The persuasion to surrender at the foot of Gumu City lasted for a day, but there was no movement in the two southern cities. The total number of defenders there was less than 10,000. It is unlikely that troops would be sent until an emergency.
On the second day, they cooked rice at Mao hour and left the camp at Chen time. They encircled three towers and marched to the gate of Gumu City.
After the routine persuasion to surrender, dozens of trebuchets expressed their views and smashed the city wall with stone chips flying everywhere.
The flag was pointed forward, and the crossbowmen pushed the cart forward. Behind him was Jinglan who was moving forward together. He went up and down, firing his crossbow to suppress the city head.
The defenders either hid behind the battlements or retreated to the road to the city. Facing the arrow rain of eight or nine thousand crossbowmen and the falling stone bullets like meteors, the already war-weary soldiers had no intention of risking their lives to fight back.
The lookout on the chao chariot reported back the situation on the city, and Liu Xiang ordered: "Order the civilians to come forward and fill the river."
More than a dozen teams of peasants, under the cover of oars and anemone carts, pushed deer carts and threw piles of sandbags into the moat. The moat of Gumu was connected to the water. The river channel was dug extremely deep, with a width of three to four feet. The moat was like a bottomless pit, and it was barely cut off at eight places by the end of the afternoon.
Large instruments cannot pass through and must be widened, and eight channels are not enough.
Liu Xiang shook his head and sighed, it would be dark in another hour or two, and he might not be able to attack the city today.
The filling of the river is still going on, the trebuchets are still firing stones, the walls have been hit with craters, the battlements have been hit with missing teeth, and the impact on the city is unknown.
The crossbowmen who were responsible for the cover fired their crossbows alternately. With the number of people and money, the rain of arrows never stopped.
The defenders on the city were suppressed for a day, suffering heavy casualties and losing morale. Those who escaped came in groups. Jiao He was so angry that he chopped off dozens of heads, barely stopping the collapse and stabilizing the city wall. The defenders on top.
The city had not yet been formally attacked, but with the behavior of his subordinates, Jiao He felt desperate and hoped that reinforcements would arrive as soon as possible. It was difficult for Gumu's defenders alone to defend the city.
As evening came, the sky became darker and darker, and the nine dams gradually took shape. Liu Xiang did not want to fight at night, so he could demolish them if the enemy wanted to. Anyway, the sandbags thrown into the river could not be salvaged cleanly. The base was still there, and the river would be filled in tomorrow. Much simpler.
In the small town of Gumu, the city wall is not high and the moat is not shallow. This idea is really a new approach, and there is no fear of the river bank collapsing and bringing down the city wall.
"Ming Jin, withdraw the troops."
The Anping army returned to camp to rest, and the Gumu garrison was beginning to be tired. They waited until the scouts confirmed that the enemy troops had completely withdrawn before leaving the city and demolishing the embankment.
Jiao He breathed a sigh of relief. He finally got through the day, but he didn't know if he could hold on tomorrow. Looking at the soldiers busy on both sides of the moat and watching the lighting fires being lit one by one, he really wanted to lead his troops to retreat.
But where can we evacuate to?
We retreated from Qingzhou to Xuzhou, and we couldn't retreat. Behind us was the hinterland of Xuzhou, to the east was the sea, and to the west was Mount Tai. If we retreated again, we would definitely die!
Jiao He lamented endlessly.
Liu Xiang did not see the pessimistic Jiao He on the city wall. He was hiding in the dark, observing the enemies who lit fires and demolished the embankments.
With him were Cui Yi and the 1,700 cavalrymen who came quietly with their horses. They were all the cavalrymen of the Suwei and Xiaoqi battalions. In order not to alert the enemy, they walked three miles in the dark without lighting torches.
Just because he didn't want to fight and siege the city at night didn't mean he would watch the enemy demolish the embankment, especially when he knew the enemy would do this.
"Destroying other people's work is a crime and must be punished." Liu Xiang murmured in a low voice, turned to Cui Yi and said: "Send the order, only kill people, not attack the city."
