Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

In the early morning, the sun has not yet risen, and the sky and the earth are shrouded in dim light and faint white mist. As usual, Guo Shao walked out of a tile-roofed house. There were hammered willow branches in the wooden bucket at the door. He took the willow branches and began to brush his teeth.

Only at this time, the outside of Shouzhou City is so peaceful, and the surroundings are gradually bustling, like the early morning of the market, and like the craftsmen who work day and night after sunrise, just camping here, and the battle has not yet started. People have just had breakfast, have not yet fully entered the state, and slowly start to prepare for the day, and the sun has not yet appeared at this time. The generals did not urge them much.

Behind the first wooden fence of the earth wall, some soldiers were buttering the riprap carts, some were wiping with a cloth, and some craftsmen were hammering rivets with "clinking".

Finally, the first ray of sunlight pierced the mist like a sharp arrow, and the sky and the earth seemed to light up suddenly. A soldier straightened up, lazily trying to catch his breath while the sun was shining. But at this moment, the city gate suddenly opened slowly. The soldier couldn't believe his eyes, he quickly rubbed his eyes and looked again, the suspension bridge was also being lowered.

"Bang!" The suspension bridge was built on the bank of the dry moat. Suddenly, a group of cavalry, both men and horses in armor, came out.

The soldiers of the Zhou army inside the fence were all shocked and stood there in a daze. No one could believe that the Southern Tang army could still come out after being surrounded for two months! Finally someone shouted: "Shouzhou soldiers are coming!"

Groups of elite knights cantered forward on their horses with their heads held high. Their vigorous figures and the brilliance of steel formed a powerful landscape in the rising sun.

Someone in the Tang army raised his sword and shouted: "The Tang army is victorious in a hundred battles!" There was no deflection in the direction, as if it had been premeditated, and it was approaching the Muzhai Gate in Zhou Jun's fortification. On the archery towers on both sides, a Zhou army archer drew the bowstring, and with a "snap", he drew the first arrow of the battle.

A knight was hit by an arrow below his collarbone, his body tilted and fell off his horse, and fell heavily on the solid soil with a "bang".

At the gate of the village, some soldiers of the Zhou army hurriedly put the horse outside, closed the gate of the village hastily, and were carrying logs up. "Swoosh..." A swarm of arrows flew in, some were nailed to the wooden door, and some pierced through the gaps, and several people fell down amidst the shouts. These soldiers had no armor, only helmets and goggles.

The cavalry had rushed to the front of the stronghold, turned around and circled from the door, and a knight turned sideways and pulled the bowstring with a very skillful movement. "Crack!" The arrow flew out from the side, piercing the eyebrows of a soldier nearby. The knights in front got off their horses one after another, moved the rejected horses away, and knocked open the gate of the village.

The Zhou army soldiers inside turned around and ran away. But at this time the cavalry of the Tang army had already rushed up, and the knight in front was holding a cherry spear, leaning on the side of the horse, and stabbed the cherry spear into the soldier's back neatly. More cavalry rushed into the fortifications, and people fled in all directions, screaming and screaming after being hacked and shot.

A horse rushed to a huge catapult, and the man on the horse smashed an earthen pot in his hand. With a "bang", the earthen pot hit the wood and shattered, and black thick kerosene poured down from the wooden frame. Almost at the same time, a torch from behind flew upside down, with a "boom", the flames and thick smoke rushed up together. The entire catapult was burned in an instant, and the movement was clean and neat.

...Guo Shao rode out to the west on horseback, seeing the thick smoke billowing everywhere in the wilderness, his face was already very ugly. At this time, a knight ran over and met Guo Shao. He hurriedly got off his horse and reported: "Report to recruit envoys, Tang soldiers poured out from the west gate and attacked my camp!"

Guo Shao didn't say anything, just looked at the flames and black smoke everywhere in the distance, and felt that what the person reported was nonsense.

Not long after, Li Chuyun and several generals rode up along the road and said: "The first army is gathering to form an army. The two commanders are ready and here!" When Guo Shao looked back, he heard the footsteps of "Ka Ka Ka...".

Guo Shao didn't answer anyone's words. Looking at the scene in front of him, he knew that the Tang army had at least broken through the first line of defense; because the range of the catapults was limited and heavy, most of the equipment was within the first line of defense, and the loss was heavy. But he didn't say anything irrelevant, so what's the use of saying those useless things?

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said in a deep voice: "In the second line of defense, the First Army of the Left (West) Dianqian Battalion is in the southeast of the city gate, and the tooth soldiers of the governor of Suzhou are stationed in the south... Immediately take the command flag and send a fast horse to deliver the order, ordering the troops stationed in the same place not to be chaotic, and wait for the opportunity."

"Decree!"

Guo Shao said again: "The commanders of the First Army of the Tiger Army, immediately send reinforcements to Ximen."

At this time, a general said: "Seeing that something happened here, will the Second Army in the southeast rush over for reinforcements?"

Li Chuyun replied: "It should be, Wang Zhang will not die waiting for orders at this time."

The general reminded again: "Will the Tang army use the strategy of diverting the tiger away from the mountain and attacking the west?"

