Hekou City is located in the east of the fork of the Juyong Pass from Confucianism, it is the first city to enter the Juyong Pass from Confucianism, and it is also the intersection of the north-south Chi Road of Confucianism, with an extremely important strategic position, take the estuary city, the Jurchen army is a springboard, can directly buckle the Juyong Pass, and pose a huge threat to Yandi, the previous Shence army and the Jurchen a big battle is the retreat, this estuary city is the product of the expansion of the results of the Shence army, and at the same time the Peikou City, which is the horn of each other with the estuary city, is also under the control of the Shence army.

Hekou City is a new city built in the first year of Tianzuo, with a circumference of fifteen miles, the city is tall and strong, and the food and various military supplies are well stocked.

According to the initial deployment of troops in Peikou City, there are 80 million Shence troops and 10,000 militia groups in Peikou City; Peikou City has 10,000 Shence troops and 5,000 militia groups.

The Jurchen soldiers and horses are resting and recuperating, but the grassland Hu army under their rule was driven here at this time to attack Peikou, the two cities of Hekou, the Hu army added up to 100,000, the Jurchens played a good calculation, since they can further put pressure on the Great Song Dynasty, on the other hand, they can also weaken the strength of the Zahu tribe, 150,000 troops pressed the border, the situation in Hekou City became severe, Han Shizhong ordered the Guannei troops to concentrate on Hekou City, which increased the strength of Hekou City to more than 20,000 people, and the militia increased to 15,000.

And the Hu army also invested 60,000 troops to attack the estuary city, day and night to attack the city, 20 days of tug-of-war offensive and defensive battles were extremely tragic, the city was captured by the Hu army several times, and was recaptured by the Shence army several times, the Shence army paid the price of more than 8,000 killed, and the Hu army also suffered nearly 20,000 casualties, both sides suffered heavy losses, but the battle flag of the Shence army still stands at the head of the city.

As soon as the sky dawned, the morning glow dyed the estuary city with a dazzling blood-red color, and the morning breeze could not disperse the bloody air in the air. Song Chiqi, who was shot by arrows, hunted and fluttered on the city tower.

At the top of the city, the exhausted soldiers of the Shence Army were huddled together and slumbered, too tired to be able to wake them up from their slumber with the meat buns and broth brought up by the militia soldiers.

Yang Xiong was originally a Han native of Jizhou, Liao, and was imprisoned in a state, known as Sick Guansuo. Later, the Great Liao fell, that is, he voted for the Shence army, at this time he tried his best to suppress the anxiety in his heart, and he would do his best to attack any part of the city at will, but the defending side of the city had to take care of everything, and he was very tired until now, but from front to back, except for the occasional neighing of horses. There was no sound, it turned out that the high morale of the Shence Army was not as good as before, and when he was in the army, he only felt an inexplicable depression!

For morale like this, Yang Xiong doesn't have a good way, he can't lie and deceive his subordinates, right? Estuary. Peikou is really easy to attack and difficult to defend, even if their opponent is a Hu Ren who is far inferior to the Jurchen. However, after all, there are less than 20,000 veterans in the Shence Army, and the Jinyang Army has transferred some backbones, so it can be said that only 20,000 of the actual 60,000 soldiers and horses of the Shence Army have seen the battle, but Yang Xiong believes that even though the army is now depressed. But on the battlefield, even if it is said that Estuary City has fallen, this army of its own army will still fight to the last soldier in this desperate situation!

Patrolling the city on horseback, the deputy general Shi Xiu followed behind him, and Yang Xiong's snow-white hair poked out of his helmet. Blowing in the wind, it was Yang Xiong's steady combat style and Shi Xiu's finesse that made Hekou City stand tall in the stormy attack of the Hu army.

Shi Xiu looked at the exhausted soldiers, and he cautiously suggested: "Should we divide the soldiers into two armies, take turns to rest and defend, the chief said that Peikou City is also defended in this way." ”

Yang Xiong smiled and said: "General Han just told us that Peikou City is defended like this, but he didn't ask us to do the same, his order is very clear, everything is fully responsible for me, this is because he knows that the city defense situation in each place is different, Peikou City has three defensive cities, and Hekou City only has one defensive city, and the army will not be able to hold it if the force is halved, and it is possible to hold the city only if all the troops are invested." ”

Shi Xiu sighed and said worriedly: "I'm just afraid that the soldiers won't be able to hold on, after all, it's been twenty days." ”

Yang Xiong shook his head and smiled: "We can't hold on, is it possible that the Hu army is beaten with iron?" They also can't hold on, just see who can survive to the end, I know in my heart, we still have 10,000 soldiers and horses and 5,000 militia groups, the ratio of troops has reached two to one, as long as there is no big mistake in defense, they will definitely not be able to capture the estuary city in the end. ”

At this time, an eagle circled down from the sky, chirped twice in the sky, and landed on the shoulder of the eagle slave, who took the letter from under its feet, rushed forward, and presented the letter to Yang Xiong.

