Chapter 32: Grinding
Chapter 32: Grinding
"shoot!"
Although there were only fifty people, they still caused considerable casualties due to their superior position.
They did not scatter aimlessly, but selected their targets and shot accurately.
Those who are confident in their archery skills aim at the enemy's face.
Those with average archery skills would shoot at those in the back row who had no armor or only leather armor.
Screams continued to sound.
The arrows were like a gust of wind, repeatedly destroying the withered grass, and a large number of enemies fell down in unison, with a considerable killing effect.
The enemy is also fighting back.
Shao Xun stood on the wall, while Chen Yougen and Wang Que'er held up large shields to protect him on both sides.
Under the dense arrows, the ears were filled with the whistling sound of arrows breaking through the air and the "tick-tick" sound of arrows hitting the shield. Chen Yougen was fine, but Wang Que'er, who was weaker, had already unconsciously stepped back two steps, and it was very difficult for her to hold up the shield.
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Shao Xun's eyes kept scanning the crowd. After finding the target, he raised his hand and shot. He didn't aim at all, just relying on his feeling, but his hit rate was very high.
In the military archery test, shooting with the hand raised is one of the extra points. During the training, some people were aiming here and there, and Shao Xun scolded them. If they continued to aim like this, their bodies would be pierced by arrows shot by the enemy.
"Swoosh! Swoosh!" After raising his hand and shooting, Shao Xun performed the skill of shooting with both hands. The arrows flew out and knocked down one person on the spot and shot off another person's helmet.
He chose valuable targets, either officers, flag bearers, trumpeters, or battlefield messengers running around quickly.
Under his operation, the enemy quickly became slow in movement and their formation became somewhat chaotic.
Often, after the first group of people carrying simple wooden ladders to climb the wall were repelled, the second group could not catch up quickly, thus wasting the results gained by the previous group of comrades at the cost of their lives.
But they were many in number, and after the sword and shield soldiers paid attention to protection, it was not so easy to shoot the officers. Moreover, there were only fifty archers on the Biyong side. After each person shot more than a dozen arrows, their arms began to ache and their strength gradually ran out, so the shooting speed slowed down and the accuracy decreased - in short, the lethality decreased.
After shooting a few more rounds, Shao Xun ordered them to go down and rest while the enemy was receding, and replaced them with another group of people who only knew how to use bows and arrows.
At this time, the hand-to-hand combat had reached a fever pitch.
"Kill!" Huang Biao roared and thrust out the spear in his hand like lightning.
"Kill!" The soldiers also thrust out their spears.
Before the enemy who just appeared could react, he saw several spears coming towards him.
Some people screamed loudly, some fell down, while others plucked up their courage and rushed forward and fought hard, relying on their thick armor.
There are people who are specially equipped with wooden clubs, halberds, and long-handled axes to deal with such people. The key point is to take advantage of their unstable footing and smash them on the head with heavy blunt weapons, killing them or knocking them off the wall.
This is the advantage of defending a city. In ancient times, there were even cases where veteran warriors climbed up the city wall, were hooked by boys, or hacked to death by women.
However, the wall of Biyong was not a proper city wall. It did not have professional city defense facilities and many city defense equipment could not be deployed, which made it much more difficult to defend the city. This was directly reflected in the battle situation, resulting in heavy casualties on our side.
After shooting arrows for a while, Shao Xun felt that someone was targeting him and he was exhausted, so he decisively picked up a long-handled axe, changed his position, and swung it with both hands, smashing at the people who were climbing up.
"Go to hell!" The enemy soldier holding a ring-handled sword was wearing heavy armor and was fully protected. After stepping on the wall with his legs, he clamped a long spear under his left armpit, swung the sword with his right hand to cut off the spear shaft, then avoided the cold spear head that was stabbing at his face, rushed forward, and crashed into the crowd, causing chaos in an instant.
"Puff!" The long-handled axe slashed down diagonally with incredible force, and the enemy soldier staggered a few steps and fell into the wall from the other side. The soldiers who were resting rushed forward and killed him with short weapons.
"Bang!" Shao Xun did not stop moving, and swung his long-handled axe at another enemy soldier who had just climbed up.
This man seemed to be wearing three layers of armor, and he was extremely strong. With his eyes wide open, he looked majestic and murderous.
The axe hit him hard on the face. Before he could even scream, his face changed shape visibly, and with a thud, he fell face up against the wall.
This was not over yet. Another warrior in heavy armor came up from the left front. Behind him, there were two people in leather armor who used their hands and feet to jump onto the top of the wall.
The warrior in front was already engaged in a fight with the guards. Shao Xun had no time to think and subconsciously swung his axe at the two men behind him.
"Puff!" The sharp axe blade cut through the flesh and cut off the man's entire arm. Blood gushed out and sprayed on the other man's face, making him stunned for a moment.
