Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 423
Thanks to the efforts of the craftsmen of the Han army, two counterweight trebuchets that were dismantled and transported were quickly assembled directly on the formation, and pushed forward by the generals of the Han army, they were pushed directly to the halfway distance from the north gate of Wancheng. Stopped in the middle, and then immediately started shooting angle and shooting direction, and installed boulders to prepare for bombing.

Although he has very little information about the Han army's use of counterweight trebuchets to attack the city, but relying on intuition, Liu Laosan led Han Xin, Xiao He and others far away from the tower, hid in the distance to check the situation of the Han army throwing stones, and at the same time Try to get as close as possible to the arrow stack female wall, so as to hide in the shooting blind spot of the Han army's catapult when the Han army's boulders fly over. In front of the precious little life, Liu Laosan never minded his image as a king.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the Han army trebuchets quickly completed the final preparations, and then waved the command flags in the Han army flag formation, and under the wave of several Han army skilled gunners, the two counterweight trebuchets shot The arms were raised almost simultaneously, and at the same time, two boulders weighing more than 150 jin were thrown out. The boulders whizzed and whirled in the air, and they all came towards the conspicuous Wancheng North Gate Tower.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Accompanied by two thunderous bangs, first a huge boulder smashed on the wall next to the city tower, splashing up dust and smoke as high as half a person, smashing a Nanyang Army soldier who couldn't avoid it into a meat paste, and it was still being built with rammed earth. A deep pit with a radius of several feet was left on the city wall, and then another boulder hit the upper front of the north gate tower of Wancheng, and broke through the wall and entered the building without any effort. It smashed through the back wall of the city tower, flew into the inside of the urn city behind the city tower, and splashed a cloud of dust and smoke in the urn city at the north gate of Wancheng.

Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army on the city wall were of course exclaimed, all of them were afraid of the terrifying power of the Han army's catapults, but Liu Laosan, Han Xin and others were expressionless, just waiting patiently for the Han army's catapults to strike. Next move.Then, as expected, not long after, the Han army's trebuchet threw two huge stones again, and they still all hit the direction of the tower at the north gate of Wancheng.

The poor tower did not escape bad luck this time. Of the two boulders thrown by the Han army in the second round, only the first one hit the roof of the tower. The beams, more than one foot thick, snapped, and the roof of the city tower also collapsed.Immediately afterwards, the second boulder smashed into the building again, making a series of terrible sounds of breaking and cracking, and the shingled city tower collapsed immediately, completely losing its function of hiding soldiers, commanding and covering the arrows of the archers and crossbowmen. .

It was at this time that there was a burst of cheers in the formation of the Han army, but the Han army's trebuchet still refused to give up, and soon threw two more boulders, and this time, the Han army's trebuchet was aimed at Throw stones at the places where the Nanyang Army flags are densely packed on the city wall!

The boulder fell to the ground and the screams and screams of Nanyang soldiers echoed on the city wall at the same time. Liu Laosan and Han Xin also saw with their own eyes that after a boulder hit the arrow stack, not only was it not bounced away by the arrow stack and the female wall, but Like a hammer smashing rotten wood, it easily smashed the arrow stack and the parapet together, and smashed the two Nanyang soldiers hiding behind the parapet until their brains shot out, blood vomited from the mouth, and their torso was completely deformed.

After smashing these three rounds of stones, the Han army's trebuchet immediately stopped throwing stones, and three neat shouts sounded in the Han army formation, "Surrender, don't kill! Surrender, don't kill! Surrender, don't kill!"

Hearing such a neat shout, and seeing the terrifying power of the Han army's catapults with their own eyes, countless Nanyang soldiers who had just returned to the army from the southern line to participate in the battle in Wancheng were of course frightened, their faces changed drastically, their soldiers were panicked, and their morale was even more direct. Falling to the bottom of the valley, Liu Laosan, Han Xin and the others looked gloomy one by one. Xiao He, who was firmly opposed to abandoning Wancheng before, ran to the crater left by the trebuchet early to check the situation regardless of the danger.

