October 24th, Erlong Mountain, early morning sunrise.
Along with the rising sun, there were rolling banners and thundering drums. The Qingzhou Army finally launched the first wave of strong attack on Erlong Mountain this morning.
In yesterday's battle, both sides were injured, and judging from the final result, it was obviously the Qingzhou Army that suffered more. In this case, there is no need to make such useless efforts again, and simply attack the stronghold and destroy Erlong Mountain. The den of thieves was completely wiped out.
The Erlongshan people and others who had been guarding the three dangerous passes also responded in time. Especially in the Jintang City at the bottom, it was even more crowded. Under the loud scolding and orders of a group of small leaders, hundreds of people had already started fighting. He gathered his energy, pushed all the defensive weapons such as bows and arrows, rolling stones and wood to the front, and stared at the officers and soldiers who kept coming up the mountain, preparing to attack them head-on.
Although Erlongshan's group suffered a huge setback in the previous battle at Dongshixia and even feared the Qingzhou Army, now it was a matter of life and death for their own family, so they had no choice but to fight. Moreover, yesterday's series of battles will be quite inspiring to the people on the mountain, so they are determined to fight at this time.
Seeing groups of officers and soldiers rushing up along the mountain road, and about to kill at the foot of the city, which was mostly made of wood, Zeng Tao, the gatekeeper, shouted: "Fire arrows!"
In a moment, more than a hundred arrows were whistling and falling towards the officers and soldiers below. At the same time, the wood and rocks on the side were also smashed down like hailstones. They wanted to use this most ferocious defensive formation to repel the officers and soldiers and make the officers and soldiers worry. !
This was indeed a surprise to the attacking team. Although their front team hurriedly set up shields, many arrows still passed by from above and hit the soldiers and horses behind them. As for those roaring The rolling wood and rocks used the terrain to crush everything, smashing the heads of the dozens or twenty people who were rushing forward, causing them to fall to the ground with blood flowing out.
After forty or fifty people were killed in a single charge, the momentum of the officers and soldiers suddenly disappeared. Before the order could be sent from below, some people had already stopped moving forward or even retreated. In the eyes of those on the city, this made them energetic. They once again ordered their men to shoot arrows downwards, vowing to beat the officers and soldiers to collapse in one breath.
At this time, a fierce sound of drums and trumpets sounded from the bottom of the mountain. Instead of having the thought of retreating, the generals below urged the troops going up the mountain to continue the attack. This made the first batch of officers and soldiers who went up the mountain look confused. It was not until the leaders Li Zhong and Zhou Tong roared and urged them to attack again that they could only bite the bullet and charge forward again. At this time, they also learned their lesson. They were still some distance away from the wooden wall of Jintang City, so they fired arrows upward first to suppress the enemy.
Yes, this army of officers and soldiers who took the lead in climbing the mountain and wanted to retreat before they could even reach the enemy's road guarding checkpoint was not the real Qingzhou Army. Instead, it was made up of improvised troops from three mountains. The leaders were Li Zhong and Zhou Tonger. people. Before they left the camp, they had received strict orders not to retreat before the gold was raised at the foot of the mountain, otherwise they would be severely punished by military law. Therefore, even if these people face extremely dangerous situations, they can only take risks.
Because they were prepared and used arrows to clear the way, they finally managed to get close to the wooden wall of Jintang City. Some of them skillfully attacked the wooden wall.
Climbing up the wall that was not very smooth in the first place, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to complete the battle to climb the city in one go. But then, rocks fell on their heads, causing their heads to bleed and scream. They fell directly from the wall and crushed many of their comrades behind them... Although there was a wooden block between the two sides. However, the battle was extremely fierce from the beginning. People were constantly injured and fell down or even died. Especially the attacking party, one or two hundred people were killed in just half an hour, and the injured were even more. There were so many that Zhou Tong's eyes turned red.
Not only them, but Deng Long and others who were higher up were also horrified: "Are the officers and soldiers crazy? They went all out just as soon as they went into battle. Their strength is not much better than ours. If they keep attacking like this , in a few days they will no longer be able to attack the mountain."
"Sun Tu was definitely not so reckless when he leveled two mountains in a short period of time, and the leader of the village didn't realize that the team attacking the mountain this time was far less powerful than the ones in Dongshixiao before, at least in terms of siege strategy. Chapter." Lu Yuan looked deeper, frowned and said, "So I'm afraid this army is not the main force of the official army, and their purpose is only to consume the defensive strength of Jintang City."
Deng Long also reacted at this time: "They should be the surrendered soldiers of White Tiger and Peach Blossom Mountains. I didn't expect that Sun Tu would be so cruel and ruthless, driving these people to die to achieve his goal."
