Horse on the World

Chapter 887 Blocking ([-])

"General Xu!" A school captain rushed to Xu Kexing and gave a military salute.
"How?" Xu Kexing asked.

"Back to the general, I went to Tianzi Mountain to check the situation and confirmed that the other party had abandoned the defense line of Tianzi Mountain two days ago, and all the staff withdrew!" said the captain.
"A day ago?" Xu Kexing looked up at the sky, "How long will it take from our place to Yanzigou?"

"At the speed of our Dingzhou army's forced march, it will take at least two days."
"Then how long do you estimate it will take for Liao Bin's troops to arrive?" Xu Kexing rubbed his chin and asked thoughtfully.

"We marched lightly, and when Liao Bin retreated, he was carrying a large amount of food, grass, ordnance and other supplies. The marching speed should be far behind us. The general estimated that no matter how fast they walked, it would take three days."

"It takes three days to arrive at Yanzigou, that is to say, there will be a whole day for Liao Bin to attack Yanzigou. If you have more money, you have to guard for a day, which is not easy." Xu Kexing said, "It seems that we have to speed up the march. , and must hurry at night."

"General, brothers have been walking for half a day today, brothers are very tired, let's take a rest first, if you walk too fast, even if you arrive, our combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced!" said the captain.
Touching the crotch and the sweaty war horse, Xu Kexing nodded, "Yes, haste makes waste. Rest, rest, let the brothers rest for two hours. After two hours, we will go on our way again."

The captain looked up at the sky, "Hurrying in the dark?"

"Yes, we have to hurry at night. Every four hours of walking, we have to rest for an hour, so that we can maintain our strength to cope with the battle. I think that if Liao Bin's attack on Yanzigou is not good, he will predict that our reinforcements will come. He will definitely send someone to stop us."

Xu Kexing left 2000 men behind at Niukou, and led 2000 soldiers on his way, including [-] cavalry. After marching for half a day, their physical strength had reached a limit. After receiving the order to rest, the soldiers relaxed a lot. In one breath, sit on the floor and take the time to rest.
"Lao An, come here!" Xu Kexing waved his hand to invite Lao An, who was sent by Qian Duo to report the news, "You said that Qian Duo sent him to take a shortcut, right? If we also take this route, how much time can we save?"
Lao An said: "General Xu, this road is extremely difficult, and the cavalry can't walk at all. If we take this road, we can save half a day."

"Half a day, very good, do you know the way?"
"I'm from Qingyang, and I'm very familiar with this place. I naturally know this way."
"That's good. After two hours, you, lead the way. I'll take the pawns to take this shortcut first. It can save half a day, and maybe it will be of great use."

"Jiang Jiaquan, come here!"

A general Xuanwei ran over with small steps, "What orders does General Xu have?"
"After General Chen knows the news, he will definitely mobilize his troops and rush to Yanzigou to encircle and wipe out Liao Bin's troops. Qin Fei's cavalry troops must be at the forefront. You lead our cavalry along the road. If Qin Fei The cavalry brigade caught up with you, and you will be under the restraint of General Qin Fei for the time being."

"Yes, General Xu."
Two hours later, it was already dark, Xu Kexing led [-] infantry and followed Lao An up the mountain, preparing to take the mountain path and take a shortcut to Yanzigou, while the cavalry continued to move forward along the main road. At night, the cavalry Compared with the infantry, there is not much advantage in rushing, especially in Qingyang. Although it is a road, the road is still rough. At night, the road cannot be seen clearly. The cavalry can only dismount and walk with a torch in one hand and a horse in the other. If the horse breaks its hoof accidentally, that good war horse will be useless.Although Dingzhou has no shortage of war horses, over the years, with the rapid expansion of Dingzhou's army, the demand for war horses has also increased. Except for a few troops like the Changsheng Battalion and the Cyclone Battalion, there are very few troops anymore. There are cavalry teams that can maintain one man and two horses.If the horse is abolished, the cavalry will immediately become infantry.

Behind Xu Kexing, Qin Fei was half a day behind, but with the passage of time, the distance between Qin Fei and Xu was gradually narrowing. Compared with Xu Kexing, Qin Fei was a pure cavalry unit, although the Dingzhou cavalry could no longer maintain one person They have two horses, but they are still equipped with pack horses. When they are on the road, they ride on pack horses, and when they are ready to fight, they change to war horses.This allowed Qin Fei's cavalry battalion to ride pack horses at night without any scruples. If the pack horses were abandoned, they would usually be slaughtered on the spot and salted into salt meat.

Of course, in the Central Plains where war horses are more expensive, even pack horses are reluctant to use them like this. Only Dingzhou, which has the advantage of the prairie, can be so confident.

This time, Chen Zeyue mobilized most of his troops, not only Qin Fei's cavalry battalion, but Gao Yao's troops who had just captured Cangping Fortress were also ordered to go to Yanzigou. After stopping Liao Bin, nearly 8000 Dingzhou troops rushed forward, and Liao Bin's troops could not escape.
In Yanzigou, under the light of the flickering torches, Liao Bin's expression finally became serious. He fought for a long time, but Qian Duo's troops stood still, and the situation he originally envisioned to defeat his opponent with one blow did not appear at all. , On the contrary, the Minzhou army rushed forward again and again, and was beaten back again and again. The battlefield was littered with corpses, but they made no progress.