Shao Xun did not stop, and took a quick step forward, drew his axe and swept it horizontally, sweeping it down to the city wall. "Ah!" A scream was heard from the side and back. Shao Xun looked sideways and saw that the heavily armored warrior had his throat cut by Huang Biao after killing one and injuring another, and fell powerlessly on the top of the city wall.
"Huff, huff!" The heavy breathing sound can be clearly heard.
Face-to-face fighting is really very tiring, and it tests your courage to fight to the death. In this case, your physical strength will be consumed faster than usual, which will make you highly nervous and make you - abnormal!
"Kill!" Shao Xun casually swung his axe and smashed the helmet of another heavily armored warrior, then kicked him off the wall nimbly.
Then he carried an axe and went to another critical place to put out a fire.
People kept falling down around me, and they kept taking their places.
After killing and wounding countless people, Shao Xun was already pierced by several arrows. The wounds were not serious, and even the arrows did not penetrate the flesh, but it also showed how fierce the battle was.
Do you want this?
They are just a flank among flanks, but they are having such exciting fun. The lower-level warriors are the real cannon fodder!
******
A day of fighting ended, and the walls were filled with wailing.
Shao Xun took off his armor and Wang Que'er bandaged his wounds carefully.
Mi Huang, Yu Liang, Yang Bao and others gathered around and listened to his words.
"No need to panic." Shao Xun frowned and said calmly, "The first three days of the offensive and defensive battle are the most dangerous. After this period, we will basically be stable."
"Today, the enemy selected a lot of elite soldiers, wearing heavy armor, hoping to break through the city in one blow, but we resisted. Not everyone can be a selected vanguard or elite soldier. Once these people are used up, things will be easier."
"Think about it. If we were to fight an open battle with the enemy, these elite soldiers would cause us a lot of trouble. But now they are easily killed by us relying on the high walls. Isn't that a big win?"
"Don't worry, the bandits have no intention of conquering us. Meng Chao might still be thinking about going to the east of the city to gain military merit. We will hold on tightly and never surrender. Seeing that he has no other options, he will retreat because he is reluctant to sacrifice his elite troops."
"Be alert at night. I will be on patrol at any time. Those who neglect their duties and neglect military affairs will be executed immediately without mercy."
Shao Xun spoke eloquently with the tone of a chief officer, but everyone - including Mi Huang - took it for granted, nodded repeatedly and responded loudly.
Even Yu Liang, a noble son, who used to be quite critical of Shao Xun, has now become obedient. Shao Du Bo is always trying to put out fires, and he probably killed more than 20 people today, which makes him a god-like general.
If it weren't for him, it's hard to say what the fate of Biyong would have been.
Based on this point alone, no one has the right to discriminate against him - even if they really look down on him, they have to keep it in their hearts and not say it out loud. The whole family is here, so they dare not lose their temper.
"What Shao Dubo said makes sense. There is nothing good in it if we surrender. We can only fight to the end. From today on, whoever dares to surrender will not be blamed by me for being ruthless." After Shao Xun finished speaking, Mi Huang was the first to express his support, and his tone was very serious.
"Yes." Not only Du Bo Yang Bao and several team leaders responded, but also Yu Liang and another young man from the Xu family of Donghai answered.
Shao Xun couldn't help but look at him again.
Like the Mi family, the Xu family was also a local aristocratic family in Donghai State. In terms of status at that time, it was not very high. At least, when he was answering Yu Liang of the Yingchuan Yu family, it was obvious that he was very humble, although the Yu family was not a big family.
This young man was called Xu Lang, he was eighteen years old this year, and it was unknown why he came to the capital. Anyway, he followed Mi Huang's path and fled to Biyong to seek refuge.
I have met Shao Xun several times, but we didn't talk much. Even though he has fallen to this point, he is still very proud.
The caste society of the Jin Dynasty has left a deep legacy.
Perhaps in Xu Lang's mind, he didn't think Shao Xun was that powerful at all. After all, this was an era when Lu Ji could command an army of more than 200,000. It was not surprising to have such an idea.
"In this case, everyone should do their job and follow the plan." Shao Xun nodded, looked at Yu Liang and Yang Bao, and said, "The enemy army is a motley crowd and may not be able to fight at night, but we must be on guard. I'll trouble you two tonight."
"Yes." Yu Liang and Yang Bao agreed immediately.
They also understand the general situation.
The Jizhou Military Governorate originally had 40,000 soldiers, and now more than 200,000 troops were mobilized all at once. Most of them were actually farmers who worked the land and did not have much combat effectiveness.
Even the worldly soldiers have become quite corrupt. Otherwise, how could the refugee commander be able to run around like a nobody?
Of course, the Biyong defenders are not that good, they are just competing to see who is worse. We just need to defend carefully tonight and wear down the enemy's morale for a few days, and it will be almost over.
Shao Xun thought more than them...
(End of this chapter)