I'm in the Red Mansion

In the afternoon, the Qing Dynasty began to attack the city with all its might.

Under the city walls, they sent out as many as 50,000 to 60,000 Qing soldiers.

This time, they transported a large number of catapults to the foot of the city.

And transported a large number of polished stones.

Next, the Qing Dynasty began to suppress the defenders on the city wall with catapults and bows and arrows.

The Qing soldiers launched a fierce attack.

From above and below the city walls, one could see stones whistling and dense arrows almost blocking the air.

For a time, although the Xia army had an absolute advantage in numbers and terrain, casualties began to increase.

As for the Qing Dynasty, the casualties were even greater.

The entire battlefield was filled with a thick smell of blood.

Under the city wall, the corpses of Qing soldiers piled higher and higher.

On the city wall, a large number of Xia troops suffered casualties and were then quickly rescued.

Now it was not the Xia army that was evacuating the wounded, but the people in Jizhou city.

They were covered with wooden boards to protect themselves from arrows.

Then, whenever they found dead Daxia soldiers or seriously injured people, they would quickly step forward and carry the people away first.

The dead soldiers were placed aside first.

The injured soldiers were quickly sent for treatment.

At this time, Jia Cong was shooting while checking the situation on the field.

In fact, the Qing army had already pressed forward at this time.

At this point, grenades can be put into use.

However, if it were used now, it would not be able to maximize the benefits.

Although the battlefield is fierce now, it is not so fierce that the Qing army will suffer serious damage.

Jia Cong decided to delay for another day and let the siege become a meat grinder to cause as much casualties as possible to the Qing army.

Finally, another attack completely crushed the morale of the Qing Dynasty.

Mercy does not control soldiers, and justice does not control wealth.

Although Jia Cong loved his soldiers like his own sons, he valued the lives of his soldiers very much.

But for the sake of the greater good, he had to harden his heart and start a bloody battle with the Qing soldiers.

The whole afternoon, until the evening, the Qing Dynasty finally called off the troops.

On the Qing side, as many as five to six thousand people were killed.

This loss made Geste very sad.

However, in order to capture Jizhou as soon as possible, they had to bear this loss.

The so-called one blast, then decay, and exhaustion.

He also had to make a concerted effort to capture Jizhou City within a few days.

The Daxia army must not be given a chance to breathe, otherwise it will become increasingly difficult to capture Jizhou City.

That night, the Qing army beat drums and gongs outside the city and launched more than a dozen feint attacks overnight.

This strategy was to tire out the troops and prevent the Xia army from getting enough rest.

However, Jia Cong was also well aware of this strategy.

Only 5,000 soldiers were left on the city wall to guard against night attacks by the Qing army.

The remaining soldiers stuffed their ears with cotton and had a good rest.

On the second day, the Qing Dynasty attacked for the entire day.

Both sides were furious.

The next morning, the Qing side lost more than 10,000 soldiers.

On the Daxia side, more than 2,000 people were killed or injured.

However, under repeated attacks, Jizhou City began to crumble.

The Qing army attacked the city several times. If it weren't for the desperate resistance of the Xia army, I'm afraid the city would have been broken by the Qing army.

Geste was overjoyed when he saw this!
It was not in vain that so many soldiers had sacrificed their lives in the past two days. The Xia army could no longer hold on.

By tomorrow, Jizhou City will be captured!
In Jizhou City, Jia Cong's face also showed a murderous look.

Tomorrow will be the best opportunity to defeat the Qing army!
Jia Cong had already notified Liu Xianglian through smoke signals, asking them to prepare for battle tomorrow.

That night, the Qing army was still beating drums and gongs outside the city, pretending to attack the city.

The Xia army remained unmoved, and Jia Cong commanded the soldiers to transport grenades to the city wall overnight.

In order to block the news, most of Xia’s troops were unaware of the existence of the grenades.

However, using a grenade is not difficult. You just need to light the fuse and then throw it down the city wall.

No training required at all.

