Facing the Xuanfu army that launched an all-round attack, He Huchen quickly felt the tremendous pressure.
The siege vehicles and ladders swarming up from all directions, coupled with the suppressive shooting of the archers who directly pressed down on the city regardless of casualties, put the city into a difficult situation from the beginning.
This kind of attack and defense is all about consumption. It is different from using the narrow bridge deck of the stone bridge to block fire. The entire four walls of Gonghua City were attacked by the Xuanfu Army in an overwhelming manner. At this time, the Xuanfu Army surged up.
Only then did they truly show their offensive power.
In just one hour, He Huchen found that the losses of his unit exceeded 2,000 men, mainly concentrated on spearmen.
"Master He, we can't hold on any longer, retreat quickly." Zhao Keming almost knelt down and begged He Huchen, "It's still too late to go from the west. The Xuanfu army's offensive in the north is not strong yet. Let's concentrate our forces and charge.
one time,……"
"Old Zhao, you still want to break out of the encirclement at this time? You don't even understand the tactic of encircling three enemies and one enemy? There are 30,000 to 40,000 Xuanfu troops, do they still lack the number of people to encircle the North City Gate? Then we are waiting for us to start from
As soon as Beicheng exits, their cavalry will take advantage of the situation to cover up the enemy, and none of us will be left behind." He Huchen looked firmly at the Xuanfu army outside the city, whose offensive continued unabated, and said calmly...
After all, Zhao Keming is also a military general who has fought in battles. How could he not understand such a simple truth? His face collapsed and he said with a grimace: "Then what should we do? We can last for three hours at most, and we will collapse. We simply can't."
I just can’t stand it,…”
"Three hours? Haha, Amitabha can still hold on for two hours." He Huchen knew very well that under such a high-intensity impact, how could he and the 8,000 people from Zhao Keming's department be able to hold on for three hours?
The walls of Gonghua City are low, and there are no horse faces. The defense system inside the barbican city and various defense facilities are lacking when you first come here. It turns out that the garrison probably didn't even consider the need to defend the city here. In this case, they all rely on people.
On the top, encountering the Xuanfu army's attack regardless of casualties, he estimated that he could hold on for another hour at most and would either surrender or collapse.
Of course, our own resistance was not without results. The lethality of the Fire Gun Team was also reflected in this intensive charge to attack the city at this time. The corpses and wounded soldiers under the city wall were enough to prove it all.
But this was of no avail. The Xuanfu soldiers came one after another, and the war had entered a fierce stage.
If there was no foreign aid, He Huchen judged that he could last for an hour at most.
"Then what should we do?" Zhao Keming felt even more desperate when he heard this, "Then should we..."
Zhao Keming has completely regarded He Huchen as his backbone. Even though He Huchen is more than ten years younger than him, the magnanimity shown by the other party has made him subconsciously obey his orders.
"Hold on a little longer." He Huchen muttered: "After all, we are all the army of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but in the future our Fifth Army Camp will also have to gain a foothold in the Great Zhou Army. We were defeated by the Xuanfu Army in such a sudden way.
How to explain to King Zhonghui? How will we camp in Beijing and gain a foothold in the Zhou army in the future?"
Zhao Keming was a confidant of King Zhonghui, and he immediately realized that perhaps he had already expected that in this situation it would be impossible to defeat the Xuanfu army, which was several times larger than his own, but he insisted on fighting just to win the battle.
In the future, the five military camps will lay the foundation for the position of the Zhou army in Beijing.
We fought well in the stone bridge blocking battle, but now that the defense of the city has been taken down in one fell swoop, everything we did before is meaningless.
"I understand." Zhao Keming gritted his teeth, "Then we have to persist for one more hour no matter what, so that we can give an explanation to the prince and the court."
"Well, don't just see us sad. The Xuanfu army is also having a hard time. We have to let them understand that it's not that we are incapable of fighting, but that there are too many of them." He Huchen waved his hand fiercely, "What if there are still people in this hour?"
What changes? What if You Shigong’s army can arrive in advance? Then it will be worth it for us."
He Huchen really guessed it right. While they were fighting to the death with the Xuanfu army for the city wall, two cavalry units led by You Shilu and Zhao Jianguo had quickly passed through the Yu River and swooped towards Gonghua City along the Yu River.
.
The scouts have reported back that Gonghua City is under fierce attack by the Xuanfu army. It seems that they may not be able to hold on for long, which makes both You Shilu and Zhao Jiangong extremely anxious.
Once Gonghua City is lost and Qinghedian is completely undefeated, the Xuanfu army can push across to the capital city. However, the army led by his brother is still east of the Yu River and has no time to stop the enemy. If there is another change in the wind direction in the capital city
, or if the Beijing camp guarding the city surrenders to the enemy, then everything will be irreversible.
You Shigong had explained the stakes here to You Shilu. He must not allow the Xuanfu army to arrive at the city and cause the army to suppress the situation. This would change the mentality of the officials and people in the capital city and bring too many surprises and variables.
