Li Minghua looked at everything in front of him, his face turned pale. How could he not know what was happening? Such a situation could only mean one thing! Wu Zuocheng also had catapults, and looking at the range and accuracy of these catapults, compared to
Dongxia’s side is no worse, even stronger!
These catapults had been tested long ago, and the target was fixed in the area in front of the land bridge, because anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that if the Dongxia Army wanted to use catapults to attack, they could only place them there. Therefore,
The people in Wu Zuocheng had enough time to wait until Dongxia's catapults had completely fallen into the trap, and then they launched them simultaneously to catch them all.
Li Minghua took two deep breaths and suddenly sneered:
"Okay, very good!"
***
As the red flag waved, the Dongxia Army's second round of offensive also began.
This attack can be said to be all-round and three-dimensional.
Amid the chants of thousands of coolies, more than 20 tall nest carts were pushed out. This nest cart was made of giant wood. Its appearance was similar to a three- or four-story square building. There were various structures inside.
A kind of protective measure, a nest car requires fifty or sixty auxiliary soldiers to push it, and can transport at least 300 elite soldiers. There are a large number of wheels under the nest car, which can move forward slowly under the push of a large number of auxiliary soldiers, while the nest car
Various surface protections can effectively protect the soldiers and auxiliary troops inside.
Once the nest car approaches the city wall, its top is already at the same level as the top of the city wall, or even higher, and the elites inside rush out, easily contributing to the city.
The nemesis of the nest car is fire, which can easily be set on fire. Of course, the biggest threat is the catapult. Apart from the city walls, almost no other defenses can withstand the high-speed flying stones.
As these nest carts were slowly pushed to the land bridge and moved slowly towards the front of Wu Zuocheng, the auxiliary soldiers began to be busy again, preparing to continue building catapults at the previous place. Obviously, Li Minghua meant that in
Let the defenders in Wu Zuocheng focus on one thing and not the other. His move can be said to be imaginary and real, with endless changes.
At present, the only thing that can threaten the catapult positions and the slowly advancing nest vehicles is the catapults in the city. However, after all, the area of Wuzuo City is limited. Even if the catapults are set up in advance, there will only be twenty or thirty catapults at most.
The intensity of the attack will be limited.
However, the number of catapults and nest carts on Dongxia's side is quite huge, and neither of them can be eliminated in a short time. Especially the huge nest cart, even two or three stones thrown at it can't hurt it.
The bones are strong, but once they get close to the city wall, they are particularly deadly. At this time, they will face two problems, which is the nest-killing vehicle or the catapult?
If you use a catapult position, then the opponent's catapult position will inevitably be established, and you will face the risk of being suppressed by the opponent. If you use a catapult position, once the nest car approaches the city wall, the enemy will jump like a dumpling.
Once down, you won't be able to take advantage of your city wall at all.
If the enemy mainly attacks the catapult position, then Li Minghua will fully support the catapult position. If the enemy mainly attacks the catapult position, then Li Minghua will fully support the nest vehicle. It is necessary to make the opponent lose ground in advance and retreat.
Li Minghua deserves to be a veteran, and this series of strategies are all at his fingertips. It gives people the feeling that practice makes perfect, and that all battle situations are under his control.
Facing Li Minghua's offensive, the soldiers in Wuzuocheng were also a little panicked. Fortunately, there was a backbone among them. On the watchtower built in Wuzuocheng. Lin Fengjin was looking into the distance. A man wearing a black iron heavy
Kai's general stood next to him, with a kind of solemn dignity in him, but he sneered:
"What a gimmick!"
This general is a confidant sent by Li Hu to command five thousand armored troops! This man's name is Fang Ming, but he is the deputy general guarding Huishui County in Nanzheng State. This man has a family background and has experienced hundreds of battles.
Shuixian County is actually next to Lin Fengjin's hometown, Hecang County. Why did the Congress of the Mid-Tang Dynasty list Hecang County as the first choice target for attack when the geographical location of Huishui County was equally important? It was because of the existence of this general's name.
