The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 238 Shi Le’s despair

Soon, Shi Le waited for a dark and windy night, but the moon was not very bright that day.

Shi Le led his army to secretly open the city gate. In the night, he looked at the ravine in front of him and carefully chose to avoid it.

Because Shi Le didn't know what was in the dark ravine under the dark night.

Even so, Shi Le and others lurked step by step until they were about 300 meters away from Liu Tai's army camp.

Shi Le planned to get closer, at least to within a hundred steps, and then he would be able to reach the camp with just one lunge charge, giving full play to the maximum effect of the surprise attack.

However, these soldiers in the darkness did not expect to step on anything. In an instant, a clear sound of iron bells sounded in the darkness.

"Damn it!" When Shi Le heard the sound of the iron bell, he immediately understood that he was afraid that he would have to make a decision immediately.

Shi Le finally made up his mind and said to his soldiers, "Everyone, rush for me!"

At this moment, even Liu Tai's soldiers were a little surprised, because although they had done some night training during training, they had not been attacked by night attacks many times on the battlefield.

Because the camp gate was closed at night, there was no need for them to worry. To a certain extent, in this temporary camp, at night, the camp gate was the strongest.

Therefore, these watchmen immediately beat the gongs and drums. At the same time, they saw that the enemy was rushing to the camp. One of the night watchmen quickly ran to a facility and lit the fuse with a torch.

In an instant, a ferocious fire snake was seen spreading on the land, and the raging fire was running on the ground at an incredible speed.

This thing is a by-product of gunpowder. It is just a powder that is extremely flammable when ignited. Put it together with some dried wood and dead leaves. As long as it is ignited, it will quickly become a flame belt.

Among them, saltpeter powder, sulfur powder and carbon powder were all created by Ge Hong while experimenting with the properties of charcoal. Even recently, he became obsessed with refining golden elixirs and pursued higher and hotter flames. I don't know if there is anything better. His private life is hidden.

Before gunpowder developed into TNT-level explosives in ancient times, its role was quite limited.

Liu Tai's use of this kind of gunpowder did not expect it to be used as a weapon to kill powerful enemies, but only used these powders mixed with saltpeter, sulfur and coke as fire starters or flame retardants.

For example, now, as the powder flame begins to spread at an extremely rapid rate, the dead branches and leaves that were specially placed are burning even faster.

This not only cut off Shi Le's army, but more importantly, illuminated their positions clearly in the firelight.

Shi Le looked at the spreading fire. To be honest, if there were no troops coming out from his side, he would have thought he was ambushed.

This kind of defensive situation of first using an iron bell to warn, and then using flames to quickly resist, or to illuminate the surrounding environment, was really unheard of for me.

When the flames spread, how many people could be burned was secondary. After all, it was not difficult to avoid the fire path, but under the light of the fire, he and others were completely illuminated clearly.

When the archers on the sentry tower discovered the enemy, they immediately put on rockets and started shooting at Shi Le and others.

They also had people beat war drums, horns, gongs and other vocal music to guide the soldiers to quickly restore their organization.

The first legion to be restored was the Barrier Army.

It's nothing. Sun Wei said that they were wearing scale armor and holding shields. This equipment was their biggest support on the battlefield.

It's not suitable for you to take off your clothes to sleep. If you feel cold, wrap yourself in a quilt and put a shield on it to ensure that no one will attack you.

The Bastion Camp is quite obedient. After all, sleeping like this is not very comfortable, but who pursues comfort on the battlefield? It would be good to be able to return alive.

Therefore, they were the quickest to wake up from the warning of the night attack. At this moment, they saved the time to get dressed, and armed themselves with shields, machetes or spears, they gathered around the village commander and military historians to form a small team, and then decisively fought out.

The command system at the grassroots level of Liu Tai's army reaches the level of the commander and military history. As long as the commander decides before receiving orders from the higher level, the soldiers under his command only need to obey.

Therefore, although they were attacked by Shi Le at night, Liu Tai's army was in chaos and did not panic.

After a small team had a village leader or military history to take charge of the overall situation, they quickly launched a counterattack against Shi Le's army.

This momentum was so fierce that Shi Le couldn't help but wonder if he had been ambushed by Liu Tai.

Why is it that although the number of Liu Tai's soldiers who rushed out is not large, they are so difficult to chew.

