The brief silence finally passed, and after a few days, the storm began to sweep the focus of the battle in the human world, the Bishui Pass. 【】

As the drums of the Zhou army's attack sounded, when the commanders of the two sides answered each other, the slogans of righteousness and benevolence in Ji Fa's mouth were replaced by actual actions such as blood and killing.

The Shang army was greeted by Han Sheng, the son of the general soldier, and the first was still the archers, but the Zhou army also learned to be obedient after suffering from the archers, and they all lined up with special giant shields, while defending, while marching slowly, and at the same time counterattacking with bed crossbows. The archers had seen the power of the huge shield array, and they did not dare to enter lightly, and the range and power of the bed crossbow were to shoot ordinary bows and arrows from a distance, so Wen Zhong immediately ordered the drums to beat and ordered the archers and the merchant army to retreat.

Just when the Zhou army thought that it could go all the way unimpeded and slowly approached the Bishui Pass, the sound of the machine on the city wall sounded frequently, and thousands of spear-like crossbow arrows shot towards the Zhou army like rain. Although the huge shield could defend against the arrows of the archers, it could not resist such terrifying crossbow arrows, and its own target was so large that it was struck by the crossbow arrows, and it shattered one after another.

"Bed crossbow!" Jiang Ziya, who was supervising the battle in the rear army, exclaimed, I didn't expect the merchant army to also have such a terrible weapon, you know, the bed crossbow of the Zhou army was provided by the outsider "Yi Jiang", and there was no pattern of the divine soldier brought by Yang Ren, although it was transformed by Yang Ren, the power has increased greatly, but the original is still "Yi Jiang", why does the merchant army have it, and there are so many? Could it be that there is still internal annihilation around King Wu? Ji Fa thought the same, and his eyes fell on a few close ministers around.

Yang Ren saw Ji Fa and Jiang Ziya showing suspicion, understood the intentions of the two, and said: "I once told the king that there are still other secret patterns in the Divine Weapons Workshop, even if I don't know it, this thing must be the secret Divine Weapons in the Divine Weapons Workshop." ”

Feng Cockroach frowned, pointed at the front army and shouted: "King! The crossbow of the merchant army is by no means the bed crossbow of our army, and I have just estimated that the range of the crossbow of the merchant army is about 300 steps, and it is close to the range of the catapult! I didn't expect that the Divine Weapon Workshop had such a terrible weapon!"

Ji Fa heard the words of the cockroach, and his suspicions disappeared, but he was secretly frightened. A round of crossbow arrows fell, and the huge shield of the Zhou army was destroyed a lot, and the annoying archers rushed up again, taking advantage of the weakening of the enemy's defenses, and shot arrows repeatedly, causing heavy casualties to the former army of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Seeing this, Ji Fa hurriedly asked: "Sir, I didn't expect that Dashang has such a strange thing, what should I do at this time?

Seeing that Ji Fa was in danger, the first thing he thought of was him instead of Jiang Ziya, and a trace of unknown triumph slipped in his eyes, and said: "No! At this time, our army is damaged, but the morale is still available, if it retreats, the archers are extremely mobile, and if it is pursued, I am afraid that our army will be defeated." At this time, the two armies meet in a narrow way, and the brave one should win! The king must not retreat!"

"It's a narrow road to meet, the brave should win!" Jiang Ziya praised from the bottom of his heart and said: "What Mr. Feng said is reasonable, the king must not be frightened, and the sergeant should be ordered to move forward bravely." ”

When Ji Fa heard this, he nodded, and didn't say much, letting Jiang Ziya command. The archers of the Shang army fired arrows in a round, wounding a lot of enemies, and when they were excited, they suddenly saw that the Zhou army did not retreat but advanced, and the speed was still very fast. At this time, strange sounds were heard, as if something had been forcefully compressed.

The answer was immediately revealed, and countless stone bullets fell in the air and smashed into the merchant army formation behind the archers, killing and wounding countless people in an instant, and at the same time, after the Zhou army's bed crossbow was loaded, it began to shoot together with the archers. Although the archers were mobile, they had crossbows in front and catapults in the back, which were also difficult to resist and suffered a lot of damage. Wen Zhong knew that the training of the archers was not easy, so he ordered the drawbridge to be lowered and ordered the Shang army to quickly withdraw to Guanzhong. Han Sheng got the drum beat of the order and hurriedly organized the merchant army to return to the city. Jiang Ziya saw that the merchant army had withdrawn his troops, and hurriedly ordered the front army to rush forward. Faced with the tide of enemy troops, the archers fired arrows to stop the Zhou army's march and quickly retreated.

