Chapter 481 Eight Ox Crossbows

"Fengxiang ......" Ma Wu whispered these two words, he sat on the back of the war horse, looking at the Fengxiang city in front of him. At this time, the soldiers in the city were shuttling back and forth, although they couldn't really see what they were doing, but it was obvious that the Song army was still preparing to defend the city until this moment, and there was a feeling of temporary cramming.

"Dutong, the last time Fengxiang City was repaired was during the Taiping Rejuvenation Period, and it still maintains its old appearance for more than a hundred years." The Yongxing army beside him said to pacify Zhang Jun. But now, the word "Daikin" is added to his title.

"Oh? So to speak, since the founding of the Zhao and Song dynasties, although Fengxiang is an important town in Shaanxi, it has not been affected by the war? Zhang Jingluo, you are Han, do you know what place Fengxiang is? When Ma Wu spoke, his eyes were still on Fengxiang City.

What is Fengxiang? It is Fengxiang, it originally belonged to Qinfeng Road, and now it is changed to South Shaanxi Road, what else can it be?

Seeing that Zhang Jun couldn't answer, Ma Wu smiled and said: "Regardless of the north and the south, today, the etiquette and music rules we use, the moral norms we abide by, and even the law and political system are all born in this place. ”

Where did Zhang Jun know this, smiled, and praised: "Dutong is erudite, and he is ashamed of his humble position." ”

Hearing this, Ma Wu turned his head and glanced at him meaningfully, and then said: "Pass my general order, the army is ready to attack the city, and before that, send the gift I prepared for the Purple Golden Tiger." ”

Behind him, there was a steady stream of troops, blocking the land several miles east of Fengxiang City, and it was conceivable that a fierce offensive and defensive battle was about to begin

At this time, in the city, Xu Weigang arranged nearly 10,000 volunteers from all over the country who came to help the war. Although he didn't have much hope for the combat strength of these people, to tell the truth, it was these Qin Long people who rushed to Fengxiang Mansion to help in the battle, which boosted the morale of the Western army affected by the fiasco in Dunzhou.

Hearing that the Jin army was coming, Xu Wei hurried to the city, and he was no stranger to the scene in front of him. At the beginning of the Battle of Chang'an, he had also seen hundreds of thousands of sieges by the Jin army, and now the battle of the Jin army is obviously not as good as at that time. But compared to Chang'an, the defense of Fengxiang was more dangerous, and the morale of the troops was high, the troops were sufficient, and there was a considerable amount of time to prepare.

"Goose carts, artillery carts, cave houses, moat bridges, flying bridges, giant crossbows, city-breaking hammers, all together." Wu Jue read out the various instruments in the sea of Jin soldiers like a few treasures.

Xu Wei was silent, his right hand was pressed on a flying cannon, behind him, there were archers lined up in a neat line, everywhere on the enemy platform, the bowstring of the bow bed crossbow of the god arm had been twisted, and the sharp arrows were lying quietly in the arrow trough, ready to fire.

The village soldiers who came from all over the country to defend the city were basically not directly fighting, and they were ordered to be responsible for twisting bowstrings, carrying equipment, and transporting the dead and wounded for the officers and soldiers. With their help, the regular army may be freed up more manpower to deal with the Jin army.

At the base of the city walls, fifteen hundred soldiers lined up in formation, waiting for orders. Without exception, they were all dressed in light armor, without spears or sabers, and each of them had a brute in his hand, a gourd on his left waist, and a quiver on his right, but none of them had a feathered arrow.

All the dwellings near the city walls had been evacuated, and most of the people, except those who assisted the officials and soldiers in defending the city, gathered in the middle of the city to avoid the attacks of the arrows. Although Feng Xiang has not experienced the war, it may be because of the fierce customs of the people here, and the people are not panicked. What should I do, the market in the city is still open as usual.

At this time, Fengxiang Mansion is by no means an impregnable wall, but it is obviously ready for battle.

Many officers and soldiers in the city saw that several Jin army cavalry were rushing towards the city, of course such a few people did not come to fight, maybe before the battle, they came to the city to call for battle. When they were about to enter the range of the Song army's bow and crossbow, several people dismounted and came on foot, this was to avoid "accidental injury". When they got closer, the defenders of the city found that these people were all wearing regular clothes and carrying no weapons, and a few of them carried a box and walked quickly under the gaze of countless Song soldiers.