At the same time, Xiang Kang said to Zhang Liang and Chen Ping next to him: "It's almost there, if you smash it down, the traitors like Liu Ji and Han Xin might see that our trebuchet can't actually smash them down." The walls of the city have been destroyed, so let them leave a little suspense, force them to take action, try to weaken them first, and wait until we are fully prepared to attack the city, and then we will attack the city with all our strength."

Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others said yes together, and Xiang Kang told the Han army general Ding Ji who led the army to escort him: "Ding Ji, there are Yushui barriers at the south gate and east gate of Wancheng. The troops cannot be expanded, and it is difficult for the Nanyang bandit army to flee south from these two directions. You lead [-] troops and move to the west gate of Wancheng to find a suitable place to set up camp. You are responsible for monitoring the west gate of Wancheng and guarding against the Nanyang bandit army. Abandon the city and flee south."

Ding Ji clasped his fists and sang promises, but Xiang Kang refused to rest assured, and warned: "Remember, you camp alone at the west gate of Wancheng. If the Nanyang bandit army refuses to give up trying to play tricks, your camp must bear the brunt of it. Okay. The terrain around Wancheng is wide open, and it is difficult to make any surprises, so if the Nanyang bandits want to play tricks, they must do it at night, as long as you remember two points, you will be able to respond to all changes and all changes on the battlefield."

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, what are the two points?" Ding Ji hurriedly asked.

"First point, let your army rest during the day and be vigilant at night." Xiang Kang said: "Our troops are more than four times that of the bandit army. Let alone the Nanyang bandit army would not dare to go out to fight during the day, even if they really If you go out of the city during the day, we can easily deal with it. So you can rest assured during the day and recharge your energy, but at night, you must be careful!"

Ding Ji agreed, and Xiang Kang said: "Secondly, at night, no matter what changes happen to our main camp or the battlefield outside the camp, you can only close the camp to protect yourself, and don't care about other situations, unless you confirm The Nanyang thieves abandoned the city and fled south, or they received my handwritten warrant, otherwise they must not venture out of the camp!"

Ding Ji agreed again, but Tang Bing, an old man from Shangshan next to him, was a little puzzled, and said suspiciously: "Your Majesty, since you are so worried about the safety of General Ding's camp, why do you want General Ding to camp alone? The city is only ten miles away, and we have the advantage of cavalry, so there is no need for General Ding to run alone?"

Xiang Kang smiled and said, "If I didn't intentionally reveal a little flaw, how could Liu Ji and Han Xin, the gang of traitors, take the risk to attack and give us a chance to weaken them in the field? We can't weaken their strength in the field. Even if we are sure to win Wancheng, the casualty price we pay will definitely not be as small as that."

After making this decision, Xiang Kang quickly returned to the camp with his personal troops and two counterweight trebuchets, while Ding Ji waited for Xiang Kang and others to go away before taking [-] The army moved to the west and set up camp alone at Bali outside the west gate of Wancheng.Liu Laosan, Han Xin and others knew that their own army was not an opponent of the Han army in field battles, so of course they did not dare to send troops to fight, but they all surrounded the crater left by the Han army's catapults to see with their own eyes the damage caused by the Han army's catapults to the city wall.

"The ones that hit the city wall directly penetrated more than seven feet into the ground, about nine feet long and wide, and had six cracks. The longest crack was more than five feet long. Those that hit the arrow stacks were destroyed together with the female wall, and the female wall was breached. It is eight feet wide at the top and five and a half feet wide at the bottom. The condition of the stone bullets smashed into the city tower cannot be confirmed, and the stone bullets smashed into the urn fell into the ground six feet..."

