Great Han Empire

Chapter 808 The Heroes of Troubled Times Compete in the Central Plains
In March, he went to Henan Yin, Xingyang City.

The sound of drums in the sky above Xingyang City shook the sky, and the sound of fierce fighting resounded through the mountains and fields. The faint blood in the air floated with the wind, and the breath of death wandered by the Zhanran water like a ghost. The battlefield is quietly enveloped.

Long arrows poured down the sky with heart-piercing screams. More than 2000 siege soldiers shouted all the way, rushed across the moat, and climbed along hundreds of ladders.

Jun Hou Nianjun Yuteng jumped over the blood-stained wall, and the shield in his hand fell with the force of thunder.The enemy soldiers who charged head-on pierced the air with their spears, and they couldn't dodge in time. They were smashed by the head-on shield and turned over and fell down.Nian Junyu's saber whistled and chopped down, and the blood shot out, and the long legs of the enemy soldiers were split in two.Before the screams were over, a bloody spear fell from the sky, piercing his fallen body instantly.

"Kill..." Nian Junyu put his feet on the ground, turned his head and shouted wildly, "Kill me..."

The saber waved, bringing up the sky full of wind and thunder, and a string of warm blood beads shot straight into the sky, and the broken limbs and arms danced in the wind amidst the angry roars and howling.

Nian Junyu and the warriors were so brave that they tried their best to carve out a foothold on the narrow city wall.

"Brothers, form an formation... Form an formation... Hold the crenel for me." Nian Junyu stepped on the enemy's corpse, brandishing his sword and shield, and shouted wildly.

The soldiers who followed immediately echoed in unison, each occupying their positions, fighting bloody battles in a moon-arc formation, using their lives to cover more soldiers rushing up the tower.

The enemy's counterattack became more and more violent. In just a short moment, the three soldiers were swallowed up by the attack like a storm.

Nian Junyu's eyes were red, hatred made him lose his mind, he was like a crazy tiger, with his bloody mouth open, roaring forward.

"Archer, shoot him... shoot him..." The enemy commander held his bloody severed arm and backed up again and again, his hoarse and stern cry made people's hair stand on end.

Three archers rushed to the front with crossbows.The crossbow arrows screamed out.

Nian Junyu couldn't hide, roared, and at the moment his body flew upside down, he threw his sword at the enemy in front of him, "Kill..."

The crossbow bolt rushed out of Nian Junyu's body, and nailed to the city wall with a few smears of scarlet blood.

The young Junhou lord fell to the ground with a crash.

The enemies swarmed up, swords and spears whizzed down, the corpses were instantly torn apart, and their heads were lifted high.

"Kill..." The anger of the Northern Xinjiang soldiers suddenly broke out, and the killing sound was like thunder.

=

Yan Liang looked at a group of cavalry galloping in the distance, with a slight look of joy on his face.

Zhang He rushed to meet him.Wei Xu and Song Xianfei got off their horses, and the two sides exchanged greetings.

"Master Xu and Master Zhang immediately ordered me and Master Song to lead the army to rush over after taking down Chenggao City." Wei Xu asked anxiously, "Aren't we late?"

"It's just in time." Zhang Yun pointed to the battlefield in the distance, and said with a serious expression, "You can arrive at Yingyang one day earlier, which greatly eased the tension in the direction of Xingyang."

"How is the battle in Xingyang?" Song Xian asked, "Should we go into a siege battle right away?"

"We have been attacking for two consecutive days." Zhang Yun shook his head, "Xingyang City is tall and strong, with a large number of defenders in the city, and sufficient food, grass and military equipment, so it is very difficult to fight." He suddenly thought that Xu Huang could quickly take down Chenggao City, Dividing troops to support Xingyang, there must be some strange way to attack the city, so he hurriedly asked, "Chenggao City is very close to Luoyang, and it is backed by the Yellow River. It is a barrier at Hulao Pass. The defense is very tight. How did you take it down?" ?”

"We took it down with stone cannons." Song Xian replied, "Chenggao City is only fifteen miles away from the Yellow River, and the stone cannons were quickly transported to the city. We attacked all day that day and stopped fighting at dusk. In the middle of the night, Mr. Xu He ordered the Chariot Battalion to push the stone cannons to the bottom of the city, and first projected the earthen pots filled with kerosene on the city wall and the houses near the city wall, and then ignited and fired the stones coated with kerosene. Gaocheng was in a panic, so we took the opportunity to attack the city."

"The wind was very strong that night, and the fires of the houses burned more and more intensely, and gradually spread into the city. As a result, the warehouses where the grain and grass were stored were burned up, and Chenggao City was suddenly plunged into a sea of ​​​​flames. The defenders in the city were unwilling to fight and fled. We So Chenggao City was captured easily without any danger."

As Song Xian walked, he explained the process of attacking Chenggao City.Zhang He listened attentively and asked for some details from time to time.

