Early autumn.

South Zhili, Luzhou Prefecture.

It has been besieged for more than ten days, and the siege is becoming increasingly fierce. The morale of the people in the city has gradually turned from the initial fear to calmness, like the loud war drums, the shouts of the soldiers, the screams of the dead and wounded... all are difficult.

Part of life is something you are born with and get used to.

But at this time, on top of the city, the face of Commander-in-Chief Sun Jie was filled with anxiety - he knew that it was finally time to make a decision.

Sun Jie was not worried about the small group of enemy soldiers who had already boarded the city: they were compressed into a section of about two to three feet, and were closely surrounded by his own side. The walls on both sides were still in his hands, so there would be no danger. According to yesterday's report,

Judging from the situation of the battle, it is certain that thieves will attack the city today, and it will continue in the next few days. In this era, it is rare for the attackers to attack the city by climbing on the wall for many days.

Destroy the walls, kill the living forces, and more importantly, spread fear to undermine the morale of the defenders and residents. In fact, Sun Jie also hopes that the enemy will continue to climb up - because he knows his own strength and is confident that he will try his best to defeat the enemy after they climb the wall.

Kill and injure many of their elites...

His uneasiness came from outside the city.

After temporarily handing over the flag and command to the deputy general Shen Chenggang, Sun Jie led several guards down the city wall with a sullen expression.

Dozens of men were squatting at the base of the inner wall. Most of them were bowing their heads in silence, with no expression on their dull faces. When these guys were gathered a few days ago, some were begging on their knees, some were wailing, and some were crying.

I peed my pants. However, after waiting for a few days, I realized that I could not change my fate. I became desperate and everyone silently accepted the death that was bound to come. They were all guys who had violated military laws in the camp. In normal times,

It might just be the crime of receiving a fat beating or traveling through the arrow camp, but in extraordinary times, you need to pay the price with your life. There are still a few people talking and laughing loudly and making vulgar jokes in excitement.

They used this method to hide their fear - these were volunteers who made a deal with Sun Jie for various reasons: the price was also their own lives.

Sun Jie looked at it silently for a moment, waved his hand, and picked up several sets of burdens that had been prepared.

Seeing the burden, the men squatting and leaning against the wall stopped talking and laughing, stood up one after another, and lined up silently.

The first load was two jars of wine, followed by stacks of stoneware bowls and large pieces of fat.

Sun Jie wants to toast them.

Strong wine.

Lieutenant General Shen nodded to the messenger, who raised a small triangular flag and waved it. Seeing this, the officers responsible for defending the surrounding sections of the city wall called their names and dispatched their most elite archers to rush to the section of the city gate.

The archers formed a dense column behind the crenel, with everyone's arrows resting on the arrow rests, and those in front started to half-open their bows. On the outside of the archer column, there was a team of dozens of crossbowmen, and the crossbow machines were all ready.

The string was stretched.

Lieutenant General Shen on the city tower glanced at the team of crossbowmen out of the corner of his eye, looked towards the city at Sun Jie, and slashed down with his raised hand.

Following a burst of rapid banging, banging, banging, and several muffled sounds, several iron spears shot out from the bed crossbow. A shield car was hit head-on and instantly fell into pieces. The huge inertia caused the

The spearhead penetrated the human body behind the car, inserted diagonally into the soil, and nailed the man to the ground. He was lucky: it passed through the chest and died on the spot without pain. The other iron spear hit slightly,

The shield cart with a corner torn off jumped up, and screams suddenly sounded out - they were the screams of those who were hit by the shattered fragments. Rusty armor, dirty clothes, and blood-soaked soil,

Deeply embedded in the human body. In the era without antibiotics, many of them would slowly die over the next few days due to infection.

Immediately afterwards, a torrential rain of arrows came from every crenel above the city gate. After each archer finished firing, he immediately stepped back and lined up at the end of the team. The archers behind him who had already fully drawn their bows took up their positions, shot, and then fired.

After stepping back, the third person steps forward and fires... the crossbow is a little slower, but the hit rate and killing effect are obviously better.

A qualified archer's physical limit is about 20 rounds of full-bow shooting, during which he must control his rhythm. This kind of rapid shooting that does not spare any physical strength is extremely rare: at most, his arms will be sore and numb after only ten rounds.

