The sky was twilight, and the golden sun had just climbed to the top of the West Mountain. Outside the Shangchun Gate of Luoyang City, the eastern capital of the Great Sui Dynasty, an astonishing number of rebel troops had already appeared. , carrying hundreds of heavy siege weapons, like a colorful forest, slowly crawling towards Shangchunmen, flowing all over the mountains and plains, the front team has already arrived at the city of Shangchunmen, and the rear team is still flowing Absolutely coming, the momentum is very astonishing, the huge team is even more astonishing.
The alarm gong on the Shangchunmen City was also ringing continuously. The Sui army guarding the city rushed up the city and strode towards their posts, preparing for the battle in an orderly manner. Compared with the last offensive and defensive battle, after actual combat The order of the baptized defending army has obviously improved qualitatively. The queue can be regarded as orderly, and the preparation work can be regarded as orderly. However, fear and timidity were clearly written on the faces of almost every Sui army soldier, because the number of enemies they faced this time was not comparable to the number of enemies that attacked the city last time. the point.
A few white figures also boarded the city wall, walked to the side of the arrow stack to observe the enemy's situation, and a white figure simply climbed onto the arrow stack, stepped on the arrow stack and faced the rising sun, standing straight, golden-yellow The sun shone on his thin body wearing the silver light armor, reflecting the dazzling rays of light, dazzling.
Seeing these eye-catching white figures, and seeing that thin but straight figure again, for some unknown reason, many soldiers of the Sui Army felt as if they had found their backbone, and their extreme nervousness was relieved all of a sudden. , because these Sui soldiers knew that once they faced the threat of a powerful enemy, this thin figure would lead a large number of fearless warriors in white robes to share the pressure for them, join hands with them to kill the enemy, and replace them. They wiped out all the ferocious enemies that rushed up the walls.
"Soldiers, I have good news for you. I heard everything clearly." The thin figure yelled, "Good news, it's good news that the Yang rebels brought those auxiliary soldiers who didn't even have armor. Tens of thousands, this is a good thing. Cutting off the heads of these auxiliary soldiers and civilians will still be rewarded according to the elite main force of beheading traitors. Have you prepared the money bag? If you want to get rich, prepare a bigger bag! "
Many soldiers of the Sui Army who heard the yelling laughed, and their nervousness was completely swept away. At the same time, a powerful arm stretched out, pulled the thin body off the arrow stack, and pulled it back to the top of the city. , the owner of the arm scolded: "Don't die, what should I do if I fall to the city? To observe the enemy's situation, do I need to stand on the arrow stack?"
"My nephew, Chen Yingliang, I've seen my uncle." Chen Yingliang hurriedly saluted Pei Hongce who dragged him back to the top of the wall, and said with a smile, "It's okay, my nephew doesn't have a fear of heights, so I can't fall."
"Be careful, if you encounter a rebel rushing to the city wall today, it's all up to you." Pei Hongce scolded again, then turned his gaze to the rebel army in the distance, and said with a melancholy expression: "Come on!" After so many battles, it seems that the Yang Rebels are out in force this time, and today's battle must be fought."
"Uncle, don't worry, it's just a bunch of rabble, don't worry." Chen Yingliang comforted him confidently, then turned to Xie Zichong who was standing next to Pei Hongce and said quickly, "General Xie, please arrange a team of soldiers and go back to the camp immediately to take all the hats Come, distribute our city defenders, if the number is not enough, give priority to our archers."
"Why?" Xie Zichong asked suspiciously.
"Sunshine is not good for us." Chen Yingliang pointed to the rising sun and said, "Shangchunmen is the east gate, and the morning sun just hits our faces, which is very bad for us to shoot arrows and avoid arrows. All wearing bamboo hats can largely avoid the influence of sunlight.”
"Ah, that's right!" Xie Zichong came to his senses and regretted, "Why didn't I think about this just now? Just ask the soldiers to wear bamboo hats in the barracks. Fortunately, there is some time. I will arrange it now." The team went to get the hats."
"Go quickly." Pei Hongce urged, and then ordered: "If the quantity is not enough, immediately send someone to Beishi to find Liu Changgong and borrow the bamboo hats from his team."
Xie Zichong took the order and hurried down to make arrangements. Then Pei Hongce turned to Chen Yingliang and said with a smile, "That's right, you can even notice such details. No wonder all the officials in the Eastern Capital praise you as a genius, Chen Qingzhi is reborn."
"Uncle, thank you." Chen Yingliang hastened to be humble, and said again: "However, I am afraid that our opponents have also considered this detail. My nephew remembers that the Yang Rebels attacked the city a few times before, and they only arrived at the battlefield after Chen Shi in the morning. This time, the genius has rushed to the city of Luoyang just after dawn, and it is likely that the old thief Li Zixiong wants to make the most of the advantage of the backlight."
