Dusk fell again one day, and as the sky darkened, even the cold north wind seemed to become more and more raging, causing the flags at the top of Changshu City to tremble continuously, and also caused the hundreds of soldiers guarding here to fight inexplicably. A cold silence.
A man who looked like an army officer looked back at the city behind him, with a bit of confusion in his eyes: Today is the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month, but there is no trace of the New Year atmosphere in the city. The entire county is almost Everything was shrouded in darkness, with only a few sporadic lights reminding them that there were still many residents and defenders in Changshu City.
Li Jing was born and raised in Changshu. Because he couldn't stand the heavy taxation and exploitation by the government, he and some of his companions joined the Fang La Army who had rebelled a few years ago. They followed the army back to his hometown six months ago and were still fighting in this war. Zhong Zhong made great contributions and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the army, with a hundred soldiers under his command.
But returning to Changshu always made him feel in a trance, because such a withered city, which existed only for fighting, was not the hometown he was familiar with and wanted to return to. Sometimes he would even have thoughts of regret, if he had If we had not worked hard to attack the city that day, perhaps the city of Changshu would not be what it is today.
However, he did not dare to express this kind of negative and weird thoughts, and he did not keep them in his heart for long. He quickly calmed down and began to patrol the north gate carefully, especially those three planes that were said to be transported from Suzhou City. The giant bed crossbow is the key point that he must inspect every day, because it is also the biggest reliance of this small city on blocking tens of thousands of Song troops, and there cannot be any mistakes.
The torch was swaying in the cold wind, but it could still clearly shine on the huge cold bed crossbow. After carefully checking that all its components were not damaged by the wind and snow, Li Jing took a long look. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the next bed crossbow.
At this moment, a vigilant shout came from the side of the city wall: "Who is it? Stop!" Along with this shout, there was also the sound of bows and arrows being pulled, which made the defenders on the city panic. There was a moment of alarm, and many people raised their weapons and rushed to reinforce them.
Even Li Jing quickly turned around and ran over. As soon as he arrived in front of the city battlements, his subordinates came forward to report: "Captain, there is a group of troops coming from the front, and they even sent people to get close to the city wall!"
Li Jing felt nervous when he heard this. There were already insufficient defenders in the city, and now it was difficult to defend at night. If an enemy really came to attack, he really didn't know how to deal with it. After all, he was just an ordinary farmer half a year ago. Apart from being strong and having some knowledge of martial arts, he still had little knowledge of many things on the battlefield.
But after all, he was still a man with some experience. He immediately waved his hand and motioned to the two brothers around him to hurry down to the city and report to their superiors. While he ordered people to pull away the bed crossbows, he shouted: "You guys Who is he? If he doesn't reveal his identity or leave, don't blame us for shooting."
"Is it Li Da? I'm Cheng Jiu. Why have you turned your back on me after I haven't seen him for a few days?" The people under the city came closer again. It seemed that they understood the threat at the top of the city and immediately Someone stepped forward and shouted back. Later, others raised the torches to higher places and burned the people in front of their team.
The military flag was illuminated and became clear.
Although almost none of the defenders in the city were literate, the style of their own military flags was still very familiar. Some people quickly recognized that one of the general flags with many scars was embroidered with the word "wen" for the city's garrison general Wen Lingda. This made many people feel even more relieved: "It turns out that General Wen is back. You should have told me earlier, and the brothers were frightened for nothing."
Li Jing also recognized the speaker's identity at this time, and immediately laughed and scolded: "Cheng Laojiu, didn't you follow the general to fight in the north? Why did you come back now? Could it be that you became a deserter? Be careful of me! Let someone shoot you with an arrow and kill you on the spot..."
"Li Da, stop making sarcastic remarks and open the city gate quickly. We were defeated at the front. General Wen was seriously injured and we carried him back. In an hour or two, the Song army will come over!" Cheng Jiu said He seemed quite anxious and had no intention of talking to him any more, so he immediately started shouting loudly.
This statement shocked the garrison at the top of the city. Many people screamed with disbelief on their faces. Even Li Jing couldn't recover for a long time: "There is such a thing." What happened, so many of our brothers were defeated? Even General Wen..." He was single-handedly promoted by Wen Lingda, and he admired this brave and capable general, but he didn't expect that such bad news would come today.
At that moment, he no longer dared to show any slightness, and immediately ordered the people to lower the suspension bridge, open the city gate and welcome his defeated army into the city. At the same time, Li Jing, who already had some experience, thought of reporting this important news to his superiors, so he sent another person to the command post not far behind to report the news. As for himself, he hurriedly walked down the city wall and went to the city gate to wait to check on General Wen's injury.