No bow - this is an all-or-nothing approach.

In an instant, the enemy's follow-up troops were suddenly exposed to the sudden and intensive firepower! The panic-stricken armored soldiers protected their vital points with round shields while looking for cover. The offensive momentum came to an abrupt halt...

Sun Jie raised his head, poured the low-quality water and wine in the pottery bowl down his throat, and compared the empty bowls in his hands to his brothers. The suicide squad members also drank down the empty bowls in their hands, and then threw the empty bowls in their hands on the ground. There was a smashing sound.

Mixed with noisy shouts:

Commander, let us kill the thieves!

Commander, see you in the next life!

Marshal, see you in twenty years!

Sun Jie nodded with a livid face, and then looked up at the tower.

A soldier covered his helmet with one hand and quickly glanced around the outside of the city. He turned around and waved desperately. The flag bearer waiting on the inside waved the triangular military flag and waved it violently, as if he had exhausted all his strength. Sun Jie rushed towards the defenders at the city gate.

With a nod, he turned around and bowed and clasped his fists: "On this day every year, Mr. Sun will offer a cigarette to all the brothers. As long as Mr. Sun is here, he will never stop drinking and eating for the brothers. Brothers, we will see you in the next life!"

The heavy door latch was removed, the city gate slowly opened a gap, and the death squads rushed out with shouts!

The few people behind were unarmed and were holding large oil cans.

Everyone is shirtless.

They know that until they die, the city gate behind them will never be opened for them again - that bowl of hot bad wine and a piece of fat meat boiled in salt water are the price of a life.

They don't need protection.

They just need to kill enemies and destroy enemy crashes.

Then, go to death.

…

The shouts of death outside the city gate and the screams of agony gradually became silent.

Along with the sound of burning, the air was filled with the smell of burning.

He looked up at the few plumes of thick smoke in the sky, and there was no need to wait for the flag on the city head to convey the message. Sun Jie knew that the enemy's ramming vehicles, shield vehicles, and soldiers were no longer a threat.

The city gate was saved.

At least the next few days will be safe: it will take a long time for the enemy to build another batch of siege equipment.

The price is dozens of lives.

Sun Jie handed a few pages of paper tightly held in his hand to the guard captain Shi Erlei. The paper was densely packed with names. This was the last trace left in this world by those who protected the city gate with their lives.

Some of the suicide squad members had a blood feud with the attacking thieves, some wanted to repay a favor, and some wanted to let their relatives receive the kindness of Marshal Sun. The court was too far away and too vague. They only knew that Marshal Sun would not harm them, and that was enough.

or, coerced, more.

Sun Jie didn't know much about literacy, so the master wrote down everyone's names.

Shi Erlei solemnly took the list, wrapped it in oil paper, held it solemnly in his arms, and followed the officer to the corridor of the city gate tower again.

After the war, if he is still alive, he will find a craftsman to carve each name into a god tablet and put it in the camp, together with the tablets of other brothers who took the first step. Well, they are all bleeding together, over there

, will also take care of each other. From now on, Master will remind Sun Jie every year on this day and lead them to light three sticks of incense and burn some paper money.

This is the life of a warrior.

On the earthen ramparts outside the city gate, the attacking commander-in-chief Guan Shengyun silently looked at the burning car wreckage in the distance.

Today's rhythm was not well controlled: the feint attack at the south gate was launched too early. After the defenders withstood the attack, they still had room to support the west gate. However, Guan Shengyun also knew in his heart that even if the timing was perfectly grasped, the result would be the same: the defenders withstood the attack.

Fang had the advantage of the view from the city gate tower. Whether he had brought siege engines or not, and how many trebuchets he had set up, it was not difficult to judge whether the main attack would be a feint attack, but there was no other way.

The city wall is another major advantage of the defender. Without the auxiliary soldiers who have been spattered with blood in close combat, it is of little use in field battles. However, when defending the city, whether it is shooting arrows, artillery or throwing stones, with the cover of the battlements, long-distance fighting is almost complete.

Can be used as a soldier.

Guan Shengyun looked at the flames and black smoke in the distance, his heart bleeding.

