vstars Chapter 306 Siege
Chapter 306 Siege
A few days later.
On the west city wall of Yidu Prefecture.
The flag of Da Shun was faded and old; although it fluttered in the wind, it always exuded a sense of loneliness and desolation.
Beneath the "Shun" flag, a brand-new "Yan" flag fluttered in the wind.
At the foot of the city wall.
More than a thousand elite bandit infantrymen formed ranks in the distance, ready to attack. In front of them were civilians captured from the surrounding countryside, all crying and carrying soil as they ran forward.
These people included men, women, and children, and their clothing reflected their social status, with some wearing linen, others cotton, and still others fine silk.
But in the eyes of the enemy on the battlefield, they were all equal, merely cannon fodder to wear down the city's defenses.
The current task of these cannon fodder is to throw sandbags into the moat to fill it up and create a passage for subsequent attacks.
On the city wall.
Yang Silang glanced down at the chaotic scene and could clearly see the panicked and distorted expressions of the people, as well as hear their desperate cries and screams.
His face was ashen, devoid of any other expression.
Meanwhile, Fu Hongying, Xiao Yue, and the others around them, who were weighing the items, already showed expressions of reluctance.
Since the day I was drafted into the army.
As expected, Yan Nanxing kept his word and brought everyone from the Yang family, the Tong family father and son, and even Su Zhixiu, who was in charge of weighing and balancing, into his camp.
General Hei and the governor divided the two thousand warriors recruited from the training ground into four large teams and assigned them to the guards on the four city walls.
We don't expect these warriors to go out of the city to kill the enemy; we just need them to engage in close combat and drive the enemy off the city walls when they charge up.
In addition, the governor and the general did take it to heart.
Perhaps concerned with their future wealth and glory, they reorganized the city's garrison, forming a "superior" force of 10,000 men centered around General Hei's 5,000 troops.
In addition, wealthy merchants and commoners in the city were mobilized, and more than 20,000 local militiamen were gathered by sending their servants and able-bodied men.
General Hei was in the center directing and coordinating operations.
The able-bodied men were assigned to work alongside the regular soldiers, taking turns guarding the city day and night.
Generally speaking, during the day, more soldiers from the camp are deployed, while at night, the local militia are the main force, with elite soldiers still in their armor and ready to provide support with knives.
Also.
General Hei personally led his personal guard battalion, holding two thousand elite household guards and cavalry, ready to launch a counterattack out of the city at any time.
Yang Silang and his men went up the city wall and guarded it for several days.
The bandits launched a few rudimentary attacks in the past few days.
Yang Silang didn't even draw his sword; he simply raised his bow and shot a few times, reaping several heads.
Although they easily repelled the bandits' siege, everyone's spirits gradually sank.
Over the course of several days, everyone watched as large groups of bandits arrived outside the city, their ranks stretching out so far they almost blocked the main road, and set up scattered shacks outside the city.
Finally, the shelters, as numerous as the stars in the sky, encircled the entire outer city.
It should be noted that at the beginning, the bandits only set up a large camp outside the city gate and blocked the docks.
The so-called siege of a city requires several times the number of troops and a long period of time to dig trenches to completely besiege it.
The bandits could only set up camp outside the city gates and send out several cavalry patrols, which was enough to cut off the exchange of goods and the entry and exit of most of the troops in and out of Yidu Prefecture.
However, if scattered groups of people find the right opportunity and loophole, especially at night, they can still come and go.
Over the course of several days.
The city then sent messengers out to communicate with those inside and outside the city, and learned that several nearby prefectures had not yet been attacked.
It seems the bandits are determined to take down the provincial government first.
The bandit army has now arrived, and at first glance, it appears to number in the hundreds of thousands. Several large camps are connected by wooden fences and shacks, effectively surrounding Yidu Prefecture.
Although most of these hundreds of thousands of people were not elite troops, their sheer number was still terrifying.
One of the leaders of the rebel kings, numbering over 100,000, was known as King Li, and was one of the major rebel kings who rose up in the early days.
It is said that it also has the support of sects and aristocratic families.
Therefore, they were quite powerful and ambitious. Even though the Ming King had almost completely defeated the enemy in the north, his army was strong and well-equipped, and he had the ambition to conquer the country.
Li Tianwang was willing to go south to carve out his own territory, never giving up his ambition to conquer the world.
During his southward march, he incorporated many small groups of bandits, eventually forming a large army of 200,000 cavalry and infantry.
Although the number is somewhat exaggerated, it is said that there are tens of thousands of veteran soldiers who are capable of fighting. Among them, a lot of surrendered soldiers from the Shun Dynasty were incorporated, so the fighting was quite organized.
Yang Silang looked down from the city wall.
Those people carrying soil in front are all unfortunate people captured from nearby villages and towns.
They cried out, they ran.
However, their fate was also sealed; they were destined to die beneath the city walls.
General Hei issued a clear order, and in the past, bandits had used this tactic of driving the people to attack cities to capture many cities.
The thieves are cunning and deceitful; we must be wary. Let the guards unleash their arrows and fight without mercy, or the city will fall and we'll all be doomed.
After the common people became cannon fodder.
It was a military formation of over a thousand men, not very well organized.
But there were more than a dozen simple siege ladders in that formation, which were prepared for use in attacking the city and climbing to higher ground;
There were also long battering rams, covered with iron sheets, with iron drills on the top and wheels underneath, and soldiers hidden inside. They could be used to dig up city walls or destroy city gates.
There were also thick logs, carried by many people, ready to be used to ram the city gate.
This thousand-man army, all fully armored, was eager to fight and clearly no pushovers; they must all be seasoned veterans.
Behind the army of over a thousand men.