Listening to the statistics reported by the civil servants, Liu Laosan’s face has never been expressionless, and he can’t use this to confirm whether the Han army’s trebuchets can directly capture Wancheng, but Han Xin found something valuable. The soldiers pried out the stone bullets with tools, and carefully looked at the boulders thrown by the Han army with the trebuchet, and then suddenly said to Liu Laosan: "My lord, can the Han bandits use the trebuchet to smash our city wall directly, my servant?" I can’t confirm it, but what I can confirm is that the Han thieves must spend a lot of time preparing before they can launch an attack on Wancheng. It is roughly estimated that at least within ten days, we don’t have to worry about the Han thieves attacking the city.”

"How do you know?" Liu Laosan raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Because of the stone." Han Xin kicked the big stone and said, "Wancheng is located on a plain, and stones are rare, especially such a big stone. If the Han thieves want to smash Wancheng with stones, they will definitely score points." Sending a large number of people to mine stones in Zishan Sow Ridge, the stones must be hewn to a suitable size before they can be used. In ten days, even if the Han thieves have prepared enough catapults, they will not be able to attack our Wancheng."

"That's the truth." Liu Laosan finally showed a little smile, and said with a smile: "Ten days is not very long, but it is enough for us to do a lot of things. Let's go back to the palace and discuss how to clean up the outside of the city. The traitor."

According to Liu Laosan's order, the important civil and military personnel of the Nanyang Army quickly returned to his Nanyang Palace with Liu Laosan. After taking his seat, Han Xin, who had been figuring out countermeasures all the way, was not polite, and directly said to Liu Laosan: "My lord! , we now have three choices, first, abandon the city and go south, and strive to bring the main force back to the front line of Hanshui to re-arm. Second, resolutely defend the city, betting that our city walls can stop the trebuchets of the Han thieves. Third, actively Defense, take advantage of various conditions that are beneficial to us, take the initiative to attack, first weaken the Han thieves, reduce the pressure on us to defend the city, and then play it by ear."

"Abandoning the city and going south is nonsense." Liu Laosan smiled and said: "The Han thieves are close at hand, and there are so many cavalry. What is the difference between abandoning the city and going south at this time, and letting the Han thieves attack with their backs exposed? Resolutely defend the city Too passive, talk about how to actively defend."

"Your Majesty, you didn't find out that Xiang Kang's traitors are stationed outside the west gate of Wancheng. Do you have ulterior motives?"

Han Xin did not answer the question, but said: "The main camp of the Han bandits is not far from Wancheng, and there are many cavalry in the army. There is no need to separate a separate army to station troops at the west gate of Wancheng to prevent us from fleeing south of the city. But Xiang Kang The traitor still did this. It was clear that he wanted to use his Ximen garrison as a bait to lure us out of the city to sneak attack on his camp. When the bandit army is completely exhausted, we will highlight the surprise soldiers and kill the Han bandits by surprise!"

"Then how to do it?" Liu Laosan asked calmly.

"Imitate the methods of Xiang Kang's traitor." Han Xin replied: "I have heard that Xiang Kang's traitor uses troops. He likes to send small groups of troops to sneak outside the enemy's camp at night, pretending to rob the camp with drums and trumpets, so that the enemy can't have peace all night. Although the move is despicable, it is also very effective. Right now we have a city to defend, and our soldiers can rest in peace, why not..."

…………

If you go up the mountain too much, you will eventually encounter ghosts, and evil will be rewarded with evil. It was finally the turn of the Han army soldiers who were tossed by Xiang Kang's signature tactics. It was not long before the sky was completely dark that night, and more than a hundred Nanyang soldiers quietly touched Wan. Outside the main camp of the Han army in the north of the city, gongs and drums were beating and they pretended to be attacking the Han army camp. As expected, the Han army team in charge of the night duty hurried to their combat posts, and the sleeping Han soldiers rushed to their posts. He got up to prepare for the battle, but after a short time, the sound disappeared without a trace. It was always pitch black outside the camp, and there was never a single soldier from the Nanyang Army attacking the camp.

After all, he copied the tactics from Xu Da. Seeing this situation, Xiang Kang was not only not afraid at all, on the contrary he smiled all over his face and said, "Sure enough, I can't hold back anymore, okay, if you like disturbing tactics, come here, my king and you!" You stay with me to the end."

