"What happened!?" Yuan Xi heard the news and rushed to the city. The outside of the city was already lit up by fire. Seeing that there were no enemy troops around, he quickly looked around and saw that the area under the city gate had become a sea of fire. There was something there.
At the city gate, kerosene continued to burn on it, but it was not damaged.
"The enemy troops have been digging into the city all night, and are now digging the city gate hole under the city. It seems that they want to dig the city gate through." Zhang Nan stepped in and saluted.
Dig a hole through the city gate?
Yuan Xi was stunned. In order to block the city gate, he directly blocked the city gate tightly with rubble. The gate was more than ten feet long. Is Ma Chao crazy? He used this method?
But the vibrations coming from under his feet from time to time made Yuan Xi look a little ugly. He turned to look at Zhang Nan and said: "The opponent is still digging, is there a way to force him out?"
Zhang Nan smiled bitterly and said: "Just now, the last general sent a group of troops down to try to strangle these thieves, but they were killed by Ma Chao. So he used this method to seal the city gate with fire and suffocate them alive in the city."
In the doorway."
"This method is very good." Yuan Xi nodded. He knew Ma Chao's fighting power. Ordinary soldiers would not be able to hold him down if there were not many soldiers. Although this method consumes fuel, if Ma Chao can be suffocated to death here, no matter how many soldiers he has, he will be able to defeat him.
The kerosene is also worth it.
In the city gate cave, a soldier who was digging suddenly fell to the ground.
"Dead!" The veteran responsible for guiding the excavation took a breath and sighed: "General, if this continues, everyone will be suffocated to death."
At this moment, a distance of about three feet has been dug out. They blocked the city entrance with gravel, which had a certain insulation effect, but in this way, the air inside was gone.
They have only dug three feet. I don't know how long it will take to dig through it. If they continue like this, they may be suffocated before the city gate hole is hollowed out.
The other soldiers had also reached their limit. Even Ma Chao felt dizzy. He looked at the veteran and asked, "Is there any way?"
"Why don't we dig a few holes from here to let the outside air in, and also let the soldiers take a breather!" the veteran suggested.
This will definitely take a lot of time, but the cave is hot and stuffy, but there is no air, and the cave is full of dust, so I have to cover my mouth and nose when digging. If this continues, the soldiers may not be able to hold on.
It won't be long.
"According to what you said!" Ma Chao followed the veteran's instructions, chose a place, and started digging with a shovel. He found that it was easier to dig the city wall than to dig the city gate. The vent chosen by the veteran was about one foot away from the city gate.
, it took Ma Chao half an hour to dig through. In an instant, with the influx of fresh air, everyone greedily breathed the fresh air. However, there was only one vent and the air inside could not circulate. With the advice of the veteran, Ma Chao
Another vent was dug in the countermeasure to allow air to circulate throughout the city wall.
"How about we abandon the city gate holes and dig the city wall?" After Ma Chao found that the city wall was easier to dig than the city gate holes, he couldn't help but start the idea of a city wall.
The veteran shook his head: "General, this city wall is load-bearing. If we dig it wrong, we will all be buried alive inside."
There was no choice but to continue digging the city gate hole. The air in the hole was still hot. Ma Chao asked people to change places and threw the excavated gravel out from the two vents. In this way, another five feet was dug.
The sky turned dark again.
The flames in the city gate cave were also smaller. After all, after burning for a day, the city's kerosene was almost used up. Ma Chao rested and ate a few mouthfuls of dried meat. Gudugu drank half a bag of water, which was ready when they came.
Three days of rations and water, but the rations are okay. As for the water, because it was burned today, everyone consumed it a bit quickly. The water for three days has already bottomed out in just one day. If the other party wants to roast it with fire tomorrow, then Ma Chao
There is no water available here.
After thinking about it, Ma Chao prepared to dig all night, trying to open this damn city gate before dawn tomorrow.
On the city wall, Zhang Nan and others could clearly sense the constant tremors coming from below the city. The other party was not dead, and was still digging the city gate. The rubble outside the city gate had piled up into two hills. The ones Ma Chao brought
The blocking ram had been smashed, and although the cowhide was not broken, the frame of the ram had already been overwhelmed by the high temperature and the bombardment of falling rocks.
"Lord, what should I do?" Zhang Nan looked at Yuan Xi. Judging from the vibration, he had already dug halfway. If the other party digs overnight, the city gate hole will be dug tomorrow.
what to do?
Yuan Xi walked back and forth on the city wall. After a while, he looked at Zhang Nan and said, "Seal the city gate with huge rocks!"
"How can such a huge stone be used at this time?" Zhang Nan smiled bitterly after hearing this. How big is the huge stone that can block the city gate? Find it now. It is estimated that when they move back, they will have dug through the city gate.
Yuan Xi also didn't expect that Ma Chao's method would actually threaten him. After hesitating for a moment, he looked at Zhang Nan and gritted his teeth and said: "Then dig a trap at the city gate and prepare crossbows. As long as the enemy troops pass through, we will be there."
If Ma Chao is shot with a bed crossbow, no matter how powerful he is, he may not be able to block the bed crossbow attack. Let’s see if he survives!”
"Here!" Zhang Nan nodded and went to prepare the crossbow as instructed. At the same time, he dug a ravine at the city gate and made a trap. As soon as the opponent came, he would fire all the crossbows and arrows, killing the opponent completely.
