Chapter 492 Capture the Central City

Chapter 492 Capture the Central City

In Heyangguan City, Xue Guyan had a cold and stern look on his face, pointed at several captains who were tied to the torture rack and shouted angrily: "Hit me, beat me hard! Sixty military sticks for each person, no one allowed." Missed one!"

As the soldiers came forward and wielded their sticks to torture, several of the victims suddenly couldn't bear the pain and screamed for mercy. Xue Guyan turned a deaf ear to this, looked around the soldiers around him and continued to say in a deep voice: "Thieves army A fierce battle is about to happen at any time. If anyone in the city drinks alcohol against the law, the first offender will be punished and the second offender will be killed!"

He himself was in trouble due to drinking, and returned from a major defeat on the south bank. He lost his troops, lost his territory and fell into the city. Now he was deeply abhorred by this bad habit, and he was strictly forbidden to make this mistake and let the enemy take advantage of it again.

Seeing the awed expressions on the faces of the surrounding soldiers, Xue Guyan still felt a little unfinished, and then continued to shout: "Although the bandit army is not strong in strength, it is good at conspiracy and tricks, especially when it attacks at night, it is difficult to guard against it! Therefore, it is necessary to defend at night. Be more attentive and cautious than during the day, don’t let thieves take advantage of you!”

All the soldiers agreed with a loud voice, and Xue Guyan nodded with satisfaction, and patrolled around the wall again before returning to the inner city to rest.

But after dinner, he always felt uncomfortable all over his body, especially as if there were thousands of insects and ants crawling between his throat and esophagus, which made him feel itchy and unbearable. He wished he could drink it down with the strongest wine and drown it all. A disturbing glutton.

However, he had issued a new ban on alcohol in Guancheng, so he could not turn around and break his words and get fat. He walked around the room holding his belly and beating his chest for a while. The feeling of boredom did not subside, so he brought some vinegar and took a few sips in an attempt to rely on that. The sour feeling suppressed the dullness in the chest and abdomen, but when the sour feeling subsided, the alcohol addiction surged again.

"Come on, come on..."

Just when the defense line of reason was about to collapse and Xue Guyan could no longer bear to call people to drink, a soldier outside the door rushed in and shouted to Xue Guyan: "General, the bandit army south of the bridge is heading toward the pass. We are approaching and seem to be launching a night attack!”

"Well done! Put on my armor quickly!"

Xue Guyan was currently in a fierce battle with the inner demon of alcohol addiction, and needed to distract himself. After hearing the news, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he secretly said that the enemy's plot was just as he expected, and he expected the enemy to take advantage of it. In addition, I felt a sense of satisfaction in defeating myself. Before the battle even started, I felt I had won most of the battle. When I finished donning the armor, I immediately walked out with my head held high, heading straight towards Guancheng.

At this time, the sky was completely dark, but there was moonlight shining on the sparkling river. Although the view was blocked, it was not so dark that one could not see his fingers.

Xue Guyan climbed to the top of Guanqiang City and looked towards the south. He saw that the river bridge deck was undulating rhythmically up and down, and the amplitude of the fluctuations was getting larger and larger. At the source of the bridge deck fluctuations, There were thick black figures walking towards Guanqiang. Although the steps were very slow, they gave off a sense of chilling.

"The dog thieves are so exhausted that they don't dare to form a formation to attack during the day. They only dare to harass at night. Open the city gate, form an array and attack, so that these thieves will never return!"

Xue Guyan sneered, and then looked back at the soldiers in the pass. He personally selected the warriors and soldiers, and soon formed a five-hundred-person infantry team, and then walked out of the pass under the leadership of Xue Guyan himself. Outside, we formed an array in front of the pass to meet the enemy.

At this time, several newly erected crossbows on the Guan Tower had also been wound up with nooses. The crossbow arrows were aimed at the river bridge in front of the Guan, and they would deal a cruel blow to the enemy as soon as they got within the best range.

When it comes to city defense skills, the soldiers of the Eastern Dynasty, mainly composed of six town soldiers, are naturally not as proficient as the Kansai people, but the level of craftsmanship in the Eastern Dynasty far exceeds that of the Western Dynasty.

