Chapter 15: The Destruction of the City (I)

Xiao Hongtao led the troops to follow yesterday's route, turning from the south gate of the city to the west gate, and then turning to the north gate. When the team marched to the west gate, he saw Chai Rong sitting high on the chariot from a distance. Chai Rong's troops have been arranged catapults, ladders, ballistas, log carts and other siege tools, the first wave of siege troops have been assembled, this team of about 1,000 people, divided into 5 rows, the first row of soldiers holding round shields and short knives, the rest of the soldiers holding long knives or spears, facing the direction of Yizhou City, ready to rush forward at any time. Phalanxes of crossbowmen were placed at the rear of the team and to the left and right of the team, which were supposed to provide suppressive attacks during the attack. In addition, there is a cavalry team of about 500 people near Chai Rong, quietly guarding Chai Rong's side, which is Chai Rong's personal army. The rest of the soldiers were all gathered on the flat ground behind Chai Rong, sitting or standing, waiting for the general's order, at this time, the war was more than a stone's throw away from them, and they were still safe.

When passing Chai Rong's team, the cavalry in front of the road accelerated according to Xiao Hongtao's prior order and passed quickly behind Chai Rong's troops. The infantry following behind the Wei Jiang cavalry also quickened their pace and passed in turn.

When Xiao Hongtao's chariot passed, Chai Rong also turned around and glanced back at Xiao Hongtao, Xiao Hongtao hurriedly bowed his hand, Chai Rong also bowed his hand in return, and when Xiao Hongtao walked away, Chai Rong put down his hand.

When Xiao Hongtao's team turned to the north of Yizhou City, Chai Rong's troops could no longer be seen, at this time Xiao Hongtao ordered the cavalry in front to reduce their speed, and the infantry phalanx behind to rest in place and wait for orders.

Yizhou City was indeed not large, and even if the pace of the march was slowed down, the cavalry led by Wei Jiang arrived at the spot where the three red stones had been found last night after a stick of incense. However, the open space in the north of the city is really not large, and the two thousand cavalry of Wei Jiang occupied the area near the river beach, and the cavalry in front of the team was also wounded by arrows from the city wall, but the swords shot were already at the end of the crossbow, and the soldiers' injuries were not serious.

Xiao Hongtao ordered the troops to choose a safe place to rest and wait for orders, while Xiao Hongtao began to nap on his chariot.

Just when Xiao Hongtao's troops were resting and chatting in the north of the city, Chai Rong, who was located at the west gate of the city, gave the order to attack. Suddenly, the shouts near the west gate shook the sky, and the stone throwers, ballistas, and archers fired together, and the stones, crossbows, and bows and arrows fell on the city wall like rain, so that the defenders on the city wall could not raise their heads, and the defenders who could not dodge were hit by stones, pierced by strong crossbows, and injured by bows and arrows.

At this time, the commander waved the order flag, and the two strong men* on the right side of Chai Rong began to beat the drums, and the drums were shocking, and Xiao Hongtao, who was located in the north of the city, could hear them clearly. Hearing the sound of drums, the first wave of attacking teams rushed to the city wall with a roar of ladders, and at this time, the door-breaking car was also slowly driven towards the west gate of Yizhou City under the drag of more than a dozen people. In order to prevent accidental damage to their own troops, when the attacking team rushed to about 50 meters from the city wall, the catapults and ballistas stopped firing, and only the archers continued to aim and shoot arrows at the targets moving on the city walls.

When the defenders of Yizhou City had stopped, the stone throwers and ballistas had stopped, they all stood up, waved their scimitars and shouted insults, and the archers also took their bows and shot arrows at the targets moving under the city walls. At that time, the Khitan people belonged to a semi-nomadic people, and most of the people were good at archery on horseback, especially archery, which was very accurate. Because the open area of the west gate of Yizhou City is very small, the gap between people and people in the attacking team is very small, so the success rate of archers on the city wall is very high, and the short distance of 50 meters makes the first phalanx lose a lot. But even in the face of the rain of arrows overhead, Chai Rong's soldiers still moved forward bravely, and the speed of the team's advance was fast. It didn't take long for the distance of 50 meters to be completed, and most of the soldiers followed their generals to the base of the city wall.

However, the soldiers who came to the city wall found that as more and more people gathered, the ground began to tremble under their feet, and finally, about half of them stood under the city wall, and when everyone began to prepare the ladder, the ground collapsed downwards with a bang, and large pits appeared at the base of the city wall, and the iron nail plates and inverted iron swords were exposed in the pits. Where did Chai Rong's troops think that this would be the case, coupled with the fact that there were too many people at this time, the incident suddenly failed to dodge, and nearly 300 people fell into the deep pit, and were stabbed to death by nail boards and iron swords, and many people were injured. The wails and shouts rang out, and the soldiers scrambled to climb up, and there were not a few who were trampled to death and injured. At this time, the Khitan defenders began to throw the fire oil cans down with an order, and the fire oil cans fell from a high place and scattered in all directions, and the fire oil inside was scattered in all directions. At this time, the Khitan defenders on the city wall threw down the torches, the fire oil under the city wall was ignited instantly, the fire was connected into a piece, the entire city wall was engulfed in a sea of fire, most of the soldiers were contaminated with fire oil, the flames quickly rushed to the attacking soldiers, it was early spring, some of the soldiers were still wearing cotton clothes, the fire burned very quickly, only half a pillar of incense The first wave of 1,000 soldiers who attacked was almost wiped out.