Chapter 70: Trains

Guan Shengyun and the others were staring intently at the battlefield. Gao Tengdou's facial muscles twitched a few times unconsciously, and he looked at Luo Yonghao, and saw that the latter bowed slightly, so he gave a new order to the herald.

A long horn sounded, and the officers of the war auxiliaries who commanded the attack under the city looked back at the general's platform. Established simple commands can be pre-set by whistles, bangs, golden drums, etc.; The complex orders issued by the main general according to the changes in the battlefield situation must be conveyed through the flag (if it is so complicated that the flag cannot express, the herald will rush into the battlefield and issue it). And the horn is a signal to inform the front-line officers to look back at the flag order.

A yellow flag was first raised high above the lookout, and a horn sounded in front of the formation, indicating that the order of the commander-in-chief had been received. Then, a red flag on the lookout was waved, and in a moment, another trumpet sounded in front of the formation......

The first to receive the order was the auxiliary squad that was hiding behind the big shield near the city gate. Yellow belongs to the earth, represents the center in the five directions, and naturally refers to the city gate located in the center of the battlefield in siege warfare; And the red color belongs to fire, and the meaning couldn't be clearer: fire attacks the city gates!

The auxiliaries, under the orders of the officers, rushed out in groups with shields, dragged the casualties and the wreckage of the crash to the side, and cleared a new road in front of the city gates. Although everyone knows in their hearts that the grinding disc hanging above their heads will only fall again when the next crash car comes, and they disdain their own talents. However, with such a deadly big creature hanging over his head, everyone was worried with the sound of every piece of masonry and shield smashed down by the defenders.

The dead are gone, so drag the body off the road and bury it after the war. The auxiliaries half-crouched down along the base of the wall, shielding the wounded with broken hands and feet, their weeping, howling, and the broken bones of Bai Sensen made everyone's hearts tremble, and everyone secretly prayed to the gods, Buddhas and ghosts: If you can't escape this fate, come to a good time, and this kind of bad luck must not befall you.

There were a dozen wounded alive, two of whom died by sight.

One man had a cup-thick crash rod in his chest, and a wooden post blocked the wound and blocked the blood. The person was still awake, looking at the wooden pole that showed how long his chest was, and the shock made him feel no pain for a while, and he couldn't stop muttering: "Help me, I don't want to die." "The other was even worse, with a big hole in the belly, and the broken wall of the intestines hung out of the body for a long time, covered with feces, blood, mud and slime, and dragged on the dirty ground. The man was sobbing quietly, one arm was gone, and the intact hand was tugging in vain and feebly, trying to press the intestines back into the abdominal cavity......

A hellish sight.

Many of the auxiliary soldiers were civilians captured in Yanchuan and other places, and it was the first time they faced this kind of flesh and blood slaughterhouse, and some of them began to vomit.

Syllable!

Yes!

A large blue brick of about 20 catties fell straight down and smashed on the edge of the big shield. The shield bearer was retching, and the big shield was smashed and the tail jumped upwards and flipped up, causing the guy to almost do a somersault in the air, and then his right arm was torn off and he howled with his teeth. The masonry and dung on the top of the city fell one after another with a shout, a few muffled sounds, a series of screams, and the few people who had been hiding under the shield and lost their protection were hung up, and two more lives disappeared under the city.

The leader of this group of auxiliaries shrank under a large shield, looked at the wounded soldiers in a daze, looked at the wounded soldiers, and then looked at the colorless subordinates beside him, gritted his teeth, got up and jumped to the side of the bellybreaker, stretched out his left hand to cover his eyes, and said fiercely: "Brother, suffer less crimes, I will send you on the road." Immediately, the dagger in his right hand slashed through the carotid artery...... Then, he turned to look at the chest piercing, and motioned for his shield-wielding companion beside him to protect him and move over together. With the same words, the cold light of the dagger flashed again...... The soft groans that pierced the eardrums like needles and pierced their hearts disappeared, and the auxiliaries looked at each other, and the helplessness of receiving their fate replaced the fear.

After the road was cleared, another crashing car received the order and began to push slowly but surely in the direction of the city gate, creaking and squeaking loudly.

Wang Jian in the city couldn't help but be a little strange: the tragedy in front of him is just around the corner, let alone a thief, even if it is an official army, I haven't heard of any marshal who can train such a good soldier who treats death as home! Besides, with such good soldiers, what loser's thing is willing to be sent out for nothing and sent to death in vain? Hmph, that's the best! Wait for all the most daring thieves to be killed, and see what else you can do!

Doubting to doubt, Wang Jian raised his arm, waiting for the first impact to be swung down, and the grinding stone would be released again, and continue to harvest another piece of life......

However, it seems that after a long time, there is no crashing sound.

Wang Jian quickly looked at the city and saw the backs of a few guys flying from the crash to the shield walls on both sides......

There is fraud!

As soon as the thought came to his mind, several rockets flew from under the shield wall towards the crashing car, which quickly burst into flames.

The thieves will attack and burn down the gates!

In ancient siege warfare, seizing the city gate was always the first priority. In order to motivate morale, most armies have a clear rule: the first person to climb the city is the first to take credit, and the military term is called "first to ascend".

