Zhao Wuji was right, only half a day later, the scout reported that the Xiongnu army had pulled out of camp and was heading north, and was rushing towards Yangzhou.

Fortunately, the Qin army moved fast enough, and at the urging of Zhao Wuji, they finally built a parapet wall three feet wide and about five feet high on the ruins of the Yangzhou city wall before sunset.

This time, the Qin army led by Zhao Wuji totaled more than 50,000 people, all of whom were foot soldiers. In order to increase the speed of the march, this Qin army hardly carried any heavy armor, all of them were light armor, and the bulky large shields were also abandoned, but they only carried more bows and crossbows and arrows. In the plains, the light infantry lacking heavy equipment had to form a formation against the cavalry several times their own size, which was undoubtedly self-defeating, so the Qin army chose Yangzhou City as a stronghold.

Although there were no tall walls to rely on, the parapet walls also provided an excellent barrier for the Qin army against cavalry in the wilderness. Since Maudun came on a light horse, he must not have carried siege baggage, and even if it was built in place, it would take several days.

And the task given to Zhao Wuji by Han Xin was to drag the main force of the Xiongnu to death, and to wait for change in Yangzhou.

According to the military information reported by the scouts, the forward of the Huns could not reach Yangzhou until after dawn at the earliest, so Zhao Wuji ordered the whole army to return to the camp to rest, leaving only a few hundred scouts to go south to investigate the enemy's situation, so as to raise enough physical strength to prepare for tomorrow's big battle.

A quiet night.

……

At dawn, with the rising sun, the main army of the Xiongnu had arrived.

On the distant horizon, hooves roared, and frightened birds in the woods continued to fly, sweeping over the head of Yangzhou City, and flying to a safe distance in panic.

The black pressed rush was the endless cavalry, layered like locusts. The footsteps of the horses' hooves roared like thunder, startling the dense birds that dyed the clouds in the sky a golden yellow.

The Huns were not in a hurry to attack, but deliberately divided the army into dozens of teams of thousands of people, constantly galloping from the distance of the parapet wall, sometimes firing arrows into the sky from afar, sometimes shouting and laughing unscrupulously, trying to disturb the morale of the Qin soldiers.

Seeing that the Xiongnu were so powerful, many newly recruited soldiers in the Qin army couldn't help but turn pale, nervously and desperately holding the weapons in their hands. Without Zhao Wuji's order, no one dared to shoot arrows to fight back, and just let the Huns provoke outside.

Although these recruits have been trained for a long time, it is the first time for them to come to the battlefield in person, especially in this kind of battlefield with a huge disparity in strength, how can they not feel afraid. On the other hand, there are veterans who have been in battle for a long time, most of them have participated in the defense of Xianyang a year ago, and some of them are from the old Qin army who followed Zhang Han's rebellion. They had already experienced a tragic battle of life and death, and although the Xiongnu were powerful, they were far from being able to scare them.

These people were the backbone of the Qin army, and they either took out dry food from their backpacks and stuffed it into their mouths to chew it carefully, or closed their eyes and seized the precious pre-war time to rest. The calmness of the veterans also made the recruits fear a little, and gradually they were not so afraid.

Zhao Wuji stood on the highest lookout platform in Yangzhou City, looking at the Hun cavalry who were provocatively galloping past outside the city from a distance, his face was calm, and he couldn't see his joy or anger.

The bruise on his knee had basically healed, and although there was still some dull pain, it didn't affect him from going into battle to kill the enemy.

This is the opportunity that Han Shin gave him to atone for his sins. If the military order is completed, the official will be reinstated, and the original crime of dereliction of duty will not be blamed in the past; If he fails to hold on, then no matter how close he Zhao Wuji and Han Xin are, there will be no chance to turn over.

Zou Yi, the deputy general behind Zhao Wuji, looked into the distance with a somewhat nervous face, and said; "General, do we have to give the order to prepare for war?"

"It's not time yet." Zhao Wuji shook his head, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice; "The Huns have been on the road for a day, and they are already sleepy and tired, but we are waiting for work, and as long as our brains are not broken, we will not attack rashly."

Speaking of this, Zhao Wuji thought about it for a while, and then decisively ordered; "Lexi."

"Yes." A seven-foot man with a tiger's back stepped forward.

