More than two hundred cowhide drums beat rhythmically and neatly. Amidst the deafening sound of the drums, more than three hundred toad carts loaded with earth and rocks were slowly approaching the moat of Hulaoguan, driven by the soldiers of the Dou army. Under the rain, they were nailed to the toad carts clangingly, nailing the frog carts into giant hedgehogs. Even with shields covering them, there were still soldiers of Dou Jun who were shot down by arrows.
On the side of the moat, the archers of the Dou Army after the temporary fortifications built by hundreds of long shields were not to be outdone, they also desperately drew their bows and released their arrows, throwing their feather arrows to the top of the city. The feather arrows in the sky came and went like locusts. The feathered arrows on the city almost covered the sun, and the arrow feathers on the city head were as dense as the reeds on the river bank.
When the Toad convoy of the Dou Army approached within eighty steps of the city wall, the battle drums on the city sounded, and when the city gate opened, two teams of crossbowmen from the Sui Army came out in a single file. The soldiers of the Dou army behind the long shield and the toad cart couldn't dodge in time, and many of them were shot down immediately. The soldiers pushing the cart hurriedly used their shields to protect their wings, and the commander of the Dou army also quickly protected the wings of the archers. Fiercely shooting at the Sui soldiers protruding from behind the wall of sheep and horses, the bow and crossbow battle entered the most intense white-hot stage in an instant.
Dou Jiande's army was extremely determined to attack the city. After paying more than 300 casualties, Dou Jun's toad carts poured soil into the moat one after another, and more than 200 carts of soil filled several sections of the moat in a short time. After dumping the mud, the toad cart retreated quickly, and immediately another group of Dou soldiers holding axes, hammers and shields rushed towards the moat. Seeing this scene, Taiyuan veteran Yin Kaishan on the top of the city was not surprised but pleased, and hurriedly said to Li Keshi: "Wang Fubao is right, Dou Jiande is really not good at tough battles, he is too anxious, there are so many frog carts, he unexpectedly I didn’t have the patience to wait until the moat was completely filled, so I directly invested troops to attack our antler-repelling fortifications, trying to speed up the siege as much as possible, we have to fight this battle!”
Master Li Ke nodded, agreeing with Yin Kaishan's judgment, and ordered the pine cannons on the city to adjust their positions and get ready. Eight pine tree cannons were seized and fired at the same time. In the explosion sound that was far louder than the drums, countless pebbles were shot at the infantry of the Dou army in the light of the fire. Unable to protect the waist and abdomen, they were immediately knocked down by the stone bullets from the lasing. When the formation became chaotic, the Sui army crossbowmen behind the sheep and horse wall also seized the opportunity to shoot accurately and knock down more Dou army infantry.
As Yin Kaishan expected, although the power of the pine tree cannon was far less than that of the bronze cannon, after it was used suddenly, the generals and soldiers of the Dou army who had never seen this kind of weapon were still greatly affected, and the generals and soldiers ran away screaming. Dou Jiande, who was more than a mile away, also stood up from the imperial chariot in shock, and blurted out: "What is that? Could it be the legendary Chen Bandit Pao?"
Yang Gongqing and Wang Xingben, generals of the Zheng army who knew the details of the pine cannon, hurried forward and told Dou Jiande about the various situations of the pine cannon, especially the detailed introduction of the destructive power of the pine cannon's shotgun to dense formations. Hearing his fury, he roared: "Then why didn't you say it earlier? If I had known that Chen's army had some weapons, why would I have sent infantry to attack the antler fortification so soon?"
After hearing this, Yang Gongqing and Wang Xingben complained in their hearts, saying that it would be difficult for us to even meet you, so why would we have the opportunity to introduce these details? But they were under the eaves, and Yang and Wang didn't dare to say anything, they could only bow their heads obediently and confess their guilt, while Dou Jiande yelled again, ordering the self-armed infantry who had gone to attack the antlers to resist horse fortifications to withdraw and replace them again. A toad cart with strong defense against long-range weapons stepped forward to fill the river, and many soldiers died in vain.
