September 22, at dawn.

The Taiping army, which had already been prepared, quietly set off from Puyuan County in Chishang Prefecture. In order to avoid the refugee camps on the border and the possible Omani spies in the mix, the Taiping army deliberately made a detour to the west, approaching the outskirts of the Bayan Mountains. After going all the way south, he turned back and set foot on the land of Tiannan County!

This is a total of 17,000 troops, plus a number of baggage battalions that carry food and grass with the army.

These include 2,000 people from the Taiping Battalion, 4,000 people from the Volunteer Battalion, 4,000 people from the former Dengzhou First Garrison Brigade, 4,000 people from the former Dengzhou New Group Second Garrison Brigade, plus 3,000 recruits trained by Chen Wu after entering Wu'an.

In the original station of Puyuan County, more than one wing of recruits remained. The reason why they were not brought with them was to suppress the refugees at the border and prevent riots; The second is also to confuse the Omanis spies. Moreover, considering the magnitude of the mission, it was not appropriate for a recruit who had not experienced much combat to go into battle with the army.

After all, numbers never represent true combat effectiveness.

For this expedition, the Taiping army attached great importance to it. If it wins, the Taiping army can officially own the territory of the two counties and become the number one force in the southeast. But if it is defeated, it will not only catch up with almost all the main forces of the Taiping army, but also completely anger the Omanis. It can be said that this is the largest adventurous operation of the Taiping Army since the strategic eastward advance and entry into Songjiang County.

If it weren't for the fact that this battle had to be fought, many officers in the Taiping Army would just be reluctant to fight. But there is no way, if you don't drive the Omanis with wolf ambitions out of Tiannan, the good situation in Songjiang County is just a water in the mirror, and the Omani army will come to naught if it touches it.

"Not only to fight, but also to fight quickly!"

Chen Wu, who personally accompanied the army on the expedition, had already received the latest information from the Nanfeng Fortress. The Omanis requisitioned tens of thousands of people from Nanfeng Province and forced them to demolish the Nanfeng Fortress. This huge defensive system was built at the height of the empire with a staggering amount of military and financial resources. If they were allowed to be demolished by the Omanis, it would be difficult to rebuild them. With the manpower and material resources of Songjiang and Cheonnam counties, it is not known how long it will take to complete the reconstruction.

Moreover, without the intact South Peak Fortress as a barrier, even if the Omani army is driven away this year, the other party can make a comeback after a year or two of rest.

With this consideration, it is not difficult to understand the sense of urgency in Chen Wu's heart.

It's just that the shape is not subject to human will. Although Chen Wu was eager to let the Taiping army rush into the battlefield immediately, this matter was urgent. First, the march of the Taiping army must be sufficiently concealed, otherwise once the Omanis know about it and have precautions in advance, the role of the Taiping army will be greatly reduced, and there is even a danger of being surrounded and suppressed by the Omanis. Second, the timing of the Taiping army's attack is also particular, not too early or too late.

Only when Leji's Tiannan army is unsustainable and Tianlong City may be breached at any time, will the Omans press on a large scale, and the defense of the rear is also the most lax and empty. At this time, it was the best time for Taiping County to sneak attack the Guqingguan Tun grain point.

Under the opening of the Taiping cavalry under the command of Yan Dongxing, the army of the Taiping army avoided the crowded towns and roads as much as possible, and went all the way east from the junction area of Languan County and Zhangchun, and then left Changlufu from the edge of Baotai County and entered the edge of Tianlong.

Thankfully, the brutal and aggressive offensive of the Omanis in Namfeng Province caused a large number of people to flee. There were no fleeing civilians in Changlu Prefecture, and most of them hid in the city and did not dare to go out at will—among them, local thieves also contributed their strength. Because of this, the Taiping army came all the way and didn't meet many people. Occasionally, there were encounters or suspicious ones, and they were also directly detained by the horse team of the Taiping Army.

For quite some time, the whereabouts of the Taiping army were a top secret.

During this period of marching, the information on Tianlong's side was also continuously transmitted back to the Taiping army.

On September 21, the day before the Taiping army sent troops, the Omani army collapsed the wall of Tianlong City for the first time, and the Omani people were excited and stepped up their attack. Not only did the siege become more and more intense, but after hoarding a large number of boulders, large counterweight stone throwers also began to attack the partially collapsed section of the city wall again. During this period, Leji did not think of going out of the city to destroy these trebuchets, but they all failed because of the strict protection of the Omanis, and instead lost a number of people.

After another four days, under the continuous attack of two or three hundred catties of boulders, this section of the city wall about 145 meters wide finally collapsed completely, spilling a large amount of tamped earth and masonry.

The battle finally reached its most brutal scene.

Just as the Taiping army did when they attacked the blockade, the Omani army slaughtered through the collapsed walls.

However, the collapse of the city wall by a catapult is not the same thing as the sudden and unsuspecting earthquake span. As early as when he was evacuating from the South Peak Fortress, Leji had already considered this possibility. After the 18th of September, the arrangement was intensified. At the moment when the city wall collapsed, a large number of soldiers of the Tiannan Legion had already blocked the gap.

