Chapter 2161: Gui Zi Scroll, swords facing each other, fighting in a small town
"Sir, the rebels are here again." Panting, the soldiers ran up from behind, "At the south gate."
"How many people are there?" Mangui's face twitched and she nodded calmly.
"I can't see clearly yet. It looks like there will be no less than 2,000 people. There are about sixty or seventy ladders and about twenty siege engines. This time they have prepared a lot of wooden shields and screens, so they are well prepared.
"
The soldier's answer made Man Gui couldn't help but grin, showing his white teeth. This group of rebels was becoming more and more accustomed to this kind of siege warfare, and it was getting bigger and bigger and more powerful.
Needless to say, a wooden shield is a large shield made of wood, which can effectively withstand the strikes of crossbows, trebuchets, and bows and arrows.
The curtain is a cloth curtain held up by wooden poles. This thing can effectively block the missiles of bows and arrows. After being soaked in water, even rockets will not be effective, so it is also an earthen shield invented by the rebels.
These things are useless, but they are very effective against low-rise cities like Si Yancheng, especially if they rely on the strength of their numbers and launch an attack from several directions at the same time, and there are only more than 2,000 people on their side.
Somewhat confused.
If this continues, Mangui doesn't know how many more charges his two thousand men can sustain.
"Those grandsons from the Yamen of the Salt Envoy are still unwilling to take out the silver?" As he walked, gnashing his teeth, Man Gui said bitterly: "Do you really plan to carry this silver to the tomb? The rebel army has entered the city, are these these?
Can I still keep my money?"
The soldiers smiled silently and bitterly. Everyone understood this truth, but the bunch of idiots in the salt transfer department's Yamen just didn't understand and refused to use the money from the salt class to boost the morale of the soldiers, even if you just used it to deceive everyone.
It would be nice to be together for a while.
"Sir, it's too late to talk about this now. I've seen so much the battle at the South Gate that I'm afraid I have to pull up the reserve team. I'm just worried that if I can't hold on, it'll be too late." The private soldiers followed Man Gui.
I am a veteran this year, so I don’t have so many taboos about speaking.
Although he is similar in age to Man Gui, he also followed him from Laoyingbao, Shanxi Town. There were only about a dozen people who came with him at the beginning, and they were all from the countryside.
"Go and ask An Zhongxiu to send two sentries from the Third Division to stand by at the south gate. I also know that the risk is high, but we have to guard against the west gate. I'm worried that these gangs of thieves will attack from east to west and catch us by surprise."
Man Gui thought for a while, "Let An Zhongxiu take the remaining three sentry troops to rest near the bell tower and be ready to reinforce the west gate at any time. I will personally go and take charge of the south gate."
An Zhongxiu is the commander-in-chief of the third of the remaining three divisions. He is a lustful person, but he is brave in fighting and is a good hand. Although Man Gui is a little younger than him, he has the same temperament, so they have a tacit understanding.
There is a shortage of manpower on the west gate. Considering that the rebels fought a fierce battle on the west gate yesterday and retreated leaving more than 300 corpses, Man Gui believes that the possibility of the rebels attacking the west gate again is slightly less. With limited manpower, he
We can only strengthen the north gate. Because the city wall is higher at the east gate, the rebels have been harassing the east gate, so we can feel a little relieved.
As they trotted all the way to the south gate, Mangui just glanced at him and knew that his soldiers had made a mistake in their judgment.
The rebel army numbered at least 3,000 people. Especially the infantry that followed were scattered, but they began to form a whole team about 500 steps closer to the city wall. This was a precursor to launching a charge.
"Ask An Zhongxiu to send an additional sentry immediately and leave two sentries on standby at the bell tower!" Man Gui immediately changed the order, but he did not dare to mobilize too much, otherwise if something went wrong at the west gate, he would be too late.
An Zhongxiu's reinforcements had not yet arrived, but the rebel army had already begun to surge in.
In the middle, there were about 1,500 people carrying five or six wooden sticks, shouting and jogging in front of them. The wooden shields and curtains were held high to prevent the archers on the city wall from attacking.
The biggest difference between the Guards and the rebel army, or the biggest advantage in comparison, is the organized crossbowmen. This kind of long-range strike weapon is always the weapon that causes the most damage to the rebel army, and there are few in the rebel army.
Even if there are archers who are good at shooting, they are only one in a hundred, and it is difficult to assemble into an organized strike force.
Si Yancheng is too small. In addition to the advantage of archers, the few remaining crossbows are also
After being carried to the top of the city, except for the east gate, west gate, south gate and north gate, there were two each, which was better than nothing. In Man Gui's view, the deterrent effect was greater than the actual effect.
The trebuchets were also temporarily built. There were nine of them, and there were four on the south gate. However, because they were temporarily made by craftsmen, they were simple and rough. It was estimated that they could only fire twenty or thirty rounds of stone bullets before they disintegrated.
But no matter what, there are archers, crossbows, and catapults. The entire defense system is basically in place. It’s just a matter of how many there are and how effective they can be.