These were catapults and repeating crossbows lined up in a row.
There were also moat bridges used for quickly crossing the moat, and chariots used to dig up the base of the walls and fill the moat.
Just by looking at these weapons, you can tell that Li Tianwang's army has already become quite powerful.
Even when government troops attack a city, they only use the same few tricks.
Behind the weapons was the main force of the enemy army.
Nearly ten thousand people were divided into more than ten formations on the open field, as if a forest had sprung up from the flat ground.
Amidst the army, a flag bearing the character "Li" fluttered high.
Among them, several dozen generals escorted one person as they rushed to the front of the formation to observe the defensive posture of the city wall.
Surrounded by stars, the man in the center was a tall, imposing figure clad in golden armor, riding a demonic tiger, exuding an aura of majesty.
This must be Li Tianwang.
Among the dozen or so small groups, one group had a flag hanging in front of it that read "A Gust of Wind".
The gust of wind must be that bandit leader, Cao Tou Wang, whom I had dealt with before. Back then, I led a group of warriors, along with Chai Qing and Guo Laogan, to charge through enemy lines. I wonder if I ever killed any of his generals.
Those around Yang Silang gasped in shock at the sight of the enemy's formation.
Yan Nanxing frowned.
"This battle is going to be tough..."
"That Governor Yuan has really given the rebel army a great gift!"
"Without the help of government troops, how could the bandits possibly operate those chariots and catapults!"
In terms of numbers, Li Tianwang's troops far outnumbered the government troops, who could only stand by relying on the city walls, and more importantly, the enemy also had sophisticated siege equipment.
The fact that Li Tianwang dared to use him shows that he truly has capable people under his command.
Without a doubt, it must be because after Governor Yuan's army was completely wiped out last time, the skilled officers and soldiers who were captured surrendered to the bandits.
at this time.
A major earthquake occurred.
The people carrying sacks of earth, driven forward, cried out as they approached the city wall, which was a hundred paces away, where a row of small stakes were driven into the ground.
Yan Nanxing suddenly waved his hand downwards, and a messenger behind him sounded a bugle call.
Buzz!
On the city wall, the soldiers with bows immediately nocked their arrows, then released them.
Countless arrows flew out, tracing beautiful yet dangerous arcs in the air, almost obscuring the sky.
Some of the people who were carrying soil on their backs and running while crying had already blurred their vision with tears, and at this moment they felt a sudden darkness above their heads.
I haven't realized it yet.
Puff puff!
Countless arrows rained down from the sky.
They were not wearing armor, and the Heavenly King's army forced them to carry more soil. They were not even given a wooden plank to block arrows, let alone a shield.
The people could only take the arrows raining down on them with their bare hands.
Many people groaned as they collapsed, struck in the head and body by arrows. Others, who had not been hit by arrows, were also tripped and fell because of the uneven ground caused by the fall of those in front of them.
However, the soldiers on the city wall fired in five volleys, rotating in shifts to ensure a continuous rain of arrows for a short period of time.
The people who surged towards the city fell in droves, along with the sacks of earth on their backs, their bodies riddled with arrows, like a patch of reeds sprouting from the flat ground.
Blood began to flow on the ground, pooling into patches of blood.
In some places, the crowds were so dense that they piled up like small mountains.
Some unlucky souls were shot in the head and died instantly, but many more were wounded but survived, groaning and crying out on the ground.
Some people even shouted at the wall who they were, who their relatives were in the city, and begged the authorities to stop shooting.
Thus, the people who had already fallen to the ground were either dead or injured, and the scene was chaotic. Many of the people carrying soil behind them stood there, crying loudly.
Moving forward means death, but turning back...
Behind them, Heavenly King soldiers had already drawn their swords and lashed out like whips used to herd sheep.
More than a dozen heads fell off.
The hesitant crowd behind screamed "Murder!" and then surged helplessly toward the city wall.
On the city wall.
The strength of the troops varied.
They had each fired three rounds, and many of them had to rest because their arms were sore.
Those with high martial prowess could also draw their bows and shoot arrows, but they were scattered and could not form a curtain of arrows to block the battlefield.
at the same time.
In the Heavenly King's army, a commander-like figure waved a flag.
A creaking sound.
The catapult's sling clicked, and stones the size of millstones were loaded into the trebuchet.
With a sound of release.
Seven or eight large stones made a terrifying sound as they were thrown into the air and crashed down on the city wall!
the other side.
Then a commander waved a flag.
The Heavenly King's army activated the repeating crossbow cart, and a long crossbow bolt was fired. These bolts had thicker and longer fletchings than ordinary arrows, and the arrowheads resembled spearheads.
bang bang bang...
A hundred or so long arrows swept across the city walls, arriving even faster than the machine gun.
Many soldiers who were drawing their bows and nocking arrows were shot down, and the crenellations on the parapets were also hit by many long arrows, with stones flying everywhere.
The key was that several huge rocks came crashing down from above, startling the soldiers into hasty dodges, and in an instant, chaos erupted on the city wall.
Yang Silang drew his bone knife from his waist, twirled it a few times, and knocked down all the long arrows that were shot at him.
Yang Silang drew his bone knife from his waist, twirled it a few times, and knocked down all the long arrows that were shot at him.
"Fourth Brother..." Wang Daniu's voice trembled as he pointed to the top of his head.
A huge rock is falling down.
Yang Silang shook his head.
"No need to dodge, it won't hit you."
boom!
The stone struck the facade of the city wall, cracking a large section of blue bricks into a spiderweb pattern...
But a hundred paces away, a millstone-sized boulder fell right at that moment.
There stood a dozen or so soldiers. With a scream, they were smashed into a bloody pulp, their blood splattering everywhere!