After daybreak, both sides started making fire and cooking.

After breakfast, half of the Xia army rushed to the city wall.

The Qing troops below were all mobilized.

Geste is ready to capture the city today.

When the front army is defeated, the central army will follow. When the central army is defeated, the rear army will follow.

Today, we will not stop until the city is conquered!

Soon, the siege entered a brutal and intense state.

Both sides were furious.

Standing on the city wall, he looked at the tragic battlefield and the Qing troops that were continuously pouring in.

Jia Cong's pupils contracted slightly.

The time has come.

Next, Jia Cong made a gesture.

The three hundred personal soldiers under his command quickly dispersed to various locations on the city wall.

And command the soldiers on the city wall how to use the grenades next.

Soon, a thick black smoke rose up in the city.

The rising of wolf smoke is the signal for a general attack.

The defenders on the city wall, following orders, picked up grenades, lit the fuses with fire sticks, and then threw them down the city wall.

This was the first time for these soldiers to use grenades, and they really didn't know what use this little thing could be.

But on the battlefield, military orders are as heavy as mountains.

Now that the military order has been issued, they don't need to understand it, they just need to execute it.

Soon, thousands of grenades were thrown from the entire city wall to the bottom of the city wall.

The fuse made a hissing sound in the air, and some unlucky Qing soldiers were hit on the head by the grenade, causing their heads to be broken and bleeding.

However, no one took it seriously.

This little thing is far inferior to stones and rolling logs.

Rolling logs and stones would cause injuries or even death.

The power is far beyond what this little thing can match.

The Xia army actually used this little gadget, which shows that their resources for defending the city are seriously insufficient and they are now at the end of their rope.

Only Geste, who had been paying attention to the battlefield, had his pupils slightly contracted. He had a bad feeling in his heart.

It seems like something is wrong.

But it was the first time he had seen a grenade, so even if he wanted to be on guard, he didn't know where to start.

Geste stared at the battlefield closely, wanting to see what power this little gadget dropped by Xia Jun had.

He didn't have to wait long, and soon, Geste saw it.

boom!
boom! boom!
These grenades soon exploded in series under the city wall.

Countless pieces of iron sheets and iron filings made a shrill sound, splashing everywhere and covering almost all the space under the city.

In an instant, the bodies of countless Qing soldiers were shot like sieves, with holes everywhere and air leaking in.

They let out shrill screams and soon fell to the ground, unable to twitch.

Of course, there are also lucky ones, or they hide in the crowd and are well protected by their comrades on all sides.

Or maybe the angle was off, luckily I wasn't hit by any iron filings or iron sheets.

However, the surviving soldiers were ultimately a minority.

The vast majority of the Qing troops fell in a pool of blood.

Most of them died quickly, while some who were seriously or slightly injured were still crying and wailing.

With just one round of grenade attacks, only one in ten Qing troops who were still standing under the city wall survived.

The results achieved were better than Jia Cong had expected.

The fact is that they were standing so densely that they became sitting ducks for grenades.

This makes the grenade almost perfect and achieves the best effect.

At this moment, the soldiers on and off the city were stunned by the scene before them.

The Qing army outside the moat was completely stunned by this sudden scene.

They were terrified and had no idea what kind of magic Xia Jun had used.

Yes, it must be a witchcraft!

Previously, it was General Jia in Jizhou City who used two fires to burn to death 100,000 Qing soldiers.

Now, they used some unknown magic to kill as many as 50,000 of them in one go!
They had a total of only 150,000 people, and in the siege of the previous two days, they had lost as many as 10,000 or 20,000 people.

Now, 50,000 people were killed in one explosion. Next, if General Jia explodes twice more, all of them will be killed on the spot...

For a moment, tens of thousands of Qing troops were inexplicably terrified.

The soldiers on the city wall and the people of Jizhou City who assisted in the battle were briefly stunned, but soon became ecstatic.

This thing called a grenade that the general gave them is so magical and powerful!

