Hundreds of ox carts rolled up an overwhelming cloud of yellow dust.

War drums and cow cries resounded through the heavens and the earth. The convoy rushed through the front of Pan Cheng's department, forming a wide fan, and crashed into the position of Guan Shirong's department at a gallop. The speed of the ox running cannot be compared with that of the war horse, but the short-distance sprint is still very fast, and thousands of thick oxen legs run on the ground, and the ground trembles.

Guan Shirong's staff members were not proficient in military affairs, and when they saw the scene of thousands of cattle galloping, they couldn't help but turn pale.

……

At the same time, under the whitish sky.

Outside Huihe City, the Shijia Treasure Department has also completed the formation, and officially launched another siege, with thousands of troops shouting and surging towards the city wall. Above and below the city, the battle flag fluttered. The cannons roared, and the stones thrown by the trebuchets fell on each other's heads with a whistling sound.

Strong bows and crossbows, arrows like locusts.

The Mengyuan army was usually equipped with two kinds of arrows, one was a long flying arrow and the other was an armor-piercing arrow. The shaft of the arrow, which is nearly a meter long, can easily penetrate the armor and shoot into the bodies of the soldiers who can't dodge, making a muffled "poof" sound.

After a tentative attack, the family found the weak point of the city's defenses.

He waved the military flag, urged the war drums, blew the horn, mobilized the follow-up troops to press, and shot the chirping hammer, commanding the soldiers on the front line to change the direction of the main attack. Li Ye scrambled to stand, with a herald beside him, in the direction of the Ming Di shot by Shi Jiabao, and also shot Ming Di, reminding the defending soldiers to focus on the defensive position.

An arrow, shot from the city, was very powerful, probably shot from a crossbow, sticking to Li Ye's sideburns, swept by, and pierced deep into the gap in the masonry of the battlement. The personal soldiers who guarded Li Ye were shocked into a cold sweat. According to military law, the main general was killed, and his own soldiers were beheaded.

And Li Ye, facing the arrows like locusts, didn't even blink his eyes.

……

Guan Shirong blinked repeatedly.

The cart formation of ox carts, like wind and clouds, passed through the open field in front of the two armies. The heavy panting, red eyes of the running bull, and the tense muscles when galloping, can already be seen clearly.

When he was about to arrive in front of Guan Shirong's army, an ox cart touched a small stone on the ground. The driver was not well trained, and in the fast movement, he could not maintain the balance of the body, and one wheel was cocked, and he staggered for a moment, and then overturned. With a weight of more than 2,000 catties, he fell to the ground, smashed out the dust and smoke, rolled and overturned, and tumbled for dozens of meters, almost crashing into the front line of Guan Shirong's department.

At a distance of 100 meters, you can shoot arrows.

The archer in the ox cart stretched out his arms and bows, and shot up to the sky, and a thousand arrows were like lightning. The shield bearer in front of Guan Shirong's department, with a cat at the waist, raised his shield to cover himself while protecting the archers behind. It was as if the rain had hit the canopy, and most of the arrows falling from high in the sky fell on it, and a few of them penetrated the gaps between the shields and fell into the group of soldiers.

Some soldiers were stabbed in the thighs, and some unlucky were pierced in the necks.

After the first rain of arrows, the second wave of arrows arrived. Because the distance is closer, the shot is higher, and the arrow penetrates more. Many shields were pierced by them, and several of the soldiers held their shields, and their hands were pinned by arrows, and blood flowed profusely. But not a single person cried out in pain, and not a single person dropped his shield.

"My lord, the ox cart is approaching, how to deal with it?"

Guan Shirong had never fought such a battle, and he couldn't think of a way to slam it. Since he couldn't think of a way, he responded with conventional tactics and saw how it worked: "Arrow! ”

Fortunately, the Haidong soldiers who participated in the war were all veterans and elites, who had many combat experiences, were relatively calm, and were restrained by the officers, and the entire formation was still maintained very well, and there was no panic because of the attack of the fierce bull. With the command, the shield-bearer lifted his shield and the crossbowman fired arrows into the sky.

The ox cart was not protected by a shield, and only a few oxen were tied with some oxen and other armor, and the arrows rained down from the sky, hitting the target one after another. Cattle, with rough skin and thick meat, miss the vital point, and it is difficult to shoot an arrow to death. The wounded cow became more and more violent. There were no more than three arrows in front of the enemy, and the short rain of arrows on both sides soon ended, and the ox carts rushed to the front of the battle.

The archers retreated, and the long soldiers stepped up.

The shieldbearer half-knelt on the ground, placed the shield on his shoulder, and re-erected it. This action may seem easy to do, but it's actually hard. Without extraordinary courage and harsh training, who would dare to hold the line of defense with flesh and blood, like rocks and mountains, at the moment when the angry ox is galloping and about to reach the front?

The spear, which was several meters long, penetrated through the hole on the shield.

The gunners placed the spear diagonally on the ground, held it sideways, with one foot in front, against the tail end of the spear and one foot behind, supporting their bodies. Pan Cheng's soldiers on the ox cart, the chief soldier operated the long soldier, and the one with the bow and arrow also replaced the gun. It was like mud and rocks rushing, and it was like a river bursting its banks, and the two armies collided violently in one place.

