"My lord, the Western Expeditionary Army has escorted the prisoners back, and now they have entered Dingzhou to stand by. They handed over hundreds of thousands of captured livestock and tens of thousands of Han Chinese slaves rescued from Turkic tribes and tens of thousands of Turkic captives to the Dingzhou government for disposal. At the same time, they will continue to return with the food and grass they need to go to the front. "Zhao Xun, who was patrolling Liaozhou, got information on the Western Front.

Zhao Xun smiled: "It seems that they are playing well." As he spoke, he took the detailed battle report handed over by the guards, and then read it carefully. Although Zhao Xun did not come to the battlefield on the Western Front in person, he also knew the strength of the Turkic cavalry. If it weren't for the rare snowstorm that the Turkic tribes encountered in the winter of the previous year, the losses were not small, and Zhao Xun would not have directly let more than 100,000 soldiers wantonly march into the Turkic steppe for a westward expedition. Maybe they will directly enter the annexed state, force the Turks out from the south to the north, and then advance step by step.

"Looking at the appearance of the lord, his subordinates dare to guarantee that this Western Expeditionary Army must be very good." Yang Wangqing on the side said with a smile. He naturally saw the faint smile on Zhao Xun's face when he checked the intelligence.

Zhao Xun nodded and said: "That's right, they fought quite well, at least, so that a large part of the Turkic tribes did not dare to invade the land of the state in the south." Especially after being wiped out more than 20 small tribes, these Turks finally knew the difference between our Xiaoguo army and the army of the state capital. ”

"In this way, I will place the people who have been escorted back by the cavalry of the first town, so that I will not recruit the people from the south to move north. After all, their Turkic tribes had adapted to the bitter cold weather in the north, and when they entered the land of Liaozhou, they were just in a parallel position. What do you think? Can it be settled? As he spoke, he glanced at Yang Wangqing.

Yang Wangqing nodded and said: "No problem, the more the better, this land of Liaozhou is vast and sparsely populated, and the Han people are greatly lacking." Don't say that these tens of thousands of people are several times or dozens of times, and the land of Liaozhou can also be settled. However, it seems that it is best for the subordinates to keep all those prisoners, especially the young and strong prisoners, here and contribute to the infrastructure construction of Liaozhou. The construction of city walls, official roads, and water conservancy works was the best free labor. ”

As for the captured Turkic women, their subordinates believed that they could marry the soldiers and people here, after all, they were women with no status, and it would not affect the orthodox status of the Han people. Of course, the main thing is to reconcile the ratio of men and women. ”

Zhao Xun said in a deep voice: "Very good, I will give the state an order and let them move the population there, you are ready to respond." Aside from the rest, it is essential to have a place to live for them. In addition, I will leave all the captured livestock to you, and I hope you will make good use of it here. ”

Yang Wangqing said in a loud voice: "Don't worry, the lord will not live up to the trust." This land of Liaozhou will definitely become a strong backing and a stable rear for the Xiaoguo Army. ”

…………

Bishui Pass.

At the beginning of June, Murong Cheng, the king of Qi, finally sneaked here quietly and personally commanded the assault on Bishui Pass. Because of the previous secret transfer of troops, it seems that there are only more than 100,000 troops outside Bishui Pass. In order to deal with the Qi army's wanton gathering of Tiger Pass, the defenders in the city also drew a lot, only less than 70,000.

However, the King of Qi was only young and strong, and they were all young and strong people recruited from Yuzhou. And the real Qi soldiers just pretended to be young and strong people and drove from Yuzhou to Bishui Pass.

"How? Is there anything unusual in the city? Murong Cheng looked at Bishui Pass, which was a few miles away, and asked in a deep voice.

"Back to the prince, there is no abnormality. Because there was no strong attack here for more than ten consecutive days, both sides were relatively peaceful. In addition, we continue to send people and horses to the north, and so do the defenders in the pass. Our intelligence officers have sent back the information without any problems. Qi Army General Ye Ziwen replied in a loud voice.

