In the early morning, before the sun rose, the sky and earth were shrouded in dim light and light white mist. Guo Shao walked out of a tile-roofed house as usual. There were broken willow branches soaking in a wooden barrel at the door, and he took the willow branches and started brushing his teeth.
Only at this time, the area outside Shouzhou City was peaceful and the surroundings gradually became lively, just like the early morning of the market, or like the craftsmen who worked from sunrise to sunset were just camping here, and the battle had not yet begun. People had just finished breakfast and had not yet fully entered the state, slowly starting to prepare for the day, and the sun had not yet risen. The generals did not urge them.
Behind the first earth wall and wooden fence, some soldiers were applying butter to the catapults, some were wiping them with cloth, and some craftsmen were hammering rivets.
Finally, the first ray of sunlight like a sharp arrow pierced through the mist, and the sky and the earth suddenly seemed to be bright. A soldier straightened up, lazily wanting to take a breath in the sunshine. But at this moment, he suddenly saw the city gate slowly opening. The soldier couldn't believe his eyes, and quickly rubbed his eyes and looked again, and the drawbridge was also being lowered.
Bang! The suspension bridge was built on the bank of the dry moat. Suddenly, a group of cavalrymen wearing armor came out one after another.
The Zhou army soldiers inside the fence were all shocked and stood there in a daze. No one dared to believe that the Southern Tang army could get out after being surrounded for two months. Finally, someone shouted: The Shouzhou soldiers are coming!
Groups of elite knights rode their horses with their heads held high and trotted forward. Their nimble figures and the brilliance of steel formed a powerful landscape in the rising sun.
Someone in the Tang army raised his sword and shouted: The Tang army is victorious in every battle. The knights shouted, the sound of horse hooves suddenly became rapid, and the friction between swords and armor sounded the unique heavy sound of metal. The heavy cavalry rushed up and approached in a blink of an eye. There was no deviation in direction, as if it had been planned long ago, and it went straight to the wooden gate of the Zhou army fortifications. On the arrow towers on both sides, a Zhou army archer pulled the bowstring and shot the first arrow of the battle with a snap.
A knight was shot below the collarbone, and his body tilted and he fell off his horse, landing heavily on the solid earth with a thud.
At the entrance of the village, some Zhou soldiers were hastily putting up their chevaux de frise outside, hastily closing the door, and carrying wood up. Arrows swarmed in, some nailed to the wooden door, and some penetrated through the gaps, and several people fell down immediately with shouts. These soldiers had no armor, only helmets and breastplates, and they would die or be injured if they were hit by arrows.
The cavalry had already rushed to the front of the camp, turned around and went around the gate. A knight leaned sideways and pulled the bowstring with a very skillful movement. The arrow flew out from the side and pierced the forehead of a nearby soldier. The knights in front dismounted, moved the barricades away, and broke open the gate.
The Zhou soldiers inside turned and ran. But at this time, the Tang cavalry had already rushed up. The knight in front held a lance, leaned on his horse, and stabbed the lance into the soldier's back. He heard a scream, and the knight immediately pulled out the lance, and saw the soldier fell to the ground with blood on his back. More cavalry poured into the fortifications, and people fled everywhere, screaming in pain from being hacked and shot.
A horse rushed to a huge slingshot, and the man on the horse threw a clay pot at it. With a clang, the pot smashed on the wood, and thick black kerosene poured down from the wooden frame. Almost at the same time, a torch flew over from behind, and with a bang, flames and thick smoke suddenly rushed up. The whole slingshot was set on fire in an instant, and the action was clean and neat.
Guo Shao rode his horse to the west, looking at the smoke billowing everywhere in the wilderness, his face was very ugly. At this time, a knight ran over and met Guo Shao, and hurriedly dismounted to report: "Report to the Recruiting Envoy, Tang soldiers are pouring out from the west gate and attacking our camp."
Guo Shao said nothing, but just looked at the flames and black smoke everywhere in the distance, thinking that what the person reported was nonsense.
Not long after, Li Chuyun and several of his generals came up along the road on horseback, saying: The First Army is gathering and the two commanders are ready. When Guo Shao looked back, he heard the sound of clacking footsteps. Lines of infantry were trotting forward, and generals on horseback were shouting beside the team.
Guo Shao did not answer anyone. He looked at the scene ahead and knew that the Tang army had at least broken through the first line of defense. Because the catapults had a limited range and were very heavy, most of the equipment was inside the first line of defense, and the losses were heavy. But he did not say anything irrelevant. What was the point of saying those useless things
He swallowed and said in a deep voice: In the second line of defense, the first army of the left wing West Palace Front Camp is stationed in the southeast of the city gate. The guards of the Suzhou governor are stationed in the south. Immediately take the command flag and send a fast horse to pass the order, ordering the garrison troops to line up on the spot and not to cause chaos, and wait for an opportunity to act.
Get the order
Guo Shao added: Commanders of the First Army of the Tiger and Defence Army, send reinforcements to the west gate immediately.
At this time, a general said: Seeing that something happened here, will the Second Army in the southeast rush over to reinforce
Li Chuyun replied: He should, Wang Zhang will not wait for orders at this time.
