Fenghou

Chapter 1262 Shouchun
It was already very late at night, the [-] army was divided into four parts, waiting outside the four city gates, the soldiers on the top of the city were extremely nervous, Zhang Zongyan deployed heavy troops above the four city gates.

Except for Huyanlei outside Beicheng who was in ambush for three miles, the other three armies were all ready to attack the city.

The key point of defense is the city gate. On both sides of the city head above the city gate, the soldiers are almost too crowded to stand up. Dozens of barrels of kerosene are thrown in front of each city gate, and the black kerosene flows all over the ground. Not only that, Zhang Zongyan also ordered [-] soldiers to load the soil bags, and tens of thousands of soil bags blocked the four city gates.

Zhang Zongyan was also afraid that the family members of the soldiers would be affected and killed, so he specially ordered people to go door to door and tell them to hide in their rooms or cellars tonight, and not to go out anyway.

On the top of the city, Zhang Zongyan looked at the Western Army outside the west of the city. Nearly [-] Western Army lined up to fight, obviously preparing to attack. Under the bright moonlight, Zhang Zongyan saw the canopy of the purple umbrella. He had discovered it during the day. Chen Qing was most likely under the umbrella.

Zhang Zongyan sighed secretly, if he couldn't keep the city gate, it might be a tragic battle tonight.

"Dutong, they are coming!" The soldier next to him pointed to the city and shouted.

Zhang Zongyan saw it, and saw three long worms walking slowly from a mile away. They were actually long worms made up of people. Two or three hundred people formed a team, holding a large shield. The door came.

"The trebuchet is ready, use the kerosene ball!"

Several large trebuchets creaked and pulled up, and the soldiers ignited the fireball, "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

With the sound of continuous throwing, five kerosene balls were thrown out, the kerosene balls landed, and the kerosene inside poured out, forming a sea of ​​flames several feet wide. This is a kerosene ball invented in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was first used against the Khitan army use.

The three worm formations were very flexible, and they all escaped the attack of the fire oil ball, and continued to march towards the city gate. Zhang Zongyan had already seen clearly that the team was carrying long wooden boards and heavy objects, which must be iron fire thunders.

"Fire arrows!"

He yelled, arrows were shot like rain, and the dense arrows shot at the three insect formations, but the shield was like a mountain, and they couldn't pierce the shield at all.

"Dutong, look at the city!" A soldier pointed to the moat below the city and shouted.

Zhang Zongyan looked over and saw a huge wooden box floating in the moat. The wooden box couldn't move by itself, obviously there was someone under the wooden box.

Zhang Zongyan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. It was dark under the lights, and Chen Qing used three worms to attract his attention. In fact, the people he arranged were inside the moat.

"Archery!"

The arrows from the city head shot at the wooden box like a storm. The wooden box was nailed full of arrows in an instant, but it was not damaged at all.

"Throwing stones! Throwing stones!" Zhang Zongyan shouted.

At this time, the big wooden box was hidden under the suspension bridge, and the big stone was useless. Zhang Zongyan immediately ordered: "Light it up!"

Dozens of torches were thrown down, and the front of the city gate suddenly became a sea of ​​flames. At this moment, "Boom!" A violent explosion sounded in the direction of the south gate, and the city was shaking.

Zhang Zongyan was stunned for a moment. Could it be that the attack on the west city was false, and the real attack on the city was at the south gate?
Immediately, he was very anxious, and said to one of his generals: "You continue to command the soldiers to set fire and arrows, and I will go to the south gate to see the situation."

He got on his horse and ran along the top of the city towards the south gate.
Not long after Zhang Zongyan left, a violent explosion suddenly erupted under the suspension bridge, "Boom!" The suspension bridge was blown to pieces, large pieces of wood rose into the air, water waves splashed, the ground shook, and the soldiers on the top of the city They couldn't stand steadily, fell down one after another, and covered their ears in pain. The explosion was so violent that many soldiers' eardrums were shattered, and blood flowed from their ears.

There was thick smoke in front of the city gate, but in the thick smoke, a group of soldiers rushed over and crossed the city on boards. This is the difference between professional and non-professional defenders. The non-professional defenders are still in pain. The shock made them unable to regain their senses, but the professional firearms battalion soldiers seized this opportunity and rushed across the city, pushing a huge [-]-jin iron fire thunder against the city gate.