Murong Cheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Very good, gather the army and prepare for action." ”

"Woo woo woo ......" The Qi army camp, which had been silent for a long time, finally heard a horn, and then, the noisy sound came from the barracks, and a team of soldiers rushed out of the barracks neatly and lined up outside the camp. After the formation, trebuchets and ladders are ready to be on the side......

When the water was closed, the defending general Su Yang's face tightened for a while, and he said secretly: "Sure enough, the above information is right, the army outside the city is more than 100,000 at all, and this Qi army really played tricks." However, want to beat the test today? That's a fantasy! Come, pass the order, and let the ministries get ready! ”

In the middle of the camp tent, Murong Cheng drew his sword and roared: "Order!" The trebuchet is ready, the heavy siege troops are attacking, and the south wall must be taken within today! ”

Murong was set up on a high platform built in the center of the military tent, and he could be seen on the entire battlefield, and he could also see the situation in all places. Behind him, Zhang Tu and Zhong Yan were all on his side. In addition, more than a dozen generals and colonels also stood behind him.

After getting the information that there was no abnormal situation in the pass, Murong Cheng's heart finally let go, in his opinion, his plan was ready, and it was time to prepare for the attack. So, he decided to attack the southern wall, the only place where he could break through head-on.

"Huha......"

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The main force of nearly 100,000 Qi troops launched a powerful offensive against the southern wall of Bishui Pass at dawn and under Murong Cheng's military orders, and it took half a year to prepare, and it took tens of thousands of soldiers to transport hundreds of trebuchets for a month when the first morning light pierced the sky, and at the same time threw hundreds of stone projectiles into the air, and the dense black dots even covered the brilliance of the sun.

"Tweet ......"

The fast-flying stone projectiles emitted a strange whistling sound, causing the soldiers on both sides to withstand the first round of attacks. "Boom!" The ground inside and outside the city wall suffered the first round of stone bullets, and in an instant, the broken stones on the south wall flew sideways, and the debris smashed by the stone bullets flew like arrows within a few meters around, and the defenders of the south wall of Bishui Pass who had been warned had already curled up in the hidden soldier hole dug in the wall, covering their ears and feeling the tremor of the ground, looking at the debris flying outside, the panic and fear in their hearts were pressed by them to the bottom of their hearts.

Several of the sergeants were smashed into a puddle of flesh in full view, and it was impossible to see what he was originally. However, the soldiers were still doing their own thing, and no one dared to go outside.

"Damn, Qi Jun's miscellaneous pieces, you wait. When you get closer, the trebuchets in my city want you to look good! The guard Su Yang also hid in the hidden soldier cave, looked at the situation outside, and muttered secretly.

"Woo!" After the trebuchet threw three rounds in a row, the trumpet of the Qi army to launch an attack sounded in the sky, and more than a dozen solemnly waiting Qi army hoplite phalanx began to slowly move forward several shield walls composed of dense shields, shining golden light in the golden morning light, towering spear clusters have been put down, hundreds of heavy siege arrow towers showed their hideous faces in the morning mist, and slowly approached the south wall under the protection of the military array. They were followed by the siege soldiers of the second echelon, such as pikemen, sword and shield men, and archers.

"Quick! Array! The siege team of the Qi army is coming! Prepare now! Under the officer's order, the defenders of Bishui Pass ran out of the hidden soldier cave in the inner layer of the city wall, and hurriedly went to the city wall to garrison and counterattack.

"Archer, get ready...... Shoot! ”

Under the officer's shouting order, on the city wall, there was a sudden "whoosh!" The archers of Bishui Pass finally began to counterattack, and they used the bows and arrows in their hands to launch a counterattack against the approaching Qi army, and countless arrows rained down on the heads of the Qi army...... However, the hoplites' defense was still good, and most of the arrows didn't do much.

"Order, crossbow ready, trebuchet ready!" Seeing that the crossbow machine was set up by the soldiers, Su Yang roared.