Pei Hongce nodded, agreeing with Chen Yingliang's analysis, and also knew that the opponents that the self-army faced this time were not trivial. It was no longer just the brave Yang Xuangan and Li Mi who didn't like to attack head-on. General Hou Li Zixiong.
By the way, it is thanks to Li Zixiong himself that Pei Hongce and the defenders of Dongdu knew about this situation. In order to show off his might and intimidate the defenders, after Li Zixiong took over the position of the rebel army division, he immediately gave up Li Mi's previous efforts. The strategy of attacking the defenders' scouts to reconnaissance, deliberately indulge the defenders to reconnaissance their own military situation, whether the result will receive the intimidation effect is not yet known, under the situation of greatly reduced pressure, the defenders' scouts who have gradually experienced in actual combat have also taken the opportunity A lot of useful information was collected, and the Dongdu defenders knew that Li Zixiong had defected to the rebel army and was appointed as the rebel army's military adviser.
Closer to home, after a while, the first batch of bamboo hats were sent to the city wall by the defenders, and they were given priority to the archers who most needed to protect their sight. At the same time, Yang Xuangan and Li Zixiong were both shocked when they saw this clearly on the high ground outside Shangchunmen City with the advantage of the backlight. Unexpectedly, Pei Hongce, a big boss, can discover such details that only veterans in the battlefield would pay attention to."
"This running dog, I can't spare him!" Yang Xuangan gritted his teeth and said, "I heard that the little thief Chen Yingliang is his distant nephew, and the old man Fan Zigai made an exception to use the little thief Chen because of this relationship!"
"Mr. Chu, it's not too late. We should attack the city as soon as possible." Li Zixiong suggested: "The sooner we attack the city, the longer we can take advantage of the backlight. If it is delayed until the afternoon, the sunlight will turn against us .”
"Okay, then I will leave everything to the old general. Please give the old general's order. From me down, all accept the old general's command." Yang Xuangan handed over and directly handed over all the commanding power to Li Zixiong.
Li Zixiong was not polite, and directly arranged siege tactics to the rebel generals. After a while, the battle drums in the rebel army beat rhythmically, and a thousand auxiliary soldiers and eight hundred archers took the lead. Afterwards, they strode towards the Shangchunmen, where the moat had been filled up by the rebels for more than a mile. Then the main force of the 6,000 rebels came out with 20 ladder carts and a large number of portable ladders. The two horizontal teams slowly advanced, slowly walking towards the city wall of Shangchun Gate.
Seeing this situation, Pei Hongce, who had never encountered such a situation before, was a little flustered, and hurriedly asked Chen Yingliang next to him, "Nephew, what are they planning to do? Those wooden carts that are one foot high (the height of the toad cart is one foot and four feet) Wasn't it used by the traitors to transport soil to fill the river, why did it come here empty-handed?"
"It's used to prevent arrows." Chen Yingliang explained: "Push these wooden carts below the city and line them up in a row, so that the rebel archers can hide behind the carts and shoot arrows, suppressing and harassing our troops on the city."
"Then how to crack it?" Pei Hongce asked quickly.
"There is no need to decipher it." Chen Yingliang replied with a smile: "Hiding behind the wooden cart and shooting arrows is not so much a shooting, it's better to rely on blindness, it won't have much effect, a proper bow and arrow can suppress it, don't be afraid."
"The biggest threat to us is those aerial ladder vehicles." Chen Yingliang pointed to the rebel aerial ladder vehicles in the distance and said: "If these aerial ladder vehicles are placed against the city wall, the rebel troops can rush up the city wall quickly and in large numbers. This kind of ladder car is made of wood, which is most afraid of fire attack, and it is too heavy to move quickly. We only need to focus on the rocket design, and we can burn them on the road."
Pei Hongce nodded quickly, then gritted his teeth and said, "Nephew, why don't you take command instead of uncle. You give the order, and uncle will pass the order for you."
"This...isn't that good?" Chen Yingliang was a little embarrassed and said, "This is also the first time for my nephew to fight this kind of orthodox city offensive and defensive battle, and my nephew doesn't even have an official position."
"Brother Yingliang, don't be modest." Xie Zichong interjected next to him, "You are inexperienced, but you have read a lot of military books and know how to fight, which is much better than those of us who haven't even read a few military books. I'll leave it to you to command, and I will obey your orders."
"Then, I'll try." Chen Yingliang agreed with some hesitation—this time it really wasn't Chen Yingliang's false modesty, it was Chen Yingliang who really wasn't sure about it.
