Section 50

But in any case, Simon bargained for a bargain in this pre-war morale encounter. That's good news. Just as he was thinking about it, Xuanyuan Ling's voice sounded in his ears: "General Wu! Wu Ming's heart sank, and he hurriedly saluted: "Is there something wrong with Niangniang?" Please command. ”

Xuanyuan Ling looked at Wu Ming, and said after a long time: "The first defense battle is very important, I hope that the soldiers of the Guards Battalion can assist in the defense at the city tower, is it okay?" ”

Although she said kind words, there was a pleading meaning in her eyes. Wu Ming's heart was sour, although Hu Yanhai blocked Tai Benshu's words and poison back just now, Xuanyuan Ling's heart was not at ease, so he let the soldiers from the outer camp take the lead. The strong combat power of the outer battalion is one thing, but it can also use practical actions to maximize the filling of the enemy's rumors and slander.

Can I make excuses? Wu Ming could only smile bitterly, and saluted again: "Yes." The foreign minister will lead his subordinates to fight without retreating, and will not let the enemy take a step beyond the thunder pool. ”

At this time, countless soldiers, under the leadership of generals at all levels, came to the city in an endless stream of reinforcements. Now that Dongmeng is here, the defense of the city naturally needs to be strengthened. There are about 100,000 remnants of Simon who have retreated from the front line, plus nearly 100,000 soldiers who have been recruited later, and there are now nearly 200,000 people in Lanning City, with 200,000 to 400,000, which is an easily acceptable number for both the offensive and defensive sides. But even if Dongmeng is defeated, there is still depth and opportunity, and Simon is defeated, which is the end of the destruction of the country.

With the current state of Lanning City, can it be kept?

Two miles outside the city, the Eastern Mongolian soldiers finished camping and began to line up under the city. The army of 400,000 troops, even if only a small part of it was taken out, was already a terrifying number, and a large area of steppe cavalry holding banners of various colors stood densely under the city, like a raging tide spreading under the city. In front of the array, the heralds shouted loudly, passing on the orders of the generals at all levels, and in the dust, the entire ground seemed to rise in a fog.

Yang Yi looked at the cavalry under the city, and said with a pout: "Looking at this formation, the opponent's first attack has at least more than 50,000 people, and it seems that he is really willing." ”

Wu Ming said lightly: "The way of war is to attack the heart. Now that both sides know the roots, there is no need to try, so the first strike is particularly important. Even if you can't decide the outcome of a battle, you must kill and injure the enemy as much as possible to achieve the goal of lowering the morale of the opponent. These truths are true for both offense and defense. ”

Yang Yi's body was shocked, and he said softly: "Yes, my subordinates are taught." Wu Ming glanced at him, smiled and continued: "It's just that I'm curious about how these steppe cavalry came in a hurry and attacked the city. ”

As if to answer his question, Wu Ming's voice fell, and a low horn sounded under the city. Immediately afterward, countless horns sounded. The sound of the horn was deep and desolate, and it swept endlessly below, and even the floating clouds on the horizon seemed to be shaken. At the sound of the trumpet, Simon's cavalry under the city suddenly let out a neat shout, and then at the same time slapped their horses and rushed towards the city.

What are they doing here? Do you use horses to hit the city walls? It's just looking for death.

The head of the city is always the top priority of the guard. The Guards Battalion must have cost a great deal to defend this place. Fortunately, Xuanyuan Ling only wanted the guards battalion to set an example, and he didn't really hand over the responsibility of guarding the city to the guards battalion, so he only handed over this section of the city wall near the head of the city to Wu Ming, which was not very wide, and the pressure on the guards battalion to defend the city was not very great. Xuanyuan Ling and Hu Yanhai didn't leave, and the two of them were each surrounded by a large group of guards and stood on the city wall. This was dangerous, but it was a great morale booster for the defenders.

The sun is setting in the west. The wind blew the faint cold air of Tianyin Mountain, which also seemed to have a bloody smell. At the sound of the trumpets, a large group of cavalry rushed towards the city with a shout, like a tidal wave rushing up, and even the ground could feel trembling. It was only the vanguard of the enemy, and it already had such a might, although it was at the head of the city, but the soldiers who had not experienced the great battle were a little discolored. Yang Yizi would not be intimidated by this kind of momentum, and still said with some concern: "My lord, how long can Lanning's grain and grass last?" ”

This is the most important thing, after the Eastern Mongolian soldiers trapped Lanning, the grain road in the northwest was also cut off. In a sense, Lanning has become an isolated city. But Xuanyuan Ling and Hu Yanhai have been planning this battle for a long time, and they will definitely not wait for the day when they will run out of food. But this kind of military plane is not easy to get now, Wu Ming just said: "Prepare to defend the city, it's useless to think so much now." ”

The enemy was getting closer and closer, and at this time it was only a hundred paces away from the city, when a sudden rain of arrows fell from the city. Three hundred paces, ordinary archers can't shoot at all, but now is the best distance for bows and arrows. This rain of arrows came suddenly, and the cavalry that rushed to the front landed like wheat and fell into a piece. Knowing that the enemy's position was not in the slightest, the cavalry turned their horses and galloped along the city's head in a burst of long and short trumpets. Their riding skills are a must, in the high-speed gallop, ordinary archers can do a targeted but not many, even if there are blind cats meet dead mice, but after all, there are a few, and the city tower poured a second wave of arrow rain, but their casualties are much less. At this time, the cavalry showed the riding bows that they had already grasped in their hands, and then drew their bows like a full moon, and began to shoot at the castle tower.

