Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 452: Fight to the death and never surrender! I am Yuan Xi, the Minister of the Han Dynasty!
The fourth day of July, the sixth year of Jian’an.

Ma Chao united the Qiang tribes and led a large army to the outskirts of Chang'an City. He deployed his troops on the north bank of the Wei River, with flags covering the sun and fluttering for dozens of miles.

"That's Chang'an! We're finally here!"

On the south bank of the Wei River, the leaders of the various Qiang tribes looked at the majestic city of Chang'an not far away, with unparalleled excitement in their eyes.

In their minds, Chang'an is a symbol of wealth. The last time their Qiang tribe attacked Chang'an was twenty years ago.

However, at that time, they only had a small vanguard cavalry that arrived outside the city of Chang'an, and they were repelled by the Han army before the main army arrived.

However, this time it was different. They had truly reached Chang'an, and the capital of the Han Dynasty was within their grasp!
"As long as we can capture Chang'an City, the wealth, beauties, and food inside will be enough for us to make up for all our losses! We can also capture all the Han people and make them slaves!"

The face of the Dangjian tribe leader was full of greed.

This time they came out in full force, bringing with them all the slaves and warriors in the tribe. It was a desperate move.

But as long as we can capture Chang'an, everything will be worth it.

"Short-sighted."

Ma Chao, who was standing by, couldn't help but sneer in his heart when he heard his words, feeling extremely disdainful.

What is the wealth of Chang'an City?
The real significance of taking Chang'an is that he has regained his foothold and has the opportunity to take revenge on Lu Bu and the court!

"Stop talking nonsense. Send someone to challenge the people in the city and ask them to come out and surrender. I can spare their lives."

"If they refuse to surrender, then the day I capture the city will be the day I massacre them!"

Ma Chao suppressed his anger and gave orders, saying that although he did not care about the lives of these slaves, he hoped to take Chang'an City without bloodshed if possible.

Because this can save a lot of time and trouble.

The leader of the Zhongqiang tribe was stunned when he heard this, and asked in confusion: "General Tian, ​​the Han people are strong-willed, I'm afraid they won't surrender?"

When they attacked Xiaoguan before, the defenders inside the pass delayed them for three days. Their tenacity was astonishing.

In the end, all the defenders inside the pass were killed in the battle, and no one surrendered. Even they had to admire them.

"What do you know?"

Ma Chao glanced at him and sneered, "How much backbone can those officials and corrupt scholars who are greedy for life and afraid of death have?"

"Just do as I tell you."

He didn't think there were many people left in Chang'an City. When the officials in the court received the news that he was leading troops to attack, they would have been frightened and fled the city.

If nothing unexpected happens, there should only be a small number of defenders left in the city, as well as the guards who have been treated as abandoned pawns. As long as they are promised not to be killed, they can be made to open the city and surrender to the enemy.

"Yes, General Tian."

The leader of the Zhong Qiang tribe did not dare to say anything more. Following Ma Chao's instructions, he sent a small team of Qiang cavalry to challenge the enemy outside the city of Chang'an.

At this moment, on the city wall of Chang'an.

"The Minister of the Central Secretariat and the Minister of Works."

When Jia Xu led his men to the city wall, Gao Lan and Pang De were already there. When they saw him coming, they stepped forward and saluted.

Jia Xu didn't care about these red tapes. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the huge army outside the city. He asked directly: "How many enemy troops are there outside the city?"

Pound replied: "According to visual estimation, there are about 40,000 regular troops with weapons and equipment, and the remaining 70,000 to 80,000 are slaves."

The regular army and the slave army can be distinguished at a glance.

Those slaves were all half-naked, pale and thin, and they didn't even have decent weapons in their hands. Most of them were holding sticks or stones, and some were even empty-handed.

Fortunately, it is summer now. If it were winter, many of these slaves would have frozen to death.

But even so, the forced march and lack of food still caused many slaves to starve to death or die of exhaustion. You have to know that there were originally more than 100,000 slave soldiers.

However, what cannot be ignored is the 40,000 regular troops.

Slaves were merely tools used by the enemy to consume their resources. These regular troops with weapons and equipment were the main force in the final siege.

"Oh, it's quite a scene."

Jia Xu smiled when he heard this, and said to Fa Zheng and others around him: "Ma Chao is a thief who is really good at hiding. He actually secretly gathered such a strong force."

"But with so many troops, it seems that these villains and the Qiang people have revealed all their secrets and will not stop until they capture Chang'an."

In the previous Battle of Chang'an, Ma Chao was completely defeated.

He led a small number of remnants to escape into Qiang territory.

