Chapter 344: What is imaginary is real, what is real is imaginary!

Chapter 344: What is imaginary is real, what is real is imaginary!

The mysterious Yi Xiaochuan looked at it with a sharp gaze, and he knew what these things were. These seemingly insignificant iron tools were the famous caltrops! You know, this thing was already in existence in the long-ago Warring States Period. However, due to the immature smelting technology at that time, most of them were made of bronze. However, even so, someone at that time came up with a way to deal with it. Whenever a soldier was injured by a caltrop, he only needed to hold a wooden board and step over it, and the crisis could be easily resolved.

It was originally designed to delay the enemy's actions, but in reality its use is quite limited, and there are extremely strict conditions for the location of its use. The reason is that as long as there is a little external force, this iron dysentery will quickly sink into the ground, thus losing its due effect. However, the iron dysentery in Yi Xiaochuan's hand at this moment is completely different from that of the Warring States period. They are made entirely of pure iron. Both the material and the production process are many times better than similar products of that era.

When the Southern Border Army resolutely used this batch of iron dysentery, it undoubtedly showed an important fact - Gao Yao must have made careful arrangements for the soil under the city wall in advance. He must have ordered people to spread dense gravel under the soil and cleverly used these gravel as solid support points. In this way, these iron dysentery can play a maximum role and effectively block the enemy's offensive.

"Gao Yao, Gao Yao, you are really a cunning guy with endless tricks and methods! Pass my order and quickly send soldiers to charge forward with wooden boards to open up a path and resist these extremely sharp iron attacks. At the same time..."

"Crack...Crack..." Just as the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan was giving orders, a series of sounds of breaking air, accompanied by the sound of wood breaking, rang in his ears, causing the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan's expression to change again.

"Oops!" Mysterious Yi Xiaochuan couldn't help but screamed in shock. His sharp eyes followed the battlefield in front of him closely, and he secretly thought that something was wrong. Sure enough, just as he worried, the Southern Border Army seized the opportunity and used crossbows without hesitation to launch a new round of fierce attacks on catapults and siege vehicles.

Countless arrows whizzed in like a torrential rain, fiercely smashing into the already scarred catapults and siege vehicles. In an instant, wood chips flew, sparks splashed, and accompanied by loud noises, the court's already scarce catapults were completely turned into a pile of scrap metal under this round of fierce attacks. Only a few siege vehicles survived, but they were already shaky and broken.

Seeing this tragic scene, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan's face became extremely gloomy, veins popped out on his forehead, and his anger was beyond words. "Hurry up and pass the order! Today, no matter how much it costs, we must take Xia County for me!" The mysterious Yi Xiaochuan roared angrily. At this moment, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan, who had always been calm and composed, finally couldn't hold back his anger. He was so angry at the setbacks he suffered from Gao Yao that he lost his usual demeanor.

At this time, Li Xin hurried forward to dissuade them: "Wait, General! Now our army's morale is already broken, and the soldiers are in low spirits. Moreover, there is not much time left before sunset. It is too urgent to reorganize the army and go into battle again. In my opinion, it is better to rest for one night and attack tomorrow. Otherwise, if we force the attack, I am afraid our losses will only increase further, and the subsequent offensive actions will inevitably fall into an extremely passive situation. Please think twice before acting!"

A trace of anger was clearly visible on the face of the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan. His eyes, which were originally as calm as water, seemed to be burning with rage. Especially when faced with Li Xin's stubborn and unyielding attitude, this anger was like a volcanic eruption, and it became more and more uncontrollable. To the point that he actually had an impulse in his heart - the impulse to personally kill Li Xin directly.

However, after careful consideration, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan quickly calmed himself down. After all, he was not the kind of reckless person who was easily swayed by emotions. Since entering this second reincarnation, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan has almost always stood at the height of a superior to examine and observe the entire world. Not only that, he can also detach himself from the world and observe the changes and development of all things in the world as a bystander.

As the number of reincarnations continues to increase, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan has enjoyed all the splendor and wealth. For him now, most people in this world no longer have the characteristics of "people" in the true sense, but are more like NPC characters with set programs. Because of this, for a long time, no matter what earth-shaking events happened in this world, or what kind of sad and happy stories it encountered, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan has been able to consistently maintain an extremely indifferent perspective. Because he knows very well in his heart that everything will eventually be ruthlessly reset to zero. In this case, why should he invest too much emotion in these passing clouds?

