Liu Xiang ordered people to persuade them to surrender, and a group of specially selected people with loud voices yelled at the city gates about abolishing the harsh government and dividing the land to live a better life, exerting a mental attack on the defenders.
There was some commotion in the garrison at first, but it soon calmed down. It seemed that there were a large number of Gongsun family members in the army, and having them as low-level officers could indeed stabilize the morale of the army.
This is not good news, Liu Xiang frowned.
If persuading him to surrender doesn't work, then he'll try another move. He turned to Cui Yi and said, "Zian, it's your turn to go out and defeat the master."
Cui Yi held up his hands and said, "Yes."
With a group of soldiers, Cui Yi rode his horse to the city and shouted loudly: "Everyone in the city heard this, someone is Cui Yi, the captain of the Anping Army. He came here today to show off his power. There are eggs in the city."
, let me recognize the few that come down, and those who don’t have eggs should go back, don’t come out and embarrass yourself.”
Seeing that the people in the city were just yelling and scolding, but no one came out of the city in response to the challenge, he shouted again: "Liaoxi Gongsun, he has such a great name, but he is just some trash without eggs. Why not change his name to Gongsun, the eunuch and eunuch, Gongsun
Soft egg."
Cui Yi's soldiers also shouted: "The eunuch Gongsun." "The eunuch Gongsun." "Gongsun is a coward."
Insulting the family is more unacceptable than killing him. It is a great shame and humiliation. There was a commotion in the city, and a bunch of people were arguing, but they would not leave the city.
The scolding array failed.
Cui Yi shouted a few more words, and he lost his temper, so he rode back to the formation.
"Lord, these people are so intolerable that I have nothing to say."
Liu Xiang smiled and said nonchalantly: "Zi'an, don't be angry, let's try the next method."
The beggar army was ordered to take the Gongsun prisoners to the city to behead them.
Seventy or eighty members of the Gongsun family outside the city were led to kneel under the city, and they desperately begged to the top of the city, saying that they were so-and-so, a relative of someone in the city, and for the sake of their clan status, they cried and begged the city.
Clan members rescue each other.
There was a sound of wailing, crying, shouting and cursing from above and below the city.
Liu Xiang watched quietly. He felt that his heart was getting harder and harder, and he was becoming more and more indifferent.
In the past, he could not bear to watch such a tear-jerking scene.
"Is this how the Han Dynasty changed me?" He murmured softly.
After calming down, he waved his hand and gave the order: "Execution."
The beggar army randomly pulled out one of these prisoners, dragged him two steps, and beheaded him at the front of the crowd. The severed head rolled toward Lingzhi.
One person after another was dragged out, and their heads were chopped off one after another.
The defenders on the city wall finally couldn't bear it anymore. They roared and cursed and began to turn the winch, preparing to lower the drawbridge, open the city gate, and rush out to snatch these tribesmen back.
Their voices were heartbreaking, their faces were ferocious with anger, their eyes were bursting with anger, and they even shed tears of blood.
But Liu Xiang had no sympathy for them at all. How many people had shed blood and tears for their past dignity and honor? They were covered in sin, and they were filled with anger at this time, but they were still driving others to fight for their lives.
They deserve no sympathy at all.
The suspension bridge was being lowered, the city gates were opened, and the garrison troops had already lined up. The beggar army quickly escorted the prisoners back to the rear of the formation. These prisoners were fishing bait and could not be wasted.
There was a sound of shooting, and the light vehicle was already aiming at the exit of the suspension bridge.
When the city was defended, it was a pass to contain the enemy troops. Now that the offensive and defensive forces are changing, it will also be a pass to restrain the defenders from rushing out.
Before the suspension bridge could be secured, the cavalry team of the defenders rushed forward. They were not afraid of breaking the cables and destroying this powerful weapon for defending the city. They couldn't care less. They wanted to rush out to rescue the tribesmen.
Liu Xiang's army arrived so fast that many of his tribesmen had no time to retreat into the city, so they could only fight to grab it.
