The siege began in the morning. Although the attacking Wei Yanjun did not play any conspiracy and tricks, but pulled his soldiers and horses and siege equipment to the gate of Xiyang County early in the morning, the thieves who were responsible for defending Xiyang County were still involuntarily surprised, and then panicked and busy for a while.www.biquge.info Neither the lowest-level minions nor the high-level bosses could have imagined that the enemy outside the city would really dare to attack them. They had always thought that the enemy's forces were weak, and that they would never come to attack them until the expeditionary troops they had sent out had returned. However, they miscalculated.

"Good fellow, eighteen catapults were dispatched. Looks like they really want to have a big fight with us. "When the majestic siege equipment appeared outside the range of the bow and arrow of the city walls, no one doubted the authenticity of the enemy's attack anymore. Although the enemy's strength was very small, and there were only a few hundred soldiers shouting at the northern, eastern, and western city gates, looking at their solemn posture and the equipment they pushed out, it made people deeply believe that they really wanted to use such a meager force to attack their own city defended by thousands of people.

"What's going on now? Do Liu Ji and Zhou Yan have anything to say? The bosses standing on the city wall were not nervous at all in the face of the enemy outside the city, and very easily asked a few of their subordinates who had just returned from the south gate. They were sent by these bosses to the south gate to inquire about the news.

Due to the capture incident a few days ago, the leaders of the thieves, Liu Ji and Zhou Yan had all kinds of unhappiness. In addition to the superficial politeness, the two sides have severed their ties with each other's top leaders. Originally, everyone came together to discuss ways to solve the problem when they encountered such a situation, but now the thieves no longer met with Liu Zhou and the others, but directly sent their subordinates to ask the two about the situation. Looking at this appearance, it seems that they have the heart to get rid of Liu Zhou and the two of them and go it alone.

"Now there are traces of the enemy at the east, west, and north gates, but there is nothing wrong with the south gate. According to the two military advisors, this seems to be a conspiracy of the enemy, and perhaps the enemy's actions in the east, west, and north may have been feints, and the south gate is their real target. The returning soldier breathed slightly and conveyed Liu Ji and Zhou Yan's speculation about the current situation. They had run around the city walls before they came back. Although Xiyang City is not very big, the circumference is close to the nine-mile city wall, which makes people run within three quarters of an hour, which is indeed a little unbearable. Although their bodies are very strong and they usually run away, at this moment, they are still slightly gasping.

"Is that really what they say?" A thief wants to make another confirmation.

"Yes." The soldier nodded heavily.

"Damn, it looks like they're not going to support us with the forces they have." The thief leader said with great certainty. He understood the meaning of Ah Liuji and Zhou Yan's words, and immediately hated the "ruthlessness" of the two.

"What's there to be annoyed about? Actually, wouldn't it be better if they didn't come? The other thief shook his head indifferently, but there was a happy smile on his face: "That's how many enemies are there. They also have to operate siege weapons in their hands, and there must be fewer who can directly participate in the battle. It's daylight now, and everything is under our eyelids, and with a little care, I think we should be able to eat the bunch of people in front of us. That's a great achievement. It's being placed in front of us right now, so why do we have to ask Liu Zhou and the two guys to share this credit? ”

"This ......" Everyone hesitated for a moment, and their eyes, which were still a little scared, slowly became next year: "This is a credit." We can destroy these enemies, so why do we have to be self-righteous and think that we are inferior to Liu Zhou and the others? They thought, and the more they thought about it, the more confidence grew. In a short time, their hearts were filled with the confidence of victory.

The battle began with such a surge of confidence. As a stone the size of a millstone fell heavily from the sky and smashed heavily on the city wall of Xiyang, making a dull and huge crashing sound, the battle between the two sides broke out in the east, west, and north directions of Xiyang City at the same time.

Stone after stone was thrown into the sky by catapults outside the city, and after skimming one perfect curve after another, it slammed into the city walls. The tremendous impact, accompanied by loud noises and smoke, made the soldiers standing on the walls feel the same fear as a boat in the raging sea.

