Chapter 990 991 [Either death or life]

Yunzhou, Xing'an Fucheng.

Xu Mo and the masters around him were the very few people on the city wall who could still remain calm. He looked at the surging barbarian soldiers from the north, and a serious look gradually appeared in his eyes.

Judging from the number of people, these barbarians probably numbered more than 1,500, and about 300 to 400 of them were equipped with mounts. It is unknown whether they were horses domesticated in the wilderness, or whether they were plundered in Daliang these days.

, the latter should be more likely. Xu Mo was a little shocked that these barbarians were able to maintain a relatively complete formation during the attack.

The infantry is in the middle, and hundreds of cavalry are cruising on the two wings. Although the military appearance is not solemn, it is still quite orderly.

If it were in the Western or Southern Borders, an army of less than 2,000 men trying to conquer a city would probably be regarded as a joke. However, the situation in Northern Xinjiang is completely different. Not to mention the 1,000 soldiers and hundreds of guards temporarily recruited by the government.

Whether the hospital can maintain its courage when facing the barbarians, the walls of Xing'an City cannot be considered impregnable.

Daliang has no hard and fast regulations on the construction of cities in various places, but the height and strength of city walls are mostly related to actual needs. Large cities with a long history like Kyoto, Chengjing and Xingyang attached great importance to it when they were first built, and later they were continuously repaired and reinforced.

, the height of the outer city walls is more than three to five feet.

Another example is military towns such as Puqi, Jiangling, Hanyang and even Hucheng. The height of the city walls is more than three feet, and the materials are extremely strong. Most of the time, they are a nightmare for the siege party. In comparison,

, the cities in Northern Xinjiang seemed particularly fragile. Although there had been rumors of barbarians for thousands of years, no one expected the day when barbarian troops would come to the city.

The height of the outer city wall of Xing'an City is less than two feet, and it lacks various city defense facilities. For nearly a hundred years, this city has only played an extremely simple protective role.

Such a height is not a huge obstacle for the burly barbarians. They don't even need to build complete standard siege equipment. They can only use two tree trunks tied together to make a simple ladder to climb the city wall.

Xu Mo cupped his hands and said, "My surname is Xu Mingmo, from Lvliuzhuang in Kyoto. I am currently the steward of Xiangyun."

The barbarians couldn't hear clearly, and even if they could, they wouldn't care.

Fang Xun was overjoyed.

Looking back on his experiences over the years, he had always had an idea deep in his heart, and he had not even told it to his two most trusted aides.

After a moment that seemed slow but was actually fast, the barbarians approached the city wall like a tide. Without any fancy probing, as more than ten crude ladders leaned against the city wall, the siege suddenly broke out!

When death approaches, no matter you are angry, fearful or excited, all your thoughts become irrelevant.

Fang Xun asked again: "Brother Xu, has the Marquis of Zhongshan sent troops?"

Taking advantage of the opportunity for others to be frightened, the barbarian jumped up, holding a giant ax in his right hand. With his tall body and ferocious face, he looked like a ferocious beast in ancient legends.

Everyone also cheered loudly, causing the soldiers outside to be confused. Then the names of Zhongshan Hou and Zangfengwei spread like the wind on the city wall, as if injecting a strong courage into everyone.

That is, after the news of the barbarians crossing the border came, he was keenly aware that Xing'an Fucheng might become the target of the barbarians' attack. His initial idea was to ask Shu Yi, the commander of the Xuanhua camp, for help. If he could get the support of two to three thousand defenders

, he could safely raise the money and food needed to defend the city. However, the strength of the Xuanhua camp was really limited, and Jianzhifu City was guarded by Jiuliguan in the north, so Ge ​​Shuyi paid no attention to Fang Xun.

Fang Xun and others turned to look, and Xu Mo said hastily: "Master Fu, the barbarians are cruel and arrogant. When they gain power, their strength will increase exponentially. If they are allowed to march straight in, all life in the city will be destroyed. The only solution now is to encourage them.

With a strong military spirit, we fought the barbarians on the city wall to the death, trying our best to delay and block their momentum."

Since Liejiaomi was determined to attack Xing'an Fucheng, he obviously would not be unprepared. He had learned a lot through the help of a certain southerner in the past two years.

The soldiers turned their heads to look around, and saw the magistrate, who was always gentle and elegant, with his right hand raised high, holding an ordinary long sword in his hand. Although they were still frightened in their hearts, following Fang Xun's words

After expressing their stance, at least there was no embarrassing scene of collapse without a fight on the city wall.