"Are you seriously injured?" Zhang Zou asked.

"If we add the losses from the crossing attack, we have about 200 casualties." Wei Xu asked, "What about your casualties?"

"In the past two days, three of our military officers have died on the tower." Zhang Yun lowered his head and lamented.

Three soldiers were killed in battle in two days, one can imagine how tragic this battle was.

Wei Xu and Song Xian looked at each other, and at the same time they looked at the bloody battlefield ahead.

=

Yan Liang waved his hand, signaling Wei Xu and Song Xian to come to the desk.

"This is Guancheng (now Zhengzhou)." Yan Liang tapped the map on the desk with the horsewhip in his hand, "This place is 170 miles away from Xingyang, and [-] miles away from Zhongmou."

"Two days ago, Master Zhao Xuan led 500 people to attack the city, intending to block the reinforcements from Zhongmu, but the reinforcements from Zhongmu City arrived just as Master Zhao Xuan started the attack. Master Zhao Xuan had no choice but to give up the attack. , and turned to fight to the death with enemy reinforcements at Xinting, five miles outside the city."

"This morning, Master Zhao Xuan asked me for help, saying that the second batch of reinforcements from Zhongmou City has approached Guancheng. If there is no accident, there will be fierce battles in the direction of Xinting this evening or tomorrow morning."

Yan Liang's face was frosty, and he looked up at the two of them, "The two adults immediately go to support, take down Guancheng, and block the enemy's reinforcements." Yan Liang pointed at Xingyang, his murderous aura burst out, "I need time to take down Xingyang now. Before the battle flag of the army is planted on the city tower, you must guard the city for me, and not allow a single enemy to rush to the city of Xingyang."

"Don't worry, my lord, if the rebels want to cross Guancheng, they have to step on my dead body." Wei Xu said loudly with an excited expression.

"Okay." Yan Liang waved his hand vigorously, "Let's go immediately."

"Wait a minute." Zhang He raised his hand and said, "There are some things I need to clarify with you. Please take a look, my lords..." Zhang He pointed to the map, "With Xingyang as the center, the Yellow River is to the north, Chenggao is to the west, and Aocang is to the east. , to the west is Guancheng. The two adults take a closer look, what kind of formation is this?"

"This is a cone-shaped formation backed by the Yellow River." Wei Xu only glanced at it, then pointed to Guancheng and said, "This is the apex of the cone-shaped formation. Whether we can gain a foothold in Henan depends entirely on the apex of the cone." sharp."

"Yes." Zhang He nodded and said, "For this attack going south, the imperial court gave us the order to drag Yuan Shao's army to Henan, so the conical formation focuses on defense."

"After we captured Xingyang, we immediately stationed heavy troops in Xingyang, and the role of Guancheng is to build a barrier for Xingyang."

"When Luoyang's reinforcements attacked Chenggao, we supported Chenggao. When Yuan Shao's main force came back from Baima and Puyang to attack Aocang from Yangwu, we supported Aocang. When Chenggao, Aocang, and Guancheng were at the same time When we are attacked, our goal has been achieved, and we only need to hold out for a while before we can retreat to Hanoi."

Song Xian hesitated for a moment, "Whether we can win Guancheng and hold on to Guancheng is directly related to whether the army can drag Yuan Shao's main army to Henan. We know this, but the problem is that we drag Yuan Shao's main army to Henan. To prevent him from capturing the Central Plains, the final result is to take advantage of the butcher Cao Cao. I don’t understand, why did the court do this? Why did the general agree to such an unreasonable strategy?”

Yan Liang snorted coldly, and frowned with thick eyebrows, "We only care about fighting, and don't care about the affairs of the court." His tone was very dissatisfied, obviously agreeing with Song Xian's question.

Zhang He sighed in a low voice, "Fight the battle well first, and try to avoid losses as much as possible. The purpose of this battle is only to prevent Yuan Shao from capturing the Central Plains. We really don't need to pay too much, lest the gain outweigh the loss."

=

Under March, Guancheng, Xinting.

Dawn came quietly, and there was a layer of faint mist floating in the mountains and forests, and the thick blood rushed to the face with the morning wind.

Zhao Xuan carried his blood-stained battle helmet and walked slowly on the sloping ground where the dead bodies were scattered, not kicking the body lying in the pool of blood to see if it was alive or dead.

Army Sima Dutian closed his eyes in a daze, feeling his head was kicked, jumped up in shock, opened his mouth and shouted wildly, "Beat the drum, beating the drum, the archers are ready..."

Du Tian's hoarse roar shattered the silence of dawn, and hundreds of soldiers suddenly stood up unsteadily from the pile of dead on the battlefield.

