Today, I changed it earlier, and I slept better******

The rebels were newly defeated, but instead of retaliating immediately, they held the fortified camp, waiting for the craftsmen and the giant wood to build a large number of siege equipment and wooden ladders to ascend the city, while transporting catapults from the south bank.

Yang Zhen was a little embarrassed, but he was finally unharmed, and when he came back, he looked for Xiao Ming to thank him for saving his life, but Xiao Ming was not there, he ran to a corner where no one was vomiting, the battlefield under the city was too tragic, his head was rolling, his limbs and arms were broken, and a large number of people who were nailed to the ground by crossbow arrows were still twisting their bodies, and blood was flowing all over the ground.

Xiao Ming has also experienced some scenes before, such as killing himself, seeing officers and soldiers strangling Mingjiao disciples, and fighting and killing masked killers face-to-face along the way from Gao Shubao's house, but after all, it is still a small scene, today can be regarded as a big scene, the tragic situation of thousands of people being killed still really shocked him, the cruelty and bloodiness of ancient wars seem to have just begun, and I don't know how many such scenes I will experience in the future.

Fortunately, just like Xiao Ming said to Gu Shouzhen, he vomited and vomited, and slowly got used to it, Xiao Ming vomited for a long time, and after drinking some water, he was relieved, but soon the sergeant came to report and said that the prefect asked him to go to the meeting.

"It's also a fart meeting, just fight, is it to hold Yang Zhen responsible for the loss of soldiers? That's not good, I have to help say something good" made up his mind, Xiao Ming went to the meeting.

The military meeting was held in the garrison under the city, unexpectedly, Zhao Ting did not hold Yang Zhen responsible, but praised him, saying that he had merit, and the generals before the battle greatly strengthened the prestige of the officers and soldiers, and hit the arrogance of the thieves, Chen Luzhang smiled on the side, obviously this was the result of their discussions, and all the junior officers at all levels came forward to congratulate Yang Zhen, Zhao Ting had already written a report to the imperial court, asking for merit for Yang Zhen, and also for the officers and soldiers who defended the city today, so the whole military meeting was jubilant.

"I see that the thief army as a whole is not all the way, they have always dragged on the south bank, it seems that there are still teams coming, and the thief army that has crossed the river is only more than 10,000 people, relying on this little force obviously will not come to attack the city immediately." Wang Tong said on the side.

Chen Luzhang nodded and said: "What General Wang said is reasonable, the thieves have helped to contain more than 100,000 displaced people in just two months, but many of these people are not a force, I heard that there are still many bandits and bandits, and it is certain that the command cannot be unified, as long as the opponent's siege momentum declines, it is inevitable that there will be civil strife, and when the imperial reinforcements arrive, the thieves will immediately collapse." ”

From this point of view, Xiao Ming also agreed, the Demon Sect rebels invested so much money to attack more than 100,000 people in Hangzhou, of course, they wanted to eat it in one bite, but if the attack was blocked, the food and grass for so many people would definitely be a problem.

Yang Zhen is also worried about this problem, that is, the rebels will definitely be in a hurry and fight quickly, otherwise the food and grass will run out, and it will definitely be over, which means that the next siege battle will definitely be very fierce.

But Zhao Ting didn't have the heart to listen to this, as long as he knew that the rebels were not well prepared and could not break the city in a short time, he was already very satisfied, so he asked someone to bring fifty jars of good wine, saying that it was to reward the sergeant, and he sneaked back to the mansion to rest.

Chen Jian, the envoy of the Hangzhou County Garrison, and Zhao Yue, the envoy of Lian Visit, also ran away, while Chen Luzhang took his entourage to symbolically inspect the Song troops defending the city everywhere, and also slipped away, feeling that after the first battle in the morning, the rebels would definitely not attack again in a short time.

In fact, it is true that the rebels do not have the appearance of a "rabble" at this point, and everything is done in a step-by-step manner, the so-called step-by-step, that is, to first set up a fortress around the city, around the camp need to dig a long trench, set up antlers, and pile up soil into a fortress, in case the enemy army in the city to carry out a surprise attack - if you want to attack the enemy city, you must first consolidate yourself, this is the common sense of soldiers.

After that, trees were cut down to build offensive and defensive equipment, mainly large ladders that could be used to quickly climb the city, as well as large chariots and shields that could be used to cover the soldiers, and which could bring them close to the city walls. Once these things are built, you can launch a more formal attack.