The city wall of Xiyang was originally a relatively dilapidated earthen wall, how could it withstand such a fierce bombardment? Only after Wei Yanjun's eighteen catapult wheels projected three waves, the three-zhang high Xiyang City Wall was hit everywhere There were faint signs of collapse.

It all happened almost instantaneously. When they were confident that they could easily destroy the enemy outside the city, they attacked like a thunderbolt and gave them a blow in the face. Let them helplessly recognize the fact that "the defense of the city is not so easy to fight." ”

In the impression of ordinary people, the defense of the city is nothing more than putting one's soldiers and horses on the city wall, preparing an appropriate amount of bows and arrows, boiling oil, boulders, wood, and other things, and then quietly waiting for the attack of the opponent's soldiers and horses. When the besiegers were eighty paces away from them, they fired their bows and arrows, and when the other side advanced their soldiers and horses to the bottom of the city, they threw oil, boulders, and logs, and then the opponent's ladder was erected, and the soldiers climbed the city wall and fought face to face with the other party. In the process of all this, it seems that before the opponent attacks the city wall, he is pressing the opponent to fight. Although they had also heard of the existence of powerful siege weapons such as catapults, and had a slight knowledge that they would be powerful in the siege, they could never have imagined that someone would use such a weapon to attack such a dilapidated Xiyang City, let alone that this so-called powerful power would be so "terrifying".

Because they had no similar experience, they were stunned all of a sudden, and they became confused and panicked, and they didn't know what to do.

The loud crash pricked their eardrums, causing them to hug their heads and cover their ears involuntarily. The shaking of the walls made them unstable on their feet. Covered in the smoke and dust raised by the wind, they looked at each other with ashen faces.

Such an attack was undoubtedly unexpected by them, and in the face of one after another boulder bullets outside the city, they could only find a place to hide in the desolation to ensure their safety. Although the enemy used eighteen catapults as six, and fired three in groups to ensure the continuity of the attack, and the bombardment range was not very large, the thieves were afraid of death, and they would never take the risk of taking the arrow if they could not fight back against the other party.

"Damn, can't we fight back?" It always feels so uncomfortable to be pressed and beaten, and after another wave of enemy attacks, more people can't bear to be like this. The blood in their bodies was provoked, and they all shouted loudly: "Fight back, we need to fight back." ”

For the shouts of the hot-blooded minions below, the boss above is not unaware. But they just gathered together and looked at each other with a wry smile, always having their own doubts about the issue of "counterattack".

"Fight back! Counterattack! These people know how to babble. Now that the enemy's catapults are attacking so fiercely, what can we do to fight back against them? Do you use a bow and arrow? We can only shoot a hundred and twenty paces with a bow and arrow here, and we can't reach each other. "Everyone was very depressed about this, but there was nothing they could do.

"Why don't we go talk to Liu Zhou and the others again? Let him bring troops to help us? Someone suggested. It's just that this voice is small, and people can know that they don't really want to invite Liu Zhou and the others, but because of the current predicament, they have to find a way to find them.

"Looking for them? you, I don't want to fall in front of these two guys. Although there is no way to do it, there are still many people who are unwilling to beg Liu Zhou and the others like this.

"What ...... the current situation?" The faces of the people sank, and this was indeed a difficult question.

"This is indeed a problem. If only the enemy didn't have those damn catapults. The crowd sighed, always looking so depressed.

"Don't let this catapult exist? That's very simple, can't you just destroy them? A simple boss opened his mouth innocently. He said it in a very simple way, and people immediately associated this with recklessness.

"Ruined it, it's easy to say......" Someone was about to retort, but he stopped halfway through: "Huh? Ruined it? It's a real possibility. ”

"How?" Everyone asked.

"It's simple. We opened the gates of the city, and so many people rushed out and destroyed them all, and we couldn't destroy these things? There were only one or two hundred of them in front of each door, and there were more than three thousand of us gathered together. Two hundred against three thousand, this is something that will win no matter how you look at it. The man smiled and said, "Sometimes we all complicate problems, but we don't know that the real solution to the problem is actually that simple." ”

"I see!" The crowd was stunned, and then they did what they said, and ordered the west gate to be opened. They took the man's advice and prepared to deal a blow to the enemy outside.

