Chapter 66: Luck
On November 20th, the 12th year of Daye, at noon, at the foot of Dongyang County, Zhang Xuanning observed for a long time, stopped his horse, turned around and said to the generals: "Dongyang County is a county town after all, it has been defended, it seems that we still need a bloody battle."
As for the county towns, they were basically ineffective in a war involving tens of thousands of people. They were pacified in a day, or surrendered without even a fight. This was a matter of course.
All the generals nodded, but Lin Baohu and Miao Haichao looked at each other and stepped forward and said, "I have not achieved any merit since I surrendered to you, lord. Please allow me to be the vanguard."
Both of them were brave and good at fighting, especially Miao Haichao, otherwise they would not have been able to conquer the world. Now both of them were generals of thousands of men, and they both wanted to show their loyalty and get promoted, so they immediately asked for orders.
Zhang Xuanning was overjoyed and said, "Well, the two generals are very loyal and brave, and I will not be stingy with my rewards."
Back in the army, Zhang Xuanning was at the core of the central formation. The army was in great shape. Zhang Xuanning's army, wearing paper armor, had 30,000 direct combat personnel and 10,000 conscripts, so a total of 40,000 people surrounded the entire city.
The central army was deployed on a hill outside the city. The core personnel were 800 cavalrymen and 1,000 armored soldiers. These were Zhang Xuanning's guards, and outside were 10,000 troops.
Zhang Xuanning didn't say much, and directly gave the order, saying: "Zhou Feng will lead his 5,000 troops to attack the east gate, Feng Yuanding will lead his 5,000 troops to attack the west gate, Ding Xingbang will lead his 5,000 troops to attack the north gate, and I will attack the south gate in the middle. Lin Baohu and Miao Haichao are under my direct control. All generals will immediately return to their teams. When the encirclement is completed, when you see the flag of my central army waving, lead the army to attack together. We must take the county city today. The first one to reach the city gate will be the first merit, promoted one level, and rewarded with 50 taels of silver. If anyone dares to retreat, the rear team will kill the front team. If the soldiers retreat, the captain will kill them. If the captain retreats, the general will kill him. If the general retreats, I will definitely kill him."
The reason why he was so harsh was that he knew that if he delayed for too long, he would miss the opportunity to fight. If he really gave Cao Shiqi and Lin Shihong a chance to buffer and gain a foothold, he might have to fight with them in the south for a year or two. In this case, he would surely lose the world.
Therefore, his voice was stern as he spoke, and immediately the war drums sounded as he gave the order.
All the generals took orders in awe. After a short while, each formation moved to its respective position and sent someone to notify the completion. After a while, the central army's flag was seen waving. Suddenly, 40,000 people shouted in unison and attacked together.
Trebuchets, carts, ladders, and battering chariots, each numbering in the hundreds, roared forward.
With the support of Yang Gong's treasure, a large number of manpower was mobilized to make tools and start working hard at this time.
Although this was an abuse of the people's power that was close to exhausting the resources, it was still necessary to do so in order to gain the opportunity to fight. However, as long as a few more counties were captured, the manpower and material resources would be balanced.
To dominate the world, you need to seize the initiative, like swimming against the current.
Amid shouts, huge rocks thrown up by hundreds of catapults from the mile-long wall rained down on the county town. For a moment, there were screams of agony in the city, and the scene was extremely tragic.
The siege officially began.
Suddenly, there were flashes of swords and shouts of killing.
The county soldiers above rolled down the accumulated boulders and logs and smashed them down from the wall which was more than ten meters high. Except for ramming cars which could block it a little, shields and the like were completely unable to resist. Once hit, blood and flesh would fly everywhere.
For a moment, the first batch of soldiers who attacked suffered heavy casualties, and their screams were endless. After the huge rocks and rolling logs, there was also a large amount of shields and arrows raining down.
Zhang Xuanning said coldly: "Don't pause. The county cannot prepare many large rocks and huge trees. Push the arrow tower forward and send archers to shoot at them."