After a strange creaking sound that made one's teeth hurt, the gate of Changshu City, which was not very large, finally slowly opened, allowing Li Jingneng to vaguely see the hazy outline of the group of two or three thousand people standing in front of the suspension bridge. . Under the light of the fire, he could clearly see that the clothes and armor they wore were the same as his own, and he could even see some of his military-clad friends like Cheng Laojiu standing in front of him. Just looking at the wounds and stains on their bodies, you can guess what a terrible battle they had experienced before.
"Bang!" The suspension bridge finally settled firmly on the not-too-turbulent moat, connecting the inside and outside of the city gate. At that moment, without any need to be greeted by the defenders in the city, the defeated army lined up neatly and quickly ran towards this side from the bridge.
Li Jing, who was about to step forward to inquire about the specific situation, suddenly stopped in his steps. Doubts suddenly arose in his heart, and his eyes were fixed on the approaching army: "No... when will our brothers get out of such a neat queue?" ? And after suffering a defeat... their energy and energy are completely stronger than ours, there is a problem!"
When he quickly made a judgment in his mind and realized that the enemy was not a real friendly force, the other party had already rushed to the city gate. Following the leader's loud shout: "Do it!" these soldiers suddenly displayed the crossbows that had been behind them. Amidst the banging sound, arrows shot out like a torrential rain, instantly knocking down dozens of unprepared soldiers who were waiting to greet their comrades.
Li Jing only had time to dodge sideways, but before he could draw out his sword, Ichijo Biao
The big man had rushed forward, and a fist the size of a vinegar bowl hit his chest. Under the huge force, his relatively strong body was thrown high like a kite with a broken string, and then hit hard. After hitting the two brothers behind him, his vision went dark and he didn't know anything anymore.
But this sudden attack of the army did not stop there. After shooting down dozens of people in front of the city gate, they suddenly accelerated, rushing into the city like a large group of cheetahs, and quickly occupied the city with familiarity. The control of the city gate and suspension bridge was then divided among the people, and they rushed towards the city wall above.
At this time, the dozens of defenders left at the top of the city exclaimed as if they were waking up from a dream. Some of them wisely chose to release arrows at the enemies who were constantly killing them below. However, the arrow array created by dozens of people could not pose any threat to the thousands of people below. In just a short time, hundreds of people rushed across the suspension bridge and entered the city gate with shouts.
When someone finally thought that they still had a big killing weapon like a crossbow at home, and shouted for people to come over and launch it together, more than a dozen agile figures came over like leopards to kill them. First, a burst of arrows were fired towards them, and then they also rushed forward.
Under the rapid attack of these elite soldiers as fierce as tigers, the dozens of defenders on the city top were unable to even fight back. They were all killed in the blink of an eye. The southern city head and city gate were also It completely fell into the hands of this surprise army.
But all this was just the beginning. As the control of the South Gate changed hands, more Song troops poured in from the darkness outside the city like a tide, and soon the war quickly spread to all parts of Changshu City.
The Wu army was not very powerful, and they lost the city as a support. Even the most reliable general Wen Lingda was not commanding in the city. So when the war broke out, not many people could lead the army to resist.
The Song army's offensive was out of control. The South Gate, West Gate, East Gate, and finally the North Gate, the four gates of Changshu were all captured and controlled by them in just one hour, and then a large number of soldiers attacked everywhere. Targeted attacks were launched on several important government offices in the city.
In the face of this overwhelming strength, the Changshu garrison was completely defeated without even being able to put up a symbolic resistance. Zhang Kuang, who was named the governor of Changshu by Fang La, and important officials such as Xu An, the deputy guard, were all captured. None of them could escape from the city at night to report the news.
In this regard, by the third watch of the day, Changshu City had completely fallen into the hands of the Song Army. The Wu Army flag was removed and discarded. Instead, a Song Army flag and a general flag embroidered with the character Sun were flying high at the top of Changshu City. Hunting sound.
What is even more unbelievable is that from the time when the Song army entered Changshu and completely took control of the city, these thousands of people did not kill any ordinary people. As long as they heard their warning, they stayed at home and did not come out. Yes, the Song army did not pose any threat to them. All this fell into the eyes of those Wu troops who had no choice but to surrender, and they couldn't believe what they saw, because in their past understanding, the Song troops were all greedy and violent, with no military discipline at all.
It was not until this time that they realized that there was such a very different army in the Song Army. It was called the Qingzhou Army!