In the strange cry of "squeak, squeak", the west gate of Xiyang City was opened. I can't tell how many thieves waved their blades and marched with messy steps, and they rushed towards the enemy position two hundred paces away from the door. Destroying the guys who have set up positions here, destroying the catapults that have embarrassed them, this is the intended goal of their attack. They are confident about this goal. When they opened the gates of the city and rushed directly at the three hundred enemies who were not far from them, they were very sure of one thing: "We will definitely win this battle." ”

Outside the West Gate, who commanded the 300 officers and troops along the way, was Xu Ding, the martial arts enlightenment teacher of Li Sheng, Song De and others. Now he looked at the enemy who was rushing towards him frantically, and gently flicked his hand behind him, and laughed coldly.

"Sure enough, it's the same as Zixu said." He muttered something in a low voice, and then gave the order to the soldiers under his command: "We retreat!" Remember to pretend to be a little bit, our show will start soon. ”

"Understood......!" The soldiers who had already been told quickly came to their senses and responded to their commander in a low but firm voice.

The "performance" began—in Xu Ding's words, but no one understood what the performance was about except that Xu Ding was completely clear. Even those soldiers who had already been told what to do knew only one thing: "I should be 'defeated', and when I see the enemy's army leaving the city, I should be 'defeated' in a panic." ”

"Enemy ...... Enemy attack? A terrible cry came out of the mouths of the people. When the enemy could be seen coming, everyone panicked and quickly turned around and ran. When running, everyone also discarded some of their own burdens from time to time, so that those bits and pieces were scattered on the ground, making people feel that they were really scared to the extreme.

"Do you want to run like that? What a bunch of bastards. Seeing that the other party was so flustered and wanted to slip away from a distance, everyone was a little angry and disdainful in their hearts. If it weren't for the fact that they had retreated so far and there was some conspiracy to ambush them, they would never have given up.

Because there is no enemy guard. The thieves who rushed out of the city gate rushed to the catapult unharmed. In the face of this thing that has made them suffer a lot, they have rushed here, their feelings are always so complicated, they don't know what to do for a while. By this time, the enemy, who had fled without firing a single arrow, had slipped far away. Looking at the figure of the other party who had fled far away, the injustice in their hearts could not be concealed. Although they had already made a cautious judgment about whether to pursue or not before they attacked, the anger in their hearts caused several of them to ask the question: "Do you want to pursue?" ”

"The pursuit is not the same as our goal." Most of the thieves shook their heads with trepidation, "These guys are faster than rabbits, let's go after them, I'm afraid we'll fall into their trap." Forget it, don't be so greedy, or destroy the guy in front of you. You know, the other side still has catapults at the other two gates, so we have to hurry. ”

"That's ...... too," the person who asked the question breathed a sigh of relief and nodded his head to give up his opinion.

The destruction of catapults began. The thieves left most of them outside, surrounded the catapult as a protection, and then selected a dozen strong guys and asked them to destroy the catapult with their weapons.

They thought it would be an easy thing to do. However, the weapons in the hands of these people were not suitable for chopping such a large mass, and the catapults in front of them were so well made that the whole destruction was difficult. It took them nearly half an hour to completely destroy them. Only then did he desperately command his team of men and horses to run towards the next location - this time to the north gate.

However, because of the amount of effort it took to destroy the West Gate Catapult, by the time they reached the North Gate, they didn't see any enemies except for a few "damned" catapults. The people who wanted to come here were smarter, and they knew that something happened to Simon, and it was very likely that they would be involved on their side, so they withdrew without saying a word. Only these guys with limited mobility are left.

"And do you want to destroy?" Already having Simon's experience, they were impressed by the sturdiness of this thing. If you want to do the same thing, I'm afraid it will take you another half a day. It's not going to make them want to. They were afraid that the enemy at the east gate would run away.

"Forget it, this thing is also powerful. We might as well move them back in as defense of our city. It's too difficult and a pity to destroy it directly. Someone proposed.