Unfortunately, the terrain of Juyongguan is narrow. Not only is it difficult to arrange siege equipment outside the city, but even inside the pass, it is difficult to place too many siege equipment. Five of them were placed directly opposite the city gate, and there was no room to place more.
On the other side, Ma Chao dug all night, and finally reached thirteen feet before dawn.
"General, there's wind here!" The veteran pressed against the wall and felt it for a moment, then looked at Ma Chao and said, "At most, we can break through the city gate by only one foot."
Ma Chao breathed a sigh of relief. He dug with all his strength throughout the night and finally almost dug through. The distance of one foot could be dug out in half an hour at most. However, when everyone was about to dig, Ma Chao stopped.
"No more digging here." Ma Chao stopped everyone and said in a deep voice.
"General, why is this?" the veteran asked puzzledly.
"I can guarantee that the enemy troops outside the city have already laid a dragnet waiting for me to dig through it." Ma Chao sat down and took out the dried meat with trembling hands, took a hard bite, took a deep breath and said, "Then
The thief general is not a fool. He saw us digging the city gate and not making any preparations."
The old soldier understood what he said, nodded and said: "The general is still thoughtful."
"What does this mean?" Ma Chao felt like he was about to become an immortal now. There was the sound of digging in his head. He looked at the veteran and said, "I'm wondering if it can be like those two vents. I'll wait for the general to open the door."
Drive on the other side and let the bandit army miss you!"
The veteran looked around: "If it's only one foot, it should be feasible."
"Then dig. After an hour, let out smoke and notify Dong Chao to enter the city." Ma Chao stuffed the dried meat into his mouth, drank all the last water, tied his mouth and nose with clothes again, and stood up.
"Here!"
Seeing that victory was in sight, the soldiers regained their energy and, under the guidance of the veterans, began to dig on both sides.
An hour later, a gap opened in the wall. On the city wall, Zhang Nan keenly grasped this and immediately cheered up the soldiers, knowing that as soon as the opponent broke through the city gate, he would immediately use the crossbow to greet the opponent.
Outside the city gate on the other side, some soldiers lit up the smoke.
Dong Chao, who had been waiting for a long time, saw this and immediately got on his horse: "All soldiers, follow me into the city to kill the enemy!"
The soldiers, who were already less than 2,500, quickly formed a military formation. Under the leadership of Dong Chao, they stared at the rain of enemy arrows on the city wall and rushed towards the city gate. They crossed the rubble and swarmed into the city gate hole.
"Get ready!" Zhang Nan got the news from the outer wall, raised his arms high, and the five bed crossbows that had been prepared were facing the city gate. As soon as the gravel at the city gate broke, all five arrows were fired.
Failure to hit Ma Chao would also cause heavy losses to the bandits in the city gate cave.
"Boom~"
The walls on both sides of the city gate collapsed almost at the same time. In the astonished eyes of Yuan Xi and Zhang Nan, a large number of thieves actually rushed out from the collapsed city wall. All of a sudden, most of the traps that had been prepared were ineffective.
"Buzz~"
A crossbow was subconsciously triggered by the soldier guarding there, and the giant arrow shot out of the air and hit the unbroken gravel.
Ma Chao rushed out first, glanced at the traps on the ground, looked up to the sky and laughed: "You little rat, why don't you come and die!"
With a suffocating breath in his chest that seemed to be released all at once, Ma Chao rushed towards the nearest arrow array first, allowing the sharp arrows to hit him, but they were bounced away by the energy around him, and some of them were shot away.
It hit his armor, but he didn't pay any attention to it. He dragged his spear backwards to the enemy's formation, threw out the gun full of anger, and directly broke through the enemy's battle formation. More than a dozen shooters were thrown away by one shot.
, smashed a piece.
"Fire arrows!" Yuan Xi roared loudly. Although he was a little surprised, at this moment, there was no time to worry about this. With the next order, thousands of arrows were fired. Many soldiers who had just escaped the trap were instantly shot dead on the spot.
.
Upon seeing this, Ma Chao immediately gathered a small group of troops and rushed towards the opponent's main formation.
Yuan Xi felt his scalp numb, turned around and ran away.
"Lord..." Zhang Nan glanced at Yuan Xi, feeling a little helpless. If he ran away at this time, his morale would collapse.
However, he could not stop Yuan Xi and could only form a formation to face Ma Chao.
Ma Chao was holding back his anger now, and led a small group of troops into the enemy formation, throwing away the spear in his hand. His shooting skills were different from Zhao Yun's sharpness and swiftness. He took a violent approach, smashing, throwing, and swinging. These moves were used frequently.
Far more than the thorns, the most lethal thing is not the sharp tip of the gun, but the gun body.
Looking like a ferocious beast rushing towards the commander's flag, the military formations along the way were unable to stop the opponent. Zhang Nan was unable to avoid it at this moment. He gritted his teeth and roared, gathering the strength of the army and slashing at Ma Chao with his sword.
However, when the knife came out, Ma Chao seemed to have foreseen it. He suddenly flashed and appeared beside Zhang Nan. He stared at Zhang Nan with a ferocious gaze like a ferocious beast: "You guarded well!"
Apparently he regarded Zhang Nan as the general of this land.
Zhang Nan wanted to sheath the knife, but what he saw was Ma Chao's huge fist, which punched him directly on the head.
"Boom~"
Zhang Nan couldn't dodge, so he could only receive Ma Chao's angry punch with his head. His head exploded with crazy energy, and Ma Chao's anger also vented out as the opponent's head exploded.