The siege weapon of the toad cart is slow, but its defensive power and river filling effect are indeed quite good. After tossing back and forth three times at noon, the moat outside the east gate of Hulao Pass has been filled up by fifty or sixty feet. Basically opened the road directly to the city of Hulaoguan. Dou Jiande also ordered the infantry to go forward to attack the Juma antlers on the other side of the moat. Li Keshi did not want to lose too much force in the peripheral fortifications, so he immediately ordered the withdrawal of the Sui army's crossbowmen behind the sheep and horse wall, allowing the infantry of Dou's army to rush forward. Destroy the fortifications before the antlers reject the horses, and only use bows, crossbows, pine tree cannons to attack the enemy below the city, and cause casualties to the enemy as much as possible.
Many soldiers were sacrificed and destroyed some antler-repelling horses that were actually built by soldiers of the Zheng Army, forcing the soldiers of the Sui Army to no longer rely on the wall of sheep and horses to shoot the enemy from the front. Dou Jiande couldn't wait to order the trebuchets to come forward, three hundred The trebuchets poured stone bombs on the Hulaoguan city, and soon the rammed earth wall of Hulaoguan was riddled with holes. It also caused quite a few casualties to the soldiers of the Sui army on the city. Fight back with bows and crossbows, and shoot at each other with Dou Jun's catapult team.
At the same time, Dou Jun's ant-attached siege also began. Relying on his own strength, Dou Jiande invested a total of 4,000 troops in the first round of attack. The 4,000 Dou Army infantry carried hundreds of flying ladders. Pushing more than sixty trench bridge vehicles and five huge ladder vehicles forward in line, they rushed straight to the east gate of Hulao Guan in a menacing manner. While Dou Jiande was proud, he kept looking at the distance to the west of Hulao Pass, and said coldly: "Why hasn't Mr. Wang Xuanying made a move yet? Let's start, help me attack Hulao Pass from front to back, so that Chen Yingliang, the traitor, has nowhere to go!"
As Dou Jiande wished, the 18,000 Zheng troops in Luokou Cang led by Wang Xuanying had indeed approached three miles from the west gate of Hulao Pass, and had already laid down their formations, ready to attack the city at any time, and the Sui army did not spend much time What effort is there to repair the outer fortifications outside the west gate? The generals of the Zheng army only need to drive the trench bridge cart over the moat, and immediately put the ladder directly on the city wall, but Wang Xuanying has never launched an attack, and has been waiting for Dou Jiande to officially Initiate an ant-attached siege.
It's not that Wang Xuanying doesn't care about loyalty, it's that Wang Xuanying doesn't have much capital to squander now, and the current force in Luokou Cangcheng is less than 26,000 people. If something goes wrong, it will be difficult for Zheng Jun to keep the Luokou warehouse. Therefore, although Wang Xuanying had to send troops to cooperate with Dou Jiande in attacking the city, he had to preserve his strength. He had to wait for Dou Jiande to contain the main force of the Sui army, and then Wang Xuanying could properly launch some attacks and share some pressure for Dou Jiande. Furthermore, Wang Xuanying absolutely cannot easily take out his precious troops to fight the toughest battle with the most casualties.
After all the foreplay that should be done is done, the main show begins. Amid the suddenly accelerated rhythm of the drums, the four thousand soldiers of the Dou army in the first round of ants shouted and accelerated their pace together. More bridges were built on the moat, and then the Dou Army infantry carrying ladders roared forward and rushed across the moat to the bottom of the city. The flat moat is very impressive. And as Dou Jun's flying ladders continued to reach Hulaoguan, the most brutal and bloody ants attached to the city began.
Hearing the sudden intensified shouts of killing from the east gate, Chen Sangliang, who was resting inside the west gate of Hulaoguan, smiled slightly, knowing that Wang Xuanying, who was watching outside the west gate, was about to make a move, so he ordered to the left and right: "Send the order, let the The soldiers we are going to fight rest at ease, and attack in two hours. Then tell Hao Xiaode who is guarding the west gate, let him show some weakness appropriately, and attract as many Luokou warehouse bandits as possible to attack the city."