Just a few thousand grenades were thrown down, and almost all of the fifty or sixty thousand Qing troops attacking the city were killed.

The few remaining Qing troops were now as anxious as dogs that had lost their homes and as busy as fish that had escaped the net, and they were fleeing away quickly.

The Xia army on the city wall was using bows and arrows to continuously harvest their lives.

Because the surviving Qing troops were too few in number, they were reluctant to attack with grenades.

The Xia army on the city wall began to cheer loudly.

Jia Cong ordered his men to open the city gates and personally led an army of 20,000 to charge out of the city.

Jia Cong led a vanguard battalion of 3,000 soldiers and was at the forefront.

This vanguard battalion of 3,000 was secretly selected by Jia Cong and trained in advance.

They were all familiar with the use of grenades.

The purpose of Jia Cong leading them to charge forward was to completely destroy the morale of the Qing army in the shortest possible time.

Each of these three thousand vanguard troops carried ten grenades.

Three thousand people together had more than 30,000 grenades, which was enough to give the Qing soldiers a hard time.

The Qing army had already come out in full force, ready to win the battle in one fell swoop.

At this time, they still had more than 80,000 troops left, which was still more in number than the Xia army.

However, the explosion just now had frightened them so much that they lost all their confidence.

At this time, Gestai saw that Xia Jun was actually rushing out of the city, and his pupils couldn't help but shrink again.

How dare the Xia army attack out of the city? Who gave them the courage?

For a moment, Gestai even wanted to lead his army forward and engage in a decisive battle with the Xia army under the city.

Just kill all the Xia troops and then occupy Jizhou city.

But soon, Geste thought of the mysterious weapon that Xia Jun had just used.

That mysterious weapon is truly terrifying.

For the time being, Geste had no idea of ​​how to crack it.

But they must intercept the Xia army that is charging out, otherwise, there will be heavy casualties.

Next, Geste directly commanded 20,000 rear troops to intercept.

Then Gestai was ready to make a decision based on the battle situation. If the 20,000 rear troops could intercept the Xia army that rushed out, or even kill them to a draw, then Gestai would order the main army to press forward and directly eat up the Xia army that rushed out.

Maybe, we can capture Jizhou City in one go.

Because of the siege, the Qing army was also composed of infantry.

The two armies were getting closer and closer.

The 3,000 vanguard troops of the Xia army formed a strange formation.

These three thousand vanguard troops were only arranged in three rows horizontally.

There were a total of 10,000 soldiers in one row, which was a very strange formation.

If the two armies really came into contact, it would only take a sprint to completely break their formation.

For a moment, Gestai couldn't figure out why the Xia army's formation was so strange. It must be related to their secret weapon.

Soon, the distance between the two sides was getting closer.

Because it was a skirmish, neither side used bows and arrows to attack.

The distance between the two sides quickly shortened from one hundred steps to seventy steps, and then fifty steps...

When they had reached fifty steps, the three thousand Xia troops decisively stopped advancing.

Then he quickly used a fire stick to light the grenade fuse, and then threw the grenade in his hand with all his strength.

After throwing it, all three thousand Xia soldiers fell to the ground.

More than three thousand grenades drew parabolas in the air and were then thrown into the Qing army.

Some Qing soldiers were hit and their formation became disrupted.

They also recognized that these weapons were the secret weapons used by the Xia army on the city walls.

Although they knew about it, they didn't know how to prevent it.

These Qing troops were terrified, but they had to continue charging forward.

The army has already charged and they dare not stop.

If they stop, the only fate that awaits them is to be trampled to death.

boom!
boom! boom!
Soon, explosions were heard.

One by one, the Qing soldiers fell down screaming, and almost all of the several thousand soldiers in the front of the Qing army fell to the ground.

There was blood flowing everywhere and screams were heard, it was like hell on earth.

As for the Qing army's phalanx, its charge momentum came to an abrupt halt due to a round of attack by the Xia army.

The Xia army's bizarre attack methods were exactly the same as their previous ones on the city wall. The tragic casualties scared them off.