This large-scale bed crossbow placed on the Guanlou requires the power of several oxen to be successfully cocked. An arrow shot more than a hundred feet can be penetrated by heavily armored men and horses. Although it has the disadvantage of being inconvenient to move, it is A very scary defensive weapon. Especially in a place like Heqiao, where the advance and retreat must follow a fixed passage range, it is enough to make the invading enemy drink with hatred on the spot!

When all three cities in Heyang were originally defended, Zhongli City did not need to place this important weapon. But now that Nancheng has been lost, there is of course no reason to show mercy to the enemy.

When the enemy troops were setting up defenses along the river embankment, the crossbows on Heyangguan City were also set up. Ten crossbows were arranged on the south wall of the Guan Tower. The crossbow points were all directed towards the river bridge. Just because The difference in angles results in different firing ranges, ensuring that within one mile of entering the pass, the enemy will be struck by the crossbow at different locations.

The enemy gradually approached and soon came within the range of the bed crossbow. There were soldiers at the top of the city asking for instructions whether to fire the powerful crossbow.

Xue Guyan knew that the bed crossbow was very powerful, but because it was too heavy, the shooting frequency was low. The interval between each arrow was almost more than a quarter of an hour. If the enemy came within range and fired, it would scare them away. But it was difficult to cause considerable damage, so he waved his hand and signaled to wait for a while. When the enemy was deeper into the range, he fired several crossbows together, causing chaos in the enemy's formation.

So the soldiers in Guancheng waited patiently for the enemy to continue to advance, until the distance between them was reduced to within a few dozen feet, and they could even see the specific layout of the enemy's front line through the moonlight.

But it was okay that he couldn't see it. When he saw the familiar box truck in the enemy's front line, Xue Guyan's head suddenly buzzed, and a fresh and strong sense of humiliation suddenly surged into his heart. He held a long gun in his hand. Pointing toward the river bridge in the south, he yelled angrily: "Shoot! Shoot these Western thieves!"

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz…

Accompanied by a powerful roar, several powerful arrows no less thick than short spears shot out of the city and shot straight towards the river bridge shrouded in night. Then there were dull vibrations on the river bridge one after another, and accompanied by several short screams, the crossbow arrows hit the targets on the bridge one after another.

"Follow me and kill the thief!"

Taking advantage of the brutal blow caused by the crossbow to the enemy's formation, Xue Guyan took the lead and charged straight to the south. The 500 soldiers who had been arrayed behind him also rushed to follow. They were as fierce as an indestructible torrent. Straight down the river bridge.

However, as the distance between the two sides narrowed, Xue Guyan suddenly realized that the situation seemed to be contrary to his imagination. There was no scene of the enemy troops on the bridge in front being in chaos due to the piercing of the powerful crossbows, and there were no enemies screaming and fleeing. Alchemy soldiers, the scene was deserted and strange.

But now that he had charged out, he had no time to think about it. He just continued to rush south without hesitation, and when he approached the enemy's target closest to Guancheng, he was a little dumbfounded.

I saw that it was an abandoned carriage. The horse pulling the carriage in front had already been hit by an arrow and fell to the ground. The tall carriage at the rear also showed a gap as big as a fist on the north side, and the powerful crossbow arrows went straight into it. This gap Something was flowing out everywhere. Xue Guyan stepped forward and touched the river sand in his hand.

"What happened..."

After realizing this, Xue Guyan suddenly felt something bad in his heart, and soon realized the enemy's method of avoiding Guancheng's powerful crossbow.

The bed crossbow is indeed powerful, but its shooting path is relatively fixed and never goes beyond the bridge deck of the river. But the river bridge is not wide, and two cars driving abreast take up most of the width.

The boxcars driving ahead were not loaded with the silk goods that Xue Guyan had seen when he was on the Gushui River, but full of river sand.

Although these river sands are very soft when stepped on, when placed in a cage, a crossbow that is so powerful that it can pierce even heavily armored men and horses can hardly penetrate them. As for the soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty who were accompanying the chariot. , it will be more difficult to hurt.

