Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Two simple arrow towers were erected outside the city. Dozens of soldiers with strong arms and excellent archery skills climbed up and suppressed the firepower coverage of the defenders on the city wall through rounds of concentrated shooting, disrupting their counterattack rhythm.

At the same time, the advance on the ground continued. Taking advantage of the gap gained by the offensive on the arrow tower, sacks filled with earth and stones were transported to the front line and piled into the inner trench close to the city wall.

On the top of the city, Xu Wei, the town guard, saw the trenches and fences outside the city being filled and pushed down layer by layer, and he was also very anxious.

As a veteran of Beizhen, he was better at running in the field, and he lacked unique insights and experience in the defense of the city. In the current battle, he could only make a conventional response, without any extraordinary and effective strategies.

The defenders on the top of the city saw that although the enemy outside the city was blocked by the defense and could not directly attack the city wall defense, it was also advancing rapidly and steadily, and they had no means to stop it, and they were all very nervous.

In addition, the cavalry team that rushed out from the east of the city was defeated and retreated by the enemy, which aggravated the fear of the guards and made the atmosphere in the city more solemn.

Compared with the fierce and arduous battle, this tension and solemn atmosphere actually damaged the morale more seriously. What is more tormenting than being in suffering is knowing that suffering is about to come but being unable to reverse it all, which will make people lose their goals and fighting spirit.

Therefore, all the famous generals who are good at city defense must not only be proficient in various offensive and defensive tactics, but also know how to grasp and motivate the emotions of their soldiers. Not everyone has the calmness of not changing color when facing the collapse of Mount Tai. When facing the siege of enemies several times or even dozens of times, it is already a good courage not to be frightened and weak in the waist and knees, and it can be called great courage to hold the sword and gun tightly and insist on fighting.

Morale suppression is a very mysterious thing, which is difficult to explain clearly through words. It often requires the commanders who are in charge of the battle to feel and judge. But when the naked eye can judge through some signs, it means that the situation is already very serious.

Li Tai saw that every time the arrow tower fired a round of concentrated shots, whether the defenders on the top of the city were covered or not, they all tacitly shrank behind the city wall for a few breaths, just like the kind of frequent urination fishermen who wandered between the workstation and the toilet.

So he ordered the people and horses to form a clear front and back formation, and advance forward in batches. The newly built siege equipment such as battering rams and ladders were also sent to the front one after another.

This kind of overlapping pressure is very effective, which can continuously strike and reduce people's expectations of their own situation and fate. The defenders on the top of the city all showed some signs of panic, or they drew their bows and threw them out of rhythm, or shouted loudly and threw down wood and stones to resist the enemy.

This is a sign that the psychological pressure has reached a limit and has to be vented through some meaningless actions.

In fact, the best way to deal with fear is not to face it directly. Gathering all the defenders on the city wall and watching the enemy gradually advance is like letting the death row prisoners look up at the guillotine slowly and inch by inch falling down. It is better to assign them various tasks to keep them busy. This may seem to be maintaining physical strength, but in fact it is overdrawing morale.

Xu Wei, the commander on the top of the city, also noticed the passivity of the soldiers, so he shouted again: "When the cavalry left the city earlier, several soldiers successfully broke through the enemy's blockade and requested reinforcements from the city. You hold on for a while longer, and the reinforcements from the city will arrive soon!"

After these words came out, the faces of the defenders on the top of the city improved slightly. Another guard lowered his head and saw that the enemy had pushed forward another trench. He couldn't help but sighed with regret: "We should have dug a few more trenches before, so that the reinforcements would arrive before the enemy army approached the city!"

This is also meaningless nonsense. If they can dig this trench all the way to the bottom of Tongguan, the Western bandits will step on a step as soon as they leave the pass. There is no point in fighting, and they may not be able to advance in this lifetime.

After the two sides fought for nearly two hours, the layers of fortifications set up by the defenders were finally leveled, and the attackers could reach the city directly.