Zhao Wuji pointed to the Hun rangers who were showing off their might in the distance, "You lead three hundred crossbowmen, come forward and shoot them down for me." ”

"No." Lexi's face was full of excitement and he retreated.

Soon, 300 Qin troops rushed to a protruding place in the northwest corner with crossbow machines, but the Huns in the distance did not feel that death was coming. Thrown triumphantly on horseback, showing off his superb horsemanship, from time to time from the quiver rushed out feather arrows and shot long shots into the sky, although there was no threat to the Qin army in the city, but it was also disturbing.

Lexi was leaning over, his tall body was too conspicuous at the parapet, so he was always leaning down. Raising his hand slightly, the crossbowmen beside him took aim with their crossbows, and a fierce light flashed in Lexi's eyes, and he roared; "Put."

Three hundred arrows burst out in an instant like a storm of metallic luster.

The crossbowman is angry and said that his voice is as powerful as anger, so he is named his crossbow. The Qin crossbow originated from the bow, and the powerful range was far greater than that of the bow. The first hundred or so people were almost unsuspectingly shot on their backs, and the Huns came to their senses and quickly fled after falling off their horses, leaving only the corpses of men and horses.

The Qin army suddenly shouted, the soldiers all shouted loudly, and their tones were full of mockery, and the Huns saw that the range of the crossbow machine was far better than the bow and arrow in their hands, so they didn't dare to get too close to provoke.

Zhao Wuji's face showed a smile, although Han Xin gave him light infantry this time, he didn't treat him badly at all, and he gave him more than 5,000 crossbow machines that were the sharpest in the Qin army alone.

These crossbows are all stretch bows, that is, heavy crossbows, which need to be fired with the foot on the bow, the arm pulled and dragged by the waist, and wound with the strength of the whole body. Although the speed of firing is far inferior to that of a bow, the arrow fired is extremely powerful, flying several times faster than a bow, and can even penetrate and kill the latter. This is indeed the sharpest weapon of infantry against cavalry, which also adds a lot of confidence to Zhao Wuji's fortification of the city.

"Pass the order, let the brothers rest in their positions, and ignore them unless the Huns attack aggressively."

"No."

……

Although the ruins of Yangzhou City are called high ground, the surrounding terrain is not high, and at best it can only add a little trouble to the attacker, but it is insignificant to the overall situation. Because of the similar terrain around him, Zhao Wuji couldn't judge where the Huns would launch the main attack, so he had to order the four generals to lead their headquarters to hold one place, and he himself personally led more than 20,000 people to respond in the center. Fortunately, Yangzhou City is not large, and the average of 50,000 people is not very tight.

Because the city has fallen, the civilians have already been evacuated, so it is just a waste of the city, but there is no need to worry about hurting the Qin civilians.

Mao Dun looked at the city from afar on the sand dunes, and suddenly sneered; "I don't know what Han Xin's idea is, he actually put the army here, does he want to rely on these broken walls to block my Hun iron cavalry, joke."

Yan Fu on the side laughed a few times and said softly; "Da Danyu you are too overestimated this hairy boy, in the past, he was able to beat my Huns several times, but also a lot of luck. You must know that he is just an ordinary person, and if he is an ordinary person, he will have scruples and make mistakes. Since our army went south, the Qin army and we have been in a stalemate for two months, and I think the pressure on him within the Qin State must have been very great, so he was forced to make a decisive battle early. ”

Maudun groaned; "And what do you think he meant? He's not stupid, he must have done it with a plan,"

Yan Fu Zou Mei pondered for a while before saying; "I think he may want to send troops to attack the rear of our army, so as to attract our main force to come back, and then the remaining Qin army will launch a counterattack from the direction of Yiqu, forming a situation of flanking us from the north and south. But he obviously didn't expect that we had already demolished all the cities in the upper county, leaving him with nothing more than a ruin. ”

The Evil King on the side couldn't help but ask, "But what if we don't come back as he wants?" ”

"Then he will definitely continue to go north to join the Qin army that is sticking to Fu Shi, first eat the headquarters of the right general who besieges Fu Shi, and then then the city of Fu Shi Chi Shen will return from the back to contain us, so that we can't move, and it is difficult to break the advance and retreat."

Maudun nodded and said; "What the national teacher said is reasonable, it seems that this Han Xin really miscalculated, hehe, with this ruin, he is like blocking our 300,000 iron horses, what a fool's dream."