"Okay then." This won the consent of most people, after all, they also want to hurry.

Two quarters of an hour later, they hurried to the east gate out of breath. They thought it was empty. But once again, the situation was not what they expected - the enemy was still there, and the attack was already in formation. Behind them, six catapults lined up, ready to attack.

"What's going on? Do they want to use such a mere 300 people against us? What a bunch of guys who don't know whether to live or die. They became angry, and vaguely felt that they were being underestimated.

"Kill, kill!" The feeling of contempt sparked anger in their chests, and they screamed and rushed forward frantically, trying to get through here quickly, slashing their blades at the enemy's body. They wanted to chop up the arrogant guy on the other side.

However, when they showed their fearless spirit and rushed towards the enemy's position without fear of death, the enemy's attack came.

Six catapults attacked the rushing crowd in unison. This is a salvo. Six barrels were tossed into the air by the force of the catapults, sliding through a high arched arc and falling into the crowd. Perhaps because the barrel was so heavy, the attack didn't throw the barrel very far, but it was very close to the front of the rushing team. The massive impact of the landing caused the barrel to shatter, and the liquid inside mixed with the scattered wood chips scattered in all directions, so that the thieves around the place where it landed were inevitably contaminated a little.

Such an attack was not very powerful, and only slightly injured a few unlucky guys who were hit directly. But an atmosphere of panic spread among the crowd at the time of the attack. For most of them know by their sense of smell what these barrels contain.

"It's oil!" They panicked and hurried to the back. They could already see the rockets in their hands being raised by about a hundred archers on the other side.

It's dangerous. The people in front of them panicked and wanted to retreat, because they didn't want to be burned to death by the fire caused by the opponent's rockets. The people in the back didn't know this, and still rushed forward desperately. As a result, there was confusion between the two sides at the place where the front and center teams were handed over.

The rocket was fired. The arrow, which lit an inconspicuous orange-red flame in the light of the day, quickly departed from the string at the slightest let go of the soldier's hand, and quickly burrowed into the front line of the thief army. Although it is impossible for every arrow to ignite the fire, as soon as the fire is together, it spreads quickly. Soon, the front line of the thief army and the chaotic place were plunged into gunpowder smoke and fire. The screams of the people, the beeping of the oil, and the smell of the roasted meat were all mixed together. The barrels that were thrown by the six catapults were probably filled with hundreds or thousands of oils. That's enough to keep the flames burning for a while.

"The front army is over, and the Chinese army can't move forward. These damn bastards are actually using such means against us. The thieves who stood in the back and saw all this were stunned for a while, and then scolded indignantly. They couldn't have imagined that catapults would have such a means of attack.

"It's despicable." That's all they can say. For the subordinates who were trapped in the flames, they had no way to save them, so they could only watch as hundreds of people were burned alive, letting out painful screams.

"It's good that this time we're staying behind." In the face of the death of their subordinates, they may be a little sad. But it was very short-lived. After that moment of pain, their hearts were filled with happiness. Dead friends do not die poor, in an organization that combines interests, human affection is as cold as promised.

But in Wei Yan's plan, everything was so fair. While these thieves are rejoicing in their own survival. A faint roar came from the northwest corner of the earth, and gradually grew larger, and I saw the majestic cavalry, dressed in light leather armor, with a slender and sharp spear in his hand, and led by a young general of about eighteen or nineteen years of age. That handsome face was what they had seen as a nightmare a few days ago.

"Song De! It's Song De's cavalry! The crowd was visibly panicked. They know the name of this young general, and they have seen the courage and madness of this young general. If you compare it with pure force alone, Song De, a young general, has not yet reached the point where they are afraid of tigers, and they are confident that even if one can't beat others, the two together can definitely parry the other party. However, this is just a simple martial arts competition. What really scared these people was his bravery and indomitable madness, and in the pursuit that night, they had really seen how the young man had burst the cavalry into his formation again and again, until his original "perfect" formation had burst into pieces, thus evolving from the so-called defeat to the most undesirable rout.

"It was a nightmare." Anyone who lived through that night of escape thought so.