Li Tai immediately ordered Gao Le to lead the two thousand men who had been gathering strength in the rear to charge forward. The strong soldiers rushed to the front with large shields, covering the comrades in the rear to throw the siege equipment forward. At the same time, the archers formed a battle formation and fired fiercely at the top of the city.

Soon, the space under the city wall was like snowflakes flying all over the sky. From a distance, it looked like a group of flying mosquitoes. Most of the arrows would miss, but the atmosphere created was enough to scare people.

Some large shields were like hedgehogs with upright spikes when they rushed into the enemy's city wall. The strong soldiers holding the shields were even more shocked by the continuous impact of the arrows, and their mouths and noses were bleeding. But it was still extremely dangerous at this moment. They needed to launch a new offensive as soon as possible to try to reverse this situation of passively being beaten but unable to fight back.

With the joint efforts of everyone, the cloud ladders transformed from two grain carts rushed to the city wall. At the same time, many simple ladders were also set up on the outside of the city wall.

The two arrow towers were firing at the enemy's wall. At the same time, the two teams of cavalrymen who had been waiting on the side of the battlefield also galloped around the wall and kept shooting at the top of the city.

Under the suppression of these two rounds of long-range firepower, the counterattack of the defenders on the top of the city suddenly stagnated, which gave the siege soldiers below the city an opportunity. They climbed up the wall along the ladder with steel knives and short spears.

The defenders on the top of the city could detect the enemy soldiers climbing up through the slight trembling of the city wall, but because the enemy's arrows were so fiercely covered, they were completely unable to stand up on the top of the city. Under the shouts of the captain, they suddenly remembered that they also had large cowhide shields to deal with this situation, and they all stood up with the shields on their backs, holding spears and stabbing down to fight off the enemy.

At this point in the battle, any tricks are useless. What matters is the willpower of the warriors on both sides.

As the defenders at the top of the city resumed their organized counterattack, a large amount of wood, sand and stone fell from the top of the city. Even if they were protected by armor and shields, the huge force could not be offset. Therefore, many siege soldiers climbed up the ladder. They fell down one after another, and the hooks thrown on the top of the city were constantly cut off. Few soldiers were able to rush to the top of the city.

But this round of attack was not without success. Under this cover, the two assault vehicles successfully rushed to the enemy's city gate and violently collided with the city gate.

Accompanied by muffled thunderous crashes, the entire city tower trembled, and the weathered soil outside the rammed city wall continued to peel off. The defenders on the top of the city were also frightened by the trembling feeling coming from their feet, and they lived up to their previous bravery.

"Continue to attack, the first one to get there will be heavily rewarded!"

Liang Shiyan, who was supervising the battle in front of the formation, took this opportunity to shout loudly. This time, he selected dozens of soldiers with spears to rush onto the cloud chariot. The gap created by the big spear jumped to the top of the city. The big spear in his hand blocked the attack and pushed back the enemy troops that were swarming in front of him, fighting for a foothold for the robes behind him.

"Beat the drum and attack!"

When Li Tai saw that the front had already reached the city, he was immediately overjoyed. He quickly waved his hand and ordered, and asked the reserve soldiers to join the attack one after another to capture the city in one go.

Being captured by the enemy, Xu Wei, the general who defended the city, was complaining in his heart. While waving his sword to stop the retreating soldiers, he organized an elite squad to lead his troops to charge back and kill the enemy troops who came up to the city. However, morale was low, the situation became more corrupt, and various efforts had little effect.

However, at this moment, the sound of galloping horse hooves suddenly came from the direction of the river valley in the east of the city. When Xu Wei of Zhencheng heard the sound, he was stunned for a moment. After a moment, he burst into laughter and shouted to his subordinates: " It's reinforcements, reinforcements are coming! There are no horses in the rebel army in the east of the city, reinforcements must be coming! Guys, hold on to the city wall and kill these rebels!"

When the soldiers who were already in a state of collapse heard this shouting, it was hard to tell whether it was true or not, but they were still subconsciously willing to believe that it was beneficial to them, so they all cheered up and shouted loudly for the organization. Fight back.