It was not until he walked to the front of the moat that the other party stopped, and after putting the box down, a person shouted loudly: "Dajin Shaanxi Metropolitan Yelu Ma Wu, prepare a thin gift, please ask the South Shaanxi Road to recruit Xu Wei Xiaona." After finishing speaking, several people hugged their fists to the city, but still returned the same way, not panicking.

"Dashuai, is it necessary to take it?" Ma Kuo asked. In this situation, Ma Wu's gift to Zijin Tiger is by no means as simple as it seems. Either for show-off, or for demonstration, to demoralize the Western army.

Xu Wei nodded, and immediately, Du Feihu sent a few soldiers out of the city and carried the box to the city. A group of generals gathered together, and saw that the box was quite exquisite, as if it was used by the eunuch's house, presumably snatched by the Jin army. Ma Wu may have wanted to pretend to be mysterious, the box was still locked, and the key was hung on the lock.

At this time, the generals were all guessing what might be in the box. Although it was not said, a considerable number of people secretly speculated that it might be the head, the head of the fallen soldiers of our army

"Open." Xu Wei said indifferently. Du Feihu personally removed the key, unlocked the lock, and lifted the lid of the box

"Mother's deception is too much, my mother's" Yang Yan looked at the contents of the box, and immediately became angry and scolded

"Ma Wu, this thief dares to be like this" Wu Jue has always been calm, and he can't help but be angry at this time

"Dashuai, this guy is too arrogant" Zhang Xian, who had just withdrawn, was also angry.

As soon as Yao Pingzhong pulled out his saber, he was about to split the box, but was blocked by Xu Wei, and then took out the thing from the box. Things are not rare, they can be seen everywhere in Guanzhong, not only in Guanzhong, but also in all parts of the country.

This thing is called a flail, not the tool worn by the criminal, but the thing that the farmer put on the back of the ox when he ploughed the pear. Ma Wu sent a flail to Xu Wei, which means, wait, I will tie you up like a flail now. This is obviously a great insult and especially to the commander of one side, to the other side, and the insult is not only to the commander himself, but also to the whole army. It is no wonder that the generals are so angry

Is Xu Wei angry? Of course, Angry Ma Wu was so underestimated and insulted me too much

But he did not have a seizure, and after a few glances, he put the flail back into the box, and commanded: "Lock it, put it on the seal, and keep it." ”

"Marshal, what are you doing with this thing? The golden dog is so rampant, it's really infuriating" Yang Yan was so anxious that his face turned red.

"When you are angry, all right, return to their places and prepare to meet the enemy." Xu Wei said calmly.

At that moment, each general returned to his post, and as soon as they left, Xu Wei immediately turned around and said to Wu Jue and Ma Kuo: "I will return this flail to him sooner or later."

"Ma Wu thinks that if he wins in Yanzhou, he can sweep through Shaanxi, and this time, our army will still use color," Wu Jue said sharply.

Ma Kuo shook his head: "Ma Wu's behavior is really a bit of a subordinate, and it is not like the style of a commander-in-chief. ”

As he was talking, he suddenly heard a loud noise outside the city, and the three of them hurriedly looked at the city, only to see that in the sea of Jin soldiers, bursts of roars broke out, and the soldiers on the other side were shouting loudly to strengthen the military might, and with the earth-shattering shout, the Jin army began to spread in all directions. With the surge of people, all kinds of instruments are also entrained.

The Western Army responded with silence, not knowing if it was because the shadow of the fiasco in Juzhou was still in his heart, or because he planned to see the real trick under his hands.

"Fengxiang City Pass is not solid, the wall is low and thin, the horse face is few and rare, as long as the large equipment can be close to the city wall, the hope of breaking the city will be greatly increased. It is recommended that the attack be carried out on all sides, and it is not necessary to favor any one side. Zhang Jun began to advise his new master.

"This is very good, however, it is still necessary to tell the commander in front to be more careful, although the Purple Gold Tiger was defeated in Yanzhou, his army does have a set of defending the city." Ma Wu said. However, after thinking about it, I felt that there was nothing to scruple about, after the Battle of Dunzhou, the supplies of the Song army were lost, including large equipment. I don't believe it, your surname Xu can still make me a cannon now.

This day is the thirtieth day of the lunar month, and according to the tradition of the Han people, today is the Chinese New Year's Eve. The sky is beautiful, and when the sun shines through the clouds and shines on the earth, the fog disperses, and the field of vision becomes extremely wide. The defenders of the city watched as the flood of enemies flooded around the city. They were like locusts, occupying every corner around Feng Xiang.