Heaven and earth change color.

……

Heaven and earth change color.

Looking around, under the city of Luyang, there are boundless siege soldiers. Dozens of ladders were set up at the head of the city, and warriors wearing several layers of heavy armor were in front to open the way, and the main force was close behind.

Thousands of soldiers, attached to the high walls. Below, is the team of the family treasure, eyeing the tiger; Above, there are bamboo poles like a forest, hanging the heads of their former dead robes. And the enemy's ,—— defenders of the city, just before the bamboo pole, sharpened their swords.

Extreme stimulation, causing madness. The offensive of the Yuan army was several times more fierce than in the past few days.

Shijiabao has been leading troops for a long time, and of course understands Li Ye's purpose of sticking to Huihe. Huihe City could not be attacked for a long time, tens of thousands of troops were trapped under the city, and the army would be exhausted as time went by. There was a second line of defense behind Huihe, and thousands of Haidong soldiers were ready to attack. As soon as the military strength is exhausted, let alone defeat the enemy, I am afraid that it will be difficult to even protect oneself at that time.

He personally led a team of descendants to supervise the battle under the city.

In the first two months, he sent several letters asking for help to Dadu. At present, most of the troops relied on by the Mengyuan court are local armed groups, such as Chahan, Polo and others. Chahan and Polo, one stationed in Henan, the other stationed in Hebei, and Shaanxi also had some of their men, which were too far away from Liaoxi, and the two of them each had their own military tasks and could not be transferred.

The Mengyuan court had no troops to send, no soldiers to help, so they had no choice but to collect the arsenal and send a lot of artillery and armor to Shijiabao, which was better than nothing.

The reason why Sajiabao was able to gather an army after a few months was that most of the armor and weapons sent to him were really indispensable. In particular, artillery and trebuchets were greatly replenished, and at this time they were all placed under the city, concentrated in one place, and violently bombarded a corner of the city wall.

The flint burst out, and the smoke obscured the eyes.

Every time there is a cannon shot, it is earth-shattering. If the total number of stones thrown by the trebuchet is added together, it does not hit the city wall, and even if it only falls into the city, it is piled up like a mountain, almost half of the inner city wall. The dwellings and houses in the city near the city walls were all destroyed.

Li Ye kept his promise, the city is in the people, and he will not leave the city half a step.

He calmly observed the enemy's movements, and from time to time he issued a concise order, or reinforced the area of the city that was in danger, with artillery fire and arrows; or mobilize reserves to defeat the enemy warriors who have seized the city; Or command the people, brave the flames of war, and urgently fill the gaps in the cracked city walls.

After many days of fierce fighting, the city wall of Huihe has long been riddled with holes. It is a miracle that the city has not fallen until now.

……

A miracle happened in front of Guan Shirong's eyes.

The strong wall composed of hundreds of shield players actually firmly withstood the impact of the oxcart array. The spearmen on both sides stabbed and swung out, and the moment they touched, blood splattered everywhere, flesh and blood flew sideways, and the injured soldiers fell down one after another like felled trees. The shield's defense line was knocked out of depressions everywhere, and Pan Cheng's ox cart overturned dozens of vehicles.

The bullock cart drummer, who was originally in the first and then behind, changed the frequency of the drumming. A desolate trumpet sounded from behind Pan Cheng, and the flag waved. The bullock carts, which had not been able to rush into formation, scattered to the sides, gathered in a bumping circle, opened up enough distance to charge, and roared again, and slammed into the shield line.

According to the tactics of vehicle warfare in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, behind each chariot, there will be a large number of unarmed soldiers, running on foot behind the chariot. These apprentices were usually unarmoured and used rudimentary weapons. When fighting each other's vehicles, they can be used as a complementary force.

Pan Cheng learned a lot.

The ox cart made a second charge, and his rear began to drive the strong men in front of him at the same time, moving forward. His tactics were obvious, the ox cart charged the formation, and the foot soldiers covered the killing. Guan Shirong frowned, although he saw Pan Cheng's intentions, but in the face of hundreds of angry cows, there was nothing he could do, and he felt deeply troubled.

"My lord, the enemy has two oxen and one cart, and the impact force is too great, and it is not comparable to human power. The front of our army, I am afraid that it will not last long. How to deal with it, please decide quickly. ”

An officer ran up the watchtower sweating profusely. Dusty and bloody, he was the messenger from the front.

"What did Zheng Qianhu say? How long can it last? ”

Zheng Qianhu is the officer in charge of commanding the shield bearer.

The messenger replied, "At most two more enemy charges." Zheng Qianhu told the last general to tell the lord, and he suggested that it would be better to send a group of men and horses to try to bypass the enemy's chariot formation and make a detour to the rear of the enemy army. There are many strong men in the enemy army, and if they are disrupted, the oxcart formation will naturally be broken. ”

Guan Shirong thought about it for a while and felt that it was feasible.

Although the enemy's ox cart formation was fierce, after all, there were only more than 400 vehicles, and the speed was different, and it was pulled into a scattered line. The wilderness is quite vast, and there is a lot of space on both sides. There is no problem in sending a force through and directly attacking the enemy's rear and disrupting it.