They first stopped their charge.

The next moment, Jia Cong jumped up from the ground and took the lead in charging.

"kill!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

First came the three thousand vanguard troops, then the twenty thousand troops behind, then the Xia army on the city wall, and the people in the city.

For a moment, the cry of killing shook the sky and stopped the moving clouds.

The murderous aura was like a tangible thing, destroying the minds of the Qing soldiers.

The 20,000 Qing troops sent by Geste to intercept Xia's army were directly defeated.

The Qing army was powerful and was considered a strong army in this world.

The bottom line for a strong army to be defeated is extremely high. If a patrol team enters the battlefield and the casualties exceed 20%, a defeat may occur at any time.

However, for a strong army, the casualties may exceed 50% or even more before it is defeated.

For these 20,000 Qing troops, the casualties were far less than 20%.

However, Xia Jun's strange and mysterious weapons had already frightened them.

No matter how strong their army is, there is a limit.

This defeat completely made them the target of Xia's attack.

At this time, Jia Cong withdrew from the battlefield with three thousand vanguard troops.

The task of hunting down the defeated army was given to the 20,000 Xia troops at the rear.

Jia Cong led three thousand vanguard troops and was always on guard against the Qing army.

Even killing 20,000 pigs would require some effort.

What Jia Cong had to do was to scare the remaining Qing troops and prevent them from coming to support.

Each of their 3,000 vanguard troops had nine grenades on them.

For now, that's enough.

In fact, Jia Cong could also choose to lead 3,000 vanguard troops to continue charging at the Qing army and use grenades to achieve more results.

But doing so is dangerous, as each of them only has nine grenades left.

If the Qing army's ferocity is aroused, it might backfire.

Now I have the advantage, and Jia Cong has a backup plan, so Jia Cong is not in a hurry.

At this time, Geste was in a dilemma.

He was the most powerful general of the Qing Dynasty. He fought in many battles and made great achievements.

However, he had never encountered such a strange way of attack.

His previous rich experience in charge combat was completely useless at this time.

After hesitating for a moment, Gestai finally gave the order to retreat.

In this siege, he was ultimately defeated, and his defeat was tragic.

Even compared to the previous Tu Hai, it is not much better.

It can also be seen from this that the young general of Da Xia is too powerful, not Tu Hai is incompetent.

Geste was commanding the army to retreat slowly, while Jia Cong was leading 3,000 vanguard troops, ready to go.

At this moment, a low sound of horse hooves was heard at the scene.

Soon, more than a thousand cavalrymen were seen attacking at lightning speed.

These cavalrymen, all riding white horses and wearing white robes, look extremely heroic.

Could this be the cavalry of Daxia?
Faced with the sudden attack, Geste narrowed his eyes, but remained calm despite the shock.

Just a thousand or so cavalrymen posed no threat to them.

Geste immediately ordered his soldiers to intercept the cavalry that were charging out.

At this moment, Jia Cong commanded his 3,000 vanguard troops to charge forward.

However, the more than a thousand cavalrymen did not charge directly.

Instead, he whistled in front of the formation, turned his horse's head, and charged sideways.

At this moment, they lit a fire stick, took out grenades from their waists, lit the fuse, and threw them directly into the Qing army.

At this time, Jia Cong also led 3,000 vanguard troops, rushed to a place about 40 steps away, and then threw grenades.

Then they quickly lay down.

boom!
boom! boom!
A violent explosion sounded again, blowing up another group of Qing troops. No - two groups.

This strange and unreasonable attack method directly stunned the Qing army.

If it is a battle between evenly matched forces, they will not lack blood and courage, and may even become braver and braver as the battle goes on until victory.

However, faced with this mysterious weapon that they have no power to resist, how could they muster the slightest desire to resist?
Under the control of Jia Cong, Liu Xianglian led more than a thousand cavalrymen and adopted the kite tactic.

They took advantage of the mobility of the cavalry to quickly approach the Qing army, then threw grenades into the crowd and ran away without getting entangled.

