Updated: 2013-09-29

Although Shen Tuxiong's words are complaints, what he said is also very reasonable. If the grain, grass, materials and armor equipment in Wu County were burned when Zhou Yuan and Shentulie were evacuated, it would definitely not be an easy task for the Jieyi Army in Wu County to defend now.

Not to mention the food that was enough for 20,000 troops for a month, even the armor and equipment could also arm about 10,000 people. Among them, swords, guns, swords, halberds, strong bows and crossbows, all available. Even the armor on the soldier's body is also all matched. As a result, now all these armor and equipment have been used by the Jieyi army, and they have appeared on the head of the city.

If it weren't for the Jieyi Army to modify it, I am afraid that Shen Tuxiong would have thought that it was his own soldiers who defended the city.

However, Zhou Yuan's face at the moment was extremely ugly. It's not that Zhou Yuan thinks that Shen Tuxiong's reprimand is unreasonable, nor does he think that he is right. However, this Wu County guard is your Shen Tuxiong's younger brother, and I, Zhou Yuan, am only a civil official, and the task and responsibility of this withdrawal army to burn the grain, grass, materials, and armor in the city should be Shen Tu Lie's responsibility, not me.

Indeed, if Zhou Yuan really issued this military order, he was afraid that the soldiers around the treasury in the city would not obey it. These soldiers are all under Shen Tuxiong's command, and they will naturally obey the military orders of Shen Tuxiong and the generals of Shen Tuxiong's department. And after Shen Tuxiong left, he would naturally obey the military orders of Shen Tu Lie, the main general in the city. For such an extraordinary task as burning materials, how can these soldiers be careless? How can a civil official like Xiang Zhou Yuan command the movement? Besides, although Zhou Yuan is a Taishou position, he is not the head of the civil officials of Wu County. Even if the civil official can give an order, he Zhou Yuan is no longer among them.

Now that Shen Tuxiong reprimanded him Zhou Yuan in public, can Zhou Yuanyan be convinced? Although he also has responsibility, the main responsibility is on Shen Tuxiong's brother Shen Tu Lie, which makes Zhou Yuan unacceptable. However, the situation is stronger than people, and the other party is a general with a strong army, and he is just a prisoner. Therefore, Zhou Yuan could only accept Shen Tuxiong's reprimand with a "gloomy" face. Originally, he wanted to persuade Shen Tuxiong not to be careless, and let him wait for the garrison of Suzhou Prefecture to defeat the Jieyi army in Wu County. But now, naturally, he won't speak easily.

After paying 3,000 casualties, the 5,000 garrison and thousands of people finally bulldozed the fortifications set up by the Jieyi Army outside the northern city. However, for the casualties in front of him, Shen Tuxiong's face was not good-looking.

For Shen Tuxiong, his original task was just to intercept the westward advance of the Jieyi army in Wu County, that is, his task was not heavy, and it was safer. There's no need to go to war, you just need to sit here. Coupled with the fact that it has a strong army, it can be said that this is a completely easy thing to do.

This was a good thing at first sight, especially since Shen Tuxiong was originally a defender stationed in Xuyi, on the south bank of Hongze Lake, in the north of Yangzhou, and was responsible for guarding against the Zhao army in Xuzhou in the north. To be honest, for guarding against Zhao Jun, Shen Tuxiong felt a little depressed from the bottom of his heart. In the past, he accompanied Murong Cheng, the king of Qi, to fight in the south and north, although he did not fight head-on with the Zhao army, but he also fought with the Yanzhou army, another part of the Zhao army, and at that time, the Qi army had begun to decline. It was also because of that defeat that Shen Tuxiong had a trace of fear of Zhao Jun. It is also because of this that Shen Tuxiong does not like to go to the battlefield to make meritorious contributions like other generals. And this mission is the most in line with his ideas. However, the Jieyi army on the opposite side didn't give him face, and slapped him in the face a few times, and Shen Tuxiong, who was beaten, had to turn around and 'engage'. Otherwise, he would not be able to 'deliver' to the King of Qi.

