Chapter 213 Forced to Retreat

Chapter 213 Forced to Retreat

Chapter 213 Forced to Retreat

The Tuyuhun army's attack was very unsuccessful and they suffered heavy casualties.

Although the soldiers worked hard, they had no effective means of siege. The traditional rope ladders were broken by fire by the Sui army. The crude siege ladders had no iron hooks and could not hook onto the top of the city wall. They could not support themselves on the smooth city wall.

The only hope is the battering ram, which is also Liang Qucong's last ray of hope.

Hundreds of strong Tuyuhun soldiers were holding a huge tree that was five meters long. Two hundred of them were holding the tree, and the other three hundred were holding up shields to protect the men holding the tree tightly.

The soldiers shouted and rushed towards the gate together. Stones from the top of the city fell like raindrops, and people were knocked to the ground one after another. The Tuyuhun army behind them fired five thousand arrows at the top of the city.

Although the bows and arrows of the Tuyuhun army were far less powerful than those of the Sui army, they were numerous, and the dense rain of arrows still made it impossible for the Sui soldiers on the city walls to raise their heads.

Twenty catapults have been fixed on the top of the city wall and cannot be moved this time. After being fixed, the efficiency of the catapults can be increased by 30% and the shooting range has also increased by 50 steps.

"Boom!" With a loud bang, the huge tree hit the ice wall outside the city gate. The city wall trembled, the city gate shook violently, and several cracks appeared on the ice wall.

"Hit him again!" Liang Qucong waved his whip and shouted.

Hundreds of people retreated rapidly. At this time, the arrows of the Tuyuhun army slowed down a little, and the stones on the top of the city fell again, and dozens of people were knocked into the moat.

But the Tuyuhun soldiers immediately rushed to fill in. They had been training with battering rams in the camp for the past two days and had become very skilled in cooperating.

The rain of arrows from the Tuyuhun army became powerful again and suppressed the counterattack of the Sui army.

The battering ram rushed forward again, "Bang!" The huge battering ram hit the ice wall with great force, "Wow!" A large piece of broken ice poured down.

The outer ice wall could not withstand the heavy blow and collapsed, revealing the gate inside.

Liang Qucong was overjoyed and shouted loudly: "The first one to rush into the city can pick any 100 women."

His words caused the Tuyuhun soldiers to shout wildly, and hundreds of soldiers came up. They were Liang Qucong's personal guards, and they had the best equipment, including Ming Guang armor and sturdy large shields.

Hundreds of soldiers held up their shields to protect the soldiers who were holding the battering ram. Hundreds of large shields protected the giant tree tightly, making it look like a giant centipede with scales.

The battering ram once again slammed towards the city gate, and the straw fireballs from the city wall kept falling down, but they no longer had the same effect as last time. The fireballs slammed into the shield and were effectively isolated by the shield.

At this time, the Tuyuhun army under the city fired another 5,000 arrows. Dozens of Sui soldiers were unable to dodge and were hit by arrows, falling down screaming.

There was another earth-shaking crash, and the city gate shook violently, as if it was an old man who was about to fall down, just one last blow.

Of course, this was just an illusion of the Tuyuhun army. In fact, even if they broke the city gate, there was still a thicker ice wall inside.

But this won't work as it will easily affect the morale of the soldiers on the city walls.

Yin Shishi ordered: "Cancel the fixing of the catapult immediately!"

Xiao Xia shook his head and said, "We don't need a catapult, we can defeat them with bows and arrows!"

Xiao Xia immediately led twenty archers to the wall and said to them, "Shoot their legs, they will definitely be exposed!"

Although the soldiers held up large shields for protection, their calves were exposed.

Twenty crossbowmen raised their crossbows and shot at the same time. The Tuyuhun soldiers were hit in the legs one after another and screamed in agony. Naturally, their shields were exposed.

Xiao Xia half-knelt on the ground and used a two-stone cavalry bow to shoot arrows at the gaps like a string of arrows. With each arrow, a soldier was hit and fell. Xiao Xia shot and killed more than 30 soldiers in one breath. The battering ram began to become chaotic, and the remaining soldiers took the opportunity to shoot at the chaotic enemy soldiers.

After nearly a hundred soldiers were shot and killed, they finally couldn't hold on any longer. The huge wooden battering ram fell to the ground with a loud bang and rolled into the moat. The soldiers turned around and ran, but were chased by Xiao Xia and the soldiers and shot at. More than thirty people were shot and killed.

