Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 65 Xiaozhi (33)

When Xu Sheng shouted, the soldiers guarding Chaisang City found a small black dot on the horizon in the distance.

Soon, the Jiangxia soldiers lined up arrived in the wilderness outside Chaisang City.Then, passionate war drums echoed in the Jiangxia army.As the drums sounded, Jiangxia soldiers shouted "Wan Sheng" to gain courage.

At the same time, a large banner with the word 'yellow' slowly rose from the horizon, and there were a forest of spears and spears. Four thousand Jiangxia sergeants gathered in several square formations and advanced in darkness.Although there were only ten thousand people, the dark crowd in their eyes still put a lot of pressure on the defenders.

"Don't panic, hold on to the crossbow."

Xu Shengpi persisted and walked around the city to calm the nervous mood of the soldiers.As the Jiangxia military formation approached, Xu Sheng on the top of the city could see the enemy formation ahead more clearly.Every time he walked less than a hundred steps, Jiang Xia would stop and straighten his formation. The formation was unspeakably neat.Despite the uniform shouts just now, Xu Sheng seemed to feel that the morale of the army in front of him was not strong.

Staring at the tiny 'yellow' banner, Xu Sheng frowned slightly and muttered: "Is this the commander-in-chief of Duanhou Navy who shot Xu Pinglu and beheaded Ling Po? Why are his soldiers so loose? , It’s hard to describe how elite they are!”

In Xu Sheng's imagination, those who have the courage to seize the rear and lead the troops to defeat Jiangdong Navy at critical moments must be comparable to the generals.The soldiers under him cannot be said to be very elite, but they can also be said to be brave and capable of fighting.But this team was different from what he imagined.

However, Xu Sheng did not dare to neglect him. After all, he had previous military exploits, and those who could accomplish such feats must have merits.Moreover, yesterday's trick of pretending to surrender was also good. If it weren't for the other party's poor acting skills, he might not have been fooled.

Xu Sheng climbed up to the high platform and shouted: "Obey the military orders and don't fire your bow easily."

"promise!"

Outside the city, the Jiangxia army was stationed. Huang She looked at the city wall that was less than two feet high, drew his long sword, and shouted: "Send the order, attack the city!"

"promise!"

The height of the cities in the Han Dynasty was not as high as that of the Tang Dynasty, let alone comparable to that of the Ming Dynasty.The Han Dynasty was limited by city-casting technology. Even the capital Chang'an was only 12 meters high.Border fortresses and important county governments can generally reach 6 to 8 meters in height.

In the southern region, due to soil quality, there are fewer counties building city walls than in the north, and the structure and height are simpler.As a small county-level city, Chaisang was reinforced by Jiangdong later, but due to the influence of the surrounding lakes, it was difficult to build the city high, and its height was only about four meters high.

This kind of city wall is neither high nor low.If the ants attack by force, it will not be difficult to break through the city.Otherwise, how could Huang She dare to lead an army to storm the city, and Huo Jun would not dare to lead more than a thousand of his men to do this.

Under Huang She's military order, six or seven crude shield carts and ladders were pushed out of the military formation by Jiangxia soldiers and stood in front of the formation.

The war drums sounded loudly, beating on the chests of the soldiers. They shouted in unison, pushing the shield carts and ladders that had been worked on all night and moved forward quickly.There are auxiliary soldiers behind, carrying wooden boards. They want to erect wooden shields under the city wall to facilitate the crossbowmen to support under the city.

"Stretch~"

The only bed crossbow on top of Chaisang City was fired by the guarding soldiers.The huge crossbow bolt suddenly shot down from the city wall and fell into the loose crowd with the sound of howling wind.

"Tuk!"

A crossbow gun hit the wooden shield on a shield cart hard. The simple wooden shield could not stop the crossbow gun at all. Its huge impact pierced the wooden shield and nailed the Jiangxia soldier pushing the shield cart to death on the spot. .The broken sawdust also scratched the soldier's eyes. He covered his eyes and fell to the ground wailing in pain.

Except for a few unlucky ones, most people hid under the shield car but were safe and sound.The impressive reload rate of the bed crossbow may pose a threat to Jiangxia soldiers, but it is not a big threat.

"The enemy is approaching a hundred steps!"

As the Jiangxia infantry gradually approached the city head, these words rang out from the top of Chaisang City.

"put!"

