"There are so many people!" A voice that seemed to moan came from behind. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Knowing that he had to do something immediately, he turned around and shouted with all his might: "There are more people with more mouths, as long as we can hold out for five days, they can eat themselves down!" ”

There was a chorus of approval from the crowd, but it quickly stopped, and someone shouted hoarsely: "Here they are!" ”

Moving forward to the wall were black-pressed brutes, in the front were old men and women with bundles of firewood, and behind them was a huge trunk mounted on a wooden wheel, the tip of which had been sharpened. "Bumper hammer!" Amba's mouth was full of bitterness, when did these barbarians actually make this thing, although it looked ridiculously crude, but even the strongest city gate could not withstand that thing a few times. On either side of the ram were cavalrymen, flanked by groups of infantrymen and archers dressed in leather armor and wielding short spears, bones, axes and wicker shields roasted with hard points of fire. Bursts of trumpets, drums, barbarian whistles and howls were heard, reverberating and chilling across the walls.

"They have 100,000 people!" The pock-faced tavern owner howled.

"Don't worry!" Amba turned around, faced all the people, and raised his voice: "There is nothing to be afraid of, these barbarians don't know how to fight, they don't even have a ladder, can they fly up to the city?" Yes, they can shoot arrows at us, but we are on high places, and we are protected by battlements, what about them? Remember, they're nothing but a lot of people, right? ”

The tavernkeeper's pockmarked face was a little better, but there were only a few sparse people who should be with Amba, and he cursed in his heart, and continued to shout: "The only thing we have to do is to guard the city gate, pour the oil into the pot, and boil it, and the stones, all move to the city gate, and when the battering ram is near, give them a hot bath!" Now, the archers come forward and rain the arrows on those who push the battering rams first, so that they can calm down! ”

This time Antigua's speech worked, and the people on the walls waved their weapons and shouted loudly, their cheeks flushed with excitement. Anti-Barbuda picked up the horn and blew it twice, and the soldiers walked over to the women's wall, waiting for the signal to be launched.

Amba picked up his bow and fired the first arrow, which pierced the air and hissed, landing on the ground more than twenty feet away from the battering ram. He waited a little and fired a second arrow, this time hitting a nearby brute, and Amba saw the man covering his wound and falling. He drew the third arrow, pulled the bowstring to the base of his ear, and shouted, "Aim, shoot!" ”

There was a dense sound in Ambar's ears, and he saw that the black arrows were like winged vipers, falling around the battering ram, although the beggars who pushed the battering ram were charmingly surrounded by protectors holding shields, but there were still people who were hit by arrows and fell, but someone next to them immediately made up for it, and the battering ram moved slowly but constantly towards the city gate.

The moat had been filled up by the women and old men at the front with bundles of wood and their own corpses, and many charming archers rushed to the city walls and shot arrows at the defenders at the city, and as the distance shortened, people continued to fall from the arrows, but no one had time to care about these at this time, the battering ram had already crossed the moat, and was only a dozen paces away from the city gate. Ambar hissed and shouted, "Use fire, burn the battering hammer!" ”

Several soldiers used iron hooks to carry the iron basin full of boiling oil to the battlement, and then fell down, and after a few seconds, there was a terrible scream from under the city gate, followed by a second basin, a third basin, and an archer shot a rocket. There was a roar of fire from beneath the city, and Amba saw a barbarian staggering to the moat, rushing into the river, rolling wildly in the water, trying to extinguish the flames on his body.

At this time, the cavalry on both sides of the battering ram began to flee frantically, and they rushed out of the fire and smoke, and both horses and men were frightened. These beggars were not afraid of spears, bows and axes, and were accustomed to death and blood, but this was the first time they had seen anything like this. They rushed into the ranks behind them, knocking their brothers to the ground, forcing them to join the crash. In the blink of an eye, the central part of the battle line was already in chaos, and the barbarians on both wings did not know what was happening on the central front, and they also retreated one after another, and the sound of drums and trumpets behind them also fell silent.

"Acton, I went to great lengths to bring the cannons, is it just to send these people to their deaths?" Lin Heshui pointed to the defeat not far away, and angrily questioned Acton.

"Lord Lin, please stop your anger!" Acton's composure: "I think you've made a mistake, these people aren't under my control!" ”

"What do you mean by that?" Lin Heshui frowned.

"I can't control everyone!" Acton stretched out his hand and drew a large circle: "Since I arrived at Xingkai Lake last fall, although I have tried all means, both soft and hard, but there are only seventeen surrounding tribes willing to obey me, a total of less than three thousand warriors, and there are ninety-seven tribes here, more than fifteen thousand warriors alone, they are only willing to come with me to besiege Ningguta, but there is not much I can do!" ”

"So that's what happened!" Lin Heshui nodded: "Then you can use artillery bombardment first to open the city gate, wouldn't this kill a lot of people?" ”

"Lord Lin! If we use a cannon to blast it away at the beginning, how can we reflect the power of Lord Liu and Daming? Acton asked, pausing for a moment before continuing, "Lord Liu wasted so much effort, it can't be just to take down a Ningguta, right?" ”

"Then what do you want, do you still want to continue south?"

"Not really!" Acton said with a smile: "Let's put it this way, after taking Ningguta, after these tribes have divided the spoils, they will disperse, and the most I can command is these seventeen tribes!" ”

Lin Heshui frowned, he already had a general impression in his mind, but his specific thoughts on Acton were not clear. Seeing this, Acton smiled slightly, and a trace of cunning suddenly appeared on his face, which was usually honest and simple: "Lord Lin, I'll just open my words and say it, my lord asked us to come here, just to pull Dongyu's hind legs." But if we just take Ningguta like this, these barbarians will definitely share the spoils and scatter away, how can we be worthy of the adults who have spent so much effort on us? ”

"And what do you say you're going to do?"