He turned his head to look at the hills to the east.

The skirmish that took place there came to an end. Pan Cheng probably saw that victory was in sight, and his interest in grabbing the high ground became not too great, and he did not send reinforcements there. With the help of fortifications and condescending advantages, the soldiers of Haidong firmly defended their positions.

Guan Shirong's staff suggested: "The cavalry of our army is hidden by the river and has not moved so far. Since you want to make a detour back to the enemy's rear, let's just transfer them. ”

"The lord has said that unless it is absolutely necessary, the surprise soldiers cannot be moved, and the reserves cannot be moved. Although the current situation of our army is dangerous, it has not reached the point of last resort. Cavalry, unable to move. ”

Guan Shirong drew his short sword and poked out of the watchtower. Under the watchtower, there are two rows of officers neatly lined up, all of whom are generals and colonels of the main Chinese army. He pointed at a few men with his short sword and ordered: "Then take your headquarters, go around to the east, and sneak behind the hill to the rear of the enemy." Ben will personally cheer for the drums and others, the drums will stop, and the enemy will be chaotic! ”

The men agreed and went away with their knives.

Guan Shirong beat the war drums, and the spirit of the shield bearers in the front was lifted. Generals, the courage of the three armies. Only a brave and fierce general can bring out soldiers who can fight well. Under the command of Deng She, the fierce generals are like clouds, in such an environment, although Guan Shirong is not outstanding in martial arts, he still has courage.

A roundabout force of hundreds of people quickly assembled, long knives unsheathed, guns bright, and murderous rushed towards Pan Cheng's main army of nearly 10,000.

……

Tens of thousands of troops, murderous surging waves, tried to completely submerge Huihe City. The soldiers above and below the city killed each other with red eyes.

From time to time, some soldiers screamed and fell from the ladder, some have been killed, some have fallen to death, some have not fallen to death, some have not fallen to death, tossing and moaning. The successors trampled on their corpses and bodies, as if numb and unconscious, and like moths to the flames, constantly attacking the city's defenses.

The main direction of attack of Shijiabao is the first line in the south of the city. The southern corner of the city, the main attack of his main attack, suffered the most fierce firepower. In less than an hour, three places cracked and collapsed in succession. Li Ye sent two reserves in a row, as if they had filled a bottomless pit, and in the blink of an eye, they were exhausted.

Li Ye glanced at the corner of the city, where he had arranged a last-ditch killer plan that would be used in the most critical moments. However, it is not critical enough to be at the best of times. He withdrew his gaze, remained calm and motionless, and then observed the enemy's camp and felt the strength of the enemy's attack.

The southern wall was in an emergency for the third time.

He didn't look back and said, "Knife!" ”

"Knife" is the code name he gave to the reserve team, symbolizing that they fight the first fire, everywhere, like a knife, indestructible, invincible. Every time he said the word, an officer of the reserve would step forward and lead his men to the most dangerous places.

This time, however, no one responded to his order.

"General, the reserve is three hundred and forty people, and two hundred and eighty are killed. Ten commanders and above, all of them died in battle. There is not a single officer left. ”

Li Ye's expression remained unchanged, and he stretched out his left hand: "Knife!" ”

Sixty members of the reserve, from left to right, responded one by one: "Knife! "Short and fast, scrambling, everyone is enthusiastic, vying to be the pioneer of assault rescue.

Li Ye dropped his spear, drew his knife out of its sheath, looked back and shouted: "Knife!" ”

All the soldiers responded in unison: "Knife! ”

"What are you?"

Sixty long knives were unsheathed at the same time, and everyone shouted together: "My generation is a knife!" "Since the start of the war, Li Ye has not moved a single step, and he has not moved like a mountain. At this point, he finally left the position where he had been standing, and the aggression was like fire. Instead of reappointing the officer to lead the team, he rushed to the southern corner of the city with sixty reserve soldiers.

——

1. Nearly a meter long arrow shaft and armor-piercing arrow.

The length of the shaft of the arrow is more than 60 centimeters, more than 70 centimeters, and more than 80 centimeters.

The proportion of the two types of arrows carried by the Yuan army is not very clear.

During the Tang Dynasty, the proportions were as follows: each soldier carried thirty-six arrows, thirty piercing arrows, four raw arrows, and two long stacked arrows.

The so-called armor piercing is not really able to pierce armor with every arrow, and it is related to the material of the arrow and bow, as well as the strength and archery skills of the archer.

A famous marksman in history, Yang Youji in the Spring and Autumn Period could break through seven layers of armor with one arrow, and Xue Rengui in the Tang Dynasty could shoot through five layers of iron armor with one arrow. There is a story in "The Biography of the Daughters", which says that the Jin Ping Gong ordered craftsmen to make bows, and it took three years to complete, but they couldn't shoot through a layer of armor. Jin Pinggong was furious and wanted to kill the craftsman. The craftsman's wife begged to see him and taught him how to shoot. According to her instructions, Jin Pinggong shot again, and sure enough, an arrow penetrated the seven-layer armor.