"General! The army is ready! ”

An officer beside him interrupted Shen Tuxiong's nonsense, and he hurriedly came back to his senses. It turned out that the troops were already preparing and were waiting for his order to attack. Shen Tuxiong looked up at the sky and the hourglass, the war had been going on for more than an hour, although the temperature was still rising, but the majesty did not make the soldiers feel unacceptable. It's still early in the middle of now, so we can still start a round of tentative 'sex' attacks. Of course, if the tentative attack goes well, it will immediately become a decisive attack.

"Order the Left Route Army to attack immediately." Shen Tuxiong ordered in a cold voice.

At the time of leaving the camp, Shen Tuxiong had already divided his 15,000 soldiers into three routes, the left route army and the right route army had 4,000 men and horses each, and the middle route army led by him had more than 7,000 soldiers and thousands of young and strong people, and of course, there were thousands of remaining garrison soldiers. At this moment, the garrison non-commissioned officers have already suffered nearly half of the casualties, so naturally they cannot continue the battle. Therefore, he was ready to let the Left Route Army test the strength of the Wuxian Jieyi Army. Perhaps, these 4,000 people can also open a gap in Wu County, and when the time comes, the middle route army and the right route army will quickly follow, then, the end of the Wu County Jieyi Army will come, after all, more than half of the Wu County's Jieyi Army is still a new pawn. The others are just young and strong.

The commander of the Left Route Army was none other than Shen Tulie, who had fled from Wu County before. He thought he had good ability, but because of the rebellion of his lieutenant, he lost Wu County, and he was naturally unwilling. Moreover, after learning the reason for the loss of Wu County, in order to prevent some of the generals under his command from being bribed by the Jieyi Army and prevent this situation from happening again, Shen Tuxiong even rotated half of the generals and colonels of all departments. That is to say, two of the lieutenants and three lieutenants of a battalion are rotated, and the same is true for officers at all levels above them. You must know that the people under his command are all old subordinates who followed him in the past, but he has been stationed in Wu County for less than a month, and there are middle-level officers like the captain who defect to the enemy, which makes Shen Tuxiong have to be careful.

This arrangement, in Shen Tuxiong's view, can not only prevent problems with the generals under his command, but also not greatly reduce the combat power under his command, after all, it is only half of the change. Of course, this will still have a certain impact on combat effectiveness. If Zhao Guofei's spy heard the news, he would definitely be overjoyed.

"General Ben will take this city back in person!" Shen Tulie gritted his teeth and pointed to the county seat of Wu County, and said gloomily. The loss of the county seat of Wu County made Shen Tulie extremely embarrassed, and even, he could feel the contempt of some soldiers for him. With Shen Tu Lie's order, all 4,000 Left Route troops attacked.

"Catapults, crossbows ready! Put! On the city wall, the voices of the officers of the various departments who had received Gu Shan's military orders rang out. Immediately, the catapult and the large crossbow machine installed on the head of the city immediately 'shot', and the round stone bullets buzzed out, and each one fell to the ground, which could bring out a blood groove. Most of these stone bullets were hoarded by the Qi army in the past.

Although the catapult is powerful, its 'fire' speed limits its lethality. For ordinary soldiers, this catapult may be very powerful, but for the soldiers of the Qi army, a small number of catapults can only bring some deterrence to the Qi soldiers, and the actual casualties are not too large.

In comparison, the effect of the large crossbow machine is extraordinary. Moreover, most of these crossbow machines were made by craftsmen transported by the soldiers of Jieyi through Zhao State, and each of them was a 'fine' weapon. In the whistling sound, the crossbow arrows whistled away one by one, and the blood arrows were 'shot' in the ranks of the Qi army. Where the blood arrow passed, the gods blocked and killed the gods, the Buddha blocked and killed the Buddhas, and the people blocked the killings, and many Qi soldiers fell on the way forward in this situation, and the fields in the northern city of Wu County were suddenly stained red with blood again.

Of course, the loading speed of the crossbow machine is also very slow, but the number of crossbow machines is more than that of the catapult, and in addition, the crossbow machine can be loaded with several crossbow arrows at a time, and the lethality brought by it is almost a fan. Everywhere I went, I was 'pierced'.