Yang Xiong glanced at the letterbox, it was Han Shizhong who wrote it to him, he immediately took out the yarn silk from the letterbox, looked at it carefully, and the corners of his mouth slowly showed a knowing smile.

"What's wrong?" Shi Xiu asked impatiently.

"See for yourself!"

Yang Xiong handed him the letter, Shi Xiu took it and read it, Han Shizhong asked them to try to hold off the Hu army attacking Hekou City, and the reinforcements from Juyong Pass were about to arrive.

"You get the idea! The superiority of the Hu army's forces is no longer large, and the time has come for us to counterattack. ”

Shi Xiu turned his head and looked down at the city, three miles away, the Hu army gathered again, he couldn't help laughing, "With the shortness of the past and the length of the enemy, this may be the portrayal of the Hu army, such a strong cavalry army is not needed, but it came to attack the fortified city." ”

"They also have no way, there will always be cowards in the Central Plains who will give up the city, but there is no in the Shence army, we are strong and clear, they can only attack the city, in fact, the first Bi Khan of the Hu people does not want to fight a siege war, he wants to lure us out of Peikou City, there is only one way, capture Hekou City, the Hu army of the people goes south, the Shence army can only go out of the city to pursue, but now it is different, the Hu army has been killed and wounded more than thirty percent, if there is no result, he may not be able to sit down in the position of Khan."

As soon as Yang Xiong's words fell, the drums of the Hu army suddenly sounded, 'Knock! Boom! Boom! The drums thundered, and the overwhelming soldiers of the Hu army poured in like a tidal wave, and the 50,000 Hu army once again launched a frenzied attack on the city of Hekou.

Twenty huge stairs were pulled by thousands of horses, slowly moving towards the city wall, the staircase is a kind of large siege ladder, divided into a base and a ladder, the base is two feet wide. It is three zhang long, there are six wooden wheels, and the ladder is one zhang and five feet wide, and four zhang to five zhang long, which is made of twenty giant trees and riveted in parallel, and then fastened together with a huge hinge and the ground seat. It is covered with a thick cowhide.

Usually the ladder is folded and placed, when the base is close to the city wall, hundreds of Hu army soldiers pull the iron chain back, the ladder will be pulled up, dumped on the city wall, the huge iron hook behind will hook the city wall battlement, Hu army soldiers will rush to the city head along the ladder in groups.

This kind of ladder is a killer weapon for the Hu army to attack the city, but it is expensive, and the Hu army does not have many of it. It is not used in Peikou City, but it is used for the third time in Kawaguchi City.

The hundred heavy trebuchets at the head of the estuary were all completely damaged, unable to bombard the approach of the ladder with boulders, only a few dozen stone cannons and some bed crossbows, but the stone cannons and bed crossbows could not cope with this huge siege machine, and could only watch as they approached the city walls.

Shi Xiu rushed to the top of the city and shouted: "Fire oil ready!" ”

Barrels of fire oil were carried up to the city by the militia soldiers, and now only the fire oil is an effective means to deal with the ladder, and the 10,000 Shence soldiers and 5,000 militia troops all went to the city to fight. Ten thousand of them fired arrows at the head of the city, while the other 5,000 stood in a formation at the head of the city with contradictory cards in hand.

The fire oil only had an effect on the Hu army besieging the city. And it can't damage the ladder paved with thick cowhide.

Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Hu army held shields in their hands and pushed the ladders to slowly come, and the soldiers of the Hu army were shot down and knocked over, suffering heavy casualties. The archers of the Hu army under the city also began to counterattack on a large scale, and the soldiers of the Shence Army continued to fall from the city screaming, and death was numb to the soldiers of the Hu Army, and it was the same for the soldiers of the Shence Army. They all have only one belief, to take the city, or to defend the city.

The ladder rushed through the moat that had been filled in, and slowly stopped, and hundreds of soldiers of the Hu army pulled the iron chains, fell on the base, and the ladder rose like a dragon, and fell on the city wall, smashing the city head into a flying gravel, and then slowly retreated, allowing the big iron hook to hook the city head.

Countless soldiers of the Hu army climbed the ladder with shields and swords in their hands, and charged frantically to the city, barrels of fire oil were poured from the city, and the black viscous fire oil flowed down the ladder, and then the tongue of fire rose into the air, and there was a sea of fire on the ladder, and the hundreds of Hu soldiers who rushed in front were burned and howled and rolled down, but there were still countless Hu soldiers who braved the flames and rushed to the city to start a bloody fight with the Shence army.

