The night sky was clear, and a full moon hung on the dark blue sky. The silvery-white moonlight illuminated the earth as if it were daytime. Under the reflection of the snow, the white was tinged with blue, which was a bit eerie.
The first group of 500 soldiers carried ladders and ran quickly, followed by 2,000 soldiers, less than a hundred steps away, also running at high speed.
The moonlight was so bright that I couldn't hide no matter how hard I tried. As long as I looked up, I could see the soldiers on the snow outside.
Since you can't escape, just trade speed for time and get to the top of the city before the enemy's reinforcements arrive. As long as you get to the top of the city, even if the reinforcements arrive, the situation is over. More than a thousand defenders can compete with your own 5,000 troops.
Compete with each other.
Therefore, the Xizhou Army was not afraid of hearing footsteps from above and ran as fast as they could.
But the ears of the defenders at the top of the city seemed to be deaf, and they could not hear the footsteps of thousands of people. At first, Tie Mo was very lucky that he was not discovered by the defenders. It was not until the siege ladder reached the top of the city that he suddenly
reacted.
"No, the enemy is deceitful!"
How could the enemy not hear it? Even if they fell asleep, they would be woken up. Although Tie Mo realized that something was wrong, it was already too late.
Before he could shout, countless soldiers suddenly appeared on the top of the city. Strong crossbows and hard crossbows fired violently at the Western Army. Unfortunately, most of the soldiers did not hold up their shields. They climbed the ladder with one hand and held a spear in the other hand.
, or use a shield. Since it is a sneak attack, it must be a spear.
Suddenly there was a scream on the siege ladder, and countless soldiers were hit by arrows and rolled down. Most of the first batch of 500 soldiers were wiped out, but the second batch of enemy soldiers were very close to each other, and soldiers above the ladder fell one after another.
At that time, the second group of soldiers had already begun to climb the city.
They reacted very quickly and immediately took the shield from their backs, holding the shield in one hand and the spear in the other. They just used their arms to support the frames on both sides of the ladder to stabilize their bodies. They were not affected by the ambush of the Song army and continued to attack upward.
When the enemy general Tie Mo, who was originally preparing to order the withdrawal of his troops, saw this scene, he immediately changed his mind and shouted: "The whole army comes forward to attack the city!"
Two thousand five hundred soldiers shouted and rushed out, holding up their spears and shields and rushing towards the city wall. This time, Tiemo ran at the front. Although the enemy had an ambush, there were only more than a thousand people. With an absolute advantage in strength,
In front of us, any little trick is worth mentioning.
But Tie Mo never thought that the Song army's ambush would not be brought out all at once. Since he did not have the entire army to press on, how could the Song army come out in full force?
There were another thousand soldiers squatting under the wall, holding crossbows and nearly a thousand barrels of kerosene, waiting for orders.
You must know that Song Xinping, the commander-in-chief of the Song Army, was a veteran who participated in the defense of Jianxiao Pass. He mastered the three secret skills of the Song Army in defending the city, namely, axes, kerosene and powerful crossbows.
When Song Xinping saw that another group of enemy troops in ambush had come up to kill him, he immediately shouted: "The ax is in hand!"
Fifty axemen, protected by their companions, swung their long-handled axes to attack the rungs of the ladder.
The soldiers of the Xizhou Army had never learned the secret skills of the Song Army in defending the city. Their ladders were all made of wooden rungs. In the blink of an eye, three wooden rungs were chopped off. The axemen disappeared immediately. The siege soldiers were also dumbfounded. Three key rungs were missing.
, they couldn't get into the city.
At this time, all the enemy troops rushed to the city wall and shouted at the city. At this moment, buckets of black liquid were suddenly poured down from the top of the city, and even the buckets were thrown down together, as well as large bundles.
The wooden barrel fell to pieces and shattered, and black kerosene flowed everywhere.
Before the enemy could understand what was going on, hundreds of torches were thrown down, and "Boom!" The kerosene was ignited, the wheat straw was ignited, and the city suddenly turned into a sea of flames.
Unknown how many soldiers were ignited by the raging fire, burning until ghosts cried and wolves howled. In the inferno, thousands of soldiers pushed each other, trampled on each other, and scrambled to escape.