At this time, the gap captured on the top of the city had expanded to more than several feet, and nearly a hundred soldiers rushed to the top of the city. However, as the enemy's counterattack became more fierce, this space was suddenly compressed by nearly one foot, and even several The soldiers were pushed directly off the city wall.

"No retreat, no retreat! There is a way forward, but retreat means death!"

Gao Le, the fierce general who followed the army to the top of the city, was now tightly squeezed by several soldiers on the inside of the battlement. He had to use his arms to support him and got some room to move.

But in this small space, he couldn't use his long spear at all. Gao Le simply held his sword and walked against the wall. He kept slashing and attacking, and even rushed into the enemy's formation for more than several feet. There were ferocious enemy soldiers in front and behind him, but Gao Le There was no fear at all, with a steel knife in one hand and a short spear taken from somewhere in the other hand. The swords and spears were stabbed together, and soon a bloody clearing was opened around him.

The soldiers who were squeezed in the rear immediately seized this opportunity and killed all the dozens of enemy soldiers who had been separated. They quickly joined Gao Le and continued to kill the enemy.

Xu Wei of Zhencheng made a mistake. He Ruodun and others in the east city actually had horses, and they were funded by the defenders. From the three hundred light cavalry before, they seized more than twenty injured but still usable war horses. But the other point is not wrong. The reinforcements have really arrived.

More than a thousand Eastern Wei soldiers were galloping along the river valley towards Yan Hancheng. They encountered the scouts sent by He Ruodun a few miles away. As the warning came back, more than 500 soldiers here were also quickly sorting out. Equipment war.

"Our armor is crude and we don't have many soldiers. I'm afraid we won't be able to fight against the thieves. Why don't we retreat to the slope..."

Han Xiong's expression changed slightly when he learned that there were thousands of thieves riding on them. Even if they wanted to avoid the edge temporarily, after all, their strength was very different. If they really fought, it would be very disastrous.

After hearing this, He Ruoden glared and said angrily: "No! I have promised Lord Lang that I will kill the thieves city. Now if I can't even stop the thieves' reinforcements, how can I return to Lord Lang with my face!"

As he spoke, he took out the thirty pairs of armor sabers, took out one and threw it to Han Xiong and said in a deep voice: "You, a man from the west of Henan Province, performed well in the front battle, and you are worthy of the master of my family." Armor and sword, quickly put it on your body. If you run away timidly later and fail to live up to the gift of my husband, if you don't die in this formation today, you will die by my sword in the future!"

Han Xiong was extremely embarrassed after hearing this. He had been guarding the border for many years and was also a famous general with a powerful reputation in western Henan. Even when Daxingtai summoned him, he was treated with courtesy, but he didn't want to be yelled at by this guy who didn't know what he meant.

However, when his eyes fell on the armor sword with its unusual shape and exquisite craftsmanship, he was immediately attracted to it and couldn't move away from it. When he came back to his senses, he saw that He Ruoden had already put on his armor and mounted his horse, holding his bow and pointing at them. : "The river here is narrow, and the bandit cavalry may be fierce, but it is not difficult to stop them. I will weaken the enemy's spirit first, and you should quickly put on the array and prepare for battle!"

As he spoke, He Ruoden and a dozen of his subordinates rode towards the incoming bandit army, and the elite soldiers who were left behind also put on their armor. Seeing that Han Xiong was still a little confused, soldiers came forward to help him put on the heavy armor, and quickly explained the array and the use of the sword.

If he were an ordinary soldier, it would be difficult for him to accept this kind of on-the-battle professor, but Han Xiong was a brave warrior, and he would soon understand it with just a few tips.

He has also fought in heavy armor, but the fine armor on his body is still slightly different from the cavalry armor, and is more in line with the needs of infantry combat. This is really unusual now that the cost and value of infantry are lower than that of cavalry. Even Han Xiong feels that mere infantry are not worthy of specially developed and refined armor.