I originally thought that this guy was no longer a big deal, and it wouldn't be too late to send troops into Qiang territory to sweep it after the world was unified. But I didn't expect that he had such a trump card, and I didn't expect that the Qiang people would be willing to cooperate with him.

You must know that Zhang He had previously swept through the Qiang royal court, burned the land and discharged sewage, causing severe damage to the Qiang people, making it difficult for them to survive the winter.

This time, so many troops were dispatched to attack Chang'an, which consumed countless food and grass. If they returned empty-handed, the Qiang tribes might not even survive the winter.

It's a big gamble.

If they win the bet, they will capture Chang'an City and obtain food, fodder and wealth; if they lose the bet, the Qiang people will completely decline and will not be able to recover for at least a hundred years.

Compared to Jia Xu who was still in the mood to joke, Fa Zheng, Gao Lan, Pang De and others all had heavy expressions.

Going all in one means that the battle will be difficult to fight.

The gap in military strength is too great.

At this time, a group of Qiang cavalrymen rode to the outside of Chang'an City and shouted to the people on the city wall in broken Chinese: "Han people in the city, listen up! Chang'an City has been surrounded by our army!"

"General Shenwei Tian has ordered that as long as you open the city and surrender and let the army enter the city, we will never kill anyone!"

"But if you resist to the end, then after our army breaks into the city, we will definitely massacre the entire Chang'an!"

……

This group of Qiang cavalry shouted loudly, with an extremely arrogant tone.

Gao Lan could no longer hold back after seeing this scene. He raised his spear and said, "I will go out of the city and kill these Qiang dogs! Let's see if they dare to be so arrogant!"

"slow."

Jia Xu reached out his hand to stop Gao Lan and said, "It's just a trick to provoke the general. General Gao, there's no need to get angry."

"Oh, by the way, I remember that when Marquis Guanjun led his troops to massacre the Qiang royal court last time, he captured a lot of Qiang nobles?"

"Are they still in the dungeon now?"

Hearing Jia Xu's words, Gao Lan's eyes lit up, and he instantly understood what he meant. He nodded heavily and said, "In the dungeon!"

"Very good."

Jia Xu nodded with satisfaction, and then said to Yuan Xi: "Prime Minister Yuan, please take your men to take all those Qiang nobles out of the city, and then drag them to death with horses."

"By the way, remember to bring a few buckets of salt. Sprinkle it on them when you're halfway through dragging them to make them scream louder."

Jia Xu said this with a smile, but his words were particularly vicious.

The Qiang people actually dared to invade Chang'an City, which meant a fight to the death, and there was no room for maneuver for either side!
Now, the only option is to fight to the death!
"it is good!"

Yuan Xi agreed without hesitation and turned to leave the city wall.

Soon, he led hundreds of cavalry out of the city and brought hundreds of Qiang nobles captured from the Qiang royal court out of the city. Ma Chao was also closely watching the movements in Chang'an City. When he saw the gate of Chang'an suddenly open and cavalry leaving the city, he was overjoyed.

"The city is open! They really are planning to surrender!"

"The army is preparing to advance towards Chang'an!"

Ma Chao laughed loudly. Everything was just as he expected. The defenders in the city lost their fighting spirit after seeing them!

However, at this moment, the leader of the Zhongqiang tribe suddenly said, "Wait a minute, General Tian! Something seems wrong!"

After hearing what the Zhong Qiang leader said, Ma Chao and the leaders of various tribes looked over and saw clearly what was going on.

Led by a burly general, hundreds of Han soldiers were seen kneeling in a row outside the city of Chang'an with prisoners, both old and young. The prisoners were all frightened and crying.

When the many Qiang leaders saw the captives clearly, their expressions changed drastically and they could no longer remain calm!

“That’s my wife and son!”

"My mother...and my daughter!"

"These damn Han people captured them!"

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"What on earth do they want to do?!"

The tribal leaders also discovered that the captives taken out by the Han army were all their relatives!
They thought that all their relatives had been killed by the Han army, but who would have thought that they were actually captured!
"What's going on? They're not going to surrender?"

Ma Chao's face looked very ugly and his eyes were full of anger.

Things didn't turn out quite the way he expected.

Did the defenders in the city want to use these Qiang nobles to threaten them to withdraw?
Just as Ma Chao had this thought, he saw the Han soldiers standing behind the prisoners suddenly drew the swords at their waists!

"What do they want to do?"

The leader of the Shao He tribe said in a panic, with a strong sense of uneasiness rising in his heart.

And the next moment, the soldiers all waved their swords and the crying stopped abruptly!

The heads of hundreds of Qiang captives all fell in the rolling dust, and blood gushed out of their headless corpses like fountains!
At the same time, another group of Qiang captives were tied to horses by Han soldiers with ropes, and began to gallop and drag back and forth!
The ground was rugged and there were many sharp stones all over it, so soon long bloodstains appeared on the ground!
shocking!