Facing Gao Yao, who was completely different, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan was really irritated, because Gao Yao could really make the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan, who claimed to be in control of everything, fail frequently, especially when Gao Yao had prepared a surprise for him before leaving. However, despite his anger, Yi Xiaochuan was able to control himself quickly.

"The old general is right. Withdraw the troops and return to the camp!" The mysterious Yi Xiaochuan stood in front of the army, his face as calm as the abyss, his eyes firmly staring at the smoke-filled battlefield in the distance, and slowly issued this order. His voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable majesty.

"Yes!" The messenger standing by heard the order, turned around quickly, jumped on his horse, raised his whip, and galloped towards the front line. The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, and dust flew up along the way.

As the order to withdraw was passed on, the surging offensive that had been besieging Xia County from all sides gradually came to a halt. The shouts of killing and the sounds of weapons clashing gradually faded away, and the hustle and bustle on the battlefield was gradually replaced by tranquility.

At this moment, Zhang Liang, who was holding on to the city wall, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He held the battlement of the city wall with his hands, leaned forward slightly, and looked at the enemy army moving farther and farther away in the distance, secretly feeling lucky. He had been worried about the fierce attack and defense battle, fearing that the city would be lost. Now that the enemy army had temporarily retreated, they finally had a chance to breathe.

Zhang Liang looked down at the surrounding city walls. The city defense supplies had been basically consumed. Although the enemy's catapults were successfully destroyed before, if the imperial army launched another fierce attack, it would soon enter the most brutal stage of the city wall attack and defense. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but frowned slightly, and his expression became solemn.

At this moment, a figure rushed up the city wall. It was Erniu. With a look of concern on his face, he quickly walked to Zhang Liang's side and asked anxiously, "Mr. Zhang Liang, are you okay?" His words were full of worry.

Zhang Liang turned his head and looked at Erniu who looked nervous. He smiled slightly, waved his hand and said, "I'm fine. It's just that the battle today was very intense and I'm really a little tired."

Erniu looked Zhang Liang up and down, and seeing that he was indeed safe and sound, he was relieved and said with a long sigh, "That's good, it was really dangerous just now. If anything happened to you, I would be ashamed of my lord's trust."

Erniu was talking nonstop, while his hands were constantly wiping his bloody and scabby cheek. Zhang Liang, standing by, stared at Erniu quietly, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Zhang Liang thought to himself: No wonder this man is the leader of Gao Yao's personal guards, it turns out that he is not just relying on his wisdom or martial arts, but his unparalleled loyalty! Although he is relatively mediocre in terms of strategy and his martial arts value is not at the pinnacle, his loyalty is probably enough to make many people fall in the dust.

"General, the enemy has a chance to catch their breath and rest, but we must not relax! According to the order of the lord, we need to rest quickly and gather our strength to launch a surprise attack at night."

"Here"

After getting Zhang Liang's approval, Erniu did not dare to delay and immediately turned around to arrange various matters according to Zhang Liang's instructions. He first commanded everyone to quickly clean up the battlefield and clear away the debris and debris on the ground; then he urged the soldiers to eat quickly and arranged for them to take turns to rest.

In this way, the entire army was busy in an orderly manner. Although everyone knew that this operation was extremely difficult, no one dared to be careless or perfunctory. After all, the war situation was changing rapidly, and any small negligence could lead to a complete loss. Therefore, no matter how tired or hard it was, everyone gritted their teeth and persevered. After all, the success or failure of this strategy depended on this.

In Zhang Liang's plan, whether it was Gao Yao's sneak attack or his own sneak attack, everything was actually to make the large-scale retreat of the Southern Border Army seem more reasonable. Only in this way could the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan believe that the Southern Border Army was really retreating because of its lack of manpower. Only in this way could the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan feel that everything was reasonable and began to lead the imperial army to start the so-called pursuit of victory.

When the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan really realizes the problem, the entire imperial army will really fall into an awkward situation of being caught in a dilemma. This is Zhang Liang's real purpose.

Meanwhile, Gao Yao, who was on the other side, was also observing the situation in Xia County at all times. He also sent out scouts to explore the situation as much as possible. Only after confirming that the imperial army had withdrawn to the camp did Gao Yao breathe a sigh of relief.