Tang Dynasty Mingyue Song Dynasty Pass

Chapter 827: Encirclement of Yangzhou
The Wu army landed one after another, assembled on the river beach, and then moved forward and met at Guazhou Town.

The nearly 200,000-strong army made a brief stop in Guazhou Town to reorganize the military formations. Then Jin Hui was appointed as the vanguard general, Li Saidong and Pan Wei De as the left and right deputy generals, and they led 30,000 troops to march towards Yangzhou.

Use the vanguard army to besiege Yangzhou first. This will put tremendous pressure on the city of Yangzhou and prevent the Song army in the city from running around, so you can concentrate your forces to annihilate them.

Afterwards, Su Chen continued to select his generals and sent Chai Songyun and Pan Weigu to lead 10,000 troops each to occupy several counties and towns in Yangzhou, eliminate the local garrisons, capture officials, and wait for the State of Wu to send new officials to take over.

Two days later, Su Chen and Pan Mei marched and besieged Yangzhou.

"General Su, Yangzhou City has been surrounded. We attacked it once, and the Song army resisted very tenaciously!" Jin Hui reported truthfully.

Su Chen nodded. It was normal to encounter resistance. This was the territory of the Song Dynasty, not Southern Han or Qian Yue. The Song army was still powerful. Although the Song army in Yangzhou area were all recruited locally and were southerners, they were more powerful than Southern Han and Qian Yue.

"Continue the siege and test the combat capabilities of our soldiers in turn."

Su Chen ordered all troops to take turns conducting siege drills outside the city of Yangzhou. This was just the right time to hone the new recruits who had been trained for three years and to hone their skills in actual combat on the battlefield in preparation for the upcoming battle with the Song army.

Bian Zhanyu, Li Saidong, Ma Donglin, Ma Zhanchao, Wu Yanrou, Pan Weide and Pan Weizhen respectively led their troops to attack the city gates and launched a fierce attack on Yangzhou.

There were 30,000 defenders in Yangzhou City. Facing the attack of an army of 200,000, they were a little nervous. After all, there had been no war in Yangzhou for ten years.

The defenders in the city also did not have much combat experience.

"Boom boom boom!"

The war drums sounded, shaking the earth and the sky. The enemy surrounded them from all sides and the sound of killing reached the sky.

The attacks were launched simultaneously from the east, west, south and north. Everywhere there were soldiers charging into battle and shouting their deaths. Everywhere there were corpses lying in pools of blood, never to get up again.

Looking down from the top of the city, the Song army could see a huge crowd of soldiers climbing the city walls like ants. There were also countless rains of arrows covering the top of the city, which was frightening.

Liang Shibo, the governor of Yangzhou, was also troubled when he saw this scene, but he did not want to surrender, so the longer he held on for another day, the greater the chance of rescue.

However, the weapons of the Wu army were more advanced, with various iron crossbows, large crossbows, repeating crossbows, and catapults to suppress the vitality of the city walls. The assembled towers approached the top of Yangzhou City, and soldiers continued to approach the top of the city with shields in hand.

Dang Dang Dang!
The Song army on the city wall were also shooting at the approaching Wu army with bows and arrows, but the Wu army's long shields could block them well. As long as they got close to the city wall, they would have a chance to disrupt the situation.

"Kill!"

There were shouts and cries of killing everywhere, thick smoke and the smell of blood.

However, the crazy attacks in the past few days were still resisted by the Song army. This shows that attacking the city occupied by the Song army is indeed much more difficult than attacking the Southern Han.

Su Chen saw all of this and assessed the difference in combat effectiveness between the two sides. Currently, the Song Army is only of medium strength and has not yet encountered the elite Song Army. It would be helpful to judge the capabilities of individual soldiers in time so that he could predict future wars.

Three days later, Su Chen did not want to wait any longer, because speed was of the essence in war. He estimated that the Song Dynasty's Bianliang City would soon receive urgent news by express horse, and by then, the Song army would have to mobilize troops to the south. He had to control the Huainan area as soon as possible as a base to expand the strategic depth.