"Please Lord Lin, you will make me a beggar and charming Khan!"

Hearing Acton say this, Lin Heshui smiled dumbly: "Aren't you joking? I'm just a small official under the command of adults, how can I make you a beggar and charming Khan? ”

"Lord Lin, what kind of insight do these barbarians have, can they know what official position you are?" Acton said in a low voice: "I'll let them attack it once first, know the power of this Ningguta, and then break it, let them see the majesty of the Ming Dynasty." Naturally, they are afraid of submission. At that time, you canonized me as the charming Khan of the beggar in the name of the Ming Dynasty, and let me lead the various tribes of the beggar fans to crusade against the Dongyu, with this name, wouldn't it be ten thousand times stronger than just letting them disperse in vain? ”

Hearing Acton's words, Lin Heshui couldn't help but be a little moved, Liu Cheng gave him a very clear meaning in his heart, as long as he could contain the power of Houjin, he would be allowed to do it cheaply, and he would do everything to cheat and deceive. Acton's statement is too big to say that it is an overkill, but he will lose his head when he investigates it, and he can understand Liu Cheng's character by himself, as long as he does a good job, he will make up for himself even if he pokes a big hole, and he will never do the kind of thing that kicks his subordinates out and takes the blame. He thought for a while and said, "I'm afraid it's not so simple to make you a beggar and charming Khan, why don't you be a slave and do the command of the capital, is that good?" ”

Acton has been under both Houjin and Liu Cheng, and is very familiar with the official ranks of the Ming Dynasty. Both command the same knowledge of the two, from the second grade; All commanded four people, and they were three products. If the commander of the capital is compared to a military region, then the commander is the first chief, and the commander is the deputy chief, and the commander is the third chief. Normally, the commanders are the officials sent by the imperial court, and the commanders or commanders are usually the local chieftains who are powerful and loyal to the Ming Dynasty. According to Lin Heshui, Acton would be able to rule over the various tribes of the beggars as a Ming official. He thought for a while and smiled: "What Lord Lin said is that if you want to seal the sweat, I'm afraid it's not so easy, it's better to be the commander of this slave!" ”

"There's just one more trouble!" Lin Heshui sighed: "Right now, I have no seal, and I have no body, how can I canonize you?" ”

"What's so hard about that?" Acton said with a smile: "I have already thought about it, I found some sand gold in the tribe, which adds up to seven or eight catties, and I will find a craftsman to melt it later, and cast the official seal, as for the body to write!" ”

Lin Heshui was shocked: "How can this work, the craftsmen I brought are all blacksmiths, but they have never been goldsmiths!" ”

As he spoke, the besieging savages had retreated, and there were bursts of cheers and shouts from the city, and the sound of drums and trumpets was even louder, covering out the words of the two. Acton looked at the city and said with a smile: "Lord Lin, you have thought too much, these are some barbarians in the forest, how have you seen the majesty of the angels of the kingdom, cast a few seals, wrapped them in satin, they can still recognize them?" Don't worry, wait until I take this Ningguta and play this play with me. ”

"Be quiet, be quiet!" Amba tried his best to drown out the cheers of the crowd with his loud voice, he was probably the calmest one on the city wall, the veteran knew in his heart that this was just a prelude to the scene before the stage, even on the city wall he could still hear the endless tinkling of the woods, it was the besiegers cutting down the trees, and from time to time someone was dragging out the thick oaks, cedars, and other trees with animal power and manpower, and it was clear that these barbarians would not give up.

"Half of them go to rest, and half of them are on guard in the city!" Anti-Ba shouted: "The days are still long!" ”

The soldiers retreated to rest under the city wall tamely, where there were already prepared sheds and food waiting for them, but Amba did not dare to go down, he did not know what the enemy outside the city was doing, to be honest, he was not too afraid of the siege ram type of equipment, although Ningguta City was far from being as strong as the city built by the Han people, and there were not so many horse faces, watchtowers, and protruding gates, but it could not be captured by brute force alone. Even in the era of cold weapons, siege warfare was an extremely "technical" job, and the manufacture of siege equipment, how to build earth mountains, dig tunnels, etc., were not something that these barbarians in the forest could master. With these things alone, Antigala is confident that they will drown in his own blood.

"My lord, take a sip to lift your spirits!" A wooden cup was delivered, and Amba took a sip, the warm and spicy liquid stimulated his taste buds, it was a broth with wine and a lot of ginger, and his body immediately became hot, and he drank it all and returned the cup to his own soldiers.

"My lord, I dreamed last night that reinforcements arrived!" The soldiers said happily: "The messenger has arrived in Shengjing, and the Great Khan has sent a large army, boundless banners, rumbling hooves!" His eyes were full of longing.

"Very good, very good!" Amba forced himself to smile, it would not be a wise move to find out the truth at this time, he knew in his heart that the chances of those messengers being able to reach Shengjing were slim, the enemy commander was not so stupid, and the purpose of sending the messengers was to leave a little hope for the defenders. He walked to the female wall, and half a mile away beggars were busy building a platform out of logs and dirt, what were they doing? Amba was puzzled, farther away, near the edge of the forest, tents were like mushrooms rising after the rain, and someone even built a simple house out of logs, there were people everywhere, but there should be more people in the forest, and Amba knew that they were all waiting for a signal, but he didn't know what it was.

Suddenly, a puff of white smoke rose from the platform, and before Amba could see what was happening, he heard a scream in the air, as if something was rushing over his head. He turned his head to meet Goshha's eyes, and he realized that it was not his delusion.

"What was that? Do you see clearly? Amba asked sharply. (To be continued.) )