Horse on the World

Chapter 437
After months of silence in the Central Plains battlefield, after King Ning's son Qin Kaiyuan led [-] elite soldiers into Qinzhou, the prelude to the war once again kicked off.General Hu Zejun of the Southern Army besieged Qinzhou City and could not go down for a long time. Lanyu attacked Shiziguan at night, broke Jinzhou, annihilated the Jinzhou defenders in one fell swoop, invaded on a large scale, and completely isolated Qinzhou. It was under such favorable conditions Under the circumstances, Qin Kaiyuan led the army to arrive, ready to join forces with Lan Yu and attack the core area controlled by the Xiao family.

Unlike Hu Zequan who had a large number of miscellaneous soldiers, the soldiers and horses led by Lan Yu and Qin Kaiyuan were all elite soldiers and horses carefully cultivated by King Ning for many years. They were the best choice in terms of combat power and morale.

"General Hu, when will we be able to take down Qinzhou City?" Qin Kaiyuan frowned, staring at Qinzhou City standing in front of him, the banner with Xiao characters fluttering on the city was particularly glaring.

Hu Zequan smiled bitterly silently, "My lord, Qinzhou has always been a battleground for military strategists. The city is strong and extremely steep. Xiao Yuanshan has been in Qinzhou for a long time, and the city defense has been greatly strengthened. He adopted Li Qing in the fixed city. The city defense strategy at the time of the state had enough troops, and the reserves of food, grass and equipment were extremely sufficient. If you fight hard, the last general is really not sure. There is more than enough but not enough power!"

Qin Kaiyuan was a little dissatisfied and said: "General Hu, you are also a veteran. Qinzhou has been fighting for more than a year, and there is only this one city left. You have spent so much food, grass and luggage, but you have nothing. Father is very dissatisfied. Xiao Yuanshan lost troops in Qinzhou, and now there is only this one mansion left, how many troops can he have? Twenty to thirty thousand is as high as the sky! Xiao Yuanshan does not have the ability to predict, so could it be possible that he knew that Qinzhou City was going to be besieged? How much food and supplies can be stored?"

Hu Zequan's heart skipped a beat, a flash of light flashed in his mind, he seemed to think of something, but he was interrupted by Qin Kaiyuan's words immediately, "General Hu, it's good for you to be mature and prudent, but if you go too far, you will become I am hesitant, I hope you will take Qinzhou City as soon as possible."

"But son..." Hu Zequan had just started, but was interrupted by Qin Kaiyuan, "Okay, I also know your difficulties, tomorrow I will lead an army to attack Zhang Aimin's department and expel him. All external connections are cut off, and he can no longer get any external assistance. If General Hu is still unable to win the isolated city, then this son will question General Hu's ability!"

Seeing Qin Kaiyuan gallop away, Hu Zequan had a bitter expression on his face.How easy is Qinzhou City to fight?It is impossible not to fill in the tens of thousands of lives. The one who is in the city now is not the ambitious Xiao Tianci, but the scheming Xiao Yuanshan who has been in the battlefield for a long time. He has been in Dingzhou for several years. This Xiao Yuanshan is very familiar with the battle of defending the city. It's almost time for perfection.

Ai Jiaxin asked hesitantly: "Boss Hu, are you really fighting?"

Hu Zequan snorted twice, "Xiao Ai, the crown prince has said so, what if you don't fight, hit it, try it! Perhaps it is true as the crown prince said, Xiao Yuanshan is at the end of his strength, maybe he will be pierced by a single stab." .”

A few days later, the [-] Southern Army elite led by Qin Kaiyuan and the Lanshan Division attacked Xiao's general Zhang Aimin from both sides. It became a completely lonely city.Qin Kaiyuan and Lanshan merged into one, and immediately invaded Minzhou.

Just when Zhang Aimin's troops were forced to retreat, Hu Zequan immediately launched an offensive against Qinzhou. After three days of fierce attack and defense, all the outer defense lines under the Qinzhou city were destroyed, and the war advanced to the Qinzhou city.

"Boss Hu, we can directly attack the city tomorrow!" Ai Jiaxing pointed at the tall city in front of him, "Xiao Yuanshan is nothing but ears!"

Hu Zequan had no smile on his face. He lost thousands of soldiers in these three days of fierce fighting, but the result of the battle was that he only advanced to the bottom of the city. Moreover, he always intuitively believed that the opponent's combat power should not be as straight as this, and the outer defense line collapsed. It seems that the other party is deliberately resisting and retreating. Why do you feel this way?Hu Zequan himself couldn't figure it out for a while, maybe when he surrounded and wiped out Xiao Tianci, the combat power displayed by his troops was a notch lower than the opponents he encountered today. Logically speaking, Xiao Yuanshan's direct subordinates should never lose in combat power It is for Xiao Tianci.

"Tomorrow, let's fight a battle first!" Hu Zequan raised his whip and nodded his head.

In Qinzhou city, Xiao Yuanshan was humming a little song, admiring the singing and dancing of several singers, but there was no overwhelming army on his face, he felt that Qinzhou had become an isolated city.In the past three days, while resisting, I retreated the main force of the outer defense line to the city step by step. The performance of the soldiers was still qualified, at least it did not arouse the suspicion of the opponent.The Grand Duke’s big plan is about to be closed, and I must not make any mistakes here. King Ning, hehe, you want to fight the Duke, you are still a little too young!

