The more Zhao Chengxiao shouted, the more anxious he became, and suddenly he was in a hurry, pulled Qiu Yizhi to the table, dipped his fingers in the water poured on the table, and wrote a few crooked words: Wudingmen, fried, look downstairs.

Although these words are simple, the meaning is expressed very clearly, Qiu Yizhi saw that his brain was dizzy again, and he finally settled down, so he walked to the side of the bed step by step, and put his hand on the railing to look down.

But I saw that the inside of Wuding Gate was already a mess, under the white, gray, and black smoke and dust, there were ruins and broken bricks and digging, and there were countless broken hands and feet lying on the ground, exuding a disgusting smell of rotten feet. The soldiers who had just won the battle and had gathered in the city were now torn apart, some dead, some crippled, some weeping, some silent......

Although Qiu Yizhi's mind was still ignorant, from the words "Wuding Gate, Bombing" written by Zhao Chengxiao, as well as the tragic scene in front of him, he had already guessed that the one who created such a terrible scene must be the explosives that were transmitted from the Western Regions by the Tianzun Sect.

It's just that in Qiu Yizhi's impression, although an object like explosives is powerful, it is extremely inconvenient to use - how can it be detonated in the crowd when it needs to be carefully prepared to bombard a fixed city wall? Even if it was pre-filled with jars, it was extremely inconvenient to transport, and even if it could barely reach the enemy crowd, the detonator would inevitably be reduced to powder along with the explosives.

The more Qiu Yizhi thought harder, the more his brain hurt badly. But he knew that now was not the time to recover slowly, so he raised his right hand and slapped himself a few times.

Not to mention, these heavy blows were really effective, and they drove out all the noise and vibrations that were crowded in Qiu Yizhi's mind, and his ears gradually heard the sound clearly - only Zhao Chengxiao shouted to himself in the midst of the noise: "My lord, the king of Lingnan killed and injured a lot of our army with explosives, how to deal with it, please decide!" ”

How to deal with it? What else can be done?

Qiu Yizhi shook his head that was almost bursting in pain, thought about it carefully, and said: "King Lingnan is so powerful, this move not only hit the main force of our army hard, but also greatly hurt the morale of our army. Presumably he was about to launch the next round of attacks...... "That was the only judgment he could make now."

However, it was far from enough to predict the enemy's next move, Qiu Yizhi looked at Liu Qing, who was sitting stiffly like a wooden man with a puzzled face, and knew that unless he came up with any feasible methods now, it would be difficult for the king of Lingnan to attack the city in a big way.

So he got up and shook Lin Shuhan awake vigorously, and at the same time gave orders word by word: "Zhao Chengxiao, you use the name of the Jiangnan Provincial Jiedu Envoy to let the defenders under the city count the casualties. Those who are able to fight must stick to their posts, and the wounded must be immediately carried down for treatment. ”

Zhao Chengxiao agreed, and was about to go down to give the order, but Qiu Yizhi stopped him, took out the gold medal order arrow in his arms, and said: "At present, the troops in the direction of Wudingmen are not enough to resist the attack of the Lingnan army. You use this thing again to order all the troops stationed at each gate to be concentrated here, and you must resist the enemy's attack. ”

Qiu Yi said while thinking, and said: "Regarding the matter of the herald, you call the brothers who are trusted by your subordinates to go, tell them to go early and return early, and don't stay longer." If you gather more than 200 elite soldiers under my command, I am afraid that you will also go into battle later. ”

Qiu Yizhi's eighteen personal soldiers—now there are only seventeen of them left by his side, excluding the "Iron Head Jiao" who are recuperating in Shanyin County—and the two hundred township warrior regiments who have been recruited and trained by himself are the foundation of his life, and they will never be easily put into use unless they are absolutely necessary. Especially in pure attrition wars such as defending cities and melee battles, Qiu Yizhi will never easily put soldiers and horses into the battlefield.

This bit of selfishness is also human nature, Zhao Chengxiao was born as a thief, of course he can understand the difference between inside and outside, and he also understands that Qiu Yizhi's consideration of investing in these baby bumps is indeed in a desperate situation.

So Zhao Chengxiao nodded with a serious face, turned around, and walked downstairs quickly.

Qiu Yizhi saw that Zhao Chengxiao was walking steadily and not chaotic at all, and his heart was a little calm, and he saw that Liu Qing was still sitting in his seat a little blank, so he took a few steps forward and said: "In this drastic change, the morale of the soldiers will inevitably be greatly reduced, and only the main generals of the three armies can be saved by coming to the battle array." Why don't you go downstairs with me and comfort the soldiers? ”

Now Liu Qing's mind was blank, he didn't have the slightest idea, and when he heard Qiu Yizhi say this, he stood up without thinking about it, like a marionette, and walked downstairs with a dull face.

Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly helped Lin Shuhan, who was still very weak, and also followed-Lin Shuhan was originally a weak scholar, and he was not as good as Qiu Yizhi and Liu Qing, who were born in the army, so it was naturally difficult to withstand such a close-range explosion, and he was already weak.

The tragic situation of the defenders of Jinling, when viewed from downstairs, is a hundred times more miserable than from upstairs.

A viscous substance of soot, blood, and water painted the faces of almost every soldier, making them look like imps who had escaped hell. These little ghosts were at a loss by the sudden explosion attack of the Lingnan Army, and even though they had received the order from Liu Qing, the representative of Qiu Yi, they were still in a hurry-the left and right comrades in the formation were lost, and they didn't know where to stand; He who carried the wounded brother did not know where Dr. Langzhong was, and he inquired around like a fly.