On the top of the city, two thousand soldiers shot arrows together, and finally escaped from the sea of fire, but were shot down by arrows again. The Song army continued to throw barrels of fire oil, and almost all the soldiers were more or less ignited by the fire. Many soldiers
With his body filled with flames, he ran and fell on the ground. He hesitated for a moment and then stopped moving.
The casualties in Xizhou were extremely heavy in this battle. Less than 1,000 of the 5,000 soldiers escaped from Da Dou Bago, but in the end they returned to Zhangye City alive, with less than 500 of them. Even the commander-in-chief Tie Mo had all his hair and hair burned off.
Eyebrow, seriously injured, died a month later.
The Song army captured more than 3,600 camels, but suffered less than fifty casualties. These casualties occurred at the beginning of the fierce battle.
Ten days later, Chen Qing's order of commendation arrived at Dadou Bugu. Each person was credited with one meritorious service, and was rewarded with ten acres of farmland and ten bolts of silk. The fallen soldiers were given double rewards and double pensions. The commander-in-chief, Song Xinping, was promoted to deputy commander.
In Lin'an, Lu Jin hurried to the back house with a newspaper and found his father who was fishing and sunbathing by the pond.
Lu Yihao was in very poor health and was as thin as a child. Several imperial doctors quietly told Lu Jin that they should consider preparing for the old man's funeral, which would only take a year or two.
"Dalang, why are you in such a hurry?" Lu Yihao turned around and glanced at his son dissatisfied.
"Father, look at this newspaper!"
Lu Yihao took the newspaper and said, "Hey!" "What's going on? Has "Jingzhao" resumed publication again?"
The newspaper in his hand turned out to be the "Beijing News" that was popular in Bianliang, Tokyo. The masthead and font were exactly the same, which really surprised and delighted Lu Yihao.
Before Lu Jin could answer him, he noticed something was wrong, frowned and asked: "Why is it a newspaper from five days ago?"
"Reporting to my father, the "Beijing News" has indeed resumed publication, but it has resumed publication not in Lin'an, but in Jingzhao. This is a newspaper published in Jingzhao five days ago. It has just appeared on the streets of Lin'an in the past few days and has caused a stir.
There was a sensation in the city, and tens of thousands of newspapers were sold out. It was so easy for me to get this one."
"The resumption of publication in Jingzhao must be done by Chen Qing!"
"It is said that Yang Tianfang, the former chief executive of the Beijing News, still runs the newspaper."
Lu Yihao sneered, dissatisfied with his son's political sensitivity.
"Yang Tianfang is just the shopkeeper running errands. He is not the boss. If it was his idea, he would definitely run the newspaper in Lin'an. Lin'an is the capital! The capital of "Beijing News" is not the capital of Jingzhao. Only Chen Qing
Only by asking him can he go to Jingzhao to run a newspaper, and Chen Qing is the owner behind it. As for Chen Qing's thoughts, I also know that he is using this newspaper to increase his reputation."
Lu Jin sighed secretly. Although his father was not in good health, his mind was still so clear, his eyes were still so sharp, and he was old and spicy.
"Father is right. The content is indeed related to Chen Qing."
Lu Yihao took the newspaper further away and squinted at it. The headline on the front page was a very attractive title, 'Fists crush shame'. The entire page was written about how Chen Qing defeated the Jin soldiers several times and how he captured countless soldiers.
Wan Jinbing, Wanyan Nianhan and Wanyan Yinshu are important figures, and then how to force the Emperor of Jin to agree to exchange hostages, using the former emperor and the prince to exchange Wanyan Nianhan and Wanyan Yinshu, and using them to be kidnapped as slaves
The people of Bianliang came to exchange for the prisoners of war of the Jin soldiers.
Although Lu Yihao was in poor health and no longer read full-length articles, he was actually attracted by this article and read the entire article in less than half an hour.
Lu Jin suddenly noticed tears twinkling in the corners of his grandfather's eyes, and he quickly said: "Father, take a break and then look at it slowly!"
Lu Yihao put down the newspaper and said in a choked voice: "I never thought that I, Lu Yihao, would still be able to see this day in my lifetime."
After saying this, he burst into tears and sighed.