The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, New Year’s Eve.
While officials and people from all over the country in the Song Dynasty were celebrating this annual festival, the offensive and defensive battles on Jiangnan Road and in front of Changshu County under Suzhou Prefecture were in full swing. Even the biting cold wind could not stop this intensifying battle. We and the enemy are fighting!
Although the Song army was caught off guard when it first arrived, not only did the forward army collapse on the spot, but even the vanguard general Liao Guang was beheaded, which is still hanging on the south gate of Changshu. However, the casualties of only about 2,000 people were only superficial injuries to the 100,000-strong Wu army. Therefore, after stabilizing the position and stabilizing the morale of the army, starting on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, Pang Wanchun launched an attack on Changshu City. Wave after wave of attacks.
However, the offensive in the first two days was not too fierce, and only a few thousand soldiers and horses were thrown into the siege each time, which could not pose much threat to the four gates of Changshu. But early on the morning of New Year's Eve, the Wu army suddenly invested more than 30,000 troops to attack the south gate. This caught the defenders off guard, and the situation looked really dangerous.
Lin Chong, the general guarding the south gate, no longer cared that he was still injured, so he personally carried his gun and ran through various sections of the city wall, shouting loudly from time to time, cheering on the soldiers, and constantly changing his troop deployment according to the battlefield situation: "This "Bian, let me shoot arrows, push back their momentum..." In his hoarse shouts, the Shandong Army officers and soldiers carried out defense in an orderly manner, and finally pushed back another wave of ferocious enemy attacks.
But everyone had just taken a breath, and before they had time to rest against the wall, the horn sounded again outside the city, and enemy troops were already rolling in. After quickly passing through the pontoon bridge that had been erected on the moat, more than a dozen ladders were launched. They built up the city one after another, and then thousands of Wu soldiers climbed up the ladder.
The defenders above were also very anxious after seeing this. Without Lin Chong's orders, they had already lifted up a large number of stones placed aside with all their strength and smashed them downwards. Bangs mixed with screams and the muffled sound of human bodies falling to the ground kept ringing at the edge of the city wall. It sounded really horrifying, but it still could not stop Wu Jun's upward climb.
Then, an even more fatal incident occurred. When the defenders were desperately firing arrows and smashing rocks to prevent the enemy from ascending the city, someone suddenly shouted: "Where are the arrows? Come quickly!" But because they were firing arrows with all their strength to kill the enemy, someone had already taken the quiver with them. All the arrows in it were used up.
Whether it is arrows or rocks and wood, they are the most convenient weapons used by the defenders to stop the enemy. However, these weapons also have one biggest flaw, that is, they are consumed very quickly. After several days of attack and defense, most of the various weapons prepared by the South Gate defenders had been consumed, and now they were unable to keep up. Not only were the soldiers at this place shouting for arrows, but other places were also shouting for rocks and wood, causing the attack below to suddenly slow down, which naturally gave the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it.
After only two sticks of incense, an enemy soldier poked his head out from below in the left corner. Fortunately, a soldier quickly stabbed down with a gun, killing the enemy who was about to climb up the city. But within a short time, people appeared from several other ladders from time to time, and these people also learned to be good at this time. They had shields on their heads when they appeared, so that the defenders' weapons could not hurt them for a while, thus A few people jumped onto the city wall.
"Kill!" Fortunately, there were soldiers waiting there. As soon as they saw someone climbing over the wall, they quickly attacked them and slashed them with their swords, finally killing them on the spot. However, the situation on the city wall did not slow down, because as the soldiers began to fight the enemies on the wall, more manpower could not be spared to stop the enemies on the ladder below and further back, so the entire city wall Enemies kept popping up, and like a dam blocking the roaring river, loopholes began to appear...
In the final analysis, this result is caused by the huge difference in the strength of the enemy and our forces. After several days of fighting, the soldiers on the south gate were exhausted, but the enemy could take turns resting and attacking the city. Just this round of fighting was enough to drag the thousands of defenders to death.
Seeing that enemies were springing up like mushrooms after a rain, and were about to occupy a section of the city wall, Lin Chong finally couldn't hold it in any longer. With a loud shout, he strode forward, the spear in his hand glowing with cold light in front of him, and he shot Several enemy soldiers at the front were assassinated on the spot, which also shocked the enemies behind them, and their climbing movements slowed down.
At the same time, Wu Song, Yang Zhi and others who had been resting below but ran up because they heard the killing sounds getting louder and louder at the top of the city finally arrived. They all shouted loudly and started to attack like tigers. The enemy troops immediately cut down a group of enemy troops.