At this time, that strange sound sounded again, the same terrible boulder falling from the sky, falling in the crowd, even if it was not hit, the falling debris was enough to take people's lives. But this time the sound came from the Bishui Pass, and the target was the surging Zhou army.

"Sure enough, it's a catapult!" the cockroach shook his head and sighed, "No wonder I always have a feeling of uneasiness, the previous bed crossbow was just upside down, and now the catapult is indeed weird......!

Although the cockroach didn't finish his words, how could Ji Fa not understand what he meant? The problem is that this catapult is his biggest secret weapon, even if the cockroach and Yang Ren only knew about it in the battle of Jinji Ridge. And after this thing was used, it was secretly taken back by him, and even the wind cockroach and Yang Ren only got their names, and they had never seen the detailed structure. A few of them broke down and were burned down on the spot when they were in Jinjiling, why did the merchant army have them?"

Could it be that Yi Jiang was taken captive by the Great Shangshang? And judging from the number of the other party's crossbow carts and catapults, it does not match the time when Yi Jiang was taken captive, could it be that Jiang Ziya leaked the secret? But Jiang Ziya was ordered by the Great Divine to abandon the Commercial Affairs Week, how could this be? Ji Fa suddenly thought in his heart: The supervision of the catapult was in charge of his younger brother Ji Dan at that time. Later, because there were rumors that he was going to give up with this younger brother who was more talented, he became suspicious in his heart, and deprived Ji Dan of his real power without moving, and sent someone to monitor him. Could it be that Ji Dan was dissatisfied with his own disposition, or the position of the martial king, so he ...... "I heard that Xiaoyaozi, the master of the Great Shang Country, was a strange person at that time, and many strange things from the hands of the Son of Heaven were actually from his hands. Legend has it that once any object is in his hands, it can exert a more powerful effect, no wonder the bed crossbow of the merchant army is so powerful!" Yang Ren also lost no time in sighing on the side: "Xiaoyaozi is amazingly talented, the ordnance alone is far better than me, I am really not as good!"

Ji Fa's eyes couldn't help but show envy, but he comforted him: "Doctor Shang is also a talented person, how can he be arrogant......? The assistance of his father is a great blessing. If the great cause of the lonely king is accomplished, all the princes can be sealed and the lintel will be glorious!"

The cockroach smiled disappreciatively and shook his head. Ji Fa knew that the cockroach's surname was high and not good for fame and fortune, so he appeased him a few more words, but unexpectedly, the cockroach was secretly laughing at his delusion.

Not to mention Ji Fa's scheming, although Jiang Ziya was surprised by the use of catapults by the merchant army, but at the moment he was ready to send arrows, so he had to order the army to disperse the formation, try to avoid falling rocks, and at the same time order his own catapults to advance.

Under the cover of catapults, the archers finally withdrew completely into the city, the drawbridge was retracted, and the gates were closed, completely defensive.

Next, the heavy, resounding sound of the catapult's reeds sounded. The two sides began to throw catapults at each other, and for a while there was a constant roar. Zhou Junsheng has a certain mobile surname in the catapult, and can aim at fixed targets, the main purpose is to destroy the city wall and fill the trench (moat), and the Shang army's catapult is more powerful, the range is longer, hundreds of kilograms of boulders are thrown high, smashed to the ground, the solid ground smashed out of several two or three meters deep holes, the middle is not lucky, even the scattered and splashed gravel is also desperate to the last strength greedy harvest life.

Although the launch of the catapult is relatively slow, if it is one or two stones, it is enough to escape early, but if it is used on a large scale at the same time, the lethality is quite terrifying. For a moment, the pace of the war slowed down, but the pressure and destructive force caused was unprecedentedly strong.

Due to the defeat of Jinjiling, Wen Zhong expected that the Western Zhou would use catapults to attack the city, so the city wall was greatly thickened, although most of the fixed catapults on the gate were destroyed by the Zhou army, but the catapults in the rear could accurately strike at the enemy according to the orientation and angle observed by the sergeant, under the control of the commanding generals. The catapults of the Zhou army were also damaged a lot under the blows of the merchant army, and the worst thing is that after a period of attack and defense, the stone bullets gradually ran out of stock.