How about running?

The crowd had no intention of fighting like this anymore. Although they are much more numerous than each other, they have no will to fight. The fear of that day clung to the hearts of each of them, making them tremble like the earth beneath their feet.

They're scared.

Retreat?

Seeing that the enemy was much closer, everyone consciously wanted to turn around and run. After all, the city gate is less than two hundred paces away, and if it is launched now, it should be able to escape.

But what about running away and running into the city? The enemy is some distance away from him, but he is not so far as to reach him. With the ability of their cavalry, they can definitely catch up before they have time to close the gate of Xiyang. In this way, they will directly follow themselves into the city, and do it directly to their own people in the city. It was hard for them to imagine how their side would be able to confront this group of people after losing the protection of the city walls. Although only their cavalry is moving again for now, there is no guarantee that their infantry will not follow in time. That's when things get very difficult. Even if his group can wipe them all out, I'm afraid they will suffer heavy losses. That's just cheapening Liu Zhou and the others for nothing. After all, in today's battle, it has always been his own people who have suffered losses, and Liu Zhou's team heard that it is still leisurely at the south gate.

"What a ****** asshole." A rough-looking thief scolded with his eyes in his eyes. I don't know if he is scolding the enemy on the other side or scolding the leisurely Liu Zhou. In short, in the face of such a situation, everyone is not only unhappy, but also endlessly annoyed.

"Forget it, fight with them, and if we hesitate, we're afraid that the whole army will be wiped out." The other, somewhat decent-looking guy, said solemnly. At this moment, almost everyone is feeling the crisis of the situation.

"yes, I can only fight. It's even worse to take them to the city. Besides, there are more than 2,000 people on our side, and it is not certain who will win and who will lose as long as we fight for a breath. Everyone looked at each other and finally made up their minds.

"Come on, brothers. We can't retreat any more, and if we retreat, we will even lose the city. With this angry shout, the thieves slightly reorganized their formation, barely raised their courage, and prepared to resist in the face of the approaching Songde cavalry. They fully intend to drown each other with a sea of people.

A moment later, the sound of the horse's hooves had turned into a loud rumbling noise. Just when the thieves thought that they were about to come into contact with these rushing killing gods, they were very surprised to see them stop the advance of the war horses sixty paces in front of them.

"What's going on?" They wondered.

But the answer was quickly revealed in the opponent's next move: the cavalry in front of them quickly adjusted their formation and scattered the team. The men threw their spears to the ground and took off their crossbows with their backs. Stretching the bow, setting up the arrows, and releasing the strings, a series of coherent movements, in the blink of an eye, brought the three hundred sharp arrows that were brushed together to the people who rushed forward because of the bad situation.

A salvo of bows and arrows shot the group of people who rushed to the front in pieces, and it seemed that it was very accurate to collect so many lives. However, these numbers of enemies killed and wounded were not so important to Song De. What he really had in mind was the other effect that came with this attack - the scattering of the enemy formation.

This is a change that the opponent makes to their team after seeing that they will become the target of their own arrows if they come in a dense formation. This would have been true, but for these already scattered thieves, such a change would simply spread the team apart without any cooperation. But this is also a matter of course, to let ordinary gangsters and thugs learn to cooperate, it is simply a fantasy.

When they dispersed, it was equivalent to chaos, and such chaos was giving Song De a chance to surprise him. Carrying a bow and a gun, before they could realize it, Song De launched a surprise attack. With his men, he bravely rushed into the scattered formation of the thief army, wildly waving the weapons in his hands to reap their lives.

Stabbing a hole, slashing a head, in the midst of such a rush to the left and right, the already somewhat chaotic team that was scattered became even worse, and soon they were completely in a situation of being beaten, and the slightest trace of morale that had barely been lifted was dissipated without a trace. Fleeing has become their only option at the moment. For they had seen that in the place where the cavalry had appeared, a row of black troops was pressing down.

"That's definitely enemy reinforcements." This terrible fact, combined with the nightmare of Gaza, made them completely lose their pursuit of victory in the battle, and they retreated in defeat, frantically fleeing backwards.