After he finally crossed the line of fire, there were iron lumps sprouting out one after another. He hadn't even touched the wall of the barracks of Liu Tai's army!
But at this moment, Shi Le still decisively issued the order to retreat.

Even Shi Le knew that if he evacuated, it would further damage morale, but Shi Le knew better what kind of soldiers his subordinates came to attack this time.

If the sneak attack is successful and the morale is high, there may be a chance to fight with Liu Tai's elite, but the opponent reacts first and fights with the soldiers in scale armor without fear of death. Even if it is not court death.

Shi Le knew very well that if the stalemate continued, the troops he brought would inevitably collapse before Liu Tai's elite.

Therefore, Shi Le had no intention of staying and immediately ordered to evacuate.

Because the contact between the two sides was not very deep, especially since they did not enter Liu Tai's military camp, it was easy for Shi Le to evacuate.

However, Liu Tai did not chase Shi Le in the dark. After all, he did not know whether Shi Le had ambushed several groups of troops.

Liu Tai didn't want to keep Shi Le at once. When he had the advantage, playing slowly and steadily was the best choice for him.

When Shi Le returned to the military camp, looking at the low morale of the soldiers, he calmly said:
"We have harassed the other side in the past and made it difficult for them to rest. If we make such a fuss today, it will be even harder for them to clean up the defense facilities outside the city tomorrow!"

When everyone heard Shi Le's words, they couldn't help but suddenly realized that they and others were trying to harass Liu Tai.

Suddenly they felt that the failure of this night attack was nothing, and they even felt it was a bit of a pity.

He and others had touched Liu Tai's barracks. If someone hadn't stepped on the iron bell, maybe this harassment could have become a sneak attack.Shi Le couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, as the morale in the city had been maintained. However, recalling Liu Tai's defense of the military camp today, Shi Le's face was full of ugliness.

Only the peripheral defense facilities were arranged so comprehensively by Liu Tai that it would be unimaginable for him not to have them.

After this time, it would be even more impossible for me to defeat Liu Tai's army camp through a night attack.

Liu Tai made a sneak attack on Shi Le and his soldiers, but was repulsed, so he immediately rewarded the night watchmen.

They also rewarded the soldiers of yesterday's fortress camp with extra meals, and then continued to advance the gully tactics with unsteady headlines.

At the same time, the soldiers were asked to dig several caves around the military camp as traps, and there were even more groups of people patrolling at night.

Liu Tai did not change his tactical rhythm because of Shi Le's sneak attack.

Because Liu Tai understood that if the delay continued, as long as the Zhangshui waterway remained open, the resources from the three continents behind him would be continuously transported.

The soldiers under his command are fighting soldiers, not government soldiers. Under normal circumstances, they would not participate in labor.

Therefore, although my own expedition to Shile put a lot of pressure on logistics, it was not difficult to sustain it.

But if Shi Le was besieged by him for half a year, Yecheng would probably have no food. If he was trapped for a year, it would become a ghost prison on earth.

It is common to attack such an important town and besiege it for months or even years. If you fail to encircle it for several months and come back next year, production will not be affected.

But I admire Shi Le for being able to survive for one year. To survive for two years, I'm afraid he needs to be a necromancer and be able to cast the forbidden spell of resurrecting the undead.

Liu Tai knew very well that Shi Le at this time was like Zhao Guo who had lost the Battle of Changping. If he let it go a little, he might be able to recover. At least Liu Yao was absolutely willing to use Shi Le as a barrier to consume him. .

Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of his illness to kill him. Even if time was delayed, he had to kill Shi Le suddenly.

However, Liu Tai also knew that Shi Le sent cavalry envoys to the west to ask for help from Liu Yao, and maybe Liu Yao would really come.

All he needed was to guide the water in the moat away before Liu Yao came over, and use the ditch he rebuilt to become an obstacle for Shi Le to leave the city.

At that time, I can use the fewest soldiers to guard Shi Le, and then concentrate my strength to defeat Liu Yao first.

Of course, if Liu Yao doesn't come, it would be best. It can be as short as half a year or as long as one year. Yecheng must eat it down!
Therefore, Liu Tai methodically promoted various cleaning projects outside Yecheng. Shile in Yecheng looked at the mountains of earth piled up by Liu Tai outside. They were getting higher and higher, and the ravines he excavated were getting deeper and deeper, and Shi Le was most surprised. What makes me feel depressed is that the food in the city is decreasing day by day and cannot be replenished at all.

