The closest thing to Ankang City in Hanzhong County of Shu is Xixiang City, which is only about 30 miles away from Ankang, and the Northern Expeditionary Army only needs half a day to come to Xixiang City.

"Big brother, our soldiers and horses have all been prepared for battle, and they can go out at any time." Wang San looked at Hua An and reported.

"Well, it's good, how are the logistics prepared, have the horses, cattle and sheep brought from the capital camp been settled?" Hua'an's biggest concern now is logistics.

Wang San smiled and said, "Big brother, don't worry! All settled down, there are no good things around Ankang City, but there are a lot of weeds, no matter how many cattle and sheep there are, they can be fed.

"Haha! That's good, the cattle, sheep and horses are settled, and I will be relieved. Huaan breathed a sigh of relief.

Thunderstorm looked at Hua'an and said, "Big brother, there are only ten days left before August 1, the date of the three armies' expedition, we can have a good rest, and we have enough spirit to fight!" Ha ha! ”

"Enough to nourish your spirits, I think you are very energetic now." Hua An looked at the thunderstorm and said, "How are the cavalry prepared, can they attack tonight?" ”

Thunderstorm was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "Big brother, let's do it tonight!" Haven't yet reached the date when the imperial court will order the attack? ”

"Big brother, if you don't discuss with the imperial court, you change the time of the attack without authorization, it's disobeying the order! Let's wait a few more days! Wang San hurriedly persuaded.

Hua An looked at the two of them, touched the green sword on his waist, and said: "The general is not subject to the orders of the monarch outside, as the chief general of the whole army, he should have the right to arbitrarily make decisions on the spot, how can he stick to orders." ”

Seeing that Hua An was angry, Thunderstorm hurriedly said loudly: "Big brother, my cavalry is ready." You can strike tonight. ”

"Big brother, our infantry can also attack." Tie Niu followed.

Seeing that the two took the initiative to fight. Hua An nodded and said, "Okay." It's evening, give you half an hour to prepare, set off before sunset, and arrive at Saigo City early tomorrow morning, and attack immediately. ”

"Yes, big brother, let's go and prepare." Thunderstorm and Iron Bull shouted their orders, turned around and walked in the direction of various large tents.

Hua An looked back at one of the camp owners of the baggage camp and ordered him to immediately lead a thousand baggage troops under his command. Transporting all kinds of military supplies and marching together with the animalized infantry of Iron Oxen must ensure the combat needs of the 20,000-strong army.

Since it was a siege war, most of the materials transported by the baggage battalion were related to siege equipment, such as ladders, large shields, and arrows. and the Thunderbolt that has just been assembled.

Due to the relatively large size of the thunderbolt truck, one baggage truck can only transport one thunderbolt truck, and only 100 thunderbolts consume 100 baggage trucks.

Half an hour later, the 20,000-strong army under the command of Thunderstorm and Iron Bull was ready. The 1,000 wagons of the baggage battalion were also loaded with all kinds of much-needed siege supplies.

With Hua'an's order, the Northern Expeditionary Army had more than 20,000 main forces, and the cavalry was in front. The infantry and baggage then marched mightily towards Xixiang City, thirty miles away.

"Big brother. Xixiang City is just a small city, why send 20,000 troops. "After the army is gone. Wang San looked at Hua An and wondered.

Hua An smiled and said: "Although Xixiang City is small, but it is the first battle of our army to attack Shu, although this battle is small, but the relationship is heavy, our army can only quickly break through the defense of Xixiang City with strong troops, and take the city, in order to deter the generals of Shu, so that they dare not underestimate our army, and shrink the defense, so that our army can march along the lì and be at ease." ”

"Haha! The eldest brother Gao saw that as long as Xixiang City was occupied, our army could continue to advance. Wang San nodded in realization.

Hua An looked back at Wang San and said, "Let the rest of the men and horses rest for the night, and tomorrow afternoon, all the horses will march to Xixiang City." ”

"Yes, big brother." Wang San said, turning to leave.

Hua An looked in the direction of the army, and after a long time, he returned to the camp to rest.

Because Ankang City is only thirty miles away from Xixiang City, and the Northern Expeditionary Army is full of cavalry and animalized infantry, therefore, in the early morning of the second day, when the Shu Army in Xixiang City has not woken up, more than 20,000 troops of the Northern Expeditionary Army have already approached the city.

The cavalry marched thirty miles in one night with little physical exertion, while the animalized infantry arrived by car, and the soldiers took turns driving, each soldier slept in the car for at least several hours, so he was more energetic and ready to attack Xixiang City at any time.

The defenders of Xixiang City were frightened, in the early morning of the bright morning, a large number of Jin soldiers and horses suddenly appeared outside the east gate, which greatly exceeded their expectations, they had received accurate information that the Jin army would launch an attack on August 1, but the Jin army did not launch an attack on the specified date, which made them unprepared, and suddenly rushed to fight.

Seeing that Xixiang City was in front of him, the thunderstorm rode his horse towards the location where the Iron Bull was, and when he saw the Iron Bull, he said loudly: "Iron Bull, Xixiang City is in front of you, my cavalry is not good at attacking the city, and the task of the main attack will be handed over to you." ”

"Hahaha! It's such a small city, do you still need to attack it? Just a few rounds of thunderbolts can break the city, don't you say? "Iron Bull seems to be full of confidence, and some even underestimate the enemy.