However, there are not many trees on the south bank of the Qiantang River, but the north of the river is lush with trees, but it has been cut down by the Song army defending the city of Hangzhou a few days ago, and all the coarser ones are used as rolling logs, except for fuel.

So the demon rebels had to look for trees on the south bank, and the camp was built on the north bank of the river, transporting timber by boat around the clock.

Tens of thousands of people do it together, the efficiency is still quite terrifying, a few woods near the left of the river were cut down in a blink of an eye, the rebels had to look south again, all the hillside woodlands and even villages were not spared, plus there are indeed a large number of bandits among the rebels, burning, killing and looting things have been done a lot, and the displaced people who cut down trees are also ferocious, for a time in Pingjiang County, south of Hangzhou, a large number of people became refugees, many people fled from the upper reaches of Qiantang, more fled to Lin'an or Hangzhou City, For a time, a large number of people poured in from the north gate of Hangzhou, and these people helped the old and the young to cry and enter the city of Hangzhou, and Zhao Ting and others were deeply worried.

The people were driven away, just the house was demolished by the rebels, the wooden beams, bricks and stones were all transported away, Lu Shixiang seemed to want to make a big move this time, wantonly built siege equipment, this is completely different from their previous actions, in the past, the siege of the city, scattered people all over the mountains, the city defenders saw and fled, now this practice has a greater purpose, the capture of Hangzhou is inevitable, relying on this, transferred to Suzhou, Jiangning, Jiankang and other places, relying on the Yangtze River moat to divide the river and rule, is the core strategy of consolidating the rebel army, It was also specially formulated by Fang La and others, so this time they will pour out of Hangzhou.

It was also Lu Shixiang's deliberate effort to drive the people into Hangzhou City, on the one hand, to increase the pressure on the Song army defending the city, and on the other hand, he had already sent people to sneak in.

As more and more rebels crossed the river, Lin'an, west of Hangzhou, also fell into the hands of the enemy, and the city of Hangzhou was heavily surrounded from the south and west, and all approached within two miles of the city.

After waiting nervously for three days, the Demon Cult rebels finally began to act, and the whole army started to cry, making food in the early morning, and starting to line up in the early morning, at the end of the morning, that is, at seven or eight o'clock in the morning, hundreds of thousands of troops were already in place, so that they had a whole day to attack.

At the beginning of the day, that is, at nine o'clock in the morning, the big drums in the army began to beat rhythmically, the long and low sound of horns also sounded, thousands of flags were unfurled at the same time, and an atmosphere of solemnity suddenly filled the battlefield.

As the saying goes: "a person over 10,000, boundless" from the city to look down, it is true, the rebels all over the mountains formed countless phalanxes, although the clothing is not neat, the swords, guns, bows and arrows are not complete, but it also seems murderous, a large number of siege equipment in the phalanx is also among them, in addition to the large siege vehicles and ladders, there are many nest cars, many infantry are holding oars and shields.

On a high platform, the banner of Lu Zi was unfurled, Lu Shixiang was draped all over his body, majestic, and the generals behind him were lined up, with the gloomy sky, and the boundless murderous aura filled the entire battlefield.

Without too much nonsense, Lu Shixiang pulled out the sword on his waist and swung it violently in the direction of Hangzhou City, the tip of the sword pointed directly at the south gate of Hangzhou, and the sergeant below suddenly roared.

"Kill ——!"

More than 100,000 people shouted together, and the sound was like thunder, and the officers and soldiers defending the city were terrified.

As the shouts of killing were finished, several phalanxes near the south gate of Hangzhou slowly moved, these were infantry, each phalanx carried more than a dozen ladders, and at the same time, the siege vehicles behind them were also slowly pushed......

- The siege of the Demon Cult rebels has finally officially begun!

"I'm X!"

Xiao Ming scolded on the city tower, the rebels played really this time, only to see the Demon Sect rebels in the distance also push out the only dozen or so stone-throwing carts, ready to shoot at close range.

The whole army was on guard, Zhao Ting, Chen Luzhang and others also all boarded the city and personally supervised the battle.

After moving to a distance of less than 800 paces, the infantry phalanx shouted and the formation immediately began to disperse, and under the leadership of the leaders, they began to run towards the city wall, and when they rushed to the trench outside the city, they untied the cloth bag on their backs and poured the dirt and gravel inside into the trench.