Voices like "chirp ......" are always the most feared voices of soldiers. They would rather fight against the Jieyi army, and would rather die in a head-on 'confrontation' than be 'pierced' by crossbow arrows that come from nowhere, like a big fish that has been harpooned and forked, writhing powerlessly until death. In addition to the lethality brought by the crossbow arrows to the Qi soldiers, it was more of a psychological shock, making them feel that no matter where they were, they would not feel safe.

"Puff puff puff ......" Whenever he heard this voice, Sergeant Qi felt that he was sore and numb. Because, this is the sound of the robe around me being pierced by a crossbow arrow. However, these Qi soldiers will not stop, they will not check, they will not dare to stay, and they will not dare to check. Because, one of their negligence will make them the next dead fish to wear passively.

As the robes around them continued to fall, watching their bodies being 'pierced' and torn like rag dolls, even these veterans who had been through a hundred battles couldn't help but feel numb in their scalps.

However, these Qi soldiers still showed no signs of retreating, and quickly rushed towards the city wall, and in a moment, most of the Qi troops in front of them had rushed to the area less than twenty zhang in front of the northern city of Wu County.

Looking at the distance that the Qi army was approaching, Gu Shan's face remained unchanged, and he said coldly: "Archer, prepare!" ”

The archers of the righteous army have all assembled at the head of the city and are ready to fight. Among them, after hearing the order, he immediately pulled out the bowstring, and the arrow pointed diagonally downward at the large team of the Qi army. The sun gradually rose in the sky, so that the pitch-black arrows shone in the sunlight, scattering the light of death.

"Put!" Gu Shan snapped.

More than 3,000 archers ...... hundreds of meters long on the city wall, firing arrows in unison. The arrows continued to fall, covering part of the city wall in an instant. The archer's 'shooting' of ground arrows is naturally not as powerful as the crossbow machine's 'shooting' of ground crossbow arrows, and the momentum is also much weaker. However, the arrows of the archers were very dense, and the arrows were from top to bottom, adding a bit of power out of thin air, so in the area covered by the arrows, the Qi soldiers fell in pieces, and the originally dense team suddenly thinned out a lot. Even the Qi soldiers were only soldiers wearing armor, and even if an arrow could not 'shoot' these armored soldiers many times, it was certain that they would be injured.

However, even so, these Qi soldiers still dragged their wounded bodies and continued to move forward. But they soon fell too, because either the arrows had 'shot' through their armor and could still move on, but the armor gave them the illusion that the armor gave them. Or, another arrow fell on them until they fell.

A large number of fallen soldiers blocked the advance of their companions behind, and they had to jump over their companions' bodies, so there was a little 'chaos' and 'chaos' in the team, which reduced their impact. In the rear, he only wanted to take Wu County to wash away the shame, and he couldn't care about other Shen Tu Lie, when he waved the long sword in his hand frantically, and ordered the soldiers to speed up the progress, he no longer allowed himself to fail again, he needed to use this victory to wash away the shame of his last loss of Wu County.

"Three scales to the left, ready to ...... Put! At this moment, Ji Tong, who was in charge of the archer's defense, suddenly roared. Immediately, a series of arrows 'shot' out, landing in the slightly dense Qi soldiers on the left, and suddenly, more Qi soldiers fell.

"Five scales to the right, ready to ...... Put! A moment later, Ji Tong roared again. Another series of arrows 'shot' out, landing on the right side of the Qi soldiers and soldiers dense, there dense ranks, immediately thinned.

However, after the third round of arrow rain, the soldiers of the Qi army finally rushed through the covered land of the archers of the Jieyi army, and had already rushed to the bottom of the city, just in the blink of an eye, countless cloud ladders, and set up on the city wall. Then, the Qi soldiers climbed up the ladder like ants. Looking down from the city wall, you can only see the black oppressive population, and you can't even see the faces of people clearly.

"Free 'shooting' shot! Free 'Shoot' Shot! Target at will, attack at will! Seeing this, Ji Tong gave a loud order.

Suddenly, the archers of the defenders on the city wall immediately dispersed, and most of them were close to the wall, holding their longbows and 'shooting' downward. The archers piled up behind the 'female' wall made it more difficult for the Qi army outside the city to counterattack. Especially after approaching the city wall, the archers of the Qi army also began to counterattack, but as the non-commissioned soldiers of the Jieyi army dodged, their counterattack was suddenly much more difficult, and the casualties brought to the Jieyi army were much smaller.

