Number of People

Chapter 2161 The Gui Zijuan faces each other with white knives, fighting in the small town

"Sir, the rebels are coming up again." Panting, the soldiers ran up from behind, "At the south gate."

 “How many people are there?” Mangui’s face twitched and he nodded calmly.

"I can't see clearly yet. It looks like there will be no less than 2,000 people. There are about sixty or seventy ladders and about twenty siege engines. This time they have prepared a lot of wooden shields and screens, so they are well prepared. "

The soldier's answer made Man Gui couldn't help but grin, showing his white teeth. This group of rebels was becoming more and more accustomed to this kind of siege warfare, and it was getting bigger and bigger and more intense.

Needless to say, a wooden shield is a large shield made of wood, which can effectively withstand the strikes of crossbows, trebuchets, and bows and arrows.

The curtain is a cloth curtain held up by wooden poles. This thing can effectively block the missiles of bows and arrows. After being soaked in water, even rockets will be ineffective, so it is also an earthen shield invented by the rebels.

These things are useless, but they are very effective against low-rise cities like Si Yancheng, especially if they rely on the strength of their numbers and attack from several directions at the same time, and there are only more than 2,000 people on their side, it will appear that Somewhat clumsy.

 If this continues, Mangui doesn't know how many more charges his two thousand men can sustain.

"Those grandsons from the Yamen of the Salt Envoy are still unwilling to take out the silver?" As he walked, gnashing his teeth, Man Gui said bitterly: "Do you really plan to carry this silver to the tomb? When the rebels entered the city, could these Can I still keep my money?"

The soldiers smiled silently and bitterly. Everyone understood this truth, but the bunch of idiots in the Yamen of the Salt Transfer Department just didn't understand and refused to use the money from the salt class to boost the morale of the soldiers, even if you just used it to deceive everyone. It would be nice to be together for a while.

"Sir, it's too late to talk about this now. I've seen so much the battle at the South Gate that I'm afraid I have to pull up the reserve team. I'm just worried that if I can't hold on, it'll be too late to pull up." The soldiers followed Man Gui is a veteran this year, so he doesn't have so many taboos about speaking.

Although he is similar in age to Man Gui, he also followed him from Laoyingbao, Shanxi Town. There were only about a dozen people who came with him at the beginning, and they were all from the countryside.

"Go and ask An Zhongxiu to send two sentries from the Third Division to stand by at the south gate. I also know that the risk is high, but we have to guard against the west gate. I'm worried that these gangs of thieves will attack from east to west and catch us by surprise." Man Gui thought for a while, "Let An Zhongxiu take the remaining three sentry troops to rest near the bell tower and be ready to reinforce the west gate at any time. I will personally go and take charge of the south gate."

An Zhongxiu is the commander-in-chief of the third of the remaining three divisions. He is a seductive person, but he is brave in fighting and is a good hand. Although Man Gui is a little younger than him, he has the same temperament among the batches, so they have a tacit understanding.

There is a shortage of manpower on the west gate. Considering that the rebels fought a fierce battle on the west gate yesterday, leaving more than 300 corpses and retreating, Man Gui believes that the possibility of the rebels attacking the west gate again is slightly less. With limited manpower, he We can only strengthen the north gate. Because the city wall is higher at the east gate, the rebels have been harassing the east gate, so we can feel a little relieved.

Haunted all the way to the south gate, Mangui just glanced at him and knew that his soldiers had made a mistake.

The rebel army numbered at least 3,000 people. Especially the infantry that followed were scattered, but they began to form a team about 500 steps closer to the city wall. This was a precursor to launching a charge.

 “Ask An Zhongxiu to send an additional sentry immediately and leave two sentries on standby at the bell tower!” Mangui immediately changed the order, but he did not dare to mobilize too much, otherwise if there was a situation at Ximen, it would be too late for him.

An Zhongxiu's reinforcements have not yet arrived, but the rebel army has begun to surge in.

There were about 1,500 people in the middle, carrying five or six wooden sticks, shouting and jogging in small steps. In front of them, wooden shields and curtains were raised high to prevent the archers on the city wall from attacking.

The biggest difference between the Guards and the rebel army, or the biggest advantage in comparison, is the organized crossbowmen. This kind of long-range strike weapon is always the weapon that causes the most damage to the rebel army, and there are few in the rebel army. Even if there are archers who are good at shooting, they are only one in a hundred, and it is difficult to assemble into an organized strike force.

Siyan City is too small. In addition to the advantage of archers, the few remaining crossbows have also been carried to the top of the city. In addition to the east gate, there are two each in the west gate, south gate and north gate. It is better than nothing. See it in Mangui The purpose of deterrence is greater than the actual effect.



 But no matter what, there are archers, crossbows, and catapults. The entire defense system is basically there. It’s just a matter of how many there are and how effective they can be.

The rebels were no longer like the swarm of swarms they had swarmed the previous two days. They had obviously learned the lessons from before. They tightened their formation first and relied on wooden shields and curtains to reduce losses. They then advanced steadily. When they entered the attack with only a few dozen steps, they When they were within a short distance, they suddenly spread out, forming countless attack arrows that swooped in, trying to use their manpower advantage to capture the city at once.

