Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"If that's true, that would be great!" Black Teeth Changzhi said with a smile: "In just one day, Godway can build many siege equipment. Just cutting down trees and transporting wood is not enough. There are no siege equipment, only ant attachments." When attacking a city, no matter how many people there are, they won’t be enough to die!”

"That's true!" Yiji Lianbode said with a smile: "But delaying time may not be beneficial to them. There are many craftsmen in workshops in Shaanzhou City, and there is no shortage of various materials. Compared with making instruments, Ge Dewei created the same Come on, we’ve made all ten of them!”

Hearing what Igilian Bode said, Cui Hongdu and Heiji Changzhi nodded repeatedly. This was not because they wanted to flatter their colleagues, but because what Igilian Bode said was the truth. In ancient city offensive and defensive battles, soldiers The number and elite level are actually not that important - even if you are the reincarnation of Xiang Yu or the resurrection of Lu Bu, and can defeat a hundred people, a woman can kill you with a pot of boiling golden juice when climbing a ladder. After all, no matter how good the armor is, it can't stop you. There is no way to stop the rolling oil and falling rocks, and there is no place to hide on the ladder; no matter how many troops the siege team has, there are only a few breaches on the city wall that can be chosen. They can only add oil and consume it little by little until all the defenders are exhausted. resources.

Therefore, urban offensive and defensive battles actually involve not only human lives, but also resources - food, oil, various equipment, as well as the manpower and materials to make equipment. If the siege team has trebuchets made of wood and wooden donkeys to rush chariots, there is no need to fill the trenches with corpses. If the dead people die until the corpses are as high as the city wall, you can first use trebuchets and archers to suppress the firepower of the city head, and then use rams. Crash open the city gate, or push Lu Gong's chariot directly in front of the city wall, then lower the suspension bridge and climb directly to the city; there are wooden sheds, shooting houses, crossbows, trebuchets, and forks on the defensive side, which can eliminate shooting blind spots and hide in a safe place. He threw stones and arrows at the unobstructed enemy, easily overturned the ladder, burned the opponent's Lu Gong chariot, and forced the enemy to trade hundreds of lives for a few steps of land.

This is why the first step for defending a city since ancient times is to strengthen the wall and clear the field. It is best not to leave even a big stone to the opponent within a certain distance from the city wall. Ijilianbode and the others have already done a good job in this regard, and they have extremely abundant resources to defend the city - not to mention food and oil. In order to repair and build cannons, Shaanzhou has a large number of craftsmen of all kinds and sufficient resources. The materials are all available, whether for making crossbows, arrows, or other offensive and defensive equipment. If Godway planned to build the equipment first and then attack the city, he would only find that there were more and better ones on the defensive side.

"What about the night attack?" Cui Hongdu turned his eyes to Hei Te Changzhi. Everyone present knew that he had a pair of night eyes, so he had to be the one to attack at night.

"Tonight is the first night, Ge Dewei must be the most defensive!" Hei Te Changzhi replied: "On the contrary, I think tomorrow's dawn will be better!"

"dawn?"

"Well, the string can't be taut forever, otherwise it will break!" Hei Teochang said.

"That's true, let's do it at dawn tomorrow!"

Military camp outside the city.

The military meeting was held in Godway's tent. Two square tables found side by side were placed side by side. One table was missing half of its legs and had to be replaced with a few stones. Ge Dewei is sitting in the main seat, with his deputy general on his right hand. The marching Sima, Chang Shi, and left and right Du Yuhou are divided into two sides, and then there are the generals and captains of each battalion.

Everyone remained silent at the beginning of the military meeting. The officers looked at each other. The situation in front of them was very different from what they had imagined when they left Chang'an. The number of enemies was far less than our own, and they were cavalry. The most likely possibility was to burn down the warehouse and escape. , the most important job for them is not to fight, but to extinguish the remaining fire, restore the original situation and pursue pursuit. But the reality is that it is a well-fortified city. Unless a formal siege is carried out, it is impossible to capture it.

"General!" Marching Sima was the first to speak. He was a veteran from Longyou. His wrinkled face was covered with scars. His voice was a little muddy. You had to pay close attention to understand what he said: "We should pay tribute to Chang'an has asked for reinforcements, and in addition to recruiting civilians from neighboring states and counties, the existing manpower alone is not enough to build siege equipment, dig trenches, and build barriers!"