"Ahhhh——!"

"Father, save me!"

"It hurts! It hurts so much! It hurts so much!"

"My son! Save me!"

Screams came one after another. While dragging the captives, the Han soldiers on horseback kept sprinkling salt on them, making their screams even more miserable.

Even listening to it from a distance is creepy!

However, such screams did not last long, as the captives were soon dragged to death, their flesh and blood mangled to the point of being unrecognizable.

After doing all this, Yuan Xi dropped the rope in his hand, snorted coldly, glared and shouted angrily: "Listen, you bunch of thieves! I am Yuan Xi, the Sikong of the Han Dynasty!"

"If you want to enter Chang'an City, you must first step over the corpses of Yuan Xi and my Han army!"

As soon as the words fell, all the soldiers on the city wall cheered loudly, and morale was greatly boosted!
"I would rather fight to the death! I will never compromise!"

"I would rather fight to the death! I will never compromise!"

"I would rather fight to the death! I will never compromise!"

……

The sound was so deafening that it dispersed the clouds above Chang'an City!

"what--"

When the leader of the Shaohe tribe saw his entire family die tragically in front of him, he let out a miserable howl, fainted, and fell off his horse.

When the other Qiang tribal leaders saw this scene, their eyes were bloodshot, and they were extremely sad and filled with tremendous anger!
Ma Chao's forehead was bulging with veins, and his hands holding the whip were trembling. He stared at Chang'an City and roared angrily with all his strength.

"All troops, attack--!!!"

Jia Xu ordered his men to kill all the Qiang captives, which completely angered all the Qiang tribal leaders.

Those captives who were beheaded were all relatives and children of these leaders, and now they were all dying in front of them. How could they bear it?

This is simply a humiliation to them!
Ma Chao felt even more humiliated. The other party simply didn't take him seriously and slapped him hard in the face!
With Ma Chao's order, many troops advanced towards Chang'an City and launched an attack!
"Fire arrows!"

Ma Chao waved his hand fiercely, and the archers in the army immediately stepped forward, drawing their bows and drawing arrows.

The Qiang people are good at riding and shooting. Everyone is skilled in bows and horseback riding. They are natural archers with amazing arm strength.

"Arrow attack! Shieldmen step forward to defend!"

Seeing this, Pang De on the city wall gave a loud order and led a team of shieldmen to Jia Xu, protecting Jia Xu and Fa Zheng.

Through the tiny gaps in the shield, Jia Xu saw a dense burst of arrows flying up from the local army camp and heading towards Chang'an City!

Tens of thousands of arrows were like a swarm of locusts or dark clouds before a rainstorm, covering the entire sky ahead. Everywhere one looked, it was pitch black.

After a moment of silence, there was a clanging sound of arrows hitting shields on the city wall.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk-"

"Tuk-tuk-tuk-"

The sound, so dense that it sounded like a torrential downpour, echoed across the entire city wall.

The rain of arrows lasted for quite a while, but although this wave of arrows was amazing, it did not cause many casualties to the well-prepared Chang'an defenders. Only a few unlucky guys were accidentally shot and injured.

"Minister Zhongshu, you should leave the city wall first. It's too dangerous here."

Gao Lan said to Jia Xu and Fa Zheng.

What will follow is bound to be a fierce battle. Both of them are civil officials, and if they stay here, something bad might happen.

Jia Xu did not refuse and left the city wall with Fa Zheng.

Not long after the two men left, the enemy troops outside the city approached. Ladders were set up on the walls of Chang'an, and countless slaves rushed towards the walls along the ladders like a tide.

"kill!"

Pang De had a ruthless look on his face. He drew the sword from his waist and killed several slaves who had climbed up the city wall. Then he led a team of soldiers to fight with the enemies who had climbed up the city wall!

Siege battles rely on numbers of people and the combat effectiveness of soldiers, because the city wall is so small and there are only so many soldiers who can climb up the wall, so the battle on the city wall is a positional battle.

This is undoubtedly a great advantage for the defending side, after all, they are well rested and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out.

Of course, if the defending side fails to change its command in time, resulting in a breach and allowing the enemy to continuously pour onto the city wall, then the battle is basically declared a defeat.

However, the combat effectiveness of these slave soldiers attacking the city was very low. They were far inferior to the Chang'an defenders in terms of physical fitness and weapons and equipment.

Slaves kept climbing up the city walls, and corpses kept falling down like rain.

But outside the city, countless slaves were pouring towards the city walls.

This will be a bloody battle.

(End of this chapter)