However, it is not enough for a person to be talented, he must also have good fortune. At that time, I was the famous general Fang Yan, but he fell on the wrong team in the political strife in Nanzheng and was demoted and returned to his hometown. Fang Yan's enemy Pang Yan
Lei, on the other hand, rose through the ranks and finally reached the rank of Minister of the Ministry of War.
You said, there is such a relationship, Fang Ming is also a deputy, and all the credit for his performance is naturally due to the superior's command. In such a situation, the superiors have to scold him in writing from time to time. Fang Ming has to be careful, otherwise, he will be punished early.
Even the official skin has been stripped off, and he has been living as a deputy garrison in a county for twenty years, and still has to live with his tail between his legs. It is miserable in one word.
After Li Hu took control of Zhangjun, he already knew Fang Ming's name, so he sincerely invited Fang Ming and entrusted him with great power. He even considered the two children as his in-laws, so he invited Fang Ming to come.
This time Dong Xia attacked Wu Zuocheng, it was as deadly as someone stabbing Li Hu in the back with a knife. The matter was serious, so they specially entrusted the matter to the guardian of Huishui County for fifteen years, and used his own power to do so.
Fang Ming, who struggled to resist the powerful forces of the Central Tang Dynasty and could not go south.
Lin Fengjin also had a conversation with Fang Ming, and found that he did have real materials, so he simply handed over the command. Fang Ming had been restricted for half his life, and now that he was able to express his talents, he naturally tried his best and devoted himself to his work.
.
Obviously, Li Minghua's offensive at this time had long been expected by Fang Ming, and he immediately issued the order:
"All catapults, aim and fire according to the previously locked coordinates. The target is the catapult position of the Dongxia people."
As soon as the order was issued, the corresponding flags were waved in time. Soon, more than twenty Dongxia catapults that were pushed to the front line again suffered a devastating blow, and the burning black smoke
Soaring straight into the sky, a large number of Dongxia auxiliary troops and heavy baggage soldiers rolled and screamed on the ground, constantly beating the flames on their bodies.
Seeing the miserable situation of his soldiers, Li Minghua showed no expression at all on his face. His eyes were fixed on the more than twenty nest vehicles that were advancing slowly! A deputy general next to him sneered:
"Hey, even if these grassland barbarians use catapults to intercept our nest carts, it's too late. Even if their catapults can hit the target with perfect accuracy, we still have at least a dozen nest carts that can hit it!"
This deputy general has also experienced hundreds of battles, and his judgment is obviously very accurate. In fact, as long as two or three nest vehicles successfully approach it, then this thing becomes a staircase-like thing. The sergeants in the other nest vehicles can
Jump out and use the nest car to climb up to the city.
However, these slowly moving nest cars encountered big trouble when they were more than a hundred steps closer to the city wall.
Because the dozen or so small trebuchets placed on the city wall began to show their power, and these trebuchets began to throw out a large number of triangular nails!!
These nails were researched by Nanzheng Momen. They can be rolled no matter how you want them. There is always a sharp point pointing upward. They are more vicious and sharp than caltrops. Even a thick horse's hoof will be immediately destroyed if you step on it.
What about people? The weakness of this bulky nest car lies in its moving speed. It completely relies on the hard work of the auxiliary soldiers at the rear, and the towering size of the nest car can also provide strong protection for these auxiliary soldiers.
However, the land bridge in front of the city gate is only a dozen feet (more than fifty meters) wide. It is almost impossible to cover the second half of the land bridge with these triangular nails. These are originally laborious auxiliary soldiers.
When pushing the huge and towering nest car, they must do their best, and it is summer again. They are wearing straw sandals or cloth shoes. When they step on the triangular nails and exert force, a sad line will appear on the soles of their feet.
The wound will immediately cover your feet and fall to the ground screaming!