He will not attack Gumu County desperately. Weakening and forcing are the main methods to make the defenders panic and desperately ask for help, so as to mobilize the two cities in the south.
Besieging the city and calling for reinforcements is the real purpose.
The three-city linkage defense system requires troops that can go out to fight in the city. Either a team of elite cavalry can attack the enemy attacking the city at any time, or a large corps must be stationed.
It's a pity that these three cities now have nothing to offer. They are weak and easily divided.
After the order was conveyed, the distance to the enemy was less than two miles.
Liu Xiang climbed on the red tug and ordered loudly: "Mount your horse, light the fire, and follow me to kill the enemy!"
The torches were lit, the cavalry accelerated, and accompanied by the rumble of horse hooves, 1,700 armored cavalry galloped and charged from the east of the city. When approaching the city, they abandoned the torches, leveled the long branches, and used the enemy's lighting fire to
Rushed into the crowd outside the moat.
These people include the defenders and young men recruited from the city. They are carrying sandbags above the water, tearing down the underwater dams, and destroying the filled channels.
The cavalry rushed so fast that they didn't even reach the suspension bridge, not to mention returning to the city. They cleverly jumped into the river and swam to the other side. The frightened ones could only run away randomly, but instead collided with each other and made a mess.
The cavalry charged forward, cutting a bloody path through the crowd.
The impact of the armored riding equipment was unstoppable. Relying on the armor to protect himself, he rushed straight to the edge of the moat before turning around. Ignoring the sparse arrows on the city, he continued to attack along the river bank.
The soldiers in the front row stabbed, and the back row fired their bows furiously. The defenders on both sides of the moat were not spared.
Liu Xiang and Su Wei followed Xiaoqi closely, shooting with bows and arrows in succession. He had practiced riding and archery for more than six years. He was no longer the frail young man he was when he first came to Han Dynasty.
Rushing into the firelight and into the shadows, the 1,700 cavalrymen seemed to have come from hell, circling around the moat like the wind.
Siluke
No, only three walls were turned around.
Sprint five miles, take sixty breaths, and get away.
It was just as sudden as when it came.
Jiao He broke out in a cold sweat and was so frightened that he couldn't speak.
"Bed...Bed crossbow, shoot!"
When the first wave of crossbows was fired, the cavalry had already disappeared into the darkness.
The defenders on the edge of the tower were still desperately pulling the winch of the suspension bridge, trying to pull it up. The bridge deck was less than three feet off the ground, and the cavalry could rush up with one leap.
But the enemy has disappeared.
If it weren't for the corpses all over the ground and the screaming wounded soldiers, the cavalry attack would have seemed like a nightmare.
Jiao He's hands and feet were trembling, his breathing was disordered, and he panted rapidly for a while before he regained his composure. Is this Liu Qiao's cavalry tactics that even the generals of the imperial court admired?
It came suddenly and left suddenly, completely unexpected, giving him no time to think about countermeasures.
"Hurry up the suspension bridge and get into the city alive." Jiao He suddenly yelled.
No matter what the next step is, just do the most prudent response first. Don't guess, you can't guess. You must use the most cautious method to defend the city. You must be cautious!
After counting the number of people returning to the city, he became more clear about this idea.
Two thousand six hundred people fell outside the city.
It was too fast, it came quickly, left quickly, and killed very quickly, and it didn't leave a single corpse of the cavalry.
He was not sure whether he had killed the enemy or not.
Jiao He didn't even dare to collect the corpses outside the city. He only sent a small team to treat the wounded soldiers who were still screaming.
He is afraid!
Liu Xiang didn't think as much as Jiao He, he only felt frustrated.
In this raid, he shot twenty arrows, ranking last among the guards. The most ruthless one was Zhao Yun, who shot out all the feather arrows he carried.
Each Suwei soldier carries sixty arrows, which is standard equipment.
Sixty sticks, one arrow per shiver?
The hands are so fast.
I was originally complacent about the results of these years of practice, but in the end, I was ranked last.
Liu Xiang was extremely frustrated.
I traveled to the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, and practiced martial arts for six years, but I was still at the level of a cavalryman.
The young man in white robe can only do half of it, what a shame!