When Qiu Yizhi saw such a scene, he was very anxious, knowing that if the King of Lingnan attacked now, it would be absolutely impossible to resist the current chaotic army. But when he saw this group of soldiers who had suffered a sudden blow, he couldn't reprimand and punish them, so he had to bring in a herald under Liu Qing and ask him to quickly urge the defenders in other places to come over and support immediately.

But as soon as he gave the order, he heard the sound of killing outside the destroyed Wuding Gate, and looked out through the smoky doorway, only to see that the Lingnan army, which had all withdrawn from the city, was re-entering Jinling City—but they had already taken off the heavy armor they were wearing just now, all of them had changed into light armor, and they were running towards the city with sharp blades in their hands.

It seems that this is a tactic that the king of Lingnan has prepared for a long time - he first blew up Wudingmen with explosives, and then used a large army to attack the city of Wudingmen, and at all costs, he also wanted to gather the enemy army in one place as much as possible; Then use explosives again to kill and injure the enemy; Finally, with an elite assault, you can break through the impregnable Jinling city defense in one fell swoop.

The hand of the King of Lingnan really succeeded as he wished, not only concentrated more than half of the defenders in Jinling City on the projectile land in Wuding Gate, but also withdrew, detonated, and assaulted the three waves of operations organized in an orderly and airtight manner, even as an opponent, I have to admire his skillful use of soldiers, and he is faintly not inferior to the original King of Youyan and the current emperor Zheng Rong!

However, admiration is admiration, but it is not possible to raise your hands to surrender and lead your neck to kill.

Seeing that the enemy army was coming suddenly, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly ordered the defenders who were still in place in the name of Liu Qing to immediately enter the battle, and to intercept the Lingnan army under the Wuding Gate at the first time.

But the king of Lingnan obviously wanted to finish his work in one battle, and the soldiers who entered the city wall from outside the destroyed Wuding Gate actually poured into the city in a steady stream - these people were very high, and they had the courage to fight the defenders of the court who had just suffered a big loss, and in a short time they would kill the officers and troops who surrounded them step by step.

Qiu Yizhi, who commanded the battle at close range, saw that the situation was critical, and saw that the soldiers who came to support from various gates had not yet arrived, so he could only grit his teeth, give up the defense of the city wall as if gambling, and ordered the defenders on the city wall not to guard against the ladder of the enemy army to enter the city, and all went down to the city to fight.

This is a risky move in desperation, if the enemy army attacks the city wall at this time, there is not a single defender on the wall, and the enemy army can occupy the wall without any casualties, and then condescendingly attack the defenders below.

However, if the city gate is breached and Jinling City falls, it makes no sense to occupy a section of the city wall for nothing.

The lesser of two evils, Qiu Yizhi had no choice but to make such a choice.

However, the strength of the army is the strength of the troops, and the continuous coming down from the city wall to support the army on the ground immediately changed the comparison of forces on the battlefield of Wudingmen, and in the blink of an eye, the Lingnan army that had almost occupied Wudingmen was compressed.

At this moment, other defenders from Jinling City also rushed to Wuding Gate from the east and west, and they didn't need to use knives and guns to slash and kill, but directly pushed and squeezed, and finally beat back the Lingnan army that had entered the city.

Qiu Yizhi saw such a situation after the battle, and he was happy in his heart, and he was just about to discuss with Lin Shuhan, Zhao Chengxiao, Liu Qing and others how to block Wuding Gate, but he suddenly remembered a fold, and immediately shouted loudly: "Everyone disperse quickly, be careful of the ...... of the Lingnan Army"

He originally wanted to say the word "explosives", but he was afraid that he would leak the secrets of the imperial court in public, so he quickly changed his words and said: "Be careful of the Lingnan Army's ...... Archery! ”

At this moment, the Lingnan army has not yet occupied the city wall, and it is impossible to launch an attack from the city wall to the city, and how many arrows can fly in after dragging through the narrow and deep doorway?

When the troops heard this order, they didn't know what its purpose was, and they were all a little at a loss. And because of the scuffle that had just passed, the formation and command of all the armies were disrupted, and there was no way to carry out this indiscriminate order. Among the defenders, only the more than 200 elite soldiers under the command of Qiu Yi escaped from the mixed soldiers and horses.

At this moment, a dozen or so people suddenly rushed in from the doorway, all half-naked in the cold wind of early spring, but each holding a short knife with a length of one foot in each hand, and shouted a vague slogan in their mouths, so they rushed into the crowd.

Qiu Yizhi was behind the crowd, and he couldn't see what was happening in front of him, but he only noticed that the soldiers and horses in front of him were in chaos, but he didn't know what was going on, so he hurriedly called the "black-necked toad" behind him to inquire about the situation ahead.

The "black-necked toad" stretched his neck to look at the situation ahead, and said with a sad face: "My lord, I'm afraid it's not okay, right?" With so many people, it's not easy to squeeze in, and it's even harder to squeeze out, what can you see? ”

Qiu Yizhi was anxious, and he was still allowed to talk nonsense like this, so he immediately scolded sharply: "Where did you kid come from so many words? If you are told to go, you will go, and if you don't try, how do you know that you can't? ”

The "black-necked toad" listened to Qiu Yizhi's words without the slightest room for negotiation, so he had to bite the bullet, use his two extremely thick arms, and forcefully separate the soldiers who were blocking the way in front of him, and squeezed forward desperately.