Therefore, although the nest cart that is slowly advancing at the front is less than a hundred feet away from the city gate tower, the dense triangular nails on the ground have completely blocked the possibility of the nest cart's progress. The wheels of the nest cart are not afraid of being punctured, but the push cart
Human feet are not made of iron!
Of course, this is not impossible to solve. Send thousands of people up, not to mention using big brooms to sweep, even flesh and blood have paved a road. The key lies in this time, and the catapults and defenders in the city are not
Those who eat dry food. Taking advantage of this delay, the four or five chao chariots that came within a hundred feet of the city wall were burned like torches... The elite soldiers hidden in the chao chariots were all
They all turned around and fled to the main formation. Unexpectedly, there were also triangular spikes on the way back. The archers on the city took advantage of the situation and shot at their vests and buttocks...
The archers at the top of the city are all elites selected from the Sanli tribe. Their archery skills can be said to be much better than those of the Dongxia army in front of them. Arrows fly out one after another, and the landing point is really hard and poisonous. In an instant,
During this time, the land bridge was almost full of corpses, and blood was flowing down the bridge!
Seeing that the situation was not good, the seven or eight nest vehicles behind that had not been destroyed hurriedly retreated. It was convenient for the nest vehicles to retreat. There was no need to reverse or anything. Just let the auxiliary soldiers who were pushing rush to the front of the original nest vehicles and push them.
, but can the shooters of Sanlibu allow this kind of thing to happen? Although the distance is very far and it is not possible to achieve 100% accuracy, continuous screams can still be heard.
At the same time, after destroying all the more than twenty catapults newly added to Dongxia, the catapults in the city also began to show off their power, adjusted their angles and directions, and launched a fierce attack on the nest carts that were trying to escape.
In the end, the soldiers in the nest car saw that the situation was not good, and they didn't care so much. They got out of the lower entrance of the nest car and escaped. Because these elite soldiers were all wearing heavy armor, there were many of them.
In order to escape faster, he even abandoned his weapons. He looked extremely embarrassed!
After these two rounds of attack and defense, it can be said that the Dongxia Army was really completely defeated! It was also noon at this time, and the livid-faced Li Minghua had no choice but to withdraw his troops. In fact, the casualties in the morning were only seven or eight hundred people at most, and he was so huge.
Compared with the total strength of 60,000 soldiers, it can be said that it is not worth mentioning, but the damage to morale is very serious.
What's even more terrible is that because he had to cross thousands of miles of grassland to get here, in order to ensure the speed of the march, the siege equipment Li Minghua carried was also limited. Last night, 30% of it was burned in a fire, and today it was damaged on the battlefield.
If it is 40%, the remaining siege equipment will be valuable. Where is the wood to make siege equipment within a few hundred miles?
At this time, Wu Zuocheng lowered more than thirty cavalrymen in special hanging baskets and galloped outside the camp of the Dongxia Army. The leader said something, and the other thirty or so people shouted in unison.
Call:
"Hey! You stupid sheep from Eastern Xia, listen up, we have eaten enough and need to take a nap! So we have a two-hour truce at noon. If you agree, you are allowed to collect the corpses and take away the wounded!
"
After hearing such awesome shouts of "We've had enough to eat, we need to take a nap", many Dongxia generals were so angry that they stood up and threw their rice bowls. These bastard barbarians were so incompetent.
People put it in their eyes. However, the exchange conditions proposed by the other side are also very necessary. "Contain the corpses and bury the wounded." These two conditions may seem inconspicuous, but for the soldiers who are charging forward,
I may face the threat of death and serious injury at any time. But I really feel the same way.
Who wants to die and have no way to bury their bones? Who wants to be seriously injured and wailing on the battlefield waiting to die without any treatment? Who the hell wants to fight?
