The night is coming to an end and the sky is dawning. The chaos inside and outside Danyang City has also entered a fever pitch.
Inside the city, the defenders were beaten and retreated continuously, almost giving up half of the city. However, Fang Shifo was not satisfied and continued to urge his soldiers and horses to attack wildly. At the same time, they would set fire everywhere, setting fire to shops and houses along the street, making the entire county even more chaotic. Many people screamed and fled in haste. , thus making the situation in the city even more chaotic.
Fortunately, many people in Danyang City had been forced to flee elsewhere by the army before, and only 30% of the population had to go. Otherwise, the number of innocent people who died tragically tonight would have been too many.
Fang Shifo knew very well that his biggest threat was still outside the city, so he had to completely capture Danyang City before the opponent defeated the rear army and turned around to attack. Only in this way could he fight the enemy with the city. At worst, he had to capture it first. Only after getting down to the most critical granary in the city.
But the defenders on the opposite side obviously understood this, so even though they were retreating steadily after being killed, and looked like they were about to collapse, they were still making the last desperate effort. Especially when they retreated to the continuous warehouses in the north of the city, the defenders showed great resilience under the pressure of the generals. They withstood several rounds of fierce attacks, but refused to retreat even half a step to give way. Come.
Because the last convenience is the Jiangnan Granary, which stores hundreds of thousands of stones of grain. Once it falls, it means that the entire war situation in Jiangnan will completely collapse. No army can continue to fight as usual without food. And once Jiangnan is really lost due to this, these defenders will definitely be charged with serious crimes, and they will die anyway, which naturally inspires their last courage and fighting spirit, and they will fight to the death with the enemy.
However, the difference in combat power between the two sides was too great after all. Without favorable terrain to utilize, relying solely on forming formations to block the enemy forces ultimately cost them an extremely heavy price in several rounds of deadly battles. Thousands of people died on the spot. At the same time, The team was also beaten and continued to retreat, and it was almost impossible to stop them.
In fact, the situation of Fang La's army in front of them was not optimistic. This desperate battle also caused their casualties to continue to increase. Although there are several fierce generals such as Fang Shifo charging forward to boost the morale of the entire army, in such a large-scale battle, individual bravery has a limited effect after all. It can only occupy an advantage in one direction, but it is difficult to completely defeat the enemy. .
Especially at this time, the defenders had risked everything and shot their arrows forward like they were desperate, which further hindered their forward attack. Even though they were less than a mile away from the warehouses filled with food, they still couldn't get close.
"General, we can't wait any longer, let's attack with fire..." After Fang Shifo once again led his army to attack fiercely but was forced back by random arrows, one of his subordinates suggested hurriedly: "Otherwise, the Song army will attack as soon as outside the city. , it will be even more difficult for us to succeed.”
Fang Shifo's face was as gloomy as ink, and he gritted his teeth reluctantly and stared at the row of granaries in front of him. He really didn't want to come to this point. Because the food here is not only the protection of the Song Army, but also an extremely important supplement to the Fang La Army.
Although Jiangnan is a land of fish and rice, rich and fertile, the sudden rebellion caused by Fang La in the past two years has also caused a sharp decline in local food harvests. Even though Fang La and the others have been urging farmers to grow mulberry trees since last year, and at the same time they have seized the rich grain reserves in Suzhou and Hangzhou, this point
Food is still not enough for Fang La's army, which has rapidly expanded in strength. Therefore, capturing Danyang and getting the food here became the key for them to get over this.
It is precisely because of this that when their military advisor set up a strategy for Fang La to attack the east and west and seize Danyang, he sent out two of his generals. Not only that, for the sake of a foolproof strategy, he also handed over the most elite of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses into the hands of Fang Shifo, telling him to take down Danyang in one piece.
But now, various changes forced him to take action to destroy the food in the city. This naturally made him very unwilling, but after hesitation, he had no choice but to accept: "Prepare rockets!" Since he couldn't take it away, It is better to destroy the food here than to be defended by the Song army!
After obeying the order, all the archers stepped forward to prepare. Each arrow had its head wrapped with cloth, and there was still a pungent smell of kerosene on it. Then the torch was quickly brought, just waiting for the order. , thousands of rockets flew over, and all the warehouses were set on fire.
Fang Lajun's actions were naturally seen by the defenders in front, which made them anxious: "What should we do?"
"Soldiers, it's time to be loyal to the country! Those who are brave enough will join me and kill them to stop them from firing arrows!" A general shouted loudly, all of them already raising their swords. But the soldiers around him all stood still and looked at him blankly, showing no intention of following him to serve the country.