"Reinforcements? We have five thousand people, and the rebels only have one thousand! Our army has five times the number of rebels!" Chang Shi retorted dissatisfied: "The court will think that we are timid!"

"Chang Shi, fighting is not simply about the number of people! We have seen the situation inside and outside Shaanzhou City. Without the cooperation of the people in the city, how could it be like this?" Marching Sima said, his face full of worry Traces: "To attack a city like this, a five-on-one advantage is not enough!"

"Yes, Sima is right!"

"With so many wooden sheds and shooting cages on top of the city, there must be no shortage of craftsmen and various materials in the city, so there will be no shortage of crossbow machines! We don't have the corresponding siege equipment, so many people will die!"

The officers spoke one after another, and most of them stood on the side of the marching Sima. They unanimously believed that it was never wise to use flesh and blood against stones, wood, and grease.

Godwin remained silent. He was like a stone statue, sitting at the square table. When everyone's eyes were focused on him, he suddenly stood up and walked out of the tent, leaving only a group of officers looking at each other. The deputy general hurriedly chased him out. , the two of them walked to the edge of the camp before stopping.

"Before leaving Chang'an, less than half of the grain stores in Chang'an were open!"

"Ah?" The deputy general was confused by Godwei's rambling words. He subconsciously responded: "My subordinates didn't pay attention!"

"The situation is very bad!" Ge Dewei turned around: "The rebels occupied Shaanzhou, which is blocking the throat of Chang'an. Without the food transported by water, Chang'an is a dead city! So we can't delay it any longer, do you understand? "

"Yes! I understand!" The deputy general straightened his body subconsciously.

"They are right to ask for reinforcements, and they are right to recruit civilians from surrounding counties and counties, but they cannot first build the equipment as they thought, and then besiege them step by step. Chang'an can't wait, and Pei Shizhong can't wait!" Ge Dewei said! He spoke faster and faster, and in the end he was just shouting: "Let's attack the dock first today, at least take it down first!"       ————————————————————————

Cui Hongdu stood next to the parapet, as if he were a stone statue motionless. Outside the city gate were the ruins of docks and warehouses not long ago. A few days ago, he had ordered most of the buildings to be demolished and most of the wood to be moved into the city. The remaining materials were piled into a low wall to protect the last trestle, which was used to accommodate twelve converted water steamers. Obviously, the first target chosen by the enemy was the dock, for a simple reason - the defense here was the weakest, with no trenches, no walls, only a low wall.

Godway's front army surged towards the pier like a surging wave. The two rows of crossbow bolts fired by the militiamen behind the low wall dispersed and fled towards the city gate not far away. This was unexpected by Cui Hongdu. He had no illusions about his militia. These temporarily recruited former sailors and porters could shoot crossbows and rock oars on the deck, and they could also stand on the top of the city and throw stones down. , pouring hot oil on it, but it will only collapse in a field battle. The only thing that can be counted on is the thousand cavalry he brought from Chang'an. These cavalry came from Liaodong and Baiji. They followed Wang Wenzuo and experienced hundreds of battles. They are skilled in bow and horse. If they are used properly, , even ten thousand people can be defeated.

"Send a signal to have the water steamer weigh anchor and move closer to the shore!" He issued the order without looking back: "And the trebuchets on the city top should also turn around and wait for orders!"

Godway's front army had already rushed to the low wall at this time. The first few rows of soldiers had already begun to climb over the chest-high low wall. Some impatiently used their spears to fly off the upper part of the low wall in an attempt to clear these obstacles. Clear away. In order to avoid being shot by the projectile equipment of the defenders on the city wall, Ge Jun began to move closer to the river side intentionally or unintentionally, which destroyed the formation and caused chaos.

"Ship, water steamer!"

Following Ge Jun's shouts, twelve water steamers were approaching the shore at an alarming speed. Even though most soldiers were already familiar with this kind of water ships that were often moored at the Guangyuntan Pier, but with their own eyes, this This is the first time I have seen the agility and speed of this new type of ship. The soldiers instinctively retreated to put some distance between them.

boom!