The military flags waved down and the drums thundered.Xu Sheng shouted angrily, and waved his arms heavily. The Jiangdong soldiers behind the female wall all drew their bows and fired arrows. They only heard the sound of breaking through the air on the city wall. Countless arrows had already cut through the low sky, and were thrown like raindrops. Go to the top of Jiangxia soldiers.

"Be careful!" A chief held the sword and shield in his hand tightly, hiding behind the shield car, and shouted loudly.He signaled the sergeants around him to bury themselves behind the shield vehicle as much as possible.

It is good to have shields and chariots to cover the body, but the soldiers carrying the ladders are the most pitiful.They only have shields to cover their hands, and they are the focus of shooting.After the arrow fell, it hit the human body and made a continuous muffled sound. Many people fell to the ground after being hit by the arrow.

After one round of shooting, Jiangxia soldiers approached seventy or eighty steps below the city.The closer distance made it easier for the Jiangdong soldiers on the city wall to aim. Another round of arrow rain came, and more people fell to the ground and were hit by arrows.

"Stretch~"

A huge crossbow shot next to the young Jiangxia soldier, and its loud sound was terrifying.The Jiangxia soldier was so frightened that his feet went weak, and then he heard the sound of arrows piercing the sky, which made the Jiangxia soldier wet his pants.

"do not fight!"

Unable to bear the fear of death, this Jiangxia soldier took advantage of the window when the arrows were changing gears on the city top and ran back with his shield.As soon as the first person eats the crab, the second person will escape, and more and more people will retreat in fear of war.Another round of arrows was fired from the top of the city, directly scaring away the remaining attacking Jiangxia soldiers.

"This~"

Seeing such a scene, Xu Sheng frowned again. This was the level of the soldiers who defeated Jiangdong Navy.If it were a normal head-to-head confrontation, he would definitely not be his opponent.Perhaps as the generals said, Xu Pinglu fell into the trap of the enemy general.

In fact, not only Xu Sheng frowned, but Huo Jun, who was secretly watching the battle in the distant lake, couldn't help complaining and said: "The soldiers of Jiangxia are not only unclear in military discipline, but also lack of blood. If the two armies are fighting in formation, our troops will A thousand men can defeat the 4000 men in this unit."

After complaining, worry came immediately. If Huang She failed to attack and failed to attract Xu Sheng's main force, then how could Gao Xiang and Huo Du capture the east and south gates?

Such a poor performance made Huang She also feel angry and said: "You abandoned the battle and left before reaching the city. How can you break the city?"

Faced with the incompetence of his men, Chen Da bit the bullet and said: "General, it's not that our troops are incompetent, but Chaisang City is high and there are many soldiers guarding it with bows and crossbows. It is really difficult to charge the city and defeat the enemy."

After a pause, Chen Da pointed to the top of Chaisang City and said: "General, our soldiers are many times the enemy's. We are outnumbered. It is better to shoot at each other with the enemy under the city. Wait for the enemy to suffer many casualties, and then send out soldiers." Attached to siege the city."

Huang She pondered for a while, then looked at the number of crossbowmen on the city, which numbered only three to four hundred. He nodded slightly and said, "Move up all the crossbowmen in the army and fire all bows and arrows to see who can outlast whom."

"promise!"

"Crossbowmen step forward!"

Along with the shouts, nearly a thousand crossbowmen in the Jiangxia navy distanced themselves, stepped forward in unison, and used the wooden wall that the auxiliary soldiers had set up in advance as a cover, preparing to shoot at the Jiangdong soldiers on the top of the city.

Seeing this scene, Xu Sheng's expression calmed down. Although his troops were blocked by city walls and held high, he was outnumbered. If he dealt with it with the current strength, it was difficult to say whether he would win or lose.

Xu Sheng sneered and ordered: "Deploy 50 people from each of the three cities in the east, west and south to the north gate and shoot at a distance from the enemy to see whose shooting skills are more superb."

"promise!"

Huo Jun saw Huang She's arrangement and said with a smile: "Although Bo Zhong is not good at fighting, he has a little wisdom. He will live up to Jun's expectations."

Huo Jun felt lucky that he didn't tell Huang She's plan in advance.If he had been told his arrangements in advance, there was a question mark as to whether he could spend such a large amount of money to play shooting with Xu Sheng.After all, in a bow and arrow shootout, Xu Sheng, who had the protection of the city wall, would have the upper hand.

ps: Zhou basically studied the terrain and city of Chaisang from literature.Shooting operations were common in ancient siege battles.

　It's three o'clock
　　
　
(End of this chapter)