In Qinzhou City, the defenders are not [-] to [-] as estimated by Qin Kaiyuan, but a full [-] people, and all of them are elites from the camps around the capital. Xiao Yuanshan is waiting, waiting for the Southern Army to go deep into Minzhou. Duke Xiao is there A grand welcome ceremony has been prepared for them, and Xiao Yuanshan has a smile on his face.

"General Xiao, the Hu thieves have begun to attack the city!" General Zhou Tong of the Zuo Army stepped into the door.

Xiao Yuanshan put a dried fruit in his hand into his mouth, chewed it hard a few times, stood up, and said with a smile: "Come on, let's go and see Hu Zequan's siege methods, this man is very strong, he is beyond comparison with ordinary people!"

Zhou Tong said with a smile: "Forgive him for being a ghost, this time he has to drink our footwashing water, but let's have fun with him first!"

He chuckled, "Zhou Tong, this old thief is very ghostly, don't let Jingzhou be careless, let him see his flaws."

"Don't worry, General, everything is properly arranged!" Zhou Tong said, "There will be no mistakes!"

It has been half a year since the siege of Qinzhou City. Hu Zequan has also made full preparations for the siege of the city. He has built a lot of long-range weapons. Hu Zequan stared at Qinzhou City, feeling uneasy in his heart.

With the sound of war drums, there was a sudden tsunami-like cry of killing on the battlefield. The southern army carried the ladder, and under the cover of eight-ox crossbows and catapults, swarms rushed towards the city wall, while the siege vehicles and Mongolian troops rushed towards the city wall. The rushing chariot was also pushed by the soldiers, moving towards the city wall like a hill.

The ladder climbed up the city wall, the siege vehicles leaned up, and the Mengchong vehicles slammed into it heavily. Hundreds of Mengchong vehicles crashed into the city wall at the same time. Even with the strength of Qinzhou City, the whole wall seemed to tremble. .

The fierce battle started immediately.The siege operation was under the specific command of Lieutenant General Ai Jiaxin, while Hu Zequan stood under the banner of the Chinese Army, staring intently at Qinzhou City, as if he wanted to see some tricks.

The fierce battle lasted for half a day. Although the Southern Army's offensive was fierce, the defenders of the city were also fighting with high spirits. Ai Jiaxin tried his best, but he only attacked the city wall a few times before being driven down. There is no place to occupy the foothold, and the defenders on the city are too fierce.

"Retract the army!" Hu Zequan suddenly ordered, "Come back tomorrow!"

The second day was a repeat of the first day. Except for carrying back the bodies of thousands of dead soldiers under the city of Qinzhou every day, the Confederate Army got nothing.

"Commander, Qinzhou City is really difficult to fight. The tunnels we dug last winter can be used. These tunnels are only a hundred steps away from the city wall of Qinzhou. In just one night, we can dig dozens of tunnels. The passage to the city, as long as we enter the city, with our superiority in military strength, we can securely take Qinzhou City." Ai Jiaxin looked dissatisfied.

"Try tonight!" Hu Zequan said absently.

That night, Ai Jiaxin suffered another major setback. The cunning Xiao Yuanshan seemed to have expected the other party's move. In Qinzhou City, he dug countless straight shafts near the base of the city wall. When he was in the shaft, he received a fatal blow immediately. The opponent placed countless flammable objects in the shaft, and poured poison on it. Seven out of ten soldiers died. Looking at the corpses dragged out of the tunnel, Ai Jiaxin's face was like the bottom of a pot.

"Take a day off and attack again the day after tomorrow!" Hu Zequan ordered.

On the fourth day, Ai Jiaxin mustered Yu Yong and attacked Qinzhou City again.After several days of fierce fighting, the troops on the city suffered a lot of losses. Looking at the southern army struggling to climb up the ladder, Xiao Yuanshan shook his head and said: "Hu Zequan is really a general, these troops were just rebels before The rabble has been in his hands for less than a year, and he has forged him into an elite army. If we hadn't been prepared and had enough troops, it would have been possible for him to succeed."

Zhou Tong said triumphantly: "Grandpa Guo has far-sighted plans. How can they think of them? Thief Hu would never have imagined that in Qinzhou City, there are [-] elite soldiers hidden, which are no less than his soldiers and horses. The elite level is much stronger, if we want, we can eat them at any time!"

The two looked at each other and smiled, but at this moment, the gong of withdrawing troops suddenly sounded under the city, this time the siege battle turned out to be anticlimactic, and it ended like this, watching the southern army receding like a tide, Xiao Yuanshan frowned suddenly Frowning, "What does this old thief Hu want to do?"

Ai Jiaxin also returned to Hu Zequan's Chinese army camp with a stomach full of confusion. Seeing Hu Zequan's face, he couldn't help being surprised, "Commander, what's wrong with you?"

Hu Zequan's face was wrinkled and pale, his hands were trembling slightly, and his eyes were fixed on the map in front of him.Hearing Ai Jiaxin's question, he raised his head, as if he had aged several years in an instant, "Xiao Ai, it's not good, I guess, we must have fallen into a huge trap! "

Ai Jiaxin's face changed drastically, "Commander, what are you talking about, I don't understand!"

"You fought for three days, and I watched for three days. Do you know what I saw?" Hu Zequan asked word by word.

(End of this chapter)