After a short but fierce burst of fire, hundreds of cavalrymen stepped forward and fired hundreds of letters of surrender into the city with strong bows and crossbows. The persuasion team, composed of thousands of people, shouted loudly under unified command, and read out the contents of the surrender letter word by word, so that the illiterate defenders could also understand the policy of the Zhou army.

Although the previous two rapid shots smashed the southern wall of Fengzhou City into thousands of holes, although the Zhou army's prisoner policy was very generous, and although not surrendering meant that his life was in danger, after an hour of consideration had passed, there was not the slightest movement in Fengzhou City. This situation disappointed Zeng Zhilin and others, who were unwilling to go on a killing spree, let alone unnecessary casualties among their soldiers, and instead issued an order to attack by force.

With the issuance of the order to storm the city, the nearly 200 divisions and regimental artillery that had been released opened fire again, first firing a round of four rapid shots at the southern city wall of Fengzhou City, and then switching to a conventional rate of fire to suppress the fire of a regiment of the "Security Army" and a battalion of the "Flying Dragon Army" that were carrying out the operation of filling in the trenches, and after the latter advanced into place, the shelling was stopped, and the fire cover and suppression work was given to the "Flying Dragon Army" of that battalion to take responsibility.

Somewhat different from the previous prediction, the operation of filling in the trenches went very smoothly, but in just one meal, the "security army" of that regiment filled in five offensive passages more than one zhang wide on the southern moat of Fengzhou City, and the price they paid was only 20 minor injuries - six of them accidentally twisted their waists and broken their feet in the process of filling the trenches. It's just that instead of relieving Zeng Zhilin, Cheng Fei and Muttle, this result made the three of them feel wrong.

Although the qiē is carried out very smoothly, it is precisely because the qiē is carried out so smoothly that Zeng Zhilin, Cheng Fei, Muttel and others are a little unsteady and suspicious. You must know that in the past, unless the defenders surrendered before the Zhou army officially began to attack, no matter how big the disparity in strength between the enemy and us was, as long as the defenders had not abandoned the city and fled, and the morale of the defenders had not been completely lost, in the face of the Zhou army that was filling in the trenches, they would more or less counterattack to hinder the Zhou army's action to fill the moat. After all, once the moat is filled, the city he guards will most likely end up being broken, and the defenders in the city have no reason to let the Zhou army move under the city. What's more, in order to prevent accidental damage from their own artillery fire, the large and medium-caliber artillery of the Zhou army will stop bombarding when filling in the trenches, and will be covered by small-caliber mortars and infantry fire of the battalion and company, which is the best time for the defenders in the city to kill and wound the Zhou troops who are carrying out earthwork under the city. However, the Fengzhou city in front of him did not play cards according to common sense at all, not only when the Zhou army was preparing for firepower, almost all the soldiers and generals at the head of the city were withdrawn, but also when the Zhou army was carrying out the trench filling operation, it only sent a small group of two or three hundred men to the top of the city, hiding behind the battlements of the city wall, and using bows and arrows to obstruct or more accurately harass the Zhou army that was filling in the trench with no pain - this is also the fundamental reason why the Zhou army only suffered about 20 casualties in the stage when Zeng Zhilin thought that it had suffered the greatest loss before breaking into the city.

As the saying goes, "if something is unusual, it must be a demon", such an abnormal behavior of the Fengzhou defenders naturally attracted the attention of the generals of the Zhou army. Yes, before Zeng Zhilin could raise his doubts, Cheng Fei next to him had already spoken: "Twenty-sixth brother, the reaction of the defenders of Fengzhou City today is not quite right!" ”

"Well, you're right, this Fengzhou defender is indeed different from the Khitan army we encountered before." Zeng Zhilin nodded and said, "If I'm not mistaken, I'm afraid that there are experts in this Fengzhou City who are familiar with the combat characteristics of our 'Flying Dragon Army' to give advice." ”

"yes. When we carry out artillery bombardment, we should avoid the city heads, which we have no power to fight back, and do not rush to send the main force to the city when we are carrying out trench filling operations, so as not to become a target for small-caliber mortars and infantry fire. Avoiding the enemy's edge as much as possible, giving up the battle for the city, which is impossible for him to take any advantage, and dragging our army into a street battle where he could not give full play to his advantages in firepower and troops, the wishful thinking of Zhao Kuangfu, the assassin of Fengzhou, was really loud. Cheng Fei said with a sneer.