The rebels were no longer like the chaotic swarm of the previous two days. They had obviously learned the lessons from before. They tightened their formation first, relying on wooden shields and curtains to reduce losses, and then advanced steadily. When they entered the attack with only a few dozen steps
When they were within a short distance, they suddenly spread out, forming countless attack arrows that swooped in, trying to use their manpower advantage to capture the city head at once.
They had already practiced this tactic yesterday, but Man Gui had also been prepared. He first concentrated his efforts on shooting the ladder operators and the soldiers behind the siege vehicles to slow down the attack speed, and then organized specialized elites to attack at the top of the city.
Blockade of city carriage entrances.
Especially when the siege vehicle approaches, the archers will immediately divide into two groups and shoot crossly from both wings, turning the ten steps of the siege vehicle ladder into a path of death, which greatly weakens the threat of the siege vehicle.
, this is also to bully the rebel army because there are not enough archers to suppress one side of the city wall.
Mangui swung his sword horizontally, and violently passed the throat of a rebel soldier who had just had time to board the Pheasant Butterfly. The opponent didn't even have time to make a sound, so he held his throat and fell to the wall, but soon three rebel soldiers were there.
Climb in from the side and take the opportunity to jump into the city wall.
One of the soldiers raised his spear and stabbed him. The other soldier, who was also an old pawn, deflected the thrust with a side attack with his leather shield. He squatted slightly and slashed hard at the knee of the soldier with the horizontal knife in his hand.
The soldier retreated and turned back, raising his spear pole to block the fierce chop. The spearhead took advantage of the situation and struck the opponent's head hard. The soldier was also very flexible. He raised his leather shield to block the blow, and blocked the attack with the horizontal sword again.
The sword was so fierce that the soldiers could not dodge this cut in the middle.
Man Guihuan's sword stood upright, and he swung it fiercely to block the opponent's blow. However, he kicked his right leg hard, hitting the opponent's waist. The opponent staggered, but the soldiers had already come up from the wall with spears.
A stab in the chest immediately filled the whole room.
The rebel man screamed unwillingly and threw away the leather shield and horizontal knife in his hand. He held the spear shaft and tried to struggle. The soldier pushed forward fiercely, and simply connected the spear shaft with the opponent's body.
He was pushed out of the crenellation of the wall, fell down, and died instantly.
Man Gui didn't hesitate at all, and the sword was wildly raised again. Two soldiers who had just climbed up the crenel had their shoulders and arms cut off by him with two consecutive swords. They fell to the top of the city with a painful howl. Another soldier
The soldiers, with red eyes, raised their spears high and stabbed fiercely, nailing the two soldiers to the city wall who had just had time to jump off the crenel and before they could stand firm.
The reinforcements of the Anzhong Xiu Department finally caught up. Nearly 400 soldiers attacked from both sides and quickly killed dozens of rebel soldiers who had just had time to rush to the city. Then the archers had a chance to breathe.
Only then did the rockets begin to be replaced, and they continued to shoot at the siege vehicles and ladders. The sky-wide fireworks mixed with the choking smoke burned the soldiers on both sides of the southern city, like a purgatory.
It wasn't until the last few rebel soldiers were gathered in a corner that Man Gui breathed a sigh of relief. He put down his sword and took out a cloth that had already been soaked with sweat to wipe the sweat from his neck.
A burning pain came from behind the ear. After wiping it, the blood stains that had already condensed spread again, staining the sweat towel bright red.
"Sir, are you injured?" The soldier was startled and hurried forward to check the injury.
"Humph, I should have died long ago. I haven't felt it for so long, so it doesn't matter." Man Gui wiped it and felt that it should be a stray arrow or an enemy's blade or spear, but he couldn't even think of it.
I don't know when and what circumstances it was caused, but the wound is not deep, just apply a little gold wound medicine and it will be fine.
Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another person came rushing from the west gate. Mangui sighed and knew it was not a good thing. He picked up the ring knife, tightened the belt around his waist, exhaled and said, "What's the matter?"
"Sir, Sir Duan is here to report that the enemy troops at Ximen have launched a general attack, with a total of more than 5,000 people. He cannot hold it back. Please send troops to support him quickly!"
"Where's An Zhongxiu?"
"Mr. An has led his troops to send reinforcements, but they are not enough..."
"Well, I understand." Man Gui said in a deep voice as he walked forward quickly: "Transport those dozens of barrels of gunpowder for use, and also send a signal to the outside of the city, ordering them to choose the opportunity to attack. We can't carry it.
Hold on, victory or defeat depends on this!"
The cavalry ambushed and hidden outside the city have not moved, not because they are reluctant, but because the number is too small, and the hasty investment is purely to deliver food, but now there is no guarantee that the city will fall and people will be killed, so there is no need to worry about it.
As for the dozens of barrels of gunpowder that were intended for the three-eyed gunpowder, but the quality of the three-eyed gunpowder was too poor, Man Gui simply abandoned it. However, Duan Xipeng suggested that these dozens of barrels of gunpowder could be released at critical moments, even if
Even if it explodes loudly, it can knock over a group of people and have some effect.
Victory or defeat depends on this one move. If you can survive this battle, you can still survive for a day, but if you can't, then everything is really over.