At this time, the rest of Zhuozhou City was completely occupied by noise and fire. Only the South Gate area, which had not been affected much by the war, was still plunged into darkness and silence.
This was due to the Liao army's previous siege strategy. Based on the principle of surrounding three and missing one, although they still had enough troops, they did not deploy their troops outside the south gate, so that everything here could remain as it was. Because of this, the ever-victorious army in the south gate area also deployed the smallest garrison force, which was obviously the most suitable for Sun Tu and others to take advantage of the chaos and escape at night.
Having understood the key points, Xiao Qian, Yu Wanyao and other demoted generals all seemed quite anxious. No longer caring about the arrangements and mobilization of troops elsewhere in the city, they led only two or three thousand people and headed straight towards the city. Kill at the south gate. Of course, compared to the total number of nearly 100,000 troops on both sides in the city today, Sun Tu, who only had a few hundred men, had an overwhelming advantage.
"Kill..." The roar and firelight in the sky instantly broke the silence in the south of the city. The chaotic footsteps and the sound of horse hooves shattered the darkness. Under the light of the fire, someone had already seen the large area of the city from a distance. There were twenty or thirty people lying scattered in front of the city gate behind the low-rise residences, and the city gate that should have been closed was now wide open.
This made Yu Wanyao even more anxious. These Song people were really decisive and quick in their actions. Did they actually escape from the city so quickly? If that were the case, his own guilt would be huge. Thinking of this, he unconsciously glanced at Xiao Qian beside him with a guilty conscience. When he saw that the other person's face was ashen and his eyebrows were knitted together, he felt even more guilty. He could no longer care about anything else and immediately rode on his horse. He rushed forward quickly and shouted: "Brothers, follow me. We must take down all those Song people tonight!" At this time, he was pretending, and he had to pretend to be doing his best and going all out.
At this time, those who could follow the Liao army were all those who were determined to defect to the Liao people. After hearing Yu Wanyao's order, everyone yelled, galloped with all their strength, and rushed forward. Heading to the south gate, the thousands of Liao troops were left behind. Seeing this, Xiao Qian just curled his lips in disdain, but did not stop him. He really needed these people's performance so that he could control the entire victorious army as soon as possible and capture Zhuozhou City.
The two-mile long street passed in a hurry, and Yu Wanyao had already taken the lead and rushed to the fallen guards. But he didn't even glance at the corpses of these subordinates, he just commanded his horse to pass them and rushed directly into the city gate. It was impossible for him to feel the slightest pity for these useless subordinates. Even if they were still alive, in order to give an explanation to the Liao people, he would order them to be killed.
Other soldiers of the Ever-Victorious Army also made similar choices, followed closely behind, and rushed to the city gate. Then, whether it was Yu Wanyao who had already rushed into the city gate, or the other people who had arrived in front of the door, they all let out a soft cry full of doubts, stopped their steps one after another, and looked at them in amazement. ahead.
The situation in front of me is indeed a bit unreasonable. Although the city gate has been pushed open, it is enough for a team of several hundred people to pass quickly. However, the suspension bridge outside is still high and has not been touched at all. Traces. The south gate is no different from the other three gates. The moat water outside is still there, and it is even more separated from the outside of the city.
It is several feet long. If the suspension bridge is not lowered, many people will not be able to pass smoothly.
"What's going on..." For a moment, the soldiers of the Ever Victorious Army who came down from Yu Wanyao were a little confused, and they didn't understand what situation they were facing.
But at this moment, a sudden change occurred!
As a former important city in the north, even in the hands of the Liao people, Zhuozhou City was quite prosperous before, with not only many shops but also a large population. In this area near the south gate, there are many shops along the street and some two-story houses. It was only because of the uprising and occupation of the Ever Victorious Army that these houses and shops were completely withered, turning into empty ruins one after another, and gradually being ignored by everyone, as if they had never existed.
Especially late at night, when everyone believed that Sun Tu had led his Song army to escape from the south gate, it was even less likely that anyone would pay attention to the customary empty buildings around them. But it happened that in these buildings that seemed to be ordinary in the past, countless black shadows appeared at this moment, accompanied by a low command: "Fire arrows!" A fluffy arrow rushed towards them like raindrops. A crowd of people were waiting in front of the city gate.
In an instant, a large number of soldiers of the ever-victorious army standing in front of the city gate fell to the ground like wheat cut by a sickle during the autumn harvest. Heartbreaking screams immediately resounded inside and outside the city gate. Everyone was in confusion, not knowing what to do at all. They either ran in or rushed out, and were completely in a mess.
