Fenghou

Chapter 42
The bravery of the general also aroused the fighting spirit of the soldiers of the Song army. A dozen wolf soldiers who rushed to the top of the city were all killed. , so that the soldiers of the Song Army withstood the first wave of shock.

Lieutenant General Yang Yuanqing took over the command, and he shouted: "The commander is only slightly injured, don't worry everyone."

He stabilized the army's morale in time, and commanded the soldiers to smash the enemy's head with rolling logs and rocks. Nine siege ladders remained.

The huge stones and rolling logs dropped on the top of the city caused heavy casualties to the attacking Jin soldiers. The corpses piled up on the top of the city, and the offensive was obviously weakened.

The chief general, Chen Qing, was sitting against the parapet, feeling exhausted and dizzy, which was a sign of blood loss.

A medical soldier was nervously bandaging him to stop the bleeding. The knife from behind cut off his armor, leaving a wound three inches long and half an inch deep. The medical soldier was very worried.

Chen Qing waved his hand, signaling that he was out of the way.

'when!when!when! 'The bell for withdrawing troops rang, and the golden soldiers raised their shields high and retreated slowly.

This is a retreat, not a retreat. The rules of Jinbing are extremely strict. When retreating, whoever dares to run with his back to the city wall will be beheaded by the overseer immediately, and the whole family will be made a slave.

On the top of the city, the soldiers of the Song Army raised their morale and raised their spears to cheer.

The withdrawal order was issued by Wanyan Wulu, and Han Chang was filled with anger and shame. He lost [-] soldiers and paid for Xiao Tat, the commander of the wolf soldiers, but he still failed to capture the city.

But the fact is here, no matter how angry he is, there is nothing he can do.

Han Chang urged his horse to run forward, clasped his fists and said, "I'm incompetent in a lowly position, I can't share the marshal's worries!"

Wanyan Wulu waved his hand, "It's not your fault, it's because the enemy army is too cunning to cut off the rungs of the siege ladder. No matter how brave your men are, they can't kill them."

"You can change the rungs of the siege ladder into pig iron rods, and you can defeat the enemy's move."

"Don't rush to attack the city for now, change your strategy!"

Wanyan Wulu looked at the top of the mountain and said calmly: "Although they are condescending, there is still a place higher than them."

…………

Jiandao Pass is located on a branch of Longshan Mountain. The mountain is extremely dangerous, with lush forests on the top of the mountain and few people.

A golden troop consisting of more than [-] Jurchen soldiers and puppet soldiers climbed up Jiandao Mountain under the leadership of a hunter guide.

There is no road on the mountain, and there are thorns and jagged rocks all over the mountain. They climbed rocks and walls, passed through dense forests and thorn bushes, and it took them two hours to reach the top of Jianbai Mountain.

A Jurchen soldier stood on the top of the mountain and looked down. The soldiers of the Song Army in the Guancheng were like ants, and the Guancheng was like a square of wood stuck in the middle of the canyon.

"How is it?" asked the centurion in the distance.

The Jurchen soldier nodded, "Below is Guancheng. If there are enough stones and giant trees, we can indeed launch an attack downward."

"What about bows and arrows?"

The centurion came over, looked down, frowned and said, "I'm afraid bows and arrows are a bit difficult, but it's not impossible. The key is to have enough numbers."

After surveying for a long time, Orion looked at the sky, and politely said to Jin Bing: "Now it's getting dark early, we must hurry up to go back."

The centurion had no intention of going back, his task was not yet completed.

"Is there a way to enter Guancheng on the mountain?" the centurion asked.

Orion shook his head, "There is definitely no way. If you want to go down, you can only hang down by ropes. It is at least eighty feet high from here to the foot of the mountain, which is very dangerous."

"If I want to go to the south canyon, is there a way to walk?"

"Yes, there is. It is about [-] miles away. There is a small road to go down. Below is a very deep and narrow valley. Going out of the valley is five miles south of Jiandao Pass."

The centurion glanced at the mountain on the opposite side, and asked again, "What about the other side?"

Orion shook his head like a rattle, "As I said before going up the mountain, the east is far easier to walk than the west. If you want to go up the mountain in the west, you have to go at least dozens of miles away to find a path, and there are all cliffs."

The Jurchen centurion did their homework before they set off, and they also specially recruited surrendered soldiers from Siyang County who were originally stationed in Guancheng to go up the mountain together.

The centurion found a puppet soldier and asked him, "Where is the water source in Guancheng?"

The soldier of the puppet army clasped his fists and said, "General, the source of water in Guancheng is in a cave behind the warehouse. It is a spring, but where is its source? I really don't know."

The centurion looked at Orion again, and Orion was full of doubts: "There are indeed springs on the mountain, and there are three springs, but I don't know which spring is in Guancheng?"

"Take us to find them one by one!"

At night, the Jurchen camp was still brightly lit, and in the commander's tent, Wanyan Wulu was discussing with the generals how to attack the pass.

"As the marshal expected, the opponent's strength is at most about [-]!"