Before he had time to savor the work, the sound of horse hooves on the opposite side was already approaching. He Ruoden was waiting for him to leave and return. He was so grand and grand when he left, but now he was in such a mess. Even the duck was shot by the pursuers from behind and had no time to right it. , just galloping all the way, twisting his expression to signal for a quick formation here.

However, the enemy formation behind him also seemed quite messy, and the speed was not very fast. Especially because he had to be wary of He Ruoden and others turning around to shoot at any time, so he did not dare to close the distance too closely, so he deliberately controlled the speed of the galloping horse, so that the following Lu Yi's entire cavalry formation was implicated. But this is not a big problem. After all, the number of enemies in front is too small, and with Yan Hancheng at their back, they are basically lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

Thirty heavily armored elite soldiers were arrayed horizontally, with two levels at the front and back. Han Xiong, who was not familiar with such fighting, was placed in the back row. Seeing the enemy troops approaching in front, Han Xiong suddenly saw a strong wind behind him. More than two hundred crossbowmen fired in a round, which immediately dealt a violent blow to the enemy's front line.

The enemy also had rangers shooting, but those stray arrows struck the hard iron armor without causing any damage. Due to the casualties and shock of the troops in front, the momentum of the troops in the rear was not as strong as before. When they collided with the heavy armored infantry formation, their speed had been lost and they had no time to speed up in the second round.

"drink!"

The infantrymen in the front formation shouted, and took a step forward with their left leg. At the same time, they swung down the saber in their hands. Han Xiong in the rear formation only saw a flash of cold light, and there was already a flower in front of his eyes. He concentrated again. When I looked at it, I saw that seven or eight of the enemy's riders and horses who had been charging at the front were all killed on the spot. Their bodies were split on the ground, and the blood and blood of the internal organs of the men and horses were also scattered in a pool!

"hiss……"

Even though Han Xiong had been in battle for a long time and was used to seeing life and death, when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but gasp. But soon a strange feeling of excitement came to his heart. He saw the heavy armor on the left and right. The infantrymen crossed in front, and he stepped forward between the two infantrymen in front, swinging his sword downwards and slashing down.

There was a slight sluggishness in the hand at first, but as the blade split the membrane, the subsequent fall could be described as smooth. Seeing the enemy soldiers and horses being torn apart in front of him, Han Xiong felt his head heat up and couldn't help shouting: "What a knife!"

Not only is it a good knife, it is simply a murder weapon. Not only Han Xiong, a fierce general who was exposed to the sword for the first time, couldn't help but marvel, the enemy soldiers were even more shocked. They didn't even react at all. Why did their comrades who were rushing at the front suddenly lie on the ground?

After all, war horses are not humans, and even if a human is running with all his strength, he still needs a certain amount of buffering time if he wants to be able to stop the momentum.

Therefore, even though the heads of the robes in front were already missing, the knights on the back road were still unable to change direction or stop. They just rushed forward according to the inertia, and were then killed by the heavy infantrymen who were crossing with their swords. It seemed as if It was like lining up to die, the scene was bloody and weird.

These soldiers also tried to attack the enemy on the opposite side with bows, knives, spears and other instruments in their hands, hoping to kill the enemy before the indestructible blade fell. However, any of their attacks would be useless if they fell on the heavy armor. There were several loud collisions, but they could not cause effective damage to the enemy. In the end, the blade fell down unstoppably.

It wasn't until more than 200 enemy soldiers were dead that the entire formation was finally settled. At this time, the two rows of heavy armored infantry had already marched several feet, and there was a scarlet blood under their feet, which made people afraid to take a closer look. The heavy armored infantrymen and the sabers in their hands were also covered with a thick layer of plasma, making them look more like demons who killed people like mowing grass.

"Spare your life, spare your life!"

As a soldier on the opposite side trembled and screamed, he turned his horse's head and ran to the rear, more and more enemy soldiers who were killed and frightened turned around and fled, not daring to stay on this breathtaking battlefield any longer. , and this bloody and cruel river valley battlefield may be a lingering nightmare in their hearts for a long time to come!