Feng Deyi, Sun Fujia and others agreed, and immediately arranged for messengers to convey the order, and then Feng Deyi asked cautiously: "Your Highness, the ant-attached battle has already started at the east gate, don't you plan to go and have a look?" Condition?"
"No need." Chen Yingliang shook his head and said with a smile, "It's useless to look at it, and I can't help you. You can't ask me to take a knife to chop the enemy myself, can you?"
Feng Deyi agreed with a smile, but the smile was a bit forced, and he couldn't settle down in his heart. It can't be blamed on Feng Deyi's timidity and greed for life and fear of death. For more than a year, Li Keshi went to resist the experienced hero Dou Jiande, who would not dare to have any confidence in it.
At this time, Zheng Jun's scouts also saw that Dou Jun had launched an ant attack on the southern highlands. After sending the news to Wang Xuanying through semaphore, Wang Xuanying still did not order the attack. After waiting for nearly half an hour, Wang Xuanying finally Cautiously ordered the attack, very carefully only sent 2,000 infantry forward, used trench bridge vehicles to open up a road across the river, and then used flying ladders to climb the city.
According to Chen Sangliang's order, Hao Xiaode, who was guarding the west gate, deliberately used only half of his strength to shoot arrows to suppress Zheng Jun's charge momentum, deliberately allowed Zheng Jun's soldiers to put a large number of flying ladders on the city wall, and ordered the soldiers to smash sheep's head stones less to let Zheng Jun The soldiers had the opportunity to ascend the city, but relying on the deliberate indulgence of the soldiers of the Sui Army, some soldiers of the Zheng Army miraculously rushed to the city wall in the first round of siege—although they were immediately stabbed down by the soldiers of the Sui Army.
The smooth progress of the siege of the city was naturally far beyond Wang Xuanying's expectations. Seeing that there were not many defenders on the city, and the self-soldiers had a chance to charge up the city wall, the inexperienced Wang Xuanying said that Dou Jiande had successfully restrained the Sui army. The main force boldly invested another 2,000 troops forward in an attempt to rush up the city wall to disrupt the Sui army's morale and help Dou Jiande take down the east gate faster. It was also around the time that the Taiyuan army increased its troops, and Hao Xiaode ordered the whole army to exert all their strength to resist Zheng's attack.
At the same time, the east gate of Hulao Pass was already full of flesh and blood, and the ground was full of corpses. Hundreds of flying ladders continued to climb up the city wall, and were constantly knocked away by the Sui army and continued to build up the city wall again. Stepping up the ladder, on the top of the city, rolling stones and wood fell like hail and raindrops, and swallow-tailed torches and rockets concentrated on attacking Dou Jun's heavy ladder trucks. The five ladder trucks have already emitted thick smoke of different sizes. , and two ladder trucks have turned into two huge fireballs. However, in the rear, there are as many as ten ladder cars slowly approaching the city wall.
Looking down from the sky bird, Dou Jun and Zheng Jun are like two tides, constantly slapping against the isolated island of Hulaoguan City. Dou Jun's tide in the east is the fiercest and fiercest, bringing the most bloody waves. Zheng Jun's side Although the momentum was smaller, it was not that bad. Soldiers from the two armies continued to board the east and west walls, and corpses rolled down from the walls like dumplings. , It completely covered up the sound of the Yellow River waves in the north.
Only the Hulaoguan city was extremely quiet. The few remaining people closed their doors and hid in their homes, daring not to go out. Replenishing his strength and waiting for the counterattack, Chen Sangliang also seized the time to check the supplies and supplies, especially the torches and dry rations needed for night battles.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, nearly 30,000 soldiers of the Sui army who were preparing to fight got up to eat and gathered for orders one after another. Since Zheng Jun had already started hitting the city with wood, Chen Sangliang specially arranged for Wang Fubao to be the vanguard of the city. After finishing the queue for leaving the city, they were ready to give the biggest surprise to the brother-in-law Wang Xuanying outside the west gate as quickly as possible.