At this time, the rebel army pushing the toad cart had already approached the city wall and entered the range of bows and arrows. Chen Yingliang Guoduan ordered three rounds of volley fire, and then shot accurately. Xie Zichong conveyed Chen Yingliang's order, and the defenders on the city wall The archers acted according to the order, and shot three waves of feathered arrows at the rebels in succession, covering the heads of the rebels as much as possible, and then each looked for opportunities to shoot accurately, not only to avoid wasting the very expensive feathered arrows, but also to save energy—— Shooting a bow and arrow is no easy task.
Throwing from the bottom of the city to the top of the city, the rebel archers of course need a shorter range to do it. Therefore, during the three rounds of feather arrows covered by the defenders, the rebel archers can only be beaten and cannot fight back. Many enemies were caught, and dozens of rebel auxiliary archers were shot and wounded. The rebel army was shocked and the formation was chaotic. Some frog chariots continued to move forward at the general's request, while others Can't wait to stop to guard against arrows, the panicked rebel archers quickly hid behind the car and shot arrows at the city indiscriminately. At the same time, the Sui Army archers also began to find their own targets for precise shooting. Many Sui Army archers who were good at shooting also found opportunities to show off and shot some rebel soldiers exposed outside the vehicle.
Seeing this scene in the distance, Li Zixiong, who originally planned to surprise the defenders with regular siege tactics, was of course furious, cursing the archery team for being incompetent, and lamenting that if his old subordinates were here, they would have killed them long ago Luoyang City Wall captured Pei Hongce alive. But no matter how old General Li sighed, it was useless to brag. The overall quality of the rebel army was placed here. Li Zixiong could only send people to order the bow and arrow team to reorganize the team to effectively suppress the defenders in the city, and at the same time send people to send orders to attack. The city ants attached to the team and ordered them to move forward at a faster speed, but they must maintain a unified action with the most important ladder vehicle.
As analyzed by Chen Yingliang, although the rebel army used the most orthodox siege tactics, it was a pity that it was always difficult to aim arrows at the city while hiding behind the car. In addition, the quality of the rebel army was uneven. The effect of the army is naturally worse, even if the arrow speed is slow, the arrows shot are either weak or weak, or the accuracy is ridiculously poor. The threat to the defenders of the Eastern Capital on the city wall is pitifully small, and the defenders who are minimally affected The archers continued to release arrows freely and shoot accurately, and the results were far greater than those of the rebels.
After confirming this point, Pei Hongce, Xie Zichong and other guards of the Shangchun Gate breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Yingliang also quietly called out his luck, and then hurriedly went to see the rebel army in the distance, and found that the people carrying the flying ladder and pushing the ladder cart The speed of the rebel ants' accompanying battle team seems to be faster, but the light-footed infantry still maintains their joint action with the ladder vehicle, and is not in a hurry to charge. Seeing this scene, Chen Yingliang quickly came to his senses, knowing that the experienced Li Zixiong planned to let the ladders and ladders attack the city together, so that the self-army was in a hurry and didn't know who to deal with first, creating chaos for the defenders, and ensuring that the ladder cars could get up smoothly to the greatest extent. city walls.
Sensing the opponent's tactical intention, Chen Yingliang sneered, and quickly ordered to Xie Zichong: "General Xie, please order all our archers to prepare rockets. After receiving the order, immediately concentrate the rockets to shoot at the enemy's ladder vehicles, and ignore the enemy soldiers. .As for those flying ladders, use rolling stones and falling trees to deal with them." Xie Zichong, who had already admired Chen Yingliang, did not hesitate, and immediately sent his men to deliver the order.
The rockets tied with soaked linoleum had been prepared long ago. During the tense wait, the rebel army's ant-attached siege team finally approached the city wall of Shangchun Gate. Wang Zhongbo of this rebel army waved his flag and shouted his orders. The rebel team carrying the ladder immediately rushed up in line with shouts. At the same time, the ten ladder vehicles in the front row also launched a full-speed charge. Pushed by the soldiers, they drove towards the city wall cumbersomely and slowly. The Shangchun Gate, which was originally relatively quiet, was suddenly filled with killing noises.
At the same time, the drums for the charge of the rebel army sounded, and Li Zixiong, who successfully completed the simultaneous siege tactics, also showed a confident smile, but the smile quickly froze on Li Zixiong's face, because Old General Li suddenly discovered that the city wall Not only did the defending archers on the ground not shoot arrows indiscriminately to suppress the rebel infantry and echelon charge, but they simply stopped shooting arrows. General, you can guess the reason even by analyzing it with your toes.
"The commanding officer in the city is really the boss Pei Hongce who has never been on the battlefield?" Old General Li was momentarily at a loss.