The Tuyuhun army's final blow never hit the city gate.

Liang Qucong saw that the attack on the city was hopeless and had to order his troops to withdraw. The Tuyuhun army retreated like a tide.

The battle lasted for a whole morning, and Tuyuhun paid a heavy price of more than 4,700 casualties, and ultimately ended in failure.

The Sui army also paid the price of more than 300 casualties.

However, the injured soldiers of the Sui army could generally be cured, while the wounded soldiers of Tuyuhun lacked medical care and medicine, and were in a snowy and icy environment, so they were basically unable to be cured and would die within a few days.

However, what dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Tuyuhun army was not the failure of the siege, but the leakage of the news that Daduba Valley had been captured by the Sui army. The retreat route was cut off, and the army was in an uproar. All the soldiers were in panic and the army was thinking of changing its mind.

Liang Qucong had no choice but to call Murong Baoshu to discuss countermeasures.

Murong Baoshu pondered for a while and said, "The weather is too cold. We should retreat to Shandan County first. That county is empty. We can occupy the county, rest for a few days, and then lead the army to Liangzhou. Didn't Xue Shixiong cut off our retreat? Liangzhou is probably empty now, so we might as well take down his lair as well."

This plan is good. Liang Qucong said immediately: "It's decided!"

In the afternoon, about 11,000 Tuyuhun troops retreated to the northeast, among whom there were more than 2,000 wounded soldiers, and the actual available force was only more than 8,500 people.

On the top of Zhangye City, Xiao Xia looked at the direction where the enemy army was retreating. He immediately judged that the enemy must have retreated to Shandan County.

Yin Shishi agreed with Xiao Xia's judgment. He suggested, "Envoy, why don't you contact General Xue immediately using the flying eagle and jointly destroy the Tuyuhun army in Shandan County?"

Xiao Xia nodded and said, "You can contact them, but I will lead the army to monitor them to prevent them from heading directly to Liangzhou."

The two men immediately divided the work. Yin Shishi was responsible for contacting the general manager Xue Shixiong and sending the eagle letter. At the same time, he sent two scouts to Dadouba Valley to notify him.

Xiao Xia led 3,000 cavalrymen to leave Zhangye City and chase in the northeast direction.

Around 11:00 p.m. at night, the Xiao Xia army encountered a Sui cavalry force of 2,000 men, the vanguard led by Xue Wanjun. They were on their way to Zhangye and encountered a Sui scout delivering a letter on the way.

When Xue Wanjun learned that Xiao Xia had led his troops to Shandan County, he immediately led his troops to turn around. Two thousand cavalrymen galloped northward, and after all the efforts, they finally caught up with Xiao Xia.

"Envoy, what's the situation?" Xue Wanjun asked.

Xiao Xia said to Xue Wanjun, "The enemy is camped in a leeward place thirty miles away. You are here just in time. Tonight, our five thousand cavalry will launch a surprise attack on the enemy and wipe them out completely!"

"How confident are you, sir?" Xue Wanjun asked.

Xiao Xia smiled and said, "The enemy's morale is low and some of them are already deserting. Now is the perfect time for us to attack!"

Xue Wanjun's blood boiled immediately, and he punched him, "Fuck him!"

...........
Thirty miles away, under a low mound, the Tuhuohun army spent the night. The soldiers were low in morale and everyone was filled with despair about the future.

What made Liang Qucong even more anxious was that there were deserters in the team. More than a hundred people were ordered to chop firewood, but they all ran away, and only two people came back to report.

This made Liang Qucong both hateful and angry. They were still in high spirits in the morning, but by midnight, they all turned into frost-bitten leaves.

Murong Baoshu advised: "The morale of these Qiang people comes and goes quickly. There is nothing we can do about it. When we reach the county town at noon tomorrow, we will close the city gates. These guys will have nowhere to run even if they want to."

Liang Qucong nodded, "In the final analysis, it's because we have too few troops. I told the lord at the beginning that 20,000 troops would not be enough to take Hexi, and at least 50,000 troops would be needed, but the lord refused. Now we have to bear the consequences."

"We didn't choose the right time either. Winter is not suitable for expeditions, especially sieges. We are in the snow and ice outside the city, while the enemy's rooms inside the city are warm as spring. Besides, when have we ever been good at sieges?"

Liang Qucong sighed deeply, "What's the point of saying all this now? Go to bed early! We'll set off at dawn tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)