When the hour of You was approaching, and when Chen Sangliang was about to order a counterattack, Feng Deyi also rushed to Chen Sangliang's side quickly, and whispered in Chen Sangliang's ear: "Your Highness, General Li transferred two thousand reserve troops to the city. .”
Hearing this, Chen Sangliang's heart was shocked. He didn't understand whether the cousin bird thief's use of the reserve team was to rotate the tired defenders, or it was a signal that he could no longer hold on. But after a short pause, Chen Sangliang still ignored it. Feng Deyi just said to the generals in front of him: "Everyone, you all know the purpose of our going out of the city this time, and tell every soldier what I say. If we don't fight to the Luokoucang city this time, we will never Retreat! If the bandit army in Luokoucang sends troops to support me, you must also go forward bravely. Be sure to defeat the supporting soldiers of the bandit army! If there is a chance, I will rush into Luokou without hesitation Inside Cangcheng! No matter who it is, whoever enters Luokou Cang first will be granted the title of Marquis! Those who have already been granted the title of Marquis will be promoted to a higher rank! We will reward hundreds of households in the town!"
All the generals of the Sui army sang promises in unison, Chen Sangliang nodded, and then ordered Wang Fubao: "General Fubao, it's up to you! Let's go!"
Without hesitation, Wang Fubao clasped his fists and sang promises, then rushed to the forefront of the army, led the army into the corridor of the city gate, and ordered the gate officer to open the gate. The door opens immediately...
"It even crashed?!"
At the same time, seeing that the gate of the city was knocked open by his own soldiers, Wang Xuanying cried out in surprise, and ordered Ge Yanzhang to lead an army of three thousand to charge without hesitation. , The suspension bridge at the west gate of Hulao Pass also fell to the ground with a crash. Wang Xuanying and Ge Yanzhang also said that the soldiers who climbed the city smashed the winch to make the suspension bridge fall to the ground. They shouted together in surprise, "We have already killed the city wall?"
When Huanxi shouted to this point, Wang Xuanying and Ge Yanzhang could no longer yell, because they suddenly saw that the self-soldiers who were cheering and rushing towards the city gate just now suddenly scattered like frightened rabbits and fled from the city gate. A large number of soldiers of the Sui Army also rushed out of the dark city gate corridors, and quickly separated left and right to kill the soldiers of the Zheng Army under the city, guarding the two wings to protect the road out of the city.
At this moment, Wang Xuanying made a ridiculous misjudgment, thinking that the Sui army's counterattack was to share the pressure on the city. In order to seize this opportunity, Wang Xuanying urged Ge Yanzhang to lead the army to attack again. When advancing forward, I was very dumbfounded to see that the soldiers of the Sui army were always coming out of the city. After protecting the two wings, they went directly across the river and spread out along the moat to the two wings. Wow, there are still countless soldiers of the Sui army striding out of the corridors of the city gate.
Seeing this scene, not to mention that Wang Xuanying, Ge Yanzhang and other generals of the Zheng army were all stupefied, and the soldiers of the Zheng army were also timid, subconsciously standing still, watching the soldiers of the Sui army like a flood. They rushed out of the city continuously and formed formations in front of them. Many shrewd generals of the Zheng army also began to quickly and silently count the flags of the school lieutenants of the Sui army to judge the strength of the Sui army going out of the city. "Twenty-five, twenty-six, two Seventeen..."
When the Sui army had more than fifty military flags out of the city, Chen Sangliang's banner of the king of the Tang Dynasty with his teeth and claws also appeared in front of Zheng Jun's soldiers. Accompanied by Chen Sangliang's banner, there were also the four-character banner of loyalty and dedication to the country, and A conspicuous cavalryman of the Nationalist Army with fluttering white robes. And then, Wang Xuanying immediately screamed like a slaughtered pig, "Ming Jin! Ming Jin! Ming Jin immediately! Take back all the troops in front!"