Sure enough, when the heavy ladder vehicle slowly entered the range of the city wall, the flag waved its arrows, and countless flaming arrows immediately appeared on the city wall, and the flag was waved again, and these rockets were immediately shot out in order, and all of them ignored the traitors. The soldiers of the army roared and all flew towards the ten tall ladder trucks. The ladder trucks were heavy and slow. To the defenders' archers, they were almost no different from fixed targets. The hit rate was naturally quite high, so it was almost In the blink of an eye, ten tall and heavy ladder trucks were filled with rockets. The rockets burned, and then gradually ignited the ladder trucks.
At the same time, the Sui troops who were not archers also began to attack the rebel ant-attached team, condescendingly smashing heavy sheep's head stones and shovels at the rebel team, smashing the rebels who were about to build the ladder. The army soldiers were crying and howling, their brains were bursting, the queue was chaotic, and the speed of building the ladder was slower.
In this way, the archers were responsible for shooting the ladder trucks with rockets, and the swordsmen were responsible for hitting the ant-attached rebels with stones, shovels and ash bottles. Naturally, it was not achieved. At the same time, because of the right tactics, the rebels who rushed to the city were of course dead or injured. The ladder car that the rebels had placed high hopes on quickly ignited flames, and the speed was getting faster and faster. The flames also burned more and more vigorously, and thick smoke gradually rose.
Seeing this scene, the morale of the defenders on Shangchunmen City was boosted, and the more they fought, the more confident they became. Pei Hongce and Xie Zichong also laughed and became happier. On the side of the rebel flag formation, Yang Xuangan, the commander of the rebel army, was getting more and more pale, and Li Zixiong, the old general Li, was getting more and more ugly. After gritting his teeth, Li Zixiong, who was eager to save face, simply yelled and ordered: "Send the order!" , advance to the third step! Catapult and crasher, attack together!"
The order was conveyed, and five trebuchets that made difficulties came out. Surrounded by two full regiments of rebel troops, they quickly rushed to the opposite Luoyang city wall. The rebel soldiers had already begun to attack the city wall. On the other side, three siege vehicles with iron-clad bumpers, also driven by a thousand rebel soldiers, began to charge towards the gate of Shangchun Gate.
Because the rebel team had already tried to attack the city gate more than once before, the Shangchun Gate defenders had already deployed heavy troops to protect the city gate, and the rebels' ramming vehicles also had torches and swallow-tailed torches to restrain them, so Chen Yingliang naturally used them. Don't worry too much about the safety of the city gate. What puzzled Chen Yingliang was the five catapults that the rebel army had just dispatched now—according to common sense, the catapults should have been put into use before the ants joined the battle, so that they could suppress the defenders' bows and arrows. It had the effect of causing casualties to the defenders, but Li Zixiong, a veteran on the battlefield, was unreasonable. He put the trebuchet into the battlefield when the rebels began to attack the city. Chen Yingliang couldn't guess Li Zixiong's tactical purpose.
"Could it be..." Chen Yingliang suddenly thought of a famous historical figure. Shocked, Chen Yingliang quickly turned to the Fourth Colonel of the Baoguo Army who was always standing behind him, and shouted: "Chen Zhihong, Zhao Yu, go and gather you all immediately!" The headquarters team, take them to the city, and prepare to reinforce the ant-attached battlefield! Guo Feng and Chen Ci's team, continue to rest and wait for life!"
"Promise!" Chen Zhihong and Zhao Yu, who were used to obeying orders, clasped their fists together and sang promises without blinking an eyelid, and then rushed down to the city together to form a team.
"Nephew, there's no need to dispatch the national army so soon, right?" Pei Hongce said in surprise, "The war has only just begun, and our other teams are also fighting well, so there's no need to dispatch our most elite troops now, right?"
"You can't do it." Chen Yingliang shook his head, pointing at the rebel catapults that were advancing rapidly, and said, "The five catapults of Yang's rebel team are planning to throw stones to bombard the battlefield of ants and kill our guarding soldiers. Fight with their siege party!"
"What? Is Yang Ni's team crazy? Even fighting with their soldiers?" Pei Hongce and all the generals of the Sui Army present were taken aback.
"Yes! Let's fight together! Although doing so will cause accidental injury, it can seriously damage the morale of our defenders and create a lot of opportunities for them to ascend the city!" Chen Yingliang nodded and said, "So I must immediately let the Nationalist Army go to the city. Only they dare to bravely kill the enemy and seal the gap in this chaotic moment of indiscrimination!"
While Pei Hongce, Xie Zichong and the others were stunned, Chen Yingliang gritted his teeth and snorted again, "Well, you Li Zixiong, you really deserve to be the former Youwuhou General known as the reincarnation of Zhuge. He is really vicious and vicious. Can learn without a teacher!"