More than 1......00 crossbow machines suddenly let out a roar of counterattack, and immediately hundreds of black lights flashed out, emitting a faint light under the illumination of the sun. However, the crossbow machine shoots a crossbow with the thickness of a baby's arm, which is definitely not a good thing, and for the attacked, this is a sharp weapon for life.

"Puff puff puff...... More than 100 small waves of blood appeared, and each crossbow arrow took away two or three Qi soldiers. In just one round, more than 300 siege soldiers were taken away. Of course, the speed with which the bolts were loaded made the siege soldiers much less fearful of them. Immediately, without the slightest stop, the Qi army came towards the city wall at an unabated speed.

"Huhu ......" The trebuchet lurking within the walls finally let out a roar. Huge stones rolled and fell down like raindrops, the people in the Qi army formation turned on their backs, a chaos, a huge round stone projectile ploughed a blood mark in the ranks of the Qi army, a huge stone was stunned and the soldiers were crushed below, turned into a pile of bloody and blurred broken meat, and then, there were more than a dozen hoplite shields shattered, and people were also knocked out.

"Don't stop, give me a surprise!" Instead of flinching in the face of the tragic scene, the infantry of the Qi army rushed towards the southern wall of Bishui Pass, which was only more than 30 meters away.

"Siege Tower, fast forward! Lean in! The officer screamed bitterly. Countless people and soldiers pushed the siege tower desperately, approaching in the sound of neat trumpets.

A large number of trebuchets that had been hidden on the south wall began to focus on the approaching siege towers, the stones whistled, the smashed siege towers creaked, and the huge siege towers finally leaned against the city wall, and the widened and thickened rice barrier was like a mountain lowered from the height of the battlements, and smashed the battlements, revealing the hoplites holding siege shields behind.

"Archers, crossbowmen cover! Heavy infantry, go to ......! Under the command of the officer, the hoplites rushed out with shields, and the exit of the siege tower was filled with crossbowmen and archers, covering the advance of the hoplites and opening the passage for the hoplites.

"Shoot! Give me a design, and you must not let the Qi army rush to the city wall! The archers on the walls also turned to the siege towers to shoot, and the clusters of arrows attacking each other on both sides soared into the sky like swarms of locusts.

"Rush ...... Rush over! The heavy infantry of the Qi army rushed towards the southern city wall without fear of sacrifice, and countless soldiers fell from the baffle like dumplings, and those who died could not die again...... However, this still could not stop the speed and courage of the heavy infantry of the Qi army.

"Where are the pikemen? Immediately form a formation and stop them for me! The officer defending the city shouted violently.

The defending pikemen quickly formed a line on the battlements, and strangled with the hoplites who rushed up, and the spears stabbed into the chests of the soldiers on both sides, and blood splattered down the battlements.

The passage behind the side of the siege tower is connected to the military formation below, from the top of the passage, there are Qi soldiers in front of him who continue to fall from the baffle, and there are new soldiers in the rear immediately, and the narrow passage of the building car has become a battlefield for both sides, just like a monster constantly devouring the soldiers on both sides.

"Boom!" With a violent sound, another siege tower was hit by a stone bullet from a trebuchet, the shaking bracket broke in the middle, and countless soldiers fell from it......

"Shit, these goddamn trebuchets!" The officers in the rear looked terrible, and their clenched hands creaked, eager to let their own trebuchets also throw stone bullets in return. Of course, this is just a thought, in front of the city wall are all their own siege soldiers, stone projectiles fly out, and it will not only be the enemy who suffers losses, but when the time comes, they will also be smashed together with their own soldiers.

In fact, the Qi army knew about the trebuchet on the city wall. However, in order to suppress these things, the Qi army was equipped with no less than 500 aircraft. The previous salvo was intended to strike at the trebuchets and crossbows above the city walls, as well as weapons of great lethality.

However, the defenders on the city wall did not arrange trebuchets on the city wall that might be hit as he imagined, but hid in the corner towers deeper in the city, using the advantage of distance to constantly suppress the Qi army besieging the city, and even if it was discovered, it was difficult to carry out the attack. After all, the besieging army is already entangled with the defending army.