Liu Tai didn't want to attack, but he firmly held the initiative.

Shi Le is not afraid of Liu Tai's fight, because fighting and killing can help him temper his soldiers as quickly as possible, and he can also use the city wall to consume Liu Tai's elite.

But Shi Le's headache was that Liu Tai didn't fight. After gaining an absolute advantage, he still maintained an absolute mentality of not fighting. This made all the generals who knew how to fight feel desperate.

Because for any general, as long as there is a war, no one can guarantee victory, so naturally there is a chance.

But I just didn't want to fight against Liu Tai. Even if he took his soldiers to test it a few times, he would be greeted with either a rain of arrows or a powerful crossbow. Anyway, it was not a hand-to-hand encounter.

Liu Tai relied on his composure to wait until Yecheng's food was completely consumed before allowing his army to attack at the minimum cost. Shi Le understood that Liu Tai used this absolute composure to stifle his desire to turn defeat into victory. the only chance.

"We can only wait and see if Wang Xiu can persuade Liu Yao! Hey, I didn't expect that one day I would ask Liu Yao for help!" Shi Le thought.

While Shi Le was waiting for news from Wang Xiu, Wang Xiu had already arrived at Liu Yao's territory on horseback.

Then Wang Xiu rushed all the way to Chang'an. To be honest, Liu Yao and his men were still a little confused when they heard the news that Shi Le had been defeated by Liu Tai and was now besieging Yecheng.

After all, the things that Shi Le and Liu Tai discussed in Qinghe County were slowly transmitted, and Liu Yao was still thinking about how to use the alienation strategy to make Shi Le and Liu Tai turn against each other.

But I didn't expect that in such a short period of time, the two of them would fight together without any provocation. I didn't expect that Liu Tai would hit Shi Le so hard that Shi Le couldn't resist it.

Didn't Shi Le say he had an army of 20, but he didn't even last ten days and was immediately besieged by Liu Tai in Yecheng?

Liu Yao didn't understand how Shi Le fought this battle. He was really full of doubts. Even if Shi Le only had 20 pigs, he wouldn't have been beaten to the point of besieging Yecheng in ten days, right?
So after Wang Xiu arrived, he quickly recounted to Liu Yao the defeat in the Battle of Shileqinghe, especially the heavy cavalry.

Wang Xiu naturally didn't know what the heavy cavalry looked like. If he had known, he might not have had the chance to go on a mission.

But he still tried his best to use Shi Le's description, "The movement of this heavy horse is like thunder, which cannot be matched by any mortal body!"

To be honest, Liu Tai was able to defeat Shi Le in a frontal battlefield. Both Liu Yao and others under Liu Yao were somewhat mentally prepared for this.

Because since the beginning of the campaign, Liu Tai must win every battle and capture every attack. Wang Kuang, Gou Xi, Wang Jun, and now Shi Le, their achievements one after another have completely established Liu Tai's military power.

Even at this moment, they did not think that Shi Le could defeat Liu Tai, but Shi Le's defeat was so fast, it was indeed beyond their expectations.

"My dear friends, tell me what you think!?" Liu Yao took a deep breath and asked everyone.

"We, Zhao, are at odds with the puppet Han. This time King Zhao holds high the flag of righteousness and will not join forces with the puppet Han Liu Tai. We must save him!"

Fan Long saw that no one came out and said, "It's just that the journey is far away and Liu Tai is fierce. No one knows whether it will be late or not. I think it is better to send a general with five thousand infantry and cavalry to try to defeat King Zhao." Come back after the rescue!”

When Wang Xiu heard Fan Long's words, he knew that Fan Long wanted to give up on Shi Le, and couldn't help but glare.

But Fan Long didn't care about Wang Xiu's glare. He watched what I did. If he could beat Liu Tai, I would naturally support the army to rescue him.

But the problem is, that opponent is Liu Tai, Liu Tai who slaughtered them all the way.

Unless Liu Tai can be contained by relying on terrain advantages, who dares to say that he can be defeated? If you have the ability, go for it. What are you doing here to ask for help?
(End of this chapter)