more creepy.
If you don't move forward here, you can't move forward from the rear. Khrenwanza soon learned about the situation here.
Suddenly, Helenwanza's face turned fierce, and he was unwilling to sit still, so he squeezed forward with all his might, and he wanted to find the last straw to save his life.
"Go up to the city wall and fight back against their archers, so we can rush out, and when we get out, I will kill all these treacherous Han Chinese." Helenwanza gasped and looked angry.
Helian Wanzha had never been in this kind of predicament, he had always thought that the Han people of this era were lambs to the slaughter, and the era of Wei Huo had long passed.
As soon as Helian Wanzha finished speaking, his personal guard Fanyu led hundreds of Hun soldiers with bows and arrows to the city wall.
After a while, Fanyu came back with a disgraced face and said to Helian Wanza: "Tell the patriarch that the entire city wall is on fire, and it can't be built at all."
Hearing Fanyu's report, Helian Wanzha was weak and numb, and regretted not being at the beginning!
"Patriarch, we have not yet reached the point where the mountains and rivers are exhausted, and we can live by rushing out of the city gate, otherwise we will only die." Fanyu persuaded Helian Wanzha who was depressed.
"Yes, we can't just take it easy!" Helian Wanzha took off the hat on his head, turned to the more than 2,000 Hun cavalry behind him and said: "Instead of being burned alive by the fire, it is better to go out and die in battle, and the heroic spirits of our ancestors will bless us."
The Huns believed in shamanism, the shamanic doctrine is that all things are animist, they believe that their dead ancestors will become gods, so they are especially concerned about the tombs in the tribe, they will question the heavens, but they will not question their ancestors.
The fire had almost burned to the back of the Hun cavalry, the heat wave was rolling, death seemed to be only one step away from them, those Hun cavalry did not want to be buried in the fire, desperately squeezed forward. The horses were also afraid of fire, and many of the horses behind them had gone berserk.