Archers!

An agrarian nation, of course, can train cavalry, but these cavalry have a clear division of labor, cavalry is cavalry, the cost of training a cavalry is already high, to make a cavalry into a cavalry, far and near to do war, must be greatly trained, spend a greater price. But on the steppe, these problems are no longer a problem. A warrior on the steppe is a natural cavalryman. To live in the cruel steppe, at a very young age, they had to learn to ride horses and learn to shoot with a bow. Therefore, they are not only natural cavalry, but also natural archers, which is not possessed by the agrarian people.

Flying arrows were weaving, and a huge rain of arrows enveloped the head of Lanning City, and even the sky seemed to darken. Lanning's defenders were mostly new recruits, and that would have expected such a change. This round of arrows rained down, and many people lay down in a pool of blood and wailed. The head of the city is the top priority, and it has naturally been taken care of by the other party in an all-round way, but the guard battalion has experienced a hundred battles, and although this round of arrow rain under the city is fierce, the effect is limited. Yang Yi was pulled by Wu Ming and squatted under the battlements to avoid the rain of arrows. With the sound of arrows whistling in his ears, he couldn't help but chuckle: "This kind of long-range suppression method is somewhat interesting, it is indeed different from our siege, but it is also much more efficient. ”

Wu Ming said: "This is natural, although the Mongolian people are not good at attacking cities, but they have been facing such dangers as Shuangshan Pass for a long time, and over time, there must be a set of siege methods." However, this method is so bizarre that even if we want to learn it, we are powerless. ”

Yang Yi nodded and said, "Indeed." It is simply impossible for us to have so many archers maneuvering and at the same time to suppress the defenders from a distance. Speaking of this, he propped himself up, glanced down from the crack in the trench, frowned, and said: "This ** blow looks terrifying, but as long as you are prepared, the effect is limited, and if you want to go down to the city, it is simply impossible." ”

Those recruits were caught off guard, and under the dense cover of a round of arrows, most of them suffered casualties. But eat a trench, grow a wisdom, under the bloody lesson, many people have learned the same, began to squat under the battlements to avoid the rain of arrows, the enemy's second round of arrow rain came in an instant, but the casualties at the head of the city were greatly reduced, and the effect was minimal.

War is a big dye vat, it can make people mature quickly, but it can also make people lose more things. Looking at Yang Yi, who did not change his color under the enemy's arrow rain and was still able to talk eloquently, and then thought of the recruit who vomited blood during the Battle of Guangyang four years ago, Wu Ming also sighed a little in his heart. couldn't help but take over his topic and said: "It shouldn't be so simple, they must have a future, let's just look at it, see the move." ”

The rain of arrows stopped, and a long trumpet sounded from the city. Yang Yi carefully propped himself up, looked down from the battlement, just revealed half of his face, and couldn't help but exclaim: "My lord, they rushed over again." ”

He was shocked in his cry, as if he had seen something incredible. Wu Ming was shocked, hurriedly propped himself up, and also looked down from the crack in the moat, and couldn't help but gasp at a glance. Under the city, thousands of archers lined up in long columns, still suppressing the city, but as long as they did not cover all directions like the first time, the power of their bows and arrows was much smaller, and the soldiers on the city had already woken up from the sudden blow and drew their bows to fight back. After all, the head of the city occupies a favorable position, and no matter how powerful those archers are, it is impossible to hold out forever, and it seems that it will not be long before the air superiority caused by their salvo will be lost.

What surprised Wu Ming was naturally not these archers, but behind them. Thousands of archers rode across the city, pouring out arrows in their hands. And behind them, two groups of cavalry rushed at high speed with shouts. These cavalrymen were in groups of several dozen, and they carried a huge log with a sharpened tip and a simple iron sheet, no different from the battering wood of a siege engine. As they approached, the archers suppressed in the front section separated like a tide, and the two groups of cavalry, with an indomitable momentum, suddenly accelerated and crashed towards the city gate. Wu Ming couldn't help shouting: "Bow and arrow suppression, falling stones, rolling wood, hot oil preparation." ”

Although it is not a siege vehicle, but at their speed, gravity and speed, even if this gate is made of iron, I am afraid it will not be able to block it a few times. Fortunately, Lanning is also well prepared, although there are no high-end city defense equipment such as thunderbolts, but because of the backing of Tianyin Mountain, there are a lot of preparations for falling rocks and rolling logs. If these soldiers really want to rush up, they have to give them a taste.

Two groups of soldiers had already rushed out of the ranks of the archers, and the front was less than 100 meters from the city. There was a great chaos in the city, and when the archers saw that there was an opportunity, they gave up their horses and shots, untied the noose from their backs, shouted, and rushed towards the city. Arrows rained down on the city, but the enemy seemed to be unconcerned, and continued to rush up, and when the knights reached the city, they threw out the lassoes in their hands, and those lassoes had iron hooks on them, and they were as steady as a rock when they grasped the city. The enemy horsemen followed the rope and climbed up from below towards the city.