In ancient siege warfare, the first thing to do was to organize a group of people to dig three feet into the ground and carry soil bags to fill the trenches in front of the city wall, there was no cover in this process, and those who were responsible for filling the trenches often needed to take great risks, so they usually let the auxiliary soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers, and even the ordinary people captured from the surrounding villages and towns to fill the number.

Suddenly, there was a dense explosion on the city wall, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air, and all the large-scale firearms of the officers and soldiers were fired, and at the same time, the archers also carried out projectiles, and the chariots also threw stones out of the city on the fixed positions in the city, and smashed them at the rebels besieging the city.

The rebel infantry still stubbornly advanced with shields, and from time to time there were people around them, and the screams came and went, at this time it was a test of people's psychological quality, especially when they were hit head-on by the thrown boulders, which were absolutely flesh and blood.

The large bed crossbows and crossbow carts on the city wall were aimed at siege vehicles and stone throwers, but the rebels pushed the stone throwers behind the mounds that had been dug earlier, and then set up a lot of large thick wooden planks in front, although the bed crossbows could hit here, but they were blocked by the wooden planks, so the rebels' stone throwers also began to throw stones at the city, and huge stones fell on the city wall, and the rubble flew sideways, which also caused a lot of casualties.

The siege infantry withstood the casualties, erected a row of oars and shields in front of the trench, and the archers behind them began to think about throwing arrows on the city, the opponent's oars and shields were very thick, and ordinary bows and arrows could not shoot through, and for a while the city walls were full of arrows, and many officers and soldiers fell to the ground with arrows.

Yang Zhen immediately transferred the bed crossbow that attacked the catapult, aimed at the shield wall below, a row of bed crossbows shot out, and the huge momentum immediately shot through the shield shield, and even pierced the people to the ground, behind the shield wall were archers, under the suppression of firearms and bows and arrows in the city, a large number of people fell to the ground and died.

At this time, a large number of Black God crossbows bought from Gu's refining workshop played a great role, more than two thousand Black God crossbows were all aimed at fixed points within the effective range, and there were almost no arrows shot in the air, this was the result of Yang Zhen's strict training, the person who was hit by the arrow must have fallen to the ground screaming, and the two thousand Xiang troops equipped with the Black God Crossbow could be regarded as the elite of the entire Hangzhou City, hundreds of people were shot in a salvo, and many people had at least three arrows inserted in their bodies.

The five hundred tiger guards brought by Xiao Ming are also elite soldiers, they do not engage in salvo fire, but free shooting, the target is the leader of the rebels under the city and the people with threats, for a time the arrows on the city rained down, the rebels under the city suffered heavy casualties, there were not many dirt bags poured into the trench, and the dead corpses pillowed on the edge of the ditch, and blood flowed everywhere.

The rebels were hit like this, leaving thousands of corpses and retreating, before the officers and soldiers could take a breath, the second wave of attacks began again, this time the rebels actually used firearms, and they were quite advanced, thousands of people carried guns and long-barreled guns to shoot at the city under the cover of shields, and the city immediately returned fire, and the two sides actually started to shoot at each other, but most of the firearms of the officers and soldiers were city defense guns, with a large amount of medicine and too slow to load, and more than half of the gunpowder had been changed to large grenades, and the range of the general guns and three-eyed guns was too close, It could not be fired until the other side rushed to the city, but it was not as strong as the rebels' long-pole guns and long-barreled firearms, and for a time the officers and soldiers were almost pressed against the city wall and did not dare to show their heads.

But this is just a cover for the rebels, after all, after the musket is fired, it needs to be reloaded, and after two rounds, thousands of people flashed to both sides, and the real meat shield was revealed, and the demon rebels actually pressed a large number of captured people to walk in front, these people were captured in nearby counties and villages, and the rebels drove towards the city from behind.

The people who were tied to the ropes cried out and wept forward, the rebels followed closely behind with shields and bows and arrows, and those who walked slowly were hacked to death.

Looking at the scene in front of him, the officers and soldiers defending the city were all stunned, Yang Zhen's eyes almost erupted with fire, when Song Liao and Song Xia were at war in the past, the Tartars also liked to use this trick to drive the people of the Song Dynasty to attack the city, many officers and soldiers' relatives and dependents may be inside, watching their relatives suffer, many officers and soldiers collapsed, often the other party can immediately break the city, and now the Demon Sect rebels have also used such despicable means!

"Shameless!" Yang Zhen scolded angrily, to fight or not to fight? The soldiers below did not dare to call the shots, so they could only ask Zhao Ting and Chen Luzhang for instructions, and this kind of problem was of course solved by the officials......