Chapter 204 Ecstasy

Chapter 204 Ecstasy

Chapter 204 Ecstasy
The result of the Battle of Xiangcheng greatly inspired the officials, powerful people, and elders of Xiangcheng who were specially invited to the top of the city to watch the battle.

It turns out that the thieves’ fighting ability is not that good.

So how did they manage to advance so rapidly, cross the entire Henan Province, and come here?
"There should be government soldiers among the bandits, but they have not had enough training time and cannot operate the formation smoothly, leading to this defeat." Someone patted the wall, and from his tone, he seemed to be sighing for the bandits. If he was not someone who truly loved fighting, then he was definitely a traitor.

"My family has also hired a few lieutenant colonels from the central army to help train the troops. We train about ten times a year, and that's about it." Someone else said.

"Who invited you? Can Jingsi let me have a word with you?"

"No need to hide it, it's okay to tell everyone. There are many scattered soldiers in the mountains, forests and swamps. They don't want to go home, nor do they want to return to the team. There is a person called Zhang Dayan in Xiong'er Mountain..."

"Thank you Jingsi."

"Thank you Mr. Li."

Everyone expressed their gratitude and secretly decided to return and hire these young officers and veteran soldiers from the Luoyang Central Army with large sums of money to train them.

The original martial artists, village leaders, and generals in the family cannot be abandoned either. Although their abilities are average, they are loyal and diligent, and they can serve as a check and balance for each other.

In this world, if we don’t work hard to improve the combat effectiveness of Qu Zhuangke, it will become increasingly difficult.

"What's the point of training well?" Someone suddenly said, "Tens of thousands of bandits are coming and besieging you day and night. You only have two or three thousand troops. Even if you are strong, you will still be exhausted. Marquis Luyang defeated ten thousand people with less than four thousand people. It is indeed miraculous, but there will be casualties. If you fight a few more times, your military power will be blunt. What we should do is to help each other. If one family is in trouble, several families will come to help. This is the best strategy."

There is nothing wrong with this.

They cleaned their necks and asked you to chop them. If you chop them a few times, the blade will become blunt. Even the best soldiers cannot withstand repeated attrition. Mutual assistance is the right way.

"Mr. Zhou, my daughter will be thirteen next year. I heard that your son has not yet married. I wonder..."

"Oh, Jiye, our two families have been intermarried for two generations. It would be wonderful to have such a close relationship."

"From now on, we should share what we have and help each other. If Duke Zhou needs anything, just give him a call."

"As it should be."

The cruel world is gradually revealed to everyone, and you have no choice but to change.

First, the Xianbei cavalry plundered Yuzhou, and now Wang Mi’s bandits are crossing Henan. It seems that the imperial court is in trouble, and they have to worry about their own foundation.

Can't be stingy with money anymore.

You need to practice the steps more.

Military talents must be well nurtured.

We should accumulate more equipment, money and food.

We should also help each other through ways such as sworn brotherhood and marriage.

This world is too difficult.

"Marquis Luyang is back!" someone exclaimed.

Everyone looked and saw that the Silver Spear Army, which had just won a victory, was slowly gathering together and escorting a red-robed general into the city.

Some auxiliary troops are pursuing the enemy.

Some auxiliary soldiers began to clean up the battlefield, and took groups of prisoners, drove them to the open ground and guarded them. At a glance, there were three thousand people?
There was also a group of auxiliary troops who went to take the enemy's baggage, which mostly contained property and food looted by the enemy army along the way, which was another not-too-small harvest.

"Hurry up and go down to the city to welcome them." Someone took the lead and everyone followed.

As soon as I walked onto the street, I saw a large army coming towards me.

No one spoke, and everyone bowed to the ground.

In the face of life and death, only force is the most convincing.

******
Unexpectedly, the bandits' siege of Yushanwu lasted until the next day because Wang Sang took over the battle.

In the first siege yesterday, the "righteous army" was defeated and even driven all the way down the mountain by the Yamen troops who attacked from the fort, with casualties everywhere.

After receiving the news, Wang Sang rushed over quickly.

After learning from their mistakes, the bandits made certain improvements to their tactics.

They first dug several trenches on the mountain road and built a low wall behind the trenches.