That being said, there was still a faint worry in his heart. He always felt that Han Xin would not make such a low-level mistake, but he really couldn't think of an explanation other than that.

He was silent for a long time, and then thought carefully about all kinds of possibilities in his heart, and then he was sure that everything was foolproof. Even if the emptiness in the south allows the Qin army to take the opportunity to counterattack, as long as it can eat the Qin army that is holding Yang Zhou before the Qin reinforcements arrive, then they can calmly deal with the Qin army heading north.

Time, time is the most important thing!

Therefore, Mao Dun decided not to think about it anymore, and just ordered the Guangbu scouts to investigate the surroundings more to prevent any reinforcements from the Qin army from coming.

He raised his head again and asked Kun Mo, "Little Prince, are you sure that there are as many as 100,000 Qin troops in the city?" ”

Kunmo stubbornly leaned over and saluted; "Back to Da Danyu, our department has fought with it several times before, only to see that the Qin people are in strict formation, and our troops have suffered heavy casualties in several attacks, although I can't figure out how many men and horses they have, but I probably won't be wrong."

Maudun nodded, but he didn't have any suspicions. Although Yangzhou City is not a big city, it is also the seat of Qin County after all, and there are many houses in the city, so it is easy to hide 100,000 troops. Besides, the parapet wall is not too long, and the Qin army only needs 30,000 or 40,000 men and horses to defend it tightly, and it does not need to be pressed by the whole army.

It's just that Kun Mo's lies are very flawed, once the siege begins, the strength of the Qin army can be seen within a few days. However, at this time, Kun Mo had no other way but to continue to lie, and he had to find a way to do things in the future.

At this time, it was already past the afternoon, the Hun soldiers and horses had rested for half a day, and their physical strength had recovered most of them. "Pass on my military order, the whole army will fight, the left Xian Wang will go first, the Wang Court headquarters and the right Xian Wang will be postponed, and the other departments will be on standby."

"Yes." The generals answered with a loud voice.

The horn sounded, and the Hun army suddenly boiled, and a large number of cavalry mounted their horses and poured out of the camp tents, roughly arranging according to their respective belongings.

The first to attack was Zuo Xianwang's department, led by the Xiongnu general Zuo Dadanghu Fuqu Beqi himself, and 80,000 Xiongnu cavalry divided into ten teams, which attacked from the east and south. At the same time, Mao Dun personally led his headquarters to sweep the formation, maintaining an oppressive trend on the north and west, forcing the Qin army to dare not relax in the slightest in these two places.

The gentle slopes of the heights could only slow the advance of the Hun cavalry, but could not stop the horses' hooves. The Hun cavalry roared and rushed to the high ground, and the soldiers in the front row drew their swords one after another, roaring and rushing towards the parapet.

The attack of 80,000 cavalry was terrifying, as unstoppable as a mountain and a sea, and the earth trembled slightly as the horse's hooves fell, and every sound of the horse's hooves seemed to beat the heart of the Qin army.

"Kill." Zou Yi's eyes were about to split, and he waved his saber and swung it down. As soon as he finished speaking, more than 3,000 crossbow arrows flew out, and at the same time, the follow-up Huns also reined in the reins of their horses, opened their bows and arrows and shot long shots into the sky. A dark cloud suddenly rose in the sky, and black-pressed arrows fell from the sky like a shower.

Most of the arrows rained down into the city. Some of them were nailed to the parapet wall, splashing a burst of dirt, most of them clanged and nailed to the door panel held high in the hands of the Qin soldiers, and a few scattered arrows nailed the Qin soldiers to the ground screaming.

The Huns' upward fire was to cover the attack of the charging soldiers, but the momentum was terrifying but the accuracy was insufficient. At this time, the crossbow arrows of the Qin army had also arrived, and the huge inertia of the metal arrows easily penetrated the Huns who rushed to the front, splashing a splash of blood, and the knights and war horses who did not come and died screamed on the battlefield, but no one paid attention to them, and the follow-up Huns did not flinch.

Despite the heavy casualties, the Huns quickly rushed through the range of the crossbow arrows, and at this time, a large number of archers in the Qin army also accompanied the crossbow arrows to release their arrows, bringing even more heavy casualties to the Huns.