The general reminded him: Will the Tang army use the strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain and attacking the west
Li Chuyun pondered for a moment and said: "The Tang soldiers only launched a surprise attack, and they were able to break through our front line by surprise. Now that the war has begun, it is probably difficult to send troops to the east. Moreover, the defenders have limited manpower. Unless they want to abandon the city and fight a decisive battle, I don't think it is a wise move to attack the west at this time."
After hearing this, Guo Shao made a prompt decision and said: Send someone to inform Wang Zhang to send reinforcements from the south of the city.
At this time, the vanguard infantry of the First Army had already marched up, and Guo Shao asked Li Chuyun to lead the First Army to follow up and attack the Southern Tang Army on the battlefield. Then he led Yang Luo, Luo Yanhuan and his personal soldiers, a total of 40 to 50 cavalry, to rush to the west of the city.
After running for two miles, they saw the Tang cavalry leading the way and sweeping towards the south of the city. At first glance, it looked like a huge herd of horses galloping, but the Tang army's vanguard only had 200 to 300 horses in total.
That cavalry came from the west and had the upper hand in momentum. The large number of defenders in the front position of the Zhou army were in disarray. They had too many people to form a dense formation against the cavalry and were extremely weak in the fight. They were killed by the cavalry and ran around in panic.
Upon seeing this, Luo Yanhuan turned around to ask for orders. When Guo Shao nodded, he immediately led the charge forward, followed by several fierce generals and dozens of cavalrymen. Guo Shao also rushed forward and drew his saber from his back.
Luo Yanhuan rode his horse and leaned forward to shoot. He killed several enemies with one arrow. He rushed to the enemy cavalry and threw away his bow and arrow and drew his iron sword. The generals also rushed forward with long weapons. Each of them had aspired to be a military general since childhood and was very skilled. Although the Zhou cavalry was small in number, they were very fierce. As soon as they met the enemy, they cut off the protruding part of the Tang cavalry. The Tang cavalry that followed behind were horrified and dared not move forward. They turned their horses and ran westward.
Guo Shao and others followed behind and soon saw Tang army infantry fighting in the fierce fire and thick smoke. It seemed that a large number of Tang army infantry also wanted to attack westward, but some Zhou army troops rushed out from the second fence on the flank and were fighting in a mess.
The miscellaneous troops that Zhou Jun attacked seemed to be part of the guards of the Suzhou governor and a large group of local soldiers. Few of them were fully armored, and their combat power was limited and they could not break through the flank of the Southern Tang army. I saw a group of Tang infantry in the middle advancing towards this side, and Guo Shao hurriedly shouted: Let's go
The generals and their personal soldiers followed him, turned their horses around and ran backwards. The Southern Tang infantry team could not keep up and were soon left behind.
About an incense stick later, a commander of the first army of the Hujie Army rushed to the battlefield first. The soldiers trotted and hurriedly marched up, and they encountered the Tang army's infantry battalion rushing south. The commander of the Hujie Army shouted without saying a word: Kill! The soldiers rushed forward, completely ignoring the formation and running forward desperately. The two groups of people and horses fought in the middle, and the swords and weapons were waving like a big pot of boiling water.
Soon, the remaining six commanders of the Hu Jie army also arrived one after another, and the battle line spread to both wings, with several troops attacking from both sides. Soon, the Tang soldiers were defeated and fled westward, being killed by the Hu Jie army, leaving their bodies all along the way.
Guo Shao followed the Hujie Army and chased for two miles, and saw that the west gate of Shouzhou was opened. The cavalry of the Southern Tang Army was the first to enter the city, and the remaining troops also followed in. Then came the chaotic fleeing soldiers.
The soldiers of the Hujie Army jumped out of the earthen wall and chased towards the city gate. Soon, the drawbridge was pulled up, and the fleeing soldiers behind them shouted and many of them fell into the dry riverbed.
Guo Shao's personal cavalry rushed to the city gate first. At this time, arrows rained down from the tower. Several personal soldiers who rushed too fast were hit by arrows. They had to spur their horses to retreat. When the Hujie Army infantry caught up, the Southern Tang rebels who had not entered the city simply surrendered and walked towards the city with their backs to the city wall.
There were shouts from all directions, but the fighting was gradually coming to an end.
Guo Shao felt that he had won the battle, because the siege works were larger than the city wall, 200 steps away from the city, and at least 20 miles in circumference. If the 20-mile defense line was strictly guarded by the elite soldiers of the Hujie Army, the troops would not be enough to prevent the Tang army from breaking through the defense line. However, because they were well prepared, they surrounded and intercepted the Tang army from several sides and defeated the enemy soldiers. The enemy soldiers retreated into the city after being defeated.
But in fact, the results of the battle could not be calculated in this way. Most of the catapults and ladders on the west side of the city were still burning and smoking, and the military equipment parts that were being transported from Bagong Mountain by the Fei River were burned along the way. So many equipment were lost at once, and it was done by the defenders who rushed out from the city. Guo Shao felt that things were very bad.
He had also been on guard against the possibility that the Tang army might charge out to counterattack, but he could not be sure. Guo Shao was quite surprised that Liu Renzhan actually did so.
In the thick smoke, Guo Shao sat on his horse and looked around for a long time without saying a word, lost in thought. He suddenly said to Li Chuyun: Maybe we were careless and did not pay enough attention to the counterattack of the defenders, which led to this attack.