Tibet

Lei Wanchun was sleeping in the tower. When the alarm bell rang, he got up and rushed out of the tower.

At this time, Lei Wanchun was leaning on the battlements, staring solemnly at the enemy camp in the distance. Under the bright moonlight, dark figures ran out of the camp, which could be seen very clearly even from two miles away.

Generally speaking, even if you fight at night, you will hold up a torch, or choose a night with bright moonlight. If it is a dark night, a few people can make a sneak attack, but thousands or even tens of thousands of people can run in the dark, which is unrealistic. Falling and tripping over a large area.

Therefore, a large-scale night attack is easy for the defenders at the city head to detect. Unless the defenders are all asleep, a large number of enemy troops will be seen by the defenders as soon as they leave the barracks. The situation was discovered.

But there is another special situation. In the dark night, thousands of people walk slowly, sneakily crawl to the bottom of the city, and suddenly launch an attack. This is a sneak attack.

This kind of sneak attack is indeed more dangerous. Generally, there will not be too many soldiers on guard at night. It takes time for a large number of soldiers to get up and put on clothes and shoes. It also takes time to run from the military camp to the city. The sneak attack is to hit this time difference. When the large reinforcements arrive, the enemy The army has already reached the top of the city.

Of course Lei Wanchun also knew the dangers of this sneak attack tactic. In order to prevent enemy sneak attacks, he temporarily requisitioned all the houses within a hundred steps of the east city and south city walls as military camps, and ordered all soldiers to sleep with their armors closed, even their shoes. Not allowed to take it off.

Therefore, as soon as the alarm bell rang, more than 10,000 soldiers rushed to the top of the city in the shortest possible time.

Soon, five thousand militia soldiers also rushed to the city. As archers, they would also play a role in the early stage of the city defense battle.

"Crossbowmen prepare!" Lei Wanchun shouted.

Eight thousand Jianghan Army soldiers and five thousand civilian regiment soldiers were kneeling on the top of the city. The soldiers held military crossbows at an angle of 45 degrees upward.

The 5,000 militiamen were holding city infantry bows. Their backs were against the inner wall, and their arrows were pointed upward at an angle of 45 degrees. Thirteen thousand people were ready, waiting for the general's order.

Although the two armies are both Tang armies, they are each their own masters and show no mercy. In the face of war, the so-called mercy can only appear in the attitude towards prisoners of war after the war.

On the battlefield, anyone who is soft-hearted is extremely stupid and will only waste the lives of himself and his comrades.

Under the bright moonlight, the 20,000-strong army was divided into five teams and rushed towards the south city wall like a tide. The flat ground gave them the confidence to run. The flying dust gradually obscured the bright moonlight, and the silvery-white brilliance also became a bit dull. Darken.

It was obvious that the Yongwang Army wanted to seize the opportunity of the time difference. They ran as hard as they could to rush to the city before the enemy troops were deployed.

It is a pity that they underestimated the deployment of Jianghan Army General Lei Wanchun, and the 20,000 soldiers of the Yongwang Army gradually rushed within 150 steps from the city wall.

Lei Wanchun immediately ordered: "Blow the horn and shoot the crossbow!"

"Woo——"

The first horn sounded, and the crossbow arrows were fired first from the top of the city. Eight thousand crossbow arrows soared into the sky, like countless crows flying in terror on a moonlit night. The black mass rushed directly to the top of King Yong's army. A general looked up and saw dense clouds of arrows. , shouted: "The sword rain is coming, raise your shield!"

The running soldiers of the Yongwang Army raised their shields one after another, and the arrows ‘swish! Whoosh! Whoosh! ’ He shot into the running crowd, and soldiers kept screaming and falling to the ground.

However, the casualties were not serious. The soldiers of the Yongwang Army continued to run with crossbow arrows, and soon reached the hundred paces.

‘Woo——’ The second trumpet sounded, and five thousand city-defending bows were fired. In conjunction with crossbow arrows, thirteen thousand arrows swept in like a storm and shot into the crowd densely.

This time the casualties increased. Heavy arrows shot through many old and damaged shields, causing the soldiers behind the shields to fall down one after another. After several rounds of crossbows and arrows were fired, the attacking army had more than a thousand casualties.

