The moon and stars were thin, and the auxiliary soldiers got up from their bunks early, and hundreds of earth stoves were lit with fire.
There were two regiments of 400 people who made pancakes, made porridge, and were responsible for the meals for the army. Baskets of large cakes and buckets of corn porridge were carried up the city wall by the auxiliary soldiers. When the sun rose in the east, in the arrow tower
The defenders came out in succession and took the time to fill a bowl of thick porridge with a wooden bowl. The gang leader used a small wooden spoon to put a spoonful of meat and vegetable soup cooked with soy sauce on top of the porridge. The defenders took the bowl handed over by the gang leader.
They were eating breakfast in twos and threes leaning against the parapet, chatting about how many levels they could advance to after this battle, how much money they could exchange for to bring to their families, and how many hectares of permanent land they would be allocated.
Breakfast is the easiest time for the defenders on the city wall. They have to guard against the Nine Barbarians attacking the city at night, and the Nine Barbarians attacking the city during the day.
At this time, not only the Zuowuguan garrison was eating, but the Jiuhu camp was also eating, but the food and drink were different.
Grab a handful of ground grain flour in the iron helmet, fill it with water, knead it into a dough, and place it next to the campfire. The ten captains are holding a basin of freshly squeezed goat milk.
The dough baked in the campfire gradually gave off the fragrance of grains. As we ate the dough, we took turns drinking a few sips of goat's milk, joking, talking about how much food we could bring back home after going south, scolding the greed of the Russians... all kinds of topics.
All, in the words, the old Jiuhu cavalry who attacked the city today filled their bellies, rinsed their iron helmets, and put the iron helmets on their heads when the temperature dropped.
"Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ..." The assembled bullhorns sounded, and the veteran cavalry formed a team under the shouts of ten men and one hundred men, and walked out of the various gates of Jiuhu Camp.
A group of old cavalry walked towards Zuowuguan. As they marched, the hundreds of people were looking for the thousands of people. Under the urging of the thousands of people, they gradually formed a thousand-man phalanx.
Compared with the previous scale of 20,000 to 30,000, today Aragbaz dispatched a full 80,000 old cavalry.
The closer we get to Zuowuguan, the less smiles we see on the faces of the old horsemen when they first had their meal. By the time they reach two miles away, there is no smile on their faces anymore.
A chilling atmosphere filled the city wall, and the sentries on the highest level of the city wall's archery tower shouted loudly about the distance between the Jiuhu people and the city wall.
"The enemy is close to five hundred steps!"
"The enemy is close to four hundred steps!"
The Nine Hu Thousand Leaders, who were already familiar with the range, shouted loudly: "Raise your shields!"
The old Jiuhu cavalry raised the huge wooden rafts they had made over their heads, and the shield formation formed by the Jiuhu people began to slowly press towards the city wall.
"The enemy is nearly three hundred steps away!"
As the sentry shouted: "The enemy is close to 200 steps!"
"Crossbowmen in position!" the brigade commanders in the archery tower issued the order, and the crossbowmen carrying crossbows with armbands on their backs in the archery tower or wooden corridor quickly ran to their fighting positions.
The crossbowmen pulled out the armband crossbows from their backs, quickly strung the crossbow, took out a crossbow arrow and placed it in the card slot.
Crossbow arrows glowing with cold light were stretched out from various holes in the wooden corridor and archery tower. The crossbowmen held armbands and crossbows, and their eyes followed Wangshan and aimed at the vacancies in the Jiuhu phalanx.
"The enemy is one hundred and fifty steps away!"
"The enemy is nearly a hundred steps away!"
"Beep!" A long, sharp whistle sounded.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!" The team behind the crossbowman was blowing his whistle.
As soon as the whistle sounded, and with a "click", the crossbow string was hung on the crossbow machine.
"Beep beep... beep beep..." a rapid whistle sounded.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
…
There was a deafening sound of crossbow strings banging from the archery towers everywhere, and thick crossbows were shot out from the archery towers. The newly neat shield array of the Nine Hu people began to appear gaps under the firing of the crossbows.
The crossbowmen fired the crossbow machine, and the crossbow arrows shot straight into the gap just made by the bed crossbow.
First, the bed crossbow broke the shield formation, and then the precise arm-opening crossbow plundered the life of the old knight in the shield formation.
The old knights of Jiuhu did not fight back. It was not the time yet. When they got close to the city wall, the old knights of Jiuhu dropped the raft in their hands.
The swordsmen and shieldmen in the formation carried light ladders and began to attack the city, and the archers began to fight back.
At the same time, the archers from Zuowuguan on the horse protruding from the city wall also began to participate in the shooting.
Jiuhu Daodun saw in all directions with his hands, eyes, and ears. He held up his round shield and tried to block the arrows that were fired at him.