Therefore, the suggestions of "truce for two hours at noon" and "contain the corpses and bury the wounded" can be said to have won the hearts of the soldiers. Once this request is rejected, I believe the morale will drop by more than 10% or 20%. Therefore, Lin Feng
This move that Jin made was really a conspiracy. There was no reason why the Dongxia Army refused to agree.
Of course, if there is no benefit, you can't afford it early. Is there no benefit for Lin Fengjin to do this? Of course, there are many things that can be done during the two-hour truce. For example, the performance of these catapults shipped from Nanzheng has not been mentioned.
However, under high-density use, three or five catapults have already broken down. An extra two hours of maintenance can restore almost all catapults to their best condition.
For another example, there are many corpses, obstacles, and the remains of several nest vehicles on the battlefield. With this truce time, Wu Zuocheng can naturally send manpower to clean up the battlefield to a smooth state.
When the time comes for the Dongxia Army to charge, they will have to face a bare battlefield without cover...
Although Li Minghua was a veteran general, and although he saw through the opponent's conspiracy at a glance, he still could not refuse the opponent's request. Because the morale of his own troops had begun to decline. If he refused, I believe the morale would have been depressed even more quickly.
"We have to find a way to restore morale." The deputy general next to him said.
Li Minghua is a veteran. His rich war experience played a key role at this time. He waved his hand:
"The mountain people have their own clever ideas."
After everyone had eaten at noon, a loud horn sound suddenly sounded in the Dongxia Army's camp, which cheered up the drowsy soldiers and made them sleep away.
Immediately afterwards, a group of cavalry from the Dongxia Army quickly galloped out. There were about ten people tied to the horses next to them. These people were dressed in various costumes, but their bodies were stained with blood. At first glance, they seemed to have been tortured. This group of people
There were about fifty cavalrymen, reining up their horses and whipping their whips, and came near the city wall of Wuzuo City and shouted:
"These people are spies who dare to spy on our army's intelligence. Logically speaking, they should all be beheaded in public, but in the hope of good life, if you can defeat us with the same number of people, then these people will be released.
Here you go! Do you dare to fight?"
Obviously, this is what Li Minghua wants to do. He knows that the tribesmen in Sanlibu are good at bows and arrows, so he does not engage in single combat, but the cooperation of small teams, a melee between fifty people and fifty people. In this case,
The Eastern Xia Army, which has been practicing for a long time and has strict orders and prohibitions, naturally faced the Sanli Department of Sanli, which was a ball of scattered sand. It was fifty to fifty, and it can be said that it was quite confident.
Lin Fengjin smiled, glanced at Fang Ming and said:
"If that's the case, I have to ask Brother Fang to take charge."
Fang Ming smiled and said:
"This old man has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, but he didn't expect that he would hit his head on an iron plate today."
Although there is a shortage of horses in the south, Li Hu has the line of Wu Zuocheng, and the cavalry under his command is the best in the south. Then he saw a group of "prairie barbarians" shouting and rushing out of the city gate on horseback. The formation was chaotic.
It was simply unsightly.
The cavalrymen who came out to fight in Dongxia were secretly happy and prepared for battle. Who knew that when they reached about thirty feet, these "prairie barbarians" suddenly turned into a sharp arrow formation, which happened to restrain the fish scale formation they had laid out to death.
Damn...
After a bloody battle, the Dongxia army was completely silent, because there were still twenty or thirty "prairie barbarians" alive on the battlefield. Seeing that these bastards wanted to make the horse stick out its butt and shit in a uniform manner, they
Know that these "prairie barbarians" in front of you are definitely not just ordinary people!
The method Li Minghua came up with to boost morale succeeded in lowering the morale of his family.
Finally, in the afternoon, Li Minghua, perhaps out of embarrassment or at the end of his rope, decided to attack the city simply. Since the battle could only be limited to the city gate area and no offensive could be launched, he would move the entire army to attack the city.
Two thousand people formed a group, and each group was assigned a number of ladders, shields, and armor. They were divided into twenty groups in total, and they took turns to attack the city.