They had already practiced this tactic yesterday, but Man Gui had also been prepared. He first concentrated his efforts on shooting the ladder operators and the soldiers behind the siege vehicles to slow down the attack speed, and then organized specialized elites to attack at the top of the city. The city's train entrance is blocked.

Especially as soon as the siege vehicle approaches, the archers immediately divide into two groups and shoot crossly from both wings, turning the ten steps of the siege vehicle ladder into a path of death, which greatly weakens the threat of the siege vehicle. , this is also to bully the rebel army because there are not enough archers to suppress one side of the city wall.

Mangui swung his sword horizontally, and suddenly passed the throat of a rebel soldier who had just had time to climb the battlement. The opponent didn't even have time to make a sound, so he held his throat and fell to the wall, but soon three rebel soldiers followed. Climb up the side and take the opportunity to jump into the wall.

One of the soldiers raised his spear and stabbed him. The other soldier, who was also an old soldier, deflected the thrust with a side attack of his leather shield. He squatted slightly and slashed hard at the knee of the soldier with the horizontal knife in his hand.

The soldier retreated and turned back, raising his spear pole to block the fierce chop. The spearhead took advantage of the situation and struck the opponent's head hard. The soldier was also very flexible. He raised his leather shield to block the blow, and blocked the attack with the horizontal sword again. The sword was so fierce that the soldiers could not dodge this cut in the middle.

Man Guihuan's sword stood upright, and he swung it fiercely to block the opponent's blow. However, he kicked his right leg hard, hitting the opponent's waist. The opponent staggered, but the soldiers had already come up from the wall with spears. A stab in the chest immediately filled the whole room.

The rebel man screamed unwillingly, dropped the leather shield and horizontal knife in his hand, and held the spear shaft to struggle. The soldier pushed forward fiercely, and simply connected the spear shaft with the opponent's body. The child was pushed out of the crenellation of the wall, fell down, and died immediately.

Man Gui didn't hesitate at all, and the ring sword was wildly raised again. Two soldiers who had just climbed up the crenel had their shoulders and arms cut off by him with two consecutive swords. They fell to the top of the city with a painful howl. Another soldier The soldiers, with red eyes, raised their spears high and stabbed fiercely, nailing the two soldiers to the city wall who had just had time to jump off the crenel and before they could stand firm.

The reinforcements from the Anzhong Construction Department finally caught up. Nearly 400 soldiers attacked from both sides and quickly killed dozens of rebel soldiers who had just had time to rush to the city. Then the archers had a chance to breathe. Then the rockets were replaced, and they continued to shoot at the siege vehicles and ladders. The fireworks mixed with the choking smoke burned the soldiers on both sides of the southern city, like a purgatory.

It wasn't until the last few rebel soldiers were gathered in a corner that Man Gui breathed a sigh of relief, put down the ring knife, took out a cloth that had already been soaked with sweat, and wiped the sweat from his neck. A burning pain came from behind the ear. After wiping it, the blood stains that had already condensed soaked in again, dyeing the sweat towel bright red.

“Sir, are you injured?” The soldier was startled and hurried forward to check the injury.

"Hmph, I should have died a long time ago. I haven't felt it for so long, so it won't be a problem." Man Gui wiped it and felt that it should be a stray arrow or an enemy's blade or spear, but he couldn't even think of it. I don’t know when and what circumstances it was caused, but the wound is not deep, just apply a little gold wound medicine and it will be enough.

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another person rushed towards him from the west gate. Mangui sighed and knew at a glance that something was not good. He picked up the ring knife, tightened the belt around his waist, and exhaled: "What's the matter? "

“Sir, Sir Duan is here to report that the enemy troops at Ximen have launched a general attack, with a total of more than 5,000 people. He cannot hold it back. Please send troops to support him quickly!”

 “Where is An Zhongxiu?”

“Mr. An has led his troops to send reinforcements, but they are simply not enough…”

"Well, I understand." Man Gui said in a deep voice while walking quickly: "Transport those dozens of barrels of gunpowder for use, and also send a signal to the outside of the city, ordering them to choose the opportunity to attack. We can't carry it. Hold on, victory or defeat depends on this!"

The cavalry that was ambushed and hidden outside the city have not moved, not because they are reluctant, but because the number is too small, and the hasty investment is purely to deliver food, but now there is no guarantee that the city will fall and people will be killed, so there is no need to worry about it.

As for the dozens of barrels of gunpowder intended for the three-eyed gunpowder, but the quality of the three-eyed gunpowder was too poor, Man Gui simply abandoned it. However, Duan Xipeng suggested that these dozens of barrels of gunpowder could be released at critical moments, even if Even if it explodes loudly, it can knock over a group of people and have some effect.

Winning or losing depends on one move. If you can survive this battle, you can still survive for a day, but if you can't, then everything is really over.

 (End of this chapter)