Smiling and speaking, Xiang Kang immediately called Guan Ying and asked Guan Ying to arrange a hundred cavalrymen at each gate of the Han army's camp. He asked the Han army cavalry to leave the camp decisively to attack after hearing the sound next time. He killed those Nanyang soldiers who dared to break ground on Tai Sui's head, and confessed: "Tell your cavalry, even mosquitoes are also meat. From now on, if you kill the enemy at night, the reward for beheading will be doubled!"

Guan Ying immediately agreed with clasped fists, but Chen Ping next to him was very worried and said, "Your Majesty, is it too risky? Open the gate of the camp in the dark and attack. If the enemy really set up an ambush outside the camp, take the opportunity to rush in. Aren't we going to suffer?"

"I can't ask for it." Xiang Kang replied with a sneer: "Our total strength is more than four times that of the Nanyang bandit army, and we have arranged a night watch for the army. If the Nanyang bandit army dared to sneak attack on our camp, we would replace one of them with two of us." Take advantage too!"

Then naturally it was the turn of the poor Nanyang soldiers to be unlucky. Just when they heard them beating gongs and drums outside the camp to disturb the rest of the army, the cavalry of the Han army waiting in front of the camp immediately rushed out decisively and followed the sound to kill the Nanyang army. The soldiers of the Nanyang army never expected that the Han army would really dare to go out to attack at night. They came so fast, they were caught off guard and suffered a big loss, and were severely injured by the Han cavalry wielding sabers , Abandoning the gongs, drums and horns and fleeing in embarrassment, the cavalry of the Han army who were greedy for double rewards chased and killed them with all their strength, beheading nearly half of the Nanyang army team.

When the situation report came to Han Xin, Han Xin was not angry but happy when he heard it, and ordered decisively: "At any cost, continue to act according to the plan! Also, send people to the Ximen garrison of the Han bandits to disturb their rest, and tell us clearly Soldiers, if you can lure the Han thieves away from the army, you will be rewarded!"

The first night after the Han army arrived at the Wancheng battlefield, it became a sleepless night for countless people. Every once in a while, a Nanyang army team ran to the gate of the Han army's main force and partial division camps to startle and make noise. Pretending to rob the camp, Ding Ji, the Han army's partial division, kept Xiang Kang's instructions in mind. No matter how hard the Nanyang army struggled, they would not be able to defend. The main camp of the Han army resolutely fought back, and immediately dispatched cavalry to attack as soon as they heard the noise. , Every time, it brought casualties to the Nanyang Army squad, and slowly wiped out the vital strength of the Nanyang Army.

Finally, in the daytime of the next day, it was exactly as Han Xin guessed. In order to collect the stone bombs from the trebuchet, Xiang Kang sent a large number of people to the nearest Zishan Sow Ridge to mine stone mines. The Nanyang Army did not dare to send troops to stop them. , can only seize the time to rest in peace in the city, or the Han army, which has been affected by a lot of disturbances, is the same. Divide the army into two, take turns to rest and rush to build strong camps, and rush to build flying ladders, ladders, etc. Siege weapons.

The night of the second day was still the same as the first day, but in the afternoon of the third day, the situation was different. In addition to making the Nanyang Army fully prepared for the night battle, Han Xin said to the generals of the Nanyang Army: "Tonight is our best chance to hit the traitors hard. Although the traitors rushed to build a camp for two consecutive days, after all, the time is short and the camp is definitely not strong enough. In addition, the traitors have not had a good rest for two nights, and the soldiers must be very tired. We are exhausted, so we must seize this opportunity and give the Han bandits a heavy blow, which will set back their spirit and boost our morale!"

"General, how should we fight?" Zhou Bo asked curiously: "Should we attack the main camp of the Han bandits with all our strength, or their partial camp?"

"Of course it's the camp of the Han thieves, but..." Han Xin, who is famous for his micromanipulation, dragged out the end of his voice.

(End of this chapter)