Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 923
Ma Yongbin saw with his own eyes that most of the Tubo army was extremely powerful, and they all used heavy weapons such as iron bones, but he himself used knives. The two armies together shot cold arrows.He knew that his martial arts were mediocre, so he worked hard on bows and arrows, especially fast crossbows. He had practiced hard and his arrows were very accurate.So at this time Chi Chi counted arrows and shot down a few Tubo cavalrymen, but the Tubo people couldn't tolerate him shooting cold arrows aside, a small leader of the Tubo army took a vacancy, put away his bones, picked up his bow and set up an arrow, and shot at Ma Yongbin.Ma Yongbin hastily rode his horse to dodge, and two other Tubo cavalrymen had already slapped their horses and rushed to him. One stabbed his waist with a spear. One person was already waving the iron bone, and smashed at his face, Ma Yongbin broke out in a cold sweat, in a flash, he instinctively pulled out his saber and struck it up, only to feel a shock from the tiger's mouth, and the saber was thrown flying.

Ma Yongbin didn't dare to fight anymore, so he lowered his body and galloped his horse. Several squad leaders under him rushed up to block the little leader of the Tubo army who was wielding the gun, but the other little leader knew that he was from Xiangfu Kingdom Military officer, follow him closely.

In a panic, Ma Yongbin shot an arrow at the chasing school with a quick crossbow, but because he was too flustered, he missed the shot and landed three feet away from the school.He was even more anxious. In his busy schedule, he found that Zeng Guoyong and Tuoba Fengxiong were still fighting hard. Zeng Guoyong was covered in blood, and he couldn't tell whether it was the enemy's or his own. He was being besieged by three young Tubo generals: Tuoba Feng Xiong seemed to have been shot in the left shoulder, and his moves were a little stagnant, but his momentum remained undiminished, and his roar could be heard throughout the battlefield.Ma Yongbin secretly groaned. At this time, his deputy company commander was also fighting with the Tubo cavalry. Although the city was close at hand, the friendly army was still fighting hard, and he didn't dare to flee to the city gate, so he could only circle around the battlefield.But no matter how he ran, the Tubo cavalry seemed to recognize him, and they followed him tenaciously. From time to time, a few Tubo soldiers appeared in front of him, stabbing them obliquely and swinging their hammers. It made Ma Yongbin overwhelmed and hard to guard against.

Fortunately, Ma Yongbin's embarrassment did not affect his subordinates.His company command flag should have followed behind him stubbornly, and where the battle flag was, the soldiers would gather and charge there.But at the beginning of this battle, his subordinates fell into a bitter fight and could not gather at all.And he and Lian Qi were also dispersed by the two small leaders of the Tubo army. The Zhiqi soldiers couldn't find Ma Yongbin for a while, and moved closer to the deputy company commander according to the relevant combat regulations.But his deputy company commander and Zhiqi soldiers died in battle very quickly. The Tubo cavalry desperately tried to capture the flag, but was protected by several soldiers desperately. Keeping the battle flag, they gathered near Zeng Guoyong.

After all, the Suzaku Legion is an elite with excellent fighting power. Zeng Guoyong and Tuoba Fengxiong took the lead and were incomparably brave. Even though the ranks of ordinary platoon leaders were disrupted and chaotic, they did not have the slightest timidity when facing the Tubo cavalry , Although the number of people is small, but the hand-to-hand combat will not be inferior.

After the reform of the army, the cavalry of Xiangfu Kingdom mainly used spears for melee combat, while this team of Tubo cavalry mainly used iron bones. In terms of weapons, both sides have their own strengths.The most important thing is that the Suzaku Legion is all steel armor. Iron bones were originally a good weapon against enemies with excellent armor and shields. In the past, ordinary armor would knock down one bone at a time, and even death would cause serious injuries, but it is very effective against steel armor. At a discount, half of the Tubo cavalry is very ordinary iron armor, and the other half is just wearing leather armor. In addition, the iron spears of the Suzaku Legion cavalry are all made of fine steel. After a sprint, with the momentum of the horse, One shot can penetrate any Tubo cavalry.

The two armies fought in a melee, one side stabbed, entangled, and pointed, and the other side smashed, hung, pounded, and charged. The Suzaku Legion needed countless times of training to master their spears well. Those who were unfamiliar with their skills, on this battlefield, would die after a few rounds. That hurts.The Tubo cavalry requires superior arm strength and endurance. The iron bone will fall down like a tiger and a tiger, and its power is amazing.

The two armies fought for a while, seeing that although the Tubo cavalry were numerous, they could not take advantage of it. On the contrary, the Suzaku Legion became more and more courageous and gradually gained the upper hand.All the soldiers also gradually gathered under Zeng Guoyong and Tuoba Fengxiong's banner, and even Ma Yongbin was finally found by several personal soldiers, guarded by several long spears, and joined Tian and Jing.The Tubo general commanding the thousand cavalry was observing the situation on the battlefield, and was waiting for Mingjin to withdraw his troops. Unexpectedly, at this moment, the camp in the east suddenly drummed and horned, and from the east there were [-] soldiers from the Tubo Shangboqian tribe. The cavalry came at a gallop, he lifted his spirits, raised Gu Duo again, and urged his subordinates to continue fighting.