For the Song Army, it is already a miracle that they can survive until now. In fact, many people have already begun to retreat, but they do not dare to disperse because they are constantly pressed and beaten by the enemy, because that will only make them die faster. But now, when a general asks them to fight back, they will never follow -
The Xiang Army of the Song Dynasty only served as soldiers for food and pay. Wanting them to fight to the death is overthinking.
After seeing the motionless appearance of the soldiers around them, a look of sadness appeared on the faces of the generals. At the same time, the last bit of vigor was drained away. Soldiers are the courage of generals. When soldiers no longer have the will to fight to the death, generals will no longer be of any use.
Fang Shifo, who was about to give the order to fire arrows, suddenly noticed this change keenly, and immediately shouted loudly: "Don't fire arrows yet! Brothers, follow me to kill again! This time I will definitely defeat them and capture the enemy." Granary! Kill!" He said, waving the copper hammer again and striding forward to kill.
Fang La's army was obviously much stronger than the defenders. As soon as they were inspired by the general, they immediately roared again and charged forward fiercely with their weapons raised high. But this time, they really broke through the front line of defense in one fell swoop, allowing the team to quickly rush into the enemy's formation. The defenders quickly collapsed and the road leading directly to the granary was cleared!
After realizing that the situation was over, both the generals and soldiers of the defenders collapsed completely in an instant. No one tried desperately to block the enemy's footsteps anymore. Instead, they quickly turned around and ran towards the rear and left and right after the enemy attacked.
Victory or defeat on the battlefield often occurs in an instant. Obviously, the defenders could withstand the enemy's fierce attacks before, but because of a slight change, they quickly collapsed. Thousands of men and horses were scattered into the sand, with no resistance left. There was only one thought left, that is, to escape for their lives.
When Fang Shifo saw this, he became energetic and laughed loudly: "The Song army is really vulnerable! After seizing the granary and then turning back to guard the city gate, we are all meritorious officials! Your Majesty will definitely reward us heavily in the future. !”
These words once again boosted the morale of the entire army. Amidst the shouts, the army rushed forward. After completely wiping out the remaining defenders in front, they stormed into the row of granaries. When the door of the granary was opened and people could see the mountains of bags of grain inside, cheers broke out: "Wu will win! General Fang is mighty!"
The sound spread out, but made the defenders who were fleeing even more frightened. They had the courage to resist desperately before, but now they had completely turned into homeless dogs. They didn't even have the courage to look back and just ran around with their heads covered. Some ran into the houses to hide, but more of them directly opened the city gates in other directions and escaped from Danyang City.
It is really another shame for the Song Army in the south of the Yangtze River. They obviously have more troops and there are reinforcements outside the city that will rush in soon, but they were killed by a mere 3,000 Fang La troops on their home ground. They collapsed and truly became a bunch of lost dogs.
Of course, they were not the only ones who lost their dogs. The thousands of Fang La Army rear troops in front of the South Gate also completely collapsed after fighting one after another. Everyone lost the courage to resist and could only flee with their heads in their hands. All the weapons were thrown away.
Facing the Qingzhou Army's constant pursuit and onslaught, they also retreated and died along the way, suffering heavy casualties. But after all, this army is the most elite among Fang La's army, so even at this time, it is still making its final struggle. It's just that the defensive formation is becoming more and more scattered as it continues to retreat, and there is almost no cooperation. Said.
Sun Tu and the others quickly saw this, and immediately he issued the order for the final general attack: "If you fall into the camp, kill them and break their formation in one fell swoop! Ruda, kill the man wearing the red tassel helmet in the formation. The enemy general wields a broadsword!"
Following his order, the Qingzhou Army, which had been following the entire army forward but unable to exert its full combat power, immediately roared in a low voice and rushed forward like a whirlwind to kill.
As the trapped camp that is best able to fight tough battles, they had long expected to rush over and engage in direct combat with the enemy. It was only under the military order that they kept suppressing the fighting spirit in their hearts. This anger was completely ignited under the order, and then violently released on the enemy who was on the verge of collapse.
Then, an extremely terrifying scene appeared. As the trapped camp charged forward with all its strength, it actually penetrated the enemy's defense line like cicada wings with one blow. Luda and Wu Song were like tigers in the flock, constantly harvesting and killing all the enemies they encountered on the road, and almost at the same time they rushed in front of the red-tasseled helmeted general who was still thinking about commanding the soldiers to stabilize the formation.
The Zen staff and the sword were raised at the same time, and when they were swung down again, the general only had time to let out a scream before he was instantly killed.
And with his death, it became the straw that broke the camel's back. After a moment's pause, Fang La's army of several thousand people shouted, and then their formation was no longer formed, and everyone fled in all directions.
The sky is getting brighter, there are three groups of people inside and outside Danyang City, and the winners and losers have been decided on the two battlefields. And this chaotic war is about to come to an end.