The soldiers on the top of the city were still struggling to get up, but they didn't know that the fire rope on the city gate was sizzling and burning. At this moment, a huge explosion erupted from the east city gate, and the east city gate was blown open.

Immediately afterwards, "Boom!" There was another violent explosion, thick smoke filled the air, and the city shook violently. The defenders on the top of the city were shocked and killed hundreds of people on the spot. Even if the rest of the defenders did not die, they were also seriously injured. , They got up, stumbled and fled to the city.

The sand, gravel and sawdust fell down, and the gunpowder smoke gradually dissipated. The west city gate was blown down, the city gate was blown away, and the city wall next to it also collapsed several feet, although there were still hundreds of bags of mud and sand blocking the city gate. , but the city wall next to it collapsed, revealing a large crack more than ten feet wide, and you can directly see the inside of the city.

Chen Qing waved his sword, "Go in!"

"kill!"

The [-] Western Army came rushing from a mile away, and the three previous insect teams rushed forward first, and built three wooden bridges with wooden planks.

Several soldiers from the Firearms Battalion detonated another iron bull iron fire mine inside the broken city wall, "Boom!" With a dull explosion, the city wall rose and then collapsed, filled with dust in an instant, and the third explosion collapsed hundreds of thousands of people. The city wall, which was more than ten feet wide, revealed a gap of one hundred feet wide.

Zhang Zongyan was in despair. The western army had already attacked the city from the east gate, and then the south gate also entered, and the west gate could not be defended.

"These bastards misled me!" Zhang Zongyan yelled angrily.

"General, there are no enemy troops outside the North City Gate, you can withdraw from the North City Gate."

Zhang Zongyan was really in a dilemma, if he withdrew, what would the prince's family do?
"General, retreat quickly! The brothers are all withdrawn."

At this time, a cavalry rushed over and shouted: "General, General Wu, please persuade the guards of the palace to retreat. If they do not retreat, the prince's family will really die."

Zhang Zongyan suddenly realized that if he didn't fight, he could survive, and fighting to the death would only hurt the prince's family.

He immediately yelled, "Follow me!"

He urged his horse and led thousands of soldiers to the north of the city. Zhang Jun's palace was in the north of the city, with three thousand confidant troops guarding him.
Wu Kun, the deputy commander of the capital, repeatedly persuaded Li Jiming to lead the army to retreat. Li Jiming was extremely stubborn. The lord entrusted his family to him and asked him to leave them and run for his own life. How could he do that?
Seeing Zhang Zongyan coming, Wu Kun sighed, "He refuses to retreat, there is nothing we can do about him!"

"General Wu, lead the brothers to retreat first! Let me persuade him."

Wu Kun retreated with more than [-] troops, and Zhang Zongyan shouted: "General Li, the city can't be defended anymore. If you stick to it here, the whole family of the lord will die. You can either withdraw the troops yourself, or take them with you."

"The old lady refuses to leave!"

"Then you take a few young masters to evacuate, and the Western Army will not harm women and children."

Li Jiming was right when he thought about it, don't let the lord's cigarette offspring be broken in his hands, he must take his grandchildren out.

He immediately ran to persuade them, and in the end, except for the old lady and his wife, the other two sons and three grandsons were taken away.

At this time, the Western Army had already occupied most of the city. The so-called street fighting was completely over-thought by Chen Qing. palace.

The defenders of the palace had already retreated, and there were only dozens of servants and maids left in the palace, all kneeling on the ground.

Soon, soldiers escorted two old women over, one was Zhang Jun's mother, and the other was Zhang Jun's wife, Zhang's. Zhang supported the old lady, and the two were trembling with fear.

"General Qi, all the men in Zhang Jun's residence retreated from the north gate, and only the female relatives remained in the residence. These two are Zhang Jun's mother and wife."

Gao Ding nodded and said: "His Royal Highness has an order not to be rude to Zhang Jun's family members. Just guard the gate and don't go into the mansion to scare them."

The soldiers did not find other men, so they withdrew, sealed the palace with a seal, stood guard at the gate, and did not allow other soldiers to enter the palace.

Both the old lady and Mrs. Zhang breathed a sigh of relief. They were both very regretful. If they had known this, they should not have allowed the child to retreat with Li Jiming. The retreat would probably be chased by the Western Army, which would be very dangerous.

(End of this chapter)