However, before the [-] Shangbo Qianbu cavalry formed a pincer attack, hundreds of Xiangfu cavalry rushed out from the north gate of Gaizhu City to block the way of Shangbo Qianbu's cavalry. fight together.

The fierce battle outside the north gate of Gaizhu City lasted from dusk to dark before both sides withdrew their troops.

The Suzaku Legion must protect the activity space for herding horses and chopping firewood when going out of the city, but Gwangdorje will never let the Xiangfu army easily achieve this goal.The two sides faced each other tit for tat. From this day on, for three days in a row, there would almost certainly be fierce battles outside the north gate in the morning and evening.

On the fourth day of the siege, also on July 21, the Tubo army asked craftsmen to build nearly ten archery towers, each of which could accommodate 20 people standing on them to shoot arrows.Gewang Dorje deployed all these archery towers in the south of the city, avoiding the crossbow platform at the east gate, and selected hundreds of shooters who could pull strong bows from various armies, boarded the archery towers, and shot arrows into the city day and night.As a result, nearly half of Gaizhu City was within the firing range of the Tubo army.Not only did the common people have to carry door panels to block arrows when they went out, but the Xiangfu army patrolling the city wall would also be shot by cold arrows if they were not careful.The archers on the archery are well protected, and it is useless to fight back with bows and arrows.And not long after, the Tibetans started shooting rockets again, causing great harm.The Tubo army on the watchtower has a very good view, and they only shoot rockets at flammable buildings in the city, such as houses with thatched roofs and livestock pens. Military and civilian.

These archery towers posed a huge threat to Gai Zhucheng, especially psychologically.Walls can't protect them, no

Day and night, everyone's life is in danger, people will be injured and die at any time, even in sleep, beware of house fires.The city's healers were exhausted, and herbs soon became scarce.Although the Suzaku Legion barely controlled the situation in the battle outside the north gate, the morale in the city still inevitably plummeted.What followed was that the military's doubts about the stubborn defense of Gaizhu City became more and more intense.Moreover, Ding Jiagang and the battalion commanders understood that the Tubo people themselves could not build advanced siege equipment such as watchtowers and archery towers. Even the Chinese craftsmen captured from Lanzhou City alone could not do this. A figure skilled in siege in the Song Dynasty was pointing out the Tubo people.

Ding Jiagang led his men to do some research, and ordered the head of the city to fight back with a giant crossbow with fuel packs attached to it. The effect was very good. After a while, nearly half of the arrow towers were destroyed by blows, so that the Tibetans did not dare to use the arrow towers to be arrogant again. .

In addition, Ding Jiagang divided the four battalions under his command into four divisions. One battalion went out of the city to protect the reef and herd horses, two battalions defended the city, and one battalion was on standby to rest. They were switched every day.He also strictly ordered the archers, catapults, and giant crossbow guns on the city wall not to fight back as long as the Tubo army is not within range.

Ding Jiagang had a high prestige and strict military rule. Ordinary soldiers almost only knew how to obey him, and did not dare to resist at all.Even those military officers didn't take it seriously, but since the brigade commander issued the order, no one dared to object.

As for the Tubo army outside the city, it seems that Gwang Dorje has completely forgotten the order to break the city in seven days. Until July 22, there are only two days left before the time to break the city set by Yingcheng Linbuchi. The army has never attacked a city in a serious manner.

The Tubo people seemed to be completely satisfied with besieging Gaizhu City and the small battle outside the North Gate with their arrow towers, and the generals under Gwang Dorje's command did not rush.Naturally, Cao Wei would not be in a hurry.

But the leading generals of the various tribes in Tubo had to be in a hurry.They were all afraid of Ying Cheng's scolding, so passively avoided fighting, once they were investigated, Gwang Dorje was not the only one who was unlucky.

Therefore, these five days made some tribal generals become extremely impatient. What was placed in front of them was a city, which was said to have countless goods, equipment, food and grass. They can shoot arrows directly into the city from outside. Now they have unknowingly forgotten that 5000 people were killed and injured in the siege of Lanzhou City in just five days. Their awe of the city wall has long been dismissed by a contemptuous attitude. What's more, they still have ladders now. Under the cover of the archery tower, they are expected to gain insight into the deployment of Xiangfu's army.

In their opinion, the walls of Gaizhu City are not much stronger than a bamboo fence.Endless consumption outside a city, fighting this kind of boring war, made many tribes and generals feel depressed and restless, not to mention the damn hot weather, Gwang Dorje did not allow it They move camp.They are all looking forward to capturing the city as soon as possible, and then they can plunder and loot it, and then they can enter the city and rest in a cool house for a while.Their patience was exhausted, and they didn't care whether Gwang Dorje had any special reason or plan for fighting so passively.

(End of this chapter)