Xu You held the sack above his head, but held tightly the shield and long knife hidden in the sack with one hand.

Although he was wearing the same civilian clothes as those of the Sichuan soldiers, with only a blue bandage tied on his head, he was wearing chain mail underneath.

Of course, because of the hot weather, there was only a thin sleeveless shirt under the chainmail.

There were five thousand elite infantrymen around him who had swords and shields hidden in sacks like him and wore armor under their clothes.

It's just that most of these infantrymen wear leather armor and cloth face armor, and only a few generals can wear chain mail.

Although these five thousand elite infantry cannot be compared with the 10,000 elite infantry in Zhang Xianzhong's old camp, they are still one-fourth of Li Dingguo's elite.

It should be noted that although Li Dingguo was famous for his proficiency in warfare among the four righteous sons of Zhang Xianzhong and commanded the second largest number of troops among the four righteous sons, the number of such elite infantry was currently less than 20,000.

As for the fine cavalry under his command, like Ai Nengqi, there are only more than three thousand.

Therefore, including the elite cavalry troops as the back-up force, Li Dingguo's bargaining chip is quite large.

As a general who has followed Li Dingguo for several years and grown up with him, Xu You has great trust in Li Dingguo's battlefield strategies.

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the moat, he became more and more excited.

And he yelled in his heart: Come on! Come on, the fucking army and cavalry come out and kill me!

However, seeing that the people at the front had already run to the moat and threw out the sacks, and there was still no movement from the east city gate, Xu You realized something was wrong and couldn't help but frown and slow down.

Just when he wanted the elite camouflaged infantry around him to run slower, a thundering cannon shot suddenly came from the top of the city!

Boom boom boom...

A series of gunshots seemed to explode in Xu You's heart, making his hair stand on end. He threw the sack and shouted: "Be careful with the cannons!"

In fact, Xu You wanted to withdraw at this time.

However, Li Dingguo's military orders were strict, and retreating without orders on the battlefield would be subject to military law.

So he could only remind his infantry to be careful of cannons.

Although they were not in a dense formation when they charged, the sound of cannons on the city wall was too dense and scary.

Xu You suspected that at least thirty or forty artillery pieces of various types were fired at this time.

Immediately after the sound of the cannons, there was the terrifying sound of whining through the air - not the sound of cannons breaking through the air, but the sound of giant arrows breaking through the air.

But the giant crossbows and other powerful crossbows on top of the city also launched.

All kinds of giant arrows, including hundreds of long arrows, were shot at the bandit soldiers at once!

Dozens of live ammunition and hundreds of giant arrows and long arrows fell into the bandit soldiers, immediately causing a bloody storm.

Within a few breaths, there were two to three hundred casualties.

Although this number is nothing compared to the tens of thousands who charged, the blow to morale was considerable.

Because in the face of cannonballs and giant arrows, neither a well-equipped and powerful general like Xu You nor the Sichuan soldiers who were cannon fodder could control their lives.

If anyone is lucky enough to be selected by a cannonball or giant arrow, he has no choice but to accept his fate.

This feeling is undoubtedly extremely bad.

Although Xu You was not lucky enough to be selected by the shells in the first round of shelling, he was almost skewered into candied haws by giant arrows along with others.

At this time, he was not only afraid, but also disappointed.

The defenders did not send cavalry, but bombarded with cannons and giant crossbows, which was obviously an insight into Li Dingguo's tactics.

In other words, Li Dingguo's strategy failed.

···

On the lookout car in the military formation, Li Dingguo had an ugly look on his handsome face, but he did not hesitate and directly ordered: "Ming Jin, withdraw the troops!"

The cannons and giant crossbows at the top of the city can only fire one round.

It should be noted that it is very easy for ordinary city defense artillery to hit a mile away, which means that if Xu You and others do not return as soon as possible, they are likely to encounter a second or even a third round of bombardment.

The most important thing is that since the defender understood his tactics, it would be a waste to let elite soldiers like Xu You mix with the Sichuan soldiers to fill in the moat.

Hearing the sound of gold ringing, Xu You and others immediately retreated, but when they retreated to a mile away from the city wall, they were bombarded again, losing nearly a hundred people.

Not long after, Xu You, who had withdrawn from the military formation, came to Wangche to plead guilty to Li Dingguo.

"The general is incompetent. I don't know how to let the dog officer army see his flaw. He failed to draw out the cavalry from the city. Please punish the general!"