On this day, Su Chen personally commanded the siege at the foot of the city.

As a result, everyone in the Wu army knew that there would be a decisive battle today, and their morale was greatly boosted. Everyone's armor was shining, their faces were solemn, and their swords, spears, and halberds were shining coldly and full of murderous intent.

At this moment, the commander of the Wu army shouted in front of the tent outside the city: "Attack the city!"

After receiving the military order, the flag officer waved the flag and sounded the codeword. Some heralds on horseback also rushed out, interspersed among the troops, and began to loudly preach the order. "General's order, start the siege—"

"Begin the siege—"

"call--"

In an instant, countless crossbows and bows were fired, densely and violently pouring out. The sky was covered with a dense rain of arrows, filling the sky.

Then, the armies from all directions started to move together. The shouts of thousands of soldiers and horses instantly tore through the void and set off earth-shaking storms.

Suddenly, people felt a strong masculine wind and cloud, sweeping across the entire space of ten miles in radius. The sky and the earth changed color, and the bloody energy condensed into an invisible aura.

"Kill--"

All of a sudden, the Wu army surrounded the enemy from all sides again, with the sound of killing shaking the sky and overwhelming.

The sound of war drums grew louder and louder. Teams of soldiers formed into square formations, striking their swords and shields in unison, and quickly gathered and charged towards the city wall.

In the middle of each phalanx, heavy catapults, ladders, flying bridges, battering rams, siege towers and other large siege equipment were towed by straight ropes. The laborers shouted slogans and transported the siege equipment to the foot of the city. The army was as majestic as a mountain.

The scale of the siege today is greater than ever before, with an army of 100,000 men attacking the city in unison, and the momentum is even stronger.

The Song army on the city wall was terrified. Various warning drums, bangs, and gongs sounded one after another. Teams of soldiers hurried to the arrow emplacements on the parapet, panting rapidly, and began to fight.

"The enemy attacked the city—"

"There are so many Wu troops today!"

Some soldiers on the city walls were shocked when they saw the Wu army rushing in from outside the city. There were too many of them, and it seemed that all their forces were concentrating to attack the city.

"Prepare to defend the city, archers, get ready, shoot—"

The deputy general on the city wall acted decisively and issued an order to fight back. Immediately, the archers on the city wall began to shoot at the sea of ​​people below.

After one row finished shooting, they immediately retreated. The next round of archers came forward, drew their bows and shot. They replaced each other several times in succession. The arrows were like locusts, shooting at each other from outside the city and on the city walls.

Puff puff--

With every breath, many soldiers on both sides were shot, and the arrows pierced into their flesh and bones. Then screams were heard, and the soldiers under the city fell to the ground one after another, while the soldiers on the top of the city were shot down and smashed to pieces.

The city moat was stained with blood and corpses were everywhere. At the front, some brave soldiers of the Wu army had already climbed up the ladders, but some were shot down halfway through, and some were hit by rocks and tumbling logs. Countless people were shot to death or fell to their deaths.

But the military order was as firm as a mountain, and the soldiers behind still charged forward unfailingly.

Even though they know they will die, they still have to fight their way out. This is the dignity of a soldier. They move forward bravely and never retreat. The Wu army below the city is like a flood that has broken through a dam.

"Kill! Kill! Kill—"

The catapults smashed towards the top of the city wall frantically, with loud rumbling sounds. Every time a huge stone fell, the city wall shook and a thick cloud of dust rose up. The guards who were hit were directly turned into a pool of meat paste, with their brains bursting and their flesh and blood blurred. Similarly, the brave Wu soldiers who were hit by the rolling logs and stones under the city wall were also smashed to pieces.

Because the Wu army had sufficient logistics, the rows of crossbows and bows and arrows below the city seemed to pour down on the top of the city as if they were free, and the fierce attack like a storm covered the battering rams that were hitting the city gates.