When the golden gong sounded, the generals of the Zheng army in front immediately dropped all their siege weapons and fled for their lives. However, when Chen Sangliang's flag crossed the moat and reached the opposite bank, Wang Fubao, who was ordered to be the vanguard, also immediately led the flag as he waved the flag. The headquarters launched a charge, and Wang Xuanying was in a hurry, knowing that leading the army to retreat at this time would definitely give the national army cavalry a chance to charge and attack, and also knew that fighting in formation would cost the main force of his subordinates here. In a dilemma, Wang Xuanying could only He made a compromise choice and ordered Ge Yanzhang to lead the 3,000 troops sent to him to the rear, and at the same time organize the troops to retreat and flee back.
The overly open terrain destined Wang Xuanying's compromise choice to be useless. Ge Yanzhang's rear army was immediately entangled by Wang Fubao. After reporting to the national army, Wang Fubao was allowed to clean up the Zheng army's rear. As a result, Wang Fubao certainly did not disappoint Chen Sangliang, while Ge Yanzhang’s army disappointed Wang Xuanying—seeing the soldiers of the Sui army constantly turning around, the soldiers of the Zheng army under Ge Yanzhang’s command were afraid that their retreat would be cut off, and fled westward in fear. Wang Fubao Taking advantage of the momentum to pursue and kill, a situation of three ways advancing side by side and chasing Zheng Jun at the same time was formed.
This day is definitely the biggest nightmare of Wang Xuanying's life. He was originally no match for his brother-in-law's accomplices in the field, and he was hunted down by his brother-in-law's accomplices who were far more numerous than him. I thought, "Is this a dream? If this is a dream, wake up, wake up!"
Of course the nightmare would not wake up, on the contrary, it developed in a more terrifying direction - after detouring to the south for a while, Guo Feng's Baoguo army suddenly rushed into the Zheng army's ranks, and directly rushed towards Wang Xuanying's banner! Wang Xuanying was shocked when he saw this, he didn't bother to lead the army to retreat, he kicked his horse and went forward frantically, leading the retreat formation in chaos, the nationalist army pursued him, rampaging through the Zheng army's ranks, like entering no man's land, Soon the situation of Zheng Jun was thrown into chaos.
At this time, Luo Shixin also led the Sui Army infantry who had gained enough stamina to catch up with the Zheng Army Brigade. Zheng Jun's soldiers fell to the ground as Ma Qian waved them. The massacre, none of the soldiers and generals of the Zheng army resisted, just fled to the north with a smile, but because of too much physical exertion in the siege battle, the speed could not be accelerated, and they were killed by Luo Shixin's army. The sound is endless.
The 30-mile distance from Hulaoguan to Luokou Cang made the Zheng army suffer. The 2,000 cavalry led by Wang Xuanying quickly threw off the infantry and fled forward, but the more than 10,000 infantry became the anvil of the Sui army. The soldiers of the Sui Army, who had gained enough strength to feed the fish, were all walking like flying, while killing the enemy and advancing quickly. The generals of the Zheng Army, whose physical strength had declined to varying degrees, fled all over the mountains and plains, and were constantly chased and killed by the soldiers of the Sui Army. From the bottom of Hulaoguan City, it continued to spread westward, covered with roads and wild fields, and the feet of countless soldiers of the two armies were stained red by the trampled corpses, leaving countless bloody footprints on the road.
For the generals of the Zheng army, there is another very fatal point-that is, if they want to escape back to the city of Luokou Cang, they must cross the Shizi River to the east of Luokou Cang! However, after the quick horse rushed back to the Luokou warehouse, Wang Xuanying calmed down a little bit and thought of this fatal problem, and quickly dispatched four thousand troops to the east bank of the Shizi River to protect the bridge and cover his own defeated troops returning to the city, and try their best to retain the defense force as much as possible. So when Chen Sangliang led the main force of the Sui army to the east bank of the Shizi River when it was getting dark, he was blocked by Zheng Jun's new force.
"Order the whole army!" Chen Sangliang yelled loudly, "Attack with all your strength! Bring the corpses of the thief army to this king and fill up the Shizi River!"