"Dong dong" the thundering drums resounded through the sky, and a phalanx composed of 10,000 Goguryeo soldiers slowly marched towards Houcheng. It was obvious that they planned to conduct a tentative attack before figuring out the strength of the Fengtian Army in Houcheng.

.

The first enemy these 10,000 Goguryeo soldiers encountered was not the Fengtian Army, but the hilly terrain near Houcheng.

The rugged mountainous terrain forced their army to shrink its formation when advancing, thus lengthening the entire team.

When the forward army finally reached an open area, what appeared in front of them was the defense fortifications that the Fengtian Army had just built in less than 20 days.

The Fengtian Army's fortifications mainly consist of two parts, the foundation stone of the bottom layer and the superstructure. The foundation stone of the bottom layer is generally one foot high and two feet wide. The periphery is a layer of densely arranged logs, and the middle is filled with gravel and loess.

Tamp it down tightly.

Various rooms are built on this simple foundation stone, some are used to store items, some provide rest for warriors, and some are specially designed to protect archers. Each room has different functions according to its function.

, the rooms also vary in style and size, making the entire fortification look nondescript and very messy.

Although the length of this section of fortifications that appeared in front of the Goguryeo soldiers was only three hundred meters, it tightly guarded the direction of the army's advance.

In other words, if Goguryeo wants to rush over, it must capture this defensive barrier.

After discovering this situation, the Goguryeo generals decisively issued the signal to attack.

Since the Fengtian Army's task some time ago was to focus on building peripheral fortifications, although the war has begun, the fortifications of Houcheng are still under intensive reinforcement and construction.

When Xu Kang heard the report that the war had begun, he immediately walked to a simple sand table in the center of the room. At this time, Xu Kang found someone to draw it based on the terrain near Hou Cheng. The most eye-catching thing on it was the nine sticks of different lengths.

Wood carving.

These nine wood carvings represent the nine fortifications built by the Fengtian Army in recent days. Each fortification is stationed with 300 soldiers, 100 engineers, and 700 young men. They look like nine long dragons entrenched among the hills, guarding the city of Houcheng in the center.

.

Xu Kang didn't say a word. All he could say had been said before the war. Now it depends on the loyalty and sacrifice of the soldiers.

On the front line, although the Fengtian Army's defenses were simple, they worked wonders depending on the terrain. Moreover, due to the impassable roads, the Daxing siege equipment could not be transported, forcing the Goguryeo generals to sacrifice their soldiers' lives to attack.

These simple fortifications.

For this kind of attack, the Fengtian Army had already prepared. Countless bows and arrows were thrown from various rooms. The Goguryeo soldiers who were densely concentrated in front of the fortifications had nowhere to hide. They almost fell down in rows.

In front of the position.

Although the Goguryeo soldiers were not afraid of death, they were still timid when faced with this obvious act of committing suicide, and finally had to retreat after leaving behind 3,000 corpses.

The next day, the Goguryeo army, unwilling to accept defeat, once again invested 40,000 men and launched an attack on Hou Cheng from all directions.

The six lines of defense located on the periphery encountered the enemy almost at the same time.

Xu Kang did not dare to hide his secrets easily, so a guerrilla army composed of 500 former Fengtian Army scouts and local mountain hunters was triggered.

They were divided into 10 guerrilla teams. Relying on their familiarity with the terrain, they traveled through the mountains, forests and swamps, and continued to attack.

While harassing the rear of the Goguryeo army, they hunted down the scouts who sneaked in from the alley.

Waiting until nightfall, in order to prevent the Fengtian Army from being attacked at night by the Fengtian Army who was familiar with the terrain, the Goguryeo army had to withdraw from the hilly areas and camp outside.

The Fengtian Army also took advantage of this time to dispatch troops, replace the wounded, and repair the fortifications.

In this way, when the fighting started again the next day, Goguryeo had to face a new group of more energetic defensive soldiers.

On the tenth day, due to heavy attrition of troops, the Fengtian Army had to withdraw its troops to the last three fortifications.

Goguryeo's ten-day fierce attack caused them heavy losses, especially the time consumption that made them angry. Therefore, they were unwilling to give the Fengtian army any chance to rest and recuperate, and a new round of attacks began.

Faced with the precarious situation, Xu Kang was at a loss what to do. After ten days of repairs, the defenses in Houcheng were almost complete. If used properly, defense for five days would not be a problem.

The old and weak in the city had also withdrawn from the alleys in the past few days, leaving Xu Kang without any worries.

But now this hidden path has also been destroyed by Goguryeo, completely cutting off their escape path. Moreover, Xu Kang has no intention of escaping. His promise to stick to it for fifteen days has not yet been fulfilled. It is possible to just leave like this.

Let it go.

On the twelfth day of defending Hou Cheng, the last three lines of defense were broken through. Now the Fengtian Army only had one fortification in Hou Cheng.

Xu Kang stood at the top of the city, looking at the densely packed Goguryeo troops gathering outside the city, feeling neither alarmed nor afraid.

The Goguryeo generals began to carry out routine activities to persuade them to surrender. Xu Kang was a little regretful that he did not see the opponent's coach or king.

According to the intelligence, this time Goguryeo came with an overwhelming force, and its king should have arrived. It was so insincere that he did not come to personally persuade him to surrender. Xu Kang curled his lips and asked Gong Yinglian to return a cold arrow to the opponent, with the tip of the arrow grazing the opponent's

His head flew by, scaring the shit out of the civil servant who was trying to persuade him to surrender.

It made the soldiers on the city wall laugh "haha".

The Goguryeo general became so angry that he stopped talking and issued the final order to attack.

At this time, Xu Kang still had more than 3,000 young men in his hands, which was enough to defend such a small city. Of course, the time could not be too long.

Finally, on the fifteenth day, he had less than a thousand soldiers in his hands. After defeating Goguryeo's last attack, everyone spread out on the city wall.

Xu Kang looked at the extremely tired soldiers around him with a little regret. Although they had completed their mission, the fighting for several days had exhausted all their physical strength. This made Xu Kang, who wanted to break out at the last moment, completely despair.

This night was particularly quiet. It seemed that even Goguryeo knew that Xu Kangjun had reached the last desperate situation and was waiting for the final blow tomorrow.

Xu Kang fell asleep in a daze, and was suddenly awakened by the loud shouts of killing. He ran to the city wall and saw that there was a raging fire in the Goguryeo camp opposite.

Just when all the soldiers were confused, one man rushed to the city and shouted: "Where is Deputy Commander Xu?"

Xu Kang squinted for a while and finally recognized the person and shouted: "I'm here. Is this General Yao Hu?"

The man said happily: "I am Yao Hu. Xu Shuai, please follow me and kill him."
Chapter completed!