There is nothing that can be done about it. Wu Zuocheng's group of people are no match for conspiracy and skills. Li Minghua's experience as a veteran can't play a big role. He can only go step by step and follow the simplest and most direct method to siege the city.
, this also makes it clear that we must rely on the numerical advantage and use the tactics of exhausted troops.
How to make the enemy "tired"? The only way is to fill it with human lives. For Li Minghua, the city in front of him must be broken. If he cannot break it, then he, Li Minghua, will die in the battle.
The last person under Wu Zuo's castle.
After noticing that the Dongxia Army was starting to group up and prepare to take turns going into battle, Lin Fengjin glanced at Fang Ming and said solemnly:
"The real test moment has arrived. In this case, I leave everything to General Fang."
Fang Ming looked at the Dongxia army gathered in the distance, smiled coldly and said:
"A certain family was besieged by the Zhongtang Dynasty in Huishui County. The soldiers did not have sufficient food and supplies. There were stupid people holding them back, but a group of weak soldiers below also managed to survive. At this time, the situation was a hundred times better than that of the day. The situation was a hundred times better than that of the day. Sir, please
Don't worry, if anything goes wrong, someone will come to see you."
Lin Fengjin nodded and went directly to the city. However, although he handed over the command, he did not just wander around leisurely. He had to do some logistical work and boost morale.
At this time, all those selected to stay in Wu Zuocheng were strong men. After all, the Sanli tribe had rapidly expanded to fifty or sixty thousand people at this time. Therefore, among the selected warriors, there were eight thousand members of the Sanli tribe, Mu.
Thirteen thousand slaves.
These herdsmen have all stayed in the Sanli tribe for at least two years. Basically, their loyalty can be guaranteed, and these people all know that even being a slave in the Sanli tribe is better than being a free person in other tribes.
People, at least as long as they are willing to work, will have enough food and clothing, and the whole family will have enough food and clothing, so they quite approve of the life in Sanlibu.
Even these herdsmen had received a promise before the war. Once the enemy retreated, they would become free people. And once they performed meritorious service on the battlefield, their merits would be recorded equally. Therefore, the morale of the herdsmen was very high. It is said that they were responsible for selecting people at that time.
It was a bit difficult for Yi Li who stayed behind, because the number of shepherd slaves willing to stay behind far exceeded expectations.
Because the entire defense focus of Wu Zuocheng is the distance of more than 100 meters around the city gate, the more than 10,000 people in Wu Zuocheng are more than enough. To be honest, near the city gate, a thousand people can be squeezed in, and it will be full.
There are about 1,500 guards and sentries on the remaining sections of the city wall, and there are about 1,500 people on duty in the city.
Lin Fengjin divided the people in Wu Zuocheng into twelve divisions in advance. Each division was responsible for guarding the city for an hour, and they took turns in turn (that is, when Division A is guarding the son today, it will be guarding the Chou hour tomorrow. There is no fixed time.
Guard) and the reinforcements sent by Li Hu are used as reserve teams and fire-fighting teams, and they will be there whenever there is trouble.
In the inner city square near the city gate of Wuzuo City, twenty trebuchets are lined up in a row. Each one has five or six shepherd slaves working profusely around it. Lin Fengjin has counted that these powerful trebuchets are
If the guys start at the same time, they can throw a total of nearly one and a half tons of rocks or kerosene barrels onto the battlefield outside at one time. The bombing of the trebuchet is a nightmare for anyone, even a perverted wild boar.
It is also difficult to withstand the heavy frontal damage from trebuchet shells!
Although there was a two-hour buffer time at noon, there were as many as five trebuchets that were dragged aside and showed to be scrapped. Wu Zuocheng only had a total of fifty-three trebuchets, but this was already more than
It was much better than what was expected before. In the original plan, if Wu Zuocheng's trebuchet could be exchanged with Dongxia's in exchange for money, it would be a success.