"Pass the order, let our trebuchets prepare, and we will cover the city wall in a moment." Looking at the situation in the siege heavy infantry formation in front of him, which was constantly suppressed by the enemy's trebuchets and crossbow machines, Murong Cheng ordered in a cold voice. Because the front was suppressed very strongly, the ladder of the Qi army could not be approached at all, and it was directly hit by the trebuchet inside the city wall, and it was directly smashed to smithereens, and it could not be used.

The defenders placed their trebuchets behind the flanks, not above the walls, so that their catapult advantage would no longer exist. For the siege army, this is an excellent opportunity to suppress it. In addition, there are more of his own side than the other party, so Murong Cheng is ready to use the trebuchet to teach the other party a hard lesson, so that the other party knows that he knows how powerful he is.

"Alas...... If only I could get the Shocking Thunder of the Fruit Army, then we could see if we could blow up the water. Why all the hard work? Murong Cheng couldn't help but sigh.

Zhong Yan said: "Lord Wang, according to our intelligence, this Xiaoguo Army's sky-shaking thunder is not so easy to use. A city like this is only afraid that it will consume the amount stored by the Xiaoguo Army for half a year, and if you use the earth-shaking thunder to break the city, I am afraid that it will not be broken much. Moreover, the guards of the city were prepared, and they would never let the other party approach the city walls, and stay under their walls for too long. ”

"In addition, as long as the other party is transporting the earth-shattering thunder to the city wall, it can be directly detonated. Such a separate explosion would not pose any threat to the city walls. Therefore, when this earth-shattering thunder breaks the city, it can play a surprise role, and it cannot explode directly head-on. However, this kind of thing, in the field, is indeed the supreme weapon. As he spoke, Zhong Yan's eyes showed a look of envy.

"How did Zhao Xun get this, why didn't we get it out, damn it!" Murong Cheng said hatefully.

"Lord Wang, the trebuchet has moved forward a distance of 100 meters and is ready to attack." At this time, the officer hurriedly reported to Murong Chengyu.

"Let our men retreat a little, fifty meters away from the city wall, defend!" Murong Cheng roared.

Then, the flag waved, and the sound of the trumpet changed. The Qi army under the wall immediately retreated sharply.

"The Qi army withdrew...... General, the Qi army has withdrawn! On Su Yang's side, an officer said in a loud voice.

"The Qi army has withdrawn! Wansheng! The defenders of the city immediately raised their arms and shouted in celebration of this victory.

However, Su Yang, the general of the city defenders, did not have a trace of excitement, he knew that the Qi army had tried his best to mobilize the defenders to the Tiger Prison Pass, and it was impossible for him to give up so lightly after showing his true strength. Of course, after seeing the trebuchets and retreating troops of the Qi army on the opposite side, which had all moved forward by a hundred meters, only retreated a distance of fifty meters, his face turned pale.

"Give the order to go down, unload the crossbow quickly, and the trebuchet retreat, and hide ...... Let the soldiers prepare to enter the cave, immediately! Su Yang shouted angrily, but his voice was muffled by the cheers of the soldiers, and could only be heard by the officers and soldiers around him.

"General? Why is that? The soldier beside Su Yang asked urgently, "General, we have already beaten the Qi army back." ”

On the high platform of the Qi army's formation, looking at the cheering city wall, Murong Cheng sneered; "Start celebrating now? It's too early. Order, let the trebuchet team, give me a fight! Hit hard! ”

For the previous siege, Murong Cheng was extremely annoyed. More than 50 siege towers at the front have collapsed two-thirds under the bombardment of the trebuchets defending the city, which makes the offensive of the Qi army's siege troops have to slow down, with the slow reduction of this siege tower, there are a large number of siege soldiers casualties at every moment, special siege tower cluster attack, and then in the rear Murong Cheng can also see with his own eyes that the infantry phalanx of the front army was constantly pouring stone bullets to turn over.

