To the east of Lucheng, more than 4,000 tribal troops were ready to attack the city.

Originally, Liu Xikun wanted to hold a grand sortie ceremony and give an impassioned battle message.

It doesn't matter if the natives understand it or not, the important thing is to have a sense of ritual.

With a wave of his hand, tens of millions of people charged into battle for themselves and conquered the city for themselves.

The sight of commanding thousands of armies is exciting just to think about, especially for people with a strong desire for power.

However, at this time, Liu Xikun was completely out of interest, standing on the platform with a calm face, pursed his lips, and said nothing.

The tribal army under the stage will not line up in formation, it is just chaotic, in groups of three or five, more than a dozen in groups, gathering with their respective tribes.

After standing for a long time, they began to get a little impatient, swearing in different local languages, and beating the big wooden shields with their weapons.

It doesn't look like you're going to war, it's like you're going to catch a big set.

The scene did not have the solemnity before the army went into battle, but became more and more chaotic, more and more like a child's play.

So everyone on the stage peeked at Liu Xikun, who was still gloomy, but they didn't want to make a sound, for fear of touching the mold.

What happened to Liu Xikun is naturally well known, and in private, he will either ridicule, or despise, or pity, or admire, but he will not show it on his face.

In the end, it was Liu Jianming who took a step forward, "Ahem... Lang Jun, the auspicious time has come, please give the order to send troops! ”

"Hmm." Liu Xikun's face was expressionless, and he couldn't wave his hand, so he ordered it at that time.

But at this time, Hatoya, who was standing side by side with him, spoke, meaning that he had to sacrifice and divinate before attacking.

The major affairs of the country are in the worship, this should be the consensus of most human nations, and it is also the proper meaning to ask for good fortune and evil before the war.

But Hatoya didn't say it in advance but mentioned it temporarily, which was somewhat sloppy, and it was also a bit noisy, after all, the nominal commander was Ru Xikun.

There was ruthlessness in Liu Xikun's eyes, and Mu Ran nodded.

Afterwards, Hatoya walked to the front of the stage, her head was full of gorgeous feathers and flowers, and the ornaments hanging around her neck were dazzling, including precious stones, shells, beast teeth, silver beads, and two teeth of Liuxikun, and the clothes that only covered her chest and crotch were sewn from leopard skin, and were also decorated with many decorations, and other parts of her shoulders, back, wrists, and feet were all adorned.

In the eyes of the natives, this is the best beauty, so the audience immediately cheered.

Hatoya smiled to himself, then waved his hands and sang loudly, causing the natives to be even more excited.

Then she picked up a handful of millet and threw it into a large fire, throwing nine black heads into it, and then a series of sacrificial gestures that the gods chattered.

Black smoke rose from the fire and soared into the sky, which seemed to indicate that the gods had accepted the sacrifice, so the natives all howled.

Musical instruments such as nasal flutes, leather drums, mouth reeds, percussions, and bells were played one after another, and all the natives danced the warrior dance to the rhythm, and the dance was fierce, like the pace of battle.

Liu Jianming, Cai Qicang, Yan Zhengnan and others were a little dumbfounded, even if the ceremony was weird, but it was incomprehensible to consume physical strength before fighting......

However, if you follow the local customs, and you have to rely on these natives to work hard, no one objected.

What's more, even if he raised an objection, most of them didn't, after all, even Ru Xikun had to surrender under Hatoya's leopard skin skirt.

After more than a quarter of an hour, these natives finally finished jumping, and all their eyes were focused on Hatoya on the stage.

At this time, Hatoya opened the bamboo box held by his attendants, and with a respectful expression, he took out a bird and let it stand on his finger.

Whenever the local people do great things, such as grass, hunting, farming, building houses, funerals, etc., they must be 'occupied'.

The bird is a long bird, the color is white and the tail is long, and when divination, it is judged according to the chirping sound of the long bird, the sound is loud and crisp, and the subtlety is the big evil.

At this time, all the natives held their breath and looked nervously at the bird in Hatoya's hand.

Hatoya murmured a prayer, caressing the bird's feathers.

The little bird seemed to enjoy the touch, and slowly raised its head and chirped loudly, but the sound was different from that of a normal bird, but much like a human talking, and repeating a word.

The audience was silent, so the chirp reached the ears of every native.

In an instant, all the natives seemed to have been beaten with chicken blood, and their eyes began to turn red, and their expressions were full of fanaticism, and they danced with their hands, as if they were going to make a big hole in the earth.

The Han people on the stage couldn't help but wonder, how could a bird's call inspire such a strong morale?

A tongue man explained, "This bird is the sacred bird of the Pawan tribe, and it can speak human language, and what I just said is 'Great Victory'. ”

I see......

Liu Jianming secretly thought that this bird was probably the same as the starling parrot, but the local people had little knowledge, and they all believed in birds, so it would be regarded as a miracle.

In fact, he guessed correctly but not all right, this bird was named Banwen Bird in later generations, and some of them did have the ability to imitate sounds, but there were very few, and even fewer could learn to speak.

And the natives originally used this bird for divination, and then the bird Hatoya was completely white and could speak, so it was with this that it would have a strong influence among all the natives regardless of tribes.

Receiving the blessing of the sacred bird, the morale-boosting tribal army began to attack Lucheng.