A large number of knights and horses fell, but they could not stop the Huns' fanatical fighting spirit in the slightest. The corpses were layered on top of each other, almost covering the ground with a thick layer. Finally, someone rushed to the bottom of the parapet, and the huge horse's body slammed into the parapet by inertia, making a huge roar. Although this warrior was soon stabbed into a hornet's nest by the halberd poking out of the hole in the wall, a steady stream of Huns poured in behind him.

Frustrated Qu Beqi came to the front of the battle, raised his sword and shouted; "There is no retreat, retreat is death!"

"Brothers, hold on." Zou Yi brandished his long sword and cut off the hands of a Hun soldier who had climbed the city wall, "Victory belongs to our Great Qin!" ”

A large number of Hun cavalry attacked in front of the parapet, and many people even followed the horse momentum directly over the parapet, but were pierced by the long halberd behind it. The Qin crossbowmen began to retreat, and the front line was handed over to the halberders, who retreated and fired arrows under the cover of soldiers holding high planks, killing and wounding the Huns who jumped up to the city.

The Huns kept jumping over the parapet, but they kept screaming and falling under the wall, frustrated but cold-blooded, not caring about the deaths and injuries of their subordinates, just desperately urging their subordinates to keep moving forward.

One will be successful, and ten thousand bones will wither. In the minds of the generals, there is no difference between the soldiers under their command and the swords and horses, and human life is the most despicable on the battlefield. For the sake of the final victory, how many casualties are acceptable.

A large number of Huns died under the wall, and a half-human-high layer was piled up, and the subsequent Hun soldiers could easily step on the corpses of their companions and jump onto the parapet to fight the Qin army hand-to-hand. Finally, someone entered the Qin army's formation, and gradually, there were a large number of casualties in the Qin army.

Heroism did not belong only to the Huns, the Qin people, who had experienced 500 years of war, were more bloodthirsty and fanatical in their bones, and they competed against each other and cut the Huns who rushed into the wall one by one without concession.

Maudun was high on the ground, leaning down to look at the entire battlefield. It only took him a few glances to know that it was a hard city, and although it was rudimentary, the soldiers defending it had the will and determination to resist stubbornly—and it had to be taken in one fell swoop, even if it was at a terrible cost. Otherwise, once the vigor subsides, it will inevitably fall into a siege and stalemate.

Mao Dun immediately ordered; "Hold Yan Yan to attack the north, Kun Mo you attack the west, if there is no me, I will order those who dare to retreat, there will be no forgiveness."

The Huns galloped out of the two armies and galloped to the northwest. Although Kun Mo had the intention to preserve his strength, he did not dare to play tricks in front of Mao Dun, so he had to attack the city with all his might.

For a time, Yang Zhou warned on the whole line, the Huns were not stingy with human life, and the meaning of Mao Dun was very clear, that is, to capture the parapet wall at all costs.

If there is a gap, the dam that will surely enter the river will collapse, and the decline will be out of control.

Mao Dun understands this truth, and Zhao Wuji understands it too. Therefore, he divided the reserve forces in the city into more than a dozen teams, put out fires everywhere, and immediately put out the fire wherever there was danger.

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, if you want to defeat a fierce enemy, then you must be more ferocious, more ruthless, and more bloodthirsty than the enemy!

In the absence of siege equipment, the Huns could only rely on the forcible attack regardless of the casualties, but as long as they won the battle and captured Yangzhou, it was worth paying more casualties.

The Huns were so dense that the crossbowmen didn't even have to aim, just mechanical kicking, arrows, and firing could bring one or even several casualties. Inside the parapet wall, the Qin army originally had the upper hand in the battle, but there were more and more corpses, and the pit was gradually filled, and the advantage was not there. In the end, it became a complete hand-to-hand fight.

Although there were many Huns, they could not be pressed all at once, and although the Qin army was small, it was trained in several rows and orderly. The two sides fought fiercely along the inner side of the parapet wall, from noon until sunset, until the torches were lit, and there was still a stalemate, and no one could help the other.

The Huns were not well prepared for this visit, and there were not enough torches for a while. Most people in the pre-Qin era suffered from night blindness due to nutritional problems, and this was even more prominent in the grassland people. Since there is not enough firelight, it is even more impossible to talk about night battles.

Maudun, who was watching the battle from afar, sighed slightly, knowing that he had missed the perfect opportunity for a quick victory.

Fortunately, he still has a chance, and there is still time!