Han Chang said loudly to the crowd: "Although their fighting power is very tenacious, their number is limited after all. As long as we make a big bet and attack day and night, I believe we can take Guancheng within three days!"

Wanyan Wulu waved his hand, "If you count Xia Jin's [-] troops, our loss has already reached [-]. In fact, the loss of troops is not a problem. The key is the siege weapon, which is what we are going to use to attack Dashan Pass. There are not many weapons.

But in just one morning, we lost [-] siege ladders, accounting for [-]% of the total. Although we still have buildings and crashes, I don’t want to waste them all on the arrow, so we need to change our thinking. Use another way of siege. "

Han Chang was very helpless. He had just found a sense of siege, and then paused. Didn't his two thousand elite soldiers sacrifice in vain?
He was dissatisfied in his heart, but he didn't dare to show it on his face. After all, he was not the chief general, but also a Han Chinese, so he had no decision-making power.

At this time, a soldier reported outside the tent: "Marshal, the mountain exploration team is back!"

Wanyan Wulu was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Let the leader in!"

Not long after, the centurion who was exploring the mountain walked quickly into the big tent. He knelt down on one knee and saluted, and presented a map to Wanyan Wulu, "This is today's harvest. It's marked on it."

Wanyan Wulu quickly took the map and looked at it carefully. He pointed to the downhill arrow and asked, "Can I go down from the top of the mountain to the inside of the Guancheng?"

"Reporting to the commander, we can only hang it down with a rope. There is a slight buffer in the middle, but at least a [-]-foot-long rope is needed to climb down, and it is easy to be spotted by the enemy!"

This will become a living target, no!Wanyan Alu rejected the plan to go down the mountain with a rope, and asked again: "Then is there a way to go outside Nancheng?"

"Yes! It's just a long way around, and the road is not easy to walk."

"And the water source in Guancheng, have you found it?"

"Beizhi found three springs, all of which flowed into the mountain in the end. I don't know which spring is the source of Song Jun's water."

Han Chang finally couldn't help but said: "Commander, the Song army will definitely have water to store. It usually takes a few months to besiege without food and water. The battle with Monk Yuan is imminent. I'm afraid we don't have time to delay it."

"I know in my heart that the mountain is just an auxiliary means. We will use multiple measures. I want to see how many troops the Song Army has against me?"

The city was also brightly lit, and after several bloody battles, Chen Qing and the generals also knew where their weak points of defense were?
In the final analysis, their numbers were too small to form a strong attack, and their army had suffered nearly [-] casualties, which made Chen Qing really worried. If the enemy resorted to a war of attrition, he might not be able to last for a few days.

Chen Qing also wanted to send an eagle letter to ask Wu Jie for reinforcements, but Wu Jie only gave him two letter eagles. When he captured Guancheng, he had already sent one letter eagle, and the remaining letter eagle was because Guancheng fell. It was sent from time to time, not for him to request reinforcements.

"Let's not count on reinforcements. Even if reinforcements arrive, it will take more than ten days."

In the room, Chen Qing said to several generals: "The next step we have to do is to minimize casualties. Of course, we can't expect the enemy's subordinates to show mercy. I mean, try to protect the soldiers as much as possible, such as armor, healing, etc. Wait, there is also the need to strictly prevent accidental casualties."

Yang Yuanqing was puzzled and asked: "What do the commanders mean by accidental casualties?"

"If it's not casualties on the battlefield, they should be considered accidental casualties. For example, soldiers were killed by wounded soldiers pretending to be dead while cleaning up the battlefield, or soldiers were shot by enemy spies outside the city while patrolling. , will not happen, we must resolutely prevent it.”

Everyone nodded silently, and Zheng Ping said: "Just now the commander mentioned wound treatment, we should recover the slightly injured soldiers as soon as possible, and return to the battlefield. Currently, we have thirty-seven lightly injured soldiers and fourteen seriously injured soldiers. Thirty-seven people should be treated as soon as possible."

"How is the Commander's injury?" Yang Hua asked suddenly.

Only then did everyone remember that Chen Qing was also injured, so they ignored him, and they all looked at Chen Qing together.

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "It should be a minor injury, not a bone or muscle injury. The wound medicine Yang Dazhi gave me is very effective. The wound has scabbed over. I just need to wait for it to heal as soon as possible."

"The commander still has to be careful, try not to use force these days, and don't let the wound burst, it will be troublesome."

Chen Qing nodded, and his eyes fell on Luo Gan. He saw that Luo Gan was thinking, but kept silent.

"Logan, say a few words!"

Luo Gan leaned slightly and said, "The humble official is thinking, will the Jin soldiers send surprise troops to seize the pass?"

Chen Qing was startled, he didn't expect the enemy to send surprise soldiers, so he quickly said: "Tell me in detail!"

Luo Gan thought for a while and said, "For a pass like ours, there are only two directions for the Raiders, one is underground, and the other is the sky. I am worried, will the enemy troops come from the mountain?"

(End of this chapter)