With a soft sound, a lead-filled short spear was driven by the tendon fibers that were curled to the limit. It ejected and went over the heads of the two rows of soldiers in front. It penetrated the flag bearer's abdomen and brought him and the flag to the ground. This short spear seemed to be a signal. The water steamers near the shore shot out arrows and short spears like raindrops, falling on the heads of the people near the shore. The people who were shot were like those on the shore blown by the strong wind. Reeds fell down in groups, and some people tried to use their bows to fight back, but wooden rafts had long been erected on the side of the shore side of these water steamers. The sailors hid behind the wooden rafts and used crossbows and "scorpions" to attack the shore intensively. The crowd fired, and most of the arrows fired from the shore were blocked by the rafts.

Almost at the same time, the trebuchets on the city began to move. Compared with the shooters on the ship, most of the trebuchets on the city wall missed. Many stone bullets passed over the heads of the Ge soldiers. Falling into the river, some pieces even hit the water tanker that was shooting towards the shore, causing a burst of yelling. But even so, this also made Ge Jun fall into the fear of being caught in a double attack. Under this attack, more and more people dropped their weapons and tried to escape from this unfortunate place. They pushed down The officer who tried to block him climbed over the low wall and fled towards his own line.

The cavalry who rushed out of the city gate became the last straw that broke the camel's back. The number of cavalry was not large, only about two hundred, but their swift and courageous actions made up for this shortcoming. They swept through the Ge army like the wind. With their flanks filled with horned bows, they fired arrows at the enemy infantry who were only four or five steps away. They raised their spears and pierced the chests of the resisters. They trampled everything, drove everything away, and were invincible, just like a lawnmower. After taking one step forward, a patch of grass fell down in front of them. Just like that, the mighty Ge Jun turned around in front of the horses' hooves, let out a desperate cry, dropped their flags, spears, and helmets, and fled back. Many of them were pushed down and trampled by their companions, and never had the chance to get up again.

Seeing that his front army was defeated, Godway's face turned a horrible purple-black color, like an eggplant. He looked at everything in front of him angrily without saying a word. The victor's cavalry did not pursue it and retreated only to the edge of the low wall.

"The thieves' cavalry is really capable!" the deputy general muttered, "can't be underestimated!"

This sentence ignited Ge Dewei's anger, and he cursed fiercely: "Come here, take these trash down, and kill those who retreat when facing the enemy!"

"General, general!" The deputy general was startled and hurriedly begged: "There are so many people who cannot be killed!"

"Yes, yes!" Marching Sima hurriedly responded: "This is just the first battle. If we kill so many soldiers, wouldn't we demoralize ourselves?"

Ge Dewei also felt a little regretful at this time. After all, there were seven or eight hundred soldiers who escaped. If they were all killed, the remaining army would not be able to fight. He snorted coldly: "The death penalty can be avoided, but the living penalty cannot be forgiven! The defeated soldiers who escaped will be killed, and the survivors will stick arrows in the camp, as a warning to the three armies!"

In stark contrast to the defeater's frustration, there was a lot of joy in Shaanzhou City at this time. If the vast majority of people in the city faced the army from Chang'an with despair and fear before, then the victory they just witnessed gave these originally desperate people a glimmer of hope - it seems that these "King Masters" are not So difficult to deal with! Those cavalrymen could easily defeat the "King's Division" who were several times their own, killing them with corpses everywhere. Is it like what the Japanese transshipment envoy Xianggong said, that they are the loyal ministers. There are traitorous ministers in Chang'an who imprisoned the Holy Emperor. As long as everyone can hold on to Shaanzhou for a month, General Wang's army will arrive and rescue the Emperor. We are all meritorious ministers, can we be given the title of wife and son?

Stimulated by the victory, the people and militiamen in the city became excited. They began to work overnight, making more equipment, arrows, spears and crossbows, inspecting the city walls, looking for possible gaps and weaknesses. Seeing this commotion, the attackers outside the city couldn't help but become even more frustrated.

"Looking at it like this, it seems like we are the rebels!" An officer shook his head: "If I had known this, I should have marched all night from Chang'an!"

"There is no regret in this world!" The companion next to him sighed: "It's better to ask Chang'an for reinforcements first, and recruit civilians from neighboring states and counties! With the few soldiers we have, we won't be able to attack even in half a year. Come down!"

No matter how angry Godwei was, he had to send a letter to Chang'an asking for help, and recruited more civilians from neighboring states and counties to prepare for a protracted siege.

There are a lot of things going on today, sorry for the late update!