This can effectively prevent logs and rocks from rolling down from above and causing heavy casualties to our side, and it can also prevent the defenders from rushing to the bottom and fleeing to the foot of the mountain like sheep being driven.

A large number of archers were deployed behind the low wall, and even a few crossbows were brought up, ready for battle. There were also strong bandits in the "core camp" wearing armor, holding long spears and axes, who played a defensive and deterrent role as well as a supervisory team.

They have practiced the tactic of using the elite to drive the old and weak to their deaths countless times.

After doing all this, the next step is the siege.

Those rushing in the front are all unarmored cannon fodder, wave after wave.

Arrows rained down from the fort, easily taking lives.

Archers don't need to aim at all, just shoot randomly and they won't miss in most cases.

There is no need to use too much strength, because the enemy has no protective armor at all.

The ditch outside the suspension bridge has been filled in.

Corpses were skewered on spikes at the bottom of the trench.

There were corpses upon corpses, layer upon layer, until the pile was level with the ground.

After the first round of cannon fodder filled the trench with their lives and demolished the trench wall, the people behind them rushed up carrying door panels and long ladders.

Even the elderly and children were swept up in it, some with expressions of fear or hysteria. Their only purpose was to consume the defenders' physical strength, energy, arrows and even various defensive equipment.

A huge rain of arrows fell from the top of the city.

The child who was charging fell down without a sound.

The old man was holding a rusty hatchet and was pushed to the front as he walked.

A long spear was stretched out from the small village outside the fort and stabbed the old man to death.

The strong man hiding at the back swung his sword and cut off the spear directly, then turned over the low wall and rushed into the village.

Several more spears stabbed at him, directly stabbing him and the two people who followed him to death.

But there were too many people, and they poured in one after another, hacking and killing indiscriminately, even though they were unwilling to do so.

Seven or eight of the defenders were killed or wounded, so they had no choice but to abandon the low wall and retreat into the small building. The thieves followed closely and piled firewood at the door, intending to burn it down.

In front of the fort, long ladders have been placed on the wall, and the thieves who are attacking the city are endless.

After a wave of attacks was defeated, a large number of arrows were shot from behind the low wall of the mountain road, which swept down all the cannon fodder and forced them to flee between the mountains and forests on both sides, and avoid colliding with the strong old thief.

Wang Sang watched all this coldly.

Under his command, another group of more than a thousand cannon fodder rushed forward.

There are as many young men as needed. After one batch dies, another batch will be driven away. There is no regret at all.

Those who survived three charges, if they were strong and healthy, would be assigned to the "Core" and "Taishan" battalions, where they would be provided with good food and drink, equipped with as many equipment as possible, and bound by gratitude and strict training to serve as the main force in the future.

If you can ride a horse, you will be enlisted in the "Kiezi Camp" and become an elite.

This is how they train soldiers, and it has always been this way, the so-called "the sands will be washed away by the waves".

"Watch them closely here. If anyone runs around, kill them without mercy." Wang Sang watched for a while and then ordered his men, "Dig in the trenches. Anyone who dares to retreat without a fight will be killed without mercy."

"Even if you want to leave, you must kill or injure the defenders before you retreat. The strong bow and crossbow I gave you are not for display. Use them well."

"In terms of lives, the defenders can't beat us. But we absolutely cannot let them drive us all the way to the foot of the mountain like sheep like they did yesterday."

"Yes." The officers and soldiers of the rebel army responded one after another.

Wang Sang took another look, went down the mountain, and went to the camp to rest.

This fortress does not have to be attacked, but since there are more than 3,000 households farming here, there are obviously a lot of young men, which is always a threat.

It doesn’t matter if we can’t capture the city, but we must stop the defenders.

At this moment, my brother is leading a large army to Huanyuan Pass, and no accidents can happen. If we fail to capture the city after a long siege and are forced to retreat, there must be no obstacles on the road.

Huanyuan Pass!
Wang Sang subconsciously looked towards the north, sincerely hoping that the defenders would collapse without a fight like they had encountered along the way before.

Wang Sang didn’t even dare to imagine what benefits he would get if he could capture Luoyang.

******
Outside Huanyuan Pass, the first to arrive were the troops of Liu Ling, the vanguard of the "rebel army", who arrived exactly three days after Wang Yan left, that is, April 25th.