As early as some time ago, under Wen Zhong's order, the soldiers and civilians of Bishui Pass had transported as many nearby stones into the city as possible. At that time, people, including many sergeants, were still wondering, what did the Taishi want these useless stones? Now some people suddenly realized that these stones were really "of great use."

Jiang Ziya learned of the crisis of insufficient "cannonballs" and knew that it must be related to the merchant army, so he was secretly frightened, and ordered the catapult to slowly retreat after firing the last stone bullet, and the former army, which had been gathering momentum for a long time, began to officially assault.

In accordance with Jiang Ziya's orders, the former army of the Western Zhou Dynasty spread out the formation, braving falling rocks and crossbow arrows all the way, and gradually rushed to the front of Bishui Pass. At this time, I only heard the order of the close, and when I closed it, thousands of arrows were fired in unison, and they rained down towards the pass.

In the foreground, people continued to fall, like wheat stalks cut by a sickle, and they fell down one after another. This sickle, the reaper, is living life. Under Jiang Ziya's order, the front army quickly formed a protective shield array. This protective shield array is not a giant shield array that restricts the space of the archers, but a light copper shield of one trait that is put together, and it is protected overhead while traveling to avoid being injured by arrows. The protective shield array approached in a row, like a long snake in bronze armor. Although the people in front of them were inevitably still injured by arrows, the casualties have been reduced considerably. The "armored vehicles" that had been smashed by Wu Wenhua last time also appeared, and they were the first to rush out, withstanding the rain of arrows and driving in front of the moat. A long board sticks out from the front of the car, which slowly lowers and unfolds, releasing a kind of flybridge.

This kind of flybridge is very simple to make, using two long logs, nailed to the top of the plank, the front section gradually extends to a sufficient length and falls in the right place, and is built on the other side of the ditch to form a simple moat. The catapult did not fill the moat before, but now with this flying bridge, it is just right to pass through the moat.

Although the moat was defeated by the crossbow bolts of the bed crossbow, it succeeded in erecting bridges across the moat. The Zhou army was not a rabble, and they were extremely rigorously trained, and the casualties in front of them did not make the Zhou people cowardly, but provoked a vengeful murder, braving the rain of arrows and crossbows. As more and more moat bridges were built, more and more Zhou troops began to cross the moat, and at the same time, the ladders behind were gradually approaching.

This kind of ladder is actually from Cai Yan's hand, and it is much better than the "hook aid" of this era. The whole ladder is composed of three parts: wheel, ladder body, hook, the ladder body can go up and down, and rely on manpower to carry all the way to the city wall; there is a hook at the top of the ladder, which is used to hook the city edge; when necessary, the ladder body can also be equipped with wheels to move. Due to the heavy weight of the ladder, when passing through the moat, they encountered the main attacks of the merchants' bows and arrows, and some of them fell into the moat halfway, but a few were still transported across the moat at the risk of death.

Arrows flew at the gates, and from time to time someone fell or fell from the city walls. The ladder was carried all the way, and after paying a lot of money, the ladder finally approached the city wall.

With the ladder, the Zhou army began to climb towards the city desperately, and the ballista behind the Zhou army also adjusted the shooting angle, with the archers behind, and fired at the city wall.

While the merchant army fought back, they controlled and adjusted the distance of the catapult so that it could effectively continue to attack the city. At the same time, a kind of frame with a crossbar struck the ladder, knocking the ladder into pieces, and from time to time soldiers fell from the ladder.

Rao was like this, there were still many Zhou troops rushing to it, and there were more and more ladders to cross the moat, and gradually some sergeants began to climb the pass, but they were quickly eliminated by the soldiers guarding the pass. The Shang army began to attack the pass with sandalwood and stones on the female wall, causing heavy casualties to the Zhou army.

At this time, another large chariot began to appear, this chariot was pushed by twenty-four people each, with eight wheels, and the chariot was equipped with several samurai, spears, halberds, and crossbows. The outside of the car is covered with thick leather, this car is not from Cai Yan, but designed by Jiang Ziya himself, called Lu Gongche, which can be used to attack the city. (The provenance of the Lu bus is different, and it is pretended to be Lu Wang).