Only 28 arrow towers of this type were built, with six allocated to each of the other three gates. They were more than ten meters high and had thick wooden boards to block arrows. Each arrow tower could have ten archers. As long as they reached the appropriate distance, they would shoot arrows at the top of the city wall, killing the defenders on the city wall and covering the attack of others.
Suddenly, at a command, the ten arrow tower vehicles of the central army began to advance, quickly moving to a distance of twenty meters near the city gate, a distance that the boulders and logs on the wall could not reach, and then began to fire continuously.
Suddenly, hundreds of archers began to block the space near the gate, and county soldiers fell one after another.
The military order was as firm as a mountain. The well-trained soldiers ignored the overwhelming flying stones and arrows, and the cries of their injured companions, and rushed forward desperately, setting up ladders and attacking. When one person in front fell, two people behind immediately took his place. Their offensive was like a raging wave.
There was no time for fighting. Inside and outside the city, dozens of thick smoke rose from the rockets. Although there was a blockade by the arrow tower, Zhang's army attacked desperately and even climbed the city wall many times, but the county soldiers formed a Great Wall of flesh and blood and fought stubbornly to the death.
After a long and fierce battle, the sun was setting. Miao Haichao's face was ashen. Nearly half of his 1,000-man army had been killed or wounded after repeated attacks. He became ruthless, put on heavy armor, held a long sword, and climbed up a ladder himself.
The surrounding arrow towers immediately understood and fired continuously, intending to clear the enemy archers in the area. Although the enemy archers were hit by arrows one after another and fell down, screaming loudly, there were still a few who fired at Miao Haichao who was climbing. Miao Haichao roared loudly, shaking the whole place, and raised his sword to fight.
Although he blocked several arrows in succession, he was still hit by several arrows. However, because he was wearing armor, the arrows did not penetrate deeply. He rushed forward quickly, and his personal soldiers behind him were even more fearless and followed him.
In the blink of an eye, he rushed forward, and several soldiers on the wall fell down wherever the sword flashed. Miao Haichao suddenly turned over and climbed up.
At this moment, tens of thousands of people outside the city cheered together, making it deafening.
Wherever Miao Haichao swung his sword, he killed anyone he saw. None of his men could stand up to him, while his personal soldiers swarmed forward.
At this moment, a regular and rhythmic sound suddenly came from the city. It was a war drum. With the sound of the war drum, a group of enemy troops swarmed up, and suddenly, the place where Miao Haichao was located was surrounded.
"The enemy has entered the reserve." Zhang Xuanning said coldly, looking straight ahead without blinking.
There was fighting on the city before my eyes, with flesh and blood flying everywhere. Everything, no matter power, wealth, or beauty, had disappeared at this moment. Only the naked blade and life and death were left. I couldn't help but feel a surge of heroic spirit in my heart, and I wanted to go forward, to be in it, to experience the most intense state of being on the line between life and death.
But in the blink of an eye, he burst out laughing. He actually had such thoughts. It has been almost four years since he came to this world. He has finally integrated into this world and has the awareness of a warrior, not just a security advocate.
However, even in this world, as the lord, he should not go into battle personally. But he saw Miao Haichao like a tiger out of the cage, charging back and forth in the enemy's sea of swords and spears. The enemies fell one after another, and blood spurted into the air. At this time, there were only dozens of his personal soldiers left.
When Miao Haichao fought to the end, he saw that more and more people were coming and he knew it was not good, so he had to retreat. The soldiers around him rushed forward desperately to buy a chance for their commander. Miao Haichao jumped off the city wall and stepped on the ladder, about to fall, when suddenly, a spear broke through the air and pierced down like lightning.
It was obviously an attack from a master in the county.
Everyone who saw it held their breath for a moment, and saw Miao Haichao shouting loudly in the air, and then he somersaulted in the air, but still fell to the ground.
Zhang Xuanning breathed a sigh of relief. It was impossible to order Miao Haichao to come down at this time, because once the order was given, the entire offensive would be interrupted, and it would give the county soldiers a chance to catch their breath. Now he was lucky to be able to come down by himself. Victory and defeat were common in the military, and he would not be stupid enough to blame him.