In the past few days, the people in Leji have temporarily repaired a terrain similar to Urn City in the gap, and they have also prepared weapons similar to knife carts. The size and purpose are similar, the only difference is that this weapon is not called the name "Knife Car" in the Empire's equipment sequence, but "Semen Turbulence".

Seeing the wall collapse, the Omani soldiers rushed into the gap with joy, completely unexpectedly crashing headlong into such terrain.

The Taiping army above the city of Weng, with eighty foot archers placed on three sides, and Saimen tuchariots and heavily armed hoplites below. Under this three-dimensional attack, the Omani soldiers who rushed in immediately suffered a big loss, leaving hundreds of corpses behind and retreating in an instant.

However, even if it is the Longtan Tiger's Lair behind this gap, it is easier than going directly to the head of the city to attack the city.

Even though he knew that Leji had already prepared in the back and used this place as a meat grinding ground, Yan Huahui, the general of the Omanis, still did not hesitate and reluctantly, gave an order, organized two wings of soldiers again, and launched a charge towards the gap. And this time, they brought battering rams!

Unlike the formal city walls, the urn city behind the gap was built temporarily, and the fortification was far inferior to the real city wall. The battering ram is a weapon that has the potential to break the urn city. Even if it can't, it would be possible to use it to smash open the Simon Rush - better than having a soldier face this terrible weapon of war with twenty-four steel knives stuck in his flesh and blood!

With the addition of a second group of Omani soldiers, the armies on both sides engaged in even more bloody battles in the gaps in the walls.

Because of the advantage of the terrain, with the cooperation of the archers on the urn city, the advantage occupied by the soldiers of the Tiannan Legion was not smaller than that of the city wall. Even, because of the Omani dirt hills, the soldiers of the Tiannan legion behind the city wall were safer than on the city wall. In just one day, nearly 1,000 Omanis were killed and wounded!

At its height, the gaps in the walls were filled with the corpses of soldiers on both sides.

Realizing that Leji was far more prepared than expected, the Omanis had to continue to use catapults to strike. At the same time, in order to wear down the defenders of the city as much as possible, the Omani army also took turns to attack the city and the gaps. Under this reckless attack, the soldiers of the Tiannan Army also suffered heavy casualties.

From the beginning of the defense of the city to the present, the remnants of the Tiannan Army, which had already suffered huge losses, were killed and wounded more than 10,000 soldiers again, plus the formation of two divisions and regiments was disabled. With the Empire's reinforcements in sight, morale was much lower than it had been at the beginning of the siege. According to Leji's estimate, if the Omanis can withstand this loss and continue to storm at any cost for a month, Tianlong City may be completely lost!

This speed is much faster than Leji originally expected. The reason for this was that the kind of stone thrower, which was large enough to destroy the city wall, disrupted his preparation and deployment.

Now, let's just hope that the Omanis will be deterred by the huge losses - or count on the Taiping army in the north, who still don't know where they are?

………

What Leji didn't know was that after the Omanis captured the Nanfeng Fortress, they were only one step away from Saladin's long-cherished wish to go north to capture the Qianyuan Empire and become the overlord of the Eastern Continent. In this case, in the face of Tiannan County, a ground that can be used as a vanguard and springboard, how could Saladin be willing to give up?

A great opportunity is just around the corner, and he has decided to completely take Tiannan County at any cost and destroy the great enemy of Tiannan Legion!

The enormous sacrifices that have been made have not deterred them at all. On the contrary, the Omanis have managed to activate the black-clad agents in the city by signaling a "Kong Ming lantern" similar to that of the night in Guò. After two consecutive days of fighting in the gap in the city wall, the black-clothed guard waited for the opportunity as he wished.

Leji's precautions in the city have inevitably been reduced.

After secretly assembling more than 100 people, plus more than 30 dead soldiers and outlaw bandits recruited, one of the guards of the Black Guard personally launched this sneak attack. At midnight, taking advantage of the Annam caravan's familiarity with the terrain, more than a hundred Omanis carried a large number of hidden ignition materials and infiltrated the granary of Tianlong City.

Due to the fatigue caused by days of high alert, as well as the Omanis' familiarity with the terrain and the perfect opportunity to infiltrate, the Omanis kept close to the granary a hundred paces before they were spotted by a secret outpost. Realizing that their whereabouts had been revealed, the Omanis gave up their cover, shot the outpost, and then rushed over.

That night, the fire rose into the sky and burned until dawn. The defenders of the city and the people in reserve were able to send out thousands of people to search for the whole city.

Of the more than 100 black-clothed guards who desperately burned down part of the granary, only a dozen escaped temporarily, and the others were all shot or captured. The true identity of the Annan Chamber of Commerce was also revealed and it was immediately seized.

However, the bad influence and great results they have caused cannot be reversed.

A full 80,000 stone of grain and grass was burned by the black-clothed guards. Although the Tiannan Legion brought back a large amount of grain and grass materials when they evacuated from the Nanfeng Fortress, and they were stacked in several places, less than half of the total number was burned. However, this change has dealt a heavy blow to morale, and has also caused great confusion and unrest.

All kinds of rumors began to spread wildly in the city and in the army.