The Jiuhu people who had suffered huge casualties appeared on the city wall, but fell down the city in an instant, and the screams of broken bones could be heard endlessly.
It was the Zuowuguan defenders on the city wall who separated out their spearmen. It was the spearmen who lowered their bodies and used their spears to poke the Jiuhu Swordsman and Shieldman who had finally climbed up from the city wall.
Although the longbows in the hands of the Jiuhu archers are not as refined as the Daqian crossbows, the shooting skills of the Jiuhu old horsemen are impressive.
On the siege side, the Jiuhu people suffered huge casualties, and the defenders on the city wall also felt uncomfortable. The arrows of the old Jiuhu cavalry were too poisonous and too accurate. They hit each other, and casualties began to appear on the city wall.
For some unknown reason, perhaps due to old and new grudges, the two armies, which were gradually getting angry, held their breath, and the 89,000 Hu Laoqi did not retreat despite suffering huge casualties.
This was a competition of perseverance. Time passed little by little. The blood of the Jiuhu people began to gather in the stone veins under the city wall. A stream of blood flowed down the stone veins and formed a square in the low-lying area not far from the stone veins. Lake of blood.
Both sides that fired the real fire had their entire armies pressed forward. Su Ce knew the situation on the city wall and sent all the troops on hand to the city wall. Even the auxiliary soldiers were mobilized following Su Ce's order. Thousands of people began to wear armor to prepare for emergencies.
The battle lasted for an entire hour. The Jiuhu cavalrymen who left camp in the morning suffered over 10,000 casualties, and the defenders on the city wall also suffered thousands of casualties.
The sudden decisive battle caused the entire Zuowuguan to be shrouded in blood.
Aragbaz stood on a high place and looked at Zuowuguan in the distance. He glanced at the sky, but his face was extremely ugly. The wizards said that heavy rain was coming. The Russians had been urging. Originally Aragbaz wanted to win today. Zuowuguan, but looking at the sky covered with dark clouds, Aragbari's mood was just like the sky.
"Withdraw the troops!" Aragbar gritted his teeth and told Lao Qi to retreat.
When the old cavalry retreated to the camp, thunder and lightning began in the sky. It seemed that the fighting just now angered God. After the lightning and thunder, heavy rain poured down, washing away the blood outside Zuowuguan.
A heavy rain fell from morning to noon, and many pools of red light accumulated outside Zuowuguan.
In the afternoon, the Jiuhu corpse collection team pulled a wooden cart and began to collect the corpses of the clan members.
The defenders of Zuowuguan will not attack the corpse collection team without armor. After all, neither side wants the plague to occur. What Aragbaz needs is to capture Zuowuguan. There is a southward passage. If there is a plague, this southward passage It's wasted.
After the Jiuhu people withdrew, many defenders relieved their tension and slumped on the city wall. The sky was blue in the afternoon. The defenders at Zuowuguan watched the Jiuhu corpse collection team collect the corpses and looked at the coquettish blood shining in the pool under the sun. Both the old soldiers and the soldiers who were replaced later had their throats swallowing non-stop.
As soon as the sun came out, the smell of blood mixed with the fishy smell of water that had been masked by the rain continued to irritate the nostrils of every Zuowuguan garrison.
Fortunately, in the next few days, it rained intermittently, and there was not much fighting throughout mid-July. Zuowuguan was tightly guarded and several attempts by the Jiuhu people failed.
The rain was intermittent, which made the Jiuhu people troubled. The veterans on the city wall could already see the fatigue of the Jiuhu people from the arrows they shot.
The rain surged, washing away the smell of blood, but the humidity in the valley continued to increase, and water mist would appear at noon. This made the bowstrings of the Jiuhu and Zuowuguan defenders become damp and unusable within a few days.
Although the Jiuhu people have Ross craftsmen, they do not have proper ordnance maintenance. Jiuhu's old cavalry and wolf cavalry can only use campfires to dry bow strings between sieges. However, the life of the bow strings is greatly reduced with each drying.
In the last few days of mid-month, the sound of bowstrings breaking can be heard from time to time in the arrow formations of the Jiuhu people.
The defenders at Zuowuguan were not having an easy time either, and many defenders had begun to develop rashes on their bodies.
However, thanks to the generals and military doctors in Guanbei, the loss of ordnance and skin diseases of personnel caused by humidity did not have much impact.
The rain dampened the ambition of the Jiuhu people before setting off for the expedition, and the Zuowuguan garrison also took the opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief.
At this time, both sides are licking the wounds left by the previous war.
In every war, there will be plague!
The Daqian army worshiped horse-leather wrapping of corpses, but that was only a privilege that generals could enjoy. As for the remaining people, they could only be burned into a handful of gray and white bones in the general's jar.
Su Ce went to the city two days ago and ordered the defenders of Zuowuguan to take turns to rest, because most of the defenders had lost weight from the belly fat they had eaten before the battle.