The weather in August was very hot. Xu You tore off his tattered clothes on the way. He was only wearing a sleeveless shirt and chainmail. His head was covered with sweat, and his bun was a little messy because he took off his helmet.

, looking quite embarrassed.

Li Dingguo frowned and said, "It's not your fault this time. It should be the experienced guard who guessed that I would use such a strategy."

"General, how awesome is this army guard?" A young general who was always standing not far from Li Dingguo couldn't help but asked.

This person is Li Dingguo's cousin, his name is Ma Siliang, he is only one year younger than Li Dingguo, and his ability is average.

Li Dingguo heard this and said: "It's nothing magical. If a careful and cautious general guards the city, it's not difficult to think of this."

Having said that, Li Dingguo couldn't help but feel a little ashamed when he thought about how he was secretly proud when he was praised by his subordinates.

He underestimated the Sichuan officers and soldiers.

Seeing Xu You, Ma Siriang and others all looked a little depressed. Li Dingguo knew that the failure of these two tests might have damaged the morale of the army.

Then he smiled and said: "But it's not like we got nothing, at least we tested some of the artillery arrangements at the top of the city.

There should be thirty or forty cannons fired just now, half if not all the cannons on the east wall.

As for the distance, the interval between firing is longer than that of a cannon, so even if it is longer, it is not a cause for concern."

Ma Siliang asked: "So, do we officially attack the city?"

Li Dingguo looked at the sun again and estimated that it would be noon in another hour.

The weather at that time was extremely hot and was no longer suitable for siege.

He then said with a solemn expression: "Pass my general order, ten thousand Sichuan troops should go forward with earth, stone and sacks, and 30,000 infantry from other departments should carry the flying bridge, and shield chariots behind, and let Jin Tongwu's cavalry prepare. This time we are going to

Give it a serious shot!"

···

Above the city gate.

Chang Wei came again to report: "General Yang, the bandits have mobilized tens of thousands of troops this time, and I am afraid they will formally attack the city."

Yang Zhan nodded, "I know."

The front line of Li Dingguo's military formation was only more than three miles away from the city wall, and the view from the city tower was wide. Even though Yang Zhan did not have a telescope, which was in short supply, he could still see such a large mobilization of thieves.

Sure enough, just over a quarter of an hour after the thieves retreated after their second attempt failed, the war drums sounded again.

The more than 10,000 Sichuan soldiers at the forefront and the 30,000 dare-to-fight infantry behind them spread out and charged across the entire east side.

"kill-!"

Hearing the loud shouts of killing from below the city, Yang Zhan immediately said: "Send the order, fire all the artillery, and aim at the thieves carrying the flying bridge and shield carts behind!"

"yes!"

Soon, the 70 or 80 artillery pieces of various types at the top of the city began to fire continuously. At first, they mainly fired live ammunition, targeting the thieves resisting the flying bridge and the soldiers who dared to fight pushing the shield cart.

But the effect can only be said to be so-so.

For one thing, as far as the entire east city wall is concerned, there are less than seventy or eighty cannons after all, and most of them are Franchise guns, Crouching Tiger cannons and older general cannons. There is only one Hongyi cannon, and its size is relatively small.

Secondly, the gunners of the army lacked training, lacked shelling experience, and their accuracy was impressive.

Finally, the bandits were scattered when charging, with almost no dense formation. Whether it was cannons or crossbows, the number of bandits that could be killed at one time was limited.

Seeing that the bandit soldiers rushed to the moat very quickly, throwing sacks and setting up shields, and the flying bridge, shield carts and ladders from behind also rushed over, Yang Zhan was still not in a hurry.

At the military meeting in Xifu, the generals discussed that if Zhang Xianzhong really launched an all-out attack, it would be impossible for them to keep him out of the moat.

After all, there is a huge gap in military strength.

Compared with moats, city walls are the most reliable thing for defenders to rely on.

Of course, Yang Zhan would not lie down and let the thieves cross the moat.

I saw that amid the constant roar of artillery, there were flybridges that had just been erected or that had not yet been erected and were destroyed by artillery shells.

The French cannon on the city would occasionally fire a few rounds of explosive shells. Although the power was not much stronger than the live ammunition, the sound was greater and the damage to the flying bridge and shield car was also greater.

However, amid the rumbling war drums, the thieves' shouts of killing, and the stimulation of being rewarded before the battle, many thieves rushed forward with all their might and laid the flying bridge to the river.

After more than two quarters of an hour, several flying bridges were paved one after another!

Seeing this, the thieves became even more excited.

"Kill!"
Chapter completed!