By noon, the Jin Army's preliminary preparations were ready, and this time in order to win Feng Xiang, they came up with an unprecedented lineup. There are hundreds of artillery carts alone, and there are countless others, such as goose carts, trench bridges, and flying bridges, and there is no shortage of equipment that captured the Song army

"This Chinese New Year's Eve, Xu Wei is afraid that it will not be good." Ma Wu said softly, then waved his hand and ordered an attack

The sound of the horn sounded intensively, and as soon as they heard this inspiring sound, the officers and men of the Jin Army suddenly surged with blood and energy, and the officers were even more majestic, and they drew their swords and roared loudly: "Artillery cart, get on"

Accompanied by the heavy sound of the trumpet, countless soldiers of the Jin Army pushed the tall artillery carts towards Fengxiang City to attack the city directly, and often attacked first, one is to destroy the opponent's fortifications, and the other is to hit the morale of the opponent's army and civilians

Xu Wei's nephew, Xu Chengcheng, stood on a horse-faced enemy platform, and beside him were several huge eight-bull crossbows. At this time, the crossbow string had been twisted, and a large spear-like arrow was facing the arrow slot, and on its left and right sides, there were three small arrows each, ready to fire. It is worth mentioning the big arrow, which has a name, called "one shot and three sword arrows". It's a bit of a mouthful, but it's the most apt.

One shot means that the arrow is huge, like a spear; The three swords refer to the three pieces of iron feathers at the end of it, like swords. Lying in the arrow at this time is an armor-piercing arrow with very sharp and sharp arrows, not to mention shooting, it hurts to watch.

Xu Cheng pulled out the knife and shouted, "Ready"

As soon as he gave the order, next to each eight-ox crossbow, a soldier raised a wooden hammer. The eight-ox crossbow is so large that the bowstrings of the three bows require more than a dozen people to work together to untwist them. Obviously, once the bowstring is fastened to the crossbow machine, it is absolutely impossible to pull it with the strength of the hand, and one crossbowman must aim and the other crossbowman slams the crossbow machine with a wooden hammer before the arrow can be fired.

The crossbowman in charge of aiming squinted his eyes and looked out of the arrow slot, and within his line of sight, the golden army was roaring towards the city. It's already within a thousand steps. Xu Cheng didn't rush to order the launch, he was waiting, waiting for the Jin army to enter a closer distance.

"Don't worry, don't use the Eight Bull Crossbow first, wait for the Jin Army Artillery to come over." Just as he was about to give the enemy a dismount, Yang Yan, the commander of the capital who had patrolled here, found that Xu Cheng's troops were ready to shoot arrows and stopped him in time. The Eight Bull Crossbow is extremely powerful, and it is a waste to shoot the artillery cart, and it is necessary to wait until the Jin army is close to the siege force to shoot its dense formation, which is the best use of the material.

Xu Cheng put down the knife stupidly, and said helplessly: "Divine arm bow, prepare." ”

The sound outside the city was higher and higher, and it didn't take long for the soldiers of the Jin Army pushing the cannon cart to push the equipment into range. So far, there has been no counterattack by the Song army, and it seems that this time the Zijin Tiger did not set up a cannon in the city to counterattack. It is said that all of his large instruments were discarded. Hehe, then it's no wonder we're going to blame

As soon as the cannon was in place, the soldiers swarmed up and pulled the ropes from the cannons, while the others carried the stones into their holsters. The heavy stone suddenly pressed the cannon pole and pulled the rope tightly. The gunners leaned back slightly, their feet exerting force, just waiting for an order.

Whoosh, the sound of breaking the sky suddenly sounded almost at the same time, accompanied by two screams, and the two gunmen fell in response. The officer in command of the artillery cart took a sip and shouted, "Don't move without permission" He knew that this was the Tiger Army using a divine arm bow.

Ma Wu, who was supervising the battle in the distance, looked at it for a while, and suddenly shook his head with a smile. Behind him, Han Chang, a wounded Han general, teased: "Our army has almost cleared the large instruments of the Purple Gold Tiger, look, Xu Wei is poor like this, and there are few divine arm bows." I remember when I hit Chang'an, as soon as the artillery truck was in place, the artillery and stone gods in the city were fired, and now, hey, this time and that time. ”

Although Ma Wu didn't tie his wrist, he also smiled.