This group of people who rushed forward were all elites who dared to fight.

There were more than one thousand generals and three general generals, and he could even call out the names or nicknames of twenty or thirty of the veterans! When setting off, he heard several guys behind the shield car chanting that they must give him a name after entering the city.

The mother-in-law at home grabbed some pieces of good cloth to make clothes, and it would be great if she could get some jewelry. The stupid Shuanzi, who had never married, kept vowing to grab a wife, and he even laughed and cursed a few times...

In the blink of an eye, it was all gone.

He looked up at the sun in the west and said, "Retract your troops."

Let’s fight again tomorrow.

The attacking troops successively received flag orders from the messengers - in fact, even if there was no order, everyone knew that it was almost time to withdraw. Of course, people in this era did not understand that due to lack of animal protein intake, insufficient A vitamins in the human body can lead to night blindness, but

Generals all know that most soldiers can't see anything at night. Night battles are a fight to the death: almost all of them are half-blind. In a melee, your chance of being chopped down by your comrades is even greater than your chance of being chopped down by the enemy.

a little.

The officers on the front line heard the crisp sound of gold and began to organize an orderly retreat.

The catapult adjusted its direction and angle and began to throw the stone projectiles at the city walls on both sides. The stone projectiles were wrapped in thick straw, which was soaked in grease. The accuracy was still very different, but some of them would hit the wall stacks or land on the walking paths.

The splashing flames will delay reinforcements from the enemy for a while.

The shield soldiers hold their large shields diagonally close to the base of the city wall to provide protection for the crossbowmen. There is no horse face in Luzhou City, so the base of the city wall is relatively safe: unless you lean forward to throw, there will not be much danger. The infantry archer catches the arrow and

, would jump out in twos and threes at any time, shoot quickly at the top of the city, and then jump back under the shield shed. The crossbowmen were much calmer. They scattered and hid in places they thought were safe, patrolling with their crossbows held high.

The target will be fired, then hide in the shield shed, sit down on the ground, kick with your feet, and wind the crossbow. The crossbow with a high rate of fire is no match for the infantry bow: it takes a skilled crossbowman to complete the shooting preparation.

It is enough for a new archer to complete three firings - but the effect is not the same. Ordinary infantry bow feather arrows are difficult to penetrate armor, and even cotton armor is not easy to penetrate. Soldiers wearing heavy armor have seven or eight arrows stuck in their bodies, which is nothing but a hindrance.

It’s not a big deal, at best it’s just a little red on the skin, and even the mountain armor worn by a military attache of the third rank or above is vulnerable to crossbow arrows!

The soldiers who had already stormed the city quickly gathered into a semicircle formation, taking turns to cover, and first hoisted the injured comrades off the city wall. Several short ladders came up on both sides of each ladder, and the spearmen held up the two-foot-long ladder.

The long horses and spears were placed on the battlements to gain strength, and they were attacking everywhere, trying to create some space for the brothers at the top of the city. The exhausted defenders did not press too hard: after all, no one wants to die in victory or defeat.

Today has been divided.

The soldier behind the break was called Liang Laosi, a tiger general under Guan Shengyun's tent. Liang Laosi first hit a nearby man's leg with his round shield, and then swung the steel knife in a semicircle, slightly forcing the enemy soldiers back.

He yelled "hit", threw his hand at the enemy directly in front, twisted across the battlements, turned over and jumped onto the ladder.

The shield soldiers quickly divided into several teams: some stacked their shields to form a turtle formation, protecting the wounded and unarmored archers in the middle. Several crossbowmen who had already stretched their strings were close to the shield soldiers, and fired through the gaps between the shields.

The enemies on the city wall conducted interference shooting, and several groups of large shields formed a shield wall to cover the soldiers who carried ladders and trotted away.

For bed crossbows, shield arrays are also relatively easy targets to hit. But the retreating soldiers will not worry about this - they know that the primary targets of precious iron spears are shield carts - those covered with cowhide and wet

The wooden frame of the quilt is far more valuable than your own life.

Guan Shengyun's catapult adjusted its direction again and threw it at the city wall directly in front, providing the final cover for the retreating brothers.
Chapter completed!