It's a pity that Zhao Kuangfu's wishful thinking was also in vain. Didn't Yerusha, who was guarding the ancestral state, also make the same calculation at the beginning, and what was the result. It's just a few more hours of support, and some more casualties are inflicted on the generals on both sides, and in the end they still can't escape the end of being crushed. Mutel, who learned the details of the battle of Zuzhou from the battle report of the Left Route Army, said disapprovingly, "In the face of real strength, any conspiracy and any opportunistic tricks will have no effect, and they will be ruthlessly crushed by the opponent." What's more, we have already had a plan to deal with this situation, and the troops have also been trained accordingly, so he Zhao Kuangfu can be regarded as finding the wrong opponent this time. ”

"Thirty-five is right." Zeng Zhilin's heart suddenly brightened when he heard this, and he waved his hand and said, "With our army's brilliant military might, strong strength and well-trained soldiers, even if Zhao Kuangfu turns Fengzhou City into an iron wall and a military fortress, it will all be crushed." ”

Of course, arrogance is pride, but caution is indispensable, after all, it is better to reduce some of your own casualties or minimize them. Therefore, Zeng Zhilin ordered the siege artillery battalion to start bombarding the city wall to open the gap, and on the other hand, he ordered the siege infantry to be added to the original two battalions of the "Flying Dragon Army" and the two regiments of the "Security Army", and then one battalion of the "Flying Dragon Army" and one regiment of the "Security Army", so that his side could have more advantages in strength when fighting in the streets. At the same time, he also sent a message to Weng Zhong, deputy commander of the First Regiment of the Fourth Composite Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army," who was responsible for commanding the infantry to attack the city, instructing him to be cautious after entering the city, to adjust his tactics in a timely manner according to the situation of the enemy forces in the city, and not to blindly rush and attack so as to give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it.

At the end of the time, a section of the city wall about ten zhang wide near the left side of the city gate on the south side of Fengzhou City collapsed under the fierce blow of eighteen 130mm siege guns of a siege artillery battalion of the "Flying Dragon Army" for nearly half an hour, and nearly 10,000 infantry of the Zhou army, who had been waiting for a long time, were divided into three echelons before and after, with an interval of 100 steps, along the filled moat to the gap in the city wall.

Speaking of which, this Fengzhou Thorn Zhao Kuangfu is indeed a person who knows soldiers. Before the Northern Expedition of the Zhou Army, he learned some information about the Zhou Army from different sources, and knew that this was a tough, daring opponent with weapons superiority and difficult to deal with. Therefore, when Yelu sent someone to send him a message, asking him to avoid the enemy's edge, rely on street fighting to drag the enemy army, and buy time for cutting off the enemy's grain route on his side, he accepted it without hesitation, and worked with the general sent by Yelu Xian to study countermeasures and formulate a plan. Moreover, unlike the original practice of Zuzhou Yelusha, although Zhao Kuangfu also temporarily set up a large number of obstacles and barricades in the city, he did not arrange a large number of soldiers to guard these places like the former. Instead, he accepted Yelu's construction and only arranged a small number of brave men to block at the positions of some key and relatively strong obstacles or barricades, and at the same time arranged the main force of the defenders to the rooftops or houses facing the street, preparing to kill and injure the Zhou army with bows, crossbows, javelins, iron projectiles or even stones used in hunting when they had to slow down their advance due to obstacles and barricades.