Li Chuyun pondered for a moment, then said: "Tang soldiers just made a surprise attack, and they were able to break through our line by surprise. Now that the battle has already started, sending troops to the east may not be effective. Besides, the defenders have limited strength, unless they want to abandon the city for a decisive battle. Otherwise, I don't think it is a wise way to attack the west at this time."

After hearing this, Guo Shao said decisively: "Send someone to order Wang Zhang to send reinforcements from the south of the city."

At this time, the forward infantry of the First Army had advanced, and Guo Shao asked Li Chuyun to lead the First Army to follow up and attack the Southern Tang Army decisively. Then he led Yang, Luo, Luo Yanhuan and their own soldiers, a total of forty or fifty cavalry, to rush to the west of the city.

After running for two miles, I saw the cavalry of the Tang Army clearing the way with heavy cavalry, sweeping towards the south of the city. At first glance, it looked like a mighty herd of horses galloping, but the forwards of the Tang army only had two or three hundred horses in total.

The cavalry came from the west, and the momentum was superior. The large number of defenders in the Zhou army's front position were in disarray. There were so many people that they could not fight the cavalry in a dense formation.

When Luo Yanhuan saw this, he turned his head and begged for orders. Seeing Guo Shao nodding, he immediately rushed forward, followed by several generals and dozens of cavalry. Guo Shao also rushed up, and drew the saber from his back.

"Crack!" Luo Yanhuan galloped on his horse and leaned over to ride and shoot. One arrow at a time, killing several enemies in a row, rushing close to the enemy cavalry, discarding the bow and arrow and pulling out the iron sword. All the generals also went up to kill the generals with their long weapons. All of them were determined to be generals since they were young, and they were very skilled. Although the cavalry of the Zhou army was small, they were very fierce. As soon as they approached the enemy, they cut off the protruding part of the cavalry of the Tang army;

Guo Shao and others followed behind, and soon saw the Tang Army infantry fighting in the raging fire and smoke. It seemed that the Tang army's large infantry also wanted to attack westward, but some Zhou army's miscellaneous troops rushed out from the second fence on the flank, and they were fighting in a mess.

The miscellaneous troops attacked by the Zhou army seemed to be part of the governor of Suzhou's dental soldiers and a large group of rural soldiers. Few of them were not fully armored, and their limited combat power could not break through the flanks of the Southern Tang army. Seeing a group of Tang Army infantry advancing in the middle of the road, Guo Shao hurriedly shouted: "Let's go!"

The generals followed him, turned their horses and ran backwards. The Southern Tang infantry team couldn't keep up with their legs and was quickly left behind.

After about a stick of incense, a commander of the First Army of the Hu Jie Army rushed to the battlefield first. The troops trotted and marched up in a hurry, and encountered the infantry brigade of the Tang Army rushing south. Without further ado, the commander of Hu Jie's army shouted: "Kill!" The two groups of men and horses fought in a melee in the middle, and the swords and soldiers brandished like a large pot of water boiling.

Soon the other six commanders of the Hu Jie Army also arrived one after another, the front spread to the two wings, and several troops outflanked and attacked. Not long after, the fighting Tang soldiers were defeated and fled to the west. They were overwhelmed by Hu Jie's army, and their bodies were abandoned all the way.

Guo Shao followed Hu Jie's soldiers and horses to chase and kill Erlidi, and saw that the west gate of Shouzhou was opened, and a group of cavalry from the Southern Tang Army entered the city first, followed by a group of troops that did not disperse. Then came the chaotic rout.

Hu Jie's soldiers jumped out of the fence and chased after the city gate. Not long after, the suspension bridge was pulled up, and the broken soldiers behind shouted, and many people rolled into the dry river bed.

Guo Shao's generals and cavalry were the first to rush towards the city gate. At this time, arrows rained down from the tower, and the soldiers who rushed too fast were hit by several arrows, and everyone had to pat their horses and retreat. When the Hujie infantry followed up, the Nantang rebels who hadn't entered the city simply surrendered one after another, and walked over with their backs to the city wall.

There are shouts from all sides, but the fighting has gradually ended.

Guo Shao felt that this battle was won, because the circle of the siege of the city was larger than the city wall, two hundred steps away from the city, and the circumference was at least 20 li. But because of the preparations, they encircled and intercepted from several sides and defeated the Tang army...the enemy soldiers retreated into the city only after they were defeated!

But in fact, the results of the battle cannot be calculated in this way. Most of the catapults and ladders in the west of the city are still burning and smoking, making a mess, and the ordnance parts being transported from Bagong Mountain by the Feishui River have been burned all the way. Losing so many equipment all at once was the result of being rushed out by the defenders from the city. Guo Shao felt that things were very bad.

Before that, he was also wary that Tang Jun might rush out to counterattack, but he really couldn't be sure. Liu Renzhan really did this! It really surprised Guo Shao.

Amidst the thick smoke, Guo Shao sat on his horse and looked around, speechless for a long time, falling into Chen Si. He suddenly said to Li Chuyun: "Perhaps we were still careless and didn't pay enough attention to the counterattack of the defenders, so we were attacked like this?"