One general's success leads to thousands of bones being withered. Su Ce has his own ambitions, but Su Ce is unwilling to become a puppet controlled by his ambitions.
On the stage set up by the Anbei lineage, Su Ce sang very well, but did not want to sing miserably.
To the south of Zuowuguan, the three protective palaces under the Anbei line began to undergo frequent transfers in July.
Hundreds of Zhechong mansions in the north of Daqian removed old soldiers from their military rolls. These old soldiers were all in their thirties.
The soldiers of the government guarded the border for seventeen years and guarded the border for three years. Those who had outstanding military achievements were admitted to the sixteen guards of Nanya.
Obviously, any veteran who is qualified to retain military membership for ten years is not an elite.
This is a strategy to reserve troops on all four sides of the Great Wall. A hundred years of campaigning is better said to be a hundred years of training. Only by training in battle can you get the best. You can't train the best. Only under casualties will the best be revealed.
Su Ce looked at the map, but thought about the situation after the three-year non-conquest. The Anbei Protectorate's troops stationed at Longyou Road remained at 50,000 all year round. The duty of these frontier troops was to prevent Tibetan raids and occupy Longyou Road.
We know that Longyou Road runs east to west, but it is long and narrow.
If Longyou is lost, Anxi will be left alone.
Longyou Road is the lifeline of the Anxi Line, but it is controlled by the Anbei Line. The reason is very simple and complex. However, as long as you know that the predecessor of the Anxi Line was an elite member of the former imperial army, all doubts are easily solved.
As for the other three sides, the Anbei line was formerly the direct line army of Qian Taizu, the Andong line was formerly the Conglong army of Shandong clans, and the Annan line was much more complicated, with generals and wealthy families.
The stability of imperial power depends on strength. The emperors of Daqian Dynasty relied on the Sixth Army of Beiya, the Anbei line and the ancestral mausoleum guards to consolidate their imperial power. After a hundred years of campaigning, until now, all four sides have returned to the center.
Su Ce counted the time and kept watch for almost two months. Now the Jiuhu people's spirit is not showing, and many plans have been half-finished. What Su Ce is thinking about now is not to defeat the Jiuhu people's southward spirit head-on, but how to defeat them. This reduces casualties.
Looking at the rain that started to fall again outside the Bingge Hall, Su Ce rubbed his brows and whispered softly: "It would be great if it rains more densely!"
The sentries stood on the top floor of the various archery towers in Zuowuguan, scanning the deserted city with sharp eyes. The Jiuhu people no longer carried out meaningless early reconnaissance. The situation on the city wall had been improved after many previous tests. It was already clear in the attack.
Although the Jiuhu people took the outpost, a fire, heavy rain to extinguish the fire, and the heat and cold reduced the outpost to ruins. The Jiuhu people seemed to have won, but Zuowuguan still stood.
The Russians prepared their troops for war in July and were able to go south in early August. However, the southward passage that was supposed to be opened by the Jiuhu people was blocked by Zuowuguan.
The rain in mid-July blocked the Jiuhu people's attack. Although Aragba was unable to attack Zuowuguan, it did not leave the army's rangers idle. Since the situation at Zuowuguan was almost explored, they simply sent out Ride to Nangukou.
At this time, the narrow valley at the mouth of the south valley was occupied by a large camp composed of 20,000 Shouzuolang. There were also bastions of initial scale on the mountains on both sides. The Shouzuolang also changed the original military order of guarding the valley entrance.
The reason for changing the military order is simple, because the Protectorate of the Three Passes has made preparations for the Nine Hu people to go south.
Nearly 100,000 border troops from the Anbei Protectorate and Beiyuan Protectorate were stationed in the Sanguan Protectorate in the name of rotation. The Sanguan Protectorate was named after the Three Passes, and what it did was to stick to it. Therefore, there are no common people or troops in the area under the jurisdiction of the Duhufu.
The well-prepared Sanguan Protectorate now has a strong force. The headquarters plus reinforcements have nearly 200,000 troops. If the Jiuhu people go south, they only need a partial force to block the valley entrance where Zuowuguan is located. The Jiuhu people going south will As much as there is, it's all stewed in one pot.
However, the Russians were a variable, so the Anbei line mobilized 100,000 old soldiers from the Zhechong Prefecture to guard the border to prevent the Russians from going south together with the Jiuhu people. The battlefield could only be in the area of the Sanguan Protectorate. After all, Anbei The Northern Line does not want the villages, towns and counties established by the people in Beiyuan in recent years to be reduced to scorched earth.
The Russians were extremely dissatisfied with the Jiuhu people's stagnant progress, but there was no way to blame the Jiuhu people. After all, the Jiuhu people were really not lazy.
Seeing that July is coming to an end and Zuowuguan is still unable to be taken, the Kingdom of Rus has begun to advise King Charles I of Rus to give up going south.