The city wall is a little dilapidated, but overall it is still relatively solid.

The city wall is not big and cannot accommodate too many soldiers, but the problem is that they cannot deploy many troops either.

After failing to think of a solution, Liu Ling simply gave up thinking about it. After setting up camp, he drove all the young men he had conscripted along the way up the next day.

They attacked for a day, with more than 2,000 casualties, but without any results. Only once did they manage to reach the top of the city wall, but were quickly driven down.

He had some bad premonitions.

If the attack fails for a long time and the retreat is cut off, how can we continue the battle?
As he was hesitating, he saw a group of cavalry rushing over. Upon closer inspection, they were General Wang Mi, the General of the Eastern Expedition.

"General." Liu Ling immediately went out of the camp to greet him.

"How is it? Can we take it down?" Wang Mi asked, looking at the towering Guancheng.

"It will take some time." Liu Ling said.

He was extremely strong and brave, but he was helpless against the iron-clad city wall.

"The rear team sent news that Luyang Hou Shao Xun defeated Wang Laizi in Xiangcheng, and then moved his troops to Jiacheng, fought several battles along the Ru River, and defeated the Zhang brothers of Gaoping." Wang Mi said with a frown.

Liu Ling thought about it and had no impression of these people, so he said: "Shao Xun only fought on both sides of the Ru River. It seems that he wanted to protect his own pots and pans. If we had known earlier, we would have rushed over and maybe we could have robbed Shao Xun's territory and entered Luoyang through Yique Pass."

"It's too late to say this now." Wang Mi said, "Shao Xun will catch up with us after he finishes dealing with those fools running around. Yushanwu is his. My brother lost a lot of men and couldn't take it. He is already complaining and ready to retreat. Taishan and Zhongjian Battalions are struggling to hold out with the help of ravines and fortifications. Alas."

"How many troops does Shao Xun have?" Liu Ling asked.

"According to the defeated soldiers, there are about 7,000 to 8,000."

Liu Ling's heart moved, but when he thought that it was impossible to turn around now, he immediately became discouraged.

"Let's fight for another day at Huanyuan Pass. If it doesn't work, we'll retreat," Wang Mi said decisively.

"Escape to where?"

"Go east to Xingyang and Chenliu."

If we go east to Xingyang, we will need to abandon a lot of baggage and many troops, and we can only run away with the elite battalions.

Although the death of these weak soldiers is not a pity, it is quite difficult to gather them together.

But there really is no better solution now.

When they need to cut off their ties, they should cut off their ties. This is the main reason why they fail repeatedly but always manage to revive and rise again. If they can't learn to cut off their ties to survive, how can they fight in a mobile way? Go home and farm as soon as possible.

"I have a plan, maybe you can try it." Wang Mi thought about it and felt that fighting hard was not a solution, so he pulled Liu Ling over and whispered to him.

After hearing this, Liu Ling did not hold out much hope and said, "General, the garrison commander may not be that stupid."

Wang Mi glared at him and said, "Just give it a try. If it doesn't work, the worst that can happen is that a few thousand people will die as a burden. I won't feel bad about it."

"Well, let's give it a try." Liu Ling agreed and immediately went to make arrangements.

By the evening, all preparations were completed.

At that time, the area outside Huanyuan Pass was in a state of chaos. The enemy troops left their camp in a tumultuous manner, leaving behind countless carriages, horses, livestock, food, and even gold and silk.

Some people even shouted loudly, constantly calling on their troops to follow, as if they had failed to capture the city and turned around to run elsewhere.

In the dense forest halfway up the mountain, Liu Ling was really seriously considering where to retreat.

He had to bring his own personal troops and a few elite battalions with him, and as for the rest, who went first and who left behind were all very important - in fact, there would be no capable rear guard at all, and they would just be thrown to the government troops as scapegoats, as they had done many times before.

While thinking, he looked towards the gate of Huanyuan Pass from time to time, but did not hold out much hope - if the enemy did not chase him out, he could actually choose to retreat at this time.

Just when he was getting a little impatient, the gate of Huanyuan Pass, which had been closed, suddenly opened.

Liu Ling glanced at Wang Mi in disbelief, and both of them could see the ecstasy in each other's eyes.

No way, did I really get fooled?

(End of this chapter)