"Continue the attack, move forward in batches, and don't stop at all!" Zhang Xuanning issued the order.
The tired group retreated and moved back, allowing the new forces to launch a new powerful attack.
At this time, corpses were scattered all over the ground inside and outside the city walls. In the past few hours, the brutal siege had caused thousands of casualties.
Only by being there in person can you understand how tragic this phenomenon is. In fact, in a siege of this scale, 2,000 casualties a day is a rare occurrence, and the siege can last almost half a month or even several months.
The current situation can only be achieved because Zhang Xuanning's army has undergone rigorous training, and they have fought bravely under military orders, while the county soldiers are extremely tenacious.
As the sun sets over the hills, the vast city and countryside are dotted with endless flames.
The sound of war drums and horns, the sound of horse hooves and wheels resounded throughout the world, and the siege battle continued.
Li Chunfeng, who was with the army, had not spoken until this moment, when he said in a deep voice: "The situation in Dongyang County is very abnormal. Under normal circumstances, the county army would not have the strength to resist like this. I suspect that it was by chance that the elite troops of the Sui army were dispatched here, so we had to fight such a tough battle."
Just then, a strong wind blew in the night, causing everyone's clothes to flutter.
Zhang Xuanning looked up at the sky and saw dark clouds moving quickly. He said slowly, "I think so too. We have expanded three counties in a row. The court cannot fail to respond. Although Jiangdu County is isolated from Kuaiji County, the court will dispatch troops to surround us. Not to mention encirclement and annihilation, at least they will attack me first, so that I can't expand anymore. Now we are in such a situation."
After a pause, he sneered and said, "I have a feeling that it will rain heavily soon. Although winter rain is rare, it will definitely rain tonight. Moreover, if I retreat, not only will all my efforts in attacking Dongyang County be wasted, but I may even suffer a heavy loss."
Li Chunfeng's body trembled, and he looked up at the night sky: "What does the lord mean?"
"The enemy has reinforcements."
Before he could finish his words, raindrops as big as beans began to hit him head-on. They started sparsely and then became denser and denser. In a moment, it became a heavy rain. Most of the tens of thousands of torches were extinguished. Only a few torches that were protected were still lit. Zhang Xuanning sneered and said, "Keep attacking. We can't see it, and neither can they!"
"My lord, fighting at night is extremely difficult, and the soldiers will get sick if they are exposed to the winter rain." Li Chunfeng had to remind him.
"Hmph, mobilize my Royal Guards Cavalry to be on guard. No other troops are allowed to approach within fifty miles. Other troops, continue to attack with me. My central army will go up personally." Zhang Xuanning gritted his teeth and issued the order.
In the rain, the last batch of 5,000 central troops who had not yet fought rushed up and launched a night battle.
The whole world was surrounded by raindrops, which seemed particularly violent, cold and merciless. The rain sprinkled from Zhang Xuanning's helmet, and every strand of hair and every bit of clothing was dripping with water, and the coldness penetrated his heart.
Fortunately, it was November and not too cold. Fortunately, this was in the south where the temperature was different. If we were in the north, we would not be able to continue fighting under such circumstances.
Zhang Xuanning watched the last batch of fresh troops rushing forward with an expressionless face. If even this batch of troops could not break the city, he would retreat overnight to Yongkang County, which was the closest to Kuaiji County.
Because he had lost his fighting ability and suffered the aftereffects of the Dong Yu battle, it would take at least half a month to recover, and that was after all, he had prepared all kinds of winter supplies.
At this moment, suddenly, the sound of fighting was heard from the South Gate, and suddenly, the South Gate opened wide.
"It's Yuan Bin. He finally took action."
"Cavalry, follow me." Zhang Xuanning acted decisively and rode his horse straight forward. At this time, the remaining 300 cavalrymen immediately followed and rushed straight to the city gate. The speed of riding was so fast that it only took two minutes to cover a distance of 300 meters.