The Qing army was helpless against them.

Jia Cong, on the other side, helped the cavalry to engage the enemy.

Each of the 3,000 vanguard troops led by Jia Cong had thrown out six grenades.

At this point, the remaining Qing troops were finally completely defeated.

Jia Cong led 3,000 vanguard troops and more than 20,000 infantry, plus more than 1,000 cavalry led by Liu Xianglian, to follow and kill.

Heads of people were rolling and blood was flowing like a river. It was unknown how many Qing soldiers were killed.

Of course, countless Qing soldiers were killed in the chaos and trampled to death.

The pursuit lasted for more than twenty miles before Jia Cong gathered his troops and returned with a great victory.

They cleaned up the battlefield along the way and returned home in the evening.

According to preliminary statistics, the number of Qing troops killed outside the moat alone reached more than 20,000.

Including the Qing soldiers who died under the city walls, more than 70,000 Qing soldiers were killed in this battle.

In this battle, the Qing army was defeated.

Until they figure out how to crack the grenade attack, they will probably not dare to invade Jizhou City again.

At the same time, due to the heavy casualties, the Qing Dynasty's invasion of Daxia with the whole country's strength will end in vain.

When Jia Cong led the army into the city, the soldiers and civilians in the city shouted "Victory!".

The soldiers and civilians in the city were all delighted.

After entering the city, Jia Cong sent soldiers out of the city to clean up the battlefield.

Jia Cong quickly wrote a battle report and sent it back using several carrier pigeons.

At the same time, he sent out a hundred personal soldiers to meet the Xue family convoy.

Counting the days, the Xue family's convoy will probably arrive in seven or eight days.

It took a whole night of hard work to clean up the battlefield.

However, the land outside the city had already been soaked in blood, and the water in the moat had turned blood red.

The smell of blood in the air is pungent and unpleasant.

I'm afraid it may not go away even after several months.

Next, Jia Cong began to reward the three armies.

Soldiers in the army don't have so many requirements.

The cook set up a big pot in the open space of the military camp and threw large pieces of pork, mutton, and horse meat into it.

The horse meat came from horses that were killed in explosions on the battlefield. It would be a pity to throw it away, so it had to be used to reward the troops.

There were so many of them that the soldiers couldn't finish them all, so they distributed some to the civilians.

On the other side, there was a rack where whole lamb and other meats were roasted.

Soon, the air was filled with enticing aroma.

After the meat was roasted, tens of thousands of soldiers ate big chunks of meat and drank wine.

Jia Cong was also in the army, eating and drinking with the soldiers.

Jia Cong's bravery on the battlefield was obvious to all.

He was very humble and mingled well with the soldiers.

And because of this, Jia Cong's image in the soldiers' minds became even more majestic.

After eating and drinking for a while, Jia Cong became drunk because there were so many soldiers toasting him.

At this moment, his personal guard commander Jia Cang came to report: "General, the Xue family's convoy will soon be outside the city."

Hearing this, Jia Cong couldn't help but ask, "How could it be so fast?"

Jia Cong calculated the arrival time of the Xue family's convoy based on the mileage.

According to his calculations, the Xue family convoy would take at least seven or eight days to arrive.

I really didn't expect that they would arrive today.

It saved a total of seven or eight days, and I don’t know how they would have managed to make the whole journey!
It can be seen that they really want to send the food over.

But traveling in this era is a tough job.

Thinking of this, Jia Cong couldn't help but sigh.

He stood up and took a few personal soldiers with him and quietly left the scene.

The Xue family was so hospitable that he had to go to the city gate to welcome them no matter what.

Jia Cong ordered his men to open the city gates, and not long after, the Xue family's convoy arrived.

Jia Cong led people to greet them, and all the servants of Xue family got out of the car and knelt down to pay homage.

When Xue Baochai heard the noise, she tried to get off the carriage with the help of Ying'er.

But unexpectedly, his feet went soft and he fell forward. (End of this chapter)