What greeted them was the crossbow bolts from the Shesheng Battalion. The three-stage crossbow tactics allowed an endless supply of crossbow bolts, which swept these cavalrymen into the moat like boiling soup and snow.
Two thousand powerful crossbows fired at once, drawing a line of life and death on the suspension bridge.
If you want to cross Naihe Bridge, you have to die first.
The cavalry could not rush out, so the defenders organized a shield formation and, under the rain of crossbow bolts, advanced step by step over the corpses of their companions.
Unfortunately, as soon as they set foot on the land on the other side, they entered the range of the single-nitrate cannon. The light vehicle battalion was already ready to go. The five-kilogram stone bullet soared into the air a hundred steps away and drew a beautiful arc. It created bright red ripples in the shield array.
The stone bullets flying in the air were like meteor showers, and no shield formation could stand in front of them. Without the shield formation, the infantry became the meal of the Shengsheng Battalion.
Individual crossbows are not enough to attack difficult targets? Catapults cannot hit moving targets?
Then combine them, and Liu Xiang's long-range strike tactics are realized on the battlefield for the first time.
The suppression was so great that the defenders were still unable to rush across the drawbridge. They suffered at least two to three thousand casualties before finally waiting for the troops who rushed out from other city gates.
The front army formed a formation to defend the left wing, and Yan Rou led the Hu cavalry to charge towards the invading enemy on the right wing.
The left and right wings were safe. Looking at the sparse defenders on the city, Liu Xiang did not order an attack. Although this was a good time to attack the city, it was not the time to take the order. Today was to defend the killing order. The strength of the army made them feel that the city defense was empty, making them insecure and asking for help.
The battle continued, and the Shesheng Battalion advanced a certain distance and formed a formation at the edge of the range of the crossbowmen on the city. Their range had completely covered the suspension bridge, forming a crossfire, waiting for the enemy to come and show off their military exploits.
Liu Xiang played a song to help the soldiers of the guard camp to help the front army stabilize their formation. The light vehicle battalion had already turned around and used small stone bullets weighing one kilogram to continuously hit the enemies on the left wing. The hits caused their heads to bleed, making it difficult to finish the battle. The formation is completely unable to fight with the front army, but the stragglers cannot break through the army's formation.
Hu Qi on the right wing is struggling with the enemy and will be unable to win for a while. Cui Yi has already led Xiao Qi forward, ready to support the two flanks at any time.
The chariot set up by Liu Xiang's army constantly reported the movements of all parties on the battlefield and assisted him in mobilizing troops and generals.
The enemy's main attack direction is on the left wing, with more than 5,000 troops, and the right wing, with less than 3,000 troops, is fighting with the Hu cavalry.
Liu Xiang estimated that there should be a lot of troops hidden in the city gate in front. He prepared a trap and waited for Liu Xiang to attack the city. The drawbridge of the city gate was not pulled up. This intention was too obvious.
Fortunately, he didn't think about attacking the city today. Liu Xiang didn't need to guess the enemy's specific layout in the doorway, nor did he need to guess whether the enemy was playing an empty city strategy.
Perhaps after this battle, these aristocratic families will brag about using the empty city strategy to defeat the bandits, and by the way, they will reveal the seed of a famous general who is extremely resourceful.
This is their routine operation. They select outstanding talents one by one through various chats and comments. If you are not an elegant person from a noble family, no one will bother to care about you.
But in Liu Xiang's view, these people were just enclosure for their own pleasure.
Liu Xiang stared at the city gate, and the people on the city were also observing him.
"Why are these yellow turban bandits who call themselves the Anping Army so powerful?
Our army can't break through, and they won't attack the city. Should the troops waiting at the city gate be mobilized to support the battlefield outside the city?" Lingzhi County Magistrate asked the county captain Gongsun Fan urgently.
Gongsun Fan did not dare to move his troops out of the city anymore. He wanted to pay gold and withdraw his troops, but it was obvious that he could not fight outside the city.
He was too lazy to pay attention to the county magistrate. In Lingzhi, it was not the county magistrate's turn to speak.