The chariot was almost the same height as the pass, leaning on the city wall, the Zhou army on the car took advantage of this to rush out and climb up the pass, and a giant man suddenly appeared on the Bishui Pass, wearing a heavy armor and holding an exaggerated iron chop in his hand, this person was naturally Wu Wenhua. Wu Wenhua didn't care about the Zhou Jun who was closed, he just waved the iron chop in his hand, whether it was the ladder or the Lu bus, when he encountered the exaggerated iron chop, they all collapsed. And the closed Zhou army was killed before he could run to the city gate.

Even the crash that approached the city gate was staggered by Wu Wenhua and could not be approached.

Both sides are red-eyed, and from a distance, they look like two groups of ants in black pressure, fighting each other without fear of death. Broken limbs and remnants, flesh and blood flying, and dead bodies everywhere under the gate.

Under the so-called rules of heaven, isn't life like an ant?

Huang Feihu panted and came to the Chinese army Jiang Ziya, and said: "Prime Minister! Bishui Pass is extremely strong, the enemy army is defending according to the danger, waiting for work, and there are strange weapons, our army's catapults have no stone bullets available, although the strength is superior, but it is at a disadvantage, and now our sergeants and soldiers have suffered heavy casualties, and please retreat." ”

Jiang Ziya didn't expect that the combat effectiveness of Bishui Pass was so strong, the most important thing is that his biggest reliance on catapults can no longer affect the outcome of the battle, and the advantages of "advanced" equipment such as bed crossbows and ladders cannot be reflected, although there is a certain advantage in numbers, but attacking fortifications and field battles are two different things.

"The Art of War" once said: It is under the siege of the city. The method of siege is a last resort. The repair of the oar, with equipment, was completed in three months, and the distance from the ruin was three months later. It will be overwhelmed with anger and the ants will possess it, kill one-third of the soldiers, and those who will not pull out the city will also be attacked by this disaster.

To win the war, the most ideal is "scheming", the second is "striking", the second is "striking", the second is "striking", and the last is "attacking the city" as a last resort. Both "raiding" and "besieging cities" pushed the war into a stage of fierce violent confrontation. "Raiding" refers to field warfare, while "siege" is exactly what happens when the two armies face each other today.

Bishui Pass is the first barrier of the Great Shang to face Xiqi, and it is also a very large pass, but it is still different from the city, and it cannot be besieged or raided from all sides, if it is a strong attack, it can only be carried out from the front.

The advantages of the defensive side of the big business are also obvious: first, the geographical advantage. Relying on strong passes and dangerous obstacles, one person can resist several enemies. In terms of ordnance and weapons, it can also exert greater power, not to mention the advantages of the advanced weapons of the merchant army today.

Secondly, it has the advantage of people's hearts. The merchant army was in a defensive posture, the Western Zhou Dynasty was the invader, and the Western Zhou Dynasty implemented the slave system, if it was captured, not only the captured soldiers, but also the property of many civilians would be confiscated, and they would return to the previous life of hard slavery, which was absolutely unacceptable in the hearts of the Great Shang soldiers and people. In this way, it will be able to stimulate the determination and morale of the army and the people to resist the enemy, and stimulate the fighting spirit of the army and the people to fight for survival. In the case of the upper and lower interests, life and death, we can only unite as one, fight for our own survival, and fight the trapped beasts, and the energy inspired by this is immeasurable.

Moreover, the merchant army had a local advantage. Fighting in this city can maximize the potential of the war, mobilize the support of the people, and if the grain and heavy weight are sufficient, there is no problem of long-distance transportation.

In the face of the rapidly increasing casualties, Ji Fa's face became more and more gloomy, Jiang Ziya knew that if he continued to attack like this, even if he could finally take Bishui Pass, the army would be afraid of heavy damage, not to mention the next battle, and in the end, he made the order to retreat.

If the Zhou army is still fighting with a ruthless spirit, then the order to retreat makes the last will to support the fighting spirit dissipate without a trace. To be precise, Zhou Jun only came to his senses at this time, and his bloodthirsty eyes gradually faded, replaced by the fear of countless deaths and injuries in the face of the robes. Seeing that the enemy army finally retreated, the water closed and thundered.

Jiang Ziya also had some means, although the Zhou army retreated and the formation was not chaotic, when Wen Zhong ordered the military horses to go out of the pass to pursue, he did not reap too many benefits.

The battlefield after the war was a dead silence, and the sight of corpses strewn across the field could not even maintain the true numbness of those who cleaned the battlefield and were accustomed to watching life and death.

In this madness of human surnames, the value of life has long been lost. War is always the deepest pain of mankind.

(To be continued)