And in this way, they became targets that archers could aim at calmly. The dense rain of arrows continued to pour out, harvesting and killing more victorious troops. In just a short while, except for a few people who fled deep into the city gate, everyone fell into the sudden rain of arrows.
This change happened so unexpectedly that even the Liao army failed to react immediately. By the time they regained their composure, they were already in this embarrassing situation. Then they roared angrily: "It's the Song Army, they actually set up an ambush on both sides!"
Xiao Qian's heart suddenly tightened while he was angry: "The number is wrong. According to the secret report we received before, there should be only two to three hundred Song troops left in the city, but now there are no less than a thousand archers on both sides..." He He can be considered a decisive person. Without any hesitation, he shouted loudly: "Go back! Shoot the arrows and call other soldiers and horses to destroy the Song army!"
But the moment he said these words, countless black shadows suddenly appeared above and inside the buildings on both sides of the long street where they were stationed. Then, more dots of red light lit up, and groups of black Shadows, arrows with flaming points flew over before the Liao army's reaction.
"Retreat!" Xiao Qian yelled, and at the same time he hurriedly turned the horse's head and urged the horse to sprint back. The other officers and soldiers of the Liao army also came to their senses one after another and quickly dodged and tried to run back. But it was too late. More than a dozen groups of black shadows fell into the densely lined Liao army formation, and then exploded in the flash of fire.
The huge explosion was accompanied by fire and a large number of ceramic shards, iron nails, iron sand and other debris scattered in a circular shape in all directions. It instantly caused the Liao army to howl in agony, and many people.
He fell to the ground, screaming and rolling around. He was really miserable to the extreme.
The tragic experience of the Liao army had just begun. When those roaring arrows were shot in front of them, some people subconsciously raised their shields to block them. As a result, the arrows were blocked, but then there was an explosion in front of them. The same thing happened. The impact and debris flew past in front of him, which could not be blocked by a small round shield. He immediately screamed and fell to the ground again.
Even though the Liao army had experienced the power of landmines before, they were overwhelmed by these balls and explosive bows and arrows, causing heavy casualties. Especially those soldiers who came on horseback were knocked off their horses one after another because their frightened horses ran and jumped randomly. They were then trampled by horse hooves and human feet, and died tragically one after another.
It can be said that this sneak attack has completely killed this thousands-strong Liao army to the point where it was completely shattered and had no power to defend or resist at all. The only thing they could do was to hold their heads and retreat to the north like a lost dog, hoping that the movement here would attract their comrades from elsewhere in the city, and then rely on their superior strength to turn the tide of the war.
This time, the Liao army suffered heavy casualties, and almost everyone suffered a loss. Even Xiao Qian, who was the fastest runner, had his arm scratched by flying iron pieces, and was still dripping with blood at this moment. But he could no longer care about this. In addition to continuing to charge forward in the hope of getting rid of the Song army's attack, a series of questions arose in his mind - why would the Song army ambush here? How come their military strength is completely different from what they control? Just looking at what happened to the Ever Victorious Army just now, it is obvious that even the masters of Zhuozhou City did not know that there was such a change, so it was not that they had conspired with the Song people to plot against themselves. But in this case, the question becomes even greater. How did so many Song troops enter Zhuozhou City silently
No matter how much Xiao Qian thought about this series of questions, he couldn't come up with a definite answer. However, Fan Qi, who was still puzzled just now, now knew the cause and effect, and repeatedly sighed: "General Sun, I didn't expect you. A series of arrangements have been made for a long time, it’s ridiculous that those guys still want to plot against us... "
Sun Tu stood at the top of one of the three-story buildings that was originally a restaurant. He glanced around, his face full of relief: "I have been planning and preparing for today's victory for a long time. Naturally, I wanted to catch them off guard. I'm afraid that no matter how hard the Liao people think, they will never imagine that I have already ordered the Shandong soldiers to enter the city in batches from the south gate at night a few days ago!" As he said that, his eyes fell on the familiar subordinates beside him. On the body - Ling Zhen, Shi Xiu, Shi Qian... For these people who once belonged to Liangshan bandits and later surrendered to him, this kind of sneaking into the city was indeed too familiar.
Whether it was the Liao people or the Ever Victorious Army, he had been kept in the dark these days. In fact, as early as the night when the Liao army arrived in Zhuozhou, the first batch of Shandong Army reinforcements had already contacted Sun Tu. However, he did not let these subordinates reveal their whereabouts. Instead, he ordered them to make a sudden change based on the weakness of the internal defense in the south of the city.
In other words, during these days, the troops guarding the south of the city had long been replaced by the Shandong Army under Sun Tu. The Chang Sheng Army never dreamed that the reinforcements from the Song Dynasty they were looking forward to were already by their side. !