"Launch!" With a loud shout from the officer, four or five hundred trebuchets suddenly fired stone projectiles in unison and threw them towards the city wall.

"Chirp ......" There was a deafening whistling sound in the sky above the Qi army's array, and four or five hundred whistling stone bullets drew eye-catching white lines in the air and landed in the corners of both sides of the city wall on the south wall of Bishui Pass.

On the city tower, Su Yang, who was about to give another order to his subordinates, suddenly saw hundreds of black dots flying from the sky, and quickly enlarged, pressing down fiercely towards the city wall.

"A trebuchet, it's a trebuchet, find a place to hide, find a place to hide...... Go down to the cave and ...... immediately"

Su Yang roared hoarsely, but most of the defenders didn't hear him, because the soldiers defending the city had already panicked, and the stone bullets had already fallen......

"Boom ......"

"Boom ......"

The continuous loud noise drowned out the sound of a qiē, and the sturdy city wall of Bishui Pass trembled violently, moaning in pain, and the originally smooth and smooth wall was instantly pitted and full of greenery, and from time to time broken bricks peeled off the wall......

"Help......"

"Ah......h

Screams, shouts, suddenly rushed up on the city wall, and the defenders who were still celebrating the retreat of the Qi army were in chaos in an instant, and many people were caught off guard, and fell headlong from the city head in a violent earthquake, and some were lucky enough to catch the parapet, but their good fortune only stopped there, and soon someone mercilessly stepped on their hands, and then howled and fell into the wall in pain, and fell to their death in the trench full of antlers.

Another boulder fell from the sky with a whistling sound.

"General! Be careful, get out of the way! ”

Su Yang was busy directing the soldiers to escape, and without seeing the slightest, a stone bullet fell straight towards his head. Fortunately, under the reminder of a soldier not far away, the guards guarding him slammed into the panicked soldier fiercely, and he could dodge a little. The next moment, a huge black shadow had already roared and smashed down on the place where Su Yang was standing, and with a loud bang, it splashed the sky with broken soil and choked people's dust.

The dozen or so defenders who didn't have time to dodge were smashed into a ball of flesh in an instant, and when the dust and smoke cleared, they used the dazzling flashes of light that swept by from time to time. The surrounding defenders were horrified to find that a boulder weighing 100 catties had smashed into the ground, and in the gap between the boulder and the blue brick wall, there were two bare toes, and a pair of bloody palms were still struggling slightly.

......Seeing this, Su Yang stopped staying on the city wall and turned to leave.

"Damn, I know that the enemy army is still fighting like this, it's really damn it. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't want you bastards to find out about the anomaly, General Ben would have withdrawn with his men a long time ago. Su Yang looked at the Qi army on the opposite side and said with secret hatred.

Inside the southern city, on the left and right sides, this is where the trebuchets of the defenders stay. The soldiers who operate the trebuchet operate the exact position of the trebuchet according to the instructions of the defenders on the city walls. This time, however, they were targeted. Because they didn't know the situation outside the city, they were unprepared when the stone bullets of the Qi army fell.

"Boom!" The huge stone bullets swept through the two places that were the focus of the Qi army's trebuchets, smashing the splashed dirt and flying several meters away, and there were more than 50 trebuchets on each side, which were taken care of by the continuous stone bullets in an instant. In just an instant, more than a thousand trebuchets gathered together turned into a mass of minced flesh, and the whistling stone projectiles fell like raindrops, not only blowing the trebuchet to pieces, but also crushing the soldiers operating around them......

"Damn it, our trebuchet operator!" Su Yang, who had just hid in the Hidden Soldier Cave, couldn't help but constrict his pupils as he looked at the situation in the trebuchet assembly place at the limit of his vision. For the loss of the trebuchet, he can accept it, and it is a big deal to rebuild it later. Moreover, there was no hope that the trebuchet here would survive. However, the loss of these trebuchet operators made his heart twist. You know, manpower is much more valuable than equipment. There are instruments, but there are no human hands that can operate accurately, so is there a difference between you and chaos?