How big will this "first-come" reward be? Although the standards of each dynasty and each ministry are different, they are generally higher than the generals who captured the flag in the field battle, and even jumped from cannon fodder to the general who was in charge because of his bravery! For example, Zhou Bo, a famous general in the early Han Dynasty, was "Zhongjuan" when he participated in the war, and he was the cleaner responsible for sprinkling and sweeping. In the battle of Xiayi, "Bodang took the city first", and was named "five doctors" by Liu Bang on the spot!

Therefore, in the face of this opportunity to change their fate in one fell swoop, the soldiers besieging the city were willing to fight for their lives.

However, whether through towers or ladders, the soldiers who have climbed the walls for the rest of their lives know that soon a large number of enemy troops will swarm from both sides! If you want to live and receive the reward, you and your companions must kill down the city as soon as possible, kill the city gates, and open the city gates - a large army will rush in! Then it will be safe: sit comfortably against the doorway, and sit back and wait for the glory and wealth that will fall from the sky after the war!

The city gate is almost the only passage through which large forces can be quickly projected.

Another way is to remove wall tiles.

If the walls are not too high, and the defense near the gate tower is too strong (the guards' personal troops are often gathered here), and the direction of the road leading to the gate cannot be broken through for a while, the soldiers who ascend the city will form a defensive formation near the breakthrough to protect the auxiliary soldiers with sledgehammers and iron drills to smash the wall battlements - the bricks are peeled off to reveal the rammed earth wall, and it is easy to dismantle it. Finally, a ramp gap was created in the wall, and large troops could barely pass through. Compared with killing all the way to the bottom of the city to open the door, this method is easier, of course, the efficiency is much lower.

What is more interesting is that Li Zicheng's first merit in the siege was not awarded to the first person to climb the city, but to the first person to demolish the city bricks. Li Chuang is a large-scale mobile operation without a base area, and he will dismantle it wherever he goes. In the era of war and chaos and the withering population, a big gap in the wall often can't be filled for a year and a half, and the next time you come back, it will be much easier to attack! Every time they went to the city, Li Chuang and Zhang Xianzhong would force the people to tear down the city wall before leaving, which was the only way for them to repeatedly travel back and forth to Huguang, Henan, Shanxi and other places as if entering a no-man's land.

Most of the generals such as Guan Shengyun were from the border army, and their style of play was naturally a decent way of grabbing the door. So, despite the similar appearance, Gao Fujidou arranged several plans for the destruction of the city gate - although the crash car also had a large ram from the front and above, it was a decoration, only the part exposed in front of it, and the body was filled with flammable materials: it was a "train"!

The grinding disc is powerless against this kind of "train": when it is hit, hundreds of kilograms of flammable materials are splashed and scattered, and the fire will increase in an instant, and the rope will burn off......

Wang Jian carefully looked at the other crashing cars waiting nearby, trying to determine which one was the train from the details, but it was really difficult to distinguish from this angle. Ignition by a rocket is also not possible: due to the angle of depression, the feathered arrow can only reach the top protected by wet mud, and unless it is fired parallel from below, it will be in vain.

Bed crossbows will definitely do!

However, looking at the few towers that were close at hand, although the oil canisters thrown by the defenders lit small flames in a few places, they were just grease burning on their own outside the protective layer of wet mud, and they would be extinguished after a while—Wang Jian knew that these giant beasts were waiting for an opportunity, as long as the bed crossbow was fired, the few that were not caught on fire would rush up, and before the winch could be wound again, the baffle in front of it would fall, and each giant beast would suddenly spit out dozens of elite thieves in armor from its mouth, shouting and jumping up to the city......

The bed crossbow should be kept to maintain deterrence, so let's find another way to deal with the urgency.

Shaanzhou Mansion is an important place for soldiers, and the city gate is the core of all city offensive and defensive battles, so there is a plan for the fire attack of the wooden city gate.

Seven Star Pool.

The pool directly above the top of the gate was a cistern, with several holes at the bottom, which were plugged with wooden plugs, and when the corks were removed, the water gushed down!

Rumble!

As the water poured down, the fire exploded!

Wang Jian, who had just gone out to check, didn't expect a flame to suddenly burst up, subconsciously closed his eyes suddenly, pushed the wall battlement with both hands and jumped backwards, and fell heavily on his back to the ground. Although it was observed from the side, Wang Jian still felt that half of his face was burning hotly, and when he reached out and touched it, his beard was burned a lot.

It is recorded in the "General Essentials of the Martial Arts": "The train is on two wheels, the middle of the car is a furnace, and a wok (sound 'or', cauldron) is applied on it, filled with oil, and the charcoal fire (sound 'channeling', the meaning of burning fire) is boiling, and the four areas are still pushed to the bottom of the city gate and set on fire." The enemy will go into the water, and the oil will get water, and its flame will be high, and the building will be burnt (pronounced 'fan', burned). ”

Of course, Gao Tengdou, who can't read big characters, has never read "The General Essentials of the Martial Arts".

But......

Luo Yonghao read it when Shenmu was extremely bored.