Of course, it is not completely invulnerable. There is always a gap between the sand trucks, and it is impossible to predict the impact point of the crossbow on the bed above the wall. Some arrows hit the cage directly and were submerged in the sand, while others hit the side or simply passed over the obstacle and hit the soldiers.

But in any case, due to the obstruction of the sand truck, the powerful crossbows fired from the top of Guancheng City completely failed to achieve the killing effect that Xue Guyan expected. As for the chaos in the formation, there was no need to think about it.

Except for a few sand carts that were frightened away by the animals pulling the carts, and even the carts rushed off the bridge and into the flowing river, none of the soldiers behind the train were greatly affected. While Xue Guyan was still looking at the sand truck in a daze, several large spears with long blades were already piercing through the sides of the box truck.

"Back off, back off for now!"

Seeing that the long-awaited killing move was so easily defused by the enemy, one can imagine Xue Guyan's bad mood. The blood in his heart suddenly turned to bitterness, and he became more and more frightened by the enemy's tricks. Then he no longer wanted to fight, he turned his long spear in his hand and stabbed the horse in front of the other cart to death, then withdrew and retreated to the rear.

When the other soldiers who followed saw the general like this, they naturally did not dare to charge southward again, so they all retreated.

After retreating to the front of the wall, Xue Guyan turned around and looked towards the south of the bridge. Seeing that the enemy did not take advantage of the situation to launch an attack, he couldn't help but feel grateful in his heart. It seems that although the parallel sand trucks successfully blocked the arrows for these thieves, it also restricted their forward thrust.

"The thieves are cunning. I don't know what other plots they are hiding. Please inform the Chief Sima of North Central City about the enemy situation here!"

If it was an upright battle with swords and spears, Xue Guyan would have nothing to fear and would dare to charge into any difficult and dangerous battle.

However, the thieves in this group are too cunning, and many of their methods are not conventional, and often cannot be solved by bravery alone, which inevitably makes Xue Guyan feel at a loss.

Therefore, despite common sense, he could not imagine how the enemy could pose a threat to Guancheng, but he did not dare to be too confident. When the soldiers reported the enemy's situation to Beicheng to avoid encountering any emergencies, he hurriedly It is difficult for him to deal with it on his own.

South of the river bridge, Li Tai came out from the rear formation. When he reached the front formation, he saw two armored soldiers being pierced through the body by a powerful crossbow. Another person's knees were pierced by the arrow and he fell to the ground and fainted. He woke up, with a sad look on his face, and said in a deep voice: "Please transport the casualties to the rear first and prepare for the attack!"

He had previously seized hundreds of bed crossbows from Nancheng. When planning to continue the attack, he would not ignore this big killer weapon. However, he could only reduce the harm of bed crossbows as much as possible, but he could not completely eliminate them.

The battlefield is so cruel, the difference between life and death is often just a thin line, and it all depends on luck.

Except for Han Xiong and his soldiers, the rest of the soldiers here are all members of the family army who have followed him for a long time. Even the Longyou athletes who have followed him for the shortest time have the Battle of Jinyang to cultivate a tacit understanding, and they have long been used to it. Absolute obedience to Li Tai's orders.

Even in the face of this situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, and it is easy to defend but difficult to attack, when Li Tai decided to launch an attack to the north of the river bridge, these people had no doubts about it, and there was no need for Xiao Yi's passionate incitement. .

The more this happens, the more responsibility Li Tai has to lead the soldiers to create greater brilliant achievements and ensure their lives as much as possible. Of course, sacrifices are inevitable in this process, so let every sacrifice have greater meaning and value!

The sand truck in front was left on the bridge because the animal pulling the truck fell dead. The soldiers did not move forward to clear it and continue moving forward. Instead, they stopped at this section of the river bridge and dumped the wood transported from behind on the bridge deck. Assembling and adjusting continuously, the sound of knocking could be heard far away in the night.

In front of Heyang Pass, Xue Guyan saw that the enemy army did not advance forward. Instead, there were constant banging sounds on the bridge. He was full of doubts in his heart. He even secretly guessed that the enemy army was planning to attack near Heyang Pass. Build a temporary camp fortress on the river bridge to continue the attack on Heyang Pass?