The lights in the Yanzigou were brightly lit, but at the gap in front of it, the city wall lying there was dark in the depths of winter, without a single light, and it was extremely quiet, but Liao Bin knew that in that darkness, the soldiers of Dingzhou were like one The ferocious beasts lay there quietly, waiting for their next attack.

"Zhonghua." Liao Bin recruited Kou Zhonghua, "The form is not very good. Depending on the situation, it will take a lot of effort for us to take down the Yanzigou, but behind us, I guess Chen Zeyue's reinforcements must have been pouring in continuously. Come up, once their reinforcements arrive and we haven't captured Yanzigou, none of our [-] troops here will be able to escape."

Kou Zhonghua nodded, "That's right, General, we can't stop at night and attack overnight."

"First bury the pot and make food, give the soldiers an hour, after they are full, start the next round of attack immediately, you take 5000 troops to stop the enemy's reinforcements, if the enemy arrives first, and I haven't laid down the Yanzigou here, you must We have to stop them and buy time for the main force."

Kou Zhonghua's complexion changed, after the decision, it was a job of narrow escape, after hesitating for a moment, Kou Zhonghua said: "Yes, General Liao."
Patting Kou Zhonghua on the shoulder, "This is just in case, I believe that if you have more money, you won't be able to wait for their reinforcements. Although we lost a lot in the half-day battle, the more money you have, the worse it is. The unnamed highland on the left beam has fallen into our hands." , where you have set up stone cannons, I believe that Zuo Liang will fall into our hands soon, if Zuo Liang moves his hand, this war will basically end, you are just planning for the worst, once When we open the passage, we will immediately notify you to retreat."

Kou Zhonghua nodded and said: "The general understands that even if the enemy's reinforcements arrive first, the general will resist desperately to buy time for the main force."
"Okay, let's go!"

What Liao Bin said was right. After half a day of fighting, Qian Duo, who was at an absolute disadvantage, suffered a great loss. On the Zuo Liang, the 1000 soldiers who were unhappy were only left with more than 400 soldiers, and they had been compressed to the last. On a position, and the loss of the unnamed high ground exposed them to the opponent's long-range weapons.There is a lot of money at the gap, and there are still three of the ten eight-ox crossbows left, and the two trebuchets have already been smashed into a pile of broken wood by the opponent. Three or 600 people were also lost, and there are less than [-] people who can still fight now.Fortunately, this section of the city wall is only more than [-] meters, otherwise people standing on the city wall would not be able to fill it up.
Qian Duo was as lucky as ever, even having lost his armor, he personally led his troops to charge back several times, but his body was still unscathed.

The lights on the opposite side are bright, and the layout of the enemy army is clear at a glance, but Qian Duo is just looking at it. Even if the opponent is sleeping soundly in front of him at this time, he will never leave the city, but under the lights, there are waves of food floating in The scent made him salivate, so he sniffed the air fiercely, then took out a piece of hard jerky from his bosom, creaked and bit it, took a few bites, and said loudly: "That guy has Water, bring me some."

A soldier handed over an iron kettle, "General, I only have two sips, you can take it!" He took the kettle, raised his neck and drank it in one gulp. Sure enough, there were only two sips, shaking the kettle vigorously, sticking out his tongue Catch the last drop of water, "Mom, I'm still burying pots and cooking at this time, it seems that they are going to attack overnight.This is a pain for me, General Xu, General Chen, hurry up, I'm late, I'm about to kick my legs. "
After eating two pieces of preserved meat, Qian Duo leaned against the city wall, pillowed eight cows, and fell asleep. Some soldiers were busy nailing some wooden stakes to the city wall that was damaged during the day, and then fell behind. On gravel soil.If the fortifications are repaired more firmly, it will be easier to fight, isn't it?
The sound of rumbling drums awakened Qian Duo who was sleeping soundly. Gu Lu got up, raised his hammer, and when he looked with his head, he couldn't help crying out. Liao Bin's army on the opposite side rolled out a few improvised siege vehicles. This part of the city wall is much higher, and twenty or thirty soldiers can stand on each platform, and it is slowly being pushed by dozens of soldiers, moving slowly to this side.Almost as soon as the drums sounded, the eight oxen crossbows and trebuchets on the opposite side began to whistling, suppressing and firing at them, so as to cover these siege infantry who could approach the city wall and avoid long-range attacks from the soldiers on the city.

"Bastard." Qian Duo cursed, dropped the hammer in his hand, and struggled to adjust the position of a crossbow next to him. The arrows of the crossbow flew past his head, and the guards nervously held up their shields to protect him. he.
Finally adjusted the angle, Qian Duo squinted his eyes and began to aim. A strong wind came from his ears, and then he let out a scream. When he turned his head to look, the soldier holding the shield for him was shot by an eight-ox crossbow, and his body It was taken far away under the city wall, and only now did there be a sound of landing on the ground.

The expression on Qian Duo's face remained the same. When he turned around, he pulled his hand violently. The four crossbow arrows made a shrieking sound, came off their strings, and with a bang, a siege vehicle on the opposite side collapsed, and the soldiers on it screamed. It will fall.

"Come on, I'm waiting for you!" Qian Duo waved his fist, "Quickly, put arrows on the Bazhan Crossbow!" he shouted

(End of this chapter)