"This strategy is indeed smart and decisive, but it will inevitably lead to hidden dangers. Once the war goes unfavorably, the remaining people may not be loyal to the orders." Lu Yuan smiled disdainfully: "Of course, this This method may not have been decided by Sun Tu. He was seriously injured before, and he might still be lying in the tent now. How can he command the battle? Give Zeng Tao an order and tell him to take it easy and don't use up all the arrow stones he has stored up. , Our biggest threat lies in the main force of the army at the foot of the mountain."
When the people on the mountain began to run down to convey orders to Zeng Tao in Jintang City, many generals in the army camp also looked gloomy, especially Qi Desheng. At this time, he opened his mouth several times to say something, but when he saw Sun Tu's face turned pale and he didn't dare to speak. After struggling for a long time, he muttered: "Captain, is there anything wrong with doing this? Such a forceful attack will cause too many casualties, and those people..."
Sun Tu looked at the fighting scene in front of Jintang City with a solemn face, and said in a low voice: "These soldiers have just been incorporated into our Qingzhou Army and have neglected training. This time, we should treat them as fighting instead of training. As long as they don't die, , those who come back will make great progress. As for too many casualties, that is inevitable, otherwise having so many unruly people in the army will be a problem after all, and a group must be purged first."
During the half month before the expedition to Erlong Mountain, Sun Tu did not feel a headache because of these surrendered soldiers. Once these thieves and bandits came out of the military camp, they would fall back on their old habits. They often stole, robbed, and deceived, and many people in Qingzhou City suffered. Although Sun Tu had severely punished some people, in the end, he did not punish the public. This made the reputation of the officers and soldiers a lot lower. He was even worried that these guys would lead to the corruption of the originally simple Qingzhou Army.
So this time when he attacked the mountain, he simply decided to abandon some of the people. However, their deaths are not without value. At least they will make it easier for the Qingzhou Army to attack the city in the future.
As for the possibility that the soldiers of Sanshan would be resentful or even have thoughts of rebellion in the future, he would not take it seriously. In the face of absolute power, these people were not afraid at all.
But soon, Sun Tu discovered that Jintang City's counterattacks had become smarter. They no longer smashed arrow stones down for free as before, but became more targeted. Obviously, the opponent also I realized my intentions and didn't dare to waste it too much.
"Send the order and ask the people from Camp A to launch an attack as soon as they retreat from the mountain. Then let them set off more rockets and set fire to the city!" Sun Tu ordered immediately and decisively.
When they heard the crisp sound of gold ringing from below, the soldiers of Sanshan who were already complaining incessantly turned around and ran down. Many of them had fear and resentment on their faces. They had never fought such a terrible battle. Woolen cloth.
The defenders on the city also breathed a sigh of relief at this time. Although their damage was not serious, their consumption was not small. Not only had most of their weapons such as arrows, arrows, wood, and stones been consumed, but more than half an hour of fighting had also consumed their weapons. My physical strength is almost exhausted, and now I just want to have a good rest.
But before they could find a place to sit down, there was another burst of shouting and killing from the front, and an army with a much more rigorous appearance than the previous troops had already lined up to press them. And unlike the previous team that only focused on rushing forward, their advance appeared to be very methodical, and the formation was orderly. There were large shields in front of them to cover the entire army, making it difficult for the city's arrowheads to cause too much damage to the entire team. threats.
Then, after moving forward to a position that was still some way away from Jintang City, they quickly lit torches, ignited rockets, and fired arrows at the wooden wall. They were not in a hurry to attack Jintang City head-on, but planned to use fire attack to burn the entire city.
After confirming this strategy of the army, everyone on Erlong Mountain showed surprise, but then they laughed again. If Jintang City was really so easy to be attacked by fire, it would not have been able to stand here for many years. .
Sure enough, just when the rocket was about to ignite the city wall, buckets of water poured down the wall, quickly extinguishing the fire that had just spread without damaging the wall at all.
Everyone at the foot of the mountain let out a disappointed sigh, and Sun Tu also shook his head slightly. At this time, he missed the diesel oil he took out from the warehouse. If he could use diesel to set fire to the city now, Jintang City could be completely destroyed in an hour or two. It's a pity that all the diesel fuel was used to attack Hutou Village a few years ago, and now we can only look back and sigh.
So next, there is only one way to continue to attack!
Suddenly, Sun Tu gave an order, and the inspiring horn sounded again.
The officers and soldiers of the A-zi battalion, who originally kept a distance from Jintang City, rushed towards the city wall without any hesitation. The archers at the rear cooperated with the continuous firing of arrows to delay the defenders' actions, creating a more favorable situation for them to climb the city. environment of.
When he saw the officers and soldiers attacking, Lu Yuan finally changed his expression: "Now Jintang City is really in big trouble..." And at the same time that he said this, the officers and soldiers were already killing people. When we got to the bottom of the city, we threw out the rope and started to climb up. The speed was more than twice as fast as the previous three-mountain descent...