Although this conjecture is somewhat absurd, it is not impossible considering that the thief will come up with all kinds of tricks. While waiting, Xue Guyan ordered the crossbow at the city head to fire several rounds at the rebels, but the effect was not even as good as the first time.

After the bed crossbow is set on the city head, it is very cumbersome to move it, and the shooting path needs to be calibrated through sight lines and markers. It is dark now, and even with the thin moonlight, it is difficult to meet the bed crossbow calibration requirements, so this The killing weapon is temporarily useless.

After Hulujin on the north bank learned of the enemy's situation, he did not go to Heyangguancheng to supervise the battle in person. Instead, he stayed in Beizhong City to provide warning. However, he also sent a general and two thousand troops to the south for reinforcements.

At one time, there were nearly ten thousand people inside and outside Zhongli City, including the civilian labor force. This city was originally located on a sandbank in the middle of the river, and was the smallest among the three cities in Heyang. With so many people stationed there, the open space inside and outside the city, except for the houses and tents, was immediately filled.

Seeing the soldiers waiting for battle in Guancheng and Fanghezhou, Xue Guyan's originally anxious mood regained his composure. No matter what plots and tricks the enemy has, what can really determine victory is absolute strength.

The garrison in Zhongli City alone was more than twice as powerful as the enemy, not to mention the tens of thousands of troops commanded by the Hulüjin Institute on the North Bank! Speaking of the intrigues in the battle, Xue Guyan thought that he was not as good as the general, but he had already made up his mind to remain unchanged in the face of changes. He just led the crowd to stick to the city and wait until the sky was clear tomorrow before making a counterattack.

Suddenly, there were several strange noises in the night in the south, and soon there was a relatively clear plop of a heavy object entering the water, and an inconspicuous splash flashed on the water more than ten feet away from Guancheng.

Xue Guyan captured this scene keenly. Several thoughts flashed through his mind, and he soon realized: "The bandits are planning to use artillery carts to attack the city!"

It was better not to say this. As soon as he said it, all the soldiers who heard it burst out laughing. Infected by this atmosphere, Xue Guyan couldn't help but laugh. Originally, he was worried that the enemy was planning some vicious and tricky attack method, but he didn't expect that it was just an old trick like a trebuchet.

It's not that he looked down on the power of the trebuchet, but the distance between the two sides was so close, and coupled with the restrictions of the river bridge deck, it was difficult for the enemy to use such a powerful trebuchet, otherwise the soldiers might just pull the cannon rod to line up. not open.

Just looking at the impact point of the stone cannon, we knew that the range of the enemy's long-prepared artillery car was simply not enough to threaten Guancheng. But if we get closer, there are still three unlaunched crossbows on the top of the city, which means three weak points. The enemy will also have to test it with human lives, and also have to deal with the defenders who come forward to attack and kill.

The previous anxiety was due to the unknown danger, but after knowing the enemy's attack method, Xue Guyan immediately felt relieved. He didn't even bother to personally prepare for the war in front of Guancheng. Instead, he returned to Guancheng to rest, just Instruct the generals here to kill and retreat if they see enemy troops approaching before they advance.

But when Xue Guyan just turned around and entered the wall, he heard the soldiers on the wall scream in surprise. Before he could ask what happened, he heard a muffled sound coming from the side of the inner city. , and immediately there was the sound of wailing, screaming, and the sound of people and horses running away in terror.

"what happened?"

Xue Guyan hurriedly rushed to the top of the city, pointed at a soldier commander who was staring into the night with his head raised, and asked quickly.

"Yes, it's a cannon stone. A big piece of cannon stone fell into the inner city..."

The soldier commander said with a trembling tone and a look of surprise on his face.

"Nonsense! How could it be gun rock..."

Xue Guyan glared and reprimanded. He was not blind. He had just seen the enemy's artillery stone fall on the river ten feet away from Zhongli City. How could it cross the Guancheng and hit the inner city again!

However, as soon as he finished speaking, there was another sharp buzzing sound in the sky. He looked up and saw a black shadow quickly passing through his sight, and then he heard another roar coming from the tower. The black shadow directly hit the eaves of the Guan Tower, causing the entire Guan Tower to tremble visibly. Immediately, a large piece of the building was hit by the tremendous force and collapsed.