"Whoosh...... "Whoosh" arrow rain continued to fall, mixed with the screams and moans of the people who were hit by the arrows, as well as the shouting and scolding of the officers, as well as the impatient urging of the soldiers, and the 'hand-wrenching' weaving into a very 'chaotic' and 'chaotic' sound, filling everyone's ears. The Qi soldiers who climbed the ladder kept falling down with arrows, and some of the ladders were crushed by them, so all the people on the ladder fell, and in the dense crowd below, they smashed out a blood groove.

However, as the Qi army approached the city wall, the Qi army also organized archers to counterattack under the city wall, and one arrow after another fiercely 'shot' up. From time to time, there are also archers of the Righteous Army, especially those new soldiers, who are more wounded.

"Archers! Back off! Shoot at the sky! Swordsmen, shields, pikemen, and pikemen ready! Seeing this scene, Ji Tong shouted coldly.

With Ji Tong's order, all the archers on the city wall suddenly retreated to the innermost part of the city wall, raised the longbow in their hands on their backs, and 'shot' at the sky diagonally.

Whoosh! A dense stream of arrows 'shot' into the sky, then bent at the highest point, and finally fell towards the edge of the city wall, and fell fiercely into the ranks of the Qi army below. The Qi soldiers who were crowded at the base of the city wall immediately fell hundreds of people, and the rest of the Qi soldiers reacted and hurriedly raised their shields to prevent arrows from the sky. However, it is indeed difficult for them to climb the city and guard against the arrows above their heads. As the archers of the Jieyi Army continued to 'shoot' in unison, the Qi soldiers were still falling in the defense, and the city walls seemed to be a little 'chaotic' and 'chaotic' at the beginning.

However, the Qi army is the Qi army, and it is also a soldier and soldier, so it is naturally not comparable to an ordinary garrison. They didn't care about the rain of arrows flying above their heads, and saw the ladders leaning against the city wall and began to climb rapidly.

"Archers retreat! Pressing in the rear! Swordsmen, shields, and pikemen step forward! Seeing that the Qi army began to ascend the city, Gu Shan, who was in control of the overall situation, immediately ordered. The rebel army on the city wall immediately began to change their defensive array, and archers, sword and shield soldiers, and pikemen began to rotate in turn.

With a whoosh, the first Qi sergeant climbed the city wall. But soon, he was slashed down by the sword and shield soldiers who had been waiting behind the city wall, and his body was divided into two parts. Then the second Qi soldier climbed up and was cut down again, but then more Qi soldiers climbed the city wall in different places, some were killed directly, and some escaped the counter-killing of the Jieyi army and began to climb the city wall, and suddenly, the brutal 'hand-to-hand' combat began.

According to the usual practice, the most 'elite' veterans and soldiers who serve as the vanguard of siege warfare are often the most 'elite', and it is because of this that they can quickly open a gap at the head of the city, so that the soldiers in the rear can continue to ascend the city and open up the situation at the head of the city. Of course, the same is true here. It was also because of this that the new soldiers of the Jieyi Army who defended the city were caught off guard for a while, and they were waited on the city wall by the Qi soldiers.

In this operation, hundreds of ladders were erected, and hundreds of brave men of the Qi army wielded long knives and quickly climbed up from the ladders, about two-thirds of them were knocked down on the ladders, but the other one-third successfully climbed to the top of the city wall.

However, Gu Shan did not send all the seven or eight thousand old pawns under his command, but most of them were new pawns, some were old pawns, and some were people's husbands. It stands to reason that such a situation is not good for defending the city, but Gu Shan has never worried that the city wall will be lost. In addition to the preparations already made, the large number of reserves is also enough to launch a desperate counterattack at any time. And the rebel army whose 'gate' of the city was blocked, the roots were not afraid of the small number of soldiers who went up to the city wall and occupied this place.

In the battle of attack and defense, in addition to occupying an absolute advantage in the city. Most sieges require opening the inside of the city and letting the army outside the city enter the city. However, now that the northern 'gate' of Wu County has been completely blocked, they want to open the 'gate' of the city, unless they can kill all the defenders on the city wall, or rather, they have the ability to completely defeat the Jieyi army around the city wall.