Thunderstorm looked at the baggage cart behind him and said loudly: "Don't talk nonsense, quickly let your men set up the thunderbolt cart and prepare to attack the city!" ”

Tie Niu smiled slightly, and asked his men and horses to immediately prepare all the siege weapons, and after all the siege weapons were in place, Tie Niu looked at the soldiers operating the thunderbolt car, and gave the order for the thunderbolt car to fire a volley.

"Huhuhu......" With a rain of fire shooting into Xixiang City, the Shu army defending the city was suddenly in chaos.

Because Xixiang City is not a strategic location, the Shu army deployed less than 2,000 soldiers and horses to defend the city here, and the troops are relatively scarce, and in the face of the salvo of 100 thunderbolts of the Northern Expeditionary Army, it seems that there is no power to fight back.

After dozens of rounds of thunderbolt volleys, the Shu army defending the city had a big loophole, Tie Niu seized the fighter and immediately ordered his men and horses to attack Xixiang City.

......Suddenly, thousands of soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army rushed to the east gate wall of Xixiang City with a ladder, while the remaining soldiers guarded the city shields and bows and arrows and went to the city to help in the battle.

In order to distract the soldiers defending the city, Thunderstorm divided his cavalry into three, and ordered them to feint to the west, south, and north gates, using the bows and arrows in their hands, to shoot the Shu soldiers on the city wall, in order to cover the siege of the Iron Bull Army.

The strength of the Northern Expeditionary Army is more than ten times that of the Shu Army, and the preparation is more than that of the Shu Army, and the combat power is much higher than that of the Shu Army soldiers.

In just over half an hour, thousands of the main force of the infantry of the Northern Expeditionary Army, who were responsible for the siege of the city, ascended to the top of the city one after another and fought with the soldiers of the Shu army defending the city.

Seeing that the soldiers of the Jin army had successively ascended to the top of the city, the soldiers of the Shu army guarding the city knew that the general trend had gone, so they abandoned the city wall and fled in the direction of the west gate.

The soldiers of the Shu army, who fled in rout, opened the west gate and were about to flee outside, but they found that there were already more than 3,000 Jin cavalry waiting there outside the city gate.

The desperate soldiers of the Shu army raised their hands to surrender, and the cavalry generals of the Northern Expeditionary Army immediately said that as long as they surrendered sincerely, they would not be harmed.

A whole thousand Shu soldiers were captured by the cavalry of the Northern Expeditionary Army under the command of Thunderstorm, and the cavalry general escorted these prisoners to Xixiang City and handed them over to Thunderstorm and Tieniu.

Seeing that the men and horses under his command had captured a thousand Shu troops, Lei Storm was very happy, praised his subordinates again and again, and said that his own merits in attacking Xixiang City did not have to be less than iron bulls.

The soldiers under the command of Tie Niu attacked the city with all their might, and suffered a lot of casualties, and the cavalry of Thunderstorm obviously picked up a big bargain, so he naturally disagreed with Thunderstorm's opinion, so the two of them argued.

After arguing for a while, Thunderstorm and Tie Niu looked at the captured Shu soldiers and found that there was something wrong with the clothes of a Shu soldier.

This soldier was actually wearing an official uniform in his armor, and judging from the style of the clothing, it was clear that he was a county official of Shu State.

Catching the county official of Shu is naturally a great achievement, Thunderstorm and Tie Niu glanced at each other and discussed how to deal with this county official.

"Tie Niu, I think, lock up this county official first, wait for the eldest brother to come, and hand it over to the eldest brother, what do you think?" Thunderstorm looked at Iron Bull and discussed.

Tie Niu pondered for a while, and said in a rough voice: "Thunderstorm, if everything is done by the eldest brother, then what is the use of us." ”

"Yo, what do you want to do?" Thunderstorm stared at Iron Bull and asked loudly.

Tie Niu waved his hand and said loudly: "Come on, let go of this Shu County official who is afraid of death." ”

"Wait, wait." Thunderstorm hurriedly stopped, and then looked at Tie Niu and said, "Tie Niu, you are crazy, you finally arrested a county official of Shu State, why did you want to let it go." ”

Tie Niu stretched out his hand and signaled the thunderstorm to approach, and when the thunderstorm saw this, he frowned and approached Tie Niu's mouth.

Tie Niu lay in the ear of the thunderstorm and said softly: "The eldest brother raided Xixiang City, mainly to deter the soldiers of the Shu Kingdom, if all the soldiers of the Shu Kingdom in the city are detained, how do the main generals of the Shu army who are guarding Liangzhou know what happened here?" In order to save his life, the county official will definitely try his best to exaggerate the strength of our army, so that the commander of the Shu army will be afraid, and then shrink the defense, so that the eldest brother's plan can be realized. ”

Hearing this, Thunderstorm nodded in a sudden realization, then turned around, looked at his subordinates, and said loudly: "General Tie Niu has spoken, and he will release this Shu County official soon." ”

"Yes, General." When the two cavalry soldiers heard the order, they immediately untied the ropes on the county officials of Shu State.

"Thank you for the general's grace not to kill, there will be a period later." The county magistrate of Shu clasped his fists and saluted, and under the protection of two cavalry soldiers, he walked outside the west gate. (To be continued......)