"This, this...impossible, absolutely impossible! How could..."

Seeing this scene, Xue Guyan felt a bone-chilling chill pouring down from the Heavenly Spirit Cap above his head, and then flowed all over his limbs, and his stiff body shivered uncontrollably.

Such a scene that goes against common sense even Xue Guyan, the experienced general who dared to fight against the thunder, was shocked. The other soldiers who witnessed it were even more panicked. Many people even thought for the first time. Is it the supernatural power of gods and Buddhas? There were many people shouting the Buddha's name, begging for protection and retreating to the rear.

"Don't leave, don't leave! The bandits must have used cunning tactics. Follow me out of the city quickly to kill the evil spirits!"

Xue Guyan is worthy of being a strong man who can't be killed by lightning. When he saw the chaos of his troops running around, he felt bad in his heart. He rushed out of Guancheng with a loud roar and shouted at the soldiers arrayed in front of the pass to go straight to the bridge in the south. Go up and kill.

At this time, on the south side of the river bridge, the carriage frame that was originally resting on the bridge was still there, but the river sand in the carriage was gone. Xue Guyan roared, smashed the chariot to pieces with a shake of his hand, and immediately saw the enemy formation behind him.

Each of these enemy soldiers was wearing heavy armor, and in their hands they were holding swords that looked like horse-cutting swords but had other long-edged swords. The sight of that formation made people feel inexplicably heart-pounding. On the bridge behind these enemy soldiers, there are two tall trebuchets, presumably from where the powerful cannon stones were fired.

But Xue Guyan had no time to take a closer look. The enemy soldiers were already coming towards him, and the long sword swung down violently. He was busy blocking with his arms, and soon he felt his shoulders suddenly sinking, the tiger's mouth was painful, and his long sword unexpectedly It was knocked out of his hand and hit on the bridge.

"General, be careful!"

The nearby soldiers had quick eyesight and quick hands, and they hurriedly dragged Xue Guyan, who had lost his weapon, back into the army formation. However, one soldier was disemboweled by the enemy because he rushed too close. His bloody internal organs flowed out, and he fell to the ground and died immediately. .

There were also soldiers who brandished swords and spears in their hands and stabbed at the enemy soldiers, but the blades of the swords and spears could not break through the thick armor. Even though some enemy soldiers were hit hard and fell back into the formation, there were soon others inside. To fill the gap, the bronze-headed and iron-armed soldiers continued to line up the wall and kill mercilessly!

Seeing how ferocious the enemy army was, Xue Guyan was also shocked. He held a sword and almost rushed into the formation to kill the enemy's formation, but all attempts were in vain.

If it were just a few ordinary heavy-armored infantry fighting, he would not be restrained, but the enemy troops were well-organized and well-coordinated, and the jumping, rushing, and killing coordination between him and his soldiers were all under this offensive. Becoming weak and weak, seeing that dozens of soldiers had died under the long sword, Xue Guyan could only grit his teeth and lead the crowd to retreat temporarily.

However, just as they were retreating, two more loud noises were heard from the enemy formations in the rear. The impact point of the huge artillery rocks was still at the previous position. The soldiers in the inner city camp had already avoided it. In addition to the larger pit on the ground, There were no new casualties.

However, the Guanlou, which had no way to escape, received another heavy blow. The entire Guanlou made a loud noise, the structure shook severely, and the entire roof of the first floor collapsed, as if it had been struck by thunder.

Although the Jinyang soldiers were very brave, not all of them were as brave as Xue Guyan and dared to fight the thunder. The two consecutive bombardments shocked their hearts greatly, fearing that the next thunder would fall. Above their heads, they all rushed out of the river island and fled north along the river bridge. People were constantly squeezed off the bridge, and were soon swept into the raging river.

When Xue Guyan led his troops back to Guancheng, most of the defenders on the wall had fled. Seeing this scene, even if he still had the will to persevere, it was difficult for him to hold on. He could only rush into Guanmen and follow the soldiers towards the gate. Flee north.

Happy Children's Day to everyone. . .