Suddenly, outside the eastern city, a black dot rose up and flew straight towards the city. Together, the arrows rose from all over the place, and the artillery began to bombard

Because the walls of Fengxiang City are shorter, they have less chance of being attacked. Most of the roaring boulders fell directly into the city, and after the roar, one house after another was smashed to pieces. The loud sound of arrows falling to the ground, the sound of broken rubble, and the sound of walls collapsing officially announced that the war had broken out

In the city, except for the Divine Arm Archers, who were constantly firing, the other troops were all standing still. The Song army had to survive this round of artillery attacks

Yang Yan hid behind a female wall, and from time to time artillery stones flew through the air above his head. He has been in battle for a long time, and he is like no one, and he didn't forget to ask the group of volunteers next to him: "Haven't you seen it?" This kind of artillery attack will last for quite a long time, so wait and see. ”

"Yang Dutong, what the Jin army is using now is all thirteen cannons, and they won't last long." A man said. He is definitely just an ordinary village soldier, not even a brave man, but he said the specifications of the other party's equipment in one word.

"You know how to do it, then let me ask you, how many people do you need to operate the thirteen guns? If you can't say it, you're just fooling me," Yang Yan asked.

"It's rated at two hundred and fifty people, not if there are more, and if there is less, it won't be far. Back then, the villain followed the old breed to attack Liao, so he pulled this kind of cannon. The other party replied calmly.

Yang Yan was bored, but had to say: "You are right." As soon as the words fell, a blast was suddenly heard, and almost at the same time, the soldiers screamed in amazement, only to see less than six paces away, a section of the female wall was hit by the Jin army's artillery, the shell not only destroyed the battlements, but also bombarded a group of soldiers hidden behind them to the city, ten dead

Yang Yan hated itchy, but it was a pity that there was no artillery in the city, otherwise, he would not be so passive. Fuck it, I really think that the old men are Ma Wu on the day of the broken drum and ten thousand people beating donkeys, and they actually gave the ninth brother a pair of flails, you really treat us as dry meals

The cannon fire did not last long, and it stopped in less than half an hour. As soon as the artillery attack stopped, it meant that the Jin army's siege was about to begin

All the crossbowmen held their breath and waited for the golden thief to come forward and get close to you with arrows

On the west city, Zhang Xian personally operated an eight-ox crossbow, he was responsible for aiming, and a commander under his tent was holding a wooden hammer and waiting for his orders. Looking out along the arrow trough, he found that the Jin army's trench bridge troops were already at the forefront of the whole army and were about to attack

Only a moment later, the Jin army seemed to blow all the horns in all directions of Fengxiang Mansion, and the loud horn sound echoed with this exhilarating sound, the vanguard of the Jin army erupted into a thunderous cry, and the rising tide generally poured over, and the situation was magnificent, and the crowd of people who were pressed by black pressure gradually converged on all sides of the city, making people suddenly feel a tightness in their hearts

Zhang Xian looked at the distance, nine hundred steps, eight hundred and five, eight hundred steps, seven hundred and five ......

When the Jin army in the front row entered a distance of about 700 paces, he jumped up and shouted, "Release"

As soon as the words came out, the commander slammed the wooden hammer on the crossbow machine with a loud bang, which made the unprepared Zhang Xian's ears buzz, and the shock was painful as usual, always saying that the strings were like a thunderbolt, which was just to describe the loud sound of the Song Army's large crossbow when it was launched. But when it was used in the eight-ox crossbow, it was the real thing, and the sound was so damn loud that it was like thunder

Seven arrows roared out

Outside the city, in the distance, the soldiers of the Jin Army who were rushing towards the city had not yet noticed the approach of death. In their usual combat experience, this section of the road was still a safe distance, and danger did not appear until they were within three hundred and fifty paces. But this time, they were wrong......

Ten thousand people shouted in unison, mixed with footsteps, so that they could not hear the sound of breaking through the air. Dozens of soldiers of the Jin Army, pushing a trench bridge, were about to rush to the moat. Suddenly, each soldier felt a jolt in their hands, and then, they found that they couldn't push

When I looked at it, I couldn't help but be shocked that a gun flew from nowhere, and someone leaned down to inspect it on top of the moat, and was shocked to find that the gun had completely penetrated the moat and nailed to the ground