Relying on the all-out fighting of these fierce generals in the Shandong Army, coupled with the heroic performance of the Shandong Army soldiers who were inspired by them and risked their lives to fight the enemy to the end, this terrible enemy offensive was finally blocked. After coming down, the rest of the troops finally retreated again, leaving only nearly 500 corpses filling the entire South Gate city...
Although the battle was won and the enemy's offensive was repelled, there was no joy on the faces of the soldiers on the city, and they all looked gloomy. Because they all knew that the situation was getting more and more dangerous. The fighting for many days was a huge drain on both physical strength and energy. Maybe if they were negligent, the city would fall completely.
At this time, another group of people came quickly from below, and the leader was Sun Tu. Because he had to report that the south gate was being attacked by the enemy, he was worried about making a mistake and specially mobilized a team of about 200 people from the city to come to support. It was not until he found that the fighting in the city had stopped that he breathed a sigh of relief.
When he walked to the top of the city, several generals hurriedly came forward to greet him, but they were interrupted by him waving his hands: "Don't worry about the courtesy at this time. How about it, can the south gate still hold up?"
"We can still hold on for the time being, but the casualties among the soldiers are not small, and..." Lin Chong hesitated for a moment, then said uneasily: "We are almost running out of available weapons to defend the city, especially arrows. There are only less than 100 arrows left." Thirty percent…”
Sun Tu also frowned when he heard this: "I heard that the rebels didn't fire many arrows during their attack on the city. It seems that they are just thinking about cutting off our bows and arrows?"
"Yes, once the supply of arrows is no longer available, our condescending advantage will be greatly reduced... The rebel generals outside the city must have seen this and made such a seemingly absurd decision!" Yang Zhi He also said with a worried face.
Sun Tu's brows furrowed even more tightly: "Have they actually thought of consuming our army's arrow supplies so early? But, how do they believe that our various weapons
Under-equipped? "Indeed, this situation is a secret in the military. With the Song Army's consistent style, there should be no shortage of weapons. However, Sun Tu came to fight Danyang and fought successively before, so this led to the emergence of this fatal problem.
"They must have collected relevant information about us early. Pang Wanchun is also one of the most famous generals in the rebel army. Naturally, there will be targeted arrangements." Lin Chong did not think deeply, but just looked at his eyes: "Qian Ju, we must start from The other armies have obtained a batch of arrows as a supplement, otherwise it will be difficult to defend the south gate."
"Transfer some arrows from elsewhere?" Sun Tu thought for a moment, but shook his head uncertainly: "Doing this will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and will make the situation more difficult. Although the rebels have not yet attacked the other three gates, But there’s no guarantee that they won’t suddenly change their main attack target!”
"Then... what should we do?" Lin Chong was at a loss at this time. Although he, Yang Zhi and others were brave, and they had indeed repelled an enemy siege before with their hard work, but this was not a long-term solution after all. Even if they are all made of iron and copper, how many nails can they drive? Again, when two armies are fighting on the battlefield, individual bravery is by no means the main factor in victory or defeat.
"In this way, I will allocate all the arrows from the defenders in the city to you. This should be able to last for another two or three days." After thinking about it, Sun Tu came up with a compromise plan.
In addition to the four gate guards, Sun Tu also left an elite force of 2,000 to guard the city to prevent the people in the city from causing chaos. Their bows and arrows were not needed for the time being.
Lin Chong and the others did not refuse and nodded in agreement, but they did not show much joy. Because in their view, this is just a drop in the bucket. At most, it only allows them to last for one or two more days, but the problem still exists.
"Qian Ju, in my opinion it is better to take the initiative to attack tonight. Maybe we can snatch a batch of arrows from the enemy!" Luda suddenly put forward an idea, which also made many people's eyes shine. Because they believe that there must be a large number of arrows in the anti-military camp. If they can really grab them, it will be enough to consume them for a long time.
But Sun Tu quickly poured cold water on them: "No, the cavalry was almost wiped out when they left the city. If the infantry goes out, it will only be more dangerous. We already have insufficient troops and cannot take such a risk. Moreover, you really Do you think you can find the arrows hidden in the enemy camp?"
The last question immediately made them all speechless, and they all smiled helplessly: "What should we do?"
"There is always a way, and there will always be a way." Sun Tu comforted them dryly, and then solemnly said: "First use the arrows from the defenders in the city. Anyway, no one is allowed to leave the city without my order! "
"Here!" Several generals could only respond in low voices.
Outside the city, Pang Wanchun laughed confidently after listening to the report from his subordinates: "It seems that my previous decision worked. Attacking only one gate will consume almost all their arrows and other city defense weapons. Attacking two more gates will This time, the south gate of Changshu will be broken! Sun Tu, do you still have a way to break it?"
After a pause, he quickly ordered: "Stop attacking the south gate today and let the troops outside the other three gates attack. At least all the weapons there will be contained!"