If it weren't for Hatoya's repeated insistence, these warriors would have even thrown away the wooden shields that they didn't use well.

It's just that they didn't care about marching slowly as they said before, and they forgot to disperse enough, more than 4,000 people shouted, moved barefoot, and rushed towards Lucheng, as if trying to rush into the city in one fell swoop.

Seeing that the tribal army rushed into the firing range, Zeng Ba, who had been waiting impatiently, immediately ordered a salvo of bed ballista stone artillery.

More than a dozen stone bullets and nearly twenty crossbow guns fell into the relatively dense crowd of the tribal army.

After the polished and smooth stone projectile hits the ground, even if it does not hit someone, it will bounce and fly again, and as long as it is hit, it will either die or be injured.

A crossbow with great kinetic energy can pierce a wooden shield and turn the natives behind the shield into meat skewers.

Immediately, flesh and blood flew sideways, causing more than 100 dead and wounded.

All at once the frenzied tribal army woke up a little, and although they had no intention of retreating, they remembered the orders before the battle, so they scattered one after another, and straightened the wooden shields. m.

The pace slowed down, and he only dared to advance slowly, and then a large wave of crossbow bolts was ushered in.

There was a loud pecking sound, and the occasional scream of the unlucky ghost.

Seeing that the wooden shield could indeed protect himself, and that every 'warrior' did not feel that he would be the next unlucky ghost, he was extremely calm and continued to move forward.

After walking more than ten steps, a second round of crossbow bolts arrived, and the stone artillery bed crossbows were separated even longer.

On the stage, Liu Jianming said to Liu Xikun with a smile, "Lang Jun, look, I just said that the Song army was so hungry that it didn't have any strength, that is, the local people were not very obedient, otherwise there would be no casualties at all." ”

Liu Xikun's face became a little better at the moment, and he put his hand on his nose to cover his mouth, "Mr. has no last resort, the capture of Lucheng is just around the corner, as for these pickled natives, what does it matter if they die more, anyway, in the future, hum!" ”

"Lang Jun is right, these natives are wild and stubborn, that is, they are just used, and Lang Jun's great cause has to rely on the Han people."

Liu Jianming naturally didn't mind that Liu Xikun would transfer his hatred for Hatoya to all the natives.

Liu Xikun looked obscure, "If it weren't for the thousands of Han people in Lucheng, why would I be so compromised." ”

Liu Jianming quietly observed his words and looked at the situation, and said tentatively, "Lang Jun, it seems that it is only a matter of time before you take Lucheng now, but ......"

"But what?"

"But there are at least a dozen or two hundred thousand natives on this island, isn't it too much?"

Liu Xikun frowned and lowered his voice, "It's really too much, does Mr. have a way to deal with it?" ”

Liu Jianming shrugged, "Yes, and it's not complicated, it's just that in the past few days, with the help of the Song army, I can kill and injure more." ”

Liu Xikun thought for a while, and nodded slowly, "It's a way to kill two birds with one stone, I'm afraid that if I don't grasp it well, it will affect the business, after all, there are too many casualties and the natives may retreat." ”

"Of course, we focus on taking Lucheng, reducing the natives is just incidental, take your time, just act when the opportunity arises, the best thing is to wait for the overall situation to be decided, and send as many natives as possible to death...... Liu Jianming said leisurely.

As long as this idea is buried in Liu Xikun's heart, it will be easier to operate later.

On the battlefield, after the natives were thirty feet away from the city wall, they no longer moved forward, holding on to the wooden shield to resist three or four rounds of crossbow fire, and probably killed and wounded more than 100 people.

Then, after seeing that the crossbow bolts shot from the head of the city were becoming more and more sparse, they began to slowly retreat.

At the same time, there were also more than 3,000 tribal armies on the side of the northern city who did the same, but they learned to be obedient at the beginning and slowly approached the city wall with a very loose lineup.

The Song army at the head of the city must have also understood the intention of the tribal army, and no longer easily fired crossbow arrows, but it can't be unexpected, and the tribal army can't easily reach the moat all at once.

This time, the Song army fired a total of five rounds, and the casualties caused to the tribal army were not even a hundred.

Then the northern tribal army retreated, and more than 3,000 people began to approach in the south.

The south retreated, the north came again, then the east, and so on until the sun set.

According to a rough count, there were only six or seven hundred dead and wounded among the natives, of which most of them were wounded, but the Song army shot at least forty or fifty thousand crossbow arrows, and most of them were picked up by the tribal army.

Seeing this result, from the Han people such as Liuxikun to the natives such as Hatogu, they all felt that it was very worthwhile, especially the Song army was becoming more and more weak.

Liu Jianming also said, "When the Song army came, they brought a total of 300,000 crossbow arrows, which have not been consumed much in the past few months, but the armory we burned is stored with 100,000 pieces, so they still have no more than 150,000 at most, even if they become more cautious later, but at most, they can consume them all!" ”

Hatoya and other high-level natives calculated that in order to complete the consumption target, more than 1,000 natives would probably be killed or injured, although the cost was a bit large, but it was not unacceptable.

In the middle of the night, the natives were deliberately shouted and approached under the city, and the casualties were even smaller.

Thus the crossbow bolts were fired from the head of the city on the third day, the tenth day of the ninth month, when the tribal army approached the moat.

Some people died, but not completely......