The barbarian grinned and roared at the defenders on the city wall. Everyone backed away with fear on their faces. Just when he was about to occupy this corner, several strong figures in the crowd ran like meteors.

He looked down and saw that a long knife had been inserted deeply into his abdomen.

Fang Xun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The barbarians came so fast and fiercely. He just felt that he was not fully prepared. Even at the moment when he first saw them, his mind went blank.

The barbarian waved his giant ax to repel the attacks of the two masters, but suddenly felt a sharp pain.

At this time, a loud voice sounded on the city wall: "Don't panic, everyone, I will live and die with you! Our wives, children, and children are all in the city. If we run away at this time and the barbarians attack the city, no one will survive.

Come down!"

Fang Xun felt that this suggestion made some sense, but before he could agree, Xu Mo standing next to him said in a deep voice: "Absolutely not!"

When the barbarians rush here, of course there will be no reaction on the city wall. Unfortunately, there are no archers in the city. Dozens of temporarily organized Orion archers use their own longbows. The sparse arrow rain is better than nothing.

It did not cause effective damage to the approaching barbarians.

Li Zheng frowned. He felt that his idea was very good, and it quite captured the essence of "put yourself to death and survive" in the art of war. However, before he could open his mouth to argue, Fang Xun asked, "What do you call this brother?"

Panic continued to spread on the city walls. Most of the defenders were ordinary people with brute strength in the city. Most of them had never even touched weapons a month ago. They became soldiers this time and did not protect them.

The lofty ideal of home is only because the government government provides a salary of two taels of silver per month, and if someone is injured or killed in battle, he will receive a very generous pension.

"ah!"

Xu Mo showed slight surprise.

Fang Xun was stunned and said in disbelief: "Are you from the Zhongshan Marquis Mansion?"

In fact, barbarians do the same thing.

After the ladder was put up on the city wall, hundreds of strong barbarians climbed up the ladder and arrived at the top of the city almost in the blink of an eye. They were greeted by stones that continued to be smashed down, and swords and guns stretched out from behind the city wall. The barbarian in front of them

His face was full of flesh, and the muscles on his broad body were bulging. After raising his hand to grab a stabbing spear, he twisted his waist and abdomen with force, and actually picked up the defender, and then threw him down with a maniacal laugh.

city ​​wall.

At this moment, facing the barbarians who were getting closer and closer in their sight, looking at their burly bodies and ferocious faces, many people began to tremble involuntarily, their calves became weak and their whole bodies felt weak.

Li Zheng wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at the barbarians rushing outside the city, gritted his teeth and said: "Master, the barbarians are powerful, and the defenders are all newcomers, I'm afraid they won't be able to defend the city. In my humble opinion

, it is better to give up the city defense proactively and lead the barbarians into the city to start street fighting, which may delay it long enough until reinforcements arrive!"

Xu Mo said seriously: "That's right."

Xu Mo remained calm, but pursed his lips tightly and held the steel knife tightly in both hands. When his two companions rushed towards the barbarians first, he suddenly took a few steps from the flank.

Fang Xun suddenly sighed softly and said to his left and right: "Today, all city defense affairs will be subject to the orders of Brother Xu."

When things developed to this stage, Fang Xun didn't know whether he was happy or worried. He immediately took it upon himself to raise food and soldiers, and strengthened the city's defenses as much as possible. If the barbarians really came to attack the city, as long as they could defend the city and save nearly 200,000 people,

People, this is a credit that no one can take away. When the time comes, he will be able to return to Kyoto as a matter of course.

Xu Mo glanced at the expectant or nervous expressions around him. He couldn't help but reach out and pull out the steel knife. He nodded without changing his expression and said, "Don't dare to hide it. We only need to hold on for three hours. The reinforcements from the Zangfeng Guard will arrive."

Hold the knife in your hand tightly and stab the enemy, or tremble and wait for the opponent's weapon to hit you.

However, when he saw the crazy momentum of the barbarians with his own eyes, all the prepared plans and responses seemed to be frozen in an instant. If not for the urgent reminder from his staff behind him, Li Zheng, he would not even be able to say those words to stabilize the morale of the army.

Before the barbarian could continue to struggle and fight back, Xu Mo lowered his body and grabbed the barbarian's ankle, and suddenly pulled himself up from the ground!

The barbarians crashed down the city wall.

All this happened almost in the blink of an eye, with the surrounding soldiers watching blankly.

Xu Mo wiped the blood on his face and roared: "If you don't want to die, just pick up the knife and let me kill the enemy!"
Chapter completed!