"Jiangong, I originally wanted to take a rest before launching an attack, but I'm afraid it's too late now." You Shilu had already made up his mind when he was five or six miles away from the battlefield of Gonghua City. "I'm afraid that the defenders in the city won't be able to wait.
We surrendered when we caught up, so we have to take action immediately."
Zhao Jiangong was also one of You Shigong's strong men. He was an old man who came from Yulin. He also said without hesitation: "It takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes a while. We old guys are all old men who came from Yulin with you."
, I don’t have other abilities, but I still have the ability to endure hardship and stand hard work, what do you think I should do?”
"Throw away everything else and make a light assault in order to expand the momentum and let the defenders in the city know that reinforcements have arrived. We don't want to kill many Xuanfu troops, but we want to make the Xuanfu troops feel that the Jizhen army has arrived so that they can't
We will attack Gonghua City with all our strength and secure Gonghua City. Even if we succeed, it will take my brother two hours at most to arrive. By then, the Xuanfu Army will not be able to take a step further east!"
You Shilu made up his mind, and Zhao Jiangong also understood the importance.
"Then what do we do?"
"You launch an attack from the north along the Yu River, and I launch an attack from the east and south, so as to be massive and force the Xuanfu army to be unable to attack Gonghua City with all their strength, and then go around and harass, break through as much as possible, and then evacuate. What tactics to adopt will depend on the situation.
It depends, but the Xuanfu army must not be surrounded..."
After exchanging tactical considerations with Zhao Jiangong, You Shilu and Zhao Jiangong began to launch an assault in the direction they determined.
The six thousand cavalry were divided into two groups and launched operations from the north and east. You Shilu even divided from the east and circled all the way to the south to harass.
Zhao Jiangong used his strength to launch an assault from the north. Originally, the Xuanfu army in the north intended to let go, hoping to drive out the defenders in the city so that the cavalry could follow up and kill them. Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiangong's cavalry would suddenly attack from the north.
He sprang out and caught the attacking army from the north by surprise.
Although the situation was not broken immediately, this surprise attack did boost the morale of the defenders in Gonghua City. Especially when they saw three thousand cavalry sweeping through the city, the Xuanfu army, who had retreated in embarrassment, could only close down on the spot.
In response to the formation, there was no energy to attack the city, and the pressure on the city suddenly decreased.
This news quickly spread to several other cities, and both He Huchen and Zhao Keming were overjoyed.
Soon You Shilu launched another attack in the south. The Xuanfu army quickly realized that the Jizhen army had begun to intervene in the battle, and traces of the Jizhen army appeared on all three routes.
Although only the cavalry appeared, it also meant that the main army of Ji Town was not far from the battlefield. The Beijing camp guarding the city was also aware of this, and their morale increased greatly, and the resistance became more intense.
You Shilu's tactics were indeed very successful. He used the mobility advantage of the cavalry to constantly harass the surrounding area, and even dared to break into it when the time was right to launch a charge at the rear of the Xuanfu army attacking the city. This was quite risky. Once surrounded,
It was very likely that they would be completely wiped out, but You Shilu also knew that if such tactics were not adopted, the confidence of the Xuanfu army attacking the city would not be shaken, allowing them to attack the city without any distractions.
Doing this once or twice will make the siege army always worry about being stabbed in the back, and its siege efforts will be reduced a lot.
This chaotic fighting situation continued. The Xuanfu army twice rushed to the head of Gonghua City, but He Huchen personally led the charge of the reserve force to hold them back. At the most intense moment, He Huchen himself killed two Xuanfu soldiers, and
He received an arrow each on his shoulder and helmet.
When the main infantry forward of Youshigong Ji Town finally began to appear on the horizon, and when the line leading from Gonghua City to Qinghedian had been cut off, Niu Jizong knew that he had lost his best opportunity.
Now he will face the awkward situation of how to deal with it.
If you continue to station troops under Gonghua City, if you cannot remove the nail in Gonghua City, you will be stuck in your throat, and you will be in a dilemma. If you move forward, you can only start a battle with the Jizhen army, but thousands of troops in Gonghua City may attack you from behind at any time. This is
No coach can bear it.
If we take a step back, we can only retreat to the west of the Yu River, or we can control the stone bridge of the Yu River, or even build a few pontoon bridges on both sides of the Yu River. But even so, the two sides can only form a confrontation along the Yu River.
situation.
Failure to break through and advance to the capital city would be meaningless, and would also put the Xuanfu army in a disadvantageous situation. This is the boundary of Ji Town. Although I control Changping Prefecture and Baiyangkou on both wings in advance, and the town border town,
However, tens of thousands of troops were stationed on this front line and they failed to capture Gonghua City. The daily consumption of people eating horse chews was a big problem.
And more importantly, what is the name of this army's eastward march? To clear the emperor's side and punish traitors and evildoers?
If Prince Yi Zhong cannot achieve great justice, no matter how strong his control over the Xuanfu army is, it will easily cause people's hearts to wander, and he may have to consider the next step or even another plan.