Despite this, among the huge offensive team of 20,000 people, the casualties of 1,000 people accounted for only one-twentieth, and did not cause any panic or the attention of the attacking commander.

In the night, five pontoon bridges began to be quickly built. The long iron piles were smashed into the ground, getting deeper and deeper. The iron chains on the iron piles connected each pontoon bridge. The pontoon bridges were completely finished products. They only needed to be driven into the iron piles to fix them. Live and you're done.

A big pile driver was hit in the back of the neck by an arrow and fell into the moat. Another big man rushed up and hit him with a hammer. He was hit more than ten times. He was also shot by several arrows and fell into the river. Then two more soldiers rushed forward, but they only hit them five or six times before they were shot down by arrows, causing nearly twenty casualties before the iron stakes were completely driven into the soil.

A series of siege ladders were set up on the top of the city, and the double iron hooks at the top bit the battlements. At this time, dozens of axemen suddenly appeared on the top of the city. They leaned forward and slashed with their axes, 'Crack! ’ The top rung was broken by a sharp ax, and then the second rung was also broken.

In this way, although the siege ladder can barely attack the city, the difficulty is obviously increased. The soldiers have to climb up the city with both hands. How can the defenders give the enemy this opportunity?

The layout of the garrison on the city had changed. Only one thousand people from the five thousand militia group were left to carry the wounded, while the other four thousand people from the militia group retreated to carry supplies and defend the city gate.

Ten thousand people defended the south city head, and two thousand people outside the two guarded the other three city heads. Although the enemy did not attack the other three city heads, they still had to guard against sneak attacks.

The Yongwang Army set up a total of hundreds of siege ladders. Most of the siege ladders were destroyed by the axemen on the top of the city. However, the soldiers below the city did not know it. They still climbed up the city quickly. The soldiers in front held shields in one hand. , climbing the ladder with one hand, holding the sword in his mouth, while the soldiers behind held spears, and many of them carried their shields behind their backs to guard against the cold arrows behind them.

Jiangxia City built a horse-faced wall, which is a protruding piece. The length and width of the horse-faced wall are one foot each. Twenty sharp archers hid on the horse-faced wall and raised their crossbows to shoot. They shot from behind the enemy, so there were constant swords and shields. The soldier was shot in the back and fell down the siege ladder screaming.

The enemy siege general also discovered the cold arrows on the wall facing his horse. He immediately adjusted his tactics and changed his sword and shield soldiers into spearmen, carrying their shields behind their backs.

The rolling logs and stones from above fell like hailstones. The soldiers on the siege ladder were knocked backwards and fell into the city. The soldiers below the city were even hit with bruises on their heads by the rocks and rolling logs. Screams and wails resounded on both sides of the moat.

The fierce battle for the top of the city has become fierce. Soldiers from both armies stabbed with spears and chopped with swords. Soldiers jumped onto the top of the city and were stabbed down by dozens of spears.

The defenders on the top of the city were constantly shot by crossbows, fell to the ground on their backs, or were pierced by spears. They were bleeding profusely and were immediately carried down the city on stretchers by the militia soldiers.

In the era of cold weapons, unless fatal injuries such as piercing the internal organs, decapitating the head, or cutting the throat were usually caused by flesh wounds, even if the hands and feet were cut off, they would not be fatal immediately.

Most of the soldiers died in battle because they died of excessive bleeding due to lack of timely rescue, or died of inflammation due to insufficient disinfection.

Li Ye used special Zhixue Powder to treat injuries of soldiers in Anxi. When he arrived in Jingxiang, he also used Zhixue Powder to treat injuries and stop bleeding of soldiers. Zhixue Powder was made by grinding mugwort, agrimony, blood residual charcoal, Panax notoginseng, honeysuckle, etc. Powder, made by adding ointment, applied to the wound, and then bandaged, it has a very good effect on disinfection and hemostasis.

This battle lasted from midnight to dawn, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Yongwang Army suffered more than 6,000 casualties, and the Jianghan Army suffered more than 1,000 casualties.

At this time, Ji Guangchen saw that the morale of the soldiers was gradually declining and that there was no hope of attacking the city. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh and said, "Retract the troops!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The gong for withdrawing troops sounded, and the attacking soldiers on the battlefield finally breathed a sigh of relief, carried the wounded soldiers, and retreated like an ebbing tide.