More and more Hu armies rushed to the city, and the two armies fought bloody battles at the city.

……

There are two watchtowers in Peikou City, one on the top of the stone hill behind and one on the outer city, and the watchtower in the outer city has been destroyed, leaving only one on the top of the stone hill.

Han Shizhong took Xue Yong from the plank road to the top of the mountain, this watchtower is actually also a beacon tower and an alarm platform, stationed ten soldiers, itself is not high, only three floors, made of bluestone, when the weather is fine, you can see the Yellow River from here.

The two of them went to the top of the tower, and their vision suddenly opened up, and the camp of the Hu army was clearly placed in front of them, some of them were deployed in the outer city, and most of the Hu army was deployed outside the city of Peikou.

Han Shizhong pointed to the two large armies of the Hu people with a horsewhip, and said to Xue Yong: "Do you see the enemy's strength?" At most, there are only 150,000, and in the past 20 days they have attacked Hekou City, and nearly 20,000 people have died, and Peikou has also killed and wounded more than 10,000 people, for me, these troops are still too many, I must press them below 80,000, so that their fifteen iron cavalry will lose half, so that they will be killed, and let them remember for a long time, so that I will have no worries. ”

Xue Yong nodded silently, he understood what Han Shizhong meant, this kind of overall thinking was not something he could have, Xue Yong sighed lowly, "But we also suffered heavy losses." ”

"There's no way around this."

Han Shizhong also said helplessly: "Kill three thousand, self-loss of eight hundred, this is still a win, not to mention that we are far from winning, but there is no defeat, the Hu army of 150,000 is the Jurchen lackey intends to sweep away the obstacles before Juyong Pass, no casualties is impossible, Peikou City has more than 6,000 casualties, the city includes the militia army, a total of 12,000 people have been killed, and Hekou City has been killed more than 10,000, which adds up to almost 30,000 people, and the death of the Hu army is one to two, which is already very good, If it weren't for the offensive and defensive wars, we would have been wiped out. ”

At this point, Han Shizhong's eyes became brighter, his eyes were full of confidence, he stared at a black dot flying in the sky in the distance, the black dot was getting closer and closer, and several pro-soldiers shouted, "General, it's Xinying!" ”

A vigorous eagle began to hover over Peikou City, and Han Shizhong smiled and said to Xue Yong, "Aren't you looking forward to breaking the deadlock?" The moment you've been waiting for has come. ”

Han Shizhong carefully read the eagle letter, Yanjing left behind Yang Ji to lead 10,000 heavy cavalry and 5,000 light cavalry army has come out of Juyong Pass to support Hekou City, the camp of the Hu army was burned, and was forced to retreat ten miles, and the decisive battle between the Shence army and the Hu army in Hekou City was about to begin.

Han Shizhong immediately ordered, "Pass my order, the army will withdraw to the inner city and give up the middle city to the enemy army!" ”

Although there were countless soldiers who couldn't figure out why Han Shizhong wanted to give up another city, the military orders were like a mountain, and the Shence army defending the middle city slowly withdrew from the drawbridge back to the inner city, and the fifty heavy trebuchets were destroyed again, along with the drawbridge leading to the outer city wall of the middle city was also demolished.

In the afternoon, the abnormal behavior of the Shence army was discovered by the Hu army, and Meng Ge, the main general in charge of attacking the outer city, immediately sent people to the main camp to inform the khan.

Hundreds of Hu people's army surrounded the Khan and inspected the situation of the Shence army hundreds of steps away, and the Khan of Jiji frowned, thinking about Han Shizhong's intention to do so.

The second prince Ada said: "Khan, I think the purpose of the Shence army is to drag us in Peikou City and prevent us from supporting Hekou City. ”

Du Ji nodded slowly, "You're right, Han Shizhong is letting Li lure us, he wants to drag us in Peikou City, and they have Eagle Letter, the news is faster than ours, if I guess correctly, there should be a major change on the side of Hekou City, I suspect that the enemy's reinforcements have arrived." ”

At this point, Ada's eyes were also worried, after twenty days of siege of the Hu army in Hekou City, it was already exhausted, if the reinforcements of the Shence army and the defender army jointly attacked the Hu army, would the army of the big prince who was attacking the mouth be able to withstand it?

Du Ji immediately said: "You can lead the 30,000 cavalry of your headquarters to help Du Bi quickly, even if you can't capture Hekou City, you must ensure that his army retreats completely." ”

"I know, let's go!" (To be continued.) )