Therefore, when Weng Zhong led the first echelon of the infantry siege cluster into the city from the gap in the city wall, all he could see was the obstacles and barricades made of masonry and wood on the north and south streets, and the Khitan defenders with only a dozen people behind each large barricade. Although such obstacles and barricades were just a small trouble for the Zhou army, whether it was to climb over the obstacles or eliminate the Khitan soldiers after the barricades, it would take a certain amount of time, so that the advance speed of the entire Zhou army's infantry had to slow down. And this slowness gave those Khitan soldiers who were ambushed on the roofs and behind the courtyard walls a chance. As a result, every time Weng Zhong's troops took a step forward, they would be attacked from all directions. Arrows, javelins, iron projectiles, and even stones, these things flew at them as if they didn't need money.

The sudden attack caused some confusion in the first echelon of the Zhou army's infantry cluster. However, after all, the Zhou army had a strong psychological element, and the soldiers quickly returned to normalcy under the orders of non-commissioned officers and officers at all levels. Second, Zhou Jun is also well-trained, has learned how to deal with various situations on the battlefield, and is proficient in drills. Thirdly, the protective equipment of the Zhou army is also very perfect, and even if it is hit, as long as it is not directly hit by the javelin, it will not be seriously injured. In addition, Weng Zhong received Zeng Zhilin's special instructions before entering the city, and as soon as he was attacked, he immediately ordered the whole army to temporarily retreat, relying on the collapsed city gate to line up in formation, and ordered the second and third echelons to accelerate their advance.

After the second and third echelons arrived, Weng Zhong immediately adjusted his deployment, and in addition to ordering a part of his troops to attack along the city wall to control the other three city gates, he formed five large clusters and nearly 100 small detachments of about 100 people according to the mixed formation of the "Flying Dragon Army" and the "Security Army".

Thanks to the secret reconnaissance and mapping of the "Dark Feather" and those Han caravans with special missions before the war, each platoon commander of the "Flying Dragon Army" and each company commander of the "Security Army" had a detailed topographical map of Fengzhou City, which made Weng Zhong not have to worry about the fact that each squad could not find its own area of responsibility when assigning the clearance area.

Under the leadership of their respective commanders, the central clusters in the four regions of the southeast, northwest, and northwest were divided into sections, while the central clusters, led by Weng Zhong himself, went straight to the Yamen of Fengzhou along the north and south streets of the city -- although the Khitan army was now broken into pieces, it would be of great help to the entire battle process by killing Zhao Kuangfu and destroying his command center.

Facts have proved that the street warfare method adopted by the Zhou army, which was developed by the brothers of the military department based on the tactics of clearing the guerrillas in the previous army, was equally effective against the Khitan defenders in Fengzhou City. When encountering a small group of enemy troops, a single detachment can destroy them in one fell swoop; When encountering a large force of enemy troops, several small detachments communicated with each other through guò military horns and whistles, gathered in one place, and cooperated with each other to encircle and annihilate them. As a result, under the clearing of the Zhou army's infantry in pieces, small groups and multiple routes, mutual cooperation, and repeated sweeps, the Khitan army's hidden soldiers in various parts of the city will be found one by one and eliminated on the spot.

And at the same time that the other four-way clearing clusters were attacking from all sides, the middle cluster led by Weng Zhong himself also approached the Fengzhou Thorn Mansion step by step. However, compared with other roads, Weng Zhong's journey is obviously more difficult. On the one hand, as the command center of the entire Fengzhou Khitan garrison, Zhao Kuangfu naturally had to arrange sufficient troops to protect the Assassin's Mansion; On the other hand, the road from the south gate to the Assassin's Mansion is the most prosperous part of Fengzhou City, and the houses on both sides are far denser than other areas, which is not only convenient for the defenders to use the building materials and furniture items of the houses to set up obstacles, but also conducive to their concealment and sneak attack on the Zhou army. In addition, those who can be arranged to protect the surroundings and the only way to protect the Thorn Mansion are the elite of the Khitan army who are brave and dare to die, and they will not give up. Therefore, Weng Zhong's middle group had to go through fierce battles and pay the price of blood every time he took a step forward. By the time he led his troops to rush to the gate of the Assassin's Mansion and surrounded the entire mansion, the casualties of the Central Cluster had exceeded 200 (including more than 30 of the "Flying Dragon Army").