Zhao Xuan looked around, feeling a sharp pain in his heart, and the muscles on his face twitched violently a few times.The bloody battle continued until the early hours of the morning. The soldiers were exhausted and fell asleep on the battlefield.There are about 3000 rebels who came to support from Zhongmu, and they have a certain advantage in number.Due to his lack of preparation, he suffered a big loss at the beginning of the battle. It was not until nightfall that he regained the disadvantage little by little, but the loss was so great that the army almost lost the ability to continue fighting.If the follow-up reinforcements of the rebel army arrive this morning, I and the remaining 1000 soldiers will be in desperate situation.

Du Tian looked back at Zhao Xuan, and smiled embarrassedly, "My lord, next time you patrol the camp, it's best not to kick my head, it's easy to cause misunderstanding."

"What? You still want to chop me with a knife?" Zhao Xuan glared at him, and waved at the surrounding soldiers, signaling them to rest, "How is your leg? Can you still fight?"

Du Tian looked at the arrow wound on his thigh, and grinned in pain, "It would have been nice if we had taken down Guancheng yesterday morning. We will stick to the city, not to mention [-] rebels, even [-] rebels."

Zhao Xuan shook his head remorsefully.There were no more than 500 defenders in Guancheng, and they fought all morning but failed to defeat them. As a result, they incurred such heavy losses.

"When Guancheng is taken down, I want to slaughter the city and kill everyone." Du Tian cursed viciously.

"Boom..." There was loud drumming in the enemy camp ahead.

"Here we come, we're going to fight." Zhao Xuan put on his helmet slowly, reached out and patted Du Tian, ​​"If you survive this time, I'll treat you to wine and meat."

Before the words were finished, there was a sudden thunderous battle in the direction of Guancheng, and the sound of killing was like a tide.

Zhao Xuan and Du Tian's expressions changed in shock.

"My lord, we are going to drink and eat meat underground." Du Tian said with a wry smile.

Zhao Xuan gritted his teeth, pulled out his knife abruptly and shouted, "Beat the drum..."

"Brothers, follow me and kill..." Zhao Xuan took the lead and bravely killed the enemy in front.

"Kill..." The soldiers of Northern Border went forward without hesitation, followed closely behind Zhao Xuan, and roared away.
=

Wei Xu took the lead and was invincible wherever the sword pointed.

Five thousand soldiers marched sixty miles overnight, and launched a tidal attack on Guancheng at dawn.

Guancheng is like a light boat in the vast ocean, which is swallowed up by the roaring waves in a blink of an eye.

As soon as the army entered the city, Wei Xu asked Song Xian to stay and defend the city, and led the army to rush towards Xinting.

The desperate soldiers of northern Xinjiang suddenly saw reinforcements coming, and their morale was like a rainbow, and the attack momentum was wave after wave.

The reinforcements in Zhongmou City were caught off guard, and Wei Xu commanded the army to break through the defense line from the flank.The army collapsed immediately, and the whole army was wiped out.

Zhao Xuan sat on the ground out of breath, looked at Wei Xu who was bloodstained, and asked rather dissatisfied: "You came here in the starry night, why didn't you send someone to say hello in advance?"

Wei Xu laughed, pointed to the battlefield where corpses were strewn across the field, and said, "If I told you in advance, would you still attack with all your might?"

Zhao Xuan cursed in a low voice, regretting his loss very much.

"These 3000 people have been wiped out, and the follow-up reinforcements in Zhongmou City are insufficient. They will not be able to pose a threat to us in the short term." Wei Xu sat beside him, lay down on his back, and stretched comfortably, "Guan Cheng The battle here is stable, so we can deploy troops to support Xingyang and Aocang at any time, and block the attack of Yuan Shao's main army."

=

At the end of March, Henan Yin, Xingyang City.

Yan Liang and Zhang Yun walked out of the big tent, got on their horses and galloped towards the north city gate.

After learning that Xu Huang had taken down Chenggao by means of a fire attack, Yan Liang immediately ordered all thirty stone cannons to be concentrated in Beicheng, preparing to launch a fierce offensive at night.

"Wei Xu has already captured Guancheng." Yan Liang looked up at the red sunset in the west, and said with a heavy heart, "If we can't take Xingyang for a long time, the situation will be serious."

"There is no time." Zhang He was worried, "It has been five days since the crossing of the river and the attack. If there is no accident, Yuan Shao's army returning to help Henan is almost here."

A fast horse galloped towards him, "An urgent report from General Wang Dang."

Yan Liang quickly glanced at the letter, his face changed slightly, "Junyi, you hit the mark."

"Yuan Shao returned to aid?" Zhang Yun asked in surprise.

Yan Liang shook his head, and handed the letter to Zhang Yun, "Yuan Shao's main force is still in the Baima and Puyang areas. Currently, only Jiang Qi's [-] troops are returning to help Henan, and there is still a day's journey away from Aocang. It seems that we really have no It's time."

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(End of this chapter)