When they arrived at the city gate, they saw that the battle was really fierce. There were corpses everywhere. There were nearly seven or eight hundred people surrounded, and those in the middle were fighting desperately. There were only a hundred people guarding the gate. When they saw the cavalry rushing in, they cheered.
Zhang Xuanning stopped at the door. Even at this time, he was still cautious and refused to enter . However, three hundred personal cavalrymen rushed in. The sound of galloping horses shook the entire battlefield. In an instant, they broke through the heavy enemy troops and penetrated out.
At this time, although other troops were delayed due to the darkness, they also reacted and continued to pour in in hundreds. Zhang Xuanning suddenly felt the pressure greatly reduced, and when he saw a large number of troops pouring into the city, he knew that the city had fallen, and he couldn't help laughing.
The sound shook the city gate.
As soon as the city gate was broken, chaos broke out in the city. The county soldiers who had fought till now lost their morale and their army collapsed. Zhang Jun rushed in wave after wave. It didn't take long before even the other three gates were broken. The so-called landslide was the scene now.
At this time, everyone understood that the outcome was set, so the county soldiers showed signs of surrendering. It didn't take long to clear out the South Gate, and under the escort of heavy troops, Zhang Xuanning climbed up the city wall of the South Gate.
"Order, anyone who throws down his sword and disarms will be spared!"
"Order, all cavalry units to go out and intercept the remaining enemies. Do not let them escape at night."
"Orders, clear out the houses immediately, boil water, make ginger soup, treat the wounded, and prepare dry clothes and food."
"Order, my Guards, immediately enter the highest alert state and be ready to respond to external attacks at any time."
Li Chunfeng, who was listening on the side, found that the first three orders were very normal, but the fourth order was extremely cautious. Even if an army happened to arrive at this time and attacked, it would be of no avail.
At this time, the winter rain was cold and the city was broken again. The county army had lost its will to fight. After hearing Zhang Jun's persuasion to surrender, they threw down their weapons and surrendered one after another. Only a few resisted and continued to fight in their strongholds. However, basically the entire county city was under the control of Zhang Jun.
At this time, all the soldiers returned to their teams one by one, changed their clothes, and drank ginger soup. At the same time, they had to send out personnel to count the captured items, accommodate the prisoners, and redeploy the defense. These tasks would take at least tonight, or even the whole day tomorrow.
Just a moment later, a report came in that the enemy had been spotted. Zhang Xuanning hurried forward and found that there were about a thousand people outside, but they were all cavalry.
At this time, there were towers covering the city, and there were many torches, which made the weapons shine brightly and added to the murderous atmosphere.
Seeing that the city had been captured and the fighting in the city had basically subsided, and with the addition of more than 700 cavalrymen of the Guards and 1,000 armored soldiers ready for battle, this army did not attack, but slowly retreated a hundred meters, but did not retreat.
Zhang Xuan stared at them and sneered. Strangely enough, after the army retreated, the heavy rain gradually subsided in a short time, and even the moon appeared in a short time.
"If our army was delayed by half an hour, or was not on guard, what do you think would have happened to these one thousand cavalrymen charging the camp?" Zhang Xuanning asked.
"Although we have 30,000 soldiers, they are already exhausted, and there are about 6,000 casualties. Although we have paper armor, we can recover 4,000 soldiers in the future, but now we can no longer fight. If these 1,000 cavalry break into the army, I am afraid the whole army will collapse and the 30,000 troops will disintegrate overnight." Li Chunfeng said seriously, and then said to Zhang Xuanning: "If the city is still fighting, even if the central army is on guard, it will suffer huge losses. My lord is wise and brave, and he holds the opportunity of life and death in his hands. He has great fortune and luck. I am convinced that the world must belong to my lord."
Zhang Xuanning laughed loudly, and then said, "Find out the situation in the city as soon as possible, and then find out who this team is and how they got here."
"Yes, my lord!" Li Chunfeng responded.
At this moment, a general from the cavalry came out and shouted, "I am Luo Shixin, who are you? Have you captured Qin Qiong in the city?"
After hearing this, Zhang Xuanning was stunned.