Such heavy casualties made Weng Zhong feel distressed and angry at the same time. You must know that a few days ago, the Left Route Army attacked Zuzhou, which was also heavily fortified, and the total number of casualties was only more than 300 after the whole battle, of which the "Flying Dragon Army" was only about 40 people. And in today's attack on Fengzhou, the casualties of the middle cluster under his command alone have reached nearly seventy percent of the time of the Battle of Zuzhou, and there is no suspense that the total number of casualties will exceed the Battle of Zuzhou. With such a record, even if he finally won Fengzhou, he Weng Zhong's face would not have any brilliance. So, it's no wonder that this guy is furious.

Feeling embarrassed, coupled with the fact that the civilians in the houses around the Assassin's Mansion had been completely emptied, there was no need to worry about whether the civilians would be injured by mistake, and after the siege was completed and an ultimatum was issued to the people in the mansion to surrender immediately, but no one responded, Weng Zhong unceremoniously ordered all the mortars in the cluster to bombard the Assassin's Mansion, and asked some of the soldiers of the "Flying Dragon Army" with outstanding arm strength to throw grenades inside, which shrouded the entire Assassin's Mansion in smoke and flames in an instant.

To say that although this Zhao Kuangfu is a Han Chinese, his loyalty to the Khitan court is no less than that of Yelusha in Zuzhou. Moreover, unlike Yelusha who just blindly defended and was finally trapped in the stone room and waiting to be killed, Zhao Kuangfu was more courageous. Seeing that the Zhou army began to violently bombard the Assassin Mansion, he did not sit and wait for death, but after killing his family members with his own hands, together with the Khitan general who came to reinforce, he led a group of pro-soldiers and some Khitan soldiers who retreated to the mansion to rush out of the mansion and kill the Zhou army.

In the face of the Zhou army, which had already been waiting for a long time, Zhao Kuangfu's suicidal charge like a moth to the fire would naturally have no effect. In just a few moments, he and the Khitan general and more than 400 of their men were shot into a hornet's nest by the "Flying Dragon Army" infantry and "Security Army" crossbowmen on the opposite side.

At the beginning of the year, the Fengzhou Thorn Mansion was conquered. However, the capture of the Assassin's Mansion and the killing of Zhao Kuangfu did not mean that the battle in Fengzhou would subside. After all, with a commander like Zhao Kuangfu who is not afraid of death, the soldiers under him will naturally not be greedy for life and afraid of death. In addition, the 2,000 palace tent leather room troops who came to reinforce were also brave and brave warriors. Therefore, despite the loss of unified command, the remaining Khitan defenders in Fengzhou City still fought separately and stubbornly resisted, even if they fought to the last soldier, they did not flinch.

This fierce and tragic street battle lasted from noon to afternoon, and from afternoon to evening, and the large-scale battle came to an end. And until the next morning, there would be some sporadic gunshots in a corner of Fengzhou City, or a fierce and short shouting of killing.

On the afternoon of the twelfth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar of the seventh year of Jianlong, with the last small group of recalcitrant Khitan soldiers being annihilated in a remote courtyard in the city, the Fengzhou offensive and defensive battle, which lasted nearly 14 and a half hours (29 hours), was completely over. In this battle, the Middle Route Army of the Northern Expedition of the Great Zhou Dynasty suffered more than 700 casualties (including nearly 100 "Flying Dragon Army") at a